Before I can even take in the details, he swallows the room, demanding attention. Demanding respect.
He wears a fitted, charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt underneath and a silky gray tie. His hair is thick and wavy, pushed aside with a careless ease. His dark eyes burn like coals, seeming to cut through any and all bullshit. A scar on his cheek adds even more intensity to his face. The suit he wears is the perfect compliment to his body, exaggerating the wide spread of his shoulders and the taper of his powerful back to his waist. God, I’ve interviewed a lot of famous athletes and dealt with a lot of people, but I’ve never seen someone so completely perfect in person.
Perfect? No. He’s not perfect. Not on the inside, at least. I can sense something about him, a darkness. There’s a devil inside this man and it’s just barely below the surface. It’s in the way he moves and the way the men in the room react to him. So why does it feel like someone just shocked me? Why is my chest getting so hot? He’s clearly dangerous, maybe the most dangerous person I’ve ever seen. My brain is screaming for me to run, but my feet aren’t going anywhere.
I try to tell myself I’m staying for the story, and not for the man in the charcoal suit.
3
Vincent
I move closer to Ronnie until I’m right in his face. I don’t particularly enjoy being a prick and making threats, but I also don’t fuckin’ like when people make my job complicated.
“Let me make this crystal,” I say slowly. “You stick to the plan, and you don’t get hurt. You don’t? Well…” I shrug, cracking my knuckles. “I just got a new pair of bolt cutters last week. I bet they could snip those long fingers off pretty easy.”
Ronnie pales, licking his lips. It’s a look I’ve seen before. No one really wants to have to be dealing with me, but they’re all big fuckin’ boys who can make their own decisions. Professional athletes are harder to break than the low-lifes I used to deal with when I was still making a name for myself, but they break just the same.
Ronnie’s shoulders slump and he nods his head slowly. “If I do this one game, I’m done?”
I pat him on his shoulder pads. “Let’s just focus on one game at a time. We can talk about interest later.”
His face gets even whiter, but I can see in his eyes that I’ve got him now. Then I hear a stifled cough outside the room. I’m at the door before the others have even had time to react. I yank it open, heart thumping in my chest. If anyone heard any of that and repeated it to the wrong ears? We’d be royally fucked. I slide my hand to the .45 holstered at my hip, stepping into the hallway.
I see a wide-eyed woman backing away slowly. Her chest is heaving and she looks like she’s trying to speak, but no sound is coming out. I lunge for her, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her back in the room. I press her against the wall, locking my eyes on hers.
“Everybody out,” I say, still not looking away from her. My voice is Arctic.
“Wait. What if she heard something?” asks Ronnie.
“You don’t ask fuckin’ questions. Go out there and do what you’re told. I’ll handle this.”
I signal for Jimmy to clear the room. The door closes behind them and the sound of her heavy breaths are suddenly deafening.
It’s just me and the girl. My blood is boiling. I slam a fist into the wall beside her face and she cowers. I get my first real look at her. She’s knock-out beautiful with a face that’s all big-doe like eyes and perfect kiss me lips. Just looking at her hardens my cock, but that’s a dangerous line of thought. She just overheard business, and a dangerous amount of it. I should put a bullet in her and call the cleaners, but God damn. I want to squeeze that fat ass and hear her beg for my cock first.
I can be a real asshole, but even I wouldn’t fuck a girl and then have her killed. I pace restlessly, watching her carefully. I can usually read women like books. She looks scared, but there’s something else behind it. Defiance? Anger? Lust? Fuck. I need to stop trying to figure her out. In my world, the only way to survive is to be careful. And rule one of being careful? If someone has dirt on you, they get shut up.
I clench my fists, moving closer to her until I can smell her scent. It rises up from beneath her perfume, raw and primal. I feel like an animal, driven nearly wild by the sight and smell of her. This girl is going to be trouble for me. Big trouble.
4
Aubriella
I’ve never been more terrified in my life. I’m going to die. This is how I’m going to fucking die. I think I’m hyperventilating. My chest is rising and falling so fast and my heart is pounding so hard I think it might burst.