AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stand over her by an easy eight inches and weigh double at least. So it’s no wonder her breath comes to a stop, or that her body turns to stone. But I make us sway anyway.
“Dance with me, Sweet Christabelle.”
“What are you?—”
“I said,” I tighten my hand around hers, and use my other hand to squeeze her hip and force her to move with me. “Dance.”
“F-Felix Malone.” As she stammers, her eyes swing around the room in panic, likefuck,somebody save me. Though no one dares. The pianoman continues massaging his keys, and other guests mill around. They watch us, sure. But they don’t step forward and save the little lady from the big bad wolf. “I don’t know what you?—”
“You seem to have a hard-on for my family right now, Ms. Cannon.” I crush her closer until the oxygen bursts from her lungs, filling mine instead. Then I smirk, because her core heats. She might hate me. And shit, maybe she’s terrified enough to want to run away. But she’s hot for me, too. She responds well to fear. To confrontation. “You’ve developed an interest in writing gossip about people I care about.”
“Is it gossip?” Swallowing, she summons her bravery and looks down her nose at me, despite our height disparity. “Or is it fact? I pride myself on accurate journalism, Mr. Malone.”
“Yeah? So that nonsense about my brother being a dirty cop?” I drop my hand to the swell of her ass, tweaking the big poofy bow above it on my way, and grin when her eyes flicker with… well, still hatred. But I’ve had people hate me my whole life. Doesn’t bother me anymore. “Archer Malone is a good cop, Ms. Cannon. He flies straight as an arrow.”
“Does he?” She stiffens her spine with challenge. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. You know what else I’m sure of?” I release her ass, but only to yank the V of her dress forward, pulling the fabric until threads snap and stealing a view of her perfect tits and pebbled nipples.
My boldness elicits a gasp of stunned disbelief, not only from the woman herself, but from every person with a front-row seat to my poor behavior.
Despite our audience, my mouth salivates, and my cock thickens, but I release her dress, set my hand on her ass again, and grin.
“What the hell was that for?” She attempts to fight me, to tug her hand from mine and her body from my palm. But I’m stronger than her by a long shot, and unlike everyone else at this party, I don’t feel the need to kiss her ass and hope she likes me. “You assaulted me!”
“Did I?” I turn us around and dance like she’s actually in to it. “You trade in gossip, Ms. Cannon. I was merely ensuring you didn’t have a wire tucked between your tits.”
“For what reason?” she snarls. “And what makes you think you get to touch me?”
“I’m not nearly as straight-and-narrow as my baby brother. And youneed to know the consequences of speaking the names of those I love. I’ve hurt people for less. And as far as touching you?” I knead her ass and gleefully absorb the way she growls. “I’vebeentouching you. You’re yet to stop me.”
“I’ll have you arrested. Sent to prison for the rest of your life.”
“For dancing with you? Sweet summer child, that’s not illegal.”
“No, for murdering people!” she bites back. “For the criminal activity you partake in.”
“I don’t kill people, silly.” I bring our joined hands up andboopthe end of her nose with the tip of my finger. “But you’re making noise about my family, Ms. Cannon. That’s gotten lesser women into trouble over the years.”
“You say you don’t kill people, but you just threatened me!Everyoneknows what you are, Felix.”
“Yes, but…” I release her ass and twirl her away to show her off to everyone watching, then I tug her in again and tuck her close to my chest, “knowing and proving are two different things. To avoid the latter, it would be shrewd of you to reconsider who you’ll write about tomorrow.”
I grab her jaw and pull her to the very tips of her toes. Her breath bursts out in terror, and her eyes widen in fear. “First article was cute. Second was annoying. A third won’t be tolerated.”
“Who was your mother?”
Startling back, my body jolts from her blow as though she used a physical weapon. She could have stabbed me, and I wouldn’t be as surprised as I am right now. She could have pulled out a fucking shotgun, and my heart wouldn’t thunder quite like it does in this moment. “What?”
“Everyone knows Old Man Malone fucked women, impregnated them, then killed them after the baby was born. So who was your mother? Where is she now?”
I release her face and take a step back—my first retreat in many years. Perhaps since the day Cato was born and Savannah was taken from me.
“What was her name?” Brave now, Christabelle pushes forward and fills the space I left. “Who did she belong to?”
I drop my hands into my pockets, fingering the switchblade in my left, and wonder what it would feel like to spill blood on that golden gown.
“Who buried her?Wherewas she buried? Do you visit her grave? Do you pay your respects to the woman who gave her life for yours?”
