by Naomi West
“Oh, you guys going to keep in touch?” he asked. “How cute. I’m sure a guy like that really knows how to treat a woman. Maybe he’ll get you a matching leather jacket.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get out a word, Marcus blew past me.
“Good night, Nikki,” he said as he opened the door, flashing me one last spiteful glare. “And happy fucking birthday.”
With that, he stepped out into the hallway and let the door close in a hard slam.
Relief washed over me as soon as I was alone once again. I leaned back against the door, happy that things hadn’t gotten any worse.
Out on the balcony, I spotted the shape of a bottle. A nightcap sounded good after what had just happened, so I grabbed a clean glass and stepped outside. The sun had risen a little higher on the horizon, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it was morning. Taking the bottle in my hand, my eyes went wide when I saw that it was nearly empty. Marcus had been up here for the last few hours, stewing and killing nearly an entire bottle of booze.
What a goddamn weirdo.
I sipped my drink and let the events of the night wash over me. I still couldn’t believe everything that had happened with Tiger. From the wild dancing in the club to the trip around the city to the … fun in the elevator, all of it was just too much for me to even begin processing.
Did I actually like this guy? I mean, he was about the hottest guy that I’d ever seen in my life, but physical attraction was just skin deep. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was something more to my attraction to Tiger. I felt … safe around him, like I didn’t need to worry about anything.
I wished he was here now, lying in bed just waiting for me to lie down next to him, waiting for me to nuzzle my face into his chest and drift off to sleep. I couldn’t tell if that was too much to feel towards a man I’d only known for a night, but I didn’t care.
Not even halfway through the drink, the night caught up with me and I could barely keep my eyes open. Stumbling into my room and kicking off my shoes, I dropped onto the bed and fell right away into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter 10
Tiger
“There’s the fuckin’ man!”
Mace’s voice boomed through the dive bar. The rest of the boys there, all of my crew, looked up from their beer and pool and conversation as I walked in, big grins spreading across their faces.
“Morning, y’all,” I said, stepping into the place and motioning to the bartender for my usual, a pint of cheap beer with a whiskey back.
“Morning?” said Cutter. “It’s fucking two in the afternoon!”
I plopped down on top of my usual barstool and grabbed my beer.
“Late night,” I said.
“I bet it fucking was,” said Raze, one of my other boys. “We all saw you with that little rich girl hottie.”
A handful of the men gathered around, and I could tell that they wanted all the details. Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t the kiss-and-tell type.
“Yeah, we had some fun,” I said. “And that’s all you gossiping little bitches are gonna get.”
Disappointed sounds rose up from my boys, and the throng of men around me broke up. They knew better than to keep pestering me about an issue that I’d declared closed.
Mace sat down on the barstool next to me as the rest of the Big Cats went back to whatever they’d been doing before I showed up.
“How was the rest of your night, my man?” I asked, giving Mace a warm slap on the shoulder.
“Good, good,” he said. “We had some fun with those chicks who were with us. Took ’em to Ronson’s and then wherever else.”
The glint in his eye made it clear just what he was implying.
“Those fucking preppy assholes,” he said, shaking his head.
“What about them?”
“They were mean-mugging us all fucking night. Little shits made it very, very fuckin’ clear that they didn’t want us there.”
“Spoiled pricks like that gotta learn sooner or later that they can’t get everything they want.”
“True,” said Mace. “But you did poach one of their girls. And not just any girl—she was the one that the little leader of their group had an eye on.”
“Aren’t you fuckin’ perceptive,” I said with a smirk.
“Wasn’t hard to figure out—kid was following her like a goddamn puppy dog all night. And you should’ve seen him when you and that chick were dancing. Motherfucker was shooting some serious daggers at you. And it got worse the drunker he got.”
I scoffed.
“That’s the other thing about little pricks like that,” I said. “They’re all fucking talk.”
“I dunno,” said Mace. “Seemed like they were ready to scrap when we were in their booth.”
“Yeah, because they were drunk, there were a lot of ’em, and they had their girls there to impress. Those three things would get a damn priest to take a swing at a guy.”
“Ha, true that,” said Mace.
“Why you bringing this up, anyway?” I asked. “You worried they’re gonna write some mean shit about you on Twitter or something?”
“Nah,” he said. “I just know that with everything going on with the Cats, getting on some rich family’s bad side could be a stupid complication that we don’t need to be dealing with.”
He was right. But I wasn’t worried.
“Don’t sweat it,” I said. “Not like I’m fucking going steady with the girl. She was just a fuck, and that’s it.”
Then I remembered writing my fucking phone number on her hand. I shook my head. What the hell had gotten into me?
“Probably a good call,” said Mace. “Girls like that are good for a bang and that’s it. Can you imagine getting serious with one of those chicks and having her bring you home to daddy and shit?”
I laughed at the idea.
“No kidding,” I said. “But if those babes want a break from their yacht-riding, boring-ass boyfriends, then I’m not gonna tell ’em ‘no’.”
Mace raised his glass and we gave a cheers to that. Then he heaved himself up from his stool and headed over to one of the pool tables.
I thought about the words I’d just said. Sure, I was right in that Nikki wasn’t the first chick from a good family that I’d fucked. Girls like that, who wanted to put the fear of God into their parents by running around for a while with the exact kind of guy they shouldn’t be getting involved with, were a dime a fucking dozen.
But I could already tell that Nikki was different. I didn’t know what it was that made me feel that way—maybe it was her insanely hot body or her angelic face—but I couldn’t get the damn girl out of my mind. She was the last thing I’d thought about before I’d fallen asleep last night, she was the first thing I’d thought about in the morning, and now, sitting here and the bar, I couldn’t get her off of my mind.
Was I going soft? Couldn’t be. I’d been in this game for over a decade and never once had I let a woman worm her way into me. Not like this. But I had no reason to think that Nikki would be any different.
At least, I hoped. After all, I had too much shit to worry about. The fight last night had been troubling, but hopefully getting knocked the fuck out had taught Rex and the rest of the Wild Elders a lesson they wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon. But the fact that he’d stepped up to me like that meant two things. One, that the more powerful the Big Cats got, the more that the little ankle biters would be around to try to take us down. And two, that we weren’t big enough to scare the little gangs like the Elders into submission.
All of my attention needed to be focused on making the Big Cats the top gang in the city. That was going to take planning, money, and manpower. I needed to start getting operations sorted out for the next month and find some jobs that’d put more coins in our coffers. And I needed to bring in some fresh blood. Then, once all that was taken care of, I needed to start finding ways to pit the smaller gangs against one another.
After all, if they were busy taking shots at one another, that meant they’d be too busy to do anything while I expanded the Big Cats.
It was plenty to worry about. And the one thing I didn’t need was some little college girl floating around in the back of my mind, distracting me from the shit that needed to get done. But sure enough, there she was. All I could think about was how her lips had felt on mine when we kissed and how soft and ripe her body was. And goddamn, that pussy. Our little fuck in the elevator had been the best ass I’d had in a while.
That has to be it, I told myself. I’m just a little fixated on account of how good the sex was. That’s it.
But the more I sat and drank and thought, the more I knew there was something more than that. Much more.
Chapter 11
Nikki
One month later …
A strange, tight nausea in my gut shot me up and out of bed. My eyes went wide and I made a mad dash to the bathroom. Once there, I dropped to my knees in front of the toilet and let it rip. But nothing came out but clear liquid.
Once I was done and the nausea had passed, I sat for a little while on the cool bathroom floor, catching my breath and wondering just what the hell had happened. It couldn’t have been anything I’d eaten last night—I’d had nothing but a light salad and some cereal the whole day. And I hadn’t had a drop to drink since my wild birthday week in Vegas, so booze wasn’t the answer.
I began to wonder if I was coming down with some kind of stomach flu or something. But the nausea was totally gone now. It was strange.
I stepped back into my bedroom back home in LA, the morning sun low in the cloudless blue sky. Out on the balcony, I watched the waves slosh gently against the shore, and I wondered if maybe a beach day was in order.
After throwing on a robe and brushing my teeth, I headed down to the kitchen. Sure enough, Dad was long gone. His hours were about from sun up to sundown every day, and it was a rare occasion that I saw him for any more than an hour at a time here and there.
It was Saturday and I didn’t have classes to worry about, so I took it easy, making myself a pot of coffee and taking a seat at the kitchen bar in the spacious living room of our luxury, beachside home. As soon as I sat down, however, an almost crazed hunger took hold of me. Normally I never ate much first thing in the morning, but something came over me and out of nowhere I wanted to eat everything in sight.
I checked the fridge and saw that we were just about bare. And I didn’t want anything unsatisfying like cereal anyhow—I wanted hot; I wanted meat.
I dashed upstairs and grabbed my computer, opening it back up at the kitchen bar. I went to one of the food delivery sites and found a breakfast place that had a good rating. I narrowed my eyes as I looked over my choices
Bacon, yep. Sausage? Yep. Steak and eggs? Sure, why not? Once done, I hit “order” and closed my computer.
I spent the next half hour drinking my coffee and waiting impatiently for my food. After a time, my phone buzzed on the counter and my heart sang as I hoped it was the delivery driver.
Nope, just a text from Patricia.
Hey! What’re you doing today?
Not sure, just about to have breakfast.
Yum! Me and Melanie are going to the beach later. You wanna come?
That sounded just right to me. I typed up an affirmative and sent it off, with Patricia replying with the time and place. I was eager to get out with my friends; I’d been spending the last week studying my ass off and needed some relaxation.
My phone rang and this time it was the delivery man. I rushed to the front door so fast that I nearly tripped over my feet.
“Hey,” said the deliveryman. “Nikki Naylor?”
“That’s me,” I said, glancing down at the big white bag with hunger in my eyes.
“Okay, we got a farmer’s breakfast, two extra sides of bacon, a sausage platter, and a, ah, side of pancakes.”
He shot me an inquisitive look, then one into the house.
“This all for you?” he asked.
“So what if it is?”
“Just, um, cool to see a girl who’s not afraid to eat.”
“Great,” I said, signing the receipt and handing it over. “Bye!”
I wasn’t in the mood to hear the delivery man comment about my order; I was in the mood to eat.
Back in the kitchen, I set everything out. Once the food was out of the bags and ready for my belly, I found myself salivating like one of the dogs I’d learned about in my intro to psych class.
I tore into the food with wild abandon. I gobbled down the bacon, smashed the eggs, and ate the pancakes so fast I could hardly taste them. Once I was done, all of the to-go containers wiped clean with a piece of toast, I let out a pleased burp and looked over what I’d just done.
I couldn’t believe I’d eaten so much. It was like I hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks. But I didn’t think about it too much; I was ready for the beach.
A quick shower later, I put on my bikini and outerwear and was ready to go. I hopped into my convertible and headed down towards the coffee shop near the beach where Patricia had told me to meet her.
“There she is!” said Patricia, taking a sip of her iced latte and getting up to throw her arms around me. “I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you!”
“Just been busy with school,” I said, sliding into the booth next to Melanie.
“Lame,” said Melanie. “Why aren’t you just majoring in something easy? I’m doing mass comm and I have to do, like, three hours of homework a month. It’s a fucking breeze.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “And what kind of job are you planning on getting with that when you graduate? They open a mass comm factory somewhere in town?”
Melanie laughed and rolled her eyes.
“Who cares?” she said. “I’m planning on getting married by twenty-five anyway. I just need something to hold me over until I meet that very, very special someone. Then he can do the working for the two of us.”
“That’s exactly what I don’t want,” I said. “Living off of some guy’s paycheck sounds like the worst.”
“Isn’t that what you’re basically doing with your dad?” asked Patricia, wrapping her candy-red lips around her straw.
“Yeah, and I hate it.”
“Anyway,” said Melanie. “I want to get something to eat before we go to the beach. You guys hungry?”
“No way,” I said. “I ate like ten pounds of meat for breakfast; I think I’m good on food for like the next month.”
“You ate a ton of meat?” asked Patricia. “I thought you were practically vegan.”
“I thought I was too,” I said. “But for some reason, it’s all I wanted this morning. And you know what else is weird? When I got up, I was super sick to my stomach. Like, I ran to the bathroom and threw up, and then I was normal again. Aside from wanting to eat an entire pig, that is.”
Patricia and Melanie exchanged confused looks.
“That’s weird,” said Melanie. “And you feel fine now?”
“Totally fine.”
“Maybe our little girl is preggers!” said Patricia. “How cute!”
I felt the color drain out of my face. I knew she was joking, but something about her comment cut me right to the core, as if she’d spoken some truth that I didn’t want to hear.
“That’s not funny,” I said, my tone serious.
“Geez, Nik,” she said. “It was just a joke.”
“I know, but getting pregnant is the last thing I want right now. It’d be a total fucking nightmare.”
“Aw, what’s the matter? You don’t want a cute little baby screaming in the middle of the night?” asked Patricia.
“And it’d be Marcus’, so you know it’d be totally adorable.”
“Not funny,” I said, my skin crawling at the mere mention of carrying his baby.
“Didn’t you guys hook up in Vegas?” asked Melanie. “I remember asking one of his friends where Marcus was when we didn�
�t see him all night and he said that he went up to your room.”
“Yeah, he was there waiting for me like a total creeper.”
“Are you serious?” asked Melanie. “Just sitting in your room all night?”
“Yep,” I said, “and he was all drunk and cranky that I’d been out with—”
I stopped myself, remembering that I hadn’t told the girls about my night with Tiger.
“With … who?” asked Patricia, a mischievous glint in her eyes.