Chapter 2
BISHOP
I drive my knee harder into the upper back of the man I have pinned on the floor and wrench his arm even harder behind him, knowing the type of strain I’m putting on his shoulder and the agony he must be in.
Relishing it.
Using all my leverage to make it even worse.
This fucker thinks he can touch one of the girls which means he’s going to learn a lesson in what happens when you do…
Straddling his hips, my entire body weight on him in a kimura hold, he’s completely at my mercy.
And I can’t wait to hear him beg.
They always do.
But unlike so many other troublemakers I’ve forced into submission, he doesn’t fight it.
No bucking and flailing to try to throw me off like most people would if they were in his precarious position.
He calmly glances over his shoulder at me the best he can, and one Cerulean blue eye meets my gaze. The corner of his mouth twitches, but instead of a cry of agony or an angry demand that I get off him, his body starts to vibrate beneath me with strained laughter.
“Damn, woman. Most men I know can’t pin me like that. Impressive.”
This smug motherfucker…
I lower my mouth to his ear and snarl, my fury only growing at his unusual response to the situation. “Nothing about this is funny, you asshole.”
He continues to chuckle lightly, despite my weight pinning him down and the discomfort he must be in due to the strain on his shoulder and arm. “Oh, I disagree.”
The shuffle of footsteps and click of heels beside me draws my attention up, and Jade grabs at my shoulder, her eyes still wide and darting around us.
“Bishop, stop! He was trying to help me.” She motions behind her to two men being shoved out of the club by the doorman.
“Those two were being creeps. This one was protecting me.”
Well, shit…
Everything happened so fast, and I briefly looked away from this man at the bar and was watching Honey on the stage and keeping an eye on the rest of the rowdy group at the front of it.
All I saw of whatever went down over here was the man under me with his arm around Jade and her looking terrified…
And apparently, I completely misread the situation.
Fuck.
I loosen my grip on the man’s arm and slowly release him, starting to push up onto my knees. He deftly rolls over beneath me before I can get to my feet and stares up from the floor as if I didn’t just take him down embarrassingly easily and try to rip his shoulder out of socket.
Absolutely mesmerizing blue eyes lock with mine, and a full-blown grin curls his sensuous lips set in a stunningly handsome face with high cheekbones and a strong jaw covered with dark blond stubble.
My breath hitches slightly, and I swallow through the tightness in my throat. “I…guess I owe you an apology.”
They don’t come to me easily. Something about being reminded constantly as a child that I shouldn’t always rush to apologize just to resolve an issue unless I am truly in the wrong has made them more difficult as I’ve aged. But there’s no debating I am wrong now.
And that fucking stings.
He shrugs nonchalantly, his broad shoulders moving under me in his black leather jacket in a way that sends a buzz of awareness through my body. “No apology necessary. You can pin me like this any time you want.”
That grin of his only grows, as does the heat now coursing across my skin the longer he assesses me and looks at me like that.
Shit.
I quickly scramble to my feet and step off him, retreating slightly to give him room but also to put space between us so I can get my shit together. Because staring at a stranger like that is not having control.
The longer I look at him, the more it feels like I’m spiraling faster and faster, losing my connection to the things I pride myself in, the ones that keep me so grounded to this life, this job. My ability to remain passive and unaffected.
If I were being polite, I would offer him a hand to help him to his feet, but I don’t trust myself to have skin-to-skin contact with this man.
Not when I just reacted like that.
Not when I know exactly who he is…
The same man who was here the other night.
The one who set every nerve in my body to attention the moment I laid eyes on him.
The one who screams danger, from his black leather jacket to the tattoos visible in the open V of his button-down shirt and that sly grin that continues as he slowly pushes up from the floor to his full height, towering over me at least a foot.
He leans in, and his warm breath flutters across my cheek.
“I wasn’t joking, by the way. That was impressive.
It takes a lot to get the drop on me, let alone to keep me on the ground.
” Somehow, he shifts even closer, until I can feel all that hard muscle pressed against me and the scent of New Orleans air, leather, and something warm and spicy fills my breath.
“And I wasn’t joking about wanting you to do it whenever the mood may strike you. ”
The mood…
Heat flares in my gut and between my legs, and I press them together to stop the dull ache and throb starting there.
There isn’t any question what he’s referring to.
The innuendo isn’t even thinly veiled.
He’s flat-out propositioning me after I put him on his ass.
And my body seems to like it when I should want to throw this arrogant prick out onto the street, not into my bed.
Apparently, I’ve gone far too long not taking care of my own needs if it’s this easy for him to get under my skin.
I tilt my head up to meet his heated gaze, willing myself not to display outwardly any of the ways he’s affecting me physically. “That won’t be happening.”
One of his sandy-blond brows rises slowly. “Whatever you say.”
But there’s something about the look in his eyes that tells me he doesn’t believe me, and I’m not so sure I do, either.
Some sort of strange electricity buzzes between us.
Something I don’t like.
Something I absolutely don’t trust.
Trust is earned, and it isn’t something I give away cheaply.
Just because he protected Jade, that doesn’t make him some sort of hero. It doesn’t erase that initial unease I had when I saw him the other night, even if it did turn out that Allegra and Jack are both fine. It doesn’t alleviate any of my concern where this handsome stranger is concerned.
I clear my throat—and hopefully, my thoughts—and take a step back, freeing myself from his entrancing gaze and his scent so I can draw in a breath without being overwhelmed by it.
Alex approaches, motioning over his shoulder toward the door. “They’re gone.”
“Good.”
“I told them they’re banned for life.”
I nod, relieved he took care of that situation while I was dealing with this one—the man who still watches me intently with a penetrating gaze and that tiny smirk playing at his lips. “I’ll make sure we pull images of them from the video and show the photos to all the staff.”
Alex nods, then heads to the stage to talk to the other men who were with them, while the rest of the club quickly returns to normal, the excitement finished.
Jade whispers a “thank you” to her savior, then disappears into the back to take a few moments to gather herself together before it’s her turn on stage.
Our girls aren’t used to being manhandled by the patrons. Incidents like this don’t happen frequently at any of The Hawkeye Club locations—if at all. Because we demand better than that; from our security, from our customers, from ourselves.
Just one more failure on my part…
Instead of seeing this coming, I stepped out of the elevator too distracted by my conversation with Savage and Gabe about the potential threat the arrival of Satriano’s man in town might pose.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since the night Allegra and Jack were rushed to the hospital. Haven’t been able to stop seeing all these puzzle pieces I can’t quite fit together even though they appear to be from the same board.
With the opening of the second Hawke Hotel tower happening so soon, I can’t shake this tension and feeling that something bad is just on the horizon. But that isn’t an excuse for letting this happen on my watch.
If this stranger hadn’t jumped in and helped Jade, things could have gotten much further out of control before Alex or I could have intervened.
And I never would have been able to forgive myself.
I might not even be able to now…
The man who stepped up when I failed continues to watch me carefully, as if he’s waiting for me to do or say something more, and there’s plenty to say.
Not only have I had a bad vibe from him since the moment I set eyes on him the other night, but reviewing the video surveillance only frustrated me more. Because he somehow managed to spend hours in the club without his full face ever appearing on screen.
Almost as if he planned it that way…
And even if there’s an innocent explanation and I’m being paranoid where he’s concerned, we can’t have people believing it’s their responsibility to act as security and get involved in incidents at the club—that will only lead to more problems.
And this man is trouble enough.
I approach him again, trying not to squirm at the heat emanating from his blue eyes that only burns hotter when I draw up right in front of him and they rake over me from the top of my head down to my booted feet. “While I appreciate your help, please leave protecting the girls to us.”
The corner of his lips twitches. “You take your job very seriously.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I narrow my eyes on him. “Of course, I do.”
“And just how did a beautiful woman like you, who can put a man my size on the floor so easily, end up working at a place like this?” He spreads his hands wide. “Your talents are wasted here.”
I know it’s meant as both a compliment and sexual innuendo, but it’s the apparent dig at the club that makes my hackles rise. “My family owns the place.”
“Really?”
I nod.
One of his brows rises. “I thought the Hawkes owned it?”