Page 22 of Dark Angel

What sort of man was Emrick really? I couldn’t tell.

The stranger had stopped struggling and was now simply trying to keep up with Emrick’s pace. His face was already bloody from a broken nose, and the only thought that went through my head wasI wonder what he did.

There was no assumption in my mind Emrick was acting incorrectly, and my immediate reaction had been this man, whoever he was, must have done something to wrong the dark man who ran this club and this city.

Was that wrong of me? I’m sure it wasn’t an incorrect assumption in the sense he must have done something, but exactly what he did was something I couldn’t even speculate on. Emrick’s business spanned from drugs to prostitution and simply from the clubs, and this man could’ve been involved in any of them. The lines of right and wrong were well beyond blurred when it came to how Emrick ran his business. Simply because this man hadwrongedEmrick, it didn’t follow he had acted incorrectly or unlawfully. Hell, he may have even been acting on the side of the law or acting to protect his own best interests.

But then again, so was Emrick. He was protecting what was his.

I knew what that felt like.

Shaking my head and turning my back when Emrick finally looked away, I blamed the tequila. It had been much too long since Maddie and I had a night where we could chat and laugh, and despite Maddie telling me when I started that the bouncers wouldn’t look out for me, somehow, it was now in my head Emrickwould. He still scared the hell out of me, but he also ignited something in me, and my curiosity about him was far from abated.

If anything, it was awakened further.

Along with everyone else in the club, I turned my back and pretended to be oblivious to the man’s struggles as he was dragged upstairs. Unwillingly, my gaze followed them as they crossed the balcony. Emrick was the last to enter the door beyond the balcony area, searching the dance floor until he came to me, staring for a beat longer before he disappeared and slammed the door behind him.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Maddie hissed at me.

“What did I do?”

“Christ, girl, come here so I can talk to you.” Maddie grabbed my upper arm and dragged me around the corner of the bar, ducking under the hatch and stopping near the trap door to the cellar. “Staring at him like that, what’s wrong with you? You know as well as I do you ignore shit like that. Christ, Cara, when I offered you a job here, I thought you knew better. How many times do we need to go over this? This is exactly what I was talking about. You haven’t seen half the shit I have here.”

“Sorry, I—” I stopped myself.Why was I apologizing to her?

One of the bartenders emerged from the trap door, carrying a few bottles of vintage wine. He arched an eyebrow at us but seemed otherwise disinterested in our conversation as Maddie dropped her grip on my arm.

“You survive in places like this by keeping your eyes down and your shit to yourself.”

“I know.”

“You can’t trust anyone, Cara.”

Frowning at her, I nodded, stopping when my head started spinning, the tequila had hit hard when I stood. When her hand flew out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at her, I grimaced.

How did she know I was about to look up at the balcony?

“Just keep to yourself, okay? You look out foryou. That’s all everyone here does.”

“Including you?”

Maddie sighed heavily. “You know that includes me. We’re friends, but in this city, in the end, it’s everyone for themselves. Money and freedom trump almost everything in places like this.”

She was right, and while I knew it, it still sucked. Despite our night of giggles and fun, and even though we grew up together, I knew if it came down to it, it was so engrained in both of us to drop everything and look out for number one, and neither of us would hesitate if we were put in that position. Had I even considered Maddie in my plans to leave? No. I’d miss her, of course, but my goal was about me and nobody else.

Here, it was everyone for themselves.

That meant Emrick too.

So, whatever his plan was when he helped me tonight, whatever he wanted with me, it was about him.

And I think I needed to be reminded of that.

EMRICK

He had witnessed the arson attack on my club, or so I was told. It was enough for me to demand he be brought in, and in a bout of anger, I had decided I’d go with them to bring him back. Cara’s hesitancy to come to me had built my frustration, and my hands ached with how I kept clenching my fists. I needed to release this anger somehow. It wasn’t unusual for it to take a bit of convincing to get the women or men to come to me, but they all did. Eventually.

Buther, she made my fingers tingle whenever I touched her. The way the goose bumps exploded over her skin where I ran my fingers up her arm or across her stomach, she was so fucking responsive, even if she wasn’t aware she was doing it. She needed some rough play. Her face and body were screaming for it, even if her mind was sending her messages otherwise. Even if her smartass mouth was protecting her, while her mind told her it was a bad idea to come to me, her body, and at least part of her, was aching to let me take her.

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