Page 49 of Volatile Obsessions

? Bodies - Drowning Pool ?

Took me two days after the Great Whiskey Flood of 2017 to quell my anger enough to finally react. Had I taken action on Monday morning after walking into the distillery, things would’ve ended badly for anyone who stood in my path.

Lux especially.

It had nothing to do with the whiskey, by the way. That I couldn’t care less about. The whiskey business was all Vic, though he didn’t seem too bothered by the loss, if I’m being completely honest. He was more concerned about Liza resurfacing, and while I was, too, I was far more preoccupied by the fact Lux seemed to have pinned me for a fool.

My thoughtful silence obviously gave her the wrong impression. While I was contemplating the next best attack, something that would top my last charade, here she was, laughing at me, pissing all over me, asserting her dominance.

Trying and failing to prove her goddamn point.

And she was about to find out just how wrong she was.

“Can I help you, sir?” asked this elfin blonde at the tidy Victorian desk I’d seen all those nights ago.

“I’m here to see, Miss Mercier,” I answered, in the smoothest voice I could manage.

“And your name is?”

Grinning, I shoved my hands into my slack pockets. “Just tell her it’s an old friend.”

“Okay…” She eyed me keenly, but went on to dial Lux’s extension without further questioning. “L, you have a visitor… Mhmm... An old friend? Are you sure? O-okay…”

Setting her phone back in place, the small woman rose onto her feet and waved a polished hand toward the doors. “She was just leaving, so you’ll have to make it quick, but go right through those doors.”

“Thank you, love.” I tipped my head at her graciously and strolled to the doors with leisure strides as directed.

Curling my hands around the cool handles brought back the same rush it did the first time around, only this time it was amplified in tenfold. I could already smell her, could just imagine her pretty face as I stormed in on her much in the same way she’d barreled in on me.

My grin widened.

Showtime.

“Knock, knock,” I sang cheerfully as I threw open the doors without care.

They slammed against the walls with a loud bang, snapping Lux’s head up toward me immediately, baby blues widening in genuine surprise.

Clearly, she hadn’t thought an old friend could be me.

Score one for the King.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she barked, shooting onto her feet.

Almost instantly, I felt the shift in the air around us.

Intoxicating us.

Suffocating us.

My entire body buzzed like a live wire. I couldn’t help myself from devouring her whole with a singular sweep of my eyes. They slid over her subtly curved form, mentally removing the strapless mauve dress clinging to her figure along the way.

She was fucking stunning, and I was itching to get closer, for multiple reasons.

“Oh, nothing… Just paying you a little visit.” I smirked, shutting the doors behind myself.

One of her perfectly arched brows shot up curiously. “Is that so?”

“Indeed,” I conceded, starting toward her with purpose. “You see, it appears my business was vandalized a couple of days back, now I’m simply doing my due diligence.”

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