Page 3 of Dmitri

“Perfect.” I tuck stray blue hair strands behind her ear.

Ace doesn’t stop honking even after I get in his car, buckle up, and stare at him with my brow arched. Unfazed, he keeps pressing the horn and glowers at me with this silent threat that says wasting his time will cost me.

He’s just like Kaleb. Heartless, cold, and charismatic only when he wants to drain his prey of something.

Nausea hits me soon after we turn off my road and I take shallow breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. His car smells like grease, weed, and cologne, which doesn’t help my fight against the bile rising in my throat. Meeting Kaleb like this always makes me feel sick. I never know what he’s going to ask of me.

And I can never say no to it.

“Do you know what he wants?”

“Above my paygrade.” Ace blows through a red light.

My palms sweat. “How long were you waiting for me?” I need to figure out how much time he spent with Addie.

“Long enough to piss me off.”

My mouth runs dry. There’s a new tattoo on his forearm, just above the scar that marks him as a possession. I know because I have the same scar on my wrist. It makes me wonder if Ace is in this shitshow because he wants to be, or because he has to be. Not that I’ll ever ask.

“Stop staring at me.” Ace speeds up. “Put your focus where it belongs, Daelyn.”

Right. Any hope I ever get of cracking this guy open andseeing the truth of him always dies fast. Maybe Addie isn’t the only one who slips under his spell. Only she’s a naïve fool who finds bad boys hot. I’m older than Ace and find this particular bad boy a potential ally.

At least, sometimes I do.

Stop it. Ace is not like you. He has choices and you don’t.

But is that even true? Kaleb is brutal and owns a lot of things, especially people. Ace only started working with him a couple years ago. Maybe he didn’t have a choice either. Regardless of how he ended up in our crew, he still works for the same monster as me, and that makes him a bad guy. I can’t fuck with anymore bad guys, and I know damn well none of them can be trusted. Me included.

We finally pull up to a strip club and confusion has me balking. We usually meet at a hotel. “He’s inhere?”

Ace turns to face me and arches his brow like I just asked a really stupid question. His eyes are bright green and bloodshot. Is that from lack of sleep or something worse?

Why do I even care?

When I don’t budge, Ace leans over and unbuckles my seat belt, then shoves my car door open. “Get out.”

“Fuck you too, Ace.” I climb out and slam the door hard, hoping it’ll shatter his window. He slams into reverse, and I have to jump back so he doesn’t hit me with his car. Gravel dust flies in my face as he leaves the lot in a hurry. “Asshole!”

Sucking in a deep breath, I tap my pocket, seeking comfort in the knife I—

Shit, I left my knife at home. In my purse. On the counter with the groceries.

I’m an idiot.

Looking back at the road, I debate on running. But I learned a long time ago that running gets you chased. Chased gets you caught. Caught gets you disciplined.

I don’t have the strength to go through Kaleb’s punishments again.

Rolling my shoulders back, I swing open the door and am smacked in the face with the scents of stale beer and cheap perfume. Kaleb sits at the bar, alone, staring into an empty glass. He doesn’t look at me when I approach. Doesn’t acknowledge me when I sit on the stool next to him either.

This is bad.

The bartender wipes her hands with a towel and offers me a tired smile. “Hey sugar, what can I get you?”

“Water, please.” I don’t drink alcohol around Kaleb. I need every brain cell in perfect working order in case shit goes sideways.

She sets a glass of water in front of me and immediately grabs the bottle of tequila for Kaleb. He places his hand over the top of his glass, shaking his head once. Without a word, she turns away and puts the bottle back, leaving us alone.

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