Page 147 of Awakened by Sin

Lux was built like an amphitheater with five levels. It was a grand club that hosted the largest events on The Strip. The DJ booth on stage was wreathed in gold lights, as were the dancers being spotlighted on high platforms around the club. The club was bursting at the seams. A quick look at the amount of security in the VIP sections told her it was a star-studded night. No wonder Marcus couldn’t get away. He had a ridiculous amount of high-maintenance celebrities and their entourages to accommodate.

The last time she visited this club, she’d been with Vinny, Gavin, and Lyla. Lyla tried to set Gavin up with another woman that night. That felt like a lifetime ago. The hyped crowd should have improved her mood, but it did nothing for her. Every beat of her heart flooded her with such agony, she was surprised she could walk. It felt as if there were nine-inch nails embedded all over her body. The urge to do something reckless made her temples pound. She was locked down so tight that she didn’t feel the bodies brush against her, didn’t hear the music, and didn’t register the smell of alcohol, lust, or excitement in the air. She needed something cataclysmic and powerful to cancel out the feeling of impending doom. She hoped sex would wash away her raw fragility and replace it with something else. She hoped Angel was wrong—that it wouldn’t take blood to cure her. If that was so, her mother would lose her because she would do anything to stop the pain.

Using her phone to get in touch with Marcus would be impossible. No one would hear their phone ringing above the deafening music, and with the floor jolting beneath her, he wouldn’t feel his phone vibrate, either, so she had no choice but to circulate. A server wearing pink bunny ears offered a glass of pink champagne, which she declined. She headed to the VIP section where she figured Marcus would be. Despite it being three years since Vinny died, the staff acknowledged her. Staff came and went but her face was intrinsically linked to Pyre Casinos as surely as Gavin’s was.

Celebrities greeted her. She allowed hugs and pecks on the cheek. She had no idea what they were saying or how she responded, but they left with smiles and waves. She was so used to her role as hostess that she could have a discussion without needing to think. She felt Frederick press in on her other side as he joined them.

The fourth and highest VIP tier had alcoves set far back from the railings for privacy. One U-shaped alcove could sit up to thirty people, so VIPs could have their entire entourage around them while watching the action on stage or the crowd of thousands rock out below. Carmen passed a popular talk show host and an elderly politician doing body shots off a server in a bikini, a bunch of rappers popping Dom Perignon as if it was Coke, and a boy band who wasn’t old enough to be in the club being fawned over by a hoard of women. She scanned the security in each section, trying to figure out who was the highest profile by the amount of guards.

Eli Stark stood near the last alcove closest to the stage. He turned as she approached and didn’t look pleased to see her. He wore jeans with a navy button up that looked good on him. She suspected he only wore the jacket because he was packing.

“You shouldn’t be in public,” Eli said.

She ignored him and waded through the milling security guards into the alcove. Frederick grabbed the arm of a guard who tried to touch her while Mickey stuck to her like glue. What she found in the VIP area stopped her in her tracks. Angel sat with retired football star (and douchebag) Carter Raymond and Phillip Marquee, Nevada Attorney General. Angel was getting a lap dance from a Hispanic woman wearing a barely there dress that couldn’t contain her boobs, which were hanging out. The woman on Angel’s lap had her arms around his neck and was riding him as if she were on a galloping horse. Having a big ass drop on his crotch like could be dangerous if he had an erection. The woman whispered something in his ear, which made him smile. The woman did a reverse cowgirl and then dropped her hands on the floor, planted her knees on the seat and began to twerk, exposing her ass and black G string. Angel put one hand on each cheek and squeezed.

A hand wrapped around her arm. “Let’s go find Mr. Fletcher,” Mickey said.

Angel looked up and noticed her. His hand paused in its caress over smooth tanned skin. His gaze moved over her and lingered on her breasts, thighs, shoes, and then fixed on her lips. The girl air humped as if her life depended on it. Angel’s mouth curved as his hand slipped under the woman’s ass. Carmen saw the woman’s body jolt as Angel inserted his finger in one of her holes.

“Carmen,” Mickey said and tried to drag her back, but she stayed where she was.

Angel’s arm moved as he fingered her. When the woman tipped her hips up, Angel smacked her ass hard enough to make her yelp.

“Don’t move,” Angel ordered, voice barely audible over the music.

The woman hung her head and nodded as she held her position, legs splayed on either side of him, giving him access to everything. She was at his mercy.

Carmen kept her eyes fixed on his. He stared at her with an amused, faintly cruel expression that put her on edge. Was he trying to shock her? She couldn’t deny that something inside her stirred at the lewd act. She’d seen him in many moods. This one was melded to the darkness in him. He was unaffected by the woman whose movements became increasingly frenzied. He was getting off on controlling her, on exploiting her. He cared nothing for the woman begging him for release.

The attorney general and Carter Raymond were staring at him, transfixed by his ability to make the woman his bitch. The woman moaned and clawed the carpet. Her hooker heels bounced as she fought her pleasure. Angel licked his lip and winked at her as the woman jerked and screamed.

“You want some of that, Carmen?” Carter Raymond asked, reaching for her.

Even as Mickey stepped forward to block his hand, Angel said, “Don’t touch her.”

Carter’s head whipped around. “What?”

“Don’t touch her.”

“Carmen and I go way back,” Carter said.

Angel shook his head. “Not Carmen.”

He was just like Gavin. He thought because she was part of the family that he could call the shots in her life. He, on the other hand, could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. The woman on his lap did push-ups to shove herself against his hand. He laughed, well pleased with her out-of-control state. He did something with his hand that made the woman scream and collapse on the ground, shuddering as if she was having a seizure. The attorney general laughed and beckoned to her. The woman crawled to him. He unzipped his pants, and she took him in her mouth.

Angel raised a mocking brow, eyes gleaming dangerously. “You need a release, Carmen?” He beckoned with a glistening hand and patted his lap. “I’m free.”

The guards behind her were shuffling like a bunch of teenage boys. She could smell their lust. She needed something to get her off, but she wasn’t so far gone that she’d allow herself to be used in front of a crowd for his amusement. His eyes dared her to come to him, silently promising her that he could banish the darkness he knew festered within her. He saw too much and would use his knowledge to destroy her. Luci’s voice drifted through her mind.Angel likes you. The man waiting for her capitulation wasn’t the brother Luci knew and loved. This was the crime lord, the one who didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything. High on power, pitiless, and shameless.

She’d never been able to walk away from a dare.

Carmen handed her clutch to Mickey. Angel’s eyes gleamed and his mouth began to curve in victory, but he stiffened when she walked toward Carter. She perched sideways on the footballer’s lap and looped one arm around his neck. Carter was looking at Angel, but she cupped his face and turned it to her. Carter was good looking. Unfortunately, he was one of the most self-centered, arrogant men she knew. He thought he was God’s gift to women and had been hitting on her for years. It was time to make him her slave.

She placed a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. He leaned toward her, reflexively seeking more. She obliged while she stroked his cheek with a feather light touch that was worlds away from what he was used to getting from prostitutes. She ran kisses across his cheek, down his neck, and sucked delicately, laving his skin with her tongue. His pulse flickered beneath her tongue as his erection prodded her hip. She straightened and straddled his lap. He looked up at her, eyes cloudy with desire. He was in her thrall. Her dress was short enough that she didn’t have to pull it up as she planted her knees on either side of him and rode him nice and slow.

“You’re fucking beautiful. Always have been,” Carter said through gritted teeth.

She didn’t respond. She swiveled her hips against his crotch. His head dropped back, and he panted as if he was in pain. Seeing his insolent masquerade fade urged her onward. She did a reverse cowgirl on him. His arms wrapped around her waist, and he buried his face in her hair with a groan. She continued to move achingly slow. No less than fifteen men watched her with rapt attention. She placed her hands on Carter’s knees and rocked forward. She panted as if she was getting off on this. In reality, the lap dance was doing nothing for her. It was the dark lust emanating from the crowd of men who fed her inner demon and calmed her. She made her eyes heavy lidded and let tendrils of hair drop over her face so she looked like she was in the throes of ecstasy. She opened her mouth obscenely wide as she rocked on her victim. Her eyes locked with Angel’s. She couldn’t read his expression, but that didn’t matter. All she cared about was that he was watching her. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He liked to play with his food in front of an audience? Two could play at that game.

---