Page 68 of Collide

Fuck my life.

He raised an arm, putting his hand on the roof of the car, and with thedoor still open, I was caged in. With his other hand, he roughly grabbed my chin and tilted it upwards to look at him.

“I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you tonight, Riley, but youbetter drop the fucking attitude.” His tone was low and cool which made him sound all the more deadly.

Why the hell then did I find that so hot?

“Or what?” I challenged.

Seriously, I was going to get myself into so much trouble one of thesedays.

He moved closer, if that was possible, and looked me directly in the eyes, anger flaring in his dark ones. He was so mad that I couldn’t see any of the normal flecks of gold.

“Don’t push me, Riley, you won’t like what happens.”

Fear sliced its way through me at his menacing tone and thankfullyfor once, my brain and mouth worked together to keep silent. The real Kai was making an appearance, Kai the monster. The man who tortured and killed for a living and didn’t bat an eyelid when he sliced someone’s dick off. He was not someone I wanted to piss off. Or at least, piss off any more than I already had, and that thought banged in my head loud enough for me to keep quiet and not antagonize him any further.

I nodded my head slightly, indicating I would indeed drop the attitude,for now at least. He stared at me, not quite believing me, before stepping back and once again taking my hand to lead me inside.

As evenings went, I could have been in worse places. In fact, Ihadspent many evenings in worse places.There were hundreds of people in the hall, every person dressed upto the nines. The men wore tuxes, and the women wore beautiful gowns, it really was a party for the elite.From the minute I walked in, a champagne flute had been shoved inmy hand, and at no point in the evening had I been without a glass of bubbly. It wasn’t cheap shit either, it was crisp and refreshing, and going down way too easily.

In fact, it eased my bad mood so much I actually started to enjoymyself.

Kai refused to let me go all night, he held my hand as he made hisway around the hall speaking to different people. He knew everyone, and from the way he spoke with them, I noticed that he was selective about what information he shared with them.For instance, to some people, he introduced me by name andexplained I was his new personal assistant, although I was still waiting to find out exactly what he wanted from his personal assistant, because at no point had I done anything that resembled work. To other people he introduced me only as his date and to others, he didn’t bother introducing me at all. I figured I’d ask him about it at some point, but he’d hardly spoken to me since gripping me up by the car, other than to ask if I needed my glass refilling.

Aside from one or two older women, Kai only spoke to men at theparty, all of whom wanted some of his time, and the majority of the time was all business talk which meant I was excluded from conversations. It suited me fine, they were talking about stocks and shares and shit like that which I had no clue about and zero interest in trying to understand.

There were a few men who had the balls to talk to me, but for themost, they barely looked my way, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d all had some kind of warning not to even look my way.I wouldn’t have put it past Kai to make some kind of vague threatabout what would happen if anyone dared talk to me without his permission.

There was one older guy though who did make the effort to talk tome. He’d been introduced as Mr. Johnson, and while his son was in deep conversation with Kai, the old guy asked if I was having a nice evening.He was a sweet old man, old enough to be my grandfather but had akind and warm face that had me instantly liking him. He told me that thanks to Kai investing in his international courier business, he was able to retire and hand the reins over to his son, and he and his wife were soon to be heading on an all-inclusive round the world cruise.

Mr. Johnson made me promise to dance with him later at which pointKai abruptly finished his conversation and dragged me away.

As the evening wore on and people were getting more and moremerry from the endless champagne on tap, couples found their way to the dance floor and started swaying to the live orchestra that had been playing throughout the night. I finished my glass of champagne and as I reached out to a passing waiter to grab another, not that I needed another, Kai took my hand and pulled me into his chest.

“Dance with me?” He asked it like a question, but he and I both knewI didn’t have a choice in the matter.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him he should go and find one ofhis girls from his club to dance with, but I didn’t want to make a scene in this posh place, it wouldn’t have ended well for me. Instead, I responded with a simple, “Okay.”

Taking my hand in his big one, he led me to the dance floor. As wedid, women from all over the room subtly looked at Kai, looks of desire etched across their faces.I knew how they felt. All night I had been sneaking glances at him,taking in how the tux showed off his broad frame. He was pure sex in a suit, and so, despite my mixed feelings of lust and hate towards the man, I’ll admit I was feeling quite smug that it was me he was leading to the dance floor.

We made our way to the center, pushing through couples who wereengrossed in the music. Kai pulled me in close to his firm body, his alluring scent surrounding me. He placed one hand on my lower back, just above my ass, and took the other one in his, and I rested my other hand on his shoulder.The music changed into a slow tune, one I recognized butcouldn’t quite place. It wasn’t exactly the music I’d pole danced to.

Kai’s face was mere inches away from mine, and with every breathhe took, his warm exhale brushed against my cheeks. Underneath the spotlights, I could see the gold flecks back in his black eyes, and with music going on around us and his hand lingering above my ass, I was getting drawn into him.I was beginning to forget why I was mad at him, that was until heruined the moment.

“You want to tell me why you were so pissy earlier?” he said lowenough that only I could hear, not that anyone could have heard over the music. But he wasn’t angry now, in fact, there was a hint of amusement in his tone.

“Does it matter?” I replied, my tongue feeling loose after one toomany champagnes.

“If something has upset you, Star, then yes. It does matter.” He gaveme a genuine look like he really wanted to know what had upset me.

I didn’t want to tell him, I’d make myself look like a jealous fool andthat was not a look I was going for. Instead, I went on the defensive.

I blame the alcohol.

“Did you have fun at your club last night?” I said accusingly.

His brows creased in confusion momentarily before he composedhimself. “I had some business to attend to at my club, Riley. How did you know I was there?”

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