Before I can get out, he grabs my arm and slaps me across the face. Fuck, it hurts. I want to cry, but instead I just hold my hand to where he hit me. I will never show him weakness.
“Remember who you’re talking to, little girl,” he says, staring me down.
There’s nothing to say, I just walk out of the room and back to my office. I’m done with this shit. I pack it up and head home. When I get there I look at my face in the bathroom mirror. It’s gonna be nice and bruised. I blow out a breath and go into the kitchen and pour myself a shot of vodka. One shot leads to four and I sit down on the couch. I start to think of Z. Of all the time we spent together. All the years of complaining about my father and his uncle. It was easy, just two kids leaning on each other. I miss that. I miss the way he made me feel. The true love we felt for each other. The sex, damn, the sex was the best I’ve had. Unfortunately, I have a lot to compare it to. I wasn’t always the one running the strip club. I paid my dues, sleeping with members, making money using my body. I’m not proud, but you do what you gotta do.
I remember one time Z walked in when I was giving head to one of the guys my father owed money to. I was given as payment instead. When he saw it, he beat the guy to within an inch of his life. I was so grateful and so turned on. I wish I could say my father saw it as him protecting me from all the evil, but he didn’t. To him, Zane was interfering with his business. For the first time in years tears run down my face. It hurts me that something so good can be so deadly.
Chapter 3
Zane
I wake up with Daisy tangled around me. It wasn’t her I wanted, but I needed to fuck out my frustration. She was there.
“Come on, sweetheart. You gotta get outta here,” I say, getting out of bed to go shower.
The water pounds on me, releasing my tight muscles, but stinging my face. Kingsley’s guys had to make a point. I didn’t mention to Brooks or Enzo that it was because I punched him. I let them believe it was because of our presence in their joint. It’s getting tense around here, which is never good. Brooks is gonna want Kingsley’s heart on a stake and Kingsley is gonna want Brooks’. Shit is gonna get worse before it gets better. It makes staying away from Harper that much easier and that much harder.
I know the shit her father does to pay off his debts. He uses her like a fucking object. Has her do things that no father should be alright with. The need to protect her outweighs the risk of taking a bullet. She’s the one that pulls away and I get it. I know it’s survival. It’s what we all do. I push her away to protect her. To make the decision of walking away easier for her. It’s better she hates me, because if we gave in to the way we feel...fuck, it would all crumble around us.
I step out of the shower and wrap the towel around my waist. Daisy is still lying in my bed and I’m less than patient now. I kick the bed and she jumps up.
“I said get out.”
“Damn Z, you’re so fucking hot and cold,” she says, grabbing her clothes off my floor.
As I step into a pair of boxers, I look over at her. “You’re a good fuck, Daisy. Don’t confuse it with something more.”
“Such an asshole,” she mumbles.
“Maybe you should remember that,” I reply, pulling a black T-shirt over my head. “If you can’t fuck without feelings, I’ll find someone else.”
She walks over to me, fully dressed and wraps her arms around me. “No, I like knowing your big cock is just mine.”
I laugh and push her off of me. “Don’t kid yourself. My big cock belongs to me and I’ll stick it in anyone I want. It’s not just you, sweetheart. Just like I know you had Reid’s dick down your throat the other night. Don’t pretend this is something else.”
She grabs her purse and storms out of the house. I need to find someone less complicated. She thinks this is gonna turn into something. I have enough complicated, I don’t need fucking to be one of them.
I slip on my cut, light a smoke, and grab my phone. Before I can call my mom to see how she's doing, it rings in my hand. “Yeah,” I answer.
“Get to Souls, we need to talk,” Brooks demands and hangs up.
I get to the club and walk in. The place is covered in sleeping bodies. Some dressed, some not. It smells like stale cigarettes, beer, and pussy. Just a usual Sunday morning.
I walk into the room that all decisions are made. Brooks is sitting at the head of the table waiting for me. I light a cigarette and sit down. “What’s going on?”
“I heard you were up close and personal with Harper Kingsley.” He leans back in his chair and I know he’s waiting to see if I’m going to give him some line of bullshit.
“Yeah, and?” I retort, taking a long drag of my smoke.
“Cut the shit, Z,” he says, clearly losing the little patience he has for me.
I smash out my cigarette and run my hands through my
