Chapter 4
Chapter Four
“This place is insane!” Simone’s voice rose to a high-pitched and delighted shriek that was almost immediately swept away by the pounding music. She stomped her high-heeled feet and tilted back her head as the lights swept over the heaving, gyrating crowd. “I love it!”
Punishment was packed. The new club was certainly a success. People danced and bounced and drank and laughed. Excitement seemed to pulse in the air. Savannah had its share of bars, no doubt. Hidden speakeasies. Elegant whiskey escapes. But this place…
It wasn’t elegant.
It wasn’t hidden.
It was in your face. Loud. Wild. Heated. Throbbing. The music beat over and over, and Violet had given herself up to that driving rhythm the moment she’d stepped onto the dance floor. She’d always escaped into dance. Always. And she escaped again tonight.
She’d had shots. Two? Yes, two of them. Chocolatey and delicious. Provided by Simone as the whole dance crew had downed them at the same time. And Violet wasn’t afraid any longer. Would not let herself be afraid. For the first time since that terrible night, Violet felt like she was living again. She felt like she was just like everyone else again.
And she didn’t want to stop feeling that way. She didn’t want the night to end. She wanted to dance and dance and forget everything else.
“The owner is supposed to be some big mystery man.” Simone closed her eyes and danced even harder. “A guy with more money than God but with a shady past that would give the devil pause. He bought this joint six months ago…and look at it now!” Her eyes flew open. “ Love it!”
The lights raked over the crowd again. Revealing. Concealing. Revealing. Concealing.
“More shots!” One of the male dancers pushed closer. “Here we go…these glow. Aren’t they freaking amazing?”
And they were glowing. And the other dancers were reaching for the shot glasses, and Violet reached for one, too. Her fingers curled around it, and she started to lift it to her lips.
A strong hand curled around her wrist. Heat pulsed through her at the touch. An unmistakable awareness, and she knew who owned that hand even before her head turned and she met his intense, burning eyes.
Royal.
“Don’t drink any damn thing,” he growled. “Unless you see the bartender pour it yourself.” He took the shot from her hand and pushed it back at the other male. But Royal never glanced at him. “ You should know better,” he fired at her.
And suddenly she wasn’t so free. The night wasn’t so safe. I’m not like everyone else.
She tugged free of him and whirled on her heel. Violet began marching for the exit.
He stepped into her path.
The lights rolled over them. Concealing. Revealing. Concealing.
“You followed me!” she accused him. “That’s called freaking stalking , Royal!”
The band played louder. Had he even heard her words? Probably not.
Royal leaned close to her. He put his mouth right at her left ear. “I own the place, Violet.” She felt the lick of his tongue and the rasp of his breath against her. “You came to me.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. No, no, no.
But…what had Simone just said about the owner?
“Violet!”
It was Simone.
“Violet, you good?”
No, she didn’t feel good. Not even a single part of her felt good in that moment. The warmth from her two shots had faded rapidly.
“Dance with me,” Royal murmured.
She should not.
“Violet?” Simone had pushed closer. Her expression was hard to read. Odd, because Simone was usually an open book. Her friend bit her lower lip. Hesitated.
“I’m good,” Violet said.
Simone glanced at Royal.
The lights rolled overhead once more. Concealing. Revealing. Concealing.
Royal pulled Violet into his arms. Simone turned back to their group. The music pounded. Hot and hard. A throb that Violet could feel beneath her skin.
Everyone else was moving fast and hard. Royal wasn’t. He’d ditched the tux coat. Wore a black shirt. Black pants. The top few buttons on the shirt were undone. He looked big and dark and dangerous beneath those rolling lights.
Sexy. Undeniably so.
But…
Be careful with him.
“Someone has to keep you safe. Apparently, you take drinks from strange men.” His jaw hardened.
“I know Roderick. He’s not strange. He’s one of the palace guards in the show.”
“Do we ever really know anyone?” He curled one hand around her hip. The heat from his touch poured through her. “Take you, for example. You’re going to tell me that they really know you?”
She could feel his arousal.
She could feel her own arousal.
Dammit. What is happening?
“I’m not like this,” Violet breathed.
“Like what?”
“Out of control.” That was how she felt. “Like I want to scream and rage and—” But she stopped.
He didn’t. “Fuck?” Royal finished.
No. Yes. I do want to fuck. But not with some random stranger. I want to fuck Royal.
Only he was a stranger, wasn’t he? So why did she want to fuck him so badly?
What is happening?
“Come with me.” An order from Royal. Or maybe an invitation. Hard to say for sure with the roar of the music. But he was suddenly curling his body around hers. Shielding her from the crowd and hurrying her through the darkness. They went right past a man who looked like a bouncer, then Royal was leading her up a spiral staircase. Up, up and…
Into an office. He shut the door.
Silence.
No more pounding music. No more laughter or voices from downstairs. It was almost as if they were the only two people in the world.
He was in front of her. The closed door behind her. But he’d let her go. Not touching her at all.
“We’ll pretend to be involved. That will get me access into your house. Access to the theater. Wherever you are, I can be.” His eyes narrowed. Hazel eyes. She could see them very, very clearly. A deep, dark combination of brown, green, and gold. “I’ve got plenty of experience playing bodyguard, so I can do the job. Trust me.”
“How can I?” Her head tilted to the right. Her hair slid over her shoulder. “I know nothing about you.”
“Except that I saved you.”
“The vineyard and its winery were in the middle of nowhere. Why were you there?” A question that haunted her.
He leaned toward her, put one hand on the door behind her head, and caged her. “Shouldn’t you just be glad that I was there?”
She was. One hundred percent. But… “Tell me the truth. Or I will call the police and inform them that I suddenly remembered all about my drive to the police station. My drive and my driver.” She had her phone tucked into the little bag that hung from her shoulder. Her phone. Mace. A taser. She always kept weapons close these days.
In the face of her threat, he laughed.
Damn him.
“They already think you’re lying, Violet. And I think they’re lying to you, too. Tell me, did you speak to any federal agents while you were at the police station?”
Yes, she had.
“But they never told you about the other three women who’d been taken? Women who look far, far too much like you.”
Her head shook.
“Women with beautiful, long dark hair. Fragile builds. Roughly the same age as you.”
No, she had not been told about other women.
“You need me. Because when the darkness grows around you, you need someone who isn’t afraid of it.” A muscle flexed along his jaw. “You shouldn’t be fucking dancing with those assholes downstairs. The men who wanted to put their hands on you. You should never drink what they offer. You should?—”
“Let some mysterious and dangerous stranger whisk me away and lock me in his office?” she finished sweetly.
That muscle jerked once more along his jaw. “The door isn’t locked. You can leave anytime you want.”
But she didn’t move.
“You don’t want to run, do you?” Royal rumbled.
“I want to scream.” A whisper. “I want to rage.” Even softer.
“And you want to fuck.”
She just wanted the tension within her to release.
“You’re wound so tight.” A growl from him. “You can’t sleep, can you? When it gets dark, do you think you’re back in that car?”
“Yes,” Violet hissed.
And when she did manage to sleep, in her nightmares, when the trunk opened…Royal wasn’t the one there.
Someone else was.
A voice. Whispering. Taunting her.
I am going to make you scream.
A tear slipped from her right eye.
Royal cursed. He pulled her into his arms. Spun around. And in a few, fast steps, he had her at his desk. No, on it. He knocked the laptop out of the way and put her up on the desk. He shoved her legs apart so that he could stand between them. Her dress hiked up. Her small bag fell onto the desktop. Her high-heeled shoes dangled above the floor. A moment later, the heels fell off and hit the floor.
His fingers curled under her chin. “I do anything that you don’t want, you stop me. Got it?”
She nodded.
“I can make you scream. I’ll give you the release you need.” His hand went to her thigh. He eased the silk up even higher. Rough calluses brushed against her skin. “I will give you everything you want.”
This shouldn’t be happening. So why do I want it—him—so much?
“Stop me,” he said again.
Only she didn’t. Instead, Violet grabbed his hand. The hand on her thigh. And she pushed it up higher.
His whole body shuddered. “Where have you been for my whole fucking life?” A guttural growl.
Then his fingers were sliding under the part of her dress that had bunched up. Under the dress, and under the edge of her panties. She hissed out a breath, but Violet didn’t stop him. She was way past that point. Self-control was gone. Now she acted only on animal instinct, and the animal in her wanted this.
His fingers slid over her folds. Slid over her clit. Rubbed. Carefully. Then he dipped one long finger into her.
She clamped her inner muscles around him.
“So tight.”
He pushed her back on the desk. Lowered her. He grabbed her panties and hauled them down. The thin fabric ripped, and the sound jolted her. But before she could say anything, his mouth was on her. His lips and tongue worked her clit. Fast. Intense. Merciless. He ate her up and didn’t give her time to do anything but gasp out his name and shove her hips harder against his lips and tongue.
This wasn’t her. She didn’t hook up with strangers.
That’s all he is. A stranger.
A hero. A stranger.
A savior.
Stranger…
His finger slid back inside her even as his tongue kept licking her clit. Over and over and over and she squirmed on the desk and her hands grabbed for his shoulders. Her legs curled around him, and she just erupted. The pleasure hit her like a detonation. Sudden. Shocking. No build-up. Just oblivion. It blasted through her, and she screamed with the release.
All of the tension, all of the fear—all of the control she’d had vanished in an instant as she came against his mouth. It was the most powerful orgasm of her life. It pulsed through every cell in her body. Left her quaking and shaking and utterly limp beneath him.
His tongue licked over her once more.
She gasped out his name.
Royal slowly rose. He leaned over her as she sprawled—basically boneless—on his desk. His hands slammed down on either side of her head. “Let me fuck you.”
Uh, yes, let’s do ? —
The door flew open. The unlocked door. Because he’d told her it was unlocked before, and she hadn’t tested his words for truth. But, clearly, he hadn’t been bullshitting her. The door flew open and banged against the wall. She realized in that stark instance as she stared up at Royal that whoever had just come storming into his office would have a perfect view of Royal…as he stood between her spread legs.
“You didn’t quit your extracurriculars, did you—” An angry, male voice. Snarling. Only that voice broke off in shock. “Fuck, Royal.”
“Out!” Royal thundered. “Get your ass out, now!”
“This is why you should knock on closed doors.” A woman’s voice. Much softer.
Two people had seen her sprawled out beneath Royal?
The door slammed closed. Humiliation burned through Violet. The humiliation replaced the pleasure she’d felt only moments before. Her hands shoved against his chest. “Off. Now.”
He immediately pulled back. “I’m sorry. They shouldn’t have come in. My brother can be an ass.”
She sat up. Shoved down the skirt of her dress. His brother?
“I didn’t lock the door because I was trying not to scare you. Don’t actually try that shit a lot. It’s new for me.”
Not scaring people was new?
She jumped from the desk. Her bare feet hit the floor, and her jelly-like knees promptly decided they weren’t going to help her stand upright. She would have slunk to the floor right then and there, but he grabbed her. His hands locked around her arms and held her up.
“I didn’t realize things would go that far, that fast,” Royal told her.
“I need to get out of here.” Escape. That was her goal.
“No. No, we aren’t done.”
Her head whipped up. She stared into his eyes. Saw the lust still burning. No, wait, did he seriously think they were going to finish? Now?
“Yeah, the mood is gone for you. I get that. But I meant you and I aren’t done. We have to talk. Stay here. Let me get rid of that interfering prick, and I’ll be right back.”
All she wanted to do was run away.
“Stay here,” Royal urged her. “You are safe here.”
Grudgingly, she nodded. But mostly just because if she ran out of his office right then, anyone who saw her would realize what she’d been doing. Especially Simone. Simone could read her like a book. Violet knew she had to get her control back and she had to—jeez, where were her panties?
“Good. Thank you,” he added grimly. His lips parted, as if Royal would say more, but then his jaw locked as he turned away. He hadn’t lost any of his clothing, so he could just stalk right out. And he did. All aggressive and determined-like.
Meanwhile, she found her panties on the floor. Picked them up. And realized they’d been ripped in two.
Royal jerked his office door shut behind him. He rushed forward and caught sight of his brother’s head as the guy climbed down the stairs. “Beau!” A bellow.
Beau’s head whipped toward him. Even from the distance, Royal saw Beau wince.
Royal crooked his finger at his brother. “Up here. Now.” He knew Beau would be able to read his lips.
And even if he didn’t, the lovely lady on the step below Beau had already elbowed him. His brother’s fiancée, Avalon Trahan, appeared particularly disgruntled with Beau. Not that the disgruntlement would last. With those two, it never did.
Mostly because Beau was wrapped around Avalon’s little finger. The man would do basically anything for her.
As Beau and Avalon climbed back up the staircase, Royal’s fingers clenched around the railing in front of him. Punishment had been a spur-of-the-moment investment for him. Beau tended to prefer more sophisticated venues—places where the best whiskey was always flowing. But Royal had known the city was ripe for something different. Something that would let the crowd roar and go wild.
Violet went wild for me.
The lights rolled over the partiers below.
Beau stepped off the stairs. His gaze shot toward Royal’s closed office door, then back to Royal. “Uh, yeah.” Beau scratched his jaw. “Didn’t realize you were entertaining. Would have watched my mouth better.”
And Royal remembered the words that his brother had fired off. You didn’t quit your extracurriculars.
His teeth ground together. “I wasn’t fucking entertaining. ” Not like he was playing around with Violet.
Avalon inched closer. “We all need to talk.” She looked down at the crowd. Then back at Royal. “Privately.”
Shit. Beau and Avalon were the only two people in the world who knew about his unique extracurricular activity. Mostly because, until recently, Beau had been helping him with said activity.
Everyone needed a hobby, right? So maybe Royal’s particular hobby involved killers. Hunting them.
Stopping them.
By any means necessary.
And maybe he’d allowed Avalon and Beau to think he’d given up that particular activity.
Because maybe I lied…
Her knees weren’t shaking any longer. And she’d put the remains of her torn underwear in her bag. Violet had smoothed her dress back in place. She’d finger combed her hair. Even applied a fresh coat of lipstick. She wore her heels again. Her heart rate had stopped galloping. At this point, she hoped that she appeared at least moderately normal.
Normal enough to get through the crowd and get back home.
Except Royal had asked her to stay.
She turned back to his desk. The desk they had wrecked. She’d never had sex on a desk before. And, technically, she still hadn’t.
He went down on me. Right here. He’d been fully dressed, and I came against his mouth.
She should, ah, fix his desk. He’d shoved files to the side. Almost knocked his laptop to the floor. Her nervous hands fluttered as she grabbed a few manila files. She stacked them up, but…
Something fell out of one.
Her picture.
She stared at it as it rested on the floor. Then she bent and scooped it up. The picture trembled in her hand.
No, no, that’s not me. Because the woman in the picture was dead. Her body covered in blood. Stab wounds were all over her chest. Her arms. Her neck.
A choked sob spilled from Violet’s throat. She grabbed the file. Saw a stamp on the outside. Something about the police.
She yanked open the file. More pictures. More horror.
“It took me a bit of time to put things together,” Beau snapped. “Because I was…distracted.” His gaze darted to Avalon.
She rolled one shoulder. “We also were under the impression that you’d stopped. You know because you said you were going to stop.”
“You two need to leave.” And he needed to get back to Violet. “And you should stop worrying about me and my extracurriculars.”
Beau leaned closer. “The woman will identify you.”
Royal’s chin lifted.
“You were hunting the killer, weren’t you?” Beau’s voice carried only to him. “But you found her instead. The dancer, Violet Murphy. You found her, and you saved her.” He shook his head. “She saw your face. Dammit, do you know how much trouble this will bring raining down on your head?”
“What was I supposed to do?” Royal fired back, his voice just as low. “Leave her in the fucking trunk? She’s scared of the dark.”
Beau blinked. “Uh, what?”
Avalon pushed her hand against Beau’s chest, an effort to get her fiancé to back up. He did. Just a bit. Avalon cleared her throat. “Beau just said that the woman saw your face. We’ve been arguing about this. I told him that you probably wore a mask.”
No, he hadn’t.
“There’s no way she can actually identify you, right?” Avalon continued with a nervous glance around the club. “I read the reports the police had.”
Of course, she would have. She had so many friends at the PD. Avalon was a true crime writer. The cops and the DA were tight with her.
Meanwhile, those people tended to hate him and Beau. So I have to resort to different tactics in order to get my intel.
“She doesn’t know your actual identity,” Avalon continued in her ever-so-careful voice. “Please, tell me that she doesn’t know?—”
The door to Royal’s office flew inward. Violet stood on the threshold. Her eyes were wide and stark and utterly horrified as she stared at him.
He remembered, too late… the fucking files.
Oh, shit. This would look bad. More like hellish to her.
She was opening her mouth, and he knew that she was about to scream. With the music blasting, most people probably wouldn’t hear her.
But he couldn’t take the chance on her drawing any unwanted attention.
He leapt for her. And even as she began to scream, his hand covered her mouth, and he shoved her back into his office.