Heat (The Stark Affair Book 1) (4 page)

He
takes another puff, never breaking eye contact with me.

“With
what money?”

“I
would persuade investors with my intelligence.”

Jasper
laughs. “Where are you going to find backing like you have now?”

“I
wouldn’t need nearly that much. I could turn one hundred dollars into a million
in a year.”

“One
hundred... one million. That’s poor folk talk. You wouldn’t be able to afford
to come here to the Gold Club. No more private jet. No more bouncy,
boppy
club. You’d lose your father’s mansion.”

I
chuckle and glance over at the sandy beach. A bald man with a comb-over is
trying to kiss his blonde. She puts her hand under his shirt.

“Jasper,
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I hate the Gold Club with a burning
passion. I don’t give a fuck about the jet. I’m sick of my club and I detest
the mansion. You can keep all of it.”

“The
mansion is your father’s legacy to you.”

“I
have my own house.”

“That
one million-dollar shithole where you live? That’s just a bachelor pad for your
girls.”

“It’s
all I ever need. I’ll keep the Bentley, though. I bought that with my own
money.”

“Your
own money? You don’t have any money of your own.”

He
puts his cigar in his mouth and looks at me. I just smile at him, reminding
myself of the computer program I wrote that steals millions from him every
night while he sleeps.

“I
could never allow you to go, Colton. You’re the face of Stark Worldwide. Your
father looked like Cary Grant, you look like David Gandy. You protect the
company’s image.”

I knock
back my second Dos
Lunas
and get up.

“Jasper,
I’ve had enough of this. I’m heading over to Heat,” I say.

“All
right, fine.
But Colton, come to the office this Monday at
ten.
I want you to meet my associate.”

Monday
at ten is when I meet with The Talon Group.

“Ooh,
you know, Monday morning doesn’t work for me. How’s the afternoon? Say two?”

Jasper
glares at me.

“Monday
morning at ten,” he says.

I
lean down, emboldened by tequila.
Maybe a little too close.
I smell bad cologne mixed with cigar smoke.

“Jasper,
I said no. I’m busy. Make it two.”

We
hold a mini-staring contest. I win when he smiles.

“You
are your father’s son, that’s for sure.
Fine, Colton.
Two it is. And think about what I’m saying to you.”

I
walk back through the Gold Club and out the door. I feel Hector’s eyes burning
a hole through the back of my shirt.

* *
*

As I
drive down to
SoBe
, I consider Jasper’s words.

Does
he know I’ve been stealing from him for years? Has he figured it out?

Or
has he figured out that I’m using the money to fund The Talon Group?

No,
there’s no way. I’ve covered my tracks too well. The algorithmic program that
steals the money is foolproof. And I’ve made damned sure none of it can be
traced to The Talon Group.

I
feel a sharp sudden pain in my stomach.

Unless
some new whiz kid from somewhere has cracked it.

Whatever.

I
already made the decision earlier. First I’m going to finalize plans with The Talon
Group, making sure they have enough money for their mission. Then I’ll plug in
the “Self-Detonation” USB drive and disappear before the Feds arrive at Jasper’s
mansion.

Hope
he enjoys prison.

I turn
into the alley behind Heat and into my reserved parking spot, hidden from view
of the street.

Gotta
hand it to Viktor, my
promoter. The club is alive tonight. The girls are even hotter than usual.

My
VIP table is waiting upstairs. Should be, seeing as I own the place.

I
grab another Dos
Lunas
from Enrique at the bar before
heading up the glittery stairs, admiring tonight’s selection along the way.
They all smile at me with
please fuck me
eyes.

The
upper deck is jammed tonight too.
Plenty of champagne
flowing.
I recognize a famous New York fashion designer with an
entourage of beauties. He’s wearing a maroon suit with sequins. Odd. Didn’t
think he liked girls. Whatever.

“Colton!”
says a well-known rapper as he grabs me from the side and slaps my back. He’s
decked out in a bowler hat, sunglasses,
a
black shirt
with gold chains over his naked chest and white shiny pants with white shoes.

His
entourage is the best I’ve seen tonight. Three black girls and three Latina
girls. All stunning.

“Ladies,
this is the famous Colton Stark. Colton Stark, these are the ladies.”

“Hello,
ladies,” I say, catching the eye of one of the Latinas in a glittery yellow
dress that wraps her curves tightly. I’m suddenly jealous of it.

She
flashes her big eyes at me with a smile and tilts her head, twirling her hair.
I feel a jolt spring from the back of my balls into my cock.

The
rapper and I shoot the shit for a few minutes. I put back two more Dos
Lunas
, temporarily forgetting about Jasper and
self-detonation.

Soon
I’m next to the stunning Latina. Her back is to the wall. I turn so I’m facing
her, about three inches away. I can smell her apple-
tini
on her breath.

“¿Como se llama
usted
?
” I
say.

“Veronica,”
she says with a giggle.

“
Mmm
..
.
mi
nombre
favorito
.”
I turn to my rapper friend as I take her hand and lead her. “Come, sit at my
table.”

The
entire group follows me over to my personal kingdom, a vast lounge area built
directly into the ceiling of the club. From here, I can see everything.

I
sit in the corner of the sofa looking down at the dance floor, pulling Veronica
down with me. She snuggles into me. I like a girl who doesn’t waste time.

Javier
comes by to take drink orders. He knows not to charge anybody who sits in my
private area.

I
turn to Veronica. God, she is truly stunning.
Flawless, high
cheekbones.
Big, brown eyes. She tilts her head again and smiles while
twirling her hair.

“¿De
donde
eres
?
” I say.

“Puerto
Rico,” she says.

“
Perfecto.
” I move in to kiss her. She
doesn’t resist.

That
was easy.

It
usually is.

* *
*

I
pull my cock out of Veronica’s ass. Then I ram it in again.

“
Ay!
Sí
,
sí
,
sí
!
” she says as she
holds her butt cheeks wide for me. Sounds like a fucking porn star.

“Okay,
chill babe,” I say. “I think you’re overdoing it a bit.”

“¿Como?”

“Nada.
”

Whatever.

I
keep pummeling her ass. She keeps doing the X-rated thing.

I
swear she’s practicing for her audition. A ton of porn companies now shoot in
Florida due to all the new regulations in California.

“Fuck
me heart!” she says.

I
chuckle.

“In
English, it’s fuck me
hard
,” I say.

“Fuck...
me... heart... “

“No,
not heart. Hard. Say it. Hard.”

“Hart!”

“
Harddddd
!”

“Hard!”

I
look down at what would usually be the most perfect sight in the world... my
nine inches moving in and out of her ass.

So
why am I so bored?

My
mind wanders to Adriana, the only girl I ever actually fell for. When we had
sex, it was real. I almost forget what that was like.

This...
whatever this is... is gratifying, sure. But I’m not even sure if I’m really
here.

I
feel myself losing steam.

Shit.

As
if she senses it, Veronica pulls her ass off my cock and turns around. She
whips the condom off and starts the suction.

Gotta
admit, she’s good. Hell
yeah.

That
gets me back.

Oh God yes!

I
launch in her mouth.

Goddamn.

She
seems to enjoy every moment of my ejaculation, keeping every last drop in her
mouth and down her throat without so much as a whimper.

Then
she smiles up at me with a curved tongue, a pool of white in its center around
her tongue stud.

Hot.
Very hot.

She
smiles and swallows. Then she moves up and kisses me.

We
fall back on my bed in the master suite. We’re in my private house on
DiLido
Island, not my father’s overdone Stark Mansion that
I maintain for galas and events but never visit.

Don’t
get me wrong. My little house is spectacular. All glass and sharp angles. Yacht
docked outside.

Elegant
but understated.

I
like it that way.

But
as I lie here, I suddenly feel horribly alone. I look over at Veronica. Her big
brown eyes are hypnotizing. She is a perfect specimen of the female of the
human species.

I
used to enjoy this sex-studded, playboy lifestyle, but when I turned
thirty last
year it began to lose its luster. That’s when I
founded The Talon Group and began my little army’s march to ‘world domination.’
My legacy to the world.
Ha.

God,
I can’t wait for the next meeting. It’s the only thing that I look forward to
anymore.

Veronica
snuggles into me. Whatever. I hold her tight and go to sleep.

* *
*

What is that ringing?

I
open one eye.

Ow
!
That hurts.

Shit,
I need to cool it with the Dos
Lunas
.

The
October morning sunshine beams through my second-floor bedroom window at a
slightly different angle than in mid-summer. Funny, I didn’t notice that last
year.

My
phone is ringing. I manage to find it from the nightstand and hit the big green
icon without looking at the number.

“Hello,”
I say.

“It’s
Beacon,” says the voice.

I
sit up.

Shit.

I
hate this. Beacon is Jasper’s informant. Not sure who this person really is
because he or she uses a voice-encryption device that makes him or her sound
like a robot from a 1970s sci-fi movie.

“Yep,”
I say.

“Be
on the lookout. Metro is putting someone on you.”

I
look out the window at the Miami skyline, an orange reflection of the sun
glittering in a tall building at me.

“On
me?” I say. “Why me?”

“Good
question.”

“Who
am I looking for?”

“Don’t
know. That’s all I have. Just be aware and watch for it, that’s all.”

The
line goes dead.

I
put the phone down.

In
the harsh light of day, I realize how much I hate my life.

I
look down at my yacht, pondering my strange existence. I could hop in my car
and grab the USB flash drive this morning from its hiding spot in Key Largo. Then
be in Cuba by dinnertime.

No, Colton, not yet.
Finish your work with The Talon Group.

But
what was all that with Jasper last night? Has he figured out that I’ve been
funneling money from him for years?

I
look over at Veronica. Out cold, but breathing.

I
fire up my secure laptop, the one nobody knows I have. Programmed it myself.

It’s
gone through various incarnations over the past ten years. Started out as a
modified Dell in my dorm room at MIT.

It
all sprang from one question I asked myself... “Can I steal money from my dad
without his finding out about it?”

So I
wrote a simple program. It was a computer-cleaning
program
which
everybody was all hyped about at the time. On Christmas break, I
installed it on my dad’s computer at his office.