Page 119 of Vega

Elana lifted her chin to look more confident than she felt at the moment. “Bitch, I’m not embarrassed.”

“You should be.” I tossed the paper towel into the trash. “I know you tried your best to be the baddest bitch, and that’s what makes this so disappointing.”

Laughter broke out behind me.

Elana’s nostrils flared. “You can’t possibly be a better bitch than me.”

I tilted my head, giving her a sympathetic gaze. “I love how you don’t let facts get in the way of your opinions.”

A dancer near the stalls bent over laughing. “Damn.”

Elana pointed at me. “You think you cute with that smart ass mouth?”

“No, I know I’m smart. Cute is just a bonus,” I quipped as I looked her over. “You’re probably the first person I’ve ever met who has reached her fullest potential.”

The bathroom erupted in laughter.

Elana’s face twisted with rage. “Fuck you.”

“Intelligence is chasing you, but you run so much faster.”

“Girl!” somebody bellowed with laughter from the mirror.

Elana tried to laugh it off, but it came out fake. “Vega likes real women. Not little nerdy girls playing dress up.”

“Anytime I think I’m less of a woman, I’ll remember bitches like you exist, and I’ll feel better immediately.” Her smile vanished as I stepped closer. “And since we’re being honest, I’m sure he envies the men who never fucked you.”

A few women screamed out in laughter.

Elana’s eyes dropped into a glare meant to scare me, but I had already been kidnapped, hunted, and shot at. A jealous bitch with hurt feelings wasn’t about to be the thing that took me out.

Elana’s hand twitched at her side, as if she was ready to swing on me, but I smiled wider. “Somewhere there is a tree providing you oxygen. Find it and apologize.”

Rage reddened her cheeks as she took one more step toward me.

I didn’t move. I just looked down at her the same way Vega had looked at her when he told her to get off his lap.

“You already got rejected once tonight,” I told her. “Don’t make me embarrass you twice.”

Elana stood there with her jaw working, trying to find something witty and cold enough to throw back at me, but she couldn’t.

Laughing, I turned and walked past her before she could recover, leaving her in the bathroom with every woman in there laughing at her.

The ride back from the club felt worse than being inside it. At least inside, the music, dancers, liquor, and people gave me somewhere else to put my eyes. In Vega’s car, there was only him and the ache between my thighs that refused to let me think about anything else.

I sat in the passenger seat with my legs crossed, irritated that my body still hadn’t recovered from the way Vega had watched me all night. I had never had a man take me in with his eyes like that.

He looked at me like I was home.

I wanted to be touched so bad that it made me mad. I didn’t understand how he could have feelings for me but resist me.

Driving with one hand on the wheel, Vega suddenly said, “You’re quiet.”

“I’m thinking.”

“About?”

“I understand that you want me to choose you when I’m truly free. You want me free enough to know the difference between wanting you and needing you to survive.”