Chapter 2
Harper stepped into the alley, cursing against the cold and hurrying towards the street.
The only good thing about the Lucky Penny was that the parking lot was close by, making the walk from club to car mercifully brief.
Her own sedan was at the far end, a single streetlamp beaming down on it like a spotlight.
No one had been in the back when she got ready to leave.
Patricia was in her office, trying to convince Darryl that hiring useless family members was bad for business, and Nell was in a private room, spellbinding a regular through the tender art of conversation.
She had made a career out of nodding along to men’s problems, sprinkling in words of encouragement, validation, or whatever else the situation called for.
The other girls had been too busy to pay Harper any mind. For once. She’d changed clothes and wiped off her makeup with no disdainful glares accompanying the process.
She should be used to it by now. Liking her was a challenge in itself, made even harder by her dumb mouth. If someone said something mean, she said something mean right back, and it always came out much harsher than whatever she’d been subjected to.
Only three people had the patience to deal with her bullshit. Only two were still around, and she wouldn’t blame them if they cut her off instead of letting her drag them towards rock bottom. She was familiar enough with it to know she was getting close.
“Hey!”
She stopped in place. The last thing she had been expecting was that voice. As rough and irritated as when she’d heard it last.
Turning, she looked towards the edge of the parking lot. Underdressed for the weather in just a t-shirt and jeans, Kieran stepped out of the shadows. With his wide shoulders, graceful gait, and shaggy dark hair, his silhouette was immediately recognizable.
She glared at him. “You’re stalking me at work now? That’s a new level of desperate.”
“We need to talk,” he said, still moving closer. “I want to fix this. You avoiding me is making that real difficult.”
“There’s nothing to fix, Kieran. If me blocking your number and locking you out of my apartment wasn’t enough of a clue, let me make it abundantly clear. I already threw the relationship in the trash.”
That made him stop, upper lip tensing. He had over a head on her, was over a hundred pounds heavier, and, unfortunately, everything about how he was acting was exactly what had made her want him in the first place.
She had a little more sense now. All she wanted right then was a Taser and some pepper spray.
“Careful.” The streetlight gave his eyes a yellowish tint. “We’ve talked about that attitude. You know I don’t like when you provoke me.”
“The truth is provoking now, is it?”
“Fucking stop with the backtalk. This is serious. You vanished from your apartment, and then you were gone, for a week. Do you have any idea how worried you made me?”
“Worried?”
Harper let out a dry laugh, a thousand eviscerating comments flooding into her mouth, but the one that made it to her lips first was both simple and intended to end this goddamn conversation.
“Go fuck yourself, Kieran.”
She turned on her heel, continuing towards her car. If this prick thought he could get a chance at redemption by cornering her in the parking lot, he was impressively moronic.
“Stay away from me,” she snapped when he fell in beside her.
“I’m sorry about last time, alright? It was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“Damn right it won’t. Can you guess why? It has something to do with us not being together anymore.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, but I do. In fact, every time you make me repeat it, I mean it a little bit more.”
Kieran closed his hands into fists, veins popping against his tan skin.
“You can’t mean that. We were having a good time before you went crazy on me.”
Her ‘going crazy on him’ didn’t have prolonged side effects. He’d had scratches on his face when she saw him last. Now there weren’t even scars.
“You were having a good time. Then you went too far, I got pissed, and somehow, I walked away with a bruise instead of you. Lost a week of shifts because of it, and because of your worried late-night visits.”
She unlocked her car, but when she opened the door, Kieran slammed it closed before she could get in.
“You kicked me! Clawed at me like a feral fucking cat. How was I supposed to react?” He gestured back at the Lucky Penny.
“I’ve had Booker come here every night looking for you, even though I hoped it would be a waste of time.
I thought you might have listened to me and quit this shitty job, but clearly not.
You know I don’t like you working in places like that. ”
“If you don’t like it, then leave me alone.” Harper enunciated the last few words as though saying them to a toddler. “We’re done. Broken up. No longer dating. I don’t stick with men who hit me when they get angry. It shows how small their dicks are.”
She shouldn’t be provoking him, and she knew it. Keiran could blow up over nothing, but her tongue had always been quicker than her reason. During the best of times, there was barely a delay between what she was thinking and what she was saying.
Keiran glared down at her. “Don’t take that tone with me, bitch.”
“Don’t call me a bitch. I didn’t like it when we were fucking. I like it even less now.”
She grabbed the handle, pulling at it only to have Kieran slam the car door shut again.
This fucking guy. “Go away, Kieran.”
“No. Not before you listen to what I have to say.”
“There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind. But I suppose it makes sense that you can’t get that idea through your thick skull. I tend to like them strong and stupid.”
She shoved him in the chest, the move about as effective as if she’d pushed a truck-sized boulder. How she’d been able to kick him off the last time they were together, she had no idea. A mix of luck and surprise was probably to blame. He hadn’t expected her to put up a fight.
Kieran let out a growling breath. Then he grabbed her by the jaw and shoved her against the car, making her keys slip from her fingers.
“Let go of me!” She punched his arm, but he didn’t even seem to feel it.
“That act doesn’t work on me. You like when I’m rough with you. I remember how it makes you beg. Loudly, too. You just need to be put in your place, and all this attention-seeking attitude is inviting me to do just that.”
He squeezed her harder. It hurt now, and no matter how much she clawed at his hand, she couldn’t get free.
She cursed and kicked at him. Harder and harder. He just stared at her, letting out those low, rumbling exhales that tended to accompany him feeling either horny or furious.
Then, he was gone. One second, he was pressing her against the sedan, and the next, he was sprawled on the ground several feet away.
Harper put a hand on the car, steadying herself. Everything had happened so fast it was like time had skipped forward, the sudden change of scene slowly falling into place.
Snarling breaths. Torn fabric on the asphalt. A dark figure standing between her and Kieran, eyes fixed on him as though a stern gaze could keep him grounded.
“What the hell…” Her speaking made the mystery person look over their shoulder, and only then could Harper make out anything about them other than a vague body shape.
It was a woman. A head taller than Harper—though that wasn’t exactly unusual—with light tan skin, dark brown hair in a messy ponytail, and delicate features contrasted by how tense she looked. By how hard her eyes were.
Those eyes… They were unreal. Her irises were pure black, a golden ring outlining them and extending towards the pupil.
Like black opals, where all the colorful shimmers had been replaced with flakes of gold, shining with such a dangerous intensity that they would better fit a predator than a human being.
Kieran sprang to his feet. His t-shirt had ripped, and it bared the large wolf-and-skull tattoo on the left side of his chest. His friends had ones just like it.
“This doesn’t concern you,” he snarled, stepping close enough to the stranger that they were breathing the same air. “Leave. You interrupted a private conversation.”
The woman’s gaze flicked to his chest. A stiff smile slipped onto her face, though the dangerous glint in her eyes remained.
“Looked to be more than conversation from where I was standing.” She blocked his way when he tried to push past her. “The young lady was being pretty vocal about wanting to be left alone. Didn’t sound like a suggestion, either.”
“Back. The fuck. Off.” Kieran shoved the woman’s shoulder. She didn’t move an inch.
That made him pause. He took a few sharp breaths, as though sniffing the air, and his eyes flicked over the woman’s face. Settling on her black eyes.
“I’m feeling nice, so you’re getting one warning.” The woman leaned closer to him. Kieran took a small step back. “Go near her again, and you’ll be leaving with a parting gift. Like a broken bone or a few loose teeth.”
Kieran stared at her, wide-eyed. Then he growled, steam curling off his bare skin.
“You shouldn’t be making threats. This isn’t your fucking city.”
“It isn’t yours either. And that isn’t your fucking girl.” The stranger closed her hands into fists. “Walk away. Or I’ll make you do so.”
Kieran let out such a low, rumbling breath it sounded like it came from an animal when someone ran out of the darkness.
“Maya!” Another woman came into view, this one with a bulkier build and shorter hair than the one currently giving Kieran a death glare.
The newcomer slipped between the two of them. She shot the other woman—Maya—a sharp look, but it vanished as soon as Kieran bared his teeth at her.
“Spotted trouble, I take it.”
Maya scoffed. “Not really. This guy was in the wrong neighborhood, and I was just giving him directions for getting the hell out of here. Maybe you can take over, Diana.”