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“First, we need a minute,” Grim ordered, and he steered me by the hip away from the others.
He found a quiet place and rubbed his chin as he thought. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water from a jug and handed it to me. I nodded my thanks and gulped down the cool water. Instantly, I felt my body come alive again. I held the glass to my lips a little longer than necessary to take a moment to study his toned body. It looked damn fine under his tee. The sleeves were rolled up some, belying what was underneath. His colorful arms were finally on display for me, and it took a considerable amount of effort not to reach up and trace the lines to see where they led. He sat on the ledge and allowed me time to gather myself. I was pretty amped up, and I knew it showed.
Grim pulled a joint from the pocket of his cut and lit the tip then drew the smoke into his lungs. His throat contracted then relaxed as he blew it away from me.
“Take some. It’ll help.” He held it up but kept it close to him, so I had to step between his long legs to reach it.
He tilted his head as I slowly pulled the joint from his fingers then pressed it between my lips and drew in a much-needed hit. The drug seeped its way into my system and masked some of my rattled nerves.
His hands moved to the backs of my thighs and slid up under my skirt. I ran my hand over his shoulders and noted they were as hard as the steel gates outside. I let my hand continue up through his hair with the joint between my fingers. He hissed as his fingers slipped between my legs and brushed over my sudden arousal. We weren’t alone, but this was how things seemed to need to be with Grim and me when we were fired up.
“I want to know what happened at?—”
“Any word on the hotel?” I didn’t want to talk about me yet.
“Jesse said some of it’s still standing. It’s bad, but we can salvage a fair bit.” He shook his head as his hands roamed.
“I’m sorry, Grim.” I sincerely meant it; I knew how important Secrets was to him. “I can’t believe what’s going on.”
“Kenna, what the hell happen—” He stopped himself and looked over my head. “Jesse’s here. We’ll talk later. We need to go.” He gave me one last stroke over my thong then stood slowly and dragged the length of his body all the way up mine.
“I got booze and bitches!” someone yelled as they came through the side gate with a trail of people behind.
“Come meet my friends.” Dirt called them over, and I saw about six guys with a girl on each arm. I recognized two of them as locals who often hung out at Treasure Island, and the girls with them were paid escorts that had caused me no end of trouble in the past with a few of my old clients. They were the last people I had the mind space for today.
“Fuck this place.” Grim took the joint I held up to him and rested it in his mouth before he grabbed my hand. “We need to leave.” The moment we stepped into the light of the lounge area, I heard her ear-piercing voice.
“Oh, look, Charles, it’s the princess from the Indulge tower.” Katherine, who went by Glory on the streets, snapped her gum at me.
“Glory hole,” I wasn’t in the mood to curb my tone, “how’s the clap treating you?”
“Better than your daddy treats you.” She grinned at me.
“At least my dad came back with the milk,” I tossed at her, knowing her daddy had left years ago.
“Oh, shit.” Brick hit Trigger’s arm. “Minnie’s gonna be pissed she missed this.”
“You wanna fight me?” Glory stuck out her mini chest as Grim hissed at me to stop. He pulled me to his other side.
“Deal with the ho, Keller,” Grim growled as Jesse came close and whispered something to him. “Stay here with the others for a sec, then we’re leaving,” he ordered and pressed me against the wall. He waved at Morgan to watch me.
I slowly edged my way to stand next to the door and hoped he wouldn’t be long.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Keller purred like the creep he was, “I see you’re looking better than ever.”
“And I see you’re still hanging out with the STDs of the world.” I shot Glory a look. Charles Keller wasn’t someone I’d ever wanted to see again.
“You miss me?” I looked away, not wanting to play his stupid games. “Because we’re here in this big house, and it’s got plenty of mattresses.” He grabbed my arm, and Morgan was next to me in a flash. “I could—” He stopped and eyed Morgan, who looked at him like a bug that needed to be crushed. He let go of my arm and held up his hands as he backed away then stopped hard as he hit something solid.
“You have a reason you’re touchin’ something that’s not yours?” Grim growled above him.
“Well, fuck me, it is Grim Gates. What in hell brought you out here tonight, anyway? Run out of jet fuel, or did your Mexican supply dry up?” He made the motion of snorting cocaine.
“Keller.” Grim moved quickly between us then pushed me behind him and raised his fist to take a swing, but I grabbed his arm and held up a hand to Keller. Grim shot me a look.
“It’s not the night to fuck around.” I couldn’t take any more. “Back off.”
Keller stuck his chest out and shrugged. “Letting pussy call the shots now?” Keller drawled, and I felt Grim’s body go rigid. I moved in front of Grim and turned to face him and begged him to stand down with my eyes. His body vibrated, but I saw he got it. I turned toward Keller, and he dropped his gaze to me. “I’ll swing by the hotel sometime, and we’ll finish what we started years ago, little girl.” He tried to hit my ass as he moved by me, but I shifted out of the way. I hated that I knew he meant it. Keller didn’t back down easily; it was one of the reasons I stayed clear of him. The only reason he did back down was because Grim looked ready to snap him in two and Morgan’s eyes hadn’t left his face.
