Page 10 of Taboo Flames

“You’re sure he’s going to keep to his words?” I hear one of the girls ask. “Cause I really wanna be there at the beginning of their tour, but their tickets cost an arm and a leg.”

“Or approximately one of Aurora Vitale’s purses,” another one of the girls sneers.

“Ugh, she’s the worst,” the third one pipes up. “I wonder what Ju-Ko sees in her.”

“Those band boys would fuck anything,” the first girl argues.

The second girl snorts. “But for real, you’ve got to admit that Ju-Ko put in a lot of effort for tonight. He offered us free front-row tickets for their next concert just for an opportunity with Aurora. Those seats are their money makers.”

“Oh God, I can’t wait…. We should ditch her as soon as the first set ends. I’m sure she can find her way back. I don’t want to be stuck in the car with her the whole way back again.”

“Don’t be stupid, Isa,” one of the girls chided. “If she could get us free tickets to this show, I wonder what else she could do for us. I say we continue sucking up to her. She’s a walking ATM and access card. She can get us into all of the best part?—”

I tune them out as I see a familiar golden head of hair heading toward the back of the stage. I tense as I see some skinny guy catch up to her and sling an arm over her shoulder.

I’m guessing that’s the not-so-famous Ju-Ko. The bastard’s about to lose that arm. I go off after them, weaving through the crowd of drugged-out girls who stare at me like I’m their next meal.

“Hey, you can’t be back here,” a suited man, presumably some sort of manager, tells me. Just then, Carlos appears like some sort of ever-present shadow and presses a thick wad of cash into the man’s hand.

“Oh, I guess you can head right in,” the manager says, giving me a wink that I ignore.

By the time I spy Aurora again, she’s disappearing into a room at the far end of the hall with the band kid. I head toward the room, but I’m immediately blocked by a towering, muscled man in all black.

“Fuck off, dude,” he commands, holding out his hand to stop me.

Without missing a beat, I grab the hand, twist it, and yank until I hear the satisfying snap of bone and the man’s howl of agony. I don’t hang around to enjoy the sound of his suffering,knowing that every second wasted is a second where that kid can have his hands all over what belongs to me.

Dashing to the room that Aurora disappeared into at the far end of the hall, I draw my leg backward and drive it into the bottom of the door. The wood shatters on impact, the door flying off its hinges.

The scene that greets me is of Aurora pressed to the wall with the wannabe emo kid pressed against her. He jerks away from her at the sound of my entrance, and before he can say something stupid, I grab him by the collar of his shirt and hurl him into the wall farthest from me.

There is a scream and a thud, which I ignore, choosing to face a wide-eyed Aurora instead.

“Hello, princess.”

Several emotions flicker behind her eyes—confusion, fear, terror—before settling on my personal favorite: anger.

“Oh my God. Are you stalking me?” she roars.

“I’ll give you the grace of one question, so choose your next words carefully, doll,” I tell her.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Retrieving my property,” I say nonchalantly.

Anger flashes in her eyes. “News flash, we’re in the twenty-first century. Nobody can own anybody, and even if I were to be owned by somebody, it wouldn’t be you.”

“It’s unfortunate then that you don’t have a choice,” I say with a smirk. “Now, you can either walk out on your own, straight to my car in the parking lot, or I can throw you over my shoulder and let you flash your panties at anyone who’s not already seen it, considering you’re wearing a skirt that’s all of two inches long. Ball’s in your court, princess.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Right then, I take one step toward her, my eyes glaring in response to show that I most definitely will.

She opens her mouth to argue again but thinks better of it. Instead, she hikes her purse up her shoulders and begins to walk past me, but just as she’s a hairsbreadth away, she stands on her tiptoes and whispers into my ear, “I didn’t flash anyone my panties, Gio. Because I’m not wearing any.”

Then she strides out the door, leaving me with thoughts of her bare pussy and an erection hard enough to pound nails.

I laugh, shaking my head.

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