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“Kai Mori is a self-righteous little fucker, and I want you to go over there and suck him dry right now.”
WHAAAAAAAAT
“I almost forgot,” I mumbled to myself. “I almost forgot there was a reason Damon was so fucked up.”
I wasn’t the criminal. I was nothing like him.
Wellllllllll
Why all the security for a place not being used? Why not just lock and board up the doors? Or tear it down and sell it off? Why was it sealed up and guarded like a prison? Damon was there.
Hell yes
I sat up straight and let out a breath. I knew Michael meant it as a joke, but not really, either. And Will knew it. He knew his extracurricular activities were becoming a problem, but he didn’t want his friends pointing it out.
The business I had with Damon was private.
“Damon tried to kill him,” I bit out. He’d tied a cinder block to his ankle and threw him in the fucking ocean.
Banks? What? My heart pounded in my chest.
That dark hair hidden under a cap, the slender shoulders and narrow jaw, the men’s clothes she still wore . . . Only instead of the dirty jeans, broken shoes, and oversize sweatshirt I remembered, it was now a pair of black suit pants, a black shirt, and a striped necktie.
WHAT A FUCKING GIRL BOSS
“That was Banks.”
I LOVE HER ALREADYYYYYYY
CHAPTER 4
I was thinking about her, and I would until I figured out who she was. I should’ve barged in there and confronted her when I had the chance.
While my friends’ fathers were in their fifties, my father was only forty-three.
“He doesn’t hate you,” I assured him, smiling to myself. “He’s waiting for the better you. That’s all.”
HA
waist. “Because, holy shit, I need my dick sucked.”
I just remeberedwhat his mom did
The girl from the confessional today. Fuck, that was her.
I kept my smile to myself. Michael talked about women the same way he talked about cheeseburgers. It really was as easy as that.
“Someone said she worked at his house.”
I barely nodded, every muscle in my body tight as a rope. “I kind of want to scare the shit out of her first.”
She’d fucked with me today. Now I was going to fuck with her.
CHAPTER 5
Banks.
I love her
But as quickly as she’d torn into my world, she’d run away, and all inside of a few hours, one night, six years ago.
Why did he keep looking at her? What the hell was going on?
“You know, when I was fourteen, Gabriel told Damon and me something I’ll never forget. ‘Women’ he said, ‘are either toys or tools. They’re good for play or good for pay.’” I spun the staff slowly and watched them carefully. “In all the years I was friends with Damon, I noticed a striking difference between his home and mine. My mother has never been a docile woman, while any woman I encountered in the Torrance house was either for sex or a servant. Toy or tool.”
But my hands knew how beautiful she was. They remembered.
“Did you forget you were the one who told me about The Pope?” I went on, changing the subject.
Banks simply looked at her. Her eyes fell to Rika’s, a hint of disdain on her face before she turned away again, ignoring her.
Dark blond hair, blue eyes, angelic face, pretty enough . . . Definitely Michael’s type. Her high cheekbones were tinted pink, and her mouth looked like a candy apple. Young and beautiful.
“You’re talking about a marriage?”
I leaned forward, staring at her. Untouched. A virgin.
“And you’ll have The Pope. Free of charge. As a wedding present.”
“You think you can show me a picture and that alone is supposed to tell me that’s the woman who should have my children?”
I laughed quietly. Jesus Christ. “It takes a lot to please me,” I taunted. “Remember?”
“It’s building and building and building every day,” she said, slicing even deeper as I sat frozen. “Because your life embarrasses you. It hasn’t even become close to what it was before you were arrested.”
“Then you’ll drive and go to a club and find someone—anyone—to take all that rage out on, so you can at least sleep for a few hours tonight.”
She’s been watching me?
I needed Damon. And I needed in that hotel. But if he wasn’t there . . .
She was the one thing I’d ever seen him possessive of.
“But I’ll pay for The Pope,” I clarified. “Instead, my wedding present . . . will be you.”
“She said that she didn’t care if I tore apart the entire city, looking for him,” I said again, louder. “I never told her I thought he was in the city.” And I nodded, now more sure than ever. “He’s here.”
CHAPTER 6
Banks
THATS OUR GIRL I LOVE HER!!!!!
There was no way I’d be around or allowed to go anywhere tonight.
And then . . . every once in a while in that confessional, he showed himself. His real self. The monster my brother said everyone had inside of them.
And at seventeen years old, I was so far behind other girls my age. Kai couldn’t be seen with me even if he wanted to. I’d embarrass him.
My real mother could barely take care of herself, much less me.
“You’re a pretty girl, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to . . .” She paused as if looking for the right words. “I don’t think they should be handling you like that anymore. They’ll start to get ideas.”
I blinked, taken aback. I rarely looked in mirrors anymore, refusing to face what I knew was happening to my appearance, but I couldn’t stop staring all of a sudden. Rolling my lips together, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time. A rush.
I was seventeen. I had no friends and no formal education. What would I do next year when my brother left for college? I could ignore how my body was changing all I wanted, but time was passing anyway, making sure our lives evolved. I’d have to be an adult, eventually.
