Twenty
Raven
“Time to lock up, Ray!”
At the sound of Guy’s voice, I slide out from under the Honda CR-V. Shifting my eyes to the clock, my jaw drops at the time. Six o’clock. Darn it!
It got busy at the garage, and I never got a chance to text Jonah to let him know about my plans for tonight. He said he had to train, but that he was looking forward to having me back in his arms. My body warms all over at the mere thought of more sex with Jonah.
I grab my phone and see I have one missed call and a text.
Training then phone interviews all afternoon. Quick meeting then I’ll be home. See you tonight. xJ
“Ray! Quit draggin’ ass. Shut ’er down.”
“Yeah, G. I heard you.”
Shoving my phone into my back pocket, I close down the garage and race to my studio.
I throw my dirty coveralls in the hamper and strip down to jump in the shower. My foot taps impatiently, waiting for the water to heat.
Crud! I didn’t call Jonah. I wrap a towel around my naked body and fish my phone from my coveralls.
Sitting on the bed, I press send and place the phone to my ear.
“Hey, baby. Where are you?” His deep voice comes through the phone and a smile pulls at my lips.
“Hi. I’m at my studio. It was crazy busy at the garage today, and I didn’t get your text until just now.”
“That’s cool. Grab your shit and come over.”
My finger traces the swirling pattern of my towel at my thigh. “I won’t be able to come over tonight. I made plans with Eve.” My stomach bottoms out. I do want girl time, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want Jonah time more.
After explaining the evening’s agenda, I sit patiently waiting for his response.
“Club Six. Just you and your girl.” He’s not asking. It’s more like he’s saying the words so they sink in.
“Yeah. I’ll stay with Eve tonight because we’ll probably be out late, and I don’t want to wake you.”
“Hm.”
Is he mad?
“Look, here’s the deal. I’m stoked you want to hang with your girl tonight. But you at some nightclub, looking as hot as you are, dressed to kill, without me? No. I’m also not thrilled that you’re putting yourself at risk by going to a club when you aren’t twenty-one. And there’s the DomiDick shit we have to worry about.”
His possessiveness is fierce and I freakin’ love it. My entire body floods with the warm gushy feeling that makes my toes curl and my belly flip.
As a child, no one ever cared what I did. Never cared where I went, who I was with. I never had a curfew, never had the sex talk, the don’t-do-drugs talk. I was treated like an adult on my own ever since I could remember.
“Baby, you still there?”
“Yeah, Jonah, I’m here.” The low hum in my voice reminds me of Dog’s purr.
“Damn.” His rough and sexy tone vibrates the phone at my ear. “I’ve been thinking about last night all day. Now I get you on the phone and you say my name like that. I have a mind to drag you to my house and hold you hostage. You and Eve will have to reschedule.”
“Jonah.” My voice is thick with arousal.
He groans then clears his throat. “Get dolled up, go out with your girl, and have a good time. Call me when you’re done and I’ll pick you girls up, drop Eve off at her house, and you come home with me. You’re in my bed tonight. Deal?”
Um, gee, let me think.
“Deal.”
“Oh, and there’s something you should know. Your name came up during interviews today.”
My body shoots ramrod straight, and I grasp my towel at my chest. Now my belly flips in an altogether different way. “What! Why?”
“Big fight, lots of publicity. People talk, you know how it is. It’ll die down after the fight, but don’t be surprised if you get approached by paparazzi. Just ignore them, don’t answer any questions, and if you’re alone or scared, you call me.”
Well, crud. This night just went from bad to worse.
***
We pull up to the front of Club Six and climb out of our taxi. The front walk is lined with people awaiting entrance. Pounding music charges the air as we step up to the VIP line.
Waiting our turn, I fidget with nervous energy and catch my reflection in the window. My strapless, black mini dress hugs every contour of my body. The strappy heels cage my feet up past my ankle, making my legs look impossibly longer. I can’t see my face, but it’s framed by long silken strands of dark hair, flat ironed to perfection. Eve did my make-up heavier that I usually wear, the smoky dark shadow bringing out the strange color of my eyes.
I’m Ravenstein, put together and brought to life for a night of shenanigans.
“Stop freaking out. You look gorgeous,” Eve says close to my ear.
“Ladies. You on the list?” says a large man with a clipboard.
Eve exchanges words and a handshake with the purpose of palming him a fifty dollar bill. The man smiles and looks us both up and down before stepping aside. We’re in.
The strobe lights and black lights make it hard to see, and the booming bass makes it impossible to talk. Guiding me through the crowd, Eve leads me to an outside patio bar. The music is muted out here so we don’t have to yell. We belly-up and order two Cosmopolitans.
“So, how are you and Jonah?” Eve wags her eyebrows.
“Better now.” I can’t control the heat that rises to my cheeks.
Eve narrows her eyes and swivels toward me on her barstool. “Oh my gosh. You did it.” A slow smile creeps to her face, and she starts clapping and bouncing on her seat. “You fucking did it . . . like literally!”
I cover my face with my hands and nod my head. This information will surely find Dominick’s ears in the next day. So much for your plan to make money off my virginity, eh?
“Eeeeee!” Eve jumps from her stool and wraps her arms around my neck. “My girl lost her virginity, everyone!”
Mortification overtakes me as my eyes dart around the bar. Other than a few smiles, almost everyone ignores us.
“Eve, please! Be quiet!” I hiss.
She sits back in her seat and takes a huge swig of her drink. I follow suit.
“Rave, you gotta give me details, girl. Did it hurt? Was he good? Is he . . . big?” With eyes as wide as gas caps, she waits for my answer.
“He’s amazing in every possible way.”
She stomps her foot and slaps her knee. “I knew it! I knew he was big.”
I roll my eyes and suck down the rest of my drink. Apparently embarrassment makes me thirsty. I order another.
Details of my night with Jonah begin to flow out at the same pace the liquor flows in. I imagine steam shooting from Dominick’s nose like an angry bull when Vince relays the information. Satisfied with what I’ve given, I decide it’s time to broach the subject.
“What about Vince? What does he do?”
“He’s a consultant. I don’t know what he consults on. Like I said, he’s a private guy.”
More like private eye, I joke to myself and fight the urge to laugh.
“Does that bother you? That he’s a private eye . . . um, guy?”
Whoops, almost turned my private joke public. My tongue feels bigger in my mouth as my words start to slur. I wave my hand to the bartender and motion for another round.
“Yes. It does.” Her face falls and she dabs the corner of her eye with her cocktail napkin. Here we go again. Apparently, I’m not the only one feeling the effects of our drinks.
I spin my barstool so I’m facing her. “Eve, aren’t you sick of crying over this guy? The only time you don’t cry about him is when he’s got his tongue in your ear.”
Perfect transition into bad news. I mentally pat myself on the back.
Her arms fly out to her sides. “Ugh! It’s just I feel so close to him, you know?”
Okay, this is good. Let her vent and then I’ll go in for the kill. I nod while gulping the last of my drink.
“I get the feeling that I’m more into him than he is to me. He never talks about himself. I know nothing about him.” She sniffs. “Fucking men!”
Sick of the mastodon in the room that’s sitting right on my lap, I grab a stack of cocktail napkins and slap them down in front of her. Here it goes.
“Eve, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s about—”
“Holy shit, Rave! This is our jam!” Her shoulders bounce to the beat of the music. “Come on, let’s dance!”
“Wait, I—”
She drags me to the dance floor and the familiar voice of Dev singing “Bass Down Low” makes even me squeal.
Darn alcohol has me acting like a stupid girl.
I’ve only been drunk a few times, and the familiar floaty feeling taking over my limbs tells me I’m there. I close my eyes, absorbing the beat of the music, and move with the rhythm. The bass pulsates around me, every tiny hair on my arm responding to the call of the music. I slide my hands from my hips, up the sides of my body and into my hair. I imagine being here with Jonah, his hands all over me. Grinding against each other as the music throbs around us. Kissing in the middle of a crowded dance floor, and tasting the sweat that beads off each other’s skin. So lost in each other that we’re oblivious to everyone around, I skate my fingertips down my neck, imagining that they’re his. Remembering his touch on a cellular level, goose bumps race across my flesh. Flashes of him above me, memories from last night, have me gripping my hair.
There’s no place I’d rather be than in Jonah’s arms, in his bed. It’s time to go.
I open my eyes to see Eve is few feet away. She has become the meat in a dance-floor sandwich. I move to pull her away when hands grip my hips and heat hits my back. I react on instinct, pushing away from the grip and turning around to face the jerk.
A man in a pink golf shirt stands before me. His lips move, but I can’t hear what he’s saying over the music. Realizing that, he motions for me to come to him. I shake my head and turn to get Eve.
My heart is racing and I stumble, the alcohol making it difficult to control my body. I can’t believe I drank so much that I lost myself in my surroundings allowing a strange man to press his crotch to my backside. I’m anxious by the time I pull Eve from between the two guys she’s dancing with.
“Whad’da fuck, Rave! I was ’aving fun.” Eve speaks to my shoulder with a heavy slur.
I guide her to the bar, and order us two waters. Buzzed and freaked out by the forward guy on the dance floor, I trash my plan to talk to Eve about Vince and grab my phone to call Jonah for a ride.
“Can I get another Cosmoplothian, pleeese?” Eve’s attempt at cunning falls flat.
“I think we should call it a night.”
“No!” Her enthusiasm gets the attention of two guys nearby.
I give them my best don’t mind her, she’s just drunk smile. Mistaking my smile for an invitation, they walk to us. As they get closer I recognize the guy from the dance floor.
Crap.
Tapping Eve on the knee, I alert her to our unwelcome guests.
They’re good-looking guys. Not hot-tattooed-fighter good-looking, but more like successful-banker-golfer good-looking.
I try to politely brush them off while Eve gives them death stares, mumbling something about asswads and pricks. It’s bad enough that we’re in the club at all, but getting kicked out for public drunkenness is sure to draw unwanted attention.
Punching a quick text to Jonah that we’ll be out front in fifteen minutes, I look up to see Eve with her arm slung over banker-golfer number one. She teases her finger at the collar of his perfectly pressed shirt. Guess her anger at men is over.
“Eve, our ride will be here any minute. What do you say we hit the ladies’ room and make our way to the door?”
Totally ignoring me, she runs her hand into Number One’s hair and leans in to whisper in his ear. Pink Shirt steps in my space, pressing me back into the bar and blocking my chance for escape.
I flatten my palm to his chest. “Can you please step back?”
“You ran away from me earlier. Can’t let that happen again.”
The smell of his breath makes my stomach clench. My spinning head, combined with fear and a belly full of liquor, has me tasting bile.
I try to implore Eve for help, but she’s face to face with Number One.
Pink Shirt hooks a piece of my hair with his finger. “You’re gorgeous.” He motions to his friend with a tilt of his head. “My buddy and I have room at Trump. Looks like your friend and my friend are hitting it off.”
He’s right. Number One has his face buried in Eve’s neck.
He steps closer so that I’m arched back over the bar, my head turned away. He leans to my ear. “What do you say you and me—”
“What the fuck is going on here?” The voice comes from down the bar, but it’s unmistakably male and mad.
Pink Shirt steps back, freeing me, while Number One is yanked violently backwards. Eve shrieks and falls back onto her barstool.
Pink Shirt looks like he’s about to run, but sways as if he doesn’t know if he should attempt to help his friend.
Number One’s down. A man wearing all black holds him by the neck of his shirt and shouts in his face. I can’t hear what he’s saying, but from the look on the poor guy’s face, it’s terrifying.
The man in black shoves Number One hard to the ground and turns to Eve. Only then do I catch the face of our knight in shining armor.
My heart races and I break out in a sweat. Stalking towards us with a murderous look on his face, he gets right into Eve’s space. Nose to nose, he stares her down as she looks up at him doe-eyed.
“You trading me for a pussy-ass, country-club boy, Eve?” Vince’s body trembles with rage.
Terror works behind Eve’s eyes as she shakes her head.
“Vince, she didn’t do anything wrong. Those guys wouldn’t leave and—”
He rakes his eyes over me, and my mouth slams shut.
“Mind your own fucking business!” All pleasantries from our first two meetings are gone.
“Vince, please, look at her. You’re scaring her,” I whisper, trying to control my voice. She’s not the only one who’s scared.
“Look, you little slut.”
I flinch as his insult cuts deep.
“I told you this is none of your business. You wanna make it your business, I can do that. You two are coming with me, and I’ll be happy to make it your business . . . all night long.”
“You wouldn’t . . . I mean . . . Dominick . . .” The vicious smile that breaks his angry expression tells me everything. Dominick doesn’t care about me. As long as I’m able to solicit myself for him, he could give a rip about what Vince does to me.
Tears burn my eyes as the reality sinks in. I’m breathing rapidly. The hurried beat of my heart pounds in my ears. I should run, but I can’t leave Eve.
He eyeballs me from my boobs to my shoes and licks his lower lip. He wraps his arm around Eve’s waist, pulling her from her seat. Her eyes are unfocused as he tugs her close to his side. His free arm shoots to me. The impact of his grip throws my body forward. He drags us through the club. I stumble to keep upright. The crowd of gyrating bodies part as he storms through the dance floor to the club’s exit.
With a firm kick, the double doors fly open, and we’re in the secluded alley behind the building. I take a sobering breath of fresh air to clear my head. I need to get us free so we can run. But how? Looking around frantically, I search for a way out, knowing I have only seconds before we’re locked in his car.
My mind surges with questions. What would Guy tell me to do? What would Jonah tell me to do? And with that comes my answer, loud and clear.
Fight.
Adrenaline floods my veins. Energy strengthens my muscles as I struggle in his grip. I pull against his hold, digging my heels into the pavement. His eyes shoot towards mine and narrow. His grip gets tighter and Eve whimpers.
I twist my arm as hard as I can, and his hold begins to slip. Twisting and pulling, a sharp pain shoots through my shoulder. Desperate to free myself, I push through the ache. Vince stops walking and I yank down. My arm slips from his hand. He grabs hold with his other hand. He let Eve go.
“Eve, run! Run!”
Blinking wildly as if she woke up from a trance, she takes off. Vince has my back, his arm locked around my waist, hand gripped on my throat. Screaming is out of the question as his crushing embrace robs me of breath. I struggle to get free and my vision starts to recede. The sound of heavy footfalls pounding the pavement behind us has me jerking in his hold.
My vision goes black as two words scream in my head.
Help me!