Page 54 of Mischief Mayhem
“Oh yeah, real big man, huh . . . Hoss?” I laughed as loud as I could, right in his face. “You gotta intimidate women into sleeping with you? Make fun of their friends?”
“Listen here, bitch—” He grabbed my arm to yank me away from the girl, but I grabbed his wrist with my other hand and twisted, breaking his hold on me.
“You put your hands on me again”—I got up in his face, my platforms making me nearly as tall as him—“and I promise you, it’ll be the last time your fingers work.”
“I’m not scared of you.” He grabbed both of my arms and tried to haul me away from the woman, still cowering in the hallway with her hands over her ears. But I kneed him in the nuts, causing him to groan and take a step back from me.
Taking advantage of his distraction, I wrapped my arm over her shoulder again and walked her back toward the main bar area.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Thank you so much,” she said, holding her face while she cried. “I don’t know who that guy is and he wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I glanced over the crowd. “Where are your friends? I want to make sure you get back to them.”
“I—I don’t know.” The poor girl shook in my arms, her voice starting to slur. “I’m not really sure where I am . . . I feel really fucked-up, much more than I should be after only one drink.”
That infuriated me even more, and once I found this girl’s group, I was going to shove my six-inch shitkicker right up that fucker’s?—
“Hey, you cunt,” came a loud roar before a hand landed firmly on my shoulder to flip me around. “I wasn’t done with you.”
19
HOLLYWOOD
I lost track of V as she walked into the hallway, sashaying that miniskirt like a homing beacon, keeping my eyes glued to the hemline. I had to grip the table to keep from going after her.
“So . . . what’s going on with you and V?” Ru eyed me from across the booth as she sipped from the tequila shot in front of her.
I cleared my throat and shifted my hips in my seat, remembering that V didn’t want me to tell anyone . . . not yet. It still ached to think of myself as her dirty little secret, but if that was the price I had to pay to have what piece of her I could get, so be it.
“Nothing,” I forced myself to say. “Why? What did she say?”
“That she still hates you and you still live to annoy her.” Ru asked.
I laughed and took a sip of my beer. “Well, that will never change.”
Even though we were still on the down low, a small bite of fear went through my sternum at what her brothers might do when they got wind of it. True, it wasn’t anyone’s business, but I’d been afraid to start anything with her for a reason.
My little-sister-from-a-different-mister narrowed her eyes, seeming to assess every bit of me that she could see. “You like her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “She’s a pain in my ass.”
Literally most nights.
“No, there’s something else. I can smell it.”
“Now, now, baby girl,” Saint said from the other side of her, shaking his head and grinning like a monster. It was just the three of us at the table, the rest of our family either out on the dance floor or helping Alba get shots for truth or dare. “Let the boy have his secrets. You had your reasons for keeping yours.”
“Yeah, but he knew about mine,” Ru cut in. “At least tell me if you’re okay.” Ru took another sip and leaned forward, clearly done with me dancing around the issue. “Is she doing her sexy domme thing on you? Does she turn your ass pink every night?”
I cleared my throat, nervously glancing at Saint before looking back at Ru, trying to disguise how close she’d hit the mark. “I . . . I plead the fifth.”
“Plead the fifth?” Saint cut in with a small laugh. “How are you pleading the fifth to fucking the president’s daughter?”
“It’s complicated,” I said, drinking my beer, “and I’ve never been a lady with loose lips, so unless you want to draw her wrath to you?—”
“Hey.” Ru held up her hands in a show of solidarity. “I’m not judging. I’m just curious. I love you both, and I want happiness for you.”