Rescue Me

Chapter 9.Golden Eyes, Dark Secret.

I wasn't expecting her. Not like this

California air was always heavy with salt and secrets, but tonight, it stung like fire since I stepped into Club Delco, the kind of place where sins are currency and desire is the only language spoken.

Then, I saw her.

Grace Lincoln.

And everything feels stopped.

She leaned against the far wall of the lounge like she belonged to the shadows.

Her body was a contradiction carved in ink, guns and daggers twisted into roses and lace, a bleeding heart over her ribs wrapped in a woman's name. Not mine. Not yet.

My pulse hammered. I couldn't stop staring.

Grace was a walking contradiction of violence and softness, of something almost feminine layered over masculine brutality.

My thoughts spiraled. Did she get the brutal ink first, before she figured herself out? Or did she start soft, then learn to survive?

God, I wanted to know. I needed to know.

I’d been too caught up tracing the tattoos with my eyes even to register her face. But then she lifted her gaze.

And f**k.

Golden caramel eyes. Not warm. Not kind. But piercing.

Fire trapped in amber. My lungs forgot how to work. Everyone else seemed immune to her, like she was just another name on a list of conquests. But not me. I wanted to grab each man in the room and shake her. Because how the f**k were they breathing normally when I was drowning in the space between her glances?

She wasn’t hot. She wasn’t pretty. She wasn’t beautiful. She was gorgeous in the most dangerous way. And she hadn’t even spoken yet.

I’d tasted almost every flavor of lust this world had to offer, especially in my more reckless days. But this wasn’t lust. Grace was gravity, and I’d been floating my whole life, waiting to fall.

And now I had the chance.

To touch the sun.

To burn alive.

I felt heat gather low in my gut, then freeze cold at the thought that she might not choose me. That someone else might get those eyes. That mouth. That body.

And then I imagined wrapping my fingers around her throat—that throat—and watching those eyes roll back.

"All right, let’s get the boring but necessary s**t over with," Grace said.

Her voice slid through me like silk soaked in whiskey—smooth, dark, just rough enough to scratch.

She looked around the room, those expressive brows raised slightly in warning. "This is a gangbang, not an orgy. You wanna f**k each other, get your room."

I almost laughed. Almost. Covered my grin with the back of my hand.

God, she was sharp. Just like Camilla warned me: gorgeous, dominant, no-bullshit.

"Safewords are green, yellow, red. If you don’t know what that means, you don’t belong here."

A pause.

Then her voice dropped, serious now.

"Club rules demand recent STI tests. If you’ve gone bare with anyone since your last test, even oral, get the f**k out. This is a bareback scene. I don’t care how good your d**k is, I ain’t risking shit."

A few men shuffled out, heads down.

She nodded once, then continued.

"What’s on the menu tonight: oral, anal, rimming, fingering, spanking. I like it rough, so don’t hold back. Double penetration is cool, but if your d**k looks like a fuckin' monster, stay in your pants."

The crowd laughed. My chest tightened. I’d never DP'd before, not really. But with her? I was already halfway there in my head.

"No breath play or choking—except gagging on your c**k or fingers, that’s fine. No marks, no fisting, no toys, and do not kiss me. I see your lips on mine, I’ll break your jaw. Spit’s fine."

My stomach clenched. One fantasy shattered. Ten more ignited.

"Only fluids are allowed to come and spit. Anyone has trouble with that, door's still open."

Silence.

"Final warning: violate any rule, mine or Club Delco’s, and you’re out. Enrico at the door's got no patience. And I got even less."

She crossed her arms, sexy flexing. Power coiled under her skin like she was barely holding it back.

And I knew I’d never wanted anyone the way I wanted Grace Lincoln.

I wanted to ruin her. And I wanted her to ruin me right back.

But I didn’t know yet: Grace had teeth behind that smile.

And I was already bleeding.