“But—”
“It’s not a suggestion.”
Onyx’s hand slipped from Lyna’s and he stepped back, leaning a bit on the stage.
“Sure Topaz, I can do that.” Lyna smiled up at Onyx, her hand trailing down his chest to his waistband giving his pants a tug. “Darling, I get off at two if you want to wait for me.”
“Well, if that ain’t a tempting offer to a starving man. Maybe I’ll do just that,” Onyx replied. “Watching you dance might heighten my delayed satisfaction. So how about you be a good little girl for Topaz and show me your special moves.”
“I’d rather show my skills in the back.” Lyna cut her eyes at Topaz, setting off a small fire in her. “But I guess some people think they’re my lord and master.” She turned, making sure Topaz saw her displeasure before moving around her and off to the dressing room.
“Queen bee, you gonna take care of me?” he asked tossing a little gas on the bonfire already reaching the stars.
“Really? Swapping out women like plugs?” she snarled.
“You’re the one jamming them child safety covers in the socket,” he replied standing over her. “Maybe I don’t mind getting a little jolt every now and then.”
His body was hard and large. Most would have feared, but she didn’t. In a way, it was a blanket ready to cover her. In Byron’s arms, she thought nothing could ever hurt her and Onyx was twice the size. He knew how to fight and had seen the ugliness of the world.
Topaz tilted her head upward to face Onyx. “It’s just like you to take one of my girls away before the end of her shift.”
“What the hell Topaz? Like a shift ever mattered to any of these girls,” he bit. “Besides, what we were about to do is part of her job.”
“Not hardly. They think they can just leave any time. It’s not happening under my watch.”
“I’m pretty sure Free’s break is going a little long in the back there, she might have clocked the fuck out for the night. Which means you don’t give a shit about the girls.” Onyx glared. “Must mean you have something against me.”
“Why would you think that?” Topaz felt more anger at herself for letting her want for him to manifest this way.
“Because you seem to have it out for me. The entire trip you were a cold, distant, bitch and now, you take away my fun for the night.”
“First off, I fixed your head.”
“Yeah, well Lyna was gonna take care of the one you ignored.”
Avoided would have been a better word and it wasn’t like he even made a move.
“Second, I didn’t take away your fun. You made a plan to be with her later. I just made her do her job.”
“You don’t normally stop the girls from taking care of the members of this club. So why do you seem bent on taking it from me?” Onyx raised his voice an octave.
A few people near them turned on their barstools.
“I ask because it ain’t the first time, but Topaz, it will be the last.”
“Let’s take this outside.” Topaz grabbed his hand, rough and calloused she tried to push out the feel of them on her hips as she pulled him through the kitchen to the back door of the restaurant. Shoving him, he actually stumbled a bit and she kicked herself. She’d forgotten his leg was still hurting and not lined up right. Even with his weight, he couldn’t match her angry strength because he wasn’t at a hundred percent.
The night air surrounded them as the moon and stars shone brighter than the security light. Topaz didn’t know what to say to him as she stood, arms crossed with him glaring at her.
“What do you want from me?” Onyx asked. “Seriously, from the first day I saw you walking through the clinic, you’ve been scared of me. I get I’m big, I’m black—”
“That’s not it,” she snapped. “You don’t understand what you do to me. And that day, I wasn’t expecting to see a stranger when the clinic was closed.”
Onyx took one step and she retreated. Her back to the wall as he stood over her and cradled her face in his hand. Bending his head, his lips so close when he spoke they brushed hers with sweet heat from the single deep purr of her name, “Topaz…”
A swath of light blinded them. Cutting the tight space and causing them to close their eyes as if the cops had spotlighted the couple. At first, she wondered if Hollywood was fucking with them until her eyes adjusted enough to see a large black van parked a few feet from them.
Onyx raised his arm to block the light, but four men had already jumped out of the side and approached with guns and bats.
The click of a hammer had Onyx’s eyes widening in front of her.
“Damn man, we barely saw you out here,” one man said as he cocked his head back and forth between Onyx and her. His tight polo would make a person think he was respectable.
Topaz even thought she might have served him at the bar, but her memory was tumbling to years past. There was no holding on to what happened moments ago. Her fears slamming into her like a wave after a speedboat passed too close in a lake. Knocking her over and stealing her breath all at the same time.
“At first, all we saw was a shadowed sexy woman. Thank goodness for that bandage or we might not have seen you until you smiled wide.”
Onyx’s jaw tightened as his head moved forward a bit from the barrel of the gun being pressed into his skull. When his forehead met hers, a moment that should be intimate, shared between them was destroyed by a punk.
“Hey nigger, think you’ve stepped a little too close to this fine
