Page 36 of Taming Raptor

“Sit!” he snapped.

Startled, I dropped to my ass where he indicated. He straightened his tie and shook off the burst of aggression.

“Now as I was saying… I’ve recently opened a gentlemen’s club and I’m looking for talent that meets my expectation levels. I was here several weeks ago and had the pleasure of watching your performance. I understand you also do much of the day-to-day management of both the dancers and the facility. I’m prepared to make you a generous offer to work for me.”

Was this guy for real? Did he not know who owned Royal Heaven? And how the hell did he know what I did besides dance for Royal Heaven?

“Well, I’m flattered, but I must respectfully decline.” Arms crossed, I stared him down.

“Dear me,” he mocked as he pressed a splayed hand to his chest. Then he dryly drawled. “Maybe I wasn’t clear. I’ll expect you to be at this address at the time written on the back. If you don’t show up? Then you won’t like what happens. I don’t like being disobeyed and I always get what I want. Oh, and for now, let’s keep this agreement between us. Things never work out well for people who run their mouths. Understand?” He held out a business card. I looked at it but didn’t touch it.

One dark sculpted brow lifted, and he smirked. “I like your feistiness. You might become my new favorite, my pet.”

When he stood to his full height, he stuck the card in my robe pocket. The back of his hand brushed intentionally across my nipple before he trailed the backs of his fingers from my cleavage and up my neck where he gently brushed against the spot that his asshole “associate” had grabbed. Using the side of his index finger, he lifted my chin to stare me down. Boldly, I met his gaze. Finally, he stepped back, straightened his tie again, and smoothed his tailored jacket. Without another word, he left.

The second the door closed, my adrenaline tanked, and I began to tremble. What the actual fuck just happened? Now that I was alone, none of it seemed real. Except a glance in the mirrored wall showed bruises already forming on my neck. With a shaking hand, I reached in my pocket to find there was indeed a card in there, so I hadn’t imagined that either.

Unsure if I could manage walking in my heels, I kicked them off. Then I bent over to place my head to my knees. The door burst open, and I shrieked. Blade dropped to a crouch in front of me and held my head to make me look him in the eye. His bright blue eyes were full of worry as he searched mine.

Blade was a good-looking guy and he’d always protected me. There were times over the years that I wished I could look at him as more than a brother, but there was no way.

“What the hell are you doing in here? Facet called me and said he saw you going through the door with some guy. We all know you don’t do that anymore. What the fuck, Sage?”

“I-I-I….” It was all I could get out because my numb lips refused to move right, and my tongue seemed frozen in place.

His nostrils flared and his jaw clenched as he stared at my neck.

“Did he do that?” The question wasn’t asked by my friend. The man asking me that question was the cold-blooded killer that had saved me years ago.

Afraid he would go after them and get hurt, I desperately clutched his cut. Eyes wild, I shook my head.

“Shh,” he said, realizing I was going through a mild shock. His wrapped his thick arms around me and I clung to him. It was impossible to stop from wishing it were a different set of tattooed arms that held me. Except I knew damn well that was never going to happen again and I burst into tears.

“So, you’re saying this guy expects you to be at this address on Wednesday night?” Venom asked me as he tapped the edge of the card on the table in an agitated staccato. His brows drew together as he thoughtfully stroked his beard and waited for my reply.

Blade had contacted the chapter once I was able to tell him what happened. He helped me get dressed because my entire body was still shaking. I was a tough cookie, that’s where I’d gotten my nickname from—not from what one might think. Things didn’t usually fuck with my head. Lately, I was all kinds of fucked in the head. I knew my problem was that I hadn’t been myself since Raptor left.

Slowly, I was falling apart—crumbling at my very foundation.

“Yes,” I evenly replied, thanks to the shot of whiskey Blade had poured down my throat when we got back. It didn’t hurt that when he went into the chapel to inform everyone what was going on, I had a few more.

“She’s not going,” Blade immediately insisted. “I’ll go and then George Horacio and his goon will end up as fish bait in the lake after I’m done playing with them.” Venom cocked a brow at him. Even I knew he was out of line for his outburst.

“We only have a few days before she needs to be there. Facet, I want everything you can give us on this George Horacio.” Venom instructed, but Facet was ahead of him.

“Already on it.” Facet clicked a few buttons and the little box by his computer lit up. Then his screen was projected onto the wall—or what I assumed was his screen as I could see the cursor moving with random weird symbols and letters being typed on the black background at lightning-fast speed. Suddenly a life-sized image of George Horacio was there. My hands shook so bad from simply looking at that image that I had to clasp them together.

“Damn, Facet. I’m surprised you’re actually going away from killing trees every five minutes,” Ghost teased. I was confused as I had no clue what they were talking about. Facet glared at him and flipped him off.

“This is running straight through a direct connection from my laptop to the projector. No Bluetooth streaming or chances for someone to intercept a signal. I digress… George is a self-made millionaire with clear connections to the cartel,” Facet explained. Blade and I stiffened. After that I didn’t hear the rest through the whooshing in my ears.

“Cookie?” Hawk asked and I jumped because I hadn’t noticed him approach. I blinked several times. “Hey, babygirl, are you still with us?”

Another blink and I nodded.

“Cookie, we’re not letting you go over there and we’re not going to let anything happen to you. We’re going to look into it and we’re going to double up on security at the club. You’ll be watched and kept safe. You’re one of ours.” Venom’s words meant a lot and I had to blink again but that time it was to get rid of the tears. In truth, I was barely above the club whores. Though they never treated me like that. Maybe because I’d never chased a patch. A man was the last thing I wanted—for more than sex, anyway.

Until Raptor… but that didn’t matter anymore.

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