Well, damn right back. “Good to know.” Because I could, or maybe because we were two hundred feet in the air above the desert and completely alone, I kissed him again. Long and slow until the need for air pulled us apart.
“Damn, Virgil.”
“No shit,” he grunted and stood, holding me close as I slid down the length of his hard body.
He kept his hand on the small of my back as I looked out to Glitz, Vegas, and beyond, kind of awed. “What a view.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” he said, his gaze focused on my face rather than the world outside our little glass bubble as we began our descent.
“So you can be charming when you want to be. Good to know.” He was so damn potent I was sure my panties were soaked and would need to come off before we got someplace where we could get naked. Together.
He didn’t respond but I felt him stiffen beside me and when I turned, his gaze was focused on something below, dark and icy. It was like he was in a trance, unable to look away from whatever or whoever had snagged his attention.
“Virgil?” I put a hand on his shoulder and he shrugged me off.
“Right.” Back to the hot and cold routine again, and I was already over that shit. I took a seat on the other side of the car, crossed my legs away from him and watched the desert lit up by neon.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he said when the car came to a stop on the ground and pulled some money out of his pocket for the attendant.
“I gotta go,” he said, either to me or the attendant, maybe both. “Take her up again and I’ll be back. Soon.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
“Fuck that,” I growled and pushed past him.
“I’m outta here.” Virgil might be hot as fuck and a damn good lay but he wasn’t the only man in Nevada to fit that description.
“Maisie, wait.”
“No! I can handle rejection, I’m a big girl. But I won’t put up with this hot and cold shit you’ve got going on. I haven’t known you long and it’s already old.”
He opened his mouth to say something, to justify his actions probably, and I put a hand up to stop it because I didn’t want to hear it. And because it might actually work.
“Have a nice life Virgil.”
I stomped off, proud as hell that I didn’t look back once. When I was far enough away and sure he hadn’t followed—he hadn’t—I texted Charlie for a ride home.
What a waste of a good pair of panties.
Chapter Seventeen
Virgil
I couldn’t fucking believe my eyes when I looked out the glass wall of The Tower and saw him. Brendan fucking Rhymer on Ashby property and that fucker wasn’t alone. Of course he wasn’t, because for all his ruthless reputation and cruelty, Brendan was a fucking pussy. And since he already ruined my night with Maisie, who for some goddamn reason didn’t understand that business always came first, I had no reason to let the fucker be.
He stood with a shit-eating grin on his face, surrounded by his sidekick and bodyguard Poe, who never left his side. If you saw Brendan, you’d see his buzzcut buddy with tattoos covering both hands not far behind. The three strung-out looking girls with him were never the same, probably a few junkies willing to fuck him for a hit or two. Even knowing he was risking death, setting foot not just in Glitz but on Ashby property, the fucker was oblivious to my approach until I was in his face.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Rhymer? Trying to dump your trash on Ashby land?”
His brown gaze lifted and flashed fear for just one second, but it was enough to let me know he was a weak piece of shit.
“Ashby,” he snarled. “I should’ve known Jasper would sic his fuckin’ dog on us. Too bad you didn’t bring backup,” he grinned and opened his leather jacket to show off a five-inch blade.
I barked out a laugh at his attempt to be a tough guy and took a step into his personal space, opening my own jacket to reveal a Glock on my right side and my favorite SigSauer on my left.
“That sounds suspiciously like a threat, and I don’t take too kindly to threats.”
I pulled the Glock from my holster before his bodyguard could get to his and pressed it into his side. “Tell your fuck boy to back off or I’ll kill you right here in front of all these people.”
Brendan shook his head at Poe who dropped the arm reaching for the Glock he kept stuck in the back of his jeans.
“What the fuck do you want Ashby?”
“I’d love to splatter your brains all over the place, but for now I’ll settle for getting this trash off Ashby property. If I see you around again, I’ll take my time ending you.”