Page 41 of Beautiful Ruins
“Asked her out yet, or still too scared she’ll eat you alive?” I said, lifting a brow as I slipped the key into the lock and twisted.
He shook his head, though I couldn’t see his face, just the set of his shoulders, the way they dipped with uncertainty. “Don’t think she likes me all that much, VP,” he said, resignation hanging in his tone. “Not her type . . . apparently.” He mumbled the last word, more to himself than to me.
I closed the space between us in a few strides and slapped him on the back hard enough to make him stagger a step. Sometimes a forceful nudge was all it took to jar someone out of their own head. Though, it would have taken a lot more to knock some sense into me at that moment.
“Women don’t know what they want most of the time,” I said, attempting to be the voice of experience rather than the sceptic I was. Sadie had destroyed that hopeful part of me when she’d taken off all those years ago. And now she was back just to twist the blade she’d left behind, smiling while she did it. “Tell her you’ll ruin her for anyone else. One date. That’s all it’ll take.”
Scout coughed, but it sounded more like choking as his eyes bugged out of his head. Jesus, he was acting as though I’d just kicked a puppy. How the hell someone like him was making it in our line of work was beyond me.
“Nah, VP,” he said, frowning. “I can’t say that.” His tone held a serious edge. “She’ll probably slap me.”
And he was probably right. It seemed Sadie and Jasmine had one thing in common—keeping us blokes guessing.
“Well,” I said, scrubbing a hand over his blond head. “Can’t hurt to ask.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right, VP.” He was taking my words as gospel, but I had no right teaching him anything, especially when it came to women.
Sure, I’d had my fair share of hookups, one-night stands, and temporary . . . I wouldn’t even call them relationships. But as far as the heart went, mine had shrivelled up and turned black a long time ago.
Scout pushed through the doorway to the bar room, and Islipped past him. Heat, sweat, and poor decisions hung thick in the air, choking on the same smoke that clouded the bar.
My focus instinctively zeroed in on Sadie seated at the far end. The sight of her was a goddamn ambush—tight black dress, legs for miles, and a smile that should’ve come with a trigger warning. Jasmine’s doing, no doubt.
A few of the boys turned to look. Couldn’t blame them. She looked like trouble served on a silver fucking platter.
My hands twitched at my sides. I’d never wanted to punish someone as much as I did her in that moment. There she was, in the one place she knew she shouldn’t be. The words I wanted to hammer into her head collided with each other, except all they formed was a string of incoherent bullshit.
And then there was Snake, the slimy bastard, already wrapping himself around her like he was staking his claim. He was a buzzard who had smelled fresh meat, and Sadie was playing along with it. Stupid, frustrating, and as beautiful as the day she cut me in half and snatched my heart from my bleeding chest. Maybe this time, she’d finish the job. Just hold the useless organ up and watch it stop beating in her hands.
My mind raced as I shoved through the crowd, bodies knocking into me, and liquor coating the already-sticky floor. My brain was short-circuiting—rage, panic, and need all colliding like firecrackers in my head. I didn’t have a plan. Just instinct. All I knew was I had to do something drastic, and quickly, to prove to Snake that Sadie wasn’t to be touched.
She was a magnet for trouble, and I was already living on borrowed fucking time. So, I did the only thing that might have kept Snake the hell away from her.
Sadie’s eyes—wide and dancing under the dim bar lights—locked on mine the moment I came into view, but she didn’t even get a word out before my hand was on the back of her neck and my mouth crashed into hers. I was trying to prove apoint, but I forgot the entire fucking point, forgot where we even were, the second I tasted her.
Fuck. Me.
At first, she stiffened. Then she melted into me, slow and reluctant, like the fight had finally drained out of her. A small whimper vibrated against my mouth as she fisted the front of my shirt like a lifeline, pulling me even closer. For a brief, blinding moment, it was only the two of us who existed. Nothing else mattered or ever would.
Until someone cleared their throat. The noise in the room dulled like the jukebox being yanked from the wall.
I forced myself to pull away, leaving my hand wrapped around the back of her neck. She was the only thing keeping me steady at that point. “Sorry, baby,” I said, pressing another quick kiss to her lips for good measure. “Got held up. You ready to get out of here?” I lifted a hand to grab Jasmine’s attention, to tell her I was taking Sadie home. Except I didn’t need to worry—her attention was already firmly on us.
As was Snake’s. The dickhead just stood there with his mouth hanging open. The smugness I’d so come to hate from him vanished as he stared like a lost cause.
I narrowed my eyes and stepped in front of Sadie, blocking his view of her. “The next time you touch what’s mine, I’ll cut those fucking hands off your body. We clear?” I wasn’t kidding around.
He scoffed and reared back as though I’d just swung a fist his way. “Yours? You’re joking, right? Since when? You said?—”
“Said what?” My fists clenched as I stepped up to him, chest to chest, daring to him to push me further. “I don’t have to explain shit to you, Snake. So, if you’ll excuse us, I’ve got a hell of a lot to make up for.” I dragged Sadie against my side, arm hooked tight around her shoulders—like I was staking a fuckingflag.
Sadie tucked herself under my arm without protest, one hand sliding up my chest. She was where I’d always wanted her, only this was make-believe. People were still staring, wide-eyed, half in awe, half in shock. Their VP had just marked his territory. To everyone in that room, Sadie was my old lady. I hated the term, but it wasn’t a tradition I would have died on a hill fighting against.
This was going to be interesting. Last thing I needed was to draw more attention for the wrong reasons. And I’d just put a giant flashing red flag on both our backs.
But there was no going back. I’d claimed her in front of my entire crew.
Sadie let me pull her to her feet, her hand slipping into mine. She belonged there, I knew that much. It was the same as all those times when she’d drag me to witness one of her horrendous dance routines as a kid.
