Page 17 of Sin City Obsession

The punk—a boy who might barely have been old enough to drink, with light-hued dark skin and features suggestive of mixed ancestry—made a motion like he was puffing himself up. All he succeeded in doing was emphasizing that he didn’t know how to dress, as his pants slipped and his duster dropped off one shoulder to reveal the wife beater beneath. He couldn’t have been more of a cliché if he’d tried. “Isaid—”

“We heard you,” Rocco interrupted, taking a single step forward to tower over the thug. He narrowed his eyes. “But you won’t be intimidating or threatening us out of money. And if this SUV has a single scratch on it when we come back,youwill be the one to pay for that, do you understand?”

The boy hitched up his shoulders. “I ain’t scared o’ you, geezer.”

Em reached around Rocco, took hold of the punk’s nearest arm, and spun him until the boy was bent backwards against the passenger side of his own car. “You need to learn some manners.”

“H-hey!” The boy did his best to wiggle free, but Em’s grip was iron. “Lemme up, asshole! You’re gonna dent my car!”

“You’re the only one touching your car,” Em replied. He shoved the punk up another inch, until the boy’s sneakered toes were scraping the concrete.

“F-fuck, that hurts!”

Rocco shifted his weight but made no effort to approach the pair. “Consider this a lesson,” he said. “Don’t start stupid shit just because the gun in your pants makes you feel big.” He turned toward where Alessa waited, leaning against a sign post. “Leave him, Em.”

The sound of a body hitting pavement and less-than-muted cursing assured Em had done as told, as always.

Alessa’s gaze lingered past Rocco for a beat longer before shifting to him and she straightened. “Letting him off easy?”

Rocco offered her a grin. “That’s up to him.” He found himself suddenly compelled to reach out and curl an arm around her, to hold her against his side as they walked. And the idea that maybe she wouldn’t appreciate that sank like a lead weight in his stomach.

He needed to figure out more than whether or not she would let him into her bed. Hell, if he only asked for sex, he was pretty sure he knew how she’d answer. But it wouldn’t be just sex. Because if all he wanted was to fuck her before any other dick in Vegas could catch her eye, he’d have pushed harder.

Rocco shoved his hands a little deeper into his pockets and kept his glare forward as they approached the corner building containing the business they were searching for. His father had always said one day he would find a woman who grabbed him by the balls and didn’t let go, and that was how he would know.

He remembered how she’d teased him not an hour earlier. How she’d run her palm up his length and curled her fingers half around him despite the stretched fabric of his pants in the way.

He’d never realized his father was a fucking prophet.

Rocco barely noticed Ignazio slip ahead to pull open the glass-paneled door, but he caught himself in time to sweep an arm forward and flash a smile Alessa’s way. “Ladies first.”

She made a show of rolling her eyes before leading the way into the moderately sized establishment.

He let his gaze drop to her ass for a beat before following after her.

The lobby space spanned the width of the building and was decorated in hues of green and black, giving it a pricy industrial look. Definitely in keeping with the company’s name, and implicit logo, GreenLight. There were three people in line, none of them standing patiently and one attempting to one-arm a restless toddler into holding still. Two people worked behind the front desk, one seemingly consumed by something on the computer. And a security guard already eyeballing them sat in another chair, against the far wall, his cheap uniform bulging to accommodate the muscles he was surely proud of beneath.

If Alessa took any of that in, she was subtle about it. From Rocco’s perspective it looked like she might have thrown a glance at the line at best before striding straight up to the desk, without any regard for how her actions would upset the waiting customers.

It was exactly what he would have done.

In fact, he made to follow in her wake when he noticed the bodybuilder-drop-out push to his feet and start forward.

Rocco tilted his head, a silent command for one of his men to intercept, and positioned himself enough that between the three of them Alessa’s path would remain clear. She was going to ruffle some feathers, but that was what they were there to do. So he intended to make sure she succeeded.

The security guard glared out at them from over a formerly broken nose. He had a scar at the corner of his lips from an old gash. The man had obviously seen at least one violent fight, some years before.

But looking tough and being it were not always the same thing, and Rocco didn’t intimidate easy, so he raised his chin to emphasize his superior height. Because he could see in the guard’s eyes they were not going to get along.

Chapter six

One Step Forward…

“Take your bitch andleave.”

Anger flashed through Rocco’s blood. “Watch your fucking mouth,” he said lowly.

“Probably he can’t,” Em said as he folded his arms over his chest. “That attitude might be the only language he knows.”

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