by Lexy Timms
Either way... I didn't like him already.
"So you have the stuff?" Paz asked, turning to Dante.
"Yeah. I met up with the boss yesterday and he gave me a new supply." Dante pulled a small bottle from his pocket and handed his beer to Paz. "He said to make sure the kids only take one. Any more than that and we'll have some shit to deal with on our hands. It works wickedly fast. Understood?"
I shrugged when he turned his attention toward me. I didn't give a shit what he had or why. I was there to unload the small bag of cocaine in my pocket and go home with it empty. I had a bank roll in my room. My plan was plain and simple.
Dump the shit in the grass when I found a moment to get alone and pay my father for it out of my own stash. No one would get hurt, I didn't need the money and I could look like the evil hero.
"Lena... you listening? Shit. Girls are so damn dense at times." Paz reached out and patted the side of my face in a condescending manner.
I grabbed his wrist so quickly that he didn't see me coming. Twisting it hard, I got up in his face and spoke in a low voice between my teeth.
"Don't touch me again or I'll rip your fucking hand off. Then what will you jack off with?" I gave him an exaggerated frown and released him before turning to look at the faces in the crowd.
No Lucky. What if he didn't come? What if he was pissed at me for running off? No. He had texted earlier, and what man in his right mind would be angry with a woman who sucked him off and left him to rest? I was a goddamn goddess.
"Marry me?" Dante laughed and I awarded him with a smile.
"I don't think so, handsome." I took another sip of my beer and nodded toward the pills. "What are you supposed to do with those?"
"Hand them out. Your father said you would be taking half of them. We're both being tested right now. I want to pledge my loyalties to him, just like you do." His eyes moved down me and I felt exposed all of a sudden. "Give me your hand and I'll give you half of these."
I looked around to find Paz gone. "Where's my cousin?"
"Who knows? Who cares?" Dante reached out and took my hand, turning it over and unloading little green pills into my palm. "Tell people it's the new high. Leads to incredible sex too."
"Does it?" I lifted them to my face to inspect them closer.
"No clue, but if you need a good fuck, I'm your man. No strings attached." He finished his beer and pitched the bottle in a trashcan beside us.
"Great. Thanks for the offer." I prayed that my voice conveyed the extreme disinterest that I felt. The guy was hot, but I was already lost to the sexy boy who'd caused my blood to boil for the last four years.
"Be subtle and if you need me, just find me in the crowd." He smiled and turned, walking away as I stood there awkwardly.
I glanced down at the pills as a shiver ran through me. What if someone had a bad reaction to them? What if they died?
"I can't do this," I mumbled and slipped them into my pocket, walking through the crowd and talking to random strangers to look busy should Paz or Dante be watching me.
"Hey, everybody! Attention please!" A lanky dark-skinned boy stood up on a pile of tires and gave everyone a goofy grin. A warm wave of laughter rushed through the crowd and the kid laughed to. "We finally got the lights up at the old car lot. It's just a stone's throw that way."
He jerked his thumbs toward the open field behind him, but must have put too much enthusiasm into it. He tumbled backward and the crowd broke out into laughter before moving toward the lights in the distance.
I caught up with Dante before looking around for my cousin.
"He left. Said I could bring you home." Dante winked at me.
"What? That sorry motherfucker. Really?" I growled and moved closer to my new companion as the crowd tightened in around us.
"It's all good. If things work out well tonight, we're going to be family soon... After this, it's onto the next round of testing." He smiled down at me and I stifled the need to pull away. "Did you get all your shit handed out?"
"Yep. You?" I slid my hand into my pocket and ran my fingers over the pills. I would never hand out drugs to anyone, no matter what. I thought I could do it, but I couldn't. However, I was an excellent liar. One of the best.
"All but two." He turned toward me and took my hand before I could jerk it back. "These are for us. No harm in trying the product."
"No. I'm not taking that." I pulled from him.
Anger brushed across his handsome face and I could see a hint of the animal that lay just below the surface of his calm demeanor.
"Yeah... you are." He grabbed me and spun me until my back pressed to his front. The thickness of his erection pressed against the curve of my ass, and he bent down, growling into my ear. "Take it or I'll tell everyone here not only who you are, but that you've been giving out drugs. Half these people are high, but half of them aren’t."
I looked around as fear rushed through me. I was already hated simply because of my last name. Would these people react violently if Dante lied to them?
"It's just a little pill, Selene. You'll loosen up and get a short buzz, nothing else. I promise. You know I’d never let anything bad happen to you. Because you know how much I care about you."
He lifted the pill to my lips and I leaned forward, taking it into my mouth and leaving it under my tongue.
I spun around and pushed at his chest. "Fine. I took it. There... better?" I opened my mouth to show him it was empty.
"Not yet." He took my beer, lifted it to his lips and took a large gulp of it.
Anger burned through me, but it was nothing compared to the moment he pulled me tightly against him and pressed his lips to mine, shot-gunning the beer into my mouth and forcing me to swallow the pill.
"Bastard," I screamed and slapped him hard in the face as he laughed.
"Shhh... I did you a favor. You're so fucking uptight, it's annoying." He extended his hand. "Give me the rest of the drugs and I'll give them out. It can be our secret. Your daddy doesn't have to know, but I'll come a calling for you to return the favor one day. Good?"
"As long as it's not you asking me to sleep with you." I dug the pills out, grateful for the ability to pass on the task at hand. "That shit ain't happening."
He took them and slipped them into his pocket as the world grew fuzzy in front of me.
No way this is working this fast.
"There's no need to ask you for sex, baby. You'll give that up when you're ready." He slid his hands over my hips and latched onto my ass. “You know you’re mine. And I’ll wait for you.”
“Are you crazy?” I spat.
“Just come to me when you’re ready,” he said. “You know I’ll walk through hell for you.”
I blinked a few times, trying to get my bearings and not able to figure out where the hell I was all of a sudden. The man wrapped around me didn't smell like Lucky, but it had to be him. Right?
"Dance with me." His voice was slurred and his face a contortion of colors.
"Yeah," I mumbled and let him move us out to the center of the crowd where everyone else was dancing. Time blurred. He turned me around and pressed his chest to my back, one hand cupping the base of my throat and the other splayed out over my stomach.
I moaned as pleasure rolled through me, and swaying my hips, rubbing his cock, and wanting so much more than he was giving me.
Chapter 10
Lucky
I stopped by Dane's after visiting with the guys at the club for a few minutes.
"You sure you don't want to go with me? You didn't go the other night, either." I tried to goad him into going with me, but in all actuality it was probably better than he didn't.
Selene had invited me, which meant there was a damn good chance that she was coming home with me. I hadn't figured it would take too long for her to call on me to return the sweet favor she gave me earlier that day.
Besides... I needed to sit her down and have a serious conversation about her dad and the shit I saw at the drug store. H
e was at the heart of destroying lives in our town. She had to know that, but I prayed like hell she didn't.
"No. I'm good. Black Hearts are going to be there. So just count me out." He shook his head and took a bite of the sandwich in his hands.
I'd finished mine fast, Dane's mother being the best cook ever. Even her sandwiches rocked my world.
I hope Lena can cook.
I dismissed the thought and stood up, plucking the half eaten sandwich from my best friend's fingers and walking toward the door as I inhaled it quickly.
"Fucker!"
"Dane Miller. That's no way to talk," his mother yelled from down the hall.
I lifted an eyebrow at him and shook my head at him as if disappointed. "That's not the way cops talk."
"Yes it is." He rolled his eyes and pinned me with a hard stare. "I know why you want to go to that party. You need to be careful, Luck. I'm serious. You don’t need this kind of stress. Selene is trouble."
"I know, and I want to dive head first into anything she offers. Have your momma pray for my soul. Tonight, I'm hoping to dance with the devil." I smiled and walked out of the house as the sound of his grumbling followed me out.
“You’re blinded by her looks,” he said. “And you’re not giving one thought to the fact that her dad is the grim reaper.”
He was a good friend, and I was grateful to have him.
My stomach growled as I got on my bike, but I ignored it. I would find something to munch on when I reached the party. I just hoped like hell that Dane was wrong. The only thing I hated more than a Delgado were their nasty, life-destroying drugs.
The image of the boy in the drugstore pounded through my skull. I closed my eyes, trying hard to burn it from my thoughts. What a horrible way to die. Vomiting, shitting all over yourself and shaking uncontrollably. And all in the name of getting high.
She would have to listen to me after I told her about the boy. She wasn't involved in the drugs. No way.
I pulled up to the party and locked my Harley to a large tree out front, setting the alarm on it. The guys gave me total hell about it when I had it installed but then, three days later, Viper had his taken.
"Should have listened to the kid," I mumbled and walked toward the sound of music and laughter. Everyone seemed to have shifted from the open field where I stood to the car lot not thirty feet in front of me.
My phone buzzed and I pulled it out, seeing that it was Dane.
"Miss me already?"
"You at that party?" he asked.
"Yeah... why?" I could hear a mixture of panic in his voice.
"The cops are headed that way. Someone called in and said that there were drugs everywhere. Get out!"
"What? You fucking kidding me?" I picked up my leisurely walk to a full on run, trying hard to get to Selene should she still be there. I didn't want anything to happen to the pretty girl, but on a more selfish note, if we got taken downtown by the cops, our night would likely be over.
I didn't want the night to end until the sun came up on us in my new bedroom.
"No. Get out of there!" Dane barked in my ear. "Like fucking now."
"Alright, dude. Shit. I'm getting Lena and I'll head out."
"No. She's probably the one handing them out, Lucky. Get out of there."
"Gotta go, bro." I hit the button to end the call and slipped the phone in my back pocket. I wasn't leaving my girl to fend off the cops. No matter what Dane said, there was no way she was involved with the drugs.
I stopped at the edge of the crowd and tried to still my breathing. The sound of the sirens weren't filling up the air around us, which didn't mean much. The smart cops never did turn them on. Why the hell would you warn everybody, anyway?
My eyes moved across the crowd and landed on a big motherfucker in the middle of the dance floor, his jeans and shirt fitting him well, but it wasn't him I was focused on. The girl in his arms was grinding her ass against him in a way that made my heart skip a beat.
"Surely not." I moved around the crowd until I got a good view of her.
My blood ran cold. Lena.
Instinct kicked in and I walked to the center of the dance floor and pushed him back with all my might. He fell into the crowd and I bent over, pressing my shoulder into her midsection and picking her up.
I half expected her to fight me, but she didn't. She lay limply against me, singing with the song that was playing. I scanned the field for her pink bike and came up empty.
Waiting until we reached my bike, I dropped her, letting her fall on her ass hard.
"Ouch." She laughed and lay back on the ground, stretching out and sliding her hand down into the front of her jeans. "I'm so horny."
"Lena. What the fuck are you doing?" I bent down and jerked her hand from her jeans, pulling her up roughly and getting in her face. "Did you take something?"
"Nope." She smiled as her eyes rolled back in her head. "I need something though, and I think you might be just the guy to give it to me."
Her words were horribly slurred and anger burned through me that she had let herself get so messed up. What was she thinking?
I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her as I lifted my gaze to try and lay eyes on the fucker she was dancing with. I was going to kill him for taking advantage of her, but I had to find him first.
The sound of cars behind us caught my attention and I jerked her back with me, under the cover of the trees. Several cop cars pulled into the field, not stopping by the side of the road.
"Cops!" she cried out before lifting to her toes and brushing her lips along my neck.
"Selene. Stop it. Be quiet or they're going to hear you." I jerked her back and narrowed my eyes at her. Small red bite marks lined her neck, the evidence of her passion on display for anyone to see. Had she been taken advantage of?
"Fuck me, Lucky... here. Now." She giggled and reached down, cupping my dick and squeezing painfully hard.
"Ouch." I moved back and swatted at her, feeling confused all of a sudden. "Who was that guy you were with? Did he touch you? Did you take something?"
"I was the life of the party tonight." She pulled a bag of white powder from her pocket and pressed it to her face, breathing in deeply and laughing again.
"Selene. What the fuck is that?" I reached for the bag, but she jerked it away.
"No! Stay away from it, Mister Grabbie. Only me and my new boy get to play with the goods." She laughed again and spun around once in front of me, stumbling a little, but catching herself.
I didn't know this girl at all.
"Your new boy?" My heart shrunk inside my chest as pain roared through me.
"Yep. Dante. He's a big guy." She lifted her hands and smiled like a child at Christmas. "Not like you. You're a pretty boy, but he's big and strong."
"And you're here with him tonight?" I crossed my arms over my chest as bile rose into my throat. I was a fool to believe that anything good would come of crossing paths with a Delgado. They were all shit. Apparently, Lena was no exception. I wanted so badly to believe that she was, but all evidence pointed to the contrary.
"Yep. Going home with him, too." She smiled and waved the bag at me. "Want some? All the kids are raving about it."
I'd seen enough. I shook my head and turned from her, working to get my bike undone before starting it up.
"I can't believe you're one of them." I pursed my lips. "Just like your father... and a two-bit whore to top it off."
"Once a Delgado, always one, right?" She laughed loudly and I nodded, driving off as my heart shattered in my chest.
She was right, and I was done caring what exactly that meant for her.
Chapter 11
Selene
The high started to wear off about the time we walked into the police station downtown. The cop behind me had a tight grip on my arms, but it was nothing compared to the pressure raging through my skull.
Why had I taken the damn pill? I'd never cared before what anyone thought.
Gl
ancing to my left, I narrowed my eyes at Dante, which rewarded me with a drunken wink.
"Fuck you," I growled before getting pulled into an open door to my right.
"Sit down and shut up, kid." The large, bald cop in front of me was one I'd seen at the high school a few times during the bigger sporting events. "We're processing your information, and then I'll be in to ask you a few questions."
"I want to speak to my lawyer. I know my rights." I lifted my cuffed hands to the table and glanced down at them, not giving the man the respect he probably deserved.
What did it matter? I was a Delgado, so I was guilty by association if nothing else.
"You'll get your one phone call when I get around to it." The door slammed as he left me to sit in the whitewashed room.
I leaned over and pressed my forehead to the cool steel table as I let out a long groan. Lucas had come to the party from what I could remember, but I couldn't really place us together. Had we talked or danced or... anything?
"Why the hell would you leave me there with the cops coming?" I mumbled to no one and rubbed my cheek on the table. I was burning up. Had to be my body fighting back against the drug lingering in my system.
It seemed like forever before the cop came back, but his demeanor hadn't changed at all.
He dropped down in the seat on the other side of the table, and I sat up, leaning back and trying to appear as if everything was fine when nothing was.
My one call would be to my grandmother, not a lawyer and sure as hell not my dad. She would come get me and take me home with her for the night. The thought of her being disappointed with me promised to bring tears to my eyes, so I cleared my mind and stared deadpan into the cops face.
"You wanna tell me what type of drug you and Dante across the hall were dealing?"
"No clue what you're talking about." I shrugged.
His lip lifted in a cruel smile. "Bullshit. He's already told us that much. You're both implicated in dealing."
I knew better than that. Anyone who wanted to work for my dad knew that death or dismemberment would be the reward for turning into a rat. Even if Dante was toked up to high heaven, he wouldn't say shit.