“Thanks.” I said, faking a smile I didn’t feel for the new friend that just ripped my heart apart.
The overwhelming need to cry barrelled through me, but I fought against it and followed Jessie back towards the bar. This was all too much to handle. DC was Atlas. Not only was Atlas the fucking leader of The Reapers and therefore the man that negotiated buying my sister, but he had been visiting me almost every night with a fucking girlfriend, I’m sorry afiance.
I hated him. Hated everything about him and all the lies he let me believe for the last two years. He wasn’t a hero; he was a villain, and he was going to regret ever playing with my life.
He and his brothers wanted to own me? Well, I would make sure that they would regret the day they ever agreed to Malcolm’s arrangement. No one could ever own me, and The Reapers were about to find out just how broken their little toy was.
Chapter 14
Atlas
Fuck.
I didn’t want to come tonight, but when I got the text from Ezra, I knew an appearance was well overdue. I hadn’t been to Hell’s Tavern in over a week and no matter how loyal our men seemed, deep down every one of them was waiting for an opportunity to overthrow their kings. Hell’s Tavern was their playground and the one place our most ‘trusted’ men could rub elbows with me and my brothers.
Power is volatile. One minute you can have a surplus of it and a split second later, it can get swiped out from underneath you. My job was to make sure we sustained ours, by any means necessary. Unfortunately for me, my latest ‘means’ popped up at the worst possible time.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hissed, pulling Melanie away from the watchful eyes surrounding us.
“Oh come on baby, don’t be like that.” She cooed, pressing her body against mine. “We have to keep up appearances of being a happy, newly engaged couple.”
“Enough with this shit.” I said, backing away from her. “You and I both know what we agreed to.”
Her face twitched at my words. Mel hated being told no, only slightly more than she hated being embarrassed. Why she continued to throw herself at me was still a mystery. I shut down her advancements every chance I got and made it a point to avoid touching her, never wanting to confuse her about what our situation was.
“You’ll learn to love me.” She said, trying to grab for my cock through my trousers. “Just stop fucking fighting it.”
“Let’s get some things straight.” I hissed, grasping her jaw as I pushed her away from me. “We will have a loveless marriage. You will keep your fucking hands off of me and in exchange I will turn a blind eye to the lovers you bring into your bed. In your own fucking home, that will be far the fuck away from mine. You will fuck the pool guy, or your tennis instructor, or whoever the fuck else tickles your fancy, Mel. This isn’t a test or a ploy to win your heart. Trust me, I don’t want it. We have an arrangement, nothing more. You show up here again, uninvited, and the truce between our families is off, so I make myself fucking clear?”
“Yes.” She said, visibly swallowing with a stiff nod.
“Great.” I snapped, offering her a toothy grin. “Now get the fuck out of my club before I have security escort you out.”
She turned around on her stiletto heels with a huff and clicked her way back towards the girlfriend she left dancing in the crowd.
Pressing my thumb into my temple, I tried to massage away the headache her high-pitched voice induced. How was I supposed to get married to this woman, when I couldn’t even stand to be around her for more than a few seconds?
Making my way towards our VIP lounge in the back of the club, my mood instantly perked up when I saw my brothers. They were the only reason I was doing this shit with Melanie to begin with. Agreeing to marry her meant that The Diaz Cartel would never touch them or any of our men. If the price was my fucking sanity, so be it.
“Hey asshole, where’ve you been?” Cyrus asked, moving over to make room for me on the blue velvet couch.
“Out.” I responded, relaxing into the plush seat.
They didn’t need to know that I’d spent the last twenty fours digging up everything I could on a girl they knew nothing about.
For the last couple of years, Stevie has been my forbidden fruit. Something I could look at, talk to, hell, even occasionally fantasize about, but something I could never have. She was a good girl, pure and innocent, and I was already in talks to marry a woman I fucking hated.
I should’ve walked out of that coffee shop and never looked back. If I was thinking with my head instead of my dick, I probably would have. But just being around Stevie was intoxicating. She was why I came back almost every night. It definitely wasn't for the twenty-minute drive or the shit coffee they served.
The careful veneer I always wore around her shattered the minute I saw the bruise on her face last night. I kept her far away from my world for a reason and it pissed me off that even in her own world, someone was hurting her. My world was dangerous, and if people had the slightest cue that she was important to me, her life would be in jeopardy.
Everyone, including my little brothers, assumed Melanie was important to me, but our relationship was all an act. Mel knew I didn’t give a fuck about her, I’d told her from the beginning what this was, she just refused to accept it. The problem with Mel was that she wasn’t used to hearing the word no. Her daddy got her everything she ever wanted and for whatever reason, what she wanted most these days, was me.
As Robert Diaz’s only baby girl left, she’s had a target on her back pretty much since birth. Most people avoided her like the plague. Everyone knew that if you even so much as misplaced a hair on Melanie’s head, The Diaz Cartel would start an all out war to avenge her. She was Robert’s weakness and after twenty-four hours without sleep, apparently Stevie was mine.
She had infiltrated my thoughts so much that I’d swore I’d seen her in the crowd of people dancing earlier. I needed to crash, badly. But staying for an hour or two to appease my little brothers wouldn’t kill me. Keeping up appearances in front of our crews was a non-negotiable. Besides, Stevie was closing at Cafe Au lait tonight and staying longer would give me an excuse to swing by and check in on her later.
As I leaned into my seat, I looked up at my brothers and noticed that their eyes were all pointed in the same direction.
