Page 44 of Desert King

“No.”

He sighs in frustration. “Wait here for me. Don’t move.” He places a finger against my lips.

“As if I’d go anywhere.” My words please him. One of his men holds up a phone. Anger radiates from my man’s body. It’s palpable. He rips off his mask.

“Who took these.” His voice booms like thunder.

The grand finale lights up the sky and the harsh angles of his face. How could I not know? But he tasted different. Spoke different. The mask turned him to someone different for a while. I guess now I can crush on them both while I’m alone in my bed in the dead of night. He shaved his beard. They all did. Probably just for tonight? For some teenage girl’s birthday. It hits me just how deep and loyal these proud men are.

I silently walk backwards. But not before I watch the video playing from the phone in his hands. It’s him. On the night. The one I stole. He’s chanting and dancing and wearing that cloth…

He’s pissed. An angry god. A king who’s been betrayed. “Who was it? F.O.C.U.S? Roger? Smith? Who the fuck took that!”

“It wasn’t them. We asked.”

“It had to be, No one else was there!” He roars, smashing the phone onto the ground and stomping on it.

I open my clutch. My phone is still safely tucked inside. Tarak turns, his glittering eyes finding me in the shadows. He’s breathing hard.

“Watch her,” he commands one of his soldiers. The rest of them follow him as he charges back into the crowd, no doubt looking for the culprit.

I start walking back to the alley. “Where you going?”

“Um, to pee. Is that allowed?” The man points to one of the stucco buildings.

“It’s that way.”

“Thanks,” I smile. I slowly change directions, noticing he’s checking his phone more than me. I get in the line for the restrooms and wait for more people to get in line behind me. They block his view of me and I carefully inch forward as if I’m cutting the line but instead follow the side wall of the building until I’m back on Main Street.

It’s dark and people are very drunk. No one notices the mouse even dressed as a queen as I stick close to the crowd, blending with them. Being invisible in plain sight. I walk back to Jenny’s and to the safety of my truck. The one I still owe someone for.

I might have escaped Edge tonight but found myself still trapped by Tarak. That man has one hell of a hold on me and he doesn’t even know it.

I hardly drank my beer and my buzz from early has worn off. I rip my mask off, throw it on the seat and start the engine.

I’m home in thirty minutes. Safe. But I’m too wound up to sleep. Too fucked up on all the feelings I’ve worked so hard to quit. I open the door to my outdoor fridge, take out a beer, pop the top and decide to strip.

I’m naked under the stars, beer in hand and waste no time taking the cover to my hot tub off. The soak always helps me sleep.

Sighing, I slip down to my shoulders letting the heat relax me while taking a pull of my cold beer as my body feels too hot.

I close my eyes.

“Damn, mouse.”

I turn so fast, water sloshes over the side. Edge is two feet away looking flawless in a black tux. He wears no mask.

“What? How?”

He holds up a square metal box. “Tracking device. Been on that truck since day one.”

He steps closer. I drop my beer in the grass, using my hands to shield my breasts.

“Already saw them doll. When you stripped. I’d pay more to see you than all the girls at the Triple XXX.” He moves closer.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know. Maybe everything? But I’ll start with this.” He jerks my chin up, swallows my protest with his bruising lips.

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