He braced one hand on the pool table. His face lowered over hers. He was intimidating. Dominant. Sexy as hell.
Her inner muscles tightened around him.
He growled. No more sexy smile. His face had gone hard and serious. “I wasn’t just saying that for the audience. I was saying it because I fully intended to fuck you at the first opportunity.”
She wet her lips. “Goal achieved.”
His impossibly dark and long lashes flickered. “What in the hell am I supposed to do with you? Other than, of course, kill for you.”
“Keep me,” she whispered. But what she meant was…Love me. Good thing she managed to hold that part back.
“You don’t belong in my world.”
“You don’t belong in the world you’re in, either. You think I don’t see that?” And she held her breath.
His jaw hardened. He began to withdraw.
“Trust has to start somewhere,” she murmured.
He stilled.
“I could believe that you’ve been deliberating misleading me from the word go. That you are part of the Twin Cobras, and you knew who I was all along. That you’re involved in whatever sick game the leaders play. You carry their tat. One of your MC members carried it. Violence surrounds you. Maybe you’re fucking me as twisted part of their savage game. You’ll fuck me, and you’ll kill me.”
“Never.”
She swallowed. “See, I happen to trust that to be the case. That you won’t kill me. That you won’t use me. That you won’t betray me. I think…I think something very bad happened to you a long time ago. I also think that, deep down, you’re just like me. We both want justice.”
“Vengeance. That’s what you want. You want to make them pay for what they did to you. If you just wanted justice, you’d still be sitting at the FBI with Gray.” And he withdrew completely. Only he didn’t go far.
He stood near the edge of the pool table. Cass yanked up his jeans. He had his clothes in place quickly, and she sat up, her legs dangling over the edge of the pool table. Agnes tugged her shirt down, covering herself as much as she could. Her jeans and underwear had been tossed about ten feet away.
He glowered at her. “It’s about my profile, isn’t it? You think you know so much about me because of it.”
“I think…” And this was not a conversation she wanted to have while half-naked. “I think bad things happened to us both. I think someone you loved was hurt, and you went out to get payback.”
He shook his head and turned away. “I am the bad thing that happens to people, sweetness.”
“Not to me.”
He swung back toward her instantly. His hands flew out and curled around her waist. He lifted her off the table. Held her in front of him for just a moment.
“Talk to me,” she said, and the words were a plea. “Let me in.” In your life. In your world. In your heart.
But something started to beep in the bar. An alarm? Her head turned toward the bank of monitors. She could see a motorcycle heading toward the bar.
“Javion is coming back.” Cass had also looked that way. “You need to get dressed. If he sees you like this, then I’ll have to kill him, too.”
A joke. Not a funny one. “He’s your friend.” Agnes slanted a glance Cass’s way. “You would not kill him.” Certainty.
But he smiled. Not the grin that had disarmed her before. Something altogether different. Harder. Colder. With more than a hint of cruelty. “Sweetness, I told you before. I killed my own father. That was the dead truth. So believe me when I say, I sure as hell would not hesitate to kill a friend.”
And her jaw nearly hit the floor.
Chapter Eighteen
“Oh, come on. Thought we were being honest with each other, trusting each other.” His voice held a cruel edge. What was he doing? What did he want? For her to run away? “I’m wicked to the core, sweetheart. You had to suspect the truth. You’re the one who did all the digging on me. That’s when you knew I was your perfect assassin.”
Javion was getting closer. Cass had picked a really piss-poor time for the confession, but it was too late to change things now. She doesn’t love me. She should fear me. I need her to understand that truth. Now. Before…
