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But my desperation and the overwhelming desire to make something better of my life pushed me into taking him up on his offer. Standing here looking him in the eye right now though, I regret ever speaking to him, let alone working for him.
“That’s a problem, Aria,” he says. “What are we going to do about this?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“That is a lot of product to lose,” he presses.
“I know.”
“I told you to be careful, Aria. I warned you about selling to people you don’t know.”
I shift on my feet and look around, searching for an escape. The crowd in the bar erupts in applause and cheering as something good happens on the TV. My stomach flutters and I taste bile in the back of my throat.
“I should go. I have a lot of work to do,” I tell Lucas.
“You’re not going anywhere until we figure this out. You owe me a lot of money, Aria.”
“And I’ll get it back to you.”
“How?”
“I—I don’t know right now. But I will.”
A salacious smile touches his lips, and his eyes travel up and down my body. My already roiling belly churns even harder and I have to fight to keep the nausea at bay. His eyes fixed on my chest, the pink tip of his tongue slides out of his mouth and he runs it across his bottom lip, leaving it glistening in the dim light of the bar.
“We might be able to work something out,” he says. “I’ll let you work off what you owe me and after that—”
My lips curl into a frown of distaste and my nose wrinkles as if I’m smelling something particularly bad. I know what he thinks of me, but he couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve never been the sort of girl he thinks I am. And the mere suggestion that I’m the kind of girl who will spread my legs and screw somebody to get myself out of a jam pisses me off. I narrow my eyes and lift my chin as I stare at him. My face flushes and my body tenses, the anger flowing through my veins driving out the fear that had been gripping me.
“Yeah, that’s never going to happen, Lucas.”
“Never say never—”
“Never. I can say with absolute certainty that’s never going to happen,” I growl. “I could say you knew this was a possibility and it’s just the price of doing business. You of all people should know there is always risk in this business.”
His face darkens and grows tight. Lucas’ eyes narrow to slits and the muscles in his jaw flex as he clenches his teeth. I swallow hard and feel my legs tremble, but his insinuation about the sort of girl I am offended the hell out of me, so I stand firm.
“You should really watch your mouth, little girl,” Lucas hisses.
“I’m just stating a fact,” I reply. “But like I said before, I’m going to find a way to pay you back. It might take me a minute, but I will. I promise.”
“I’m not interested in your promises, Aria. You owe me and I want my money.”
Over the cacophony in the bar, I hear Dale screaming for me to come pick up my order. Thank God. It’s just the out I needed.
“I need to get back to work,” I tell him and turn away.
Lucas’ hand is like an iron shackle around my wrist, and I yelp in pain when he yanks me back toward him so hard, I feel like he pulled my shoulder out of its socket. He leans in close and I grimace when his breath, warm and fetid, washes over me.
“Don’t you walk away from me,” he sneers. “Don’t you ever fuckin’ walk away from me. Do you understand me, Aria?”
My heart jumps into my throat and my body trembles wildly. But then I see a hand fall onto Lucas’ wrist and his grip on my arm loosens as he cries out. He lets go completely as his wrist is bent backward at an awkward angle and his face twists in pain. I look up to find my lawyer, Silas Gable staring down at Lucas, his eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched, and a look of dark rage on his face.
“Don’t you ever lay so much as a finger on her again,” Silas growls. “Do you understand me?”
“Dude,” Lucas whines. “Get off me. This is none of your business—”
“Aria is my business and if you even think about putting your hands on her again, I’m going to tear your arm off and beat you with the bloody end of it. Understand?”
