Now
My stomach twists in knots as I navigate the streets of Downtown Austin. It hit me, the second we got in the car, the enormity of what I’m walking Dex into. Nervous is an understatement. I haven’t let anyone into this part of my life who wasn’t around before.
What will he think of me after this?
The question repeats in my brain like a loop of audio until I pull into the underground parking beneath the black skyscraper in the heart of downtown. Dex has been silent the whole short ride, looking out the window and tapping his fingers on his leg. The low volume of the radio and street noise are the only things breaking the silence between us.
For my part, I know it’s the nervous tension filling me to the brim, but I’d give anything to know where his mind is at right now.
I park the car and pick up my phone, dialing the number. It rings once.
“Yello,” Nic answers.
“We’re here. Did you get everything set up?” I ask.
“I sent Parker down to meet you in the lobby,” Nic says. “He’ll go through the guest process with Dex.”
“You’re sure you’re okay with this?” I ask, my voice hitching.
“If you’re comfortable bringing him here, then I’m happy for you, Ned,” Nic replies. “You know me. This place is only a secret for everyone else’s benefit.”
I snort. “You’ve got a point.”
“I’ll try and make it down to see you while you’re here, but I’ve a few things on my plate at the moment. Dawn is waiting for you, though.”
“Okay, see you soon, Lucky,” I say. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” he says.
I hang up the phone and take a deep breath to steel myself. Dex is watching me intently.
“Your friend Nic has something to do with this place?” Dex asks with a raised brow.
I nod. “He owns the building.”
Dex blinks.
I give him a hint of a smirk. “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. A lot of people underestimate Lucky. They see him as a dumb man-whore or porn star or whatever. The guy does have a brain. He just lacks inhibition or insecurity. This place is his baby. He created a place for people to be more like him in that regard. You ready?”
We walk through the sliding glass doors that are only a few feet away from my reserved parking space. Two security guards stand off to either side but straighten when they see me.
“Miss Dobransky,” Kyle says with a nod.
I stop, then turn and slowly walk backward. “Hey, guys. How’s Kim holding up?” I ask Noah.
“She’s great,” Noah replies. “Getting restless, now that the baby’s due next month.”
“Good to hear. Yeah, the last month is a beast, but it’s worth it.” I turn my attention to Kyle. “Did Bobby do well in his tournament?”
“He did,” Kyle replies, a grin only a father could sport taking over his features. “They’re going to state finals.”
“Awesome.” I smile back. “Gotta run. Take care, guys.” I wave with my fingertips and grab Dex’s hand, leading him toward the lobby.
We walk past the elevator and staircase that takes non-members up to the first floor, then we approach the doors that lead to the members-only part of the building and where the true lobby lies. A third security guard pulls the door open for me.
“Miss Dobransky.” He nods in greeting.
“Thank you, Colin,” I say with a smile. He’s a relatively new addition to the team here, and I don’t know him that well yet.
“What is this place?” Dex murmurs as he looks around, taking in the gleaming black marble floors and white walls sparsely decorated with modern accents. “Those security guards were armed. I get the feeling that if you weren’t holding my hand, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
“You wouldn’t,” I reply, but my attention is quickly diverted.
Parker spots us and shouts my name, making his way over at a brisk pace with a huge grin on his face. He grasps my face. His eyes shine with mischief and joy, and then he kisses both my cheeks.
“There you are,” Parker says, releasing me. His eyes roam over Dex from head to toe with a leer, lips pursed as he nods in approval. “You’ve been away too long, but now that I see what’s been keeping you, I approve.” He grins and fusses with my hair, then turns back to Dex. “Welcome to the Black Building, Mr. McClellan. I’m Parker, Mr. Gallo’s executive assistant.”
Dex raises an eyebrow at me as he shakes Parker’s proffered hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Parker tugs my hand and looks to Dex, nodding his head as an indication to follow. Dex has an uneasy look on his face as he walks with us, and I get distracted by Parker’s chatter. Parker leads us to his office just off the lobby. Dex and I sit in the chairs across the desk from Parker, and Parker shoves papers in front of Dex.
“Just sign these and you can get going.” Parker’s smile softens the demand.
Dex looks to me with pinched brows. “What are these, and what is this place?” His gaze wanders the room as if he can see through the walls.
“We can’t tell you until you sign that.” I motion to the papers. “It’s just a standard NDA, saying you won’t disclose anything that you see or find out about this place, and a liability waiver. Nothing here is illegal. It’s just that privacy is the cornerstone of this business.” I wave my hand, indicating the whole building.
“And I hafta sign this just to go with you upstairs to talk to your friend?”
I nod slowly and tilt my head. “There are other reasons to know what goes on here. Reasons that have much more to do with me.” I swallow roughly. Nervous butterflies dance in my stomach like they’re in a nightclub. I’ve a horrible sense that he’ll hate me and walk away after this.
His eyes never stray from me. “If I sign this and we go up there, you’ll tell me everything?”
I give him a nod in reply.
The look on his face is intense, but he grabs the pen off the desk and signs without even looking at the papers. My jaw drops, because I’ve never seen someone come through here and not read the contracts before signing. I can’t take my eyes off him as Parker takes the pen and notarizes everything. Dex signs Parker’s notary book when prompted. He sits back in the chair, looking relaxed, as his hand reaches over and takes hold of mine.
“I meant every word I’ve said to you,” he murmurs.
I snap my mouth shut. Dex kisses my hand.
“That’s it,” Parker says. “We’re all done here.”
We stand and leave, heading across the lobby to the bank of elevators in the middle of the building. The U-shaped alcove has three silver elevators doors, three black, and two red ones against the shorter wall. We walk over to the red elevators, and I place my hand on the black screen in the middle of the two doors. A green light passes over my palm as it scans.
“This place has biometric security?” Dex asks.
“These doors do, but this is employee-only access and leads to the offices. And like I said, privacy is cornerstone to this place. Anyone that gets on these elevators has been fully vetted, background checked, and preapproved.”
Dex’s brows inch up. “You work here, too?”
“Not really. I’m part owner. I sit on the board, but I don’t have any daily duties. It’s enough to get me access, but I don’t have an office here or anything.”
“But I’ve been vetted?” he asks.
“Yeah, Nic does that. He probably had you checked out the night you guys met. If you think I’m hard to earn trust from, you haven’t gotten acquainted with the king of trust issues. He has people on the payroll whose only job is to vet anyone who walks through the doors—both the public and the private side of the building.”
I look around the lobby as we wait for the elevator to arrive, trying to see it with new eyes to understand what Dex must be thinking. There isn’t another soul around right now, but it’s late afternoon, which means we’re in between the lunch rush and the night guests. I know I’m avoiding telling him about this place, but the truth is that I’m scared. I decide to start with the easy stuff.
“See those silver doors? Those will take you to floors one to ten. That’s the public side of the building. The first two floors have restaurants, a nightclub, spa, a lounge bar, and a few boutiques for shopping. Floors three to ten are a hotel,” I explain.
“And those?” Dex points to the black doors.
“Those are members-only residences, but not many people live there. Private rooms. And the club levels.”
“Members of what?”
My heart rate picks up, and I look away. “The Black Mask Society,” I mutter. Taking a deep breath to steel myself, I force myself to meet his eyes. “It’s a place where secret desires come to life. It’s not all sexual, but a good portion of it is. And because I know it will come up sooner or later… Nic built this place for me.”
I stare at the security panel in front of me. My mind races through the various reactions he could be having at the moment, but I’m too scared to look. The elevator dings and the doors to the elevator on the left slide open silently. Distance. I need distance. It feels harder to breathe. I dart inside and wait for Dex to follow. My heart rate increases with every millisecond he hesitates.
Then
I was keeping pace with the pack on the inside curve of the track. Feeling a hand tap the side of my hip, Holly—our jammer—was right behind me, searching for an opening. I skated closer to the outside track, forcing the girl next to me to move just a tiny bit. Reaching back with my left arm, I waited for her to grasp my hand for the whip assist.
A girl from the other team caught on and tried to move in for the block. I shoulder checked her and got Holly to the front, scoring a point for our team. The jam ended seconds before the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the bout.
Putting my hands on my knees, I let my wheels roll me around the track as I tried to catch my breath.
“Mah bitch!” Holly shouted as she skated up next to me. “Fuck, yeah, that was awesome. Nice move.”
She slapped my ass and flung an arm over my shoulder as we skated off track to the area next to the bleachers where our team had left their bags. I grabbed my water bottle and started chugging as more teammates gave me props for the final point. Reaching into my bag, I felt around for the little velvet box. I’d taken the ring off for the game, but I was about to put it back on, now that we were done for the day.
I slid it on my finger, admiring it. It wasn’t a huge diamond or flashy. Just a single stone in a plain gold band. It was perfect for me, though. I wasn’t all that girly, and I didn’t wear jewelry often.
“What in the motherfuck is that?” Sloane asked, grabbing my hand. “No! Get out. You got engaged?”
“Yes!” I beamed. “He proposed last night.”
“That must’ve been one hell of a proposal,” Sloane said. “I thought you’d sworn off him—for life?”
“Why do you have that shit-eating grin on your face?” Holly asked as she plopped down next to me.
“Jared’s making an honest woman out of her,” Sloane said as she jerked my arm nearly out of its socket, showing my ring to Holly.
“No shit? You’re like legit back together now?”
“You have to tell us all the details—no holding back on this, woman,” Sloane demanded. “We need everything.”
I told them all I could remember, which was nearly all of it, except for the more private physical aspects of our reunion. I felt like I could burst from happiness, which was a far cry from my modus operandi of late.
“Holy fuck. Does he have a brother? I want one, too,” Sloane whined.
I laughed. “No. He’s an only child, like me. Besides, you have Max.”
“Does who have a brother?”
I froze at the sound of Law’s voice behind me. Of all the days to make a reappearance. I turned slowly and took him in. He was bigger, more cut than he’d ever been when we were together. He was wearing a plain tee and jeans. Gone was the nerdy punk rocker, and in his place was a sexy-as-hell fighter. Holy shit! My mind went blank. I’d no clue what he just said. My mouth watered and I swallowed hard.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked, coming to my senses.
“I needed to talk to you.”
“No, I meant—why are you here in Austin? I thought you left to do the fight circuit?”
He gave me that same crooked smile with one dimple I’d always been a sucker for, and it felt like the floor had fallen out from under me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, I chanted in my mind. I shouldn’t feel this way about someone who was not my fiancé.
“Keeping tabs on me?” he asked.
“Yes—no—Sloane mentioned it.” I struggled for purchase.
“Can we talk?” His hand went to the back of his neck, making the colorful skin on his tattooed arm bulge.
“Sure,” I replied absently, not moving.
“Can we step outside? The lobby?” he asked, looking around us.
I noticed then that the whole team had stopped and were looking back and forth between us like we were playing a Ping-Pong match. Shit.
“Yeah.” I finally went into motion and skated to the nearest exit door. When the door shut behind us, the sounds of the game and the crowd hushed into the silence of the empty lobby. People walked by on the sidewalk beyond the glass wall of the convention center, but we were essentially alone. The table they used for ticket sales sat vacated, so I skated over to it and half sat on it.
“What’s up?” I asked, trying to be casual.
“I’ve been fighting.” His hand went to his neck. I was mesmerized by the motion of his contracting muscles as he kneaded it.
“Yeah, I know.” Looking away from him, I watched the cars drive by on the street outside. “Like I said, your sister mentioned it.”
“I did it because I was angry at you, at myself. It felt good to beat the shit out of people. My dad asked about you. I finally told him about what happened, and he kicked my ass. He said that you were doing the right thing and I was a little shit about it. He’s right. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”
“Now?” My eyes snapped back to him. “It’s been almost a year since I last laid eyes on you.”
“Fuck, Laine. I know. I was fucking stupid. I don’t know the first thing about kids or being a parent. I miss you. Every goddamn day.”
I was thankful I was sitting down as the room started to spin around me. Unbidden tears tracked down my cheeks. It felt like I was being torn in two. I was cursed; shit like this didn’t happen to normal people. You can’t be in love with two people, I told myself. I made my decision, hadn’t I?
“I’m engaged,” I said, looking down at my hand and twisting the ring on my finger.
“That’s it? It doesn’t matter what I do or say, he wins.”
“It’s not a competition. But yeah, you left, so what was I supposed to think, Law?”
“You were supposed to fight for me. Or was I never that important to you? Was it always him?”
“Fuck you, Law. Fuck you. I called. I left messages. What did you think would happen? That I’d drop everything to chase you around the country? You don’t get to come back and start this shit. Not now. I’m finally in a place where I’m happy again. You fucking wrecked me. And he was there, fighting for me. Unlike you. You walked away.”
“There’s that fire.” He smirked. “You know what that is?”
“This is me, telling you to fuck off.”
“That’s you feeling frustrated because you still feel this—” He motioned between us. “But you’re fighting it. And that’s perfect. That’s my in.”
“I’m done here,” I said, standing up.
He grabbed my arm to stop me and pressed his body against my back.
“Does he know how much pleasure you get from being tied up? How you detonate like an atomic bomb when I stick my finger up your ass and play with your clit while you ride my dick?”
A shiver ran down my spine from his words. “Fuck you.”
“You know you want to.” He traced his finger down my bare shoulder.
I ripped my arm from his grasp and skated toward the door, back to where the games were still being played.
I used a turn stop to halt my motion as my eyes landed on Jared. He stood in the doorway. A white-knuckled grip on the door and the look on his face let me know he wasn’t happy with the situation. He was glaring in Law’s direction. He took a few long strides toward me and grabbed my waist, lifting me off the floor in a crushing kiss. I closed my eyes and let him have this. Jared deserved better than me, but if I was what he wanted, he was getting everything I had.
“You ready to go? The girls want to get ice cream on the way home. They’re with the team right now. Bonnie said you were done for the day and could leave if you want.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s get outta here.”