Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

“More often than I’d like. I avoid three of these bullshit dinners every week, but these guys have been persistent. They have to be idiots if they think I’d be stupid enough to drag my company down into their bullshit. I get it though. If my company was failing, I’d be hoping the new kid with too much money to spare would be dumb enough to sign a contract. Their biggest mistake tonight was assuming my father didn't teach me the ropes … fucking idiots.”

I laugh as I watch him. I love seeing him like this, absolutely dominating this world. He stepped right into his father's shoes, un-did all his dodgy deals, and made his company soar even higher. There’s simply nobody like him, and I’m so damn lucky that I get to be the girl crawling into his bed at night. I mean, it also helps that he wears these suits that have all my bits screaming in desperation.

Colton grabs hold of his tie and pulls it until it’s loose around his neck. He hooks it over his head and undoes his top button, all while saying something more about the dinner we just suffered through, but in all honesty, I’m stuck on the tie. I wonder how he feels about holding onto that for tonight?

“Jade?” he says, tightening his arm around my shoulder and stealing my attention. “Where’d you go? You disappeared for a second there.”

My cheeks flush for the briefest moment before I remember who I'm talking to. There’s no need to be shy about this. If anything, he’ll be just as down for it as I am. “Well,” I tell him. “I was just thinking about all the things you could do with that tie.”

His brow arches and his eyes darken, telling me that he’s more than down. “Oh, yeah?” he murmurs, leaning into me and brushing his lips over the sensitive skin on my neck before working them up and gently biting my ear lobe. “What’d you have in mind?”

Holy hell.

“Trust me,” I whisper, squeezing his hand as my panties begin to soak. “There’s not enough time in a night for all the things I have in mind.”

Colton’s lips twist into a cocky smirk, and I can’t help but love it. “Anything you want, Jade,” he says with fire burning in his eyes. “But first, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

Both my brows raise in curiosity. “Like what?”

“Like something serious, something that I’m not about to bring up in a fucking dirty parking lot outside a shitty restaurant. I’ll tell you when we get home.”

“Come on,” I groan, unhooking his arm from my shoulder just so I can glare at him better. “You realize that the whole drive home is going to kill me, right? I can’t handle that kind of suspense.”

He grins, his eyes sparkling with laughter. “I know.”

I roll my eyes. “You suck.”

He laughs a little more. “I know that too,” he tells me. “But trust me, I know you, Jade, and you’re going to want to put this conversation off for as long as you can.”

I groan. “This better not be about the whole paying for college thing again.”

“It’s not.”

My brows furrow. “Then what the hell could it be about? Is it bad?”

Colton shakes his head, but the amusement in his eyes is shining brighter than the sun. “I don’t think it’s bad at all,” he murmurs, his voice dropping lower as a grin tears wide across his face. “But you will.”

“Fuck, you know I hate you right now,” I tell him, resisting having a full-blown tantrum as we finally reach his car. “I’m going to get it out of you.”

Colton scoffs as he digs into his suit pocket and pulls out his keys. I walk around to the passenger side as he looks over the top of his car at me, making his way to the driver’s door. “I really, really want to watch you try.”

I shake my head, way too amused for my own good. I press the fancy little thing that opens the sleek suicide door, and just before I go to get in, I find myself glancing back up at Colton. His eyes are still on mine, so warm and loving, but in the blink of an eye, his face drops, and horror takes over him.

“JADE,” he yells, but it’s too late. Hands grab at me, and I scream out as I’m tugged back into the darkness of the parking lot. An arm is curled around my head, blocking my vision and sending my world into complete darkness.

Panic soars through me, and I try to pull myself free, but the fingers digging deep into my skin are too tight, too painful. “COLTON,” I scream as I’m tossed around. “COLTON.”

I tug and try to find purchase on the ground, digging my heels in and desperately trying to get free, searching around, but it’s too dark. Disorientation rumbles through me. I don't know where I am, what direction they're dragging me in. How do I get back? How do I even fight?