Passing the bar with a few club members sitting around and some low music of rock and roll playing on the speakers, I swipe my phone open and freeze at the image that pops on my screen.
I stop dead in my tracks and blink a few times just to make sure I’m seeing things right.
Unknown number: You don’t deserve my queen. Can you really keep her safe?
The image takes my breath away to say the least. I’m fucking pissed… furious but I can admire a good photo when I see one. She’s stunning and it kills me every single time I look at her.
Tillie is in a dressing room, her back turned towards the camera and her head bent down as she touches the white, silk bow just below her belly button. She doesn’t notice Dom behind her in the mirror as she tries on lingerie.
Dalton: You’re a dead man walking. I’m her fucking Daddy and I swear to God if she calls you Papi again because you provoked her…
I jam out that text quickly, surprised my screen doesn’t crack and glance up to notice everyone left in the bar area staring at me like I’m a caged animal at a circus. My other hand grips the sides of my head, pulling strands of my hair in frustration and I’m breathing pretty hard like I just ran miles.
The sound of my fist slamming into the wall next to the staircase has the club whore squeaking behind the bar as she shatters a glass.
“Round the fuck up!” I roar and stomp up the stairs in a rush towards my room, ignoring the sound of rushing feet and barstools tipping over downstairs.
I basically kick my door down and glance around frantically just in case the photo was some other woman that happens to look a fuck ton like Tillie. I know that’s not possible because no one has a bubbly ass like hers and I’d recognize it anywhere. Finding my room empty just confirmed she’s really not here. I know she’s been going stir-crazy up in my room, but I just wanted to keep her safe and away from my club brothers for a little bit. So much for that, because now I’m going to be introducing her to everyone all at once. I’m taking every single body available to go search for her.
My phone pings again and I grind my teeth in frustration as I stomp out of my room while heading back downstairs towards the machine shop where my bike is stored.
Logan: What the fuck! Why isn’t she at the club?!
Tey: Think she’s trying on that little outfit for us? I think red silk would look better on my sugar plum’s sweet, delicious body just like blood but I’m not complaining. Also, can we kill him now?
Nicky: Already hacking into her phone location. Text you the coordinates in a sec.
I wait for what feels like forever for him to give us her location. The sound of grumbling bike engines and the Hell’s Devils stomping of feet over asphalt makes it slightly easier to breathe because that means my club members are ready to ride out.
Nicky: SeaSide Mall. Meet you guys there in ten minutes. Also, I call dibs on spanking her ass for this.
I swing my leg over my motorcycle and ride it to a crawl towards the front until two rows of thirty badass bikers are at my back. Fuck, this is hard. My dad used to ride front and center while I was to his right behind him. At least I have the manpower to kick some ass if anything goes sideways. I grab my shades out of my vest pocket and signal with my hand to get moving just as my bike glides onto the road.
My little bitch is in so much trouble when I get my hands on her. My palm is already twitching.
Dom
Ican’t remember the last time I was in a mall. I think it was a long time ago, before I took over for my father, before my mother ran away from this life by filling up her bathroom with red marks where I found her. Jagged lines on her wrists and open, glazed eyes that stared blankly back at me. I think that was the last day I had any freedom to be a normal kid, as normal as any kid growing up in the Cartel can get. Drugs, a suicidal mother, and a father that ruled his cocaine kingdom with an iron fist until the day he was shot down. I should be back at the estate, running my numbers and shipments for the next supply of weed coming in from my fields in Mexico but instead, I’m at the fucking SeaSide Mall following my future queen around.
I’d usually be at one of the facilities, watching over my army of working men, seeing the comings and goings, or even testing the supply. I have the best marijuana on the streets, across the whole country, and most are gunning for my spot. I guess I’m like my father, in the way I don’t trust easily, never will and I oversee everything instead of letting someone else do my work. This is my life but damn if it isn’t a lonely one. My schedule changed about a week ago in the dark tunnels, the atmosphere high on drugs of bliss and sex. I’ve been waiting years for that day to look Logan Russo in his eyes and turn his whole world upside down by the information I’ve collected over the years but that all stopped once she looked at me. Dark, haunted eyes that’s seen too much push to the surface. She tries to bury it all deep down, but hurt bleeds out of her soul and touches mine with just one connection of our gazes. Don’t even get me started on her body that is made to sin and tempt a man of faith to his knees before her just so he can have a taste.
Usually, a pressed suit is molded to my body but my choices for the day are all black clothing for stalking. Black jeans and a black leather jacket with the hoodie pulled up to cover my face as I stalk behind Tillie without her knowledge. I’ve had my men watching the Hell’s Devils compound for days since I’ve found out she’s transferred there instead of the Russo mansion. I’m not complaining about her staying at the compound, anywhere is safer for her but at that fucking house of the devil. Most nights after a really long day, I’d change into clothes that blend into the night and watch across the street from the motorcycle club for any sign of her.
Every. Single. Night.
Luck was on my side today when I got a call from Zeus that my queen was sneakily climbing over a fence and hopping into a jeep with Nicky’s little sister only for them to end up at the mall. Cutting all my meetings short, and delaying a shipment coming in from the docks, I changed and here I am a few paces behind her, stalking slowly through the crowded mall without her knowing that someone is watching and following her every move. A few times her shoulders have gone tight and she pauses in the middle of the crowds to look around her like she can feel me watching her.
At first, I was fucking pissed that she was out without one of the guys with her, unprotected with Nicholas’ little sister but she isn’t clueless. I see the way she looks people in the eye so she remembers their faces, scanning her surroundings even though she’s laughing at whatever her friend says. She’s smart, cunning, and drop dead gorgeous. There's more to her than meets the eyes and that is what has me obsessed. Can’t say I’ve ever had to stalk a woman before, usually they end up in my bed before I even get home. I snap my fingers and can have any woman on their knees at a moment’s notice but something in the way Tillie holds her chin up and glares tells me she’s not one to go on her knees willingly without a fight. She has fire and I want to be burned by her.
“Oh! Let’s go in there! Butt licker! Out of our way!” Nicola shouts at the top of her lungs without a care in the world as she shoves through a group of leering males, pulling on Tillie’s hand towards the lingerie store.
I like little Nicholas' sister too. She’s good for Tillie, makes her laugh, and smiles a real smile instead of something forced. I’ll let Nicola live just for that alone.
I follow close behind but far enough that they don’t notice me as I duck into a nearby shop until they go deeper into the store. Stepping into the path of the men that are elbowing each other and still looking where my queen entered, I lift my face and make sure they can see I’m staring at each of them. They say my face is something that resembles an angel with my good looks and sharp edges but what they don’t know is that even Lucifer fell from the heavens. Tempted with dark looks and even darker eyes that smacked the fear into anyone who looked into his gaze.
You're playing a game with the devil, and I love my games.
“Mine.”
