Corrupted Angel

Chapter 5 Episode 5

In other words, he was hoping I would be so he could flex his authority a little. We play this gameoften.

“Great. Tell Felicity I say hi.”

I hang up the phone and head back into the club, consciously trying to relax my jaw. How I am evenrelated to that man is beyond me. He is shameless in his arrogance.

It will be his downfall.

Back inside, I stop next to the wall before heading back to the VIP section to quickly check my emails.With everything happening, it can be easy to forget that I have a lot of responsibilities besides keepingmy father in check. He largely leaves the running of our legitimate businesses to me, claiming that hefinds the work tedious and beneath him. In truth, he just doesn’t have the head for it. If he can’t shootit or f**k it, he’s not interested.

My spine tingles and I glance up from my phone. My gaze connects with the girl I watched danceearlier, and her eyes widen as she realizes she has been caught staring.

I hold her gaze, heat flooding my bones. Her lips are a bold, juicy red. She is heavily made up, likeall of the women in here, but she seems less comfortable in it somehow. Other women would smile atme, flutter their lashes, and try to lure me in to dance with them. She is just still, as though she hopesby not moving, I will not be able to see her.

Any other time, I would love to stalk that prey, to melt away her hesitance until she was putty in myhands. But not now. Now, there is business to attend to. She will have to remain a fantasy and nothingmore.

I turn and climb the stairs for the VIP area, returning to my booth. I will ask Diego to reiterate thedetails of my father’s plan even though I know them already. That way, when the don asks Diegoabout our meeting later, he will corroborate my story.

The men and I talk for a little longer, but even Diego’s attention begins to stray towards the delights ofthe club. I have achieved my objective, however, so I dismiss them for the evening, and I decide thatthe best thing to do would be to go home and do some work. I could do work every hour of every dayand still not get enough done.

Then I look down from the balcony and see her again. It’s the girl in the glimmering dress, but she’snot dancing anymore. She is at the bar, and it looks as though she is arguing with the bartender.

Interesting. I didn’t peg her as the fiery type, but from her irritated gestures it looks as though I wasmistaken.

Perhaps what I need tonight is not more work, but a little distraction. And I know exactly how I amgoing to get it.

I place the drink back on the counter, sliding it away from me.

The bartender looks up from the till. “That’ll be twelve dollars.”

I clear my throat. “Here’s the thing.” I wince. “I just remembered that my friend has my wallet, andshe left. I’m so sorry for being a pain, but would it be okay if I just, you know, gave the drink back toyou?”

Her kohl-lined eyes flick from the drink, which is now about three quarters full, to me. She narrowsher eyes. “That’ll be twelve dollars.”

“Like I said—again, so sorry—but I can’t pay for this drink.”

“So you just expect me to give it to you?” she scoffs.

“Well, no. I’m giving it back.”

“You drank some,” she says in a flat voice. “It’s not like I can just give it to someone else now.”

I want to cry. Why didn’t I think to grab my wallet before Clara left? Better yet, why didn’t I justdecide to leave when she did?

I already know the answer to that. There is a bag of Doritos and a bottle of wine waiting for me athome, sure, but nothing else. Just a big, empty apartment that I don’t even belong in anymore, if I everdid in the first place. The longer I stay here, packed by people on all sides, the less time I have tospend listening to echoes in the vacant space where my life used to be.

“Look, I totally get where you’re coming from,” I tell her. “I wish I didn’t have to be this person, but Ican’t pay for this drink. It’s an unfortunate mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.”

The bartender sticks a hand on her hip and taps the bar top. “That might work in other clubs, but nothere. And frankly, it’s a little pathetic.”

Irritation unfurls in my belly. I take a deep breath and try to remember that she is just doing her job.She could be a little less mean about it, but I shouldn’t take it personally.

“This isn’t a trick,” I say, throwing my hands up in exasperation. “Please believe me.”

“Sure.” She rolls her eyes, then sticks out her lip and flutters her eyelashes. “Please, Ms. Bartender,”she continues in a baby voice. “My friend took my wallet and now I can’t pay for my drink.Whatever will I do?”

I glower at her, hands clenching. For some reason, I now imagine I’m seeing Grant’s blonde skankstanding across the bar from me. Sneering at me. Mocking me.

“You’re getting awfully pissy about a drink that probably cost less than a dollar to make,” I snap.

I am no longer thinking straight. Grant betrayed me, Clara abandoned me, and now this bartender isrefusing to give me a break even though I desperately need one. The world is trying to punch down onme. I’m sick of just turning the other cheek. Time to punch back.

“Pissy?” she snarls. “b***h, have you looked in a mirror recently?”

Okay, now it’s definitely getting personal.

“Just take the drink back,” I groan. “Why do you have to be so difficult?”

“I am so sick of dealing with bitches like you. Just dig a few crumpled dollars from between thosefake t**s and get the f**k out of my bar.”

“They are not fake!” I shout. “So I’m actually going to take that as a compliment, ha!”

A hand glides over my lower back and I freeze as the tall man I saw earlier appears at my side. Heshoves a twenty in front of my nose.

“Stop yelling at the bartender,” he orders. He is so close that his earthy scent invades my senses,much like he is invading my space.

I slap the bill away. “Mind your own business.”

The bartender has gone silent, all traces of aggression washed away by the man’s arrival. Typical. Ibet he is the kind of asshole who hangs around places like this so he can throw his weight and moneyaround at every opportunity. Not today.

The man ignores me and slides the money over the bar top. The bartender snatches it up before I havea chance to say a word.

“Keep the change,” he tells her.

She nods and moves on to serve the next customer, bringing our interaction to an anticlimactic end.

I turn and look up at him. Even in my heels, he is significantly taller than me, so I straighten my backto achieve maximum height.

“I had it covered,” I assert.

His lip tics at the corner, the barest hint of a smile. “Did you?”

I did not, not at all, but since I didn’t get to finish what I started with the bartender, my leftoverannoyance has to go somewhere. This rich asshole fits the bill perfectly. I bet he has had everything in

life handed to him, and he expects women to fall at his feet just by opening his wallet.

“Yes.” I fold my arms. “It was a simple misunderstanding, and I was close to making her see that.”

“What kind of misunderstanding?”

I run a hand through my hair, sighing. “My friend left with some guy and took my wallet. I didn’trealize until I’d already ordered the drink.”

“Your friend left you?” he inquires.

“Yeah.”

“Good.” He begins to lead me away from the bar. “Then you have no excuse not to have a drink withme.”

“Except for the fact that maybe I don’t want to.”

He glances down. “That’s too bad, because the way I see it, you owe me.”

My heart thuds against my ribs. How does he make that sound so delicious? My head fills withvisions of him undressing me, laying me out on a bed of black silk. I blink to flush the thoughts out.

“One drink,” I clarify.

He nods. “One drink.”

Guys this hot are bad news, and after the week I’ve had, I know that I should be making smarterchoices than this. But here I am, walking with him. Doing exactly as I am told. I glance up at him aswe move through the crowd, tracing the long line of his jaw and his full, stern lips. The onlyimperfection is a little crook in his otherwise straight nose, as though it was broken in the past. Itmakes me curious.