Page 42 of Speak No Claim

“When are you going to learn…” he interrupted, leaning forward, inching toward my lips. “I own everything.”

My stomach dropped. I never expected his next declaration.

* * *

With a menacing expression, he growled, “Including you, Belladonna.”

Chapter

Thirteen

Hennessy: It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company.

“¡En tus sueños!” I roared, “In your dreams.”

There I was, yelling at a guy I knew only by reputation, out in the middle of the woods, which apparently were now owned by him.

Both my fists remained at my sides while I tried like hell to keep my cool, to maintain my composure and act like the lady I was raised to be, but you wouldn’t know it by my actions at that moment. Uncontrollable anger rolled over my entire body, and I fought the urge to punch him right in his damn mouth.

Onyx Devereaux.

Just his name made me want to throw down.

I hated guys like him.

I didn’t know much about him, but the fact was I didn’t need to. Men like him were all the same, every last one of them. Acting as though they were hot shit and owned every place they walked into. With their “my shit don’t stink” attitudes and their “money will buy me out of everything” mentalities.

It was exhausting.

I’d seen them all my life, being raised around all walks of life with tourists coming in and out of mine. Especially the good-looking ones. Add money and power, and they thought they were unstoppable. The older I got, the easier it was to know who to stay away from. The ones whose eyes would linger on me one too many times, the ones who didn’t care that I was only sixteen and not yet a legal adult.

Although in Peru, if you could see above the bar, you could drink. Once I hit puberty, I developed overnight. I always knew the effect I had on men. They were the easiest thing to read and understand. I stayed away, not wanting to make trouble for anyone, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t experienced.

I had a few boyfriends, but none serious. I didn’t have time for any of that, nor did I want the drama I’d seen my friends go through with theirs.

It was so cliché.

All of it.

With an overconfident arched eyebrow, he narrowed his stare on me, standing there with nothing more than a mischievous smirk across his face. It was the first time I’d ever been around a guy who screamed sex. It radiated off him. He had this cocky demeanor without even trying.

I was giving him exactly what he craved. A reaction out of me was what he wanted, and I had yet to figure out what his problem was with me. He didn’t like my family. That much was obvious.

But why?

I slowly licked my lips, my mouth suddenly drying up. I felt like I was suddenly under his spell. His gaze immediately followed the movement of my tongue, and I subconsciously took a step back, holding my ground. I shook my head, ridding myself of the uneasiness I was immersed in because of his slightly intimidating composure that unexpectedly seemed to loom over mine.

With his arms over his chest, accentuating all his muscles, shining bright under the moon, he looked like a god, a fucking Viking, a pirate. Something about his demeanor still made me feel like we knew each other from another world, another lifetime.

I couldn’t shake that feeling, the emotion taking over every part of my nervous system.

What the hell?

I tried like hell to ignore how his stance only emphasized his tall, muscular build as he leaned back.

Cocky and confident as ever, fully aware of what I was thinking, feeling…

He bit the side of his lip in a charismatic and magnetic way, and I arched an eyebrow. I hated that he was trying to use his so-called charm on me.