He gave me a small smile as we made our way across the dark parking lot between the parked cars.
I sighed, resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to tell me anything, like usual. But on the positive side, I’d gotten him to at least crack open the closed door he had most of the time, and maybe that was a start. I wondered what it would take to open it wide and whether he would ever do that for me.
He came to a stop on the sidewalk in front of the gallery. The entire front of the building was mostly glass, showing off the vaulted ceilings and circular staircase to the second floor inside. The walls were covered in various paintings that hung at several different heights, in all manner of shapes, colors and subject matter.
A mass of people were milling around, laughing, drinking and looking at the various pieces of work. The volume of the chatter could be heard from where we were standing as we waited for the couple in front of us to enter the building.
My phone pinged in my clutch and Mick looked down at me.
“Probably Alex wondering why I didn’t call.”
Mick chuckled. “Let him wonder.”
I gave him a sideways glance and shook my head. “I’m not sure you two are going to work well together.”
Mick suppressed a smile by clenching his jaw and raising one of his eyebrows.
“We’ll be fine as soon as he backs the fuck off,” he mumbled.
“What does that mean? Did he do something?”
He shook his head once, scanning the room as we entered the gallery. “No, he just seems to think that I can be pushed in one direction or another.”
“Well, he’s a dominant person. Look at what he does for a living,” I said, raising my voice just slightly to be heard.
He chuckled. “That’s not what I meant. He threatened to kill me if I wasn’t nice to you.”
My mouth hung open. “Is that why you’ve been an asshole to me?”
Mick smirked, letting go of my hand to snag two champagne glasses off the tray of a passing waiter.
“Your definition of an “asshole” and mine are clearly out of sync.”
I shrugged and took a sip of the champagne. “You’re an asshole when you don’t talk to me, not because of what you say.”
He narrowed his eyes considering what I’d said. I sniffed, and my chin went up a little as I ignored him.
I pretended to study a painting on the wall beside me, softening a bit when his hand slid around my waist. He lingered over my hip a moment, distracting me from the menagerie of colors in the large landscape painting.
His warm breath hit my ear as he pressed closer.
“So, if I told you I wanted to hike up that skirt of yours and fuck you in the women’s restroom, I wouldn’t be an asshole?”
“Nope,” I replied tartly as my face flushed. I moved to the next painting, his hand still on my hip.
Admiring the portrait of a young woman in repose, his warm breath hit my ear again.
“And I wouldn’t be an asshole if I told you I wanted to take you to a table and finger you while we pretend to drink?”
I cleared my throat, as I shivered from his words. “Well, I’m not wearing anything under this, so that might not be too difficult to manage. I thought I might try it your way tonight, so I ditched the panties.”
He growled behind me. “Are you fucking kidding me? And you were going to come out without me?”
“I thought I’d try something new and tell you about it later.”
“Don’t ever fucking do that again, Alisa.”
I shrugged. “Why not? You do it all the time. It seems like men get to have all the fun. Go without underwear, play with guns.”
I moved to the next painting and his grip on my hip tightened.
“Play with guns?” he hissed. “What the hell?”
I glanced over my shoulder before turning toward him. Smiling sweetly, crowded in by several people trying to get a closer look at the painting I’d moved in front of, I dropped my hand to his belt then slid south in a small gesture. Making my point as my fingers slipped across the hard bulge between his legs, I faced the painting once more.
“Yes, guns,” I said and took a sip of my drink.
The woman beside me gave me a curious look that I ignored as I bent to examine the signature at the bottom of the massive framed piece.
Mick brushed against me, harder than he’d been, and slid his hand over my waist as he pulled me slightly into his hips. The small gesture was probably missed by most, likely not even noted, but my body started to burn between my legs.
When I stood straight again, I tried to move on to the next painting, but Mick’s hand prevented any movement.
“Not so fast, pretty girl,” he growled against my ear. “You’re playing dirty.”
I shrugged. “I’m just playing the way you would.”
“I’m trying to behave as I explained in the parking lot.”
Turning in his arms, I peered up at him. “I don’t want you to.”
The expression in his eyes nearly had my legs going weak. They burned a path down my face, pausing on my lips before they dipped to the hem of my dress.
“I think we should leave,” he said in a tone that promised a more interesting destination than the art gallery.
I smirked up at him and shook my head. “No.”
His grimace told me I’d better change my mind, but I couldn’t help teasing him. He was pulling for once and I was pushing, which seemed to irritate the crap out of him. It was at least something other than the silent treatment he’d been giving me, and I felt like I was winning.
Chapter Eleven
Mick
The smug smile on her face said a lot. She was torturing me like some vixen from another realm. She knew it and felt proud of her ability to get me worked up.
I scanned the room and gestured toward a small set up in the corner with a bartender. I needed a stiff drink, not the champagne we’d been nursing. We’d play it her way for a while, but as soon as we left, she’d pay.
As we made our way through the crowd, Alex approached us with a brunette on his arm. He was in a nice suit and she was in a dress that showed off way too much of her assets. Plastic surgery was the woman’s vice by the look of it. Her eyes danced other places rather than on Alex. I wondered if she was even interested in him, as much as it seemed like she was interested in being seen with him.
Standing behind Alisa, I tried to calm my raging hormones. I wiped my thoughts about how much I’d wanted to bend her over only a few minutes before. Sporting an erection, might not be the most appropriate thing when making small talk in public.
“Alex,” Alisa said with a huge smile. She embraced her brother in a hug while the brunette on his arm moved out of the way. “I’m sorry I didn’t call, Mick wanted to bring me.”
Alex’s eyes darted to me, his expression unreadable.
“How nice of him,” he said with a note of sarcasm. “Heather and I waited for a bit, but I thought maybe you’d changed your mind. I know you said you wanted to come, but I wasn’t sure when you didn’t text me.”
“I told Alex we were going to be more than late if we didn’t just leave,” Heather said as her eyes slid down Alisa’s attire. For some reason it raised my protective instincts and I tightened my grip on her hip.
She turned her gaze to me and gave me a haughty look as her eyes roamed. “Do I know you?”
“I think you’d remember if you did,” I said, not giving the woman any other response. She might be Alex’s date, but anyone who looked down their reconstructed nose at Alisa, wasn’t anyone I wanted to know.
“Sorry,” Alex responded. “Heather, this is Mick Galloway. He’s just moved back to the area.”
She blinked her eyes for a moment then smiled. “Galloway. I know that name.”
Alisa coughed as she took a drink of her champagne.
“You okay, baby?” I asked as I rubbed her back.
“Oh, wait, aren’t you some NFL player or something?
” Heather asked, her face suddenly showing far more interest.
“No, I’m homeless and don’t have a job,” I responded. Turning to Alex I said, “We were headed to get some water.”
Alex nodded with a smirk on his face then steered a reluctant Heather through the crowd.
“What was that about?” I asked as I guided Alisa to the bar and ordered a whiskey.
“She’s just a bitch.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Wow. I didn’t think it was possible.”
“What?”
Scanning the crowd, I said, “For you to be so naughty and harsh in the same night.”
“She doesn’t like me. She comes up to the office occasionally, and she’s been sleazing around Alex for a few months according to Melanie. She knows my dad which doesn’t say a lot for her.”
“Hmm,” I said. My hand went to her hip and drew her back to my side. “Well that explains the attitude, but what about the naughty little play you just made out there, Alisa? You’re not being a good girl.”
She smiled back at me with a mischievous expression. “If being a good girl means you’re going to ignore me again, then I’d rather be someone else.”
“Alisa,” I whispered in her ear. “You don’t have to be anyone but you. Do you know how many times a day I think about you?”
She shook her head.
“It’s so distracting that I’m nearly out of my mind by the time I pick you up. You’re the first person I think about when I wake up. That first thought involves tasting you, licking you, being inside you. And if that wasn’t enough, I just want to be around you. Watching a movie, talking about stupid things. I want to smell your shampoo, see your smile. You’re like an addiction to me.”
Turning in my arms she gazed up at me, her expression so trusting and innocent.
I moved a stray length of her blonde hair from her face and gave her a small smile. The compulsion to tip her head back and claim her mouth was nearly overwhelming.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I let out a sigh.
Fishing it out, I looked at the screen. Mason calling.
“Mason,” I answered, still looking at Alisa’s beautiful face as she turned to the side and scanned the room.
“Hey, man. Have any plans after the gallery?”
Thinking of all the ways I wanted to touch the woman in front of me after I got her out of this place, I groaned. “I might have, but if you need something just ask.”
My arms slipped off Alisa’s hip as she waved at someone through the crowd and weaved her way around people to a table. She was still within sight as she spoke to a young man. He was polished, in his grey suit, with perfect hair. I caught a flash of white teeth as she approached.
Mason’s reply penetrated my growing irritation. “I bought the club.”
“Which club?”
“Erebus.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I replied with some shock.
“Well, I told you I wanted to use that money to invest in something. When you took it out of the safe and I sat there looking at it, I just…look it’s hard to explain, but I figure a lot of those Kings come up here. I know of at least two that are here right now. If we caught one of them doing something it would be on cameras. It’s just another way to keep tabs.”
Dragging my attention away from Alisa’s animated conversation with the guy at the table, I focused on what Mason was telling me.
“So, you bought the club because of this whole thing with Alex?”
“Not just that. It’s a good investment. It comes with a lot of headache with staffing, but the woman that’s been managing it is staying, and the staff doesn’t really have to rotate. They make a lot of money here and with a few modifications it could be a much bigger profit. I want you to go in on it with me.”
I blinked a few times wondering how my brother went from frequent patron to owning the club that fed his vice. Whether it helped in catching the occasional transgression or not, it seemed like a drastic move. He wasn’t an idiot as much as I liked to call him one. He was extremely intelligent, but owning a business while doing work for Alex, was adding a lot on his plate.
“I’m not sure.”
“You’re the only person I want doing this with me, Mick. It’s the right time. Remember all those talks we had before you left? We were going to rule the city, open all these businesses, fuck all the pretty girls.”
“Mason,” I said on a sigh. “Those were pipe dreams before we grew up. And I’m not interested in fucking all the pretty girls anymore.”
He laughed. “Yeah, you’ve already got one and you still haven’t fucked her.”
“Watch it, fucker,” I warned.
“It’s all good, bro. She’s incredible, just wish you could see it. Look, come up here after the party. I need you on this. You’re not going back to the Bureau, and the last time I checked, you’re not doing anything else. Help me with this.”
“I thought we were going to help Alex.”
“We are,” he said loudly over the music that began blaring in the background. “This is just another way and it’s ours. Shit’s not black and white anymore, bro. We have to look out for ourselves in this city and you know it. You of all people can see the end game here. If Alex doesn’t like something, like you making sweet love to his sister, we’re both out. The King family gets wind of this, and we’re all fucked. This is the backup plan. In the meantime, we get what we can, when we can, if they step foot in the place.”
I rolled my eyes and searched out Alisa. She was still talking to the prick with more hair product in his spikey locks than most of the women in the room. Alex approached them with enough familiarity that made me think they knew each other.
Although Alisa was friendly, she wasn’t staring at him the way he was gazing at her. Her body language was closed, arms in front of her, hands crossed, and she was turned sideways as if leaving was imminent if fuckface would stop talking to her.
I wondered briefly if he was the type guy her family wanted her with. Rich, judging by the suit and occasional flash of his watch. If that wasn’t enough, it was his bearing that really told the whole story. He was used to impressing people and getting his way. He looked like he could just as easily have been a movie star, rather than just some guy in Kingston, eyeing my woman.
She was mine, though, and I was hers. Wholeheartedly. I may have had some methods she didn’t agree with, like keeping her at a distance the last couple of weeks. Mason didn’t even understand what I was doing at first and told me about it several times until we talked about it.
She didn’t know how many times a day I thought about fucking her into oblivion. Having her around, her scent, her laughter, made it difficult. But the dark man in me knew that she was my light and I felt guilty for thinking it, when I owed her more.
Winning whatever it was she had, that I needed, through sex would have hurt both of us. I wanted her respect, her devotion, her choice, to be with someone like me over the jackass in front of her.
“Mason, you still there?” I asked.
“Yeah, where’d you go?”
Still staring at Alisa, it occurred to me that I’d do anything for her. Beg, borrow, steal. Even kill if it was necessary based on my reaction in her brother’s office. I wasn’t sure where the darkness in me ended and where she began. The only thing I did know was where it came from.
She was the only person that seemed to combat it without even trying. And yet my tangled emotions twisted around her, grew more ominous when thinking about someone hurting her. It was a double-edged sword that ran its way through my gut, knowing that someone would probably be me.
“Did you buy it yet or is it still in the contract stage?” I asked, eventually.
“I was waiting on you to sign the papers.”
“Have you checked out everything?”
He laughed. “Started last week. Everything checks out. I even called in dad for a look, but he couldn’t find anything that was out of place.”
Hanging up, I waited until I saw his text.
I was surprised by the figure as I stared at it. It seemed a lot cheaper than what I was imagining, and I wondered what the catch was.
Logging into my bank, I transferred the money to his account then called him back.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Done, should be there tomorrow. Do you want to wait on it?”
“Nope, have the full amount already.”
I’d never asked Mason where he’d gotten the funds in his safe. He’d only mentioned it a few times, citing his extraordinary ability to save money. I hoped it wasn’t the last of his savings. The amount I’d transferred was so minimal out of my account, I’d barely feel it. I worried that Mason’s money was more than he might be able to swing, but didn’t say anything.
“If we’re doing this, then we’re all in. No dicking around with it.”
“I know,” he replied. “I’ll call the owner.”
I shut off the phone and made my way toward the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. She glanced at me over her shoulder and gave me that smile I’d become starved to see in the last few minutes without her beside me.
“Hey, gorgeous,” I said as I reached her, sliding my hand around her waist.
Alex glanced over at me briefly with the beginning of a smirk that was just as quickly wiped off his face.
Alisa turned toward me, and I kissed her. It wasn’t a gentle peck on the mouth that I knew was appropriate for a place like this. It wasn’t a small kiss in greeting.
My hands gripped her in possession and ownership, drawing her curvy figure in against my hard one. As my mouth bent to hers and claimed her, she opened and slid her arms around my neck. Lips angling over hers and tongue diving in, I made it known who she belonged to. Fuck the witnesses, she was mine.
When I broke it off, her eyes fluttered open to gaze up at me and she smiled. It pulled at me, and drew me into her sweetness, refusing to let me go, as she had, since the second I laid eyes on her in the club.
Mick: Kingston Corruption, Book One Page 12