Secret Love (Love Stings Series Book 2) (10 page)

My eyes open, and I don’t know where the fuck I am. It takes a minute to realize I’m on my couch, alone. Maybe Carrington went to the bathroom. I stand up and stretch, my back feeling stiff from sleeping on the couch.

“Carrington?” I call out, but I hear nothing. Outside I look and see that her car is gone. I open the fridge and see that she grabbed all of her stuff.

On the counter, I see a folded piece of paper with my name on it.

Sorry to have bothered you earlier, but thanks for letting me hang with you for a bit. I promise not to bother you again.

Carrington

“What the fuck?” I mutter. “She’s not going to bother me again?”

Great, she’s got me talking to myself. Of course, what did I expect? I blew her off and was a dick. I just can’t believe she actually came to me in the first place, but I’m sure it’s because her parents don’t know that she’s dancing and she doesn’t want them to find out.

One thing I know for sure is that I’ll be talking to the rest of my security team at the club so that they can be on the watch for the douche bag if he tries to come to see Cari again. This is one more thing that I need to worry about, but I’ll be damned if I let that creepy fucker anywhere near my girl.

Chapter Twelve

Damien

It’s been a week since the incident with Carrington, and I haven’t heard from her at all. I’ve called her and texted her, but all of my calls and messages have gone unanswered. I know she’s okay because I’ve driven by her place. This past week she’s been with her family every day at the courthouse. I did a little investigating and found out they were there for the trial of the man who had sexually assaulted her cousin.

The guy is obviously an idiot because he opted for trial by judge. He’s more than likely going to go away for a long time, but it’s what the piece of shit deserves. It’s likely the guy is going to be sentenced within a week.

Unfortunately, Hector was unable to find anything more than a couple of complaints about Jackson Travis. Tonight I made my team aware of the guy and gave them his description. They know to keep watch for him, especially since Carrington is dancing tonight.

I walk down the hall after leaving Rafe and Tucker and spot Carrington standing by the DJ booth talking to Casey and showing him a CD case. She’s animated as she talks to the kid who looks at her like she hung the fucking moon. The kid nods his head and then takes the CD case.

Carrington’s lips move, and I can tell she’s saying
thanks
to him. She flounces away and comes toward me, but instead of stopping to talk to me she keeps moving. I follow after her, but I stop when I notice Tucker watching me closely.

Moving toward him, I give him a chin lift. “What’s up?” I ask him.

“Are you guys fucking? Because it looks like something’s going on.” Tucker doesn’t seem pissed, just curious, but there is no way that I’m going to confess to anything, especially something that has to do with her.

“Nah, she’s sexy as fuck, but I wouldn’t go there.”

I slap him on the back and walk away. My hope is that Tucker believes the shit I just spouted.

An hour later, the club is hopping and drinks are flowing. I do a sweep of the club for that fuck to make sure he’s not here, lurking in the corner. For now, he hasn’t turned up, but I won’t stop watching because I know he’ll show. Carrington’s already been out to dance once, and I don’t know if anyone else could tell, but I could tell that she was nervous. Her eyes kept darting around, and even though she smiled while she danced, she did it shakily.

Rafe and Bridgette are talking in the hallway by the party rooms when I do my hourly walkthrough of the club. I give them a chin lift as I walk past, but Bridgette stops me with a hand on my arm.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“The prick messing with Carrington hasn’t been spotted, has he?”

Bridgette was very vocal about us making sure the guy didn’t get in here. I’m not sure if she’s involved in all the shit that Rafe and Tucker are in to, but she doesn’t mess around with the girls’ safety, and I give her props for that.

“No, he hasn’t. I’ve been making sure to check the darker corners of this place. I don’t know how far he’d actually take things, but he approached her in the parking lot of a grocery store and messed with her when she was only sixteen. I have to believe that he’d take things pretty far now.” I’d be damned if I let him touch her. “I want to be notified if anyone requests her for a lap dance.”

They both agree that she’ll be watched more closely, especially if she gets a request for a lap dance. I leave them to whatever they were talking about. Earlier tonight they had me go collect money that was owed to them from a party last week that somehow got shorted. I had to rough the shithead up, which I hated, but I had to make it look legit just in case Rafe and Tucker were having me followed. Plus, the prick should’ve known better than to short us for services rendered.

In my gut, I know someone else is pulling the strings, and that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. I just can’t figure out who it is and how deep this all goes. These guys are so tight-lipped about stuff, so this case is taking longer than anticipated.

The night has been pretty uneventful, or as uneventful as a night in a gentleman’s club can be. Every time Carrington comes out to dance, I feel myself tense up. She is so sexy and beautiful when she dances, especially since I’ve seen her really dance. Her body has really leaned out since she came here, so she’s lost some of her curves, but her tits are still gorgeous, full, and perky. The other men watch her dance, and you can see the lust in their eyes. I hate it.

The two lap dances she’s done were fine. Just a couple of assholes wanting my girl to rub against them. She’s finished her last dance for the night, so anytime now Carrington will be heading out this way, and my plan is to get her to come back to my place so we can talk.

I know she may put up a fight after the shit I did, but there’s no denying the chemistry we have. In all reality I should take her ignoring me as sign that I should just say fuck it, but dammit I don’t want to. Yes, when she finds out that I’ve been lying to her she may dump me anyway, but at least I’d get her for a little bit.

The secrets I’m keeping from her are for her own good and safety. I know she’s kept it a secret from her family that she didn’t pass her boards and is dancing until she can take them again, so we both have them. Do I see a future with this girl? I don’t know, but honestly, I want to find out.

Not too much time passes before I spot Carrington walking out from the hallway. I watch her go to the DJ booth and hand some cash to Casey. That’s one thing I really like about her. She’s quick to take care of others.

Casey hugs her and then she heads to the bar, where she hands some cash to Taylor. Every time Carrington does this, Taylor tries to refuse. They squabble back and forth for a while and then finally Taylor hugs her and takes it.

Carrington comes toward me. “Can you have someone escort me out?”

Like hell I’m gonna let someone else do it. With a hand to the small of her back, I give her no choice but to let me lead her out to the parking lot. We step out into the cool night, and neither of us says anything at first. She opens her back door and throws the bag in, and when she shuts it she looks at me.

“You can go back in now.”

“Have you seen the prick at all?”

“N-No, I haven’t. Thanks again for being there for me.” She opens her door, but I stop her from climbing in.

“Wait.”

She freezes and turns to face me. I shouldn’t do it, but I grab her face and kiss her lips. She doesn’t respond at first, but then I feel Carrington open her mouth and her tongue seeks out mine. I move until she’s pinned against her car. This is a mistake, someone could see us, but right now I don’t care. I reach down and grab her thigh, lifting it until it hooks around my upper thigh.

She moans into my mouth as I grind my hard dick against the apex of her thighs. I’m so lost in this kiss that it startles me when I hear a door slam. We pull away from each other, and I look behind me, not seeing anyone.

I turn back around, and Carrington is already shutting her door. She starts her car and pulls out of her spot. She doesn’t even give me a second glance as she drives away from me. I’ll let that go…for now, but I need her. She’s under my skin. We’ll just have to play it smart. I hate the fact that we’ll have to hide, but it’s what needs to happen right now.

I step back inside and find one of the dancer/whores, Cherry, standing at the mouth of the hallway. My fists clench as a sick feeling comes over me. She’s one of the last people I’d want to know about Carrington and me. Cherry got really mad when I first came here to work and wouldn’t fuck her. She came on to me hard and fast. She may be hot as fuck, but she’s sleazy and manipulative.

I take a deep breath as I approach her and say nothing—just giving her a chin lift.

“I saw you.” I freeze at her words.

“Pardon?”

“I saw you practically fucking Carrington against her car. I thought you didn’t fuck the help?” I don’t like the little twinkle in her eye.

“I don’t. I don’t know what you think you saw, but you obviously missed me pushing her away after
she
kissed me.” I’m not sure how much she exactly saw, but I’ll play this fucking game all night long with her.

“Hmmm…maybe, but it didn’t look to me like you were wanting to push her away. I honestly don’t see the appeal, though. She’s okay looking, but you could do so much better.” She tries to be sultry and sexy, but it comes across as jealous and desperate.

“Oh, I could do better? I think anyone would be better than someone who jumped at the chance to spread her legs for cash.” Cherry’s hand comes up to slap me, but I grab her wrist, stopping her. “Don’t even think about it. You made that choice, not me. As far as Carrington goes, she’s a hundred times the woman you are, and she doesn’t have to spread her legs either.”

I leave her where she stands, kicking myself the whole way. I may have just made things a lot harder for both Carrington and me.

***

My sister waves to me from the table she’s sitting at. We share the same DNA but couldn’t look anymore different. I have dark hair, hazel eyes, and I’m tall. She has blonde hair, brown eyes, and is a pixie. I dwarf her.

“Hey, squirt. Thanks for inviting me to lunch.”

She gets up from her seat and wraps her arms around my waist. I kiss the top of her head before we both sit down. She’s in college, studying to be a veterinarian technician, so she’s always studying.

“I feel bad I missed your birthday. I know you can’t talk about it, but how’s work?”

“It’s work. What about you? How’s school? Last time I talked to Mom, she said that you had some big exam coming up.”

Growing up, Victoria struggled in school. She was in every available therapy they offered in school. They helped her with her reading, math, and speech, and, with a lot of hard work, she managed to graduate on the honor roll.

“Yeah. I had a midterm exam on Radiology and Parasitology, and all of the studying paid off because I aced it,” she says, her lips tipping up in a huge smile.

“That’s great, but I don’t know what the fuck you just said.”

Her laugh makes her sound like a hyena, and it makes me smile. I’ve always felt the need to protect her ever since we were younger. It was partially due to her small size, but it has always been in my nature to protect others.

We order our lunch, and she tells me about a guy she’s dating. It’s funny that she won’t tell me his name because she knows I’ll run him through the system to see if he’s been in trouble with the law. She eventually will have to introduce the guy to our parents, and then our dad will call me and give me the prick’s name.

The waitress brings our food, and we both dig in. While eating, a group of women walk by us and sit at the long table across from us. We pay them no mind and continue to eat. I feel Victoria’s foot hit me under the table. I raise my eyebrow in question. Her eyes motion to the table of women. Trying to appear casual, I glance to the side and see Carrington staring at my sister and then me. She tries to hide it, but I see the hurt flash through her eyes before she turns her head and starts talking to one of the other women with her.

“Who is that?” my sister asks.

“She’s no one.” I say it louder than I intended, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Carrington get up from her chair and then head toward the door.

“That didn’t look like she was no one. Are you with her?”

At the other table, I watch the older woman who looks like an older version of Carrington get up and follow her out as my sister talks.

“V, it’s so complicated. I can’t talk about it, but yes, I’m with her or at least I was.”

Out the window, I can see Carrington and I’m guessing her mom talking across the street. The sun shines down on her hair, making her auburn waves shine like the most beautiful sunset. I want nothing more than to go to her, but instead I stay in my seat.

A few minutes later, I look back outside and see Carrington loop her arm through the other woman’s and head back toward the restaurant. I turn back to my sister, who is watching me with a dopey grin on her face. If this whole situation gets back to my mother, which, knowing Victoria, it will, Mom will want to call me and find out what’s going on. What are the chances that Carrington and I would end up in the same place?

I grab our check and stand up, choosing to ignore my pesky little sister but not stopping myself from looking at Carrington, who is looking down at the table, probably to avoid looking at me. Tonight, neither of us works, so maybe I’ll just show up at her place and say…what, I don’t know, but we should talk at least.

I walk my sister to her car, hug her, and tell her goodbye. I watch as she pulls away. On my way back to my place, I begin to think about what I want to say to Carrington, but of course, that’s if she’ll even see me.