by Sam Crescent
“I don’t think you should do that. You’ve wanted to be in the financial sector for a long time and I know Lawrence was a jerk, but they’re not going to let him back.”
“What if they do? It’s my word against his, and I’m just a graduate, Emily. What if I have to work with him?”
Emily held her shoulders. “Listen to me closely. Lawrence isn’t coming back. Believe me. I know you’re never going to have to see him again.”
Tears filled Hannah’s eyes. “You’re sure?”
“I’m positive.” Emily released her. “Let me go and make you some more tea.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell her friend even after all this time that she hated tea.
Getting to her feet, she picked up the resignation letter and wasn’t sure what to do with it. If Lawrence wasn’t going to be there then why send it in? She’d give it a couple of weeks and see what happened at work before making a final decision.
Pushing some hair out of her face, she got to her feet. Working in the financial sector wasn’t exactly a dream job. She was good with numbers, always had been. They didn’t lie to her or annoy her. They were there, plain and simple.
She’d been told to try for teaching, but the thought of teaching any kids filled her with a deep pit of depression. Kids were horrible, at least from what she remembered of them, and it wasn’t all that long ago she’d experienced that.
Putting the resignation letter back in her bedroom, she found Emily on her cell phone.
“I’ve been so selfish. How has your job been?” Hannah asked.
They hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks.
“Oh, you know. It’s the same. It’s been fun to work for West Gallo. He has many ventures, restaurants, nightclubs, casinos, that kind of thing. I help to organize interviews and make stops in each of his endeavors and report back.”
“I’ve never heard of him or any of his companies.”
“The nightclubs are the best in town. Be warned though, he does have a few strip clubs as well.”
“Oh, well, to each their own. You know my thoughts on that.”
Emily burst out laughing. “I don’t see there being any male strip clubs any time soon.”
This had been a debate in one of their study groups. For some reason strip clubs had been mentioned, and because they’d considered her a goody-two-shoes, they’d made a comment about not offending her delicate sensibilities. That had really pissed her off. She followed the rules because that’s what everyone had to do. It didn’t for a second make her a prude or lack any sexual desire or even crave something dirty. She’d told them simply that she had no desire to see another woman’s tits but she wouldn’t mind going to a strip club where men got down and dirty.
That had shocked the entire table.
Being a virgin wasn’t by choice.
No.
She’d been on a few dates, and none of them wanted her goods.
So instead of screwing her way through college, she’d read books. Not just the sappy romance kind either that she loved. There were a select few books that she hid in her room that were hers to read in private.
Dark books.
Books that pushed all of her limits. Giving absolute control to a man that may be even dangerous at times. That kind of darkness, the fear, the lure of the unknown called to her. A distant memory in the back of her mind that was still a bit fuzzy. One she tried not to think about or talk about as she didn’t know if it was dream or a memory.
“It’s a shame, really. It would teach husbands a thing or two of how it feels when they go off and see another woman’s tits. I should make a note of that,” Hannah said, grabbing her notebook of dreams.
“What note?”
“Being a financial advisor and knowing how to handle money, I’m going to put some aside and look into opening my own male strip club.”
“Really?” Emily asked.
“Yes. I think it would be a huge hit. I mean, not to the prudes in our country but certainly to the women that want to have a bit of fun and not see another woman’s tits.” After making a note, she closed the book and smiled at her friend.
Every now and then she caught Emily staring at her, like she was trying to figure something out. Not for the first time she wondered if Emily was actually her friend or if she was just the easy option in college.
Her previous roommate got expelled for drug use, and before the first semester was out, Emily was in and they were sharing a room. It had been a lot of fun, and she adored her friend. She just wished she knew what she was thinking.
“You know what?” Emily asked, putting a cup in front of her.
“What?”
“I think we should go to one the nightclubs I work for. Get you out on the town and, you know, stop all those bad thoughts about your boss.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Last time we went out to party, you abandoned me and no one would dance with me.” She was so worried that she stank, she’d poured a whole can of deodorant all over herself to help mask any scent that seemed to be keeping the men away.
“I promise not to abandon you. Come on. It’ll be fun. I know you’ve had a bad experience. All men are jerks. Believe me, I’ve had all kinds of per—erm, guys that, you know, have tried a thing or two. Don’t let them bring you down.” Emily touched her arm and smiled.
“You’re sure?”
“Hell, yeah, I’m sure. I won’t leave your side. We’ll have a few drinks, dance together. It’ll be fun. You know. Just you and me.”
“Count me in.”
“Awesome. Now, I’m going to go out and get us some dinner. You want to come for the walk?”
“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll catch up on a few things here. Clean up a little.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to head out.”
“I’ll get your usual,” Emily said.
She watched her friend leave their apartment. The sound of the lock clicking into place echoed around the room. There were four additional locks on the inside, but she wasn’t about to slide them into place, not with Emily needing to come back inside.
Gripping the back of her neck, she released a breath and glanced around the room. Everywhere was spotless. Since coming home after Lawrence’s attack, she’d done nothing but clean.
Biting her lip, she walked over to the sofa and plumped up the pillows for the hundredth time that day. This apartment had been a steal when they’d graduated. Fully furnished with a decent rental agreement. Actually, more than decent. When she saw the space and knew what the rent was, she’d asked to see the landlord or manager because someone was clearly ripping him off.
Of course, Emily told her not to worry about it. That she shouldn’t go insulting their potential landlord by offering money advice. She couldn’t help it though. She liked to help people, and knowing her parents into their late years hadn’t been able to live with ease, she’d vowed to help anyone who wanted it. Money was a pain in the ass as far as she was concerned. People needed it as it made life a hell of a lot easier, but it didn’t make for a good life.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she moved around the apartment, putting little pieces of paper back in their place and then checking the pictures. Before she completely lost her mind and started rearranging furniture she made her way into her bedroom. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she ran her hands up and down her thighs.
Something was bothering her, and she didn’t know what it was.
Needing to distract herself, she kicked off her shoes and moved up the bed, grabbing the secret book she was currently reading. This was a capture book. A young woman had been taken, and the hero was the girl’s captor.
The scenes always became tense as he came down into the cell where he kept her. He fed her but wouldn’t allow her to be clothed. She was always open and exposed to him. She hated that before he’d taken her he’d been the guy she’d been lusting after. That was what made it so hard for her.
Her captor turned he
r on, and she hated that.
So whenever he touched her there was always a conflict.
She didn’t want to respond, but in the end, she always did.
Opening up the book to the last page she read, Hannah saw the heroine was still strapped to the bed where he’d kept her. The book was told in the heroine’s thoughts, and no one knew why she’d been taken, only that there was no way out for her.
Reading through the next couple of pages, he continued to tease her. To stroke her body, to arouse. No pain had happened as of yet, and that was okay. He liked to bring her to the brink of pleasure before ever letting her fall over the edge.
Hannah waited with bated breath as he spread the heroine’s legs. He climbed onto the bed, and there was nowhere for her to go. The heroine didn’t want to fight him. She hated this feeling, of being open to him and hating him at the same time. The memory of one of their dates flashed before her eyes, of his charming smile. She couldn’t believe that this was the same man that she really had feelings for.
Just as he was about to touch her pussy, to slide his fingers inside, Hannah heard the door open. Putting the bookmark back inside, she placed the book back in her drawer beneath a couple of health magazines.
Pushing some of her hair out of the way, she wondered if she should get it cut. She kept thinking about getting the long length, which was now midway down her back it was so long. She hated going to the stylists though. They never listened to what she wanted.
“Anna, I’ve got food.”
She couldn’t get that book out of her mind.
What would it be like to be at a man’s mercy? To have him stroke your body until you couldn’t think straight? She’d never been touched, not by a man. There had been one guy in high school she’d kissed, and that was all. Nothing else had happened, especially when they got caught and the boy had been teased about having a thing for a fat girl. She tried not to dwell on all of that though.
The past was going to stay there.
Leaving her bedroom, she found Emily in the kitchen, Chinese food spread out for them to eat.
“Wow, that didn’t take long at all.”
“I called ahead so they had it ready to go. I walked fast as well.” Emily put her cell phone away. “You clear your head?”
“A little, yeah. I feel much better.” She grabbed a carton of Chinese food and wondered if such a man was even real for her to find. It seemed too good to even be possible to consider.
It wasn’t that she wanted a man who would hurt her. The risk of being tortured and killed didn’t exactly turn her on. Those parts of the books didn’t appeal to her. She didn’t want to get slapped around and fear for her life. Far from it. It was the potential danger of giving herself to a man who could do what he wanted without anyone being there to stop him. Even though she loved to read about it that experience with Lawrence made her feel sick to her stomach.
When she could, she’d throw all of those books out and never look back at them again.
Chapter Two
West looked through the files that were piled high on his desk. Lawrence hadn’t been located, and his little minion would soon be dead. There was only so much torture they could do before a man finally gave in. Danny was holding on by a thread, but he clearly didn’t have a clue where Lawrence was. West made a note to put the bastard out of his misery later tonight. Lawrence clearly knew when to get the hell out of dodge, but that pissed him off because it meant he had to put extra men onto hunting him down.
There’s no way he’d let the fucker leave.
Rubbing at his temples, West tried to clear his head, but he couldn’t, not until he had everything under control. Fortunately, Dirty was running smoothly. His latest nightclub was a huge hit, especially as it was connected to celebrities as well as anyone from the local public that was happy to pay the flat fee to enter. He paid handsomely for the latest and best DJs. When it came to his legal businesses he liked to make sure they were a success. It paid him to have money coming in this way. He paid his taxes, which made it hard for law enforcement to pin anything on him. They couldn’t find any crime that was linked to him. Nothing that could put him in jail. There would always be rumors, but he would never be caught.
There was a knock at the door, and a second later, Rome entered.
“Sir, Emily’s here.”
He was getting tired of that woman’s attention. She had a job to do, and it didn’t involve stalking him.
“And she’s with Hannah?”
Putting his pen down, he tapped into the nightclub’s security feed and found the exact point she arrived. Ten minutes ago, wearing a small black dress that molded to every single curve and any man with eyes would see just how fucking sexy she looked. He was pissed off.
Following their path, he saw they were at the bar and as he sped up the footage, they remained at the bar. Spinning around, he looked down over his nightclub and there she was. Hannah Ray, sitting at his bar, flirting with the bartender.
“Cage is already heading toward the bartender, West,” Rome said.
His closest men knew how important it was to keep Hannah safe, but only those closest to him were aware. He put a small security detail on her of two men, besides his own, and they were to keep her safe at all times when he wasn’t there. His reach and money were far and great, but there were times when she could come and go without being seen, which was why he had men on it.
Pulling his gaze away from Hannah’s fine ass, he checked the club and sure enough, the two men, James and Robert, were there in the nightclub, looking like single men waiting to find a woman. They always played their part well.
They made sure the men who thought they had a chance with Hannah learned their place. Running a hand down his face, he returned his attention to Emily. She was glancing up at the office as she knew where it was. In the past few months, she’d gotten … clingy. She hadn’t made any overt attempts on him, but he saw it in her eyes, the way she looked at him. After these past five years, she was aware of the kind of man he was, the power he held. Like most women, she was addicted to it.
“What would you like me to do?” Rome asked.
“Make sure she has a good time.”
He saw Hannah was smiling and her foot was tapping to the beat of the music. She looked relaxed, and as much as he wanted her out of his damn club and away from any danger, he couldn’t bring himself to upset her.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Returning to his desk, he brought up the camera near the bar and saw her talking with the bartender still. She wasn’t flirting at all, just talking.
He couldn’t believe she was in one of his clubs or that it wasn’t terrifying her.
“I will go and keep watch,” Rome said.
“Any news on Lawrence?” West asked.
“Nothing yet, sir. Our contacts believe he’s snuck off to a hotel. A flag came up of him trying to get out of the country. Our team was at the airport and the surrounding hotels within the hour, but nothing. He’s not out of the country, and we’ve now got men close to all the airports just in case.”
“Does he have anyone who would be willing to help him?”
“No, sir. We’ve checked all of his contacts. Lawrence wasn’t a well-liked man, and seeing as you’ve put a bounty on his head, unless they don’t know who you are, no one is helping him.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” He tapped away on his keyboard, typing in the code to access another camera.
When it came to Hannah he knew everything there was to know about her. Her passions, her loves, everything. From that first meeting all those years ago until now, he’d delved into her life, from the moment she was registered as a newborn through to now. He was a crazy motherfucker; he knew that.
What Hannah didn’t know was they had met on the day she turned eighteen years old. It wasn’t a significant meeting by any means. It was what happened a few months after that cemented the obsession he had for her.
&nb
sp; Thinking back all those years, he wondered what point it was that he realized that he wanted her. That first meeting, or the one a few months after? Both had stuck with him. Their first meeting he’d not been able to stop thinking about her. She’d been so sweet, so beautiful, so kind, and he’d been so taken aback by her bluntness that he’d not been able to hold back from talking to her.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he finished signing a few employees’ paychecks, glanced through some order forms, signed them, and was just finishing up a report when there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” he said.
He knew it wasn’t going to be Rome. Unless he gave the order to be left alone, Rome knocked and entered.
Emily walked in, closing the door behind her, hips swaying from side to side, and looking so confident it grated on his nerves.
She’d forgotten her place in the world. The one where she was nothing more than a bug.
“Hey, West,” she said.
She sat down in the seat across from him. Her long, fake blonde hair fell around her in waves. She had large tits, a tiny waist, and thick lips that were designed to wrap around a man’s dick.
He knew this for a fact seeing as she’d been a whore that worked the streets.
Sitting back in his chair, he looked at her. She’d not touched another drug since she’d been in place with Hannah. She’d done her job well.
He’d also made her aware that nothing would ever happen between them. He didn’t want her. She didn’t even matter to him.
If someone was to come and shoot her in the head right now in his office, he’d demand they clean it up and then go and help Hannah home. That’s how little this woman meant to him.
She was merely someone he needed at the time. He’d have gotten her killed now.
Killing women didn’t sit well with him and he often made sure it didn’t happen, but that didn’t for a second mean he wouldn’t do it.
If Emily continued to push or press or do whatever it was she kept on fucking doing, he would have no choice but to strike out and hurt her.