Lie (Betrothed 8)

Balto turned back to me, slightly impressed. “Is that her?”

I nodded.

He grabbed his glass and finished it off. “I like her.”

Balto took off, and then it was just Tess and me. But I was more distracted by the magnetic brunette who’d stolen everyone’s attention inside the bar. She didn’t pay for a single drink because rounds were constantly purchased by her admirers. And she was so free, moving with a self-assurance I’d never seen on a woman before. She wasn’t conceited about her appearance, and she didn’t have an inflated ego either. It was hard to describe. She was just confident, plain and simple. She collected a few phone numbers throughout the evening and stuffed them down the front of her top.

She was owning the night.

It’d been about four weeks since the last time I’d seen her. I’d dropped her off at her apartment, and I didn’t think about her again. She was just an obnoxious memory I chose not to dwell on. Never had I ever had a prisoner who was so much work.

It would be easy for me to slip out of the bar without her even noticing I was there. We didn’t have anything to talk about anyway, and I didn’t exactly look forward to a conversation about the past. But I found her so interesting, I couldn’t stop staring.

Tess noticed I was distracted. “Do you want to get out of here?”

My eyes stayed on Catalina. “Yeah. I just need to talk to someone first.” I got out of the chair and walked across the bar until I reached her. She was still surrounded by her girls, talking to a handsome guy, a drink in her hand and her cheeks flushed because of the booze in her system. “Call me.” She handed her drink to a friend and pulled out a permanent marker. “Are you left-handed or right-handed?”

The guy held up his right hand.

Catalina wrote her digits in big numbers across his palm. “That way, you’ll think of me next time…you know.” She winked.

He smiled before he turned away. “Oh, I definitely will.”

She gave a playful wave before she took her drink back from her friend. This woman was the winner of the room, owned every guy in sight so there was no one left for anyone else. It wasn’t just her dark hair, tanned skin, and tight body; it was this infectious spirit that filled the bar with so much energy.

I almost walked away, but now I was more intrigued than before. I walked up to her and stared.

She sipped her drink as she stared at me, taking a few seconds to process my features until she finally recognized me. “Oh my god, the Skull King?”

And just like that, I remembered why I hated this woman.

“What are you doing here?” She broke apart from her group and came closer to me, not nearly as afraid as she should have been, considering I’d kidnapped her four weeks ago. Since we were in public, she probably assumed she was invincible.

No one was invincible…from me. “It’s a bar. I’m doing the same thing you are.” I glanced at the guy she’d just given a permanent hard-on to. “Just not quite as well.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You have better game than I do.”

She gave me a suspicious look and tipped her glass to take another drink. “I thought you said I would never see you again.”

“That was the plan. But, you know, shit happens.”

“This shit could’ve been avoided if you’d just walked out.” She wasn’t the fun, outgoing woman I’d been watching all night. Her memory must have caught up with her, reminded her that I took away her freedom and threatened to kill her. Now her guard was up, and so was her attitude. She looked nothing like she had in my cage, when her skin was caked in my blood and her dress was ruined.

“My curiosity got the best of me.”

“And what are you so curious about?” She’d been drinking all night, but she didn’t slur her words or slow down her firing ammo. She was witty and quick, far more intelligent than the average person. She seemed to have inherited the smart gene, and Damien didn’t.

“Why didn’t you tell him?” The question was another reason I hadn’t left. I could’ve taken Tess home and I would be fucking her right now, but I was too curious about Catalina’s silence. She could’ve told Damien what I did, but she chose to keep her secret.

Once the question was in the air, she lowered her glass and turned stern. “What makes you think I didn’t?”

“Because one of us would be dead right now.” When I’d confronted him at his office and collected my money, he was angry about my part in Liam’s plan, but he didn’t mention his sister at all. He was impulsive and emotional, so if he’d known that I threw his sister in a cage and intended to kill her, that night would’ve gone very differently.