Total pages in book: 170
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
A whisper tickles the back of my mind. Is Braelynn involved? I don’t believe in coincidences and the timing isn’t on her side. Scarlet was around for every one of the documented testimonies in this report. And Braelynn is guilty by association.
That doesn’t explain why I flick back over to the monitor, watching her tempting curves as she leans over the bar counter, reaching for a cocktail napkin.
A deep groan resonates in the back of my throat.
It’s late. The singer this evening is already gone, leaving a lone mic on the stage.
Three a.m. is only minutes away, and most of the waitresses have left with their chosen date for the evening. Scarlet’s laid over the lap of a man she’s been with more than once.
I don’t ask details. I don’t involve myself in what the women do. What my employees choose to do after hours is their business, not mine.
Although it doesn’t hurt my bottom line.
Clicking through the cameras, I account for each and every one of the patrons and employees.
All is well, with one exception. There is a table of three men, one of them eyeing Braelynn. Heat pricks up the back of my neck. She’s already told them the boss requested her.
They’ve already paid their bill.
Smiles and laughter may accompany their table, but the two drunkest can’t seem to drag the third away. The one requesting the napkin from Braelynn.
I could sit here and watch on the cameras. I can already see it playing out in a number of ways.
She denies the man again, and they leave, easy enough.
She denies them and they don’t leave, in which case, my security escorts them out. They’re already watching just as I am.
Those are the only two possibilities. Yet I find myself rising from my chair, my jaw clenched as I push open my door, not bothering to lock it. I take the stairs two at a time, shoving open the dining room door.
I’m not in control, I’m not even thinking.
There is no reason whatsoever that when I see her smile kindly, shaking her head politely and without a hint of distress and the man in question drops his head and raises his hands, his friends laughing easily … there’s not a reason in the world that this anger should rise inside me. This building fire.
Except that she already told them she was mine.
I heard on the fucking cameras.
He already knew. She fucking told them. Whether or not they believed her isn’t my problem.
“Boss.” My security’s call for me comes just before the sound of cursing and a picked-up pace from the men at my back.
The men are unsuspecting as Braelynn shies back just slightly.
With the skin stretched tight over my knuckles, turning white and blazing with a heat that’s untamed, my fist lands against his jaw.
Surprising every one of them. Braelynn gasps, scooting back against a chair and nearly falling. The two men standing gape at me, their hands up as their friend lies lifeless on the floor.
“She said no.” I barely get the words out, my chest heaving and my vision turning red.
BRAELYNN
My eyes are rimmed red and burn with exhaustion, but I can’t bring myself to go into the bedroom yet. It’s pitch black this late at night and far too quiet. My mind isn’t quiet, though. It’s running in circles around the night I’ve just had at The Club. My knee rocks absently as I think about my first day … well, really all I can think about is Declan Cross.
Even when my phone pings, I think it will be him offering me an explanation of what happened. I’ve never been so close to a fight like that. If you can even call it a fight. That man didn’t have a chance in hell. Declan strode in, knocked him out and stormed out as if nothing had happened. I was stunned to say the least, and if security hadn’t escorted me out, I would probably still be standing there wondering what the hell had happened.
Checking my phone, it’s not Declan.
Scarlet: Hey, you …
I’m curled up on my couch under a knitted blanket I brought from my mother’s, and for a moment I consider not answering her. I need to talk to someone, though.
Braelynn: Hey.
I just got home a little after 4:00 a.m., and I feel like I barely survived.
Scarlet: You okay?
I try to keep telling myself that nothing much even happened, other than the last two minutes. Even if I discounted that, the office meeting with Declan was intimidating to say the least. Declan isn’t the boy I remember. I’m sure none of the Cross brothers are the way I remember, but I didn’t realize he would be so different. I didn’t know he would be so powerful, and so sexy, and …
Braelynn: I could be better. I think I’m in over my head.