SWNOVELS Fear The Reapers: Chapter 14
Fuck.
I didn’t want to come tonight, but when I got the text from Ezra, I knew an appearance was well overdue. I hadn’t been to Hell’s Tavern in over a week and no matter how loyal our men seemed, deep down every one of them was waiting for an opportunity to overthrow their kings. Hell’s Tavern was their playground and the one place our most ‘trusted’ men could rub elbows with me and my brothers.
Power is volatile. One minute you can have a surplus of it and a split second later, it can get swiped out from underneath you. My job was to make sure we sustained ours, by any means necessary. Unfortunately for me, my latest ‘means’ popped up at the worst possible time.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hissed, pulling Melanie away from the watchful eyes surrounding us.
“Oh come on baby, don’t be like that.” She cooed, pressing her body against mine. “We have to keep up appearances of being a happy, newly engaged couple.”
“Enough with this shit.” I said, backing away from her. “You and I both know what we agreed to.”
Her face twitched at my words. Mel hated being told no, only slightly more than she hated being embarrassed. Why she continued to throw herself at me was still a mystery. I shut down her advancements every chance I got and made it a point to avoid touching her, never wanting to confuse her about what our situation was.
“You’ll learn to love me.” She said, trying to grab for my cock through my trousers. “Just stop fucking fighting it.”
“Let’s get some things straight.” I hissed, grasping her jaw as I pushed her away from me. “We will have a loveless marriage. You will keep your fucking hands off of me and in exchange I will turn a blind eye to the lovers you bring into your bed. In your own fucking home, that will be far the fuck away from mine. You will fuck the pool guy, or your tennis instructor, or whoever the fuck else tickles your fancy, Mel. This isn’t a test or a ploy to win your heart. Trust me, I don’t want it. We have an arrangement, nothing more. You show up here again, uninvited, and the truce between our families is off, so I make myself fucking clear?”
“Yes.” She said, visibly swallowing with a stiff nod.
“Great.” I snapped, offering her a toothy grin. “Now get the fuck out of my club before I have security escort you out.”
She turned around on her stiletto heels with a huff and clicked her way back towards the girlfriend she left dancing in the crowd.
Pressing my thumb into my temple, I tried to massage away the headache her high-pitched voice induced. How was I supposed to get married to this woman, when I couldn’t even stand to be around her for more than a few seconds?
Making my way towards our VIP lounge in the back of the club, my mood instantly perked up when I saw my brothers. They were the only reason I was doing this shit with Melanie to begin with. Agreeing to marry her meant that The Diaz Cartel would never touch them or any of our men. If the price was my fucking sanity, so be it.
“Hey asshole, where’ve you been?” Cyrus asked, moving over to make room for me on the blue velvet couch.
“Out.” I responded, relaxing into the plush seat.
They didn’t need to know that I’d spent the last twenty fours digging up everything I could on a girl they knew nothing about.
For the last couple of years, Stevie has been my forbidden fruit. Something I could look at, talk to, hell, even occasionally fantasize about, but something I could never have. She was a good girl, pure and innocent, and I was already in talks to marry a woman I fucking hated.
I should’ve walked out of that coffee shop and never looked back. If I was thinking with my head instead of my dick, I probably would have. But just being around Stevie was intoxicating. She was why I came back almost every night. It definitely wasn’t for the twenty-minute drive or the shit coffee they served.
The careful veneer I always wore around her shattered the minute I saw the bruise on her face last night. I kept her far away from my world for a reason and it pissed me off that even in her own world, someone was hurting her. My world was dangerous, and if people had the slightest cue that she was important to me, her life would be in jeopardy.
Everyone, including my little brothers, assumed Melanie was important to me, but our relationship was all an act. Mel knew I didn’t give a fuck about her, I’d told her from the beginning what this was, she just refused to accept it. The problem with Mel was that she wasn’t used to hearing the word no. Her daddy got her everything she ever wanted and for whatever reason, what she wanted most these days, was me.
As Robert Diaz’s only baby girl left, she’s had a target on her back pretty much since birth. Most people avoided her like the plague. Everyone knew that if you even so much as misplaced a hair on Melanie’s head, The Diaz Cartel would start an all out war to avenge her. She was Robert’s weakness and after twenty-four hours without sleep, apparently Stevie was mine.
She had infiltrated my thoughts so much that I’d swore I’d seen her in the crowd of people dancing earlier. I needed to crash, badly. But staying for an hour or two to appease my little brothers wouldn’t kill me. Keeping up appearances in front of our crews was a non-negotiable. Besides, Stevie was closing at Cafe Au lait tonight and staying longer would give me an excuse to swing by and check in on her later.
As I leaned into my seat, I looked up at my brothers and noticed that their eyes were all pointed in the same direction.
“What are you dickheads looking at?” I asked, my curiosity perking up my senses.
“Our new pet.” Ezra mumbled, with his eyes staring daggers towards the bar.
Shit, I had been so caught up with thoughts of Stevie and finding out what happened; I had completely forgotten about the girl. I wanted nothing to do with her, but who was I to stop my baby brothers from having a little fun and reaping some benefits of our business.
Following their gaze, my eyes froze on the familiar silhouette I dreamt about almost every night. Was I hallucinating again? She was leaning against the bar, looking very fucking real, and pounding back a Hellhound, Jessie’s signature cocktail of vodka, grapefruit juice, and grenadine. By the looks of it, she’d already thrown back at least four and her movements were becoming a little sloppy.
Shooting out of my seat, I reached the bar within five long strides and latched onto her arm without thinking.
“Ouch! What the fuck?” She screamed, pulling her arm away and causing every eye in the room to stare at us.
I gave her a blank stare, hyper aware of the audience surrounding us. My expression was completely void of the emotions that were warring inside of my head. It wasn’t safe for her to be here. But before I could do anything about it, I needed to get the curious eyes off of us.
“My apologies,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “I thought you were someone else. Here, let me buy you a drink.”
She gave me an icy glare as I took the empty seat next to her.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, slowly losing the little control I had left.
I kept my eyes locked on the bartenders as I waited for an answer. We didn’t need anymore attention directed our way.
“Wow.” She mumbled, turning her body back towards the new bartender that still hadn’t made himself scarce.
Jessie obviously hadn’t given him the rundown of who his new bosses were. If she had, he’d know to stay far the fuck away from my conversations. Yet there he stood, like an overeager puppy dying for attention.
Anger boiled beneath my skin as I watched him hand her a fresh glass of liquor that she didn’t fucking need. Stevie placed her hand on his, thanking him for the drink, and the stupid blonde pretty-boy motherfucker actually smiled at her.
“Are you going to answer me?” I asked, painfully gritting my teeth. I needed to get her out of here. The lack of sleep was affecting my control, and I was one wrong move from blowing the fuck up and putting her in even more danger.
“Atlas,” she said cooly, “you can stop pretending. I’ve heard everything there is to know about you and your brothers.”
She used my actual name and the realization of what she must have heard hit me. Fuck. I should have corrected her two years ago when she started calling me DC, but a part of me enjoyed the anonymity of it and I liked our inside joke.
“Let’s go.” I said, readying myself to pull out her chair.
“No,” she hissed under her breath, “I still have my freewill.”
What the fuck was she talking about?
“Jacob,” she called out after downing the rest of her drink in one gulp, “another one pretty please.” She said, flashing him an obnoxious grin.
He was obviously not the smartest tool in the shed. The pretty boy began making her another drink, completely oblivious to the tension mounting between her and I. At least we’d never have to worry about the poor fuck eavesdropping. He was dumber than dirt.
“Jason,” I called out, waving him towards us. “If you serve her another drink,” I hissed, “I will cut off your balls and serve them as olives in your fucking martini. Understand?”
“It’s Jacob.” He mumbled under his breath before finally finding some fucking common sense and moving towards the other end of the bar.
“You know, you’re being a real ass, DC.” Stevie huffed, piercing her eyes at me.
“It’s Atlas.” I spat through gritted teeth as I pulled her closer. “Now what the hell are you talking about?”
“Please don’t act like you’re innocent in all of this.” She said, shaking her head at me, “Let me guess, your brothers made the deal with Malcolm? You had nothing to do with it, right?” She asked, her tone doused in sarcasm.
Malcolm? Why did the name sound so familiar?
Shit. The girl. Malcolm’s girl.
“Get up. Now.” I ordered, pulling her out of her seat.
This was a mistake. I could fix it and get her ass out of here, but she needed to stop drawing attention to us. The surrounding hyenas would forget about her if she didn’t give them anything to remember.
She shook out of my grip and jerked her body away in a flash.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I hissed, latching onto her elbow to stop her retreating footsteps.
“Away from you.” She spat just as the song changed, causing every eye in the room to stare.
FUCK.