Dirty Desire (13 page)

“Yes,” I whimper. “Understood.”

“Good.” Letting go of my arm, she storms across the room and slams the door, leaving me alone in the room with a guard that looks like he could break a tree in half with one arm.

Great.

I walk over to the bed and sit, staring at my arm where her nails dug in.  She definitely drew blood.

“Can I have a bandage?” I ask the man at the door. His steel cut eyes glare at me and there’s not an expression to be found in his face. After a moment of a stare down, I look away just to save my sanity.

“I take that as a no,” I mumble. With a huff I lie back on the bed and start to devise a plan of attack.

I’m not wasting away in a basement.

I will fight.

I will get out of here.

The room is pitch black when I’m woken by noises outside the door.

“Kayla!” I hear a voice yell. A very familiar voice. “Open the fucking door!”

Knox?

“God fucking dammit!” He yells. There’s a shot, then nothing. The guard at my door is standing with his gun drawn at the door, ready to attack.

He doesn’t see me right now.

My heart is racing and all I can think about is if it was him and if they just shot him. My one chance at being saved and I think he was just murdered!

“No,” I whisper. If it was him that got shot they probably killed him. “Knox?!” I scream, running to the door. Before I make it to the door my bodyguard clotheslines me and I fall to the floor gasping for air. His foot comes to my neck and he starts applying pressure. My fingers dig at his boot but it’s to no avail. I can feel my eyes start to tense and things around me start to blur and the last thing I remember is thinking ‘this is how I’m going to die’.

“Where are you headed?” Kayla’s voice booms through the hallway as I lock up my office for the night.

What the hell is she doing here?

“I’m done for the day,” I grumble. I’ve had a shit day and the last thing I want is to fight with her right now. I already did that earlier then I had to get to work on this club dilemma and I’m in no mood for more Kayla crazy right now. “What the hell are you doing here?” I mumble, moving down the hall. I don’t even give her the benefit of a glance as I pass by her. I hear her huff as I speed past her, but I need away from all this right now. Maybe it’s the impending date tonight that has me all sorts of angry at the world, maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t slept with Harper in forever and I’m having withdrawals…whatever it is, I have no patience for Kayla anymore today.

“Just here to check out what my club is going to look like. I need to see if I’m going to be making changes or not.”

I growl and spin, glaring at her.

“Get one fucking thing straight, Kayla. This is my club. This will always be my club. I have no plans on failing.” I lie. She’ll gain majority control over this club if I don’t step up my game and finish what I started.

Well…
when
I don’t finish what I started.

I’m not stupid. I know when Kayla doesn’t get her way she’s going to go all out on having a 51% investment in the club. She’s going to change shit and override me every step of the way.

This is why I have to talk Harper into this entire fucked up situation. So we all can get what we want.

All I know is that there’s no way in hell I’m going to lock her away.

“So where ya going tonight?” Her heels clicking behind me as I leave the club, she’s never been good at taking hints.

“Out, Kayla.”

“To tell her your plan? You really think that’s going to work? She’s going to leave, ya know. That, or she’s going to call the cops and shit’s going to hit the fan.” She leans against my car.

“You always look at the negative, Kayla.” I click the lock and open the door. The new car smell waves out of the hot car. “I told you I’d do it. It’s fine. Go home.”

“That’s cute, Knox.” She chuckles and stops me as I slide into the car. “You know as well as I do you’re too pussy whipped to do this, Knox. I’m just starting my celebrating early.” She winks and spins, clicking her way in perfect rhythm back to the building.

HARPER
: You still good for tonight?

It’s two hours before our date and I’ve been in the coffee shop where I first saw her for a while now. I’ve been sitting here plotting exactly what I’m going to say to her.  It’s been a little under a year since I first saw her face and in that year I’ve planned and plotted how to finish my job. This task was accepted back before I thought I could truly deeply care about someone. I never accepted the fact that I might just fall in love with this conquest.

Fuck.

Anger courses through me for what tonight means.

Tonight means I fail. Tonight means I lose vested interest in my own club that I started years ago.

When I opened Come, I opened it with help from Kayla. She was the one that gave me the idea and the startup funds.

She’s been with me from the start.

Growing up I had a normal fucking life. How is it now, at thirty years old, I’m trying to figure out how to be able to keep my business ‘mine’ and not have to kidnap the girl I love for another woman to enjoy?!

Holy fuck what’s happened to my life?!

I have to figure this shit out, and soon. If I put this off any longer I’m not sure what extents Kayla will go to in order to get what she wants.

Looking at my watch, I have a half hour to get to the restaurant. Leigh and John’s is on the way and I have my suit waiting there for me. I didn’t want to see Harper before dinner because I didn’t want to not make it to dinner…and at this rate I’m sure that’s what would have happened. I would have seen her in the apartment and went straight to fucking her. No questions asked. I miss her like hell and I know we have to talk this shit out before I can have her again.

“Hey man, it’s all set up in the guest bedroom.” John’s always been a great friend of mine, even before employment, so I feel completely comfortable being around him when Leigh isn’t here.

“Thanks.”

“Want a beer? You seem kind of stressed.”

“Nah, I gotta drive. But thanks man.” As much as I wish I could have one to take the edge off, I need to be clear minded tonight in order to get out what I need to at dinner.

On the drive there I’m practicing what I’m going to tell her like a mad man. I know the faster I talk, the more information she’ll get before she stops me and slaps me before leaving. I know I don’t have a lot of time to tell her how I feel.

So it has to be perfect.

About five minutes from the restaurant I notice a black SUV barreling towards me. The one-way street sign must have done nothing for this asshole, and I can’t go anywhere but here.

I’m a fucking sitting duck.

The only thing I can do is hope that I can get out of my car before it’s demolished.

Unbuckling my seatbelt and throwing the door open, I roll out of the car and onto the sidewalk mere seconds before impact. The black SUV crashes head on into my car and flattens it, sending glass shards flying through the air.

“Fuck!” I hear come from across the street. “You okay, man?!”

“Yeah,” I yell back, staring at the smoking pile of rubble.

How the hell did I get out of that one?

Looking around, a crowd starts to form as the driver of the black truck practically falls out of the vehicle and starts to run away.

Mother fucker.

My entire body hurts from the fall and even with the wreckage in front of me all I can think of is Harper. She’ll be waiting on me and I’m not going to make it.

Reaching for my phone to tell her I’m not going to make it, I realize it’s not there.

It’s in the pile of smoking metal in front of me.

“Fuck!” I kick the car, cursing up a storm and completely losing my shit.

A grown man can’t contact his date because he doesn’t memorize phone numbers anymore and someone just almost killed him.

It’s so dumb sounding it’s almost comical.

Three hours later I’m finally back at the apartment. Crawling out of the police car that so nicely drove me home, I have a headache and I’m tired and I know I still have a conversation ahead of me. One I don’t want to have anymore. She’s going to be pissed starting off since I technically stood her up. I just want to curl up with Harper and forget tonight ever happened.

Taking a breath before I enter the apartment, I steel myself for an onslaught of anger for standing her up.

“Harp?” I holler when I open the apartment and see nothing but empty, dark rooms. “Harper?” As I check every room I grab my work cell phone from my nightstand and call her. There’s no ringing in the apartment so that tells me she’s not here.

Fuck.

She’s either still waiting for me or she’s gone and finding someone else to take her mind off the asshole that stood her up.

That’s probably what I’d do if I were a chick.

Calling her, I’m sent directly to voicemail.

“Harper it’s me, Knox. I’m so fucking sorry about tonight. Please, for the love of god call me back. I worry about you.” I hit end and stare at my phone. She turned off her goddamned phone so I couldn’t find her.

I dial the restaurant next.

“The Melting Pot, this is Stephanie, how can I serve you?” The cheery female answers.

“Hi, is there a Harper Stills there waiting for her date? I had a reservation. Knox Gregory.” I’m pacing the bedroom now, starting to get worried that something happened to her. I’m sure she’s pissed, but I’ve seen her mad before and she’s never gone completely off the grid.

“Um, it looks like she left a little over an hour ago, sir. I’m sorry.”

“Fuck,” I huff. “Thanks.” Ending the call, I let out a growl and throw the phone across the room.

Where the fuck is she?!

Without a car to take me to Leigh’s, I grab a cab and in ten minutes I’m slamming on his door.

“What the hell, Knox, it’s almost midnight,” John answers disheveled and half asleep. Pushing past him, I barge into the condo.

“Where is she?” I growl, pissed that she’s hiding from me.

“Who, man?” John locks the door and glares at me.

“The hell, guys?” Leigh walks into the room, nothing but his boxers on, and grins at me. “Hey Knox. What’s up dude? Where’s Harper?”

“I was hoping you’d be able to tell me that,” I growl, pacing the living room.

“She was with you tonight.” He stares at me blankly and I’m about to punch a hole through the wall if he doesn’t tell me where she is.

“No! She wasn’t! I never made it, Leigh!” I run my fingers through my hair to stop myself from internally exploding and take a few deep breaths.

“Calm the hell down, Knox. Tell us what the hell is going on,” John says, walking over to the couch, keeping an eye on me to make sure I don’t completely lose my shit.

I spend the next half hour telling them of all the shit I’ve gone through tonight and by the end of it, Leigh’s calling everyone he knows that could know where she is.

We spend all night and half the next day looking for her, but it’s no use.

It’s like she’s left with zero traces of where she went.