Suddenly, Thaddeus was in front of me, blocking my path to Angel completely. I paused for a moment and looked him up and down, making sure that my distaste at his presence was being made completely clear. Maybe I was crazy or maybe I was just a jerk, but I wasn’t going to let Thad get in the way of what I wanted to do. Yet again.
I’d known Thaddeus Bane for a long time. Hell, anyone who moved in the circles that I did was well aware of him and the influence he had around the city. He was impossible to avoid, head of the motorcycle club that Taylor was a part of. You were either with him or you were dead– and that left me walking into my last few moments alive as I stood up to him for the first time.
“Look, I know you’re an asshole, but no need to go get yourself in more trouble than she’s worth, all right?” Thad raised his eyebrows at me. I knew he was giving me one last chance to back down, and I had no intention of taking it.
“The money’s right there.” I gestured to the cash on the table next to me. “She’s mine now.”
He frowned, and gestured over to the chips sitting a few feet away—one of his lackeys hurried up to it, and quickly began counting the money where it sat.
“Is it all there?” He demanded, and the lackey nodded. I turned back to him, a satisfied expression on my face.
“Now, are you going to let me have her or not?” I kept my tone rough, letting him know that I wasn’t exactly going to treat her like a princess. I liked a rough fuck just as much as the next guy, but I didn’t have need to force any woman. Now, if Angel came to me on her own, all sad and pouting about what her life had been, I would be more than happy to show her what a dirty girl she was, underneath her badge and uniform. And sometimes, women needed some persuasion to understand how much they would enjoy the kind of pleasure a guy like me could give them. But some of these shitheads, they’d kill Angel, even if she’d never laid a hand on them, personally. That wasn’t something I could let happen. Not if I knew about it, anyway.
“Fine,” Thad finally stepped aside, and the auctioneer finally removed his hands from her. When she looked at me, fear coursed through her eyes, her gaze darting around the room as though she could find a way out if she tried hard enough. She was still in cop–mode despite the situation. Maybe she was undercover? No, this was too far for undercover, and besides, they wouldn’t have plucked her off the street when she was in full uniform if she and her unit had somehow intended for this to happen. I pulled off my blazer and wrapped it around her; she looked up at me with something close to surprise and I put my arm around her possessively.
“Keep the change,” I tossed over my shoulder towards Thad, knowing that my cockiness was probably driving him up the fucking wall. I shot an apologetic look to the two women who’d been all over me since I walked in, and started for the door. I would make it up to them later– once I figured out what I was going to do with the cop tucked under my arm.
She leaned heavily on me, and I wondered how what she’d been given. She could barely stand upright, and I did my best to maneuver her out of there without letting her drop to the floor. She was barefoot, and was carefully picking her way across the floor, trying to avoid the most unsavory wet spots. I wondered what had happened to her uniform. Maybe they had sent it back to her station, as a warning or a taunt. Maybe they had burned it up as a mockery of the police and their inability to stop this from happening. But they hadn’t even left her with a pair of shoes, and that, for some reason, pissed me off even further than before.
Suddenly, she took a turn for the worse. As we reached the door and I briefly let go of her to get hold of the handle, she swayed on the spot dangerously. I figured out what was about to happen seconds before she fell, and managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
There was a small ripple of laughter around the room as I scooped her up into my arms. Her head lolled against my chest, and her mouth fell slightly open. She would probably kill me if she knew that it was me touching her right then, but I didn’t have much choice; I hefted her into my chest and pulled the door open, glad that it was late enough at night that there wouldn’t be too many partygoers to see me carrying this scantily–clad, unconscious woman through the streets. I already had three arrests on my record, and I certainly didn’t need another one, doubly so when I was actually trying to do something halfway good for a chance. That said, in this part of town, I doubt anyone would have looked twice. Her bare feet dangled over the edge of my arms, and I couldn’t help but notice how little she felt against me. When she was arresting me, she had all the swagger and attitude to fill a woman twice her size, but she barely weighed anything in my arms.
I had rented a room upstairs, and I hurriedly fumbled the key out of my pocket so I could unlock my apartment door. I had hoped to end up back there with the two chicks who had been all over me at the poker table, but it seemed like the universe was determined to fuck up my night. I managed to get the key into the lock and shoved the door open, trying to get through the door without smacking her head on the doorjamb. Harder than it looked on TV. I carried her down the hallway to my bedroom and dumped her down on the bed. She sprawled out on her front, the dress riding up enough that I caught a glimpse of her ass. Despite the worst parts of me egging me on, I averted my gaze, grabbed the covers, and tossed them over her. There were a lot of kinky things I’d do, but that was just fucked up.
I glanced down at her passed–out form, then leaned in to make sure she was still breathing. When I put my hand just in front of her mouth, I could feel short, shallow breaths against my skin. She would be all right come the morning.
This close to her, my senses filled with the scent of her perfume; it was sweet and musky, and seemed to perfectly suit the kind of woman I’d known her to be. I pulled back at once, my brain racing with the possibilities now that I had her in my apartment…as far as she knew, I was still an asshole. Maybe I could live up to that…?
No. I couldn’t do it. Even if I wanted to, the thought of just purchasing her and having my way with her was a turn–off. If I was that desperate, there were two gorgeous girls downstairs who probably would have been happy to set up camp on my couch for the rest of the night. But I realized, stretching and yawning, that I was already exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to climb into bed and sleep. With a sigh, I pulled off my shirt, grabbed a blanket from the end of the bed, and made my way through to the couch in the small living room next door. I heard her let out a small moan as I tried to get myself comfortable, and did my best to ignore it. I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of cars passing by down below me, letting them lull me into a restless slumber.