January Whitehall
It’s dark when we arrive at the sprawling, ivy-covered mansion.
Archie smiles at my shocked expression. “Not what you were expecting?”
“I thought it would be in the middle of a street and there’d be like… flashing lights and girls in tube tops.”
He laughs. “Valente owns a few places like that, but this is the classy one.”
It’s funny to hear him mention Doc so casually, as though he’s existed for years without me, which of course he has. But to me, he was born the day he showed up in the cathedral dressed in a priest outfit for my marriage counseling. It’s hard to believe that his raging energy was out in the world without me knowing about it.
Even now I swear I can feel him coming closer, his brow contracted, his long fingers itching to tear the clothes from my body and punish me.
I cast another glance at Dreams. Its brick façade is as intimidating as any fancy home I was taken to by my stepmom. “Are we, um, allowed to be here?”
“As long as we got money.” He pulls the cap off my head. “Look alive, Kitten. I know you’ve had a hell of a day, but you need to keep it together. Are you ready?”
Am I ready? I’m more tired and strung out than I can ever remember being, but I can’t just sit in Archie’s car for the rest of time. I push my shoulders back. “Of course.”
Archie and I open our car doors and head to the entrance. I pause when I see a bouncer. “I don’t have any ID.”
“How old are you, Kitten?”
“Eighteen.”
He whistles.
“Sorry,” I say again. “Maybe we should just leave?”
Archie gives me a wry smile. “Nice try. Look, you’re a stunner. This isn’t going to be a problem. Just play along.”
“With what…?”
He doesn’t answer, instead he slings an arm around my shoulders, and steers me to the door. His arm is heavy, and he smells nice, but I feel edgy like one of the boys might see me and get the wrong idea. Archie winks at the bouncer who takes one look at me and pulls back the red velvet rope blocking the entrance.
“Have a good night you two.”
The second we’re inside, Archie lets go of me. “Easy as pie.”
Dreams is pretty inside. The walls are red, and the matching carpet is so thick, my heels sink into it. There are dancers everywhere in even higher heels, moving with far more grace than I am. Tall, beautiful women with big boobs and even bigger butts. Archie’s head is turning all over the place.
“What now?” I ask.
“We get a drink.” He leads me to a gold, circular bar. On opposite sides of it, women are dancing with the syrupy effortlessness that I know from ballet takes years of practice.
So, this is where Doc wanted me to work… I can admit it’s elegant. The lighting is flattering, and the furniture looks expensive. And all the men are well-dressed, talking amongst themselves or politely watching the dancers.
“This is nicer than I thought,” I tell Archie.
His eyes are glued on the woman twerking to our right. “Yeah, it’s a classy place. What do you want to drink?”
My stomach rumbles. If I have any alcohol, I’ll fall over. “Could I please have a Sprite?”
“Sure.” He calls the bartender over, a pretty blonde with a round face. “Hey, gorgeous, we’ll take a Makers on the rocks and a Sprite.”
She turns to get our drinks and Archie’s attention returns to the twerking woman.
I frown at him. “Aren’t you going to ask about Doc?”
“Kitten, you don’t walk into a place like this and start asking for the boss. We need to chill.”
“Oh, okay.”
As Archie’s eyes follow the shaking butt, I think that things might be moving faster if we weren’t in a strip club. Our drinks arrive and I take the seat beside Archie and watch the girls dance to songs I haven’t heard before. As they move fluidly around the poles, I feel a stir of what Doc first offered me—freedom. If I worked here, I’d be free to dance and drink and maybe become friends with all these women.
I’ve always had girlfriends, but I feel like the women who work in this club would be a lot more fun, and I’d be more fun with them.
A man in his sixties, his tie loose around his neck, wanders up to the bar and immediately gets distracted by the twerking lady. “Hey, Mya! How ’bout a freebie?”
The woman doesn’t look around, but I see a crease appear between her eyebrows. That would be the real problem with working here. I don’t want men like that to touch me. I don’t think it’s even that he’s old or loud. Archie’s handsome and the thought of dancing for him makes my stomach churn.
I watch a pale girl with a sheet of black hair climb into a businessman’s lap. We look similar. I imagine it’s me in the royal blue lingerie and Doc sitting in the businessman’s seat. I would grind up against him, and watch his cold blue eyes burn. His hands would be at his sides but tense, ready to snap around me as soon as he was done letting me play with him. Heat glows between my legs. I want him to look at me that way. To be the only woman he has eyes for. Doc’s face shifts into Bobby’s, and I picture turning like the black-haired girl and pressing my ass into his lap. He would be all eager with just a hint of aggression peeking through…
A dull ache throbs under my ribs. Maybe if I’d stayed at Velvet House and been what the boys wanted me to be… but I can’t think that way. I never could have lived by their rules. Not while Zia Teresa was lying in the hospital and I wasn’t allowed to go see her.
“Good evening.”
I turn. A woman in a leather bustier is glaring at me. She’s super tall and her bone structure is incredible. She looks like Gabrielle Union and Wonder Woman had a baby, though she doesn’t seem nearly as impressed to see me and Archie.
“Hi,” I squeak.
She ignores me, jabbing a finger at Archie. “Haven’t seen you here before.”
He flashes her a wide smile. “First time, sugar.”
“And you brought a girl with you?”
“Ain’t that allowed?”
Wonder Woman glares at me and I offer her a weak smile. “Hi… again…?”
Her lip curls. “Can I get you a coloring book, sweetie?”
“Um, no?”
“Now don’t be mean, honey, it’s January’s first time.” Archie pulls out his wallet. “Tell you what, why don’t you dance for me? I don’t know what the going rate is, but I’ve got two hundred dollars—”
“—and you can shove every penny up your asshole.”
I press my hands to my mouth to suppress a nervous giggle. Archie looks like someone kicked him in the groin. Wonder Woman puts her hands on her hips. “I’m not going to shake my ass for you blondie. I’m the floor manager and I wanna know why you’re bringing underage tail into my club.”
Archie shoves his wallet back into his jacket. “You got me. We’re here to see Domenico Valente.”
Wonder Woman looks at him like he’s a spider laying eggs in her purse. “Get the fuck out. Now.”
My spine tenses, but Archie flashes her another bright smile. “Hang on just a second, Kitten. This underage tail happens to be January Whitehall.”
Wonder Woman draws herself up to her full height. “Is that supposed to mean anyt…” She cuts herself off and stares at me, dark eyes narrowing. “You…”
I shrink back into my stool. “Hi?”
“She can say more than that,” Archie drawls. “This is the bride. I’ve brought her back for safekeeping.”
Wonder Woman reaches for my throat. I flinch but she just touches Eli’s necklace. “Real?”
I guess she means the stones. “I… um, yes. They’re rubies. And diamonds.”
Her gaze snaps to Archie. “What the hell is going on?”
“It’s a real long story, darlin’, but I’ll need to tell it to Domenico Valente first.”
She stares at him for a moment then inclines her head. “I’ll call him. You stay still as a statue and don’t lay a finger on my girls.”
“You’re no fun,” Archie grumbles as Wonder Woman walks away. Then he winks at me. “How do you like that, Kitten? We’re finally getting somewhere.”
I suppose that’s true, but I don’t feel happier. My heart is still pounding. I grab for my Sprite and almost knock it over.
“Whoa,” Archie says, straightening the glass. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” It’s a lie. I’m shivering, goose bumps lifting all over my skin. I ran away. Zia is dead. Mr. Parker kidnapped me. I kissed a girl. I got kidnapped again and now I’m being returned to the men who stole me on my wedding day. The men I betrayed by escaping. Doc is on his way and maybe he won’t keep me as a sex slave. Maybe the snapping anger that exists just below his surface will burst out and he’ll slit my throat with his knife and I’ll deserve it. Adriano was shot because of me. Zia Teresa died because of me.
“January,” Archie says more urgently. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head, teeth chattering. “They killed my Zia.”
“What was that, Kitten?”
“Mr. Parker. He killed my Zia.”
I expect Archie to ignore me. Or to ask what ‘Zia’ means. He does neither. Instead he stares down at the gold bartop. “I’m real sorry ’bout that, January. I was hoping he wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Did you… know Mr. Parker wanted to kill her?”
Archie hesitates.
“Please be honest. I can’t handle any more lies.”
He raises his whiskey then puts it down without taking a sip. “I knew Parker put her in the hospital as bait. I knew he was talking about killing her, but it wasn’t a sure thing.”
I think back to the limo. Mr. Parker’s laughter. “He said he was always going to kill her because she was rude to him… and because I loved her.”
Archie drums the side of his glass. “Goddamn tragic.”
I look at him, every line of his face steeped in misery. “Archie… Why do you work for Mr. Parker?”
For a second I think I’ve taken things too far, that he’s going to hit me or worse. Then his face crumples, his eyes squeezing shut. “I don’t fuckin’ know, Kitten. This situation… it’s even worse than I thought it could be. And I’ve thought some fucked-up shit.”
“You mean abducting me from the hospital?”
“I mean everything.” He picks up his whiskey and drains it. “You really wanna know the truth?”
I nod.
“Bill and I did some jobs for Parker right out of college. Good money. Plenty of side benefits. After a while, we got in with the main security team. That’s when we found out about all the fucked-up shit that’s being covered up and moved around and disappeared. And don’t ask what I mean by that. I’m not low enough to tell you.”
A shiver goes down my spine.
“Bill and I tried to leave,” Archie mumbles. “Go work somewhere else, but it turned out Parker had some exit policies he didn’t exactly write on our starter paychecks.”
“Did you have to give him a lot of money?”
Archie’s smile is humorless. “You stick with him or you got dropped into the Hudson minus your head and your hands, Kitten.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. ‘Oh.’” Archie’s smile fades. “Bill and I thought it was over, and we’d die working for Parker, but then we heard rumors Eli Morelli and his boys are taking him down. That they’re gonna knock over his business and kill him. Bill and I thought all our Christmases had come at once. All we had to do was wait. We thought ‘Velvet House’ is brutal but they’re not gonna kill everyone who ever worked for Parker. We might even be able to get a new job running with them, who fuckin’ knows?’”
Archie shakes his head.
“Then I got abducted?” I ask quietly.
“Then you got fuckin’ abducted,” Archie agrees. “Once that happened all bets were off. Parker went from a controlling nutjob to certified psychopath. He put a bullet through my friend Connor’s head right in front of me.”
All the air rushes from my lungs. “No.”
“Yeah. Killed him and two other guys just because he was pissed you’d gone. Those guys had nothing to do with the fucking wedding. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Archie’s mouth twists as he stares into memories I can’t see. I put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
He shakes me away. “I don’t need your sympathy, Kitten.”
“But—”
“Save your fine feelings for the Velvet House boys. Bill and I knew what we signed up for, we protect bad men by day and do a lot worse by night. But we won’t work for a psychopath and that’s why you’re here. You’re the eighteen-year-old bargaining chip that’s gonna get me and my brother out of Parker’s crew.”
He drains his whiskey and taps the bar. The bartender swoops over. “What can I—”
“Double this time. Right away, darlin’.”
I watch as he finishes his second drink and orders a third. When he finishes that, he mumbles something I can’t hear.
I lean closer. “Sorry?”
Archie clears his throat. “Coulda been Bill he shot.”
My heart contracts. “Oh, Archie.”
“Don’t, January. Don’t ‘oh, Archie’ me. It coulda been my brother he killed. Coulda been that poor little redhead bitch, and what would I have done? Nothin’. I’da got shot myself before I could take Parker out so I stayed right where I was when he killed Connor. What kind of man does that make me?”
His mouth jerks sideways and I can’t stand it anymore. I throw myself off my stool and wrap my arms around his back. “I’m so sorry.”
Archie turns, pushing me off. “I’m fine. Don’t be cryin’ for me. Get away.”
But I don’t get away. I take advantage of his seated position to hold him even closer. And this time he lets me hug him. After a few seconds his shoulders start to shake.
“It’s all okay,” I say. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“You got no fuckin’ idea,” Archie sobs. “You’re just a kid. An’ you been abducted, like, nine times.”
“I know. But I also think everything is going to be okay.”
And I do. Some tiny, shiny part of me still believes. And maybe that’s stupid but I’m glad. It makes me feel less scared. More like myself.
I hug Archie harder. He smells like leather and stress sweat and as much as he didn’t want my hug he’s clutching me so tight it hurts. I bite back a smile. Archie reminds me of my big brother, Lachlan. Lachy’s always rushing into things he doesn’t understand, like his organic sweater business or the dating app The New York Times called a scam. I could totally see Lachy working for Mr. Parker if he gave him enough free champagne and Knicks tickets. He’s impulsive and a bit silly but his heart is in the right place and I think Archie’s is too. I can’t hate him, or Bill. I want them both to get new jobs and be happy and I try to tell Archie that with my hug.
“Ah, Kitten,” Archie mumbles into my hair. “You should let go of me before someone sees.”
But I can tell he’s not ready yet, his arms are still tight around me and truthfully it’s nice to feel close to someone after what’s happened. I squeeze his big back. “I’m okay if you are.”
He huffs out a laugh. “You’re a ray of sunshine, ain’t you? No wonder the Velvet House boys—”
“What about the Velvet House boys, you fucking lowlife?”
My stomach hits my shoes. He can’t be here. We’ve barely been at the club for half an hour. We’re in the middle of nowhere. I would hear him coming. I would sense his mania. But when I turn, there he is. Domenico Valente, six feet and three inches of twitching, flickering muscle, and glittering blue eyes. His hard jaw juts as he looks at me and it turns my bones to water.
“Doc—”
“You, I’ll deal with in a minute.” His gaze skips over me like a stone to fix on Archie. “You are a dead man.”
Archie shoves me away from him. “It ain’t like that, brother—”
I stumble and in the second it takes me to straighten, Doc launches himself at Archie like an attack dog. Archie is bigger, wider but Doc tears him off his barstool like he’s nothing and punches him in the face. Archie bangs back into the bar, clutching his cheek.
“No,” I scream. Everyone ignores me. The dancers, the other drinkers, they’re all acting as though nothing is happening.
Doc bounces on his toes in front of Archie, winding his tattooed wrists in circles. “Come on, bitch. There’s gotta be more in you than that.”
“Wait,” Archie moans. “You don’t understand—”
“I understand you kidnapped my woman, brought her to my club and felt her up at my bar.”
“No—”
“And I don’t know if you’re crazy or you have a death wish,” Doc snarls. “But I don’t give a fuck. Get on your feet and die like a man.”
Archie struggles to stand. The second he’s up Doc punches him again. Archie’s head snaps sideways, ruby blood spraying from his nose. I scream again and I must move because the next second I’m gripping Doc’s tattooed bicep. “Domenico! Stop hurting him! He rescued me!”
Doc pushes me into a heap on the carpet. “Get the fuck back, Tits.”
I inhale, my head spinning as relief swells inside me like a small balloon. If Doc is still calling me ‘Tits’ he isn’t going to kill me. I kneel on the carpet. “Domenico, please. Be mad at me, but don’t hurt Archie. He got me away from Mr. Parker. He saved me.”
Doc whips around and stares right into my face. I see the rage burning in his bright blue eyes, but there’s something else. He scans me as though checking I’m really there and when his mouth turns down my heart stops. He was scared. Not because I defied him, because I was in danger. Domenico Valente, a deranged murderer, was afraid for me. Doc bares his teeth, trying to return his expression to blazing hatred but it’s too late. I press a hand to my chest. “I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye. I just—”
“Fucked us. Got Adriano shot. Got abducted so you could be raped and tortured by the guy who killed my sister.”
His words land like physical blows, knocking the air out of me.
“I’m sorry,” I breathe. “I wanted to see my Zia. I wanted to—”
“She didn’t have a choice man,” Archie slurs. “Parker was coming for her no matter what you guys did. He’d burn the world to the ground before he let you have her.”
With a growl like a dog Doc drags Archie to the floor, giving him a vicious kick in the side. “You know that shit because you helped Parker take her. You were in it all the way.”
“Nurghht,” Archie moans. “I brought her to you. I want that bastard dead.”
“You fucking liar.”
I climb to my feet as Doc kicks Archie in the back. I’m pretty sure he knows Archie’s telling the truth and he’s just venting his anger at my kidnapping. But I’m equally sure that won’t stop him beating Archie to death. I move to grab Doc’s shoulder, but before I can touch him, huge arms wrap around my waist lifting me into the air.
“January, JJ, Jay! Holy fucking Christ, you’re okay! I’ve got you! You’re okay! January!”
This relief isn’t an afterthought. This relief is a firehose pulsing through my body. “Bobby?”
“Yes, baby. It’s me. I’ve got you.”
He spins me around and I see it’s true. Roberto Bassilotta beams at me, as soft and steady as Doc is hard and manic. His hair is on end and his chocolate brown eyes are full of tears. He runs his fingertips across my cheek. “Jesus Christ, JJ. Tell me you’re okay. Tell me he hasn’t hurt you?”
But before I can answer he’s kissing my cheeks, my chin, my nose. It’s not romantic, it’s more like a Labrador snuffling you, loving you physically because it can’t say what it means in words. I let him kiss me, let him rub my arms and run his hands through my hair, dizzy with the knowledge that somehow Bobby is still on my side. That despite my betrayal he might protect me from the others. My mind flicks to Adriano in the hospital, yelling for me to run.
“Mr. Rossi,” I gasp. “Is he okay? Is he alive?”
Bobby presses his forehead into mine. “Yes, baby, he’s okay, but don’t think about that. Are you okay? Did Parker hurt you?”
There’s a dull thump and a moan of pain.
“Get her out of here,” Doc snarls. “I’ll finish this prick and come find you.”
“Okay—” Bobby begins but I tear myself away from him.
“Stop it,” I wail. “Stop hurting Archie! He and his brother got me out of Mr. Parker’s limo. They saved me.”
Bobby takes my arm. “No, JJ—”
“That’s what we were doing, Tits” Doc says, stomping on Archie’s leg. “We were tracking you. We would have gotten you back.”
Archie rolls on the floor, blood pouring down his face. “Parker was taking her to a private airstrip. He was in a military grade vehicle. You couldn’t have saved her.”
Doc presses his sneakered foot into Archie’s neck. “Shut the fuck up, rat.”
Archie shoves at Doc’s shin, trying to get him off. “Me an’ my brother rescued your girl. What kind of fuckin’ thank you is this?”
Bobby steps around me, squaring his shoulders. “The kind you get when you don’t explain yourself. Why’d you take January? And why’d you bring her here?”
“Because he’s a fucking rat.” Doc bends, grabbing Archie by his collar and hauling him up. “I don’t want an explanation. Whatever he and his fuckhead brother had planned can die with them.”
“You don’t unnerstan’,” Archie moans.
“I understand you and your prick clone work for Parker. Have done for years.”
“They wanted to leave!” I say. “Mr. Parker killed Archie’s friend!”
Doc shakes Archie like a rag doll. “I’ll kill his fucking friends. You know his twin’s the one who shot Adriano?”
My vision swims. “What!?”
“Naw.” Archie shakes his head so that drops of blood spatter Doc. “That was Newton. I swear, Bill only broke his nose.”
Doc bares his teeth, looking all the crazier now he’s sprayed with blood. “You think that’s better?”
Archie’s swollen eyes find mine. “Kitten… Please?”
Doc gives a low laugh. “You think you can call my bitch ‘Kitten’ in front of me and live? Goddamn, you are a funny guy.”
Doc’s fingers tighten around Archie’s throat. “Or at least you used to be.”
My pulse spikes and I know I only have seconds. I turn to Bobby. “Please, please stop Doc?”
He makes an ‘eh’ face. “He does work for Parker, baby. And he probably is a rat.”
“But ‘probably’ doesn’t—”
“Valente, you fucking asshole!”
We all turn and I see Wonder Woman stomping toward us. Doc loosens his grip on Archie’s neck. “Hey, Betty. Just dealing with some—”
Wonder Woman—Betty—flings her hands in the air. “Deal with it somewhere else you stupid son of a bitch! I have a business to run. Your business. You think anyone wants to come to a gentlemen’s lounge to watch a man die?”
Doc rolls his eyes and drops Archie like a sack of potatoes. “Better?”
“No. Get him upstairs.”
Doc sighs like he’s being asked to take out the trash. He hauls Archie to his feet again. “Come on, bitch.” Doc looks to Bobby. “Get January to the car. This won’t take long.”
I step away. “No! You’re not killing Archie.”
Betty gives me a look that could scorch steel. “All of you. Upstairs. Now.”
“Fine,” Bobby takes my arm. “Come on, JJ.”
He directs me behind the bar, steering me through a door that’s barely visible in the wood panelled wall. We climb two sets of stairs then Bobby ushers me into an office. It’s cramped with a huge desk and a black wingback chair lined with barbed wire. There’s a framed picture of two blond kids on the wall and I want to take a closer look, but Bobby leads me to a smaller non-barbed wire chair.
“Sit. I’ll bring you some water.”
I do as I’m told, watching as Bobby grabs a bottle of spring water from a black bar fridge. He rubs my shoulders as I drink, and I almost melt into the chair. The water seems to unlock my tongue.
“Is Eli mad?” I babble. “Are you sure Adriano’s, okay? Where’s Mr. Parker? Am I going back in the cage?”
Bobby doesn’t answer my questions. Instead, he presses his thumbs into the knots near my shoulder blades and says things like ‘you’re safe’ and ‘we’re not going to let anything happen to you.’
I’m not convinced, but it’s nice to hear friendly words. A few minutes pass and I wonder where Doc and Archie have gone and if Doc is just beating Archie up in some other part of the club. I’m just about to ask when the door opens and Doc shoves Archie onto the office floor.
“This one needed a piss,” he tells Bobby, settling himself in the barbed wire chair.
“So,” he says to Archie. “You and your brother infiltrated my business and put your filthy hands all over my girl and expect me to what? Give you a job?”
Archie gets to his feet. “Seems that way.”
I admire how cool he sounds. If I was in his position I would definitely be crying.
Doc picks up a pen, whirling it between his long fingers. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t put a bullet in your head before you can lead Parker back to January.”
Archie swipes fresh blood from his chin. “Because Parker can get fucked. My brother and I want out of his crew. We figured rescuing the Whitehall girl was as good a chance as any to make an impression.”
Bobby’s fingers tighten possessively on my shoulders. “So, you stole January as some kind of up-front payment?”
“You could call it that,” Archie drawls. “For what it’s worth, I had to give my twin a concussion to make it happen and there’s every fuckin’ chance Parker killed him out of spite.”
Doc looks deeply unimpressed. “Why the fuck were you hugging January?”
“It didn’t mean shit,” Archie says, avoiding my gaze. “We were talking tragedy and she hugged me. It wasn’t anything.”
A small smile tweaks the corner of his mouth and I’m not the only one who notices. Doc throws down his pen. “Wipe that fucking smirk off your face or I’ll kill you.”
Archie’s expression goes blank. “Yes, sir.”
Doc shoves a hand through his hair. “If you’re looking to us for protection from Parker, you’re stupider than your fucked-up face implies.”
“You don’t owe us anything,” Archie says. “Bill and I can take care of ourselves. But we did bring your boss’s girlfriend back in one piece.”
Doc’s blond brows shoot up. “My boss?”
“Elliot Morelli.”
“He’s not my boss,” Doc says through a tight jaw. “He’s my partner. And he doesn’t like rats any more than I do.”
Archie holds up his hands. “I ain’t a rat. A chance is all Bill and I are asking for. A chance in exchange for your girl being as pretty and pure as she was before Parker got ahold of her.”
Doc’s gaze finds mine. “Is this true, Tits? Did this ass-clown protect you?”
I think of the kiss with Emilia. How much worse it could have been if Bill hadn’t signaled at me to throw up when he did. I pray that he’s still alive. That Mr. Parker hasn’t taken his temper out on him. “Bill saved me. He and Archie both did.”
Doc sits back in his chair, his fingertips drumming the leather. Long seconds stretch past and just when I’m sure he’s about to tell Archie he’s dead, Doc pulls open a drawer and tosses a deck of Post-it notes at him. “Give me some way to reach you.”
Archie comes over to the desk to write on the pad, a big grin on his face. “Can’t thank you enough, Mr. Valente. You’re bein’ beyond generous.”
“Yeah, you can stop kissing my ass any time you want.” Doc points at the door. “Get the fuck out of here and if you talk to a single woman on your way out I’ll break your knees.”
Archie drops the pad back on the desk and turns to me. “Bye—”
“Keep looking at January if you wanna die.”
“Yes, sir.” Archie addresses the floor. “See you ’round Kitten.”
Doc hisses at him. As soon as the door shuts, he pushes back his chair. “Sly motherfucker.”
I recoil and Bobby smooths his warm hands over my shoulders. “Don’t be nervous, baby. We’re not mad at you.”
“Speak for your fucking self.” Doc strides toward me, grabbing my chin. His skin is boiling hot. “You okay?”
“I… I guess?”
He lifts my chin, urging me onto my feet. “He hurt you?”
I know he means Parker. “A little. Not really.”
Doc’s eyes narrow. “If he had, you would have deserved it, you reckless, manipulative, two-faced bitch.”
The insult winds me, as all of Doc’s insults do, but before I can defend myself, he jams his mouth onto mine. You couldn’t call it a kiss. It’s a clash of lips, a claim and a punishment. The kind of touch that Velvet House taught me leads to corruption.
My corruption.
Doc’s fingers are bruisingly tight and I can smell Archie’s blood on his face and his raw knuckles. His free hand grasps my right breast and I whine. Doc is disgusting and cruel, but I can’t deny the warmth that floods from his skin and from mine. The last time he kissed me like this was on my wedding day. But that was to show Mr. Parker I’d been stolen. That he no longer had any claim on me. What point is Doc trying to prove now? That he owns me? That even if he hates me, he will have my obedience?
His tongue thrusts into my mouth and the softness of it makes me moan.
You’re repulsive, I think, Repulsive and gross and mean.
But as his tongue flicks expertly against mine, my exhausted body lights up. Suddenly everything between my legs feels like soft ice cream. Bobby’s hand slides to the small of my back and I’m surrounded by both of them. Warm male bodies, so foreign and yet achingly familiar.
“January,” Bobby mutters in my ear. “You’re so beautiful.”
I can’t pretend like I did when I was first kidnapped. I’m so attracted to both of them. Sweet Bobby and evil Doc. I tried to run away, but now that I’m here again, I don’t know if I can resist. I’m so tired of protecting my virginity, the only thing about me that everyone wants. I could just give in, give Velvet House the one thing I have left. I would have given it to Adriano to see my Zia. Now, if it means staying out of the basement cage, I could just let Doc and Bobby have it.
Doc’s hand moves from my chin to fist my hair and it feels like he’s pulling it out at the roots. I don’t care. After the day I’ve had, it’s a relief to submit to his strength. He yanks my body against his and I feel the thick swell of his cock behind his jeans. Bobby’s hand strokes me from my back to my ass. We’re alone in Doc’s office, just like we were once alone in my bed in the east wing, when Bobby went down on me as Doc kissed my lips.
I’m going to give in. Let them take me, let it end right here, two floors above a strip club. But as soon as I have the thought, Doc pulls away, shaking his head. “Fuck this.”
“I… What?”
“Fuck. This.” He glares at me, his gaze cold as ice. “You’re not getting a nice little reunion fuck from me, Tits.”
“Doc,” Bobby warns, his hands still cupping my ass.
“Fuck off, Bassilotta.” Doc presses his thumb to the cut on my lip, making it sting. “You endangered what’s mine, Tits. Your lips, your cunt, and every other fucking part of you. The next time you take my cock it’ll be on all fours with tears running down your lying face. I’m gonna make you pay for what you did to me.”
I must be broken because his words send a throb down my aching breasts and it runs between my legs like gold flame.
Doc’s pupils dilate. “You like the sound of that, don’t you, whore?”
“I, um…”
Christ, you drive me fucking batshit.”
Doc presses his lips to mine and this time I taste the fear that I saw burning in him when he arrived at Dreams. He was scared for me, and that fear has turned into bright rage. I go limp as he invades my mouth. If I let Doc take what he wants there’s still a chance I can channel his anger into something softer. Something that might free both of us. His hand gropes between my legs, cupping me through my dress. It’s rough and possessive but it doesn’t hurt. I feel a second’s bliss before the office door swings open behind me.
“Vodka?” a woman asks.
Doc pulls away from me. Betty’s standing in the doorway, carrying a tray with three loaded shot glasses. She laughs. “Domenico Valente, kissing a girl on the mouth?”
I turn away, my face burning.
Doc ignores Betty, striding to the door and downing a shot in one.
“Let’s go,” he tells Bobby.
“Sure. Come on, JJ.” As Bobby’s rough hand closes around mine, I dig my heels into the carpet. “Are we going to Velvet House?”
Bobby frowns. “Of course.”
My heart sinks. Some small part of me hoped that we were going somewhere else. That I wouldn’t have to confront Eli Morelli and possibly be sent back to my cage.
But that was always too much to ask for. The Velvet House men stick together.
We walk out of the club, Doc blowing on his bleeding knuckles, Bobby holding my hand. I wait for him to let go, but he keeps his fingers locked between mine. I should be grateful to be mostly okay, mostly alive, but every bit of me feels shaky. As though a deep breath could tear me apart.
A sky-blue Charger is waiting for us in the parking lot and when I climb into the passenger seat, something inside me cracks. I press my face in my hands and begin to cry.