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She was right, of course, the lines blurring all the time and to the point where I constantly confused myself. I didn’t know what she was, my curse or my salvation, but every day I felt this intense need to claim her, keep her and make her see that she was mine, and that remained current no matter what the day.
Most especially now.
“Is there a problem, Mr. Johnson?” One of Alexi’s bouncers saddled up to my side, one I was actually very familiar with. I’d even been over to the guy’s house for dinner once, eating with his family.
Billie chased his huge chest up to his eyes, looking a bit relieved by the guy’s presence, but she shouldn’t. He wasn’t here to bat for her, only me.
The look of relief instantly wiped from her face when I grabbed her, doing so with more force than I meant to. I had to prove a point, though. She didn’t belong here, not in this place. Never in this place. I basically threw her at Alexi’s bouncer, and in her heels, she stumbled into him.
“Take care of this one,” I grunted. “She’s causing a disturbance.”
I put my back to her after that, hearing her call me all kinds of things while she was dragged away. I was an asshole, a dick, and I could be anything she wanted as long as she was out of here. She needed to be safe, and here? She was anything but.
Chapter Fifteen
Billie
I was on fire by the time I got myself together enough to text my friends. LJ was so out of line it wasn’t even funny, throwing his weight around at, of all places, a strip club. I’d been reluctant even to come out tonight, but after the whole thing with Sinclair, then LJ appearing and reappearing in my life, I’d just wanted to let off some damn stress. I had a few friends in some of my graduate film classes that were always talking about going out, so tonight I decided to take them up on the offer.
A lot of good it did me.
That bouncer had basically thrown me out on my ass, the place not my scene anyway. LJ was right. This really wasn’t my scene. I’d just wanted to have a good time.
I shot what was going on with me in a group text to my grad friends, hoping they might like to go somewhere else tonight since I’d basically been thrown out. I waited for a response for a while, but when I heard nothing, decided to catch a ride-share. None of us had driven anyway since we didn’t know who’d be drinking.
I used the app to call for a ride, then waited a few minutes before sitting down on the curb. My skirt was so short it rode up my ass, and I chastised myself for being able to be talked into wearing it by my graduate friends. They’d met me up at my house and told me to turn right back around and change, apparently the navy blue dress I’d been wearing not appropriate for where we were going tonight. It was only later after we pulled up to the club I realized we were going to a strip club. A nice strip club but a strip club nonetheless. Honestly, I guessed LJ had been doing me a favor in the end.
But never would he know that.
I growled, literally snarling over my phone app. I’d been assigned a ride, but for whatever reason it wasn’t here yet, and I was getting more and more pissed off as I watched their little icon wander about town like it had no destination. I nearly canceled it for another when I caught the eye of a dude coming out the club. He fist pounded a bouncer, basically looking like one himself with his height and overall stature, and glancing at me, he grinned so wide I thought the club lights might reflect off his teeth.
Christ.
I groaned as LJ’s friend Niko lifted a hand at me, then proceeded to saunter his way over to my corner of the street. He’d been wearing similar clothing to LJ, a suit that smoothed perfectly across his broad chest and big shoulders. Niko was basically big everywhere, looking pretty much like a football player at a draft party. He had his dark hair slicked back out of his eyes, his hand cutting into his suit coat to hold his tie. He was a debonair man of the world, and my mouth dried recalling how LJ looked in a similar suit. His had been a smooth navy, crisp and buttery in tone. Oddly enough, we would have matched tonight had I chosen to wear a similar color, drawing him to me even more, I supposed.
Stepping up to me, Niko bent his massively large frame, trying to find my eyes when he dashed a grin.
“Queen B, that is you,” he said, then gazed about the street. “Mind letting me in on what you’re doing?”
“Ask your friend.” I kicked my feet out onto the pavement. Where was that damn ride-share? “He’s the one who kicked me out of your club.”
“Our club?” Niko bumped a laugh like I’d said anything funny. He removed his hand from inside his jacket. “Hardly. But Jay actually tossed you out?”
The look I cut him let him know, and when he placed out his hand to help me up, I actually took it. I probably shouldn’t be sitting on the street anyway, my goods hanging out. People might get the wrong idea.
“You look like you belong on the street.”
LJ’s words in my head sour, I hugged myself, warming my arms and seeing that, Niko took off his jacket. He started to give it to me, but I waved him off. “I’m fine. Just waiting for a ride-share.”
“How long?” he asked, folding the jacket over his arm. All that remained over his burly arms was a black dress shirt and matching tie. He tossed a thumb back. “I’m leaving now and can take you home if you’d like. We are neighbors.”
He leaned in when he said that, and I really didn’t want anything from him. Before I could answer, though, he was handing a ticket over to the valet, and with only a few words into the valet’s headset, a fire engine red sports car was literally pulling up in front of us. It also had spoilers glistening harder than my outfit.
Hopping out, the valet left the door open for Niko, and when he came around, he pressed a big hand on the top. He waggled his dark eyebrows playfully. “Coming or going, Queenie? I ain’t got all day, you know.”
I checked my phone app again, but since the driver was still wandering around the world, I canceled the thing and got inside. This received a chuckle from Niko, and after tossing the valet a wad of cash, he got in with me.
“Buckle up, Your Majesty,” Niko teased, flashing a set of deep dimples at me. He worked the car into gear. “I drive fast and don’t slow down for royalty.”
