Chapter 7 Violet #3
“Well, if that isn’t specific, I don’t know what is,” she quips. “And the first one…I think. He was already looking this way when I noticed him, but it’s not like I can read minds. Was he still staring when you stole a peek?”
I do exactly that a second time, but as soon as our gazes connect across the crowded warehouse, regret explodes in my belly. Okay, the dude is scary. “Yup. Still staring.”
“Did he tell you never to show your face again or something?” Lexie prods. “Because there are at least a hundred girls here, and…”
“What’s that fucker doing?” Ethan growls.
Where the hell did he come from?
We flinch at the sound, but Lexie recovers faster, hooking her thumbs in the back pockets of her mini skirt. “What fucker?” she asks innocently.
He doesn’t buy it for a second. “The one staring at you,” he seethes.
“I mean, who wouldn’t stare?” She motions to her outfit.
“I look…” Her words die on her tongue, her body threatening to wither under her brother’s glare despite her bravado.
It makes me dislike him even more. Seriously, what is this guy’s problem?
Lexie peeks over at Hawke again, then lifts a shoulder, striving for nonchalance, but I doubt I’m the only one who can see through it.
“No idea what he’s doing. But if you’re so curious, you’ll have to ask him. ”
Stepping closer, Ethan crowds Lexie even more, and she swallows thickly.
“You know him?” he demands.
“Aren’t you supposed to be over there?” I interrupt, pointing toward where his posse is currently hanging out while hoping the distraction will calm his egotistical and completely unwarranted reaction.
He ignores me and crowds Lexie even more. “Lex.”
“Come on, big brother. You’re needed over—”
The warning in his voice causes a shiver down my spine. “Lexie.”
“No, I don’t know him,” she answers.
“He’s Harden scum.”
Her laugh sounds forced as she tucks her thick dark hair behind her ear. “Figured as much, which is why I don’t know him.”
“Ethan!” one of his friends interrupts. “Come on, man. Let’s go.”
Jaw tight, he backs away. “Stay away from him.” Then, he jogs toward his posse at the edge of the ring, leaving me alone with a quiet Lexie.
I feel like I’ve just been scolded by my dad, or I’ve been called to the principal’s office for skipping school.
And if I feel this way by simply witnessing the exchange, I can only imagine how Lexie feels.
Seriously, the man needs to lay off the steroids because if that wasn’t an overreaction, I don’t know what is.
“Lex,” I murmur. “You okay?”
She blinks, then turns to me. “Fine. Why?”
“Because that was…intense.”
“Stop being dramatic.” She waves me off. “He’s not my dad, and he’s not your dad, either. Promise. He’s just amped up because of the fight.”
My eyes thin, and I study her carefully.
“Stop giving me that look. The show’s over there.” She grabs my chin and twists me toward the just-emptied ring as two men carry off a crippled body.
Yeesh. This sport is brutal.
“Remind me again why you’re so confident your brother’s not going to get his ass kicked?” I murmur.
“Because I know my brother. He doesn’t take a fight unless he knows he’s going to win.”
Nibbling on the edge of my thumb, I hold onto her words when I notice him.
Jagger Harden in all his bad boy glory. Basketball shorts showcasing his toned calves.
Skintight black T-shirt hugging his broad shoulders and biceps, leaving his corded forearms in sight.
Taped fists that have no right being as hot as they are.
I swear, the testosterone rolls off him in waves.
He looks good. Really good. Not like he’s ‘roided up.
More like he knows the meaning of discipline and enjoys his time in the gym.
Sexy. Powerful. No cauliflower ears, either.
I hate how I notice. I wonder if his balls still hurt.
Probably not. Karma hates me too much to leave a reminder of our little run-in.
Gripping the collar of his t-shirt behind his neck, he tugs the fabric over his head and tosses it on the ground behind him.
I take it back. Here’s Jagger Harden in all his bad boy glory.
Tan skin. Corded muscles on full display.
Black tattoos swirling across his chest and down his right arm, stopping right above his elbow.
Yeah, they’re hot. My gaze flicks over every exposed inch until I realize what’s happening, and it doesn’t matter how much I hate the asshole, I’m still a red-blooded female and, uh, yeah okay, the guy is sexy as hell.
Part of me wishes I’d misremembered him.
That my mind had somehow misconstrued his good looks under the guise of…
I don’t know? Delusion? Stress? A mental breakdown, maybe?
But nope. He looks even better than I remember, and it’s clear I’m not the only one who notices.
Lexie whistles beside me. “Damn, Vi.” I cut my glare to her. “Hate him all you want, but the man is gorgeous.”
“Yet your brother’s about to pound his face in, right?”
With a slow nod, she clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “It’s a shame, really.” She pauses to check him out even more. “Maybe Ethan will stick to his torso and leave the pretty face untouched. What do you think?”
I scoff. “Doubt it.”
“Wanna bet?” she quips. “Five bucks says first hit is to the ribs?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, because I have so much spare cash lying around.”
“You still have the three hundred,” she reminds me, as if the money is burning a hole in her pocket instead of mine.
She’s right. Witnessed it firsthand. The way I couldn’t spend Jagger’s cash when I was purchasing the clothes I’d found at the thrift shop earlier.
I haven’t had it in me to spend the money.
It still feels…wrong for some reason. Spending money that doesn’t belong to me even if it was a gift.
Okay, gift is a bit of a stretch, but it’s not like I stole it, and I sure as hell didn’t earn it, so what else can I label it?
A bribe, maybe? To keep me away? I look around my surroundings and bite back my amusement.
If that was Jagger’s goal, it clearly didn’t work.
“You think he knows you’re here?” Lexie asks.
“Not sure why it would matter.”
“Spite? Revenge? Maybe a sprinkling of vindication?” she offers.
“A sprinkling?” I laugh.
With a wink, she lifts her hand and rubs her manicured fingers together as if spreading pixie dust. “Just a sprinkle.”
I smirk back at her. “I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Because there are at least a hundred girls here,” I explain.
“He has plenty of distractions worthy of his time compared to the girl who kneed him in the balls last night after begging for her money back. I doubt I was anything but a blip on his radar. Hell, he probably wouldn’t even be able to pick me out of a lineup. ”
Lexie grins as her attention drifts from the ring to me and back again. “You sure about that?”
I glance up at the stage just in time to witness Jagger staring back as the ref introduces both fighters.
His look is heavy and pointed and makes me want to squirm in my own skin.
My teeth dig into the inside of my bottom lip as I fight the urge to look away.
There’s something about it, though. His stare.
It’s so dark, it’s like I'm looking into a black hole, but instead of feeling empty or hollow, all I feel is…heat. Like I’m burning up from the outside in.
Okay, so maybe he does remember me.
Perfect.