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Darius growled. His breath rushed across my face, burned against my lips. “Why do you think, Kami?” he bit out. “What did I tell you not to do but you kept doing? What crazy, reckless thing did you do that would make me want to put you over my knee and tan your hot, little ass?”
He started off strong and angry, but by hot, little ass, his voice was a gruff, aroused snarl that triggered a flood of release between my leg. The scalding, wet mess made me shift and squeeze my thighs closed.
“I don’t know … I can’t think…”
The pad of his thumb wedged beneath my chin and my face was forced up to his.
“What about waltzing into a maximum security prison in a tiny, pink dress and your fuck-me heels like some goddamn…?”
It clicked then.
His words filled in the image of the last time I’d seen him. The last time our eyes had locked across the grimy visiting room at the prison. He’d been in the same blue jumpsuit as the inmates, his hands cuffed at his midsection, his arm gripped by a guard. I’d been so excited, I’d made sure to look my best. The pink dress wasn’t tiny. It was form-fitting with full sleeves and a u-shaped collar. It was decent and cute. The heels, well, he’d always had a problem with those.
But he’d taken one look at me and gone rigid. The very air around him all but solidified with a rage and purpose that momentarily washed over me in a wave of ice. He’d torn awayfrom the guard just long enough to reach my table, lean in close and snarl,“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Startled, flustered, and confused, I mumbled something he’d ignored.
“Get out,”he’d hissed low just for me.“Get the fuck out and don’t ever come back. Do you understand me?”
I’d tried to argue.
“Ever!”His blue eyes cut straight though me.“I swear to God, Kami, if you come back…”
He didn’t finish. He cast a swift glance over the other bodies in the room, jaw set. He’d shot me another glance full of absolute fury before storming back to where the guard stood and out of sight.
He’d blocked my visits. I had no idea that was a thing that could happen, but I learned that he’d specifically requested I be kept out the following week. Then the week after that. I returned every week for six months and was turned away each time. Even my letters were sent back unopened. Maybe that should have been a hint that he didn’t want to see me, but I had been so ridiculously adamant to see him, to assure him he wasn’t alone or forgotten.
Then, Lavena explained it one evening over drinks with the girls. We’d been piled together in a booth at Sasha’s favorite bar, a tiny hole in the wall in a ratty part of the city where even the rats were addicted to something. She claimed she loved the music, but none of us missed the glances exchanged with the sexy bartender with the full sleeve of tattoos and eyes perfect for the bedroom.
We were all on our third, maybe fourth drink when Kas mentioned her father meeting with Darius in the morning. I’m not ashamed to admit I used it to nudge the door open on that conversation.
“Have you talked to him?”I asked the other woman, who hadn’t been blonde at the time. She’d been a redhead with a severe, chin length cut that made her look like the heroine from a noir movie.
Lavena threw back her martini, set her glass down and scowled at it.“Nope. Dad pulled me into the office yesterday to tell me to stop, like I’m one of those girls who have a thing for guys in prison and not his fucking sister.”
“Come on, Lavena, you know why,”Kas grumbled and earned an indignant huff from the other woman.
I’d been around the Medlock family long enough to know not everything they did was on the up and up. I knew they did … morally gray things occasionally. I knew Alexander was more than just a really lucky businessman. But there was still so much about their world I was still learning.
“Why?”I blurted before either of them could change the topic.
“It’s not safe,”Kas replied when Lavena rolled her eyes and raised a hand to catch the bartender’s attention.“It’s an unspoken rule that women do not visit the men in prison.”
I started to shake my head.“I don’t understand. Why—?”
“In case I get kidnapped,”Lavena cut in sharply.“There are a lot of people in that place who would like nothing more than to get even with a Medlock.”
“You can’t have weaknesses in there, something the others can use against you,”Kas continued.“Wives, daughters, girlfriends, sisters, moms, these are all people who can be exploited to hurt the people inside. So, we stay away until they get out.”
“What if they never get out?” I whispered.
Kas shrugged.“Then you never see them.”
I realized then that Darius was trying to protect me. So, I relented. I shelved my drive and determination. I stayed awayfrom him and the prison, assuring myself he would eventually be free, and I could see him any time I wanted.
“I … I wanted to make sure you were okay,” I whispered now in the stillness closing around us like a suffocating blanket. “I didn’t want you to be alone.”
The brush of his breath inches from my upturned lips had my stomach quivering.
