Page 69 of Ruthless Legacy

I blanch. When I went to that bar, I didn't even think about my stalker. “I wasn’t thinking about that at the time.”

“No. You weren’t thinking at all, Scarlet. Your behaviour was pure fucking stupid today.”

I frown when I realise we are pulling up at the fighting ring. “Why are we here?”

He kills the engine, and he leans across the car’s console, his face an inch away from mine. “Because I’m feeling the need to fight and fuck. Hopefully, pretty little Freya is here tonight.”

“Fuck you,” I hiss, and grinning at me he climbs out of the car leaving me sitting there fuming.

“Oh, Little Red. You really poked the bear tonight, honey,” Seb says with a long whistle.

I climb out of the car and stalk after Archer, and I hear Seb and Rafe follow behind us. I struggle to keep up with Archer when we get inside, but I catch up to him when he reaches Dev and leans in and talks in his ear.

“Come on, Little Red,” Seb says, swinging an arm over my shoulder. “Time to sit back and watch the fallout from your unacceptable behaviour.”

I sigh as Seb guides me to the side of the ring. “I don’t know why he is so mad.”

“You don’t? You leave a note saying you’re going home but you’re not there and no one has seen you or heard from you and you have a psychotic stalker out there. He thought something bad had happened to you and instead he finds you in a bar, drunk, flirting with Silver.”

I chew on my lip. Okay, when he puts it like that, I can kind of see where he’s coming from. Seb nods his head as he sees the cogs turning in my head. A roar goes up in the crowd when Archer steps in the ring. He looks all kinds of deadly as he glares at his opponent. The poor guy fighting him has no idea that I’m to blame for the beating he is going to get tonight. I watch in morbid fascination as Archer goes to town on this guy. He doesn’t stand a chance. His opponent puts up a good fight, but it’s a forgone conclusion and as he hits the floor out cold, the crowd goes wild, chanting Archer’s name. He ducks under the ring and leaves with no acknowledgement to the crowd, heading straight to a room at the back. I’m chewing on my lip, eyeing the door he went through, debating whether I should go speak to him. I know deep down he is right. My behaviour tonight has been stupid and reckless. I do have a stalker out there and I put myself at risk tonight.

I go to take a step towards the room I saw him go into when I see Freya, the girl who propositioned him the last time we were here, step into the room.

Seb tsks behind me. “Will you never learn, Little Red? You poke the bear, and you pay the consequences.” He leans in close behind me. “How does it feel knowing she’s in there with her lips on him?”

“Okay, fuck this!” I exclaim and I stride towards that room like my arse is on fire and I can hear Seb’s mocking laugh behind me. I fly through the door and find the two of them sitting on a bench chatting and laughing like old friends. I hate that I feel so insecure.

“What the fuck do you want?” Archer hisses, his cold eyes staring deadly into mine.

“Can we talk, please?”

I feel Freya’s eyes on me, but I don’t give her my attention, focusing entirely on him. He scowls at me, not giving me an answer and, feeling bold, I walk towards him and drop myself down on his lap and wrap my arms around his neck. I drop soft kisses down his neck. “I’m sorry,” I whisper into his ear. “I was an idiot and I’m sorry, okay?”

I hear the girl clear her throat from behind me. “I’ll take that as my cue to leave. See you around, Savage.” I hear her footsteps as she leaves the room, and then I dare to raise my head and meet his face.

I press my lips against his. “I’m sorry, Archer.”

He grabs a hold of my chin between his fingers and squeezing tightly, he lifts my face so that my eyes are in line with his. “Say the words, Scarlet.”

I hesitate. I don’t want to say the words he demands from me, because to do so goes against everything I stand for, against everything I have spent the last four years building. “I belong to you.”

He nods his head, his cold glare giving nothing away. “If I ever see you letting another guy touch you, I will make you watch as I cut him. You ever do that again and I’ll chain you up in my room and keep you there for days. Understand?”

I nod my head as he releases his tight grasp on my face. “You are coming home with me tonight. Text granddaddy and tell him you are spending the weekend in my bed.”

The car journey away from the warehouse back to the rolling, opulent gated community on the clifftops is quiet. Rafe has his headphones in, and Seb is watching some shit on YouTube on his phone. I’m sitting up front with Archer, who has remained silent since he grabbed me by the hand and dragged me behind him from the warehouse and into his car. He pulls up at Rafe’s house and with a quick farewell from him we pull away and drive along to the next mansion on the hill and drop Seb at his doorstep.

“See you tomorrow mum and dad,” he says grinning as he walks off towards the side of his house and suddenly, I’m all alone with my dark boy. We remain silent as we drive up the driveway of the Savage mansion grounds. Archer doesn’t bother parking the car in the garage, he leaves it outside the front of the house. I follow him as he climbs out of the car and heads inside the house. He drops his keys into a bowl near the door and he makes for the stairs. He doesn’t tell me to follow him, but I do anyway. He holds the door of his bedroom open, and I pass him and step inside.

“Strip,” he orders, as he closes and locks his bedroom door.

“Pardon?” I ask him, pretty sure I hear him tell me to strip.

“Take your clothes off and get on the bed,” he barks coldly.

Rolling my eyes, I turn and face him. He stands with his arms folded, waiting for me to undress. I slowly lift my top off and unclasp my bra and let it slide down my arms and fall to the floor. I pull the zipper down on my jeans and tug them down over my hips and onto the floor. Keeping my eyes on him as I strip, and I see his jaw clench when I hook my fingers in my panties and shimmy out of them.

“On the bed,” he orders me as he lifts his t-shirt over his head and throws it on the floor. I silently obey him, sitting myself down at the bottom of the bed. “Further back and spread your legs and bend your knees.”

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