Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Trying to control my nerves, I accept Luna’s hand and shake it, but I’m fully aware that Annika’s eyes have not left my face since she clocked me. I shift my gaze to her and see the suspicion burning like bright blue fire. But I smile and greet her warmly anyway.
I’m meant to be here.
“I’m Ella, it’s nice to meet you.”
Luna is bubbly and gives me a beaming smile. But Annika doesn’t. Which is no surprise.
“I just saw Lars heading toward the security room,” Luna says.
Which is good to know, because I will be going in the opposite direction. The last thing I need is to run into the suspicious enforcer again.
“Thanks, Luna.”
She grins, seemingly unaware of Annika’s unfriendly behavior.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, and this is how she always is with new people.
Or maybe she knows you’re here to steal back your watch and make a grab for the mythical recipe.
“I’ll catch you guys later,” I say, disappearing up the stairs and inside before Annika can burn any more holes into the back of my head.
Inside, the smell of pot and smoke and spilled whiskey mingles with sex and bad choices. In the dim light, I see a threesome taking place on the sofa beneath the staircase. A man lounges on a couch, his fly open, with a girl licking his balls. While a second girl hovers above his face and he licks her pussy. There is so much groaning, I can hear it over the blearing music.
Averting my gaze, I quickly make my way down the corridor leading to the library. The door is ajar, but the lights are off inside. Using my phone, I search the floor for my watch and I’m so engrossed in my hunt for the watch that when the lights flick on, I almost don’t realize it.
I look up, and my eyes connect with Lars who is sitting on the couch across the room, with a sexy smirk on his lips and my mom’s watch dangling from his finger.
“Looking for this, Princess?”
CHAPTER 15
Lars
She looks fucking adorable.
Because she wasn’t expecting me, her eyes flare with surprise. For a split second she doesn’t know what to do. So she bites her lip, which makes me want to walk over there and bend her over the couch and do all the things I’ve been thinking about doing to her since I first laid eyes on her.
But then she straightens her back, and her face hardens, and one eyebrow shoots up.
“Actually, yes.”
She stalks over to me and reaches for it, but I pull it away.
“Not yet, Little Firecracker. Not until you answer a few pressing questions I have.”
She glares at me and crosses her arms. “This again?”
“Yes, this again.”
She sighs heavily. “Okay Sherlock Holmes, what is it you want to know?”
I smile at her attempt to be brave. It’s a facade. But I appreciate it. “Who you are and what you’re doing here.”
“I’m Ella, and I’m here for my mother’s watch.”
“Nice try. How about you tell me who Ella is and why she came to the clubhouse tonight. The first time. And don’t tell me you were Cheezy’s date. You and me both know he’d be punching way above his weight with you. No girl in their right mind would come to the clubhouse with him. Especially not someone who looks like you.”
A smile tugs at the corners of those plush lips. “And how does someone like me look?”
When I stand, I tower over her. “Guilty.”
Her smile quickly fades and then it’s a battle of the arctic stares. She glares at me, and I glare right fucking back at her.
“Give me my watch,” she says through gritted teeth.
“Who are you?”
“Ella.”
“I ran facial recognition, but you don’t exist online.”
She reaches for the watch again, but I pull it away. “I don’t have time for social media,” she snaps.
“But you’re not even tagged in friends’ social media.”
“I don’t have time for those either.”
Jesus, if we keep up this verbal tennis, I’m going to snap and fucking kiss her again.
“Except for Cheezy.”
Her expression sours. “Yeah, except for him.”
I don’t take my eyes off her. “Who are you?”
“I’m no one.”
“Oh you’re someone and I’m going to find out who—”
She turns her head slightly, and the light bounces onto the side of her face that had been cast in shadow until now.
That’s when I notice the bruise on her cheek—a fist-sized bruise that certainly wasn’t there earlier tonight. I zero in on the swollen red lump and feel the darkness unfurl in my chest.
I take her chin in my fingers, and she flinches. “Who the fuck did this to you?”
CHAPTER 16
Ella
Murder.
It burns bright in his eyes.
He’s looking at me like he wants to annihilate the person responsible for the swelling on my cheekbone.
I have to think quick. But the rage in his eyes is wild and bright, and it catches me off guard. “My boss.”