Chapter 11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
LUKE
“Bourbon,” I ordered from the bartender with her tits on full display. Taking a seat on the stool farthest from the other customers, I ignored everyone there. “Keep ’em coming.”
“That’s what she said.” She giggled, thinking she was so clever.
Bringing my attention to her, I glanced up.
“My name’s Veronica.” She extended her hand.
“I asked for a drink, not your name.”
She rolled her eyes, strutting away and purposely swaying her ass with each step.
It was ten at night, and I needed a drink. Lighting a cigarette next, I inhaled the nicotine deeply in my lungs before someone caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.
I wasn’t too familiar with this side of town and did not spend much time there. I spent most of my time in Miami, but this was more cookie cutter than I was used to. I was only there to meet with a potential new supplier. Since I lost my cocaine connection, I needed to make another.
I blinked, seeing if my eyes were playing tricks on me.
They weren’t.
The last time I saw her was the night we kissed, which was only a few days ago. I didn’t expect to see her here, of all places.
Duchess…
I stood, watching as she left the place with a man in tow. He grabbed her hand, leading her across the street. I downed my drink, giving them some time. After I left a fifty on the bar, I retraced their steps.
Is this the guy who roughs her up?
My feet moved on their own accord. There was no way in hell I wasn’t following them to see where this led. I was good at trailing people and going unnoticed. My interest was truly piqued as soon as they turned the corner down an old, abandoned street.
They weren’t holding hands anymore, but they stood too close for fucking comfort. Their body language was more than casual. They knew each other, intimately.
I was done waiting.
I needed answers.
And I had no problem finding them out on my own.
Right when I saw them get into his sports car and back out on the street, I was lucky that there was enough traffic, and I could jump into my truck fast enough to follow them. We drove for another thirty minutes once we were out of the city. I was a few cars behind them, preparing myself for I don’t know what.
The unease I felt as the seconds ticked by, watching the lights on streets start to blur in the distance, the closer, I assumed, we were to arriving. Out of nowhere, a warehouse came into view, and I ignored the uncertainty looming in the pit of my stomach. He parked near the back warehouse and opened Duchess’s door for her.
She laughed, shaking her head. He extended his hand for her to take, and she did before he pulled her into his arms.
“The fuck?” I muttered to myself.
Too many thoughts were happening at the same time, and I couldn’t control any of them.
Not a single one.
DUCHESS
“You look good enough to eat.”
I rolled my eyes, walking into the warehouse beside him before I put my hands on his chest, giving him a little shove. “You think flirting with me is going to get you off the hook? You want a piece of me?”
His eyes zeroed in on me, amused. “I always want a piece of you.” He chuckled. “How much are you going to cost me this time?”
I laughed. “Depends, how much money you have on you?”
“Oh, we’re doing this in cash, are we?”
I winked at him. “Cash is easier to hide.” I snidely eyed him up and down. “You scared of me?”
He grinned, backing me up against the wall in the hallway, caging me in with his arms. “I’ve already seen you sweat, baby.” Eric was covered in tattoos, towering above me with his big, muscular frame. “You’re the best kind of sweaty. How about a grand? You think you’re worth a grand?”
I was about to open my mouth to respond, but the second I did, a familiar voice spewed in a menacing tone, “Do I need to teach you some goddamn manners?”
My head snapped around, coming face-to-face with Luke Jameson. “You stalking me now?”
He didn’t pay me any mind. Instead, he abruptly stepped between us, leaving me only facing him.
“Luke,” I warned in the same threatening tone he just used on him.
It was the first time I ever called him by his first name, but it felt like a moment when I really needed him to know he was in trouble.
“Are you the man who likes to put his hands on women?”
Eric didn’t back down. If anything, he stood taller. “Who the fuck are you?”
He got right in his face. “I’m the man who’s going to teach you a lesson.”
“Before you start teaching lessons, Jameson,” I intervened, “how about I teach you one first?”
He spun to face me as I backed away into the room behind me. With the click of the light switch, the bright-ass space came into sight. I nodded toward Eric to leave, and he didn’t question it. He was well aware I could take care of myself.
Jameson looked around the room with an unreadable expression, fueling something inside me.
Enough to declare, “I can take you raw, Luke.”
He watched my every move, and I didn’t hesitate to jump into the ring.
With my hands out at my sides, I confessed, “I can’t imagine this is the first time you’ve added stalking to your long list of illegal activities, so I’ll cut to the chase. Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?”
He folded his arms over his chest. “So this is why you have bruises.”
“I told you I can take care of myself.”
“You box, yeah?”
I firmly stated, “I kick ass, yeah.”
His demeanor quickly changed to a more lighthearted vibe. The tension in the air was still thick, but it was for other reasons. I wore a sports bra with tight spandex shorts, and I think this was the first time he actually took a look at me. He was too consumed with the rage he felt, thinking Eric abused me.
The appearance in his gaze turned predatory pretty quickly.
I cocked my head to the side. “Like what you see?”
Ignoring my question, he asked, “Who is he to you?”
“Look at you, always asking questions like you have a right to. You still haven’t figured out that I owe you nothing.”
“Even after last night, you still can’t let that guard down, huh?”
“We can’t play fifty questions while you eye-fuck the shit out of me at the same time, so how about we box instead?”
He scoffed out, “I’m not fighting you.”
With a cheeky smirk, I challenged, “Worried you’ll get beat by a girl?”
“You think that’s gonna work on me?”
“What will work on you?”
In an unpleasant voice, he demanded, “Answer my questions, and we can go from there.”
Since I was feeling friendly, I agreed, “Fine. I’ll answer one question if you’ll box me. Fair?”
“Duchess—”
“Pick your question wisely.”
He made his way into the ring. “Those are fightin’ words, darlin’.”
“Apparently.”
Once he stood in front of me, he skimmed my Roman numeral collarbone tattoo with the back of his fingers.
“I want to know what this means.”
I eyed him skeptically for a few seconds. “And then what?”
“And then I get to take you out.”
“Define out?”
His fingers shifted to my cheek. “It’s a surprise.”
“I hate surprises.”
“All the more reason.”
“You really think I want to fight you this badly?”
He grinned. “I know you do.”
As soon as the last word was out of his mouth, I right hooked him, but he caught it and spun me around so fast that my back collided with his rock-hard chest. His chiseled arm snaked around my neck, holding my body against his.
“You’re at my mercy now,” he rasped in my ear.
“In your dreams.”
I crouched low to the ground to break out of his hold and gripped his arm before swiftly stepping behind him. In one quick motion, I kicked his legs out from under him, and he instantly fell backward onto the mat with an, “Oomph!”
“You were saying?”
He tried to take my legs out from under me, but he wasn’t quick enough, making me laugh.
“Come on, old man, is that all you got?”
He was on his feet and backing me into the corner of the ring with a hard thud in two seconds flat. Quickly, he gripped my throat, taking both my wrists with his other hand and placing them behind me.
Inches away from my mouth, he ordered, “Do your worst, darlin’. Just know, all you’re doin’ is makin’ my dick hard.”