Chapter

  Two

  Creed

  If this piece of shit actually thought he was going to be able to steal from me and see the light of day, my reputation as a vicious businessman was seriously slipping. No one, and I mean no one ever crossed me and lived to tell about it. No matter how small the amount was. This greedy fucker thought it would be a good idea to skim from the cash drawer the past two weeks and got caught.

  Staring down at the pathetic sight in front of me, the sound of voices arose from the other side of the wall. Noticing that one of them was a woman’s voice caused me to turn my attention away from the soon to be dead man in front of me.

  The moment I entered the room, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

  Observing the tight grip, Torin, had on her caused an anger to rise up inside of me like nothing I’d ever felt before. It was the kind that threatened the existence of one of my best friends lives, and he knew it. All it took was one look from me to know just how close I was to ending him.

  After releasing her, he and Merric left the room to tend to my problem, I’d left behind. Once I was alone with her, I eyed my prey closely, scanning her beautiful body while taking in all the telltale twitches her body showed. Even though she had an intrepid look in her eyes, she was broadcasting her fear like a neon sign in the middle of Times Square. Her rapid breathing was the first dead giveaway that she knew just how much trouble she was in right at this moment, and she was scared shitless.

  As she should be.

  I couldn’t help but respect that even though this woman’s life could be in danger, and it was, she only showed bravery with the way she spoke to Torin and stared me down. It was something very few men in her position ever did. No matter though, I would be the only one in this room deciding if she walked away from this tonight. “What is your name?” I asked, watching her for any signs that she was lying to me. The first one came when she took too long to answer my simple question. My guess was that she was moving quickly through a rolodex of fake names in her mind.

  “W-why should I tell you that?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

  Brave. Grown men didn’t stand up to me, so for this feisty little thing to do so, it intrigued me even more.

  Stepping into her, I lowered my face down so close to hers, I could smell her fear radiating under her mask of valor, and if I wasn’t mistaking, her arousal as well. Placing my finger under her chin, I pulled her face up to mine, so she had nowhere else to look but into my eyes. As I stared into hers, I noticed just how beautiful they were, threatening to pull me in like a sink hole. But I had never been the kind of man who fell so easily for a woman. “Because I asked, and because you have no other choice right now. I’ll be the one to ask the questions and you’ll answer them. End of story.”

  Pulling her chin from my grip, she took a step back, seeming to need the space to breathe. “M-my friends will come looking for me if I don’t return, so I would like to leave now.”

  Moving in close once again, close enough to see her pulse beating in her neck, I asked, “do you want your friends to live?” The fearful look in her eyes at my question proved her biggest weakness.

  “Don’t you dare hurt them.” It was interesting to see this woman’s fierce loyalty to her friends. Few gave out that kind of loyalty to others anymore these days.

  “Then answer my question, or I’ll have my men go out and find them.”

  “There’s too many people out there for you to find them, so come up with another threat, devil.” Once the word was out of her mouth, she was scrambling to find a way to retrieve it. “I-I didn’t mean to call you that... I...”

  Smiling internally at her reference to me being the devil, I couldn’t help but take pleasure in the way she saw me. “The devil, hmm? Well then as the devil don’t you think I could easily find your friends?” When she still didn’t answer, I stepped in even closer, forcing her back to the wall. “Tell me your name. This will be the final time I ask,” I demanded.

  “Cassidy,” she quickly blurted.

  “Last name?”

  “Crawford.”

  “Are you telling me the truth, Cassidy Crawford?”

  Her only answer was a nod with her head, a sign that screamed lie.

  “Boss,” Torin called out, walking back into the room, holding out the iPad to me.

  Not taking my eyes off of her, I reached behind me and retrieved it from him. After he was gone, I looked down at the screen, spotting the picture of my little vixen here with her only friend here tonight with her and one of my men entering the club. Sliding the screen over to video, I checked to make sure the feed came up before I turned it around to show her. “Looks like your friend is really enjoying the company of one of my men.”

  Her eyes widened as she instinctively reached out for the iPad in my hand. “How did you get that? You better not lay one hand on her or I’ll...”

  “You’ll what?” I asked, gripping her chin, cutting her words off. “You think you can just come into my club and start throwing threats around like you’ll leave here alive?”

  Watching her reaction, she seemed to go from fear for her friends life to confusion. “Wait, this... this is your club? But I thought a... oh, I get it you’re... I mean I’m a little surprised and all but,” she mumbled the end of her sentence, looking me over, seeming to grow increasingly more confused.

  “You think I’m what exactly?”

  “Well, I figured that you were gay of course.”

  Taking a step back, I’d been too stunned by her assessment of me to even think of something to say for a moment, then finally snapped out of it. “What the hell would make you think that I was gay?”

  “You’re not? Oh god, I’m sorry, I-I thought... it’s just there are a lot of hot men that work here...I mean there’s nothing wrong if you are I...” Noticing the angry look on my face, she stopped talking.

  Moving back a step, I opened the door and motioned for her to walk out. “Y-you’re letting me go?”

  Leaning in closer once again, I informed her. “No. We’re going to visit your friend.” The second she began to argue with me, I grabbed a hold of her arm, dragged her out of the office and down the hall towards the bar where Kieran was sitting with her friend. Just before we approached them, I released her, turning her around to face me. “If you say anything to your friend about what you witnessed tonight, I will not only kill you, I will kill her as well and make you watch before you die. Do you understand?”

  The look on her face was one of anger and fear mixed. “Yes,” the one word she practically gritted out was filled with bitterness.

  “Good. Now be a good girl and walk nice with me.”

  I gripped her firmly around her waist as we made our way over to the bar where they sat. I had to admit this woman was not only intriguing but feeling her pressed up against me felt like she somehow belonged there. Throwing that thought out of my mind, I kept us moving forward.

  Her friend spotted the two of us first and practically launched herself out of the chair she sat in, running straight for us. “Where the hell have you been?” she screeched over the music. “Do you know that I have half of the security team here looking for you?”

  Just then Kieran joined us. “Is this your friend?” he asked, faking concern like he hadn’t known what was going on.

  “Yes, it is. My very in deep shit friend who is going to explain to me why the heck she pulled a disappearing act and freaked me the hell out.”

  Stepping into the conversation, I said, “I’m afraid that it’s my fault. I saw your friend here and wanted to get to know her. I didn’t realize I had monopolized her time for so long. Names Creed.”

  Swinging her attention to me as if just noticing for the first time I was standing there, she eyed me up and down with such heat in her eyes. I had no doubt that if I wasn’t informing her of my interest in her friend right now, I could easily have her on her knees in the back office. “Wow... Reese, you really, really found yourself something yummy. My names Scarlett,” she said, biting her lip, reaching her hand out to me.

  Taking her hand in mine, I felt the woman who gave me the name Cassidy, freeze up under the hand I still held against her back. She was caught in her little lie, and it only made me smile. “You call her Reese?” I asked, enjoying the feel of her body shiver at my question.

  “Oh ya, well, I mean her name is Clarice of course. You know the whole Silence of the Lambs deal. Her mom is a huge Anthony Hopkins fan, but I just call her Reese for short. I started calling her that when we were in elementary, the other kids used to tease her about it all the time...”

  “Scarlett!” the woman, I now knew as Clarice, shouted, cutting her friends rundown of her life off.

  “What? I was just telling him how you got your name.”

  “And my whole life’s story as well. Anyway, can we just go home now? Plus, I still need to pee.”

  Looking at Clarice with confusion, she asked. “I thought that’s what you went off to do earlier?”

  Stepping forward, she grabbed her friends arm and pulled her to the side to whisper something, but I wasn’t letting her get away that easily. Moving in closer, I reached out and took ahold of her elbow, pulling her back into me before I leaned down to her ear. “Remember my warning.”

  The fiery glare that shone in her eyes could have set the whole club on fire. “Trust me, I remember very clearly. Now let go of my arm.”

  “Quite the vicious little vixen, aren’t you?”

  “I want to leave now.” Her words came out flat.

  Not taking my eyes off of her, I called out for Kieran. “Yes, boss?”

  “Escort Clarice here and her friend to the front door. Make sure they find an Uber to get them home safely.” Peeling off a C-note from the roll of cash in my pocket, I handed it to him. “It’s on me.”

  “No...” Clarice started to protest.

  Leaning down, I cut her words off with a soft kiss to the corner of her lips, whispering in her ear, “I must insist, Clarice.”

  Chapter

  Three

  Clarice

  Once we were out of the club, the man the devil called Kieran, flagged down a Lincoln navigator that moved almost too quickly to pull up to the curb. Once the car had stopped beside us, he opened the back door, turning towards us. “Ladies.”

  I climbed in first, while Scar exchanged numbers with him. It took everything in me not to pull her inside and warn her of the danger she was putting herself in right now, but I remembered his warning. Later tonight after she fell asleep, I’d just go into her phone myself and erase it.

  Once she was seated inside the car, Kieran handed our driver the money, saying something to him too low for me to hear. A moment later we were finally on our way home and away from this night that had turned into a nightmare.

  It only took Scarlett one inhale of breath before she was practically yanking me onto her lap. “Wow, Reese! Just wow! That man has to be the hottest male specimen in this freaking world! I told you that you looked hot tonight.”

  “It’s not like that at all,” I said, trying not to look like my life’s existence wasn’t threatened tonight along with my best friends.

  “Why in the hell are you not more excited about this? He was totally into you, couldn’t take his hands off of you.”

  Little did she know just how far off she was, thinking his grip on me was anything less than callous. It was a cold-hearted grip to remind me of just who was in control of whether we walked out of that club alive or not tonight. Feeling her stare beside me, I turned to face her. “Really, I’m not interested in him. He seems like the type of guy who is totally into himself. You know I hate that type.”

  “Ya, well, I’d definitely make an exception for that one.”

  Thankfully the drive to our place didn’t take too long. Once we were inside, we both said our good nights and walked into our perspective bedrooms. Knowing Scar’s routine, it would only take about a half hour before she was passed out in her bed, and then I could sneak in and erase Kieran’s number out of her phone. Hopefully she will have been so buzzed tonight, she’ll forget all about getting it from him in the first place.

  Lying in bed, waiting for Scarlett to fall asleep, I began to feel the adrenaline rush start to subside, leaving my mind to wonder off to the way my body responded when I was in Creed’s grip. As terrifying as the experience was, it was also exciting. Tonight, was probably the most exciting thing to ever happen to me in my life and would probably be the last. That was unless I decided to jump off a cliff, or out of a plane. It was like I was in one of my romantic suspense books. I mean I’m not crazy enough to say I wish I could see him again... but that rush, that thrill of would I walk out of there alive tonight or not... it made me feel... something. Scarlett wasn’t wrong, the man was the hottest specimen I had ever seen, but he also seemed to be one of the most dangerous, in fact...

  Getting up, I walked over to my desk and grabbed my laptop, pulling up Google. It was time I found out more about my devil. When I Googled the club, I searched for the name of the owner, but found what looked to be a shell corporation as the owner.

  Smart man.

  Which definitely meant he was a criminal. Pulling up the most wanted list, I searched for over an hour with no results.

  He was a smart criminal.

  Realizing I’d forgotten all about Scarlett’s phone, I set my laptop aside and snuck down the hall into her bedroom. I found her phone plugged in on her nightstand, and her passed out, snoring on the bed. Unplugging her phone, I held it up to her face to unlock it, then I went in and found Kieran’s number. Just as I was about to delete it, I thought better of it and sent it to myself in a text, then I deleted the text to me as well as his number. Setting her phone back down, just as she’d had it, I plugged it back in and quietly left her room, heading back to my own to get some sleep.

  The next morning when I awoke and headed to the kitchen to get myself some very much needed coffee, I found Scarlett with her head down on the counter top, her own cup of coffee next to her. “Thank god you made coffee,” I mumbled, grabbing my own cup, loading creamer and sugar into it before taking a seat next to her.

  “I feel like I drank every bottle of liquor at the bar,” she said in muffled words, lifting her head a moment later.

  “Yeah, so do I. Not drinking at all then going out and drinking a lot is not the best idea.”

  “You just need to build up your tolerance level.”

  Looking over at her, I laughed. “Yeah, looks like it worked out real well for you.”

  “True that. But it won’t stop me from doing it again cuz I ain’t no quitter,” she laughed, grabbing her head. “Ow.”

  We sat and chatted for a few minutes longer before I had to start getting ready for work. I was thankful she hadn’t noticed Kieran’s name deleted out of her phone yet. After taking some Advil and getting ready, I walked out the door and started my trek to work. The coffee shop I worked at was only a half mile walk from where we lived, so it only took me about twenty minutes before I was walking in the front door. “Morning, Reese!” Gabby called out from behind the counter.

  “Morning! How’s things going today?”

  “Cram packed as usual.” She motioned with her hand around the café to all the people either sitting with friends or working on their computers.

  Scanning the room, I looked back at her. “I see that.”

  “Oh! How was your night at the big club?”

  Not wanting to discuss the nightmare that unfolded last night, I just give her a shrug. “It was ok, you know how it is at those places. I did however have a few drinks, so I’m hoping it will be a quiet afternoon with this hangover I’m trying to get rid of.”

  “That can’t be fun.”

  “That would be a no. Anyway, give me five, and I’ll take over for you so you can go to lunch.”

  “Thank you,” she called out as I made my way to the break room in back. Opening my locker, I put my purse inside, grabbing my apron out before shutting it. Looking down, I started to tie my apron on as I made my way up front. “Ok, I am here to relieve you.”

  “Not just yet,” she whispered over her shoulder.

  Frowning with confusion, I looked up at her. “Why not?”

  “Because, the hottest man ever to walk this earth just ordered a coffee and I want to give it to him.”

  I rolled my eyes because in Gabby’s mind a lot of men were the hottest men ever. “Who is he today?”

  “The tall guy in the expensive, black suit right there.”

  Looking in the direction she had nodded her head in, my eyes met his cold, calculating ones.

  Creed.

  Why was he here?

  Trying to figure out any way not to have to deal with him, I leaned down and tapped Gabby on the shoulder. “Since you want to make his coffee, I’m going to run to the restroom really quick.”

  “Yeah, sure,” she replied, not even sparing me a look.

  The moment I turned to leave, my body froze at his words. “You wouldn’t be running away from me now would you, Clarice?”

  When I turned around, I could see Gabby’s mouth gaped open, her eyes darting back and forth between us. “You know him?” she squeaked out in disbelief.

  Leaning onto the counter top, he wore a smirk that any woman would strip out of her clothes for, sending confusing thoughts through my head. It was like my body was having it out with my moral compass, and my morality was seriously fracturing.

  “We actually met last night at the club, but she wouldn’t give me her number before she left, so I had to ask one of her friend’s where I could find her.”

  Gabby gazed at him like a mesmerized cult follower. “Oh wow, that’s just so romantic.”

  “Or stalkerish,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “Well, I would have given you my number in a heartbeat,” she swooned, causing me to roll my eyes at how easily she was manipulated by his lies.

 

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