Page 85 of Broken Player

He shifted his gaze away from me, dropping it down to the picture. "I do."

"And are you going to tell me?"

He sighed heavily. "That's Griffin, Maddox's half brother. That's all I'm going to say. If you want to know the rest, ask your boyfriend."

"I'll do that."

I ordered an ice tea as we sat and waited for Sebastian to get back to us. "So, what's your plan here? Go rushing in there by yourself, and what exactly?" Connor asked, his tone conversational, but the look in his eyes anything but. His look dared me to admit I planned on facing down my sort of ex on my own. The same guy who apparently had the balls to think he could go toe-to-toe with and blackmail one of the biggest celebrities on the planet.

I figured his overconfidence would be his downfall. I just had to be patient. Patient but not silent. I wasn't about to sit here and let him cause as much chaos as he wanted before we took action. I figured I could at least make him hurt a little.

Connor's phone vibrated across the table, and he picked it up, pressing it to his ear. His eyes shot over to me, and we stared at each other as he listened. When he hung up after a hurriedthanks, I waited with bated breath for the verdict.

"It was him, alright. Hired a PI, used his damn credit card like a moron," he confirmed. "So, what do you want to do?"

My whole body stiffened as I fumed, a storm tearing through my veins, the need to make him pay clawing at my insides, demanding to be unleashed. "I want to pay the jackass a visit," I declared, rising out of my seat and pulling out my wallet to throw some money onto the table. "Coming?"

After stoppingby Connor's hotel room and making another quick stop to have Sebastian figure out where Yates was right now, we packed a small bag with a few necessities like first aid supplies, water bottles, and ice packs. We drove to the dive bar my ex apparently liked to frequent.

When we pulled into the half-empty gravel parking lot, I understood why. This was more than likely the place he went to pick up theworking girlshe couldn't keep his diseased dick out of. My stomach rolled at the thought I'd actually considered for the briefest of seconds, giving him a real chance.

Gross.

Connor parked the black SUV we'd driven, and he turned to me as I reached for the door handle. "Wait." The commanding tone in his voice made me pause. "How do you want to do this?"

"I'm going to walk right up to that jerk and convince him to follow me outside. Then I'm going to kick the shit out of him for everything he's doing," I rattled off, adrenaline flooding my system.

"And what do you want to accomplish by doing this? Maddox already threatened him, and it didn't make him stop. In fact, that fucker only started coming after him harder," Connor pointed out, grabbing the bag we brought out of the back seat and rifling through it.

"Accomplish? I want to make myself feel better, and I want to make Yates feel pain. I don't think anyone has ever actually kicked his ass before, and I want to be the first." I lowered the visor, flipping open the mirror and checking my reflection. If I was going to convince him to follow me outside, I might have to use my looks to do it, and if I looked like shit, it wouldn't work.

Connor chuckled, setting the bag in the back seat after he pulled out the dreaded manilla envelope. The sun had just sunk below the horizon, and the first stars were starting to wink into existence. I unceremoniously flung my door open, stepping into the warm evening air.

I lifted my chin, straightened my spine, and walked confidently through the parking lot, the gravel crunching under the heels of my shoes. Connor followed right behind me, but he didn't try to take over. I got the feeling he wanted to see how I handled myself, what I was going to do next. We didn't know each other very well yet, but I liked the guy, and I respected that he was willing to let me take the lead.

A lot of guys like him, ex-military, muscle-bound tough guys, looked at women as lesser beings with smaller brains or too many emotions to be taken seriously. Connor didn't seem to be like that, and my opinion of him went up a couple more notches at how he handled today.

We stepped into the bar, the hot and stuffy air immediately making my hair stick to the back of my neck. It must've been a hundred and twenty degrees in here, the air conditioner long out of commission. The smell of sweat and alcohol hung heavy in the air, and I had the sudden urge to get the hell out of here just so I could fill my lungs with fresh, clean oxygen.

"He's over there," Connor's gruff voice sounded near my ear, his hand casually pointing to the middle of the bar where Yates sat with his back to us. He had a glass in his hand, his suit jacket wrinkled and askew as if he'd been there for hours.

Connor stepped back, slipping into the crowd near the door, and I stepped forward, deeper into this craptastic place. Finally, I slid onto the stool beside Yates, and he didn't even bother looking up before he started hitting on me. "Hey, sexy-"

"Save it for someone who cares," I snapped, waiting until his eyes finally made their way up to my face. When it registered who I was, his gaze narrowed slightly. Surprisingly, he was fully sober despite looking like he'd made himself a permanent home on the barstool he occupied.

"You," he spluttered, hate shining out of his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

I placed the envelope on the table but snatched it away when he tried to grab it. "I think we need to talk. Outside," I ordered, slipping off the stool and making my way toward the door. When he didn't immediately follow, I turned back. "Now."

Rolling his eyes, he downed the last of his drink and stood, slamming into my shoulder as he tried to bypass me on the way to the door. He also knocked into almost every table on the way to the door, sloshing people's drinks and being the general asshole that he was. It was like that's what he was made to do. He didn't even have to try.

Stepping outside the door, the air felt crisp and fresh as it brushed across my skin, and I inhaled deeply. I stepped around the side of the building, noting that Yates was following me, mumbling about how much I'd wronged him. I noticed Connor had slipped behind Yates when he stepped out of the bar.

When we turned the corner to the side of the building, I took a quick look around before spinning back to face Yates. There was a field behind the bar, and it looked like no one had ventured to this side of the building in years. The gravel was overgrown by green weeds, and as I discreetly scanned the building itself, I didn't spot any security cameras.

Perfect.

"I see you got my note," Yates taunted, a cocky grin crossing his face as he stood, leaning against the brick wall of the bar. "Come to pay up?"

---