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“Now what? Oh, right, Balls.” She nods. “Sorry, I was reading about balls and, for a moment, wondered how you knew.”
“Really? Were you?” I eye the book she has a little closer. Nothing about the cover screams smut. There isn’t a half-naked guy on the front like her usual books. I should have known, but I thought maybe she was reading a different genre today.
“Oh, yeah. Well, indirectly, I guess. Balls were involved, at least. The antihero was ramming the heroine from behind as his buddy was balls deep in her throat,” she nonchalantly quips with a small laugh and blushes.
“I see.” I giggle. “So, I take that’s a no. You’re going to stay here and read about balls, right?”
She bites her lower lip and nods quickly. “Absolutely! I love my book boyfriends. They’re so fucking hot.”
“Okay. Suit yourself. But I prefer my guys to be able to touch me.”
“Etta, you have no idea what you’re missing. The things they do to their women are masochistic and dark, and you can bet your ass that if I ever find somebody who will do that to me and call me by a pet name, I’m going to marry that man as quick as I can. Of course, we’ll have to have our plot twist before we can find our happily kinky ever after.”
“Mmm. Actually, that doesn’t sound half bad. Find me one, too?” I tease, grabbing my keys off the key hook, and I give her a small wave. It was a joke, but the more I think about it, the more I think that might be exactly what I need to get out of this rut with Adam. A happily kinky ever after. Adam has about as much spice as a piece of bread, but he’s a safe choice. Then again, bread usually is, too.
CHAPTER FOUR
LO
I clap my hands, and white chalk dusts the air before I grab my pool stick and aim. “Eight ball corner pocket.” I nod my head at the far right of the table and sink the shot right after. “Next round is on you, buddy,” I tell the poor fucker as he hangs his head full of blond hair. His brown eyes squint, and I almost feel bad for the chump, but that isn’t who I am. No one in this world deserves pity over a fucking pool game. I reserve that emotion for extreme situations, and even then, I try to avoid it.
“The name’s Adam.” His hand pops out in front of him.
“Okay.” I shrug. Ren glares at me from the other side of the pool table. I don’t do people. I don’t like them. He knows this, and yet he still insists I accompany him on these excursions. He could have agreed to me waiting in the car and continuing surveillance, but he wanted me in here. So, whatever goes down is on him. Not me. The fucker’s trail that we’ve been on for months went cold two weeks ago, and it was right here in this damn hole-in-the-wall joint. There’s a very real possibility that he not only caught on to us but is the owner of one of these nameless faces surrounding us. That’s the reason I agreed to Ren’s request. I maintain that I still could have taken our guy out in the parking lot all the same and with fewer witnesses to pay off.
“Adam?” a familiar voice asks, confusion evident. He jerks his hand behind his back and turns quickly as if the owner of the voice pulled a chain around his body, making him move at her will. Anyone with that much power instantly has my curiosity piqued, but I know the voice. It’s her voice. My little violent fox. A sadistic smile broadens across my face, and I turn to face her right along with Adam.
“Etta? Uh. What are you doing here?”
“This is where I usually am. What are you doing here?” She isn’t talking to him anymore. Her gaze shoots completely past him and practically jabs daggers of hate at me.
Adam opens his mouth to answer, and I step around him, flattening my palm against his chest. “I got this one, bubby.”
“No, you don’t. She was talking to me. Right, Etta? You don’t know this joker with crayon earrings. Tell him to mind his own damned business.
My tongue slides along my teeth and makes a sucking noise as I release it. “Don’t be a stupid shit, Adam,” I whisper in a controlled tone. Ren groans, standing up from his barstool, and makes his way through the crowd in our direction.
She doesn’t answer him. Good little fox. Her mouth falls open, and my smile widens. This couldn’t have worked out better in my favor, even if I had planned the night out in a play-by-play myself. Of course, she recognizes my earrings. Hell, I knew exactly what I was doing when I stabbed the safety pins through them to make them into earrings for my gages. My sole purpose was to piss her off when I saw her again. I hadn’t questioned if that would happen because if we had not met by chance tonight, I would have eventually showed up at her house. With the help of sheer brute force, I convinced the security guard from the night we met to give me the place’s footage, and in return, I gave him my word I wouldn’t tell his supervisor what a shitty job he was doing by not only overlooking not one but two intruders into the gala. It only took a few minutes, but from there, I was able to hack the street cams back to her place. I could have easily gotten more information on her, given enough free time, but this asshole we’re looking for abruptly fell off the face of the earth. His trail went cold, and although I didn’t like it, he stole my attention away from my plaything.
“Those belong to me,” she snarls, poking her finger in my chest and glancing between her two crayons that are gently swaying around as my head bobs backward with a knowing laugh.
“Doesn’t look like it, little fox.”
“Little fox?” Adam stutters the question with disgust, his attention flickering between my fox and me.
“Don’t make me kill you tonight, Adam. I will.”
“Ha. Yeah, right! I’d like to see you try.” He coughs, puffing his chest out like the dumbass he is.
“Well, if you insist.” I smile, gripping the pool stick between my hands and cracking it over my knee. Shards of wood fly around us, and Adam’s eyes almost bulge out of his head. “Wouldn’t hurt my feelings one damn bit.” I twist on my feet and hold the jagged point to the soft spot where his chin meets his neck.
“Don’t hurt him,” she demands, and a sharp point pokes against my side. I look over my shoulder to her fingers tightening around the red handle of a knife as she readjusts her hold on it.
“And just what do you think you’re going to do about it?” I swallow the laugh creeping out of my mouth. She’s cute. I don’t know how many people I’ve killed in the course of my lifetime. Whatever the number is, it’s high enough that murdering Adam wouldn’t make me lose an ounce of sleep. He’s already a dead man walking if he thinks he’s going to stand between me and my fox. Nobody claims what’s mine, and even if she doesn’t know it yet, she is mine.
“I’ll gut you like the fucking son of a bitch that you are and leave you here to bleed out,” she snarls, and it reminds me of a small animal. So protective. So violent. I knew I was right about her. She might even hate the world more than I do, and if that’s the case, crossing paths with me might be more than bad; it can be fatal. I was never taught how to love things properly. The only tenderness I was shown as I grew into the monster I am today was a small glimmer of affirmation and the occasional firm pat on the back after I tore the life from the deserving. There’s a reason I avoid people—a lot more of them tend to die when I’m around, so I avoid them unless I plan to murder them. It works out better for everyone. I have less of a headache, and people wind up less dead.
“Is that a promise?” I ask, stopping the low growl of satisfaction from bursting out of my mouth. I’m going to find out what makes her tick and rip every one of the gears from her beautiful mind until she falls apart in my hands. I will wreck my little fox in the best way imaginable. I’ll convince her to see things as I do, meaning she belongs only to me.
