Page 88 of Cruel Games

All valid reasons. I didn’t care. And I suspected, neither did she.

I opened my mouth to tell her she was riding with me, all earlier resistance to the idea suddenly missing from my brain, when Coyote grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out the door and into the hall, making a beeline for the stairs.

My eyes met Dingo’s, and we both shrugged his strange behavior off before making our way out as well, being extra careful to lock the door behind us this time.

“I don’t thinkyou understand, buddy. I don’t stand in line. Ineverstand in lines.” I pointed to the shiny Guild pin on my lapel and grinned cockily. “You know what this is, don’t you? It’s an all-access pass to the front of the line, anywhere we want.”

The bouncer stared me down like he wanted nothing more than for me to start something so he’d have an excuse to put his hands on me. Usually, I wouldn’t mind a fight, but this was the bar Ivy demanded we go to. And since we’d sworn ourselves to her, what she wanted, she got.

And of course something would go wrong the second we showed up.

I knew we should have just taken her to our usual haunts.

“I don’t care what fancy pins you wear, buddy. You’re gonna stand in line just like everyone else around here.” He crossed his arms and puffed out his chest in a blatant challenge. “You got a problem with that?”

“No,” I grumbled, turning away to slink back in defeat to where the others stood in line. Dingo and Coyote flanked Ivy, but the stares she got were still enough to set my teeth on edge.

I didn’t like the way men leered at her like she was a piece ofmeat. Even men standing with an arm around another girl were boldly staring in apparent interest, some even salivating over her luscious ass.

Her smile turned to a frown as she registered my angry, sullen look. “Didn’t go your way at the door?”

“Apparently, this is the only bar in town that doesn’t understand what the Guild pin is for.” My feet carried me right next to her, where I could block the views of a third of the lecherous pervs undressing her with their eyes. “Fucking stupid. When Lilly finds out?—”

Before I could get another word out, Ivy ducked under the ropes and practically pranced to the front of the line, waving her hands at us to follow behind. I hesitated; if the pin did nothing for me, what the fuck would it do for her? But hell, standing here wasn’t going any better for us. Why not indulge her?

She giggled as she put a hand on the bouncer’s massive bicep and leaned in, waiting for him to bend an ear in her direction. Not that she needed him to—those heels put her on his level in more ways than one.

Sure enough, I watched as he side-eyed her, realized he could see almost all the way down the front of her dress, and turned his attention to her like he’d just had a change of heart. As we got closer, I picked up some of the conversation as she reached down to adjust her heels and?—

—pulled a fucking blade out of thin air.

Instead of bringing it to his throat in front of the whole line, she reached around his back and put the tip against the skin just below his ear, a wicked gleam in her eyes that had me hard as a rock.

“You told my friend here that his pin means nothing to you. Well, you must be new, so I figured I’d be nice and give you a little lesson on it.” The blade’s tip pressed against the lobe of his ear from behind, and I saw the man wince as she pushed it into the fleshy skin there, careful not to reveal the presence of theblade to anyone but them. “You see, that pin means we’re part of an organization called the Guild. And in Port Wylde, anyone who’s anyone knows that the only people who wear that pin are ruthless, psycho, unhinged killers for hire.” The blade slipped lower, and she hid it against her palm as she moved that hand to his hip, then lower, to cup his balls, which I imagined had just shriveled up and crawled back into his body. “Now, unless you wanna find out what life as a eunuch is like, I’d suggest you let me and my three dogs here—” she gestured to us with a head tilt— “in the fucking bar. I’d hate to have to tell Frank you’re being a cockblock just for shits and giggles.”

I didn’t know who Frank was, but he must’ve been someone important, because the bouncer nodded to her and stepped back, holding his hands in front of his junk as she grinned and reached back down to hide that damn thing wherever she’d pulled it out of.

And then, as if she fucking owned the place, this bitch just straightened, tossed her hair over her shoulder with a flick of her head, and reached for Coyote’s hand, tugging him along as sheled the way into the bar, much to the vocal disapproval of everyone in the line.

She looked like she didn’t give a fuck.

I loved that about her.

The door closed behind us and cut off the protestations from the line about skipping and favoritism. Suddenly, we were bathed in music so heart-poundingly loud, it was impossible to think straight, let alone communicate. Coyote clung to her hand like a lifeline, and Dingo and I stayed on his heels, desperate to keep from being separated in a place like this.

I didn’t mind music, dancing, drinking, all three in one place. But the volume of this bar was insane, and from the looks of the alcohol on the wall behind the bar, it’d be a lot more expensive than I cared for to get drunk here.

We were well off, but we weren’t rich, for fuck’s sake.

“Bartender!” she shouted as her hands slammed down on the counter, grinning from ear to ear like she’d lost her mind. “Down here when you’ve got a minute!”

Her skirt rode up her thighs as she slid onto a stool beside us and waited patiently, eyes scanning the dance floor with mild interest. I had to bite my lip until it bled to keep from saying something infinitely stupid. Something likeyou make me want to take you behind the bar and fuck you while all these saps watch,orplease fucking step on me, you beautiful whore,or evenI’ll take whatever you want to give me, as long as there’s pain involved.

Things I had no business saying to her.

When the bartender, a young, slender man who dressed better than half the women in this room, finally made his way to us, Ivy nearly jumped the bar to hug him with a girlish squeal.

He recoiled in shock and then grunted as he detangled himself from her embrace.

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