“Why?” She huffs, and a pout forms on her plump, red lips. Noticing the annoyance flooding my eyes, she sucks it up and asks, “where should I go?”
“The bathroom or someplace. I’ll find you after,” I say.
Brianna reluctantly accepts my demand. She walks through the crowd at a snail’s pace, her head snapping towards us as often as she can without bumping into people. She doesn’t want to miss the show. I don’t blame her. I’m a master at what I do, even if it’s not the most savory job.
“You’re Billy Thompson, aren’t you? Your folks stay in, what was it, apartment seventy-three of the Shangri-La.”
“Hey, big man, can’t we resolve this peacefully?” The bartender asks over my shoulder. Out of all the sorry, self-serving fools in this place, he’s the only man I should recognize, but I don’t. A man you don’t know, who you don’t control, is a force to be reckoned with. If he works here, I wonder how he hasn’t walked into my pocket yet.
“I say this with all due respect and right from the bottom of my heart,big man, fuck off.”
The bartender shrugs it off. “I’m sure they weren’t looking for any trouble. They’re drunk and don’t know any better. How about we cool our jets, talk it out.”
Talk it out? With the blood trickling down Billy’s face, I’d say I’ve done enough damage for him to start treating every woman he meets from here on with the respect they deserve.
“Brianna’s fine; you’ve smacked him around; what’s more violence going to solve?”
“Satisfaction.” I pin Billy under the heel of my shoe and hold him in place. He claws at my ankle and gasps for air, but his pipsqueak arms aren’t enough to move me.
The entire Moonshine Saloon has gone quiet as they wait for what happens next. The Jukebox shifts from Frank Sinatra to Chuck Berry’sYou Never Can Tell, and somehow, with rage still burning through my veins, I lift my foot off Billy’s chest. He gasps and pants for air, squirming on the ground. Two of his dogs walk over and pick him up from the ground. They retreat out of the building.
“You sure know how to kill a mood, don’t you?” I face the bartender squarely. Maybe it’s a good thing the barman stepped in to save this sack of shit. My untethered rage has no bounds when it comes to Brianna, and I might not have been able to stop myself from putting him in the hospital.
Who knows, maybe I’d have put him in the morgue.
“Just trying to make ends meet, preferably with less spilled beer andnobloodshed.” A humble smile graces his lips, and he drifts back to his station after a nod and a semi-bow.
With the drunks gone, and the music pouring through the bar, the crowd returns to their drinking. A few patrons get out of their seats and dance to the tune while others bellow the words off-key.
Fuck this. Brianna’s waiting, and I’d much rather be getting to the good parts of tonight.
I came here with a protector’s intent, but when I saw those tight Daisy Dukes firmly squeezing her plump ass, I knew we’d be heading in a different direction. If I get my way, she’ll be pregnant with my child by the night’s end.
And I’m going to keep it that way.
“Brianna?” I call her name commandingly as I enter the staff quarters. I close the door behind me and twist a latch to lock it.
“What happened out there?” she asks.
“You disobeyed me, that’s what,” I say.
Brianna chuckles, and her face scrunches up in confusion. “Disobeyed?”
“I told you to go, and you didn’t listen.”
“Yeah, but—”
I lift a finger and waggle it side to side. “No buts.”
If I’m going to throw myself into this sordid affair of ours, Brianna might as well learn what kind of depraved bastard I am. I could ease her into my depravity, take her by the hand and lead her into it slowly, but what good would that do either of us? She wants me the same way I want her. Desperately.
Brianna leans into the sink and crosses her arms over her ample breasts.
“Bend over the sink.” My cock springs to life at the thought of her doing as told.
“What?” She raises a brow.
“I’m not the kind of man who speaks twice, Brianna. Bend over the sink.”