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“Clancy, you little shit. No one wants to hear your crappy music! Turn it the fuck off!” Tiffany shouts through the door.
We look at each other again and burst out laughing. “Fuck you, Tiff!” Clancy shouts back. She swings her feet off the bed and strides over to her phone that’s still attached to the speakers and turns the music up. Tiffany’s curses are lost beneath the sound as we jump up and dance like ravers high on ecstasy once again. As she dances around the room without a care in the world and full of sunshine and smiles, I vow to myself that I’ll make Clancy’s birthday special somehow. It’s the least I can do.
* * *
Later that night,I pull out the card Zayn gave me with Grim’s contact number on it. Sitting on my bed, I glance at my mobile phone. It’s almost ten pm and normally I wouldn’t be so rude to make a call this late, but fuck that. If Grim and Jeb can make a deal about me without my consent, she can take a call from me now.
Punching in the number, I wait for her to pick up. I don’t have to wait long.
“Yes?” A gruff voice answers. It’s Beast, not Grim.
“I’m calling to speak with Grim. It’s Pen.”
“Pen?”
“Yes, I was at Grim’s club Friday night with the Skins. Adealwas made,” I say, unable to hide my disgust.
“Ah,thatPen. You caused a lot of shit. Quite the little badass mover, aren’t you? Not to mention full of spunk.” He chuckles, his gruff tone replaced with a warmth that surprises me.
“I didn’t cause any shit. I was just dealing with the crap thrown atme,” I reply, feeling more than a little prickly. I clamp my mouth shut, cursing myself for not being level-headed enough to realise I’m dealing with a man who’d sooner put a bullet in someone’s brain than listen to attitude. Thankfully today he appears to be in a good mood.
“Grim,Feet of Flamesis on the phone. She’s cranky,” he chuckles. I wince at the nickname, Grim must have told him what Malik Brov had called me. I swallow down my verycrankyresponse as Beast passes the phone over to Grim.
“I’d wondered when you’d call,” Grim says, conversationally.
I bite the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from going off on her. Despite what she said Friday night about ever needing a friend, she’s already proven I can’t fucking trust her. “When do I start?” I simply say, my voice tight and filled with gravel.
“That’s it? I’m surprised. I expected more of a reaction than that.” Her voice is even, cool, and it pisses me off. I can’t help it, I bite.
“What do you want me to say? Thanks for making a deal with the Skins without my fucking permission?” I respond angrily, my fingers wrapping tightly around my phone.
“Ah, there she is! Don’t stop fighting, Pen. The minute you give up, they have you. Got it?”
“What are you talking about?” I retort, thrown by her response.
“I promised that you’d never be touched by any of the Skins whilst in my club, and I will keep that promise. Being aperformeraffords you that protection. The alternative would’ve been far, far worse. Jeb was willing to sell you off to Malik Brov. Zayn stopped that. He impressed me actually, the way he stood up for you.”
“Wait, you know that Zayn was playing Jeb?”
Grim chuckles. “Yeah, I knew. Jeb has a lot of enemies. The bastard will willingly put his own flesh and blood in the line of fire to protect his arse. I knew it the moment he arrived that night. I played along until we were behind closed doors.”
“I see.”
“I’m not sure you do. Look, Pen. I don’t know for definite how the fuck you got mixed up with the Skins, but I have a fair idea. No one who throws themselves in the line of fire does it without love. There’s history between you and Dax, am I right?” I remain silent, not willing to give anything away. She’s still a criminal after all. I don’t know her. “Right?” she persists.
“We were friends once,” I admit.
“Once?”
“We were kids. It’s different now.”
“Just you and Dax?” she pushes, seeking more.
“No, not just me and Dax. The others too. Xeno, York, Zayn. The Breakers…” I almost saymy Breakers, but stop myself before I can.
She goes silent for a moment. “I won’t profess to be an expert in relationships. Beast is the only man I’ve ever loved. I would die for him, as he would for me. That’s the kind of relationship I know. But it wasn’t always that way with him. We were enemies once.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask, confused as to why she’s opening up this way with me. We’re strangers. She’s some shit-hot, badass, criminal businesswoman and I’m a girl who can barely keep her head above water, just trying to survive in a world I never wanted to be a part of.
