25

25

STACEY

The busy club is large enough that we’ve barely seen each other. Kade and Base stay at the bar while the latter flirts with everyone. Me and Lu sit at a booth, and I think I’ve drunk all of her shots.

Luciella yells over the music that Tylar is flying over, that she finished work early and has a week off. She thinks she’s lying, because Dez is also flying over to meet his friends.

She doesn’t like this very much.

“Why is it such an issue if they’re together?”

She looks mortified. “Imagine I went there with Base! He’s my brother’s best friend.”

“Right, I get that. But Dez isn’t your brother.”

She chews on her cheek. “I just don’t want things getting complicated. What if they broke up, and it was messy? It would be awkward. If he cheated on her, I’d kill him. I’d tell him to stay away from my house, and then it would cause a war between me and my brother.” She shrugs. “I don’t want any of that.”

I understand, kind of. If she feels that way about Tylar and Dez, she’d hit the roof about me and Kade – past and present.

Base falls into the booth beside Lu and throws his arm around her. “You up for that threesome yet, ladies?”

She shakes her head, trying to hide the smile on her face without moving his arm. “In your dreams.”

He winks at her. “Dreams can come true, princess.”

And I take that as my cue to leave. “I’m going for a stronger drink.”

I know Base isn’t serious. He wants Luciella – not me.

I order a vodka as a young man in a fitted black suit, his golden hair styled to perfection, appears beside me; he smiles as he gives me a second glance, leaning against the bar and looking me up and down.

I thank the bartender and sip my drink through a straw, ignoring him.

“Gerald,” the guy says in his strong American accent. “This lady’s drinks are on the house.”

I nearly choke. “What? No.”

“I’m the owner. Someone as beautiful as you shouldn’t be paying for drinks.”

My brows rise. “And why would you do that?”

Shrugging, he drags his gaze up and down the length of my body again. “I’m a nice, generous person.” He winks and takes his drink before he vanishes onto the dance floor.

A firm hand lands on my hip, sending instant flutters down low as a familiar voice whispers in my ear, “You need to stop flirting with my half-a-million-dollar target.”

I don’t turn around, but I do tilt my head a little, my eyes on the owner of the club, who’s now laughing with a group of girls. “He’s worth half a million?”

My breathing stops as he pulls my back to his chest, the slit of my dress giving him access to skin-on-skin contact as he moves his hand lower. “The more dangerous, the more I get paid.”

I stare at the guy bobbing around the dance floor with a goofy grin. “He doesn’t look dangerous.”

His chin rests on my shoulder, and my gaze shoots to the booth Lu was at, but she and Base aren’t there.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Kade says, his knuckles running up and down my ribs, the other hand dangerously close to an area that’s currently puddling with liquid heat as he drags his fingers along the slit of my dress, sending electric shocks to my core. “Stay away from him. I need to do my job and I don’t need you getting in the way.”

I gulp. His touch is soft and caressing as the laser show from the DJ booth amps up through the intense song playing.

Breathless, I manage to turn my body to break the contact, looking up at him as I reply sternly, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Kade laughs, pushing his tongue against his cheek. The smile on his face has my skin buzzing. “But you take orders so well,” he says, rubbing a tendril of my dark hair between his fingers. “Don’t you, Freckles?”

“Don’t call me that.” I furrow my brows at him, ignoring the growing pulse between my legs. “And you tell me: do I follow orders well, Kade?”

Flirting with him like this – well, our version of flirting – is ridiculous and stupid. Luciella could appear at any moment and see our closeness, the way Kade releases my hair and cups my cheek with his hand, leaning into my opposite ear.

“It was one of my favourite things about fucking you.”

The hum in my blood, the nerves catching fire like an inferno, has me fighting the slam of my thighs. Against the neediness between my legs, remembering all the shitty comments he’s thrown at me, I move his hand from my face. “If I remember right, you were the one who had to be given directions on how to get a girl off. Stop belittling what I was in our relationship to make yourself look better.”

He chuckles, taking a sip of his drink. “These tantrums you keep having are cute.”

“Cute? No, you’re a walking, talking version of whiplash. One minute you act like you hate me, then you’re trying to have sex with me or messaging me. You can go hump your hand for all I care.”

Then a smile plays on my lips, because I want to piss him off, to push him as much as he’s pushed me over the last two years. “I’m going to go over there and dance with your target, then I’m going to tell him to take me home and fuck the image of you out of my mind forever. Does that live up to your expectations of me?”

Drink halfway to his lips, he freezes. “If this is you trying to make me jealous, it won’t work. I’ve had two years to get over you.”

I snatch my glass up from the bar. “You won’t mind if I excuse myself then.”

“Where are you going?” he asks as I slip off the bar stool.

“To find out if your target knows how to properly make a woman scream his name.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Good thing you aren’t me,” I retort.

His eyes don’t leave mine as I back away, deadly calm, and I’m certain he isn’t breathing. I can feel his stare on my skin as I make my way through the dancing crowd.

I felt blistering rage when I saw him with that girl in the pool house. Yeah, I saw him in the magazines and newspaper columns that loved to cover his wild weekends with multiple women, but being there – seeing it in person – was way worse.

He saw a short clip of me being violated, and from the way it was edited, it looked like I was willingly fucking someone else.

It looked like I was enjoying it, cutting out the moments I tried to leave or begged for my boyfriend, but he took it as me cheating. I understand why he took off and refused to hear me out. I saw the video, and it looked terrible on my end.

It didn’t show any of the other people who attacked me while my brother watched. I didn’t consent to a single thing that happened to me that night.

Slut.

You prefer them older, don’t you?

You’re dead to me.

I was dead to myself too.

Kade’s target lights up when I approach, dancing and wrapping my arms around his neck, and his greedy hands immediately find my hips. I let the beat flow through my veins, ignoring his whispers in my ear about how smoking hot I am and the way he bites me; how he drags his palms all over my body. No fire is sparking in my core, no butterflies or the desire to rip his clothes off.

The more dangerous, the more I get paid. Ridiculous. This guy is harmless and cheery and even looks like he’d be sweet.

He twirls me around and around, pulls me back into him, and I want to glance over my shoulder to make sure Kade is watching us. To see if he’s angry.

Because I know he will be.

He wants to wring my neck just as much as he wants to fuck my brains out.

The feeling is definitely – annoyingly – mutual.

We turn, No Name’s back to the bar, my hands on his chest, and I can see Kade over his shoulder given how short his target is. He’s sipping on his drink with a blank expression, but his eyes don’t leave mine.

He tips his glass in my direction with a slight nod.

Anger spikes, and when No Name plants a kiss on my lips, I don’t push him away.

Fuck Kade. He’s treated me like shit and spoken down to me. I might have been on my knees and riding his face not long ago, but I’m doing exactly what he wants.

I’m forgetting what happened.

I feel absolutely nothing as No Name presses his lips to mine – sloppier now – and cups my ass firmly.

I need to get this guy out of here before he ends up dead. Not for No Name’s benefit, but so Kade doesn’t have yet another death under his belt.

When the unfamiliar tongue tries to nudge through my lips, I don’t allow him entrance; I pull away and continue dancing with him.

I hope Kade is fuming.

My immaturity levels have risen to the high heavens by now.

Kade’s drink is gone – now he’s leaning against the bar with his hands and glaring at me. Just to be extra mature, I give him the middle finger, whispering to No Name to take me out back.

I know Kade can read the words on my lips.

No Name’s hand clutches mine, and he drags me off the dance floor, through the narrow corridor where the bathrooms are and out the back entrance into a dark, wet alleyway. There’s barely any light, and we’re closed in by high walls. I instantly feel uncomfortable and cold.

I don’t go home with random men. It took me everything to join Tinder after what happened to me. This is purely to save his life.

“You need to leave,” I say as he clicks the door closed.

He doesn’t listen, pulling me into him and caressing my face with both hands. “But the fun only just started, beautiful.”

I keep myself calm as I push against his chest, but he doesn’t move an inch from the hold he has on me. “Let go of me.”

He crushes his mouth to mine painfully, and panic sets in. I bite on his lip, hard, until I taste copper then stomp on his shoe with my heel.

No Name wipes blood from his lip, eyes wide, before lunging. “You fucking teasing—”

A fist flying into his face cuts him off, launching him into the wall with such force, I’m surprised his skull isn’t cracked open.

Kade takes my chin as he searches me for any injuries. His thumb swipes the blood from my lip. “Did he hit you?”

I pull my jaw free. “No. It’s his blood.”

“What the fuck are you playing at? What part of he’s dangerous do you not understand?”

He smashes his elbow into No Name’s face when he throws himself towards Kade in a weak attack. No Name drops to the ground again, groaning and holding his excessively bleeding mouth.

My ex points at him. “Stay the fuck down. I’ll deal with you in a minute.”

I cross my arms. “I told you what I was doing,” I state. A huge part of me wants to run back into the club to get away from No Name, away from his horrid advances, but I also don’t want Kade to kill someone else. “Just let him go.”

This version of him isn’t real. It can’t be.

“It’s my fucking job,” he snaps.

When No Name gets to his feet again, Kade grits his teeth and grabs him by the throat, slamming him into the wall. “Did you enjoy that? Did you enjoy having her fucking attention?”

“Dude, come on.” He laughs, teeth stained red as he spits to the side. “I have a lot more than her if you’re looking for quality.”

I frown at the comment.

Kade headbutts him – his nose bursts with crimson, his skull cracking against the wall. He frees his shirt from his waistband and pulls out the gun he had earlier, pressing it under his target’s chin.

I rush forward. “Kade, stop! You don’t really want to do this.”

“Stop?” he retorts, fisting the guy’s hair. “Do you know why I was assigned to kill him?”

No Name’s eyes go wide, begging and pleading silently, but Kade’s attention is on me. “A father contacted my boss and wanted him taken down for drugging his underage daughter and raping her.”

I stop breathing, my stomach roiling.

“He’s a filthy bastard. Aren’t you, you little prick? How many girls were victims of yours?”

No Name smiles. I need to bleach my mouth. “Then you know I have enough ass to make you a good bargain.”

He drugged and raped someone.

I no longer see the young American but Chris and numerous other men standing in Kade’s grip, uncaring as they talk about all the ways they wanted to fuck me that night. The way Chris egged them on. Charged per fuck. Videoed it.

I see my brother hovering over me while I hallucinated, begged him to take me home and cried that I wanted my boyfriend. The way his lips felt on my forehead while he let someone else violate me with their mouth. Teeth sinking into my breast, leaving a wound that took weeks to heal.

No Name isn’t No Name. He’s another Chris, who drugs and destroys, breaks and manipulates. He’s a monster.

I fist my hands at my sides, not caring how psychotic I sound. “Hit him again.”