“Fuck, go,” he says, pulling away from me. “I can’t be near you, Harp, you need to go.”
He’s always the stronger one. The one to put an end to this. I love him for it and I hate him for it.
“It’s a fucked up life, Z.” I place a soft kiss under his stitches. “Thank you.”
I rush out of there and figure I’ll find something at home to drink.
“Harper,” Dom says, drawing my attention from the paperwork in front of me. “Your father wants you.”
I nod and stand to follow him. My dad is sitting at the table and Dom closes the door behind me. “What?” I ask, holding onto the back of one of the leather chairs.
“Sit,” he directs, nodding to the chair.
I do as he says and he slams his hand down on the table. It should make me flinch, but it doesn’t. I refuse to let my emotions show. They’re buried and that’s where they’ll say. “Did I not make myself clear the other night?”
Fuck. He’s got goddamn men everywhere. “You made yourself clear.”
“My daughter will not be in bed with a Shattered Soul, especially Zane Madden. He’s a scumbag criminal and the right hand man of his uncle. I shouldn’t need to tell you this shit. You know it’s not something that can happen. Too much at risk.” He doesn’t take his eyes off me. His cigar is burning away in the ashtray as his hands sit clenched on the table. He’s pissed, but I’m more pissed.
“You talk to me like I’m fucking seventeen years old. I’m twenty-five, a grown ass woman, and in case you forgot, I run this strip club. Don’t treat me like a defenseless, naive girl. We both know that’s long gone. I know the risks, why the hell do you think I walked away from him? It was years ago, a teenage bullshit love story. Romeo and Juliet, and we know how that story ended. I’m not going to take his dagger and do myself in.” I stand up and slam the chair against the table. “Handle your fucking business and stop worrying about what I’m not doing.”
Before I can get out, he grabs my arm and slaps me across the face. Fuck, it hurts. I want to cry, but instead I just hold my hand to where he hit me. I will never show him weakness.
“Remember who you’re talking to, little girl,” he says, staring me down.
There’s nothing to say, I just walk out of the room and back to my office. I’m done with this shit. I pack it up and head home. When I get there I look at my face in the bathroom mirror. It’s gonna be nice and bruised. I blow out a breath and go into the kitchen and pour myself a shot of vodka. One shot leads to four and I sit down on the couch. I start to think of Z. Of all the time we spent together. All the years of complaining about my father and his uncle. It was easy, just two kids leaning on each other. I miss that. I miss the way he made me feel. The true love we felt for each other. The sex, damn, the sex was the best I’ve had. Unfortunately, I have a lot to compare it to. I wasn’t always the one running the strip club. I paid my dues, sleeping with members, making money using my body. I’m not proud, but you do what you gotta do.
I remember one time Z walked in when I was giving head to one of the guys my father owed money to. I was given as payment instead. When he saw it, he beat the guy to within an inch of his life. I was so grateful and so turned on. I wish I could say my father saw it as him protecting me from all the evil, but he didn’t. To him, Zane was interfering with his business. For the first time in years tears run down my face. It hurts me that something so good can be so deadly.
Chapter 3
Zane
I wake up with Daisy tangled around me. It wasn’t her I wanted, but I needed to fuck out my frustration. She was there.
“Come on, sweetheart. You gotta get outta here,” I say, getting out of bed to go shower.
The water pounds on me, releasing my tight muscles, but stinging my face. Kingsley’s guys had to make a point. I didn’t mention to Brooks or Enzo that it was because I punched him. I let them believe it was because of our presence in their joint. It’s getting tense around here, which is never good. Brooks is gonna want Kingsley’s heart on a stake and Kingsley is gonna want Brooks’. Shit is gonna get worse before it gets better. It makes staying away from Harper that much easier and that much harder.
I know the shit her father does to pay off his debts. He uses her like a fucking object. Has her do things that no father should be alright with. The need to protect her outweighs the risk of taking a bullet. She’s the one that pulls away and I get it. I know it’s survival. It’s what we all do. I push her away to protect her. To make the decision of walking away easier for her. It’s better she hates me, because if we gave in to the way we feel...fuck, it would all crumble around us.
I step out of the shower and wrap the towel around my waist. Daisy is still lying in my bed and I’m less than patient now. I kick the bed and she jumps up.
“I said get out.”
“Damn Z, you’re so fucking hot and cold,” she says, grabbing her clothes off my floor.
As I step into a pair of boxers, I look over at her. “You’re a good fuck, Daisy. Don’t confuse it with something more.”
“Such an asshole,” she mumbles.
“Maybe you should remember that,” I reply, pulling a black T-shirt over my head. “If you can’t fuck without feelings, I’ll find someone else.”
She walks over to me, fully dressed and wraps her arms around me. “No, I like knowing your big cock is just mine.”
I laugh and push her off of me. “Don’t kid yourself. My big cock belongs to me and I’ll stick it in anyone I want. It’s not just you, sweetheart. Just like I know you had Reid’s dick down your throat the other night. Don’t pretend this is something else.”
She grabs her purse and storms out of the house. I need to find someone less complicated. She thinks this is gonna turn into something. I have enough complicated, I don’t need fucking to be one of them.