His finger is tapping against the side of the glass now, his teeth running over his lower lip repeatedly. Then, without any warning or discernible movement from him, his foot flies up beneath the table, connecting with the edge of my seat, and I jolt back, hard.
The chair tips alarmingly as I struggle to regain my balance, but the momentum carries me backward, and I cry out as I hurtle over and land painfully against the floor, my head bouncing off the concrete.
In an instant, Monroe is on top of me, straddling me, his hand coming around my throat, as I gasp for breath.
“You’re a stuck-up little bitch, aren’t you?” he hisses at me, his mouth inches from my lips. “But don’t worry. I’m gonna train that out of you until you give in.”
His other hand moves over my shoulder as the sneer on his face turns to one of dark promise as I strain to get away from him, but his whole weight is on my chest.
Someone clears their throat.
Nick stops moving, his jaw clenching with frustration at whoever has curtailed his fun.
He twists around. “What is it?” he barks out, and there’s a murmured conversation that I can’t catch.
I let out a little sigh of relief as Nick’s weight lets up a little as I look along the floor toward the outer door.
Two polished shoes stand nearby, more guards surrounding them, but they are shiny and new.
My eyes run up the toned, muscular figure they belong to, coming to rest on two bright blue eyes that make my heart soar in my chest.
Gray fucking Jones.
Chapter 42
Gray
It takes everything I have not to kill Monroe immediately.
Jax is on the floor in front of me, Nick’s body straddling her like she’s his personal property. He likes this kind of thing. I’ve seen it before. Owning women is a kink of his because he could never get one legitimately.
Flynn stands beside me, a coiled spring. One false move and this will all be over very quickly.
“Do nothing,” I whisper at him as the guards stop ahead of us.
He stays where he is, his eyes glued on Jax, and I force myself to look at Nick and smile.
“Hey there, Nick,” I say, injecting a note of cheerfulness into my voice. “It’s been a while.”
Nick doesn’t get up until I speak, and when he does, his hands run over Jax’s body, fisting in the hoodie she’s wearing. As he rises to standing, he yanks her up with him as the chair wobbles unsteadily.
“Fuck,” Nick says, laughing. “Gray Jones.”
I step forward. Nick comes to greet me, hand outstretched, and some of the nerves that I’ve been fighting flutter away.
He’s pleased to see me at least. That’s a good start.
“I haven’t seen you in a long time,” he says, his handshake limp and weak just as I remember it. “Quite the bigshot these days, huh?” he mutters, his beady eyes flicking to Flynn and back to me.
“You too,” I say congenially as Flynn’s shoulders tense in my periphery.
Nick lets go of my hand, a smirk on his lips as he places his own hands in his pockets. He’s the type of man who loves power but had very little of it growing up. He’s not an impressive specimen, always having been smaller and weaker than average. That’s why he surrounds himself with muscle and money.
“You’re looking good,” he says with an amused little smile. “What are you doing with this waste of space?”
Flynn has the good sense to say nothing in response to that as I hesitate. I had hoped there might be a few more pleasantries before we got down to business. Nick has the upper hand, and he knows it. I just have to pray that what I’ve brought with us is enough to get us out of here alive.
“I hate to say it,” I say quietly. “But our paths have crossed at a most inopportune time.”
