Distorted Love (Dark Intentions Duet 1)

I shrug my shoulders. “He came here from his mother’s funeral on Friday. It kind of just happened.”

“So he left here after kissing you, got shit faced, and is now with your cousin Livia. Did I get that right?”

“I’m a shitty person, go on, just say it.”

“You love her, yet you like him. Which you should have damn-well told her.”

“Do you think that would have stopped her?” I ask him, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

He laughs. “No. Nothing stops Livia. That’s why she’ll be the best damn lawyer this town has ever seen.”

He’s right. When she wants something she goes for it. That’s part of the reason I love her. She’s the most determined woman I know, and I adore that quality in her. But I’m also jealous of the way she is with guys.

I get it now, I really do. That high. Do you get that from all the guys? Or was it just Ryken that made me lose my breath and train of thought, so he was the only person I thought about.

“I’m an awful, awful girl.” As I pull the sheet back over my head, Robert laughs.

“Okay awful girl, we won’t do the party, but can we please go out and get some food.”

Nodding my head but not moving, Robert pulls the blanket away from my head. “I’ve heard things about him. I don’t think it’s a smart idea for you to get involved with him anyway.”

Closing my eyes, I can still smell him, that intoxicating scent he left all over me.

“Find someone who isn’t dangerous, Sass. Find someone who isn’t him.”

Opening my eyes, I can see the seriousness in his eyes, feel it in his words.

“If it were only that easy.” Pushing up, I stand, turning to go to my room to change. The clothes I wore from Friday are still on the floor from the lake.

“It is. Ignore him. Maybe say yes to Stiles when he asks you again.”

Stiles is popular, even Robert has a crush on him. He’s gorgeous and smart. But he doesn’t make my heart lose a beat the way Ryken does.

“No more boy talk tonight.” Pulling on my skirt, Robert salutes me then offers me his hand. I pocket my cell, and he takes me out.

But it doesn’t work.

Because the minute I walk into the restaurant with Robert…

He’s there, with her.

Chapter 9

Ryken

Quinn is sitting opposite me, smirking as my father reads out the rules and obligations of the clubs for when I take over. His spiel is strong as he tells me to take charge, to not let anyone fuck me around and to be basically like him.

Ruthless.

Uncaring.

A bastard.

Because that’s who he is.

Do I want to be like him? No.

I want to have a heart. Not be like him and his lifeless heart that doesn’t even fucking beat.

“Eventually you’ll take over what I do as well.”

Quinn’s smirk drops. His forehead creases and his eyes squint together.

“No.”

My father doesn’t like that word. No one uses that word on him. He steps out of the room. I hear the click of a door then wait for him to reappear. Looking over to Quinn, his hands are in fists as they scrunch together hard.

“He didn’t mean it. Anyway, I don’t want it.”

Quinn knows better. He shakes his head telling me no. My father never changes his mind. Before I can say anything else, the door reopens and my father walks in with a girl attached to his side. She has her hands tied together and a look of absolute fear plastered on her face.

“This is my work, this is my merchandise.” He pulls at her cuffs making her yelp. Not looking at her, I try only to look at him, while he waits for me to say something. To fight him on it. I’m too tired. I don’t want to. I buried my mother on Friday. The last thing I want to do is argue about trafficking women.

“Quinn, take her to the basement. Ready for the buyers.” He pushes her forward like she is nothing more than a doll. Quinn catches her as he stands. Waiting as they walk out, I stand from my seat slamming my hands on his desk.

“The clubs, that’s all I signed up for. You keep your dirty shit to yourself and Quinn… keep me the fuck out of it.”

He laughs at me. “You’re already in it. Some of the girls I’ve sold were ones you introduced me to. You remember Rebecca, don’t you?”

Rebecca went missing. She was in the same grade as me at my old school before I moved to come here to live with my father.

“You took her?” I ask him. Shit! He must have done it when he came to offer me the club deal. I took it. It was the perfect opportunity.

“Of course I did, and I’ll take whoever else I want. You’ll soon learn the ways, boy. You’ll soon learn what you have to do to become as rich and powerful as I am. You’ll crave it, son. Others want it. Look at Quinn… if I told him to kill you to have it, he’d do it without blinking. It’s power… power that you can hold in your hands.” He pushes his hand out making a fist then drops it. “I’m going to give you three years. Then you’ll be introduced. By that time you’ll understand the clubs and business in general. Then you’ll learn how a real business operates. Not the cover-ups I’ve developed to mask our trafficking business. That’s the business that will make you a man, give you the power and control you deserve, and you can take your rightful place by my side and eventually head it up.” He takes a seat behind his desk opposite me, flicking his pen on his desk as he waits for me to speak.