Playing with Fire

West threw me an impersonal glance, tsking. “I don’t promise. I told you not to come here. The moment you stepped foot in my realm—you fucking asked for attention, and now you’re going to get the wrong kind of it.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“You’re un-fucking-welcome.”

“Too bad you don’t own this place.” I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and hating the eyes on me. “I’m staying. In fact, I’m going to go top off my drink. So if you’ll excuse me …”

Metaphorically picking up the scraps of my pride, I turned around and began marching to the other side of the floor, knowing Karlie would follow.

Guess I’d gotten my answer. West and I weren’t friends. Not even close.

The crowd parted for me, mesmerized glares following my movements, when I was snatched and lifted in the air from behind.

“You big pain in the ass.”

West scooped me up, fireman-style, hurling me against his shoulder as he dashed up the stairs to the third floor. “Management” as he called it.

“Where are you taking her?” someone in the crowd yelled, laughing.

“Giving her a good spanking, then hurling her out the window.”

Rage pulsated in my bloodstream. Not only was he screwing other people on a weekly basis, but he thought he owned me in some way. Picking me up, ordering me around, making me feel like a reject publicly.

I rained fists on his back and shoulders.

“Let go of me, you asshole.”

He ignored me, climbing up the stairs. It scared me, just how light I was to him. He breezed up, like I was nothing more than a six-pack of beer.

I heard Karlie crying out my name and saw Reign and Easton blocking her way up with polite smiles. It looked way rape-ier than it actually was, and, knowing West and I weren’t going to do much more than fight, I felt inclined to give my best friend a secretive thumbs-up, indicating that I wasn’t going to die in his hands.

“Karlie will call the police,” I said anyway, pulling at his hair now. Lord. I was behaving like a wild animal. At the same time, I didn’t want to be alone with him. I knew I’d yield to temptation. Take whatever he’d offer me.

“Shut up,” he snapped.

“Not until you let me down.”

“No thanks. Enough people have done that in your life.”

“Who the hell are you to judge?”

“The only person to notice your existence.”

“I don’t want you to!”

“You don’t have a fucking choice in the matter, and, unfortunately, neither do I.”

He put me down with my back flat against the wall. He popped what looked like his dislocated elbow back into place with expertise, the sound of bone clicking back into place filling the air. I winced. He acted like it was no big deal.

“There are two ways for you to get out of here. Through the stairs or the window. They depend on how you’re going to cooperate in the next few minutes. So I suggest you answer my questions and keep your sassy comments to someone who appreciates them. Question one—what the hell are you doing here, Tex?”

He bared his teeth like a beast.

I folded my arms over my chest, trying to hide my raw nerves with a smirk. “Enjoyin’ the fight. Pickin’ up a hookup, if I find someone interesting. Why? What do you care? We are nothing to each other.”

“Wrong.” He got in my face. I had a feeling even he had no idea why, exactly, he was so furious with me. “We’re not nothing. You’re my friend, and I told you I don’t want you anywhere near this garbage place.”

“This garbage place is yours.”

“I am garbage. You’re not. We don’t play by the same rules.”

I threw my head back and laughed, hurling my arms in the air for good measure. “You don’t get to dictate the rules for me. My life is my business, not yours. I wanted to be here. And guess what?” I felt vindictive and completely out of control. Adrenaline was pumping in my veins, hard. All I wanted in that moment was to hurt him in the same way he’d hurt me. Beyond repair. Rip his heart out of his chest and watch it bleed in my fist. “I might go and find a hookup tonight. I think it is high time. There are so many people to choose from here. I get why you like it at the Plaza.” I whistled, making a show of looking around me. “It’s a great place to get laid.”

His jaw tensed, his brows pulling together as his eyes narrowed at me.

“If you think you’re going to come into my club and get fucked by anyone who is not me, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Why not? You do it all the time. Whatever happened to your feminist streak?”

“I don’t pick up chicks here.”

“Of course you don’t.” I smiled.