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“Yes,” she replied clearly, unwilling to allow him to see the hurt he was causing.
“You said you were engaged?”
She gave a single nod. “James wanted to wait until we were married. As you know, that never happened.”
“Fuck!” he bellowed, brushed past her, and marched to the door. Opening it without a backward glance, he left, the slamming door behind him serving as his parting words.
She jumped from the loud noise and she began to shake as she stared at the door where only a few moments ago she’d experienced the most incredible feeling of her life. Her eyes began to sting and filled with tears. His reaction hurt more than she wanted to admit.
Her inexperience shouldn’t have mattered, but she’d read enough romance books to know that men didn’t want to be a woman’s first. They wanted experienced women that knew how to please them.
She sank down on the foot of the bed, feeling rejected and humiliated. She fell back and curled into a ball. Feeling sorry for herself wasn’t something she did, but for a few moments, she let the tears fall and called herself all types of a fool for thinking Dozer was different.
Let him be angry. She was too. If he thought she was going to be the meek and mild virgin and do as she was told, he was sorely mistaken.
* * *
Demonte
“I still say you should have at least taken me with you,” Elio said through the sound system of his car.
“And you know why I couldn’t. Even this phone call is suspect. I’ll call you when I’m finished.” Demonte didn’t wait for a response before he disconnected the call. Doing anything without his father getting wind of it was a challenge.
Elio was the only one that knew of the meeting with the Kings of Chaos and the reason why. He’d known Elio his entire life and counted him as one of the handful of true friends he trusted. In his business, loyal friends were more precious than bars of gold.
He pulled up to the gates of the Kings of Chaos compound. The guard must have been alerted to his coming because the gates opened and he pulled in and parked near the doors. The parking lot was deserted except for a pickup truck and three bikes. He’d asked for a private meeting and it looked like they were allowing that to happen.
Of course, he could also be walking into an ambush. The Luciano heir would be a big bargaining chip.
The door to the building opened and Dozer stood in the entrance. Two times in one day, how lucky was he?
Might as well get this show on the road.
Demonte got out of the car and adjusted his suit jacket and tie as he approached the imposing man who was clearly displeased with his presence on KOC property.
“Dozer,” he acknowledged with a nod.
Dozer’s only reply was the tensing of his jaw. “This way,” he said, and Demonte followed behind.
Demonte had never been in the KOC compound before and was surprised at the modern updates that had been made to the inside of what had once been a cola packaging plant.
Dozer led him through a maze of hallways until he opened a door and walked through. Demonte paused at the door to what looked like a conference room you’d find in any prominent business. A large table sat in the middle of the room with at least a dozen leather office chairs surrounding it. A large screen was mounted on the wall at the end of the table and a credenza was against a sidewall with a coffee machine and bottles of water on top. A civilized meeting room wasn’t what he expected from the KOC.
Three other impressively large men filed into the room. To the one he knew as the president, “Austin,” he held out his hand.
The president crossed his arms and Demonte let his hand fall back to his side.
So it’s going to be that way, is it?
“What do you want, Luciano?” Austin asked.
He felt the heat from all four men who’d just as soon shoot him as to be in a room with him. The feeling wasn’t a foreign one. “Can we sit?” he asked. There was a lot he needed to explain and defusing the emotions was going to take a while.
It ended up with them staking sides of the table. Demonte on one side and the four KOC on the other, glaring at him. He had no idea how the meeting would go, but he hoped they’d see the mutual benefit from a partnership.
Inpatient, Austin snapped, “Say what you came to say, Luciano. We don’t have all night.”
Demonte bristled at their rudeness. People didn’t treat him disrespectfully. If they did, they became a non-issue. He made them wait a few moments longer, a power play he couldn’t pass up. “Before I say anything, I need your assurance that what I’m going to tell you will stay confidential and won’t leave this room. Lives are at stake if the information I am trusting you with gets out. I assume the men you have with you are loyal.”
