“I do, but you both still have a full year left of school, Jay.” He eyed me. “You have to account for other things that might come up. Some spending money perhaps?”
He nudged me with his elbow, and I chuckled again. I shook my head. “Got plenty of nuts stored up for the winter. Should be good.”
And it was all locked down in more than one bank. There’d be enough for me to definitely start a good life post-graduation and plenty there for my other two sisters to get full rides to their own colleges. Mom also would be good and would never have to work herself to the bone again. This was basically guaranteed once I got hired on after school. I was studying to be an architect, something I didn’t even realize I had a knack for until I went to school. I already had companies all over the country buzzing for me, ties I’d made on my own just by being good at what I did and having awesome relationships with my professors. They spoke around about me, something I’d earned with trust and had nothing to do with money or influence. Money couldn’t buy everything in the end. Sometimes it took character, heart and something I always had a lot of.
I started to get into that with Alexi when a silver top caught my eye from the Crystal Palace. Normally, I wouldn’t notice such a thing, but the girl’s top was literally shimmering off the walls of this place. She paired it with a matching skirt way too short, that fiery red hair she had bathing her naked arms like The Little Mermaid. The only issue was this wasn’t the sea but a din of danger and bullshit she had no business being a part of.
Especially considering who her father was.
Rage hit me as I realized The Little Mermaid down there was Billie, Billie at a fucking titty bar when she should be back in her cute little cottage with those breasts behind her sweater sets. I faced Alexi, and while he ordered another round for our table, I got Niko’s attention.
Instantly, his gaze jerked toward the floor, and that let me know Billie was like a fucking beacon in this place. His eyes caught her right away, widening before facing me.
He mouthed, “What the fuck?” and I had the same thought. I didn’t know if Billie was damn daft or just plain stupid to walk into a place where her DA dad had put away half this man’s family. I looked her dad up after what my buddy Knight had told me about him, and the Marvellis had more than one family member behind bars because of that guy.
I casually excused myself.
“Hurry back, brother.” Alexi waved after I did, grinning and already half drunk. Shit, he might be well on his way to shit-faced since I didn’t know what he’d had before Niko and I arrived, and I only thanked the gods for their gift of alcohol and buffoonery in that department tonight.
In my own dark suit, I nodded at Alexi’s henchman Darrell before walking past, the guy the size of a gorilla. I took the elevator to the floor, and needless to say, it didn’t take me long to find the beauty queen.
Billie stood out like a fucking woodland fairy in this place with her shimmering outfit, and it didn’t help that she captured the eyes of pretty much every guy in the room. She had a flock of dudes around her, the girl all wide-eyed and innocent-like. She was innocent and didn’t belong here.
Currently, Billie and her harem of suitors watched a fire eater, the dudes around her basically shoving drinks at her.
That was until they saw me.
A mere look and I parted the sea, and it took a second for Billie to observe the reason why.
Her gaze grappled on me like a kid with his favorite chocolate bar, the look and this place enough to make me recall why I’d stepped away the other day. The way she looked at me once I’d saved her from her iron and did her hair told me I could have gotten anything I wanted from this girl.
I’d just chosen not to.
It would have been so easy, so damn simple, and I considered it a victory until I saw all that damn debate behind her eyes. She had to think about me, and she probably should. I was the guy I was sure her daddy wouldn’t want her having anything to do with.
Like she’d realized she was staring, she stepped back in her stiletto heels, and like the innocent little thing she was, she caught herself on them.
My hands launched out instantly, grabbing her and pulling her over to me, and I couldn’t be more enraged. I was angry that she was here, yes.
But even more so at the feel of her in my hands.
I hated that I wanted to bathe in all that beautiful red hair of hers, that I wanted to kiss and suck on every lickable surface of her. No matter how dirty. Visions of her made my mouth water and my cock fucking steel inside my pants.
“LJ,” she gasped, panting. She was actually panting. So goddamn needy. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” I actually laughed, the sound literally booming my chest to the point I probably sounded crazed. Jerking her up to me, I growled. “What the fuck are you doing in a titty bar?”
Like a switch went off, she blanched, and though I thought she’d actually slap me, she settl
ed for ripping her arm away. I found myself relieved by this. She shouldn’t want me, and I definitely shouldn’t be wanting her. Dangerous on both our parts. Especially with her being here. Her eyes blazed. “That’s freaking rich. Last I checked, you’re in this same titty bar, and I go wherever the hell I want. I came with friends if you must know, and you’re not my keeper, Lance.”
The hell I wasn’t. In fact, when she decided to do her little dance of voyeurism in this outfit, she basically gave me permission. My jaw worked. “You look like you belong on the street.”
“And you look like an asshole.” She shoved me off of her.
At least, tried.
She was easily only a fraction of my size and basically couldn’t move me at all. She crossed her arms. “You know, I don’t get you. One moment, you’re rushing into my house, saving me from my iron and doing my hair, and the next, you’re manhandling me and pretty much calling me a whore. So which is it, LJ? Am I the damsel or something you’re trying to break?”