Chapter Seven-Maria
CHAPTER SEVEN-MARIA
A week passed since the incident at the Den, and I’m no closer to understanding how everything changed so fast.
The Den’s security guards offer me a wide berth, and it’s bizarre. I’ve worked here for months, and I’m on a first name basis with everyone.
But no one will talk to me now.
And it makes me feel strange.
Luc hasn’t touched me since that incredible lip lock in his office. But he did explain some things.
It seems Vipers have rules.
His beating the shit out of that drunk guy was a big deal. It means I’m his now.
But that’s the thing.
I don’t know exactly what being his means.
My heart stutters inside my chest as I put my purse in the safe behind the bar.
I bite my lip and flip my flat-ironed hair behind my shoulders.
It’s supposed to rain tonight, and I shouldn’t have bothered, but I am so used to donning this costume, it’s simply routine.
“Hey Maria, got a request?” Randy, one of the local DJs we have on our Friday night rotation asks me.
This is his first night back in over a month, so I’m sure he hasn’t heard about the whole incident.
“Something fun,” I reply, and he winks at me.
He’s cute and young, flashy with his brightly colored tank top and a backwards cap on his head.
A harmless flirt, really.
I don’t think about Randy after that, I just sway to the beat as I prep behind the bar. Fridays at the Vipers’ Den are always packed.
Good thing, too. I need the tips. I just sent Mami everything I had in the bank through Venmo, but I forgot my phone bill is coming up and I need cash for that, too.
Once I’m done slicing fresh citrus and filling up my condiment tray, I head to the bathroom.
“Yeah, Girl. Work it!” Randy says over his microphone, and I raise my hands to the roof and give a little shimmy.
I’m laughing as I head inside the ladies’ room to freshen up my makeup and straighten my outfit.
Tonight, I am wearing a tight red corset top with high-waisted, wide-legged black pants with slits down the sides. I love how they look when I walk.
I’m a big girl, but the corset cinches my waist. It highlights my cleavage, not my stomach. And the pants hide my thick thighs and plump ass.
Whenever I need money, this is the top I wear to tend bar.
I know. I know.
But it’s not a sex thing for me. I’m not trying to pick up men.
Truth is more women than men tip me extra when I’m wearing this.
It’s like some kind of sisterhood girl power rah-rah type thing. Like they want to cheer me on for not caring that society thinks I’m too fat for this outfit.
Fuck society.
I don’t have a problem with self-esteem. I mean, I know I’m pretty. But I am also real enough to know I’m overweight. What most of the world considers unattractive.
Whatever.
Of course, I have doubts and I can get self-conscious.
I’m human, after all.
So, what if I’m still a virgin at the ripe old age of twenty-seven?
And what if I can’t pull off a real sexy look because of my untouched state?
I mean, I’m pretty.
Cute, even.
I know I’m definitely not a vamp or sex kitten. Not like a lot of the women who frequent this place.
Hell, I’d probably fall on my face if I ever tried to really flirt with a man.
But the way I see it, there’s someone for everyone out there, right?
Maybe someday I will find my special someone .
Of course, that can only happen after I am off Matteo Sanchez’s watchlist.
I wish I could figure out what the hell Luc meant when he said I belong to him.
I mean, is he serious? I expel a breath and look in the mirror.
This man has a hold on me, and we only kissed once. It isn’t fair.
Damn it, Luc.
The man has been on my mind all week. I’ve had the last two nights off, so I haven’t seen him since Tuesday.
I’ve heard his name plenty though from Sisi and Anna. Sisi is Anna’s nickname for her bestie Giselle, and I can’t even begin to describe how thrilled I am that she asked me to use it.
Anna is a little intimidating to me. Not because she’s mean or anything. But she is married to the king. And I shamelessly chased him up until they got together only recently.
I want to be her friend though, and I’m making strides. Anna is a little shy, and it’s understandable. Her husband is a lot.
Giselle seems to accept me right away. She’s so open and outgoing. We kind of bonded the night she came storming into the Den, looking to take a piece out of Nico’s hide for knocking up her best friend.
Only. Well.
Giselle kind of mistook Angel for Nico and tossed a full pint of beer in his face.
Ever since then, she and Angel have been engaged in some kind of sexually tense warfare.
I don’t know. It’s not really my business and our friendship is too new for heart wrenching confessions.
But I hope it will be.
Pulling my tube of shimmery lip gloss from my pocket, I glide the roller over my lips.
I don’t like heavy lipstick, even gloss, and I am blotting it with a tissue when the bathroom door slams open.
“What don’t you get about you being mine?”
My eyes flash upwards and I see Luc’s steel gaze boring into me.
He looks hot . But also mad.
Like so fucking mad.
He’s wearing a light gray button down and charcoal colored pants. The shirt is open at the collar and with his hands on his hips, the material stretches over his chest and biceps, and I can make out the dark outline of his tattoos through the material.
I swallow.
Feelings I’m not used to flutter inside of me, starting at my stomach and growing through my chest, my throat, all the way to my fingertips.
“W-what are you talking about? You haven’t even seen me in days!”
“You were flirting with the DJ,” he accuses.
“What? I was not!”
“I won’t fucking have it, Maria.”
I turn to face him, my chest heaving with indignation.
This fucker.
“You know, you barge in here bristling like some damn tomcat whose fur has been rubbed the wrong way, but you haven’t even talked to me in days!”
His eyebrows disappear into the dark curls covering his forehead, but I swear I see the corner of his mouth twitch.
“Did you just call me a tomcat?”
I huff.
“Is that all you heard?”
Crossing my arms, I shake my head. Embarrassment heats my cheeks, and I’m at a loss.
I just don’t know what to do with this man who says I belong to him, but doesn’t seem to want me.
He’ll probably freak out when he finds out I won’t know what to do with him even if he decides to take me to his bed.
Still, I want him to try. I’m even a little hurt he hasn’t touched or kissed me since that night.
Shit.
That’s probably something I should keep to myself.
It’s not like I can be honest with Luc. I can’t tell him the truth about my situation. It’s too risky.
What if he chases me away?
The Vipers are powerful. And I bring a certain amount of trouble they likely won’t want.
But I can’t leave now that Mami is in the thick of her treatment.
I’ve managed to pay down her bills, but I know she’ll need help around the house soon. I want to hire a part-time cleaning service, maybe a nurse if she needs one.
But I don’t have the money.
Yet.
That’s what I tell myself.
This little lack of funds is temporary. I’ll get there.
Someday.
The money Papi left us is gone now. I spent the cash she gave me just to live and go to school. She spent hers on the house and on her treatment.
“Are you hearing me, Baby Girl?”
“What?”
“Maria, when I said you were mine, I told you what that meant. You belong to me now. You don’t flirt with other men. You don’t fucking smile at other men. You certainly don’t dance for them.”
“Oh my God. He asked me if I had any requests while I set up the bar, Luc. It’s not like I was doing anything with him. He’s a DJ. It’s his job to hype up the crowd. That was just practice,” I try to explain.
“Yeah, well, I already beat one man into a trip to the Emergency Room for overstepping where you’re concerned, and I’ll do it again. I’m a Viper, remember? And this is our fucking place.”
“I know,” I murmur, but I’m not paying attention.
My mind is wandering. Thoughts of how good his lips felt pressed against mine fill me.
I sway on my feet as he steps closer to me. Luc is much taller than I am, and he’s thinner than Nico or Luc, but he isn’t small.
His shoulders are wide. His body is tight with muscles.
His steel eyes glitter like silver when he’s worked up, and fuck yes, he’s worked up.
So am I.
Why am I attracted to men who wear violence around them like some goddamn shroud?
There must be something wrong with me.
Luc cups my cheek in his hand and dips his head.
“After close, I’m taking you home,” he says, and I nod.
I’m a novice, but I don’t care. I want him.
Luc seems to accept my response. He hums deep in his throat, then he presses his mouth to mine.
His kiss tilts my entire world on its axis.
When he lifts his head, I can’t even remember my own name.
Mia.
No, Maria.
Fuck.
“Tonight,” he says, then he turns and leaves me alone in the bathroom.
I look back at my reflection, and I don’t even recognize myself.
Did I say I couldn't pull off a sexy look?
Well, I was wrong. Something about the way Luc kisses the hell out of me has my eyes lust-glazed and my lips are pink and swollen.
I don’t even need lip gloss.
When I finally grab my big girl panties and leave the bathroom, Luc is nowhere to be seen.
And neither is Randy. I bite my lip.
“Hey Maria, what’s up?” Stella, another of our DJs, walks in with her gear.
“Hey Stella, did something happen to Randy?” I ask.
She shrugs.
“Don’t know. I just got a call to come in.”
I nod and walk back behind the bar.
He didn’t, right?
But I think he did. I think Luc sent Randy packing.
I know it’s heavy-handed and wrong that he fired the DJ over nothing, really.
But I kind of like it. I like his show of possession.
And I have no idea what that says about me.
I wonder if he means it. If Luc like actually likes me, or if I’m just a piece of property to him.
With any luck, I’ll find out later tonight.