Page 71 of Collide

This was my one opportunity and I couldn’t mess it up. Using the armhe wasn’t holding, I clenched my hand into a fist and with all my strength, threw a punch directly in his junk. Anderson jerked back, letting out an,‘Oomf’and let go of my arm as he folded over in pain.Not wasting a minute, I got to my feet and started running in thedirection of the door.

But I wasn’t quick enough.

He grabbed me again and twisted my arm painfully behind my back,before spinning me around to face him. His eyes were wide and crazed with rage.

Dropping my arm, and without any hesitation, Anderson smacked mehard across the face with the back of his hand. Pain shot through my cheek as my head whipped to the side, my brain rattling in my skull. Before I could think of what to do next, he pushed me against the brick wall before wrapping his hands around my throat and squeezing tightly.

“I warned you, you little whore!” he spat.

I tried to prise his hands off me, but I wasn’t strong enough. Besides,the more he squeezed, the weaker I could feel myself getting.

“You could have come easily, Riley, my boss won’t kill you justyet. You’re going to be leverage. You’ll regret the day you made that deal with Wolfe.” His voice was full of wicked glee and his eyes were bloodshot. Spittle flew as he spat his words, and a sense of doom flooded my body.

I vaguely acknowledged Anderson’s words, darkness was seeping inand my vision was getting blurry as my brain started shutting down.

I couldn’t fight it, it was too hard.

My chest burned with the lack of air and I had no choice but to let thedark wash over me.

As my eyes closed, the last thing I heard was an almighty bang.

Chapter 20

Kai

DespiteJoeyJohnsonJuniorchewing my ear off about abusiness deal I had no interest in, I didn’t lose sight of Riley as Johnson Senior twirled her around the dancefloor.

I’d fucking kissed her, finally tasted those sweet lips and knew what itfelt like having her mouth pressed against mine. It had only been one kiss but already I was addicted.

I wanted more.

I shouldn’t have done it in front of all these people though. I’d onlybeen introducing her as a staff member or as a date, I didn’t want people to see how much she meant to me. My enemies could exploit her if they thought she was my weakness.It was too little too late though and if I was honest, I didn’t fuckingregret it. Claiming Riley had been inevitable and it would have only been a matter of time before word got out that she was my girl, it just meant I would have to take her security even more seriously.

I watched her dance around the floor, smiling her dazzling smile forold man Johnson. She looked incredible.

From the second she had stepped out in that dress, I’d wanted toravish her over and over, and my dick had been uncomfortably hard since then, but it was ten times worse now I knew how her lips felt against mine and the little moans she made when I devoured her. I could not fucking wait to get her back to my apartment, I was goingto spend the rest of the night with either my face, fingers, or cock deep in her cunt.

I was glad she finally told me what had been pissing her off and atsome point, I’d get more from her about who had fed her complete bullshit. Hendrix, Miles, and Danny knew I hadn’t fucked anyone in recent weeks, and they were the only ones who knew about the girls I fucked. Either Riley had got the wrong end of the stick, or someone had tried to stir shit and I didn’t take too kindly to that.

The song Riley had been dancing to came to a close and I made amove to go and get her back from Johnson Senior when it became apparent he intended to keep her for a second dance.It was a good job I liked the old fucker, and I regretted not going intobusiness with him sooner but there was good reason for that. He was a law-abiding citizen and was content with playing on the right side of the law and making his money legitimately.

His son, however, Joey Johnson Junior, was a whole different kettleof fish, he was a greedy fucker and could be easily manipulated. All he had seen when I offered to buy into the business was dollar signs flashing in his piggy eyes when really, I was the one who was going to profit monumentally from the deal. I wasn’t his biggest fan, but that was okay. I wouldn’t need to have toomuch to do with him once I’d set my plans for the business in motion.

I finished my glass of champagne, only my second glass of the night.I never drank too much when at public events like this, there was always the possibility of an attack and I’d never weaken my reactions by drinking too much. Especially with Riley being here. Every man in the building had eye fucked her tonight, and it had taken a lot of control to not put a bullet through their skulls. A simple threatening glare had done the job though and with the exception of old man Johnson, no one seemingly paid her much attention.

Johnson Junior kept droning on and on, and other than theoccasional nod of my head and the odd grunt, I paid him no attention. His old man spun Riley around and she threw her head back laughing in sheer delight, and fuck did that make my heart rate spike. She was beautiful, but when she laughed like that, she lit up the whole damn room.

I was growing fed up with her being away from me, itching to tasteher mouth again, but I also didn’t want to ruin her evening, she looked like she was enjoying herself.

I took the opportunity to scan the room, checking that Hendrix, Miles,and Danny were where they should be.

Hendrix had been tasked to seek out Chief Griffin, who had still beenavoiding my calls, to warn him I would be visiting his office tomorrow to personally get the list of cops for the entire state.To make sure the message was loud and clear that I was not happyabout his lack of co-operation, Hendrix was to give him an envelope containing a picture of him in a rather compromising position with his latest fuck buddy, who happened to be a seventeen year old boy. It was a reminder to Griffin that I owned his ass, and I would have no hesitation in releasing the photos to the media if he lost the need to give me what I wanted.

Fucker had still avoided me all night though.

Danny was on enforcement duty. Several of my clients were in debtto me, bankers, stockbrokers, and high-flying lawyers, who had bought my product on tick, but were now falling behind on their payments.

Getting a visit from Danny was like receiving a visit from thegrim-reaper himself, people usually stumped the cash up fairly quickly after a little word in their ear from Danny. And there was only one person worse than the grim-reaper.

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