I fucking hated that I was naked and touching him.
RJ hopped on the bed and jumped. With athud, he landed beside us, and I was in shock with how quickly he drew back his meaty fist and slammed it into Van, right over his spine. Van groaned but jammed his gun hard against my ribs.
“Fuck, ow!” I crumpled at the awful pain from the blow, but Van held me tight against his front, and I didn’t fall. The muzzle was burning hot, too, and I tried to squirm away from the metal, sobbing.
“Back the fuck off unless you want me to blast a hole in his rib cage,” Van snarled. “I could decide it’s all a wash right here and now. Do you want yourboydead at your feet?”
RJ took several steps back, but his jaw was hard, and I could see Van’s death in his eyes.
“Why do you want me?” I asked. Goose bumps raced over my skin and I tried not to take deep breaths because it hurt my ribs.
Van’s arm tightened around my middle. “Someone who contacted me wants you to make them a custom piece of jewelry, and he already paid me a pretty penny to make it happen. Nothing I stole will work for him.” Van’s tone was pissy and irritated, which only served to enrage me beyond the point of being scared. I turned and punched at his arm, trying to get him to let go.
“Aw, boo-hoo, nothing you took that you didn’t work for will make your shady customer happy!” I tried to elbow him, but he dug the gun harder against my side, and I stopped as my knees began to shake from the pain. “They could’ve just gone to the shop and paid!”
Van snorted, and I hated that I could feel his breath on my ear. “Not with the bougie prices you charge. Believe it or not, this is cheaper for the customer.” He slid the gun around to my back and jabbed a new spot. “Behave yourself.”
“You have no idea what I charge for custom pieces. You only worked with the premade jewelry. I have always tried to be reasonable. I have to pay for my materials and time.” Outrage had me struggling again. “This was all over money?”
Van slid his hand low on my belly and I stilled, all at once acutely aware of my nudity. “What isn’t, pretty boy?”
RJ glared and a red stain spread across his cheeks and nose. “Take your fucking hands off him, now.”
“Aw. You always were just two steps behind me, you annoying fuck. I won’t stop touching him, but I’ll do it where you don’t have to see, in deference to what we used to share.” He blew a kiss at RJ. Confusion had me staring between them. How did they know each other? What did they share? Damn it, this was too much first thing in the morning.
Van dragged me out into the living room, then down the stairs, so he must be familiar with the layout of the house—or maybe he’d snooped around before he woke us up. Even though he’d implied he was going to be gross, he shoved me away when we reached the spot where I’d tossed my clothes last night. I dressed while he stared at the stairs to make sure RJ wasn’t following us. A warm glow settled in my chest because he wasscaredof RJ.
My phone was a lump in the back pocket of my pants, and I patted it. I had a second of internal celebration. Hopefully, I could call the cops.
“I can’t find my socks,” I muttered, more just because it was annoying than anything.
“Like I care. Go without them.” He rolled his eyes and grabbed the back of my neck, hauling me in the direction of the door that would take us outside.
“What do you have against RJ?” I asked.
“He’s fun for a hot minute, but it gets old. Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.” He smirked.
“What are you? A con man?”
Van stopped pointing the gun at me but didn’t put it away. I wasn’t sure if me being dressed was an improvement because it meant he was going to try to take me somewhere. I definitely didn’t want to leave with him. No, I would rather die now than after whatever he might decide to do with me later.
He grinned. “I am a world class thief. Now I’m stealing you.” He winked and it was smarmy. God, what had I been thinking last night?
My insides went cold as he skimmed his gaze from my naked feet up to my eyes. “That’s kidnapping.”
Van dragged his hand down my arm and snagged mine. “Not if you want to go. Come on, you want to be with me more than RJ. That lawman is boring as fuck.” He marched toward the door that led to the carport, and I hissed as my feet hit the freezing cement in the utility room. I was already cold, but at least he let me stop to put my boots on. He smiled and grabbed my leather coat, holding it up in a hideous parody of RJ’s gentlemanly behavior. I glared at him while I fed my arms through the sleeves.
When Van took my elbow and yanked me out the door into the frigid snowy morning, it occurred to me once again that I really didn’t want to fucking go anywhere with him. The cold air slapped me awake and blasted a fresh wave of adrenaline through my body.
I tried to twist out of his grasp. For some messed-up reason, in the back of my mind I’d thought he might let me go and tell me it was all a really bad joke, but no, he wanted me to get into his fucking car and go who the hell knew where.
He’d already tried to kill me once.
I wouldn’t survive if I allowed this to happen, I just knew it.
I threw an elbow into Van’s gut and this time it landed. He let out anoomphand swung at me. The butt of the gun connected hard with my jaw, and the flash of the pearl handle in the sunlight peeking through the clouds blinded me. My head spun and I dry heaved. I fell on my ass on the cold cement pad that made up the carport, and he tried to lift me one-handed, but my belly heaved again. I wasn’t able to help him move me at all, even if I’d wanted to do such a thing.
RJ burst out of the door only dressed in gray suit pants, boots, and the leather holster, which reminded me of his cock sinking into my body, and he had a mean-looking black gun in his hands. Van sprinted and slid over the hood of his silver Porsche—a terrible scratching noise caused me to wince—then he fell on the other side as RJ opened fire.
