But then another man stepped outside. He wore business slacks and a collared t-shirt that made him look like he was trying too hard, and I pinned him as the owner.
He was the one who locked up, and he did it as if he had authority.
“You really don’t have to walk me home,” she said. Her voice traveled to me over the wind, and it was as melodious as I remembered it.
“Just let me see you safe,” her boss said. He put his hand on her elbow, but she pulled it back as if she didn’t want him to touch her. The physical contact woke up something ugly inside of me. This guy had better not touch the woman I had my sights on.
Especially not if she didn’t want it.
I was a hypocrite, thinking just a moment ago that I wanted to take her even if she didn’t want it. But this doll needed to be treated like a woman. And that man was not the one for the job.
I wondered for just a second what made me the right guy for the job, and then I shrugged it off. I was Saxon Gage, a.k.a the Vandal. I had a reputation, and I could live up to it. I didn’t need to doubt myself. And this woman didn’t either. She hadn’t protested when I’d put my hands on her breasts. I’d felt her body blossom under my hands, opening up so that I could get in there.
“I worry about you,” I heard the owner say. “This isn’t a good neighborhood.”
“I’ve walked home alone a million times, Kenneth,” she said, and she sounded exasperated. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Kenneth shook his head and walked closer to her, closer than she was comfortable with because she took a step back. Why didn’t this guy catch a hint and leave her alone? I was getting pissed off. I wasn’t supposed to look for trouble. Getting caught looking for shit was going to blow our whole operation, and Skinner was going to do just what his name said he would. I couldn’t afford to fuck up now.
But I really, really wanted to walk over to this Kenneth bloke and slug him through the face once or twice. I had a gun on me, but killing him would be too easy, and I wanted him alive so he could fear me. Besides, I was feeling protective enough to want to do something with my hands. That way more satisfying.
And stupid. Because I was feeling protective over a woman I had effectively made a one-night stand. And that wasn’t my way. It wasn’t the way I did things. Women were there for my pleasure and nothing else.
He finally looked like he was giving up. It was about time, too. He’d been bugging her for almost twenty minutes, and she was around this guy every day. He stepped closer, and she was trapped between him and the diner, and he kissed her on the cheek. When he started to walk away, she wiped her cheek with the back of her sleeve as if she wanted to get rid of whatever he’d left behind.
She was alone now. It was the perfect chance to go and talk to her. But I had to get into that diner and get rid of the security footage. If there were cameras, they would have my face. They would have the fucking, too, which I usually didn’t care about, but this time, maybe having the video wouldn’t be so bad. It was with her.
I shook my head at myself. I was a perverted asshole; that was what I was. I’d been standing in the alley for almost an hour, fantasizing over her, thinking about her body and the videos. I’d watched another man touch her in no wrong way at all and wanted to kill him for it. Great. Not just a pervert, but a hypocrite, too.
But it came with the territory, didn’t it? No one was paying me to be a good guy. I was a criminal and a dick, and I did both equally well. No, I was going to go to the diner the moment she left, break in, and get those tapes. I would decide what to do with them later.
I started walking, sticking to the shadows as long as I could. I wanted her to leave. However, when she started to round the corner, I couldn’t just let her go. Fuck the diner; I could come back for that later. I wanted to talk to her, and I wanted to do it now. I picked up speed and left the shadows behind, walking right across the parking lot toward her.
CHAPTER 5
Getting rid of Kenneth was harder than I thought it would be. I was always cooped up with him, working later than the rest and being the one to lock up, but he usually left long before I did, and then I had the place to myself.
But tonight, he’d waited in his office, going over God-knew-what, until it was time to lock up. I did what I needed to do, tended to the customers and wiped off empty tables to keep busy, and all the time, my mind was on that damn video sitting in Kenneth’s office. I’d been such an idiot, not even thinking about security cameras. I’d just let some stranger do me on film.
And Kenneth, my boss, had that film now. That didn’t bother me as much as the fact that Kenneth didn’t seem to be upset about what had happened in his office at all. What bugged me more, was the fact that Kenneth seemed to be jealous about it.
Jealous. Like he had any kind of claim on me.
Besides the contract I’d signed when I’d started working at the diner, Kenneth and I had nothing in common. I didn’t even like him. I thought he was irritating and anal about my duties at the diner. And he was a slave driver, pushing as hard as he could whenever he saw the chance.
The last customer took a long time to finish up. The old man often sat reading in the diner, always fantasy books that took him forever to get through. He would easily sit there for hours a night, drinking ten cups of coffee and reading those books of his like he had no one to go home to.
He had to have a home though. He was too clean to be homeless.
“Would you like anything else?” I asked him again, the way I always did.
“Just the check,” he said, and I glanced at the clock that hung above the counter. Same time—as always—to the minute. I nodded. When I got to the counter to prepare the check, Kenneth was already behind the computer with the orders on it.
“I’ll take care of it,” he said. I narrowed my eyes at him, but I didn’t argue. He was the boss, after all. If he wanted to take over my job, who was I to argue? I was more worried about the fact that he was still there. And obviously keeping an eye on me.
He handed me check to take to the customer, and I walked away, feeling his eyes on me all the way. I was starting to get uncomfortable.
“Why don’t you head on out?” I said after the customer left. “I just need to lock up, and then I’m going home as well.”
I didn’t want to be alone in the diner with him. The contrast between the two nights was huge. I’d been quite happy to be alone with the stranger last night, letting him do a lot more to me than just stare. And now I wanted to get Kenneth out of here as quickly as I could, and I’d known him for a long time. I didn’t even want him close to me.
Kenneth shook his head. “I just want to make sure you get home safe,” he said.
I sighed and wiped the last table, taking away the empty cup to the kitchen and rinsing it. I hurried, doing it quicker than I usually did. Kenneth was standing next to the door when I got back to the seating area, and I felt trapped. If I wanted to run now, there was nowhere for me to go.
The back door was locked, and Lorenzo had the key to do the garbage run early in the morning.
“Ready to go?” Kenneth asked me. I nodded once and shrugged into my coat. I pulled it tight around my body, as if it would offer me some kind of protection, and clutched my handbag under my arm.
Kenneth held the door for me and let me walk first. I stepped out onto the street and started walking away.
“Hold up,” Kenneth called, and I stopped with my back to him. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment and took a deep breath. I heard Kenneth put the key in the door and turn it, the lock sliding home.
“Let me walk you,” Kenneth said a moment later, right next to me and very close to my ear. I stiffened and stepped slightly away from him, enough to make a point.
“You really don’t have to walk me home,” I said. Kenneth looked at me with dark eyes that felt like they were boring right into me, and the sensation was oddly invasive.
“Just let me see you safe,” he said and reached out his
arm, putting his hand on my elbow. His hand felt like a clam on my arm, and I pulled it out of his grip. I didn’t want to be this close to him. He was my boss. Maybe, because he’d seen me having sex with a stranger, he thought I was easy. Maybe he thought he could get in there now, too. Well, that wasn’t going to happen.
Kenneth didn’t seem offended that I kept refusing him. When I pulled away, he didn’t make an effort to regain what he’d lost, but he didn’t step back either and give me the space I wanted.
“I worry about you,” he said. “This isn’t a good neighborhood.”
I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. He was right, it wasn’t a good neighborhood. But I’d lived in it for a while, and I’d walked it at all times of the day, and nothing bad had ever happened to me. In fact, the biggest criminal I’d run into since I’d started working at the diner had been in the diner itself. So it wasn’t as if safety was a problem.
“I’ve walked home a million times, Kenneth,” I said, trying not to sound as irritated as I felt. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Kenneth stepped closer to me again, and I was starting to think about the fact that there wasn’t a harassment clause in my contract the way there was in bigger companies. Who was I going to take my complaints to if my boss was the offender? I had a sudden flash of Kenneth getting fresh with me and having no way to tell him to stop.
My back hit the diner, and Kenneth was right in front of me. Somehow, he’d managed to get me cornered, and I hadn’t realized it.
“I’m not going to do anything against your will,” he said. Right. And this doesn’t count at all, does it? I wanted to say something to that, but I didn’t know how to respond. His attention was too severe.
He came closer and closer, and finally leaned into me. I froze, turned my face, and winced. Kenneth kissed me on the cheek, both hands gripping my elbows as if he was scared I was going to run away. His lips on my skin were wet and horrible. I wanted him away from me, and it felt like ages before he finally stepped back.
“Be safe,” he said in a low voice that belonged to words a lot more intimate than the ones he’d spoken. I waited until he started walking away, turning his back to me, before I wiped my cheek with my sleeve. A shiver ran through me, and I swallowed. Ew.
I took a deep breath and tried to collect myself. One more year. I just had to stick it out for one more year, and then I could get out of here and start living my life. As soon as I had my degree, I could get a better job. One that has a harassment clause, I thought darkly.
Something moved in the shadows on the other side of the empty parking lot. That was my cue. I wasn’t going to go and investigate. I’d had enough trouble for one night. I was dead on my feet I was so tired, and I just wanted to get home. I jammed my hands deep into my coat pockets and nuzzled into the collar against the cold of the night that had started creeping in there and headed in the opposite direction Kenneth had taken.
I had just turned the corner onto the next street when I heard footsteps behind me. I stilled. Kenneth was following me, damn him. I was getting tired of this game. I sped up, but he kept coming. The words were on my lips, ready to scold him. I turned around, willing to sacrifice my job at this point and quit being polite about it when I looked into the shocking blue eyes of the stranger from the diner.
My stomach did a flip, and my body froze on the spot. I knew I had to just keep going. I knew that he was trouble. And still, my feet wouldn’t carry me away. I was stuck there staring at him.
He wore black leather pants and a leather jacket that wrapped around his arms like he had hard muscle underneath. I remembered how he held me in the office, firm and strong.
Tattoos peeked out from underneath the collar of the jacket, curling onto his neck, and reaching his hand from the sleeve. I wondered how much of his body was covered in them and thought that I wanted to see.
I scolded myself for thinking like that.
He walked toward me with a swagger that made me think there wasn’t anything that scared this guy, and he got only what he wanted and nothing else. I took a deep breath and blew it out with a shudder. His blue eyes held mine every step of the way until he was right in front of me. I felt his presence bouncing off him like a current all his own, and I wanted to tap into that source of energy.
“I didn’t think I was going to see you again,” I said. My voice was breathy like I’d been running. He gave me a crooked smile and shrugged.
“I had unfinished business,” he said. My stomach lurched, and I tried not to think too hard what he was talking about. “I’m going to need your help with it.”
Maybe it was just my body responding to this man all over again, but heat was pooling between my legs, and my palms were sweaty. I scolded myself for being like this. I wasn’t the loose type. I had morals and standards, and I shouldn’t have dropped them for anyone. But this guy, the leather clad orgasm-on-wheels who stood in front of me, wasn’t just anyone. Good God, he wasn’t just anyone at all.
CHAPTER 6
She was startled to see me. Startled, but not unhappy. Her brown eyes were guarded when she turned around, her delicate face framed by that dark hair, and she’d been closed in on herself. But when she saw it was me, her face changed. It wasn’t a smile, but it was close. And her body language changed. She squared her shoulders to face me; she looked me up and down and shifted her weight from one leg to the other.
And she stared at me the whole time I was walking to her, unafraid to look, challenging me to react on it. Maybe it was just me, but her reaction wasn’t the kind of reaction I’d expected. I wasn’t able to take my eyes off her, so I didn’t. She was a slight thing, short but sassy. I could see it in the way she looked at me, chin slightly lifted. I doubted she even knew she was doing it. And her curves were a wet dream. She was wrapped tightly in her coat with only her toned legs showing, a parcel for me to unwrap.
When she spoke, her voice was breathy, and I decided that voice was a voice I wanted to hear again—moaning in my ear, gasping, screaming my name.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you again,” she said as if it was out of character for me to be there. Oh, if only she knew. Everything about my interlude with her was out of character. It was so unlike me to have a woman see me again. Her surprise was understandable because I was confused, too.
“I had unfinished business,” I said. I’d meant the video that I wanted to see, but she took it in a sexual way, and I swear I could almost smell her scent in the air between us. It was hot and luscious, and I took a deep breath through my nose before I spoke again. “I’m going to need your help with it.”
This time, the double meaning was intentional, and she scooped it right up. She dropped her arms so her coat wasn’t closed around her body anymore. I noticed the V where her uniform buttoned high enough to hide the swells of her breasts, and I wanted her to undo the top button, so I wouldn’t be left imagining it all.
She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, and I waited for it. I wanted to know what was on her mind when her eyes were big like that. But she hesitated a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice wasn’t as rich and full as it had been before, the words coming out weren’t the ones she wanted to speak.
“I’m not hiding you from the police again,” she said. “I don’t see how else I can help you.”
In those words, was everything she wasn’t saying to me. That she wasn’t planning on sleeping with me again. That maybe she thought the first time had been a mistake. That she wasn’t that kind of girl, and I shouldn’t have believed that she was. I didn’t want to take from her what I wanted. I wanted her to give it to me. I wanted her to want to give it to me. It was so much worse with her than with any other woman. I wanted her to tell me that she wanted me, to strip until she was naked, to beg me to take her.
And if talking, playing the nice guy, being a sort of gentleman long enough, was going to get me that, I was going to play her game. Did that make me a heartless son of a bitch? Yes. D
id that make me a perverted user? Yes. But I would rather play it that way than never be with her again. Her body had been like some kind of drug. I’d gotten a hit, a small introduction, and I wanted more. I wanted a lot more.
“There will be security footage of me in the diner last night,” I said, getting to the point. “I need those. For obvious reasons.” And those reasons were the gang’s safety, honest to God. It had nothing to do with the idea that maybe there was a shot if me between her legs and her head tipped back, lips rounded into a silent O.
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“You should have thought about that before you decided to make the diner your hideout,” she said, and I saw it in her eyes. Criminal. I felt my face drain of expression until my eyes were blank. It was the face I gave my enemies. The face that didn’t show it if I got hurt, because I couldn’t afford to show it.
Filthy Ride: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Iron Bones MC) (Whiskey Bad Boys Book 3) Page 3