Page 24 of Hold On

“No. Please quadruple everything you have in front of us and throw in staff picks from whoever’s working today. Whatever the fuck you want me to buy, consider it sold. I also want some extra batteries and a couple edibles. Then we’ll be out of here,” I say, laying a stack of hundreds upon the glass counter.

“I was wondering if you were going to use your fame to my sale’s advantage,” she says with a smirk as Alina laughs, looking up at me. Her face is so relaxed that I start to breathe a little easier. We watch as the woman stacks up everything before us, other staff members throwing their picks on the glass counter too. “Rockstar rules,” she says to everyone behind us wondering how the hell we’re able to leave with so much. They groan as I smile. I throw another stack of hundreds upon the counter, turning to the line behind me.

“All your orders are on me,” I say quietly as they erupt in a mix of cheers and applause. Alina turns to the group, trying to hold in her grin. Her face is still tender, yet she can’t help it. Her beautiful teeth are gleaming beneath the lights of the club.

“Thanks so much, Mr. Cox!” The bud tender delights as I separate a lone hundred for her tip, shaking my head.

“Just Bash, thanks.” She nods once before bagging up our giant order, then pushes it towards me.

“What a keeper,” she says with a wink to Alina, who narrows her eyes back at the bud tender.

“He’staken,” she growls grabbing the giant bag, before flipping her purple hair over her shoulder and turning on her heel quickly. Her hips sway dangerously as she stomps out of the dispensary. I bite my bottom lip as the woman’s brows shoot toward her hairline in disgust.

“Well, ok then,” she says with a flippant attitude. I knock once on the glass countertop with my knuckle.

“That’s my girl,” I warn before winking back at her, not even trying to hide my full erection at the words Alina used as I walk away from the saleswoman. I nod to the rest of the line as I exit.

Iamtaken. By the most dangerously gorgeous, grungy girl I could ever ask for, in her matte black high tops and self-colored hair.

I’m a fucking lucky bastard.

Chapter Seventeen - Now

Alina:

“Stupid, cockybitch,” I mutter to myself as I slam Bash’s car door and rip into the bag on my lap. I open one of the gummy packages, proceeding to shove a couple into my mouth before throwing everything at my feet and buckling my seatbelt in a dramatic huff.

Yes, Iknowit’s fucking stupid to get so upset about that woman flirting with him. But I don’t care. No one will ever understand Bash like I do. They don’t even have the capability of doing so anymore. His father is dead. I read his obituary in the paper years ago. The moments that forged our relationship aren’t possible to be had by anyone else. So logically, I know it’s incredibly shortsighted to be so upset.

But Bash Cox is fuckingmine. And I don’t belong to anyone else but him. I’ve just decided that. I’mnotLuke’s property. I belong to myself and to Bash and I will fight like hell to make sure that’s the reality we live in one day.

He slides into the car a few minutes after me. I see his hard-on first, his smirk joining him afterwards.

“That for your fucking bud tender?” I bark as he laughs wholeheartedly at me, grabbing at my chin gently with his perfect fingertips.

“This dick belongs to one fucking girl and one fucking girl only;LinaGirl.” His eyes hold no amount of humor as he stares intensely into my own. “I have no interest in that woman, baby. Iknowyou know that.”

“And yet, I want to claw her fucking eyes out,” I confess with a heavy sigh as Bash starts the car.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. You know your dramatic ass always gets me going,” he teases. It’s obvious he isn’t lying as his dick stands tented between us.

“It’s just… I haven’t had a say in who I get to be with for so long… I just don’t want anyone or anything to get in the way of us anymore,” I mumble as I feel the warmth of Bash’s palm sliding over my thigh.

“That’s not our reality anymore. From now on, you choose, Lina Girl.” He pulls out of the parking lot, directing the car onto the road. “We need to talk about something else while we’re on this subject,” he says carefully, avoiding my eyes as he drives.

“What?” I ask anxiously. His hand tightens protectively on my thigh.

“We have to kill Luke, Alina.” He says it quietly, knowing I’m a flight risk. What he isn’t expecting is my full support and cooperation.

“I know.” It’s all I can muster. The fact that Bash is on my side and wants to embark upon this adventure with me is enough to have me emotional, unable to complete a coherent thought. I’ve been alone for so long, I’ve just been doing my best to hold on for something better, hoping it would come eventually.

I want this. I want this with everything I am.

And having him by my side while we burn down Luke’s world together is nothing short of a happily ever after for me.

“I expected a little more push back to be honest,” he admits as he side-eyes me from the driver’s seat. I can feel the anxiety rising off of him.

“I’m sure you did,” I agree, smiling to myself in the dark. “But what you didn’t see after that woman flirted with you was my decision to take my life and my choices back. And my firstchoice is you, Sebastian Cox. It always has been. My next choice is freeing myself of my dickhead overlord and taking the rest of his victims with me on the way out.”

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