Twisted Perception (Flawed #2) (8 page)

“Hey!” I yelled at him. He stopped and turned around to face me, gave me a hard look and shook his head. “I want to eat here and I know for a fact you do, too,” I said, stepping into the restaurant. I called to her and she saw me, but looking back to Zeke I noticed that he was not moving. There was a guy sitting next to her with his hand on hers. Zeke wanted to kill him, I could see it in his eyes. I calmed the situation and Bexley walked outside to him. I hope to God he got laid, I was sick of his moody attitude.

I left the restaurant not long after Zeke did and realized they had both disappeared. I carried on to the meeting alone. When I got there, the man I met with was arrogant, wealthy, and thought he knew what he was talking about. He was also not impressed with me showing up without Zeke. I spoke to him, gave him my no shit attitude and by the end he was eating out of my hand. It was night time when I left the meeting. He made promises I didn’t think he could keep, but I didn’t care, Zeke could deal with him.

The night was young and I didn’t have to work. I planned to get shit-faced drunk then fly home.

The club I entered was different from the clubs back home or even the ones in Los Angeles. It was not as cluttered and there was room to move around. I wouldn’t have even known this place existed if it wasn’t for the man I met tonight. He told me about it, placed me on the list and I decided to go in good hopes to have fun.

As I walked around, I noticed someone that looked oddly familiar. He sat in a private area, his eyes scanned the crowd. I tried to work out where I could have seen this man before, how I knew him. His hair was sandy blond, styled, and gorgeous. His eyes seemed dark from where I was standing, in contrast to his light hair. He was built, maybe not as much as Zeke, but more than Jagger. I sat at the bar and watched him, his hand lifted up and ran through his hair pulling it back. He was mouthwateringly hot, and someone I wanted to bend to my will. I snapped myself out of that, I wasn’t there for work.

I turned away from him, not wanting the lure of a man tonight. I didn’t want to seduce men to capture and torture them or to shoot people. I just wanted to get drunk and pass out, something most girls do at my age.

I looked one last time at him as I took a sip of my drink. He was staring at me, his eyes trained solely on me. Why? I didn’t know. His eyes stayed trained on me as I moved to face away from him. I turned back just to see if he was still watching and he was.

I averted my eyes and picked up my second drink, trying not to think of the way his eyes zoomed in on me and held me captive until I didn’t want to pull away. I knew him, I’d seen him before, I just couldn’t work out where, and it was getting on my nerves.

“Fire,” a voice came from directly behind me and I knew that voice. It was the man that had been everywhere I seemed to be. Telling me to be more careful, the man who slid his fingers inside my pants.

I turned to him and noticed that it was the man from the private area. I was surprised he had actually allowed me to see him. I studied him as he studied me, his eyes ran up my bare legs and came to a stop at my face. I did the same and stopped at his dark brown eyes, but noticing his well-tailored suit. His eyes were willing me to do bad things.

“Come with me,” he said, as he reached his hand out and touched my bare thigh. Who was this man and why did he touch me so? I tried to think of a smart comeback, one that would shock him and tell him to fuck off. Nothing came to mind, so I sat there transfixed wondering who he really was.

His hand scorched my thigh as he slid it up higher and brought himself closer to me. He was now in my personal space, so much so that he pushed my legs apart and stood in the middle. I didn’t stop him and I didn’t know why either. No man touched me without my consent. He just seemed to think he didn’t need my permission.

“Come,” he said and then my phone rang, pulling me from the hypnosis I seemed to be in. He glanced at my phone on the counter next to me and he leaned forward. I knew it was going to happen before I had time to say anything and didn’t do one thing to stop it. His lips, full and pink, slammed onto mine. I gasped against him and it gave him the opportunity to slide his tongue in, he tasted like whiskey and licorice. I kissed him back, placed my hands on his shoulders and brought him closer between my legs. He slid his hand further up my thighs while his other hand held the back of my head. It was a passionate kiss, one that leads to more—sex.

My phone rang again. I managed to pull myself back from him and turned away, but he didn’t move his hand from between my thighs. I picked it up and saw that it was Dominic calling. He’d left voice and text messages wanting me back right now, that the client wasn’t happy. She wanted her Thrall NOW. I groaned and stood, forgetting for a second that this man—who I still didn’t know—had his hand on my pussy. He smiled and it was a wide sexy smile. I’m sure he pulled anything he wanted with that smile. Except me.

“Toodles,” I said, and pushed his hand away stepped sideways to escape him. I watched his arm come up to grab me, but I took off faster, just avoiding the stranger who I wanted more than anything to fuck.

Chapter 13

Three weeks have passed since I’d had my new Thrall and he was coming along nicely. My client was coming today to meet him. I gave him black slacks to wear, but no shirt. My client had a picture in her mind and she wanted him. She’d been extremely pushy ever since. I’d held her off as long as possible, but now the time had come to part with another and get back home.

“Is he ready?” she snapped at me when we met. I wanted to tell her to fuck off. This Thrall was better than any of the ones I’d had previously. He was stunning, delicious in fact, and she acted like it was a dog she was purchasing. I started to speak with a comeback when Dominic put his hand in front of me and pushed me backward¸ effectively shutting me up. Her white hair was tied high above her head, her makeup was too much, and she had a bitch face that I wanted to slap.

“Have you signed the Terms and Agreements?” Dominic asked and she pulled the contract from her purse. He took it from her and checked everything over. She sighed as if she was bored and Dominic cleared his throat and showed her a place where she’d missed an initial—Misconduct of the Thrall. She reached into her bag and pulled out a pen and Dominic gave her the contract back to initial.

“You’ll get a visit from Aria when she chooses to come and check up on him. You will let her into your house and she is allowed to talk to the Thrall,” he said and her eyes shot to mine like she was threatening me if I did. I smiled at her and she turned her head away from me.

“I will need notice,” she stated and I shook my head.

“No, you will not,” I told her and watched as Dominic tried to stop the smirk coming across his lips. I walked away from her and grabbed my Thrall. He came out with his head low. We usually had parties for the exchanges, though this time we didn’t, as she was a very high paying client, higher than most and she didn’t want a fuss. She gawked at him, she liked the way he looked. I did as well. You would have to be blind not to appreciate this man.

“I will see you soon,” I told him as he was taken by the ugly old lady. He looked back at me, in a silent plea not to make him go with her. I turned around and walked back inside.

“Are you getting attached, Aria?” Dominic stared up at me from my couch, one leg crossed over the other.

“No,” I told him firmly and shook my head. He stood and walked around me, circling me, stopping at my back and very slowly ran a hand across it.

“Why do you have little cuts on your back, Aria? Tell me how they got there.”

“I don’t know,” I answered, telling him the truth. I had no idea.

“Interesting,” he stated and lifted his hands from my back. I shivered at the lost contact, a cold breeze over my skin. “I think we should find out, don’t you?” he stepped in front of me. I shook my head no, I didn’t want to know.

“I’m going out,” I said and turned to leave.

I made my way to Bexley’s hotel. Zeke had called me and told me where she was and what she was doing and I had to admit I was pissed. When I knocked on her door, she looked shocked to see me. Her eyes were wide and she didn’t say anything at first. I told her I knew what she did, and I didn’t care, which was half true. I liked her, a lot, which was odd for me as I didn’t like many girls.

We talked for a bit and I headed off to grab some lunch and when I returned her door was cracked open. There was a needle on the ground and I recognized it straight away. I used that type of needle when I captured my men.

I went to the reception and found the security room. They didn’t want to let me in at first until I said, “How about this? You let me see five minutes of security of one room and I’ll show you my tits.” The two men, who looked like they hadn’t been laid in forever, looked excited. The pudgier one walked back, letting me in and nodded his head enthusiastically.

When he pulled up what I wanted on the screen, I saw the man that took her. Dunk was carrying a sleeping Bexley from her room. My time was up and I walked out of the room, the security guards yelling out wanting to see my tits. I didn’t take any notice and ran to the entrance to find my car tires slashed.

“Where is she?” I screamed into the phone to Zeke. He told me to calm down, saying she probably didn’t want to meet up with me. I laughed at him and told him what I’d discovered. His voice went hard instantly.

“I’ll be there in five,” he said and hung up on me. I paced the entrance of the hotel and when he pulled up, he stalked up to me. I placed the empty syringe in his hand and he looked puzzled. I told him what I’d found in the security room.

“You did this,” I growled at him. I told him who was in the video. He didn’t look back as he climbed into his car. I grabbed my bow and arrow from my car and jumped into the car with him. He gave me a puzzled looked and when he called Dunk, I lost it.

“I’m going to slice and dice you if you’ve hurt her,” I seethed into the phone. His laughter took over and it made me even angrier. Zeke asked him where she was.

“Where’s who?” he asked, acting dumb.

“That’s one finger gone!” I yelled into the phone. Zeke’s face grew angrier, but I didn’t care.

He hung up on Dunk and called someone about tracking Dunk’s phone and I looked over at him in disbelief.

“You so better not have that shit on my phone,” I told him. A smile started to creep across his face and I knew instantly that he did. I rolled the window down and without a second thought I pegged my phone. No fucker would be tracking me, that was for sure.

A few hours later, but what felt like days, Zeke’s IT guy called back. We had an address and it didn’t take long for Zeke to find it. When he pulled in, we saw the building was surrounded by men with rifles. I instructed Zeke to park up higher in the parking garage, he did so and turned off the engine. I stepped out and leaned over the dusty and dirty cement pillar to position my bow. The first man went down straight away, the second the same. But the third noticed what was happening by the time the second man had hit the floor and he ran. I followed him, and as he got to the door, I let an arrow fly and he dropped as well, which left the entrance door open.

When we entered, Dunk was the first person Zeke saw. He didn’t think twice as his fist came down on him, beating him so badly, fist after fist, stopping only when there was no movement. Dunk was someone he once called a brother. Zeke took off to find Bexley and I stood there just looking around. I heard footsteps and when the next person emerged, I held my arrow.

“Firecracker,” he said and stepped closer to me. I looked at Dunk on the floor, dead, and then back to him.

“You,” I said to him. I didn’t drop the bow. Instead, I held it straight at his heart. He looked from it and back at me.

“I’ve been following you for some time. I want you. I need you on my service. I’m in the same business as Zeke. I was a trafficker as well, amongst other things. But you, you’re special. I knew it from the moment I saw you,” he said as he stared at me with his deep brown eyes. He looked at Dunk down on the ground. “You knew he was my brother?” he asked, his eyes still on Dunk. I looked to a barely recognizable man on the floor and then back to him.

“If Zeke hadn’t killed him, I would have.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m a powerful man, Aria. I don’t take my brother being murdered lightly. I want to propose a deal,” he said and rubbed his hands together in thought.

“A deal? You think you have that right?” I scoffed at him.

“Oh, but I do. I know where each and every one of your family members is located. I run a very busy business, of which you’ve taken some of my most valuable clients.”

“And you’re telling me your problems because?” I asked him in disbelief.

“I want you to work for me. If you do, I won’t interfere with Zeke’s or anyone’s families. This deal is only available now, Aria. Decide NOW,” he said sternly.

“You know I could kill you, and your threats wouldn’t matter?”

“Oh, but they would. You think I don’t have insurance regarding these things? Baby, I’m the mastermind of things like this. You don’t buy milk without the coffee.”

“Fine, but so help me God. If you touch me, like you have been, or follow me again like you have been, I won’t hesitate to kill you…understand?”

“Fair enough. I did all this for you. Knew where you were and got you where I wanted,” he said, clearly proud of what he had done.

“All this for me? You know I should kill you, torture you the way I do the rest,” I screamed at him. Zeke walked out holding a tortured Bexley, who cried with each step Zeke took with her. Zeke hadn’t taken his eyes from her the whole time.