Chapter 11 #2
That’s when I punch him. Not hard enough to break bone. Just enough to crack the smug off his face. Talon’s there a second later, dragging me back before I can throw another.
Ricky wipes the corner of his mouth, looks at the blood, and shakes his head. “You’ve got a temper, Prez. Might want to get that under control.”
I lunge again and Talon and Ghost both step in this time.
“Get him out of here,” I bark.
Two of my guys grab Langston and escort him out the side door. He goes, but not before he throws one last look Jo-Leigh’s way.
She’s staring at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“Are you insane?” she demands, storming toward me. “You just punched a cop!”
“That wasn’t a cop. That was a parasite who couldn’t take a hint.”
Her chest rises and falls fast, eyes bright with fury. “You don’t get to control who I talk to.”
“You came here,” I growl. “To my place. That means you play by my rules.”
She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t back down. “I don’t belong to you, Swag.”
My voice drops. “You’re wrong about that.”
And we both know it.
She shoves at my chest.
“I came here with a friend. Not for you. Not to be manhandled. Not to be embarrassed in front of a crowd again.”
“I don’t give a fuck who’s watching,” I grind out.
“Well, I do. I’m not some possession for you to show off or control.”
“You’re not just some possession,” I snap. “You’re mine and you’ve been mine since the moment you walked back into that grocery store like you hadn’t wrecked me once already.”
She flinches. “You’re insane.”
I step in, towering over her, and she doesn’t back down.
“You don’t get to claim me. You don’t get to mark your territory with fists. You’re not the man I used to know.”
“No,” I agree, voice rough. “I’m not.”
And maybe that’s why I snap. Because I’m not the same man. I’m worse. I grab her and throw her over my shoulder before she can spit out another word. She yelps and starts pounding her fists against my back.
“Put me down, Swag!”
“Gladly. Once we’re in my office.”
Gasps follow us as I carry her through the bar. I don't care. Let them see. Let them whisper. I want the whole goddamn room to know she’s mine. My office door slams shut behind us and I set her down, fast but she stumbles backward, hair wild, cheeks flushed.
“You’re an asshole!”
I back her toward the desk.
“Maybe,” I growl, “but you didn’t stop me.”
Her mouth parts like she’s about to argue, but she doesn’t. Because we both know deep down she didn’t really want me to.
“I hate you!” she explodes. “You don’t get to bark orders when I’m not yours!”
I grab her hips and haul her against me.
“You sure about that, little bee? Because your body says something real different.”
She goes still. Her breath catches.
“Tell me to stop,” I say, voice low. “Tell me you don’t want this. That you don’t want me.”
Silence.
Then, in a whisper, she says, “You’re the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”
My control snaps.
My mouth crashes into hers. There’s no patience, no gentleness.
Just raw need and the ache of four years of fucking denial erupting all at once.
Her hands fist in my shirt. My fingers tangle in her hair as I back her toward the desk, knocking everything off with one sweep of my arm.
Pens, papers, even my goddamn laptop hit the floor with a clatter, but I don’t care.
She gasps as I lift her onto the desk and spread her thighs with my body. My mouth is everywhere—her jaw, her throat, the delicate skin beneath her ear. She tastes like tequila and temptation, and I’m going to drown in her.
Her fingers tug at my shirt, trying to get it off.
“Goddammit, Jo-Leigh,” I rasp against her skin. “You have no idea what you do to me.”
Her shirt and bra are gone in seconds. My mouth finds the soft swell of her breast as her back arches. The desk creaks under us and she moans, head thrown back, hair wild around her. When I capture her nipple with my lips, she pants out my name.
My hand slides up her thigh, dragging her skirt with it. I hook a finger in her panties and start to pull when?—
BANG BANG BANG
The door flies open.
“Talon?” I bark, my body shielding her from his view.
He’s panting. “We’ve got company. Baton Rouge PD just rolled in with a search warrant.”
“What the fuck?—”
“You’ve got about sixty seconds before they get to this office.”
Jo-Leigh goes pale.
Talon’s eyes dart to her, then back to me. “Swag. It’s Langston. He’s with them.”
Rage detonates inside me. I look down at Jo-Leigh, still breathless, lips kiss-swollen, and mine. And now this piece of shit has the audacity to come into my bar?
“Stay here. Don’t move.” I grab my cut, my gun, and my fury.
I’m going to make damn sure Ricky Langston regrets ever stepping foot in my world.
Thirty minutes later my knuckles are white around the edge of the bar as I watch officers tear through shelves, flipping open cabinets and patting down people like they’re some righteous goddamn cavalry.
They’re not. They’re sloppy. They’re reaching. And they’ve found jack shit. But that doesn’t stop Ricky from strutting through the crowd like he’s king of the fucking city. He catches my eye and smirks.
That’s going to cost him later.
Talon’s suddenly at my side, his voice pitched low. “She’s gone.”
My gut clenches. “Gone where?”
“She slipped out through the back door. Brushed off the bartender when he asked if she needed help.”
Fury flares in my chest. I shove off the bar, storming toward the hall that leads to the office. The door’s ajar, just enough for me to see the desk still askew, her scent still hanging in the air like a ghost.
But she’s not here.
Not waiting.
Not safe.
My jaw tics. “How the fuck did she get past two of our guys?”
“She waited for the chaos to hit,” Talon answers, already knowing what I’m thinking. “Smart girl.”
Too smart.
I glance at the desk, the faint outline of her thigh still pressed into the messy paperwork. That fucking skirt she wore… I growl and rake a hand through my hair.
“She doesn’t know this city,” I mutter.
“No,” Talon agrees. “But she knows how to run.”
I grind my teeth. “Find her.”
Talon raises a brow. “You sure you want to chase her down like this?”
“I told her to stay in the room,” I grit out. “And she walked out into a raid like it was a fucking Tuesday night. So yeah, I’m sure.”
He nods and disappears down the hallway, barking orders into his comm.
I glance back into the office one last time.
She slipped away.
But she won’t get far.
Not this time.