“Fuck!” I cursed, furiously driving my fist into the wall. I welcomed the pain shooting from my knuckles up my arm, but the dent I created in the fireproof concrete was barely enough destruction to assuage my rage. Damn that woman and her talent for making me lose all sanity!
Who did she think she was? I was not her toy, for God’s sake. I was a warrior, a Fighter, her trainer, her mentor—she should show me the right amount of respect. But what had she done instead? Forcing her lips upon mine only to run back into my best friend’s arms a day later!
The rage inside me refueled anew when the mental image of Chris’ mouth on hers invaded my mind. The uncertainty playing on her face had me assured she’d push him away, but I was so wrong.
I would never forget her face…
Eyes closed shut in desire, craving his mouth on hers. Yeah, I was a masochist for standing there like a stupid idiot while watching my best friend nearly swallow her whole, but there are things, no matter how horrific, you just can’t turn away from. And so I’d remained frozen to the spot, watching her flattening her palms against the wall behind her, fingers spread wide and nails digging in as if trying hard not to jump him.
I hung my head in surrender. What had she felt when kissing me? I’d seen the fire in her eyes after I pulled away from her—the confusion, the surprise, the hunger for more. I couldn’t remember much of what happened after my mental breakdown, but I clearly remembered the quiver of her delicate lips after our kiss.
But how close had she come to Chris? She’d explained the situation as if it had been an accident, that she was only a woman with human needs. Was she telling the truth? Well, one thing was for sure, I could satisfy her ten times better than Chris ever could. I would gladly show her. I could—
Fuck, why was I even thinking about this? This was wrong, so damn wrong. Talking about conflicting emotions… Shit, I swear that girl would be the end of me.
Her accusation still echoed in my mind. Sure, Danielle had been my toy, and I’d used her for my gain, but only to get us into the archive. Hell, I hadn’t stuck my dick into one pussy since Haylie entered my life, can you believe that? It was not fair of her to impute me to fucking every woman out there. The only ounce of release I’d received was a few days ago when jerking off in the shower to a mental image of a faceless girl, only to picture Haylie in nothing but short pants later, causing me to come fast and hard. Daydreaming about her hadn’t been my intention, but my mind seemed to drift back to her every time.
If she only knew…
Picking up my training bag, I made my way back through the tunnels. I still had unfinished business with a certain blond Fighter who was mysteriously untraceable since yesterday evening. With purposeful strides, I stomped to the control room where I found Chris talking to Scott.
Chris turned to face me when I entered, and for a few seconds, we fought a silent stand-off. Neither of us uttered a word, and I was aware of many eyes on us. Chris didn’t back down, although he damn well knew the reason I was here. Someone approached us, but my eyes stayed glued on Chris.
“Gentlemen, whatever your problem is, you’re going to solve it outside, not in my office. Understood?” Jimmy warned us, voice low, daring us to object. Apparently, my face must have given away my intentions for Jimmy to sense an upcoming brawl.
With a short nod, I indicated for Chris to follow, and he did so without further questions. What I wanted to do to him, I didn’t know yet. Maybe setting his jaw straight or cracking the lips that had kissed a certain beauty with jaylior eyes. Yes, that would ease my temper.
As soon as we were out in the open, I spun around to face Chris who stuffed his hands casually in his pockets as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He didn’t fool me. He wanted to provoke me, and he succeeded.
“Why did you do it?” I inquired in a low voice, trying hard to keep my rage at bay.
“Do what?” Chris had the balls to ask.
“Fuck, Chris, I’m not in the mood for this game!” I fumed.
Chris sighed and swiped his gaze over the gravestones. “I don’t know. It just happened.”
His nonchalant comment caused me to scoff. “You have hundreds of girls down there you’re kissing all the time. Why her?” I asked incredulously, my voice slowly rising.
“Really, Dylan?” Chris grunted. “You know better than anyone about the allurement she emanates. I’ve never kissed a Natural in my life. I couldn’t stop myself. It was just one kiss, man.”
It didn’t take more than a few strides to close the distance between us, his words only reigniting my anger. “That night in Hell’s Trial, you said ‘I’ll leave her to you.’ What did you mean?”
Chris gave me a crooked grin, one I was close to slapping off his face with the back of my hand. “You know what I meant, Dylan. But you didn’t take her yet, did you?”
“I don’t want her.” As soon as the words were out, they left a bitter taste on my tongue.
Chris barked out a laugh. “Of course, you don’t. That’s exactly why you’re wasting your time shouting at me because I kissed her, right?” He shook his head while biting his lip, as if disappointed with me. “Don’t you ever get tired of living in denial all the time?”
The last thread of my control snapped. A growl from deep within was the only warning before my hand clamped around Chris’ neck. He lifted his hands in defeat, but I didn’t acknowledge it.
“Are you falling for her?” I snarled in a dangerous voice.
“Are you?” Chris counterstruck, voice scratchy from my tight grip.
I stared at him blankly. No, I wasn’t falling for her. No way. I was no man to fall for anybody. Women fell for me, begging on their knees for me to take them, not the other way around.
My hands started to shake with the need to throw a punch, I was so furious. I lifted Chris up with ease until his feet dangled in the air. He could have defended himself, but he didn’t. Maybe he knew he deserved my wrath. Maybe he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance.
Yanking my arm forward, Chris flew in a wide arc through the air until landing on the grass, missing a headstone just by inches.
“Oh my God!” screeched a voice from behind me.
I whipped around to see Haylie running toward us, a horrified expression on her face. Fuck her and her timing. What the hell was she doing here?
“Haylie, it’s okay. Stay out of this,” Chris instructed and stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans. He wouldn’t even sport a bruise later. Damn him for being a Fighter.
Haylie stopped her attempt at coming to his aid when she was assured he was unharmed, her eyes roaming in question between the both of us. “The hell I will! What the fuck is going on here?” she shouted and faced me. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
I kept my face blank. If there was one thing I was good at, it was the nothing-bothers-me expression.
“That’s none of your business. This is between Chris and me. Don’t interfere with things you don’t understand,” I warned in my lowest voice, in hopes of getting the warning across to her. It usually worked well, especially on women. But again, Haylie reacted differently than I expected.
As a Fighter, I should have seen the blow coming.
I didn’t.
Her opened hand connected with my cheek. Fast enough to hit dead center. Strong enough to snap my head sideways. Precise enough to make a sound like the crack of a whip. How the fuck had she gained so much strength?
A normal person would have cried out at the stinging pain, but it didn’t even register. I was too shocked about what had just happened. No woman had ever dared to slap me, although I’d probably given every one of them enough reasons to do so.
“Shit!” Chris exclaimed, as if afraid of my reaction, but Haylie didn’t appear to feel guilty in the slightest. Her eyes were piercing and judging, the jaylior vivid like molten lava as they bore into mine.
Her voice dropped to a whisper as if she was trying hard to refrain from slapping me a second time. “I think I understand enough. Maybe you’re more experienced than me, maybe you’re stronger than me, and maybe you hate me, but you’re pushing your limits. I won’t stand by watching you fight Chris because of a kiss that happened and is, by the way, none of your business.” She poked me in the chest when she repeated my words from earlier. “And don’t deny that’s the reason you hit him in the first place.”
“Haylie, just drop it,” Chris tried to reason with her, but Haylie ignored him, searching for answers in my eyes.
“You should go now,” she commanded, and normally, I would have rejected but not now.
Her action left me speechless. The disappointment in her eyes weighed me down until its burden was nearly unbearable. I glanced at Chris who appeared torn between keeping his distance from me and putting himself in front of Haylie to shield her from my wrath.
She was right, I should go. I’d gone too far. So, without another word, I headed to my room to grab my things before exiting the compound at the other side.
What the hell had I been thinking? Since when was I so desperate as to fight my best friend because of a girl?
But she wasn’t just any girl now, was she?
Chris’ words continued to tumble in my head when I got into my car. I stroked the dashboard like I always did before driving off in my self-restored Ford Mustang. Hitting the gas pedal, the engine howled like an enraged lion before I sped away with screeching wheels. This black beauty was the only woman I loved unconditionally. Riding her always eased my nerves.
Unfortunately, my car was hardly a distraction for the Natural occupying my every thought lately.
Was I falling for Haylie? God, I hoped not… Give me an army of Hunters, and I’d gladly take it, but a woman like her? Jesus, I didn’t know how to handle her. She wasn’t some woman to fuck once and be done with it. Not that I hadn’t been thinking about claiming her body, touching her delicious skin, feeling her walls clench around me… But that was beside the point. She was a woman who deserved love, affection, and utter commitment.
I was not that man.
Swerving the car through the dark city, I didn’t have an explicit direction in mind, but for some reason, I ended up in front of Jessica’s—the playrooms opposite Joey’s bar.
I’d never set foot in there before. Prostitutes were not my first choice, but I didn’t have the patience right now to scroll through my contact list and get lost in small talk until we could finally come to the point.
Killing the engine, I sat for a few more minutes, staring out of the windshield.
Was this jealousy I felt? This gnawing, poisonous thing slithering inside my gut whenever I thought about other men touching her? Having never experienced the sensation before, I’d always laughed at women who were jealous over me as they extended their claws whenever I lost interest. Yet, something ate me up from deep inside and unleashed the beast within me whenever she gave Chris one of her disarming smiles.
Fighters were particularly protective and dominating Roes. A jealous Fighter was highly dangerous, which was why we usually didn’t get involved too deeply in love affairs.
I dragged one hand over my face in frustration, accepting I wouldn’t find the ultimate answer to my countless questions tonight, if ever, before stepping out of the car to enter the brothel.
A woman—or was it a man… you could never be sure—greeted me seductively while sucking on a cigarette. I told the receptionist my preferences and waited until a small, blonde Barbie doll covered in a few pieces of glittered fabric approached me. She was neither pretty nor ugly, neither thin nor thick, her platinum hair a sharp contrast to the solarium-tanned skin on her face. She was so small, she barely came to my nipples.
The reason I chose her? She was the complete opposite of the women I liked. The opposite of Haylie.
Mandy led me up a staircase, and I followed her to her private room. She wanted to break the ice with small talk, but I quickly dismissed her.
I sat her on the bed while standing in front of her. After opening my zipper, she gave me a much-needed blowjob, calming my racing mind for a minute. As soon as I was ready for her, I spun her around so I didn’t need to see her face, and took her from behind. I tried my best to go gently, but I was too frustrated tonight.
Damn, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I’d treated Haylie today. I’d pushed her over her limits the entire afternoon. In fact, I’d pushed her farther than she should have been able to endure.
My frustration grew, and the woman in front of me felt it. I banged her harder, and she cried out in both pain and pleasure.
Haylie had taken it all. Any other student would have thrown up from the high lactate excess after forty minutes of my brutal drilling. Not her. That girl was unbreakable, but I broke her. I had wanted to break her all along, and now that I achieved my goal, I had no idea how to fix this.
Growling in frustration, I grabbed the whore’s ass tightly, digging my nails in as I came inside her. She wasn’t even close to an orgasm, but I couldn’t care less. I only wanted to ease the tension in my body and recharge my energy through the Connection. Renewed strength was already flowing through my veins, calming my rage, and clearing my mind a little bit. It wasn’t much, as I was in no way attracted to this woman, but it was better than nothing.
Zipping up my jeans, I thanked the girl whose name I forgot as soon as we were done, and left a generous tip. As I made my way back to my car, my gaze fell on the sign at Joey’s bar across the street. It felt as if years had passed since Jimmy and I went in there in hopes of getting information about Dorian’s whereabouts. Back then, I hadn’t known of Haylie’s existence. Biting my lip, I contemplated what to do and decided to have a beer before heading back.
I wasn’t surprised to find Lauren behind the counter. The bar was rather empty, as it was common on weekdays. When I came up to take a seat on the barstool, Lauren looked up, and her mouth parted in surprise before she gave me a cocky smile.
“Officer Dwight, how nice of you to pay us a visit,” she mocked me in her usual sweet voice, and I couldn’t help but smile. I understood why Haylie loved her so much. Lauren was easy to like.
“Yeah, I was close by and thought I’d drop in for a drink.” I plopped down on a barstool.
“Beer and tequila like last time?”
“Just a beer, please.”
She nodded and retrieved a bottle from the refrigerator. “What’s bothering you?” she asked in a concerned tone, opening the beer’s lid before setting it on the counter.
“Why do you assume something’s bothering me?”
“Oh, please,” she scoffed. “I’ve been working here for years. I know the moods my customers are in as soon as they enter.”
I sipped my beer and nodded absently. “Women problems,” I muttered, at the same time wondering why I was spilling the beans in the first place. I guess I just wanted someone to talk to who wasn’t part of the Roes in the compound. And it wasn’t as if I could talk to Chris now, either.
“Cassie or Haylie?”
My head snapped up at the unexpected question. Lauren had witnessed Cassie’s dramatic performance in the club, and therefore knew she was missing. Hell, I hadn’t wasted one single thought on my ex ever since. Did she become so unimportant to me that I hadn’t even noticed her absence the last few days? Should I worry? No, Cassie could take care of herself. If anything, I should be grateful she was trying to leave us in the past.
“Why do you think Haylie is the cause? Have you been talking to her?” I dared to ask, eyeing her closely. Lauren and Haylie were best friends, and it was what girls did, to chatter about such things all day long, right? So, this begged the question—what had she told Lauren?
Lauren gave me a sad smile. “No, I haven’t talked to her since I left. She only texted me once, asking how I was doing, but that was it.” Relief and disappointment washed over me at the same time. “But the fact that you’re asking proves this is about her,” she added carefully, along with a meaningful look.
“There’s nothing going on between us,” I clarified and took a large sip of my beer. How could I tell Lauren what was going on? She didn’t know anything about the world of Roes, Haylie’s unique heritage, or Ricky, for that matter.
Lauren laughed and leaned back against the refrigerator, crossing her arms. “It didn’t look like that when you were dancing.”
“It was just a dance.”
The words felt like the lie they were. Whenever I thought back to that night, my heart skipped a beat. These luscious hips grinding against me, these beautiful eyes shut in surrender, that skin so soft under my fingertips… I’d never seen anything more hypnotizing.
Lauren’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Are you trying to convince yourself or me?”
I thought about what answer to give her but was saved by the owner, Joey, as he called out, “Hey, Lauren. You can call it a night if you want. I’ve got this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, then,” Lauren said eagerly and quickly grabbed her things.
“Where do you live? I can give you a lift if you like,” I offered and emptied my beer.
“That would be great, thanks. It’s just a few streets east.”
We made our way to my car, and I opened the door for Lauren to get in. After she gave me general directions on where to go, she redirected the subject to the one girl I desperately tried to get out of my head. Maybe it had been a bad idea to visit the bar, after all.
“How’s training going with her?”
I was confused for a moment before I remembered Lauren had been present when I volunteered to train Haylie. Another one of my stupid decisions, I suppose.
“Good. She’s one of the best,” I answered truthfully.
Lauren huffed out a laugh, shaking her head. “Of course, she is. I wouldn’t have expected anything less.”
“We had a fight,” I confessed in a lower voice, relieved the words were finally out.
“As in an argument?”
“Yes, but it was pretty bad,” I answered grimly, earning another carefree laugh from Lauren.
“Impossible. You can’t fight with her. She’s too sweet and understanding.”
Great. I nearly moaned out in frustration. “Well, seems like I can,” I muttered in a sour tone.
Lauren’s house came into view, and I pulled over. “This is yours?” I asked in awe. The building was huge and looked like an expensive, three-story designer loft. Blue water reflected from a swimming pool in the backyard.
“Yeah. I ‘inherited’ it. My dad is an exec in the oil business and moved to Dubai with my mother a few years ago.”
“They left you alone here?”
She gave me a sweet smile. “I don’t mind. We didn’t have a very strong relationship. Well, then, thanks for the ride, Officer,” she said, grabbing the door handle. Before she stepped out, she looked back to me with a scrutinizing expression on her face.
“You’re fighting the wrong battle, you know?” She gave me an intense look, as if she expected me to figure out the meaning of her words on my own. I didn’t.
“Don’t fight her. Fight for her,” she finally clarified and got out of the car, leaving me speechless and with only more questions wreaking havoc in my mind.