Page 34 of Assassin's Obsession

"It's none of your business if I do." She stomps away to grab her sheer bra and jerks it on with short movements.

She's so magnificent when she's angry, I almost miss her next words in my lusty haze. She's not impaired and my body is telling me to take what she's offering.

But she's not offering it anymore.

If those stilettos were the knives they're named for, I'd be bleeding right now.

"If you didn't want to watch me dance, you could have just said no." Her voice is choked with emotion. "You don't have to be an asshole about it."

Her angry tread takes her to the door and she jerks on the handle to open it.

But then she stops and looks back over her shoulder at me. "I don't know why you protected me like you did those two times, but consider the dance payment. I'll square it with management."

The fuck she will, but I let her leave, a weird feeling fizzing in my chest.

Happiness.

Candi, my woman, knew who I was all along.

Chapter 12

CANDI

My back aches. My feet throb. As I open the door to the back alley, weariness drags at me like cement blocks chained to the back of my kicks.

I'm always tired when I finish a shift, but this is something different. This doesn't just go bone deep, I'm weary to my soul.

I know it's because of Angelo's rejection.

He didn't even have the decency to leave the club after. I could feel his eyes on me for two more hours before he left.

So. Proof positive, he's not there to mack on me, but for mafia business. Knowing he only wanted the private lap dance because he wasonce againlooking after me doesn't help.

Especially after he left me a freaking $1000 tip with the head bartender.

I told him he didn't have to pay for the dance. I offered to pay for my time in the backroom, but management asked if I planned to do more private lap dances. When I said no, Nerissa De Luca gave me a free pass.

It could be because I'm friends with her sister-in-law, but I don't think so. She had a look of pity on her face. Everyone knows I took Angelo to the backroom and they all assume it didn't go well for me.

They're right. Darn it.

I wish I could afford to reject his pity payment, but I can't. And it makes me cranky.

Sometimes it feels like I don't have any control over my life.

My head down, I watch the damp pavement in front of my feet. I've stepped into nasty surprises left behind by both animals and humans. Never again.

I'm concentrating on avoiding a puddle of something I'm happy to leave unidentified in my brain, so I don't realize I'm not alone at first. I'm about a third of the way down the alley when I register a noise.

The scrape of shoe leather on pavement.

A whimper. "Please. I'll get the money."

"Times up." The words aren't spoken with any particular menace, the bored tone making the message more chilling.

Dread in my gut, my head snaps up as I freeze in place. No one has noticed me yet, which only tonight right? Usually the street at the end of the alley would be quiet this time of night, but right now it's still noisy with party revelers.

We usually close at 2 am, but it's already three and I just finished my last set.

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