Chapter Seven

Chapter SevenIsighed at the screen of my cell phone, sweeping my gaze over the three faces staring back at me. “I told you not to freak out.”“How can we not freak out?” demanded Briar, her eyes blazing fire—something they’d been doing since I revealed what had happened in my parking lot. “You could have been shot.”“But I wasn’t, I’m fine,” I assured her, sinking deeper into Danton’s black leather sofa.“Not the point,” insisted Izzy, anger dripping from every syllable. “That sick twat should never have touched you, let alone …” She trailed off, as if it was too hard to finish her sentence.Adjusting the collar of her robe, Inaya stiffly cricked her neck. “I’m itching to cut a bitch up. There are some people who just should not exist.”“Amen,” snapped Briar, rehanging her dress in the big-ass closet. The three women had decided to skip the burlesque show, no longer in the mood for a night out, so they were each in various stages of un-ready.“I’m not saying that what he did was okay just because I’m okay. I simply mean that it doesn’t help to dwell on what could have happened,” I said, smoothing a wrinkle out of my skirt.I hadn’t wanted to wait for Danton naked in bed. It would have felt too much like I was there to service him or something. Plus, I’d much rather be dressed when we had our upcoming serious conversation.As such, I’d gotten dressed after he’d left and then went for a brief wander through his apartment. Not being nosy, simply getting a brief idea of the layout … and, yes, checking if there were any ‘feminine touches.’ There weren’t, to my relief. Well, he wasn’t the only one of us who was a little possessive.After that, I’d settled on the sofa to call my friends and give them a heads-up as to what had happened tonight. I’d want them to do the same if the situation were reversed. Plus, they would have otherwise obliviously gone to my building to pick me up for the burlesque show that I would no longer be attending.“Thank God that that Duke person was there to intervene.” Briar raised a hand, palm out. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m somewhat miffed on your behalf that Danton put a tail on you without your knowledge. But I can’t be anything but uber grateful that someone jumped in to help you tonight.”Izzy studied me carefully as she began using a wet wipe to remove her makeup. “How do you feel about the guard thing?”Absently rubbing at the side of my face, I twisted my mouth. “Surprised. Touched. Annoyed. Hopeful. I can’t help reading something into it.”“I’m reading something into it,” said Inaya, smoothly pulling a brush through her wet hair. “How can we not?”I lowered my hand to my lap. “Danton said that he hasn’t slept with anyone since me.”“I can easily believe that,” said Inaya. “He hasn’t been back to the Vault, I can tell you that much for certain. Everything he did tonight would suggest you were wrong in thinking you don’t matter to him.”Briar dipped her chin. “I’d have to agree with that. I mean, the guy swooped in, took control of the situation, brought you to his home, and patiently helped snap you out of that weird state. He wouldn’t have done any of that if you didn’t matter. He wouldn’t have even turned up at the lot to check you over. He’d have told Duke to escort you up to your apartment, leaving it up to you to either call the cops or your family.”“Plus, he asked you to stay at his apartment when he left,” added Izzy. “That he had no qualms with leaving you there alone says he trusts you. I doubt Danton Quintero trusts many people. I’d be pissed off that he left you, since I don’t think you should bealone right now, but I can’t fault him for heading off to question the wanker who tried taking you.” Her brown eyes hardened. “I hope that Danton pounds him into the ground.”“Yeah, I want that fuckface to be pissing blood for a goddamn week,” said Briar.It was a satisfying thought.Inaya set down her hairbrush, though I couldn’t see where from this angle. “I’m very grateful to Danton for taking care of you tonight, Cat. I highly doubt he’s so attentive to many people, and I’ll bet my life it’s making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. My opinion? You two are totally gonna end up screwing tonight.”Briar gaped. “Seriously,Inaya?Don’t laugh, Cat, she doesn’t need the encouragement.”I couldn’t help it. Inaya had few filters. I could always count on her to blurt something out that would lighten a moment.“I only said what we’re all thinking,” Inaya claimed.Dropping her wet wipe, Izzy hesitated to speak and then inclined her head. “I was thinking it.”“So was I, but that’s not the point,” said Briar.Inaya smiled at me. “He’s gonna do that dominant male thing where they fuck you to prove to themselves that you’re okay. And you know you’ll cave, Cat, you know … What’s with the blush?” Her eyes widened in delight. “Oh my God, you already did the dirty with him, didn’t you?”Shoving my fingers through my hair, I lifted my shoulders. “It just happened. I didn’t plan it but, yeah, I folded like a cheap pack of cards when he made a move.”Inaya’s lips curved. “I don’t think you should give yourself a hard time about it. He spent months training your mind and body to reflexively submit to him. We should just blame that.”Briar pointed a finger. “Yes. It’s a programming thing. Cat was helpless against it.”I smiled, aware they were attempting to cheer me up. “To be truthful, I was very much an exceedingly willing participant.”Izzy slanted her head. “I’m not sensing any regret pouring off you, so I’m guessing that you’re not wishing you hadn’t caved.”No, I wasn’t. But … “I will regret it if he tells me that nothing has changed.”Rubbing a little moisturizer into the skin of her face, Izzy pursed her lips. “I think he’s ready to cross the casual line. But you won’t know for certain unless you ask him. Which is easier said than done, of course—I know that from personal experience. But I also know from personal experience that you’ll be on pins, wondering where his head is at, if you don’t talk to him about it.”Fucking A. “He already told me that we needed to talk and straighten a few things out. At this point, I’m pretty sure that he isn’t inclined to tip his hat and walk away if I ask him to. I simply don’t know if what he wants is to restart our arrangement—which I don’t want—or if he’s up for taking things up a notch, which I’d totally give a whirl.”“He didn’t say anythingthat would give you a clue?” asked Briar, lowering herself onto her bed.I bit my bottom lip. “He said he missed me, and that he’d blister my ass if I walked away again. But he said those things during sex.”“That doesn’t mean you should dismiss them,” said Inaya. “It’s a time when people’s guards are down. They often say what they find hard to voice in normal situations …”The rest of Inaya’s words were lost on me as Julian Calling began flashing on the top of my cell phone screen.“What’s wrong?” asked Izzy.I rubbed at my nape. “Julian’s trying to call me.” Which was weird, because he very rarely contacted me.Briar’s brows slid together. “Do you need us to end the video call so you can answer him? You should make him aware of what happened tonight.”“Danton asked me not to mention the attack to anyone from my family until he’d interrogated the guy who came after me.”Briar’s head twitched to the side. “Why?”“Probably because he thinks that Jorge would attempt to take over. Which he would. He might not care about me, but I am his daughter. It would look like weakness on his part if he didn’t take action. Danton’s adamant that he wishes to deal with the situation himself.”I wondered just exactly how he was dealing with it. It was most likely in a way that involved my attacker bleeding heavily. And I couldn’t find it in me to feel pity for the asshole.Still, not wanting to think too much about it, I shook my head and asked, “Can we talk about something else? Something lighter?”“Sure. I have a question.” Inaya leaned forward. “What’s Danton’s apartment like?”“All style and masculinity,” I replied, glancing around, taking in the leather seating, unnecessarily wide TV, black glass coffee table, shark-gray paint, and wooden flooring. “It suits him. I like it.”We moved from one easy subject to another, joking and laughing, until I heard the whirring of the elevator.I stilled. “He’s back, I’ll call again tomorrow, I promise.”The girls waved, saying their goodbyes and quietly wishing me luck.The shiny metal doors on my far left slid open just as I ended the video call. Danton stepped out of the elevator and slowly stalked through the small foyer and into the living room.He looked as composed as always, not a hair out of place, not a wrinkle in his shirt, not a dot of blood to be seen. You wouldn’t think he’d recently interrogated someone. But his jaw was tight, and there was a hard glint in his eye that told me he didn’t at all like whatever he’d learned from my attacker.“You’re back sooner than I expected,” I told him.“It didn’t take long to get the answers I needed. The bastard sang like a canary.” Taking a seat on the sofa beside me, he angled his body to face me. His gaze drank in my expression. “You okay? I didn’t like leaving you alone.”My chest went a little tight in a good way. I mirrored his position. “I’m fine. How did your conversation with—” I cut off as my phone began to ring. “It’s Julian again,” I noticed as I peered at the screen.Danton’s brow creased slightly. “Again?”“He tried calling me earlier.”His jaw hardened. “I told him not to try contacting you.”I felt my brows flit together. “You spoke to him?”“I did. I had a few questions for him, since the prick who attacked you claimed that he did it under your brother’s orders.”My lips parted. A shocked, disbelieving laugh bubbled up. “What?” I shook my head. “That makes no sense. What possible reason could Julian have to do that? No. No, that has to be a lie.”“Cat—”“All he’d have to do if he wanted to speak to me is ask me to meet him somewhere. There’d be no need for anyone to kidnap and take me to him.”Danton rested his arm on the back of the sofa. “I doubt Julian believed that the attempt to grab you would be successful. He’d guess that you had a guard; that I’d ensure you were protected twenty-four/seven. Even if he didn’t spot Duke, he’d know there’d be someone watching.”“Then why would he even bother?” Could Danton not see that this was completely nonsensical?“Your attacker, Cory, received a message from a burner phone saying, ‘I’m calling in my favor. Bring my sister to me and be rough about it. A message needs to be sent.’ He signed it ‘Julian’ and included your address.”I shook my head, unable to believe it. Not wanting to believe it.“I saw the text message, Cat. Cory wasn’t lying about it. He didn’t notice Duke, and since Julian had given him no warning of a guard in the text, Cory assumed that you weren’t constantly watched—he didn’t know you’re mine. So he made a grab for you.”“Anyone could have sent Cory a message and signed it ‘Julian,’” I pointed out.Danton conceded that with a brief tilt of his head. “I called your brother. He swears that it wasn’t him; that he doesn’t even own a burner phone with that number. But he wouldn’t exactly admit to it, would he?”No. No, he wouldn’t. I licked my lips. “What else did he say?”“He claims that someone who knew that Cory owed him a favor must have posed as him. It’s possible. I’m not sure I believe your brother, though. You want to. I can see that. I don’t blame you. But you know your family, Cat. You know what they’re capable of. Do you really think it would bother them much to give you a scare?”I swallowed, pained that my answer could only be … “No.” I bit hard on my bottom lip. “You said ‘them,’ not ‘Julian,’” I noted, recalling his latter comment. “You’re thinking what I’m thinking—that if my brother did send that message, he wouldn’t have done it without Jorge’s knowledge.”Danton nodded. “Your father might have even put him up to it.”I balled up my hands, wishing I could protest. The reality was, though, that I was nothing but property to Jorge. “There’s something I really don’t get. The text said that a message needs to be sent. If Jorge or Julian had something they needed to say to me, wouldn’t they have done it face to face? They could have given me a scare just fine in person.”“The message wasn’t for you, baby. It was for me.”I frowned. “I don’t understand.”He played with the ends of my hair, not moving his gaze from mine. “Jorge considers himself a powerful man who should be respected and feared. I don’t respect him. I don’t fear him. And I made that clear when I told him in his study that he has no control over you anymore and that you’re under my protection.”I grimaced. “Julian mentioned that. Jorge apparently didn’t much like how you ‘laid down the law.’”“No, he didn’t. Just as he didn’t like that my claiming you didn’t mean I’d agree to do business with him—something I’ve repeatedly refused to do over the last month. He remained civil, leery of pissing me off. But I suspected he’d strike out at me in a way that couldn’t be traced back to him. That’s his style. It’s also his style to target those who are closest to anyone who’s wronged him, but I have no family. It didn’t occur to me that he’d think to use you to get to me. But he did.”Feeling disheartened, I let my eyelids fall shut. “Yeah, he’s all about power games. He wouldn’t care who got caught in the crossfire, not even his own daughter.” I took a deep breath, meeting Danton’s gaze again. “Do you think Julian was involved or that Jorge might have acted independently?”His eyes intently raked over my face. “I know you’d like me to say that it was probably just Jorge, but I won’t lie to you. I don’t find it difficult to believe that your brother was involved.”Honestly, I didn’t find it difficult to believe either. There was a time when Julian never would have said or done a thing to hurt me, but that time had long since passed.“Julian could have acted alone, though. I wouldn’t have thought he’d make a move without Jorge’s say-so, but it’s possible. He has motive to come at me.”“You turned Risa,” I remembered.“Yes. It wasn’t difficult. Vicente brought her to me. He’s her ex. She went to him looking for protection.”I tipped my head slightly to the side. “From who?”“Jorge. She overheard him promising one of his men, Marcos, that they’d all be using her as a party favor that night.”Party favor? God, my father was such a bastard.“She wasn’t sure if Julian had agreed to it, but she did feel that he wouldn’t contradict Jorge. So, because I’m not a complete asshole and Vicente asked me to help her, I did. In exchange, she gave me information on Julian and Jorge.”I couldn’t exactly blame her, but my brother certainly did. I wondered if he knew what had sparked her to run. I would like to think that he didn’t; that he’d been clueless as to Jorge’s plans for her and that he wouldn’t have let it happen. But our father’s approval meant more to him than anything else, so Risa had been right to not take her chances.“Julian came to see me recently,” I said. “He demanded I ‘get rid’ of you.”Danton’s eyes flared. “Did he now?”“It seems that Jorge wants you out the picture, so he sent Julian to whisper some stuff into my ear that would turn me against you.”“Like what?”“Like that you don’t have any true interest in me,” I replied, my voice even. “That you only want me because I’m Jorge’s daughter. That you’re using me to both piss him off and squeeze any information out of me that you can.”“Which you know is bullshit,” Danton said with a derogatory snort. “I made a move on you simply because I wanted you. Any man would.” He drifted his fingers through my hair. “You’re a work of art come to life.”I could have said the same about him.“And you follow directions so beautifully,” he added, his lips hitching up slightly. “You’re your own person, and you own your strength. You need no one, but you surrender all control to me.” He moved his face closer to mine. “I fucking love that.”Ignoring the tingles skipping along my skin, I searched his eyes as I asked, “Did you ever intend to use me to get information about my family?”“I thought about it when we first met,” he admitted, matter of fact.Ouch. At least he’d been honest.“But then I fucked you, and I changed my mind.”I blinked. “Just like that?”“Just like that.”“Why?”He curled a chunk of my hair around his fist. “I protect what’s mine. I don’t betray or disrespect it.”“And if I hadn’t agreed to an arrangement so quickly?”“I would have pushed until you did, but I wouldn’t have tried wrenching information out of you in the meantime.” Using his grip on my hair, he tugged me closer and grazed my lower lip with his teeth. “I’d decided you’d be mine. Fortunately, you did agree to the arrangement.”I licked at my smarting lip. “You didn’t suspect it might have been that I would try pumping you for anything my family could use against you?”“Sure I did. But it became clear very fast that you had no such intention. It didn’t surprise me. From what I’d gathered, you had a piss-poor relationship with your father.”“I don’t think he has a healthy relationship with anyone—not even my brother.” I paused. “If one or both of them are behind what went down tonight, I want nothing to do with them ever again.”He softly snorted. “Like I’d let them near you if I thought they were a danger to you.”I almost shook my head in wonder. If I’d ever sensed that he had such a deep protective streak, I wouldn’t have expected to find it trained on me like this. It was both comforting and heady. “So what happens now regarding the Cory situation?”“It’s already been done. I called Julian, as you know. He swore he’d find out who sent Cory after you. Like I said before, I’m not sure I believe that your brother had nothing to do with it. But I let him think that I was open to the idea.”“Why?”“So he and Jorge won’t expect me to come for them. I like to surprise my prey.” Letting my hair slip from his hand, he skimmed his nose along the underside of my jaw. “I also made it clear that whoever was responsible would pay, just as Cory paid.”“Do I want to know what you did to Cory?”“No.” Danton lifted his head and took my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Trust that I’ll deal with the situation. And don’t go see your family until we can be positive they’re innocent in this. You can’t give them the benefit of the doubt.”“I won’t.” They’d done nothing to make me feel that I could.“Duke will stay on you. He’s pissed at himself for not reaching you sooner tonight, but that was my fault. I’d asked him to keep a distance so you wouldn’t notice him.” Danton released my chin. “That won’t be necessary anymore so, from now on, there won’t be a distance.”I hitched up a brow. “There won’t?”“No. You’ll get used to it.” He gave me a pointed look. “I warned you that it would be better for you if we stuck to a simple arrangement. You wanted more. Well, you got what you wanted.”I did? Every cell in my body immediately brightened.“But you’ve got to accept two things, Cat. One, you now have to deal with the gilded cage I told you about. That isn’t going to be easy for you.”Maybe not, but I wasn’t stupid; I knew our world was dangerous. I knew his protective measures wouldn’t be toxic efforts to oppress and control me. That would make all the difference.“Two, I might not do shit like sell drugs or dabble in human trafficking, but I am no saint. I won’t change, Cat. I need you to take me as I am.”I understood what he was saying. He wasn’t going to turn his back on all he’d built, even if a lot of what he’d built was illegal. I might not condone that, but I could deal with it because—as he’d pointed out—he didn’t dabble in the shit that was a huge no-no for me.Plus, it wasn’t simple to walk away from a world like that. None of your old ‘acquaintances’ would trust that you’d keep your mouth shut about all you knew. It placed you in danger, and I didn’t want that for him.Besides, I’d gone into this thing with Danton with my eyes wide open—to who he was, to what he did. There’d be no sense, use, or fairness in whining about any of it now. “Haven’t I always taken you as you are?”His face softened. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you have. Now come here.” He snagged my nape, pulled me closer, and slanted his mouth over mine.And boom my hormones went all aflutter.I grabbed his shoulder, melting into him. Every flick of his tongue made me hungrier for him. The kiss was lazy, deep, and a promise of more. So I couldn’t help but frown when he pulled back. “Pussytease.”His brows flew up, and his lips curved. “I wasn’t teasing. I was indulging.”“But then you stopped,” I snippily pointed out. “You need to indulge some more. Get to it.”He slipped his hand around my throat in a very dominant move. “Since when,” he began, his tone low and a little dark, “do you get to fire orders at me?”Fuck, he was going to make me wait longer now. I sniffed. “Pull me on it if you want, but we both know you like it that I dare get pushy and bossy with you sometimes.”“It is refreshing,” he admitted. “People generally fear me. You don’t. Why?”“I actually don’t know.” I’d never once felt in danger around him. Not even in the very beginning, when he was a relative stranger. He’d made me nervous as a woman, had rattled my hormones, but that was all.In truth, he still rattled them. Still made my nerves edgy. But it was a good kind of edgy. The kind that added a spice of excitement in the bedroom.“You never have to fear me.” Loosening his grip on my neck, he trailed his fingertips down the column of my throat. “I would never harm you.”“I believe you. Hence why I didn’t get worried by your threat to blister my ass if I went my own way again.”His gaze fixed on mine, hard and intent. “I fucking meant it. I will spank your ass raw if you even try it.”“Does that mean you also meant it when you said you missed me?”“Yeah.”“You don’t sound happy about it.”“It was fucking irritating.”My lips quirked. “I missed you, too.”He gave me a dark look. “I find that hard to believe, considering you blocked my number. Twice.”I felt my brows draw together. “You tried calling me again?”“Yeah.”“Why?”“I wanted to hear your voice. Wanted you to think of me.” He dug his teeth hard into my bottom lip. “I wasn’t gonna make it easy for you to forget me.”“You are not an easy person to forget.”His eyes narrowed. “I’d say you ignored my existence just fine or you wouldn’t have managed to block my number.”We were still on that? I sighed. “Call it a matter of self-preservation. I didn’t think it would bother you. I wasn’t sure you’d even notice.”“I noticed.” A smug glint entered his eyes. “Got you to unblock it the first time, though, didn’t I?”“Oh, is that the real reason you sent me the perfume? You thought it might make me contact you?”He grunted. “Worked, didn’t it?”“Smug bastard. And here I thought you’d move on pretty quickly and find yourself a new club-buddy.”“I wasn’t interested in anyone but you. I haven’t been to the Vault since the night you told me our arrangement was over. I’d have showed up if Duke had reported that you were on your way there. No way was I going to let another man touch you.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “All I’d have had to do is stay reasonably close to you. None would have dared go near you.”I tried for a scowl, but it was impossible to stop my lips from curving. “Ruthless little shit.” My smile dimmed as I added, “I was worried you were going to propose that we restart our arrangement. I wouldn’t have been down with that.”“I know.” He traced the shell of my ear with his fingertip. “But I’m not going to let you leave me again so, yeah, you now have what you want. I’ve got to warn you, Cat, there’ll be times when my overprotectiveness drives you insane. Times when you’ll get tired of the gilded cage and wonder why you ever thought you could handle it. But, honestly, I’ll have no sympathy for you.”A surprised chuckle escaped me. “No?”“No. You know here and now what you’re getting into. You know that my security measures are necessary. You can nonetheless be annoyed by them. You can even bitch about them. But you can’t try to leave me. You already did it once. I did not fucking like it. I’m telling you straight, Cat, I won’t allow you to do it again.”I caught his face with my hands and gave him a pitying smile. “I can’t tell you how cute it is that you think you can hold me against my will without getting shanked.”Amusement lit his eyes. “Shanked? You got a makeshift knife, baby?”“Hmm, maybe.”“I wouldn’t put it passed you.” He closed his mouth over mine again and sank his tongue inside. He feasted as he tangled a hand in my hair, swallowing my moans. Breaking the kiss with a growl, he gave me a scorching look that went straight to my womb. “Bed.” He stood and picked me up as easily as if I weighed nothing. Silently urging me to wrap my limbs around him, he carried me to his bedroom. “And unblock my fucking number.”My mouth curved. “Will do.”