LIGHTER Read online

  Her twitchy mouth was going to make me do things I’d later regret. I’d like to bend her over my knee one good time and put her mouth to use in a much more productive way. Nine inches would keep her quiet. Spoiled bitch. The thought of my dick gagging her made my ugly khaki pants tight.

  What the hell was I thinking? She was eighteen years old. I took a deep breath.

  All the adrenaline was making my head foggy. The only head that was working was the one I needed deep inside a warm pussy.

  I groaned before following her inside the room. I made a quick sweep of the place and kept an eye on Lighter. She shook hands with the ladies in the room before taking a seat at the long table. It felt like a board meeting or something. The room was dark and musty. Most of the women were over the age of fifty, if I had to guess. A few of them took notice of me, like the tall blonde sitting next to Lighter, but for the most part I was just part of the wallpaper. I kept quiet, doing my job. With my hands tucked deep into the pockets of my slacks, I stared at Lighter.

  “Thank you for stepping in for your mother, Lighter. We have so much to go over before the gala,” the leggy blonde said. She must’ve been the leader of this wolf pack.

  “My pleasure.” Lighter smiled. Her voice wasn’t that of a lost teenage girl. It was all business. “Let’s get to work.”

  I’d never been more engrossed in a conversation from a room full of women than I was in that moment. They were discussing ways to spend the fundraiser money, and the cost of this black-tie gala they were hosting. The amount of money being tossed around in that room was more than I’d ever seen in my lifetime. But that wasn’t what impressed me.

  Fuck, man.

  “Look.” Lighter’s voice picked up over the sea of voices. “Both charities are great. Why can’t we give money to both?”

  “We usually net around five million from the fundraiser, after expenses. That’s why we only devote to one charity,” a dark-haired woman stated.

  “What if I can double it?” Lighter stated firmly. The room grew quiet, all attention on her, including mine. After a long pause, she continued. “Let’s do a date auction.” There were a few snickers. “Oh come on, Sandra. Ten girls and we can double our money. Do you know how many men will open their fat-ass wallets for a date with a hot, young girl?

  Well, I’ll be damned. I think there was a bit of Derosa in that girl after all.

  “Think it over and call me with what you want to do. Mom won’t be back for five weeks, so I’ll be taking her place until then. But if you decide you want to do that date auction, I’ll set everything up. It’s for a good cause, ladies, and we’re talking about doubling the amount of money. My vote is yes. Call me when you decide.” She stood up from her chair. “I’ll call the catering service and make our last-minute changes in the meantime. It’s been a pleasure.”

  Lighter exited the room like she was queen of that fucking castle. I didn’t know what the hell happened in there. I couldn’t explain it, even if I wanted to. She kept her head down as she made her way past me to the door. Again, she was avoiding me.

  I was hot on her heels when we strode through the hallway, making our way closer to the exit. Before stepping outside, I reached my arm out like a fishhook and caught her by the waist, pulling her back against the wall.

  “What the hell was that back there?” I asked. She should’ve known by now that I could fly off the handle at any given moment. Why test me?

  Her eyes were big but only landed on mine for a second. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s a meeting.”

  Looking to the left, I checked to make sure that no one was there to see. “This has nothing to do with that meeting. I’m talking about how you haven’t so much as glanced in my direction since this morning. I didn’t hurt your little boyfriend on purpose. I did my job, what I’m paid to fucking do. I’ll always do that first. So, if you’d kindly get the giant stick out of your ass and quit prancing around here like you’re five years old, that’d be great. You’re acting all butthurt over this.”

  I could see the heat rising in her neck. “He’s not my boyfriend.” Her words were no longer powerful like they’d been just moments before. She was weak now—weak and under my control.

  “Right, and I’m not hanging to the left,” I said sarcastically.

  Her eyes grew wide, and she tried to move, pushing off the wall, but I held her firmly in place with my body. It was in that moment that she could feel just how much my body was responding to her. My dick was pressed tightly against her waist and saluting the heavens.

  “It’s complicated,” she responded breathlessly, and for the first time, she looked straight into my eyes. Those gray eyes burned me on contact. Right on cue, my dick twitched. Her mouth parted, and her trapped body had nowhere to go. I wanted to kiss those pouty little lips of hers, and she would’ve taken it. She would’ve taken anything I gave her and liked it.

  Her tiny fingers curled into my shirt, and I felt like I’d caught her in the trap. Like I’d dangled the meat in front of her watering mouth and she was ready to take a bite.

  Uh-uh.

  “No, no, little girl.”

  Eight

  Lighter

  I’d had it with his crap. He pressed himself up against me and called me a little girl.

  Ugh!

  I was a complete idiot. He was nothing but a jerk. Just like every other man I’d ever met.

  The sound of footsteps made him move, and I used the opportunity to slide my body away from his and head straight for the door. I walked as fast as my short legs would take me, straight to the SUV. Norman was standing next to it on the passenger side and opened the door as soon as he saw me.

  “Miss,” he started. But I was inside the vehicle before he had a chance to say another word.

  I kept my head facing the window and didn’t even flinch when Slick climbed in beside me. The days of me noticing his every move were over. No idea what I ever saw in him. I mean, besides the obvious. His words were so hurtful. The emotion of it all was hard to swallow. It felt like a lump was sitting in my throat, and I couldn’t swallow it down. A part of me even wanted to cry, but I would never let him see that. I had more pride than that.

  “Where to, miss?” Norman asked me.

  “Home,” I snipped. “I’m canceling the rest of my day. Not feeling well, so I think I’ll spend the rest of the evening in bed,” I added, knowing exactly what I was saying. Slick was smart enough to decipher the hidden meaning of my words. Landon may be clingy, but at least he didn’t make me feel like less of a woman. He actually wanted me. Maybe there was a time when I felt the same way about him. But we weren’t the same people we’d been five years ago.

  I grew up. He stayed the same teenage boy.

  From the looks of things, men never grew up.

  I pulled out my cell phone and spent the rest of the car ride canceling all of my appointments and rescheduling things for Mom. It was childish of me to move around my responsibilities, but I did it anyway. I’d already spent more time than I cared to with Slick.

  When we arrived back at the garage, I waited until Slick and I were alone again before I said anything else. Maybe I needed the drive to build my confidence, or maybe I was just fed up. But he worked for us. He was an employee, and he’d soon start acting like it.

  The doors opened to the elevator, and we stepped inside.

  Just say it, Lighter, I told myself. There was no time like the present.

  Clearing my throat, I said the words like they were the last words I’d ever be able to speak. They were clear and to the point. “Do not ever do that to me again, Slick.” I turned to face him. “The next time you attempt to put your hands on me, I will have my father get rid of you, and I won’t lose any sleep over it. You can play these messed-up mind games with your whores, but never again with me. Get your dick wet with that, asshole.”

  The elevator doors slid open, and I stepped out feeling like I could barely breathe. I didn’t give him t
ime to respond. I took a right and went straight to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me.

  “That was fast,” Landon said from the midst of my dark bedroom.

  “Shit, Landon!” I jumped back. “You scared me.”

  “I’m sorry, baby.”

  I cringed. The word baby just rolled off his tongue.

  I turned on the light, and there he was tucked up in my comforters making himself right at home. His shirt was lying on the edge of my comforter, and I silently hoped he wasn’t completely naked in my bed.

  “Do you have clothes on?” I asked. If my dad walked in and found a guy naked in my bed, he’d have a fit. Probably shoot the guy’s head off. Dad barely knew Landon. It didn’t matter if I was eighteen or twenty-five. He wouldn’t allow it in his house. But I couldn’t just put him up in a guest room either. He was my friend. I wanted him to be comfortable.

  “Maybe,” he replied with a smug grin.

  I groaned. “You better hope you do. My dad will shoot you between the eyes, and I’m not kidding.”

  With a swift swing of his arm, the cover flew off. I didn’t have time to prepare my eyes for what was happening, but luckily he still had on his jeans.

  Landon and I may have been fake dating all these years, but I hadn’t had sex with him. The one and only time I’d had sex ended in a nightmare, and I never wanted to recall that situation ever again.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked, climbing up on the edge of the bed. Reaching out my hand, I gripped his chin and turned his head to get a better look. “Your cheek looks bruised. Does it hurt?”

  He shrugged. “Nah. Hurt my pride worse than my body.” There was a small grin on his lips. His hand rested on his chest above his heart. “It didn’t look good being roughed up in front of my girl.”

  “Landon.” I sighed.

  “Lighter,” he mimicked.

  “You’re my closest friend,” I started to say, but he stopped me.

  “Not the friend thing again.” He took my hand and pulled me gently into his side. I won’t lie and say that it wasn’t comfortable and natural. It was. It had been since the beginning. But I only ever thought of him as a friend aside from the five minutes I’d wanted to jump his bones, but that was like four years ago. It was in the heat of the moment, and the thought never crossed my mind again.

  At some point in our friendship, he latched on, staking claim on me as if he had rightful ownership. But I wasn’t a piece of property. Everything changed after that, from the way he talked to me to the way that he looked at me. Even the way he touched me. The line between friendship and romantic relationship was withering away, and it made me want to keep him at a distance. I wanted the friendship that we used to have, where there were no complications. He wanted so much more—way more than I could give him. He never forced it on me, but the way he smothered me with affection made it hard for me to even want friendship with him anymore. Sure, it was wrong of me to suggest the fake dating to begin with, but he knew my intentions were to have nothing more than a friend-zone relationship. He needed to respect my decision and move on.

  “I’m scared,” I admitted. “You want more from this. From us.” I motioned between the two of us. I could feel the tension building up in the side of my neck and had to rise up. A migraine was creeping in. “I just can’t do this, Landon.”

  “Don’t you even want to try?” He sat up so that the two of us were face-to-face. “We’ve been best friends for years. We know each other better than anyone else.”

  I took his hand in mine. “You have to know how much you mean to me. You’re one of the most important people in my life, and I can’t picture my world without you.”

  “But…” he interjected.

  “The moment I realized your feelings had changed, I started pushing you away. It made me feel uncomfortable, and I hate saying that because I love you so much. I didn’t want things changing between us. I don’t ever want to lose you as my friend. You understand that, right? Please tell me you do.” My eyes started to fill with tears that I wasn’t about to let fall free. This was the longest day ever. My temple was starting to throb.

  “Come here,” he said, pulling me to his chest. “I understand, okay.”

  But did he really?

  I didn’t say anything more. I couldn’t, for fear that I would lose it and all the tears that I’d been holding back would come racing out.

  Wrapping my arms around his waist, I hugged him close. His warm body was like my security blanket, always there when I needed it. When his hand came to rest on the side of my head, I winced, not realizing just how bad my headache already was. There was a shooting pain from my temple down the back of my neck.

  “Lie down, Lighter.” He knew right away what was wrong with me. “I’ll turn your lights off and get your ice pack.” He had been in my life so long that he knew the signs of my migraines without me saying it, and I loved him so much for it.

  I didn’t have the strength or desire to fight back. I didn’t want to speak. All I wanted to do was silently pray that I could get to sleep fast, because the right-side migraine made me vomit.

  What a way to end this stupid, piece-of-crap day.

  I couldn’t catch a break.

  Nine

  Slick

  She was in there. She was locked away in her bedroom with that measly piece of shit. The thought made me cringe. I knew what she was implying when she told Norman that she wanted to stay in her room. She was coy about it, like it was no big deal. But I could read between the lines. I may have been a Camden street rat, but I wasn’t a complete idiot, despite what most people thought of me.

  Her words were meant to hurt me, like the ones I’d spewed at her. They didn’t though. At the end of the day, I was still only concerned for her safety. She could fuck him sideways into next week for all I cared. What bothered me the most was that I didn’t know this guy. Was he a threat? Would he hurt her? He could’ve been a fucking whack job for all I knew. Her father’s words were hammered into my brain. He had told me countless times that I was in charge and my word was law with her. I wasn’t supposed to take no for an answer, and I most certainly wasn’t supposed to let anyone near her that could possibly be a threat.

  Was he a threat?

  I growled.

  There was still some fire left in me, and the need to burn someone was fresh. When she told me in the elevator that she’d have her father get rid of me, I could barely see straight. It was too much power for one little girl, and it grated on my nerves that she’d held that over my head. It felt like she was yielding a knife, just waiting for the right moment to jab it in my neck.

  I didn’t know which was worse: her weak side that crumbled under my touch, or her strong side that threatened my life. Either way she’d gotten under my skin. She was an itch I couldn’t scratch.

  “You look like you need something strong,” Tony said. He was Trim around here, but I didn’t like calling him that.

  “I could use more than that,” I sighed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I’ve been on edge since this morning.”

  He nodded. “The perks of the job, I guess. Maybe you need to hit the gym more. You know, let out all that built-up anger.”

  “Anger?” I cocked my head to the side.

  He laughed. “More like rage. It’s all over your face, brother. You’ve had your panties in a twist since you started this job. I know it’s stressful, but you let that girl get the best of you. She’s eighteen.”

  Running my hands down my face, I glanced over at him. The man never missed a beat.

  “Maybe we should hit up the bar tonight. You can channel that rage into a pretty brunette,” he suggested.

  “Yeah, maybe.” I grinned. Being balls-deep inside a hot pussy was just what the doctor ordered. At least I hoped it was.

  My back was against the refrigerator when the shirtless douchebag rushed in. Suddenly, the “rage” was back. He seemed to be the biggest cause of it today. He scanned the kitchen,
quickly brushing us off like we weren’t even standing there, and headed straight for Mrs. Wright.

  His fingers motioned as if he were giving her a list.

  I glanced at Tony, giving him a “what the fuck“ look. Was this kid for real, spouting orders at the help?

  “Mind telling me what’s going on?” I asked. As head of security, I needed to know what happened with Lighter at all times. At least that’s what I was telling myself.

  The smug look on his face made me want to punch him again. Only this time, I’d make sure to break his nose.

  “Lighter has a migraine,” he stated. Glancing back at Mrs. Wright, he continued. “Can you make sure she has a spare ice pack by her bed?”

  Mrs. Wright nodded and quickly went to work.

  “Does she have some medicine to take?” I asked, directing my question to anyone who was listening. My sister used to take some specific meds for her migraines that seemed to help.

  “How long have you worked here?” Landon asked me. The tone of his voice made me step closer to him. I was about to pummel the little shit into next week. His hands flew up. “I’m only asking because this happens a lot, man. She has two or three migraines a week sometimes, and there isn’t a medicine out there that has helped. She has a severe case, and she’ll be down for at least twenty-four hours. If not more,” he rambled.

  That would’ve been a nice little piece of information to include in that stupid binder Mr. Derosa kept. You’d think he’d want me to know that she suffered from debilitating headaches a little more than knowing she wears a size-six-and-a-half shoe.

  “You should go,” I told him.

  He nodded and stepped around me to walk away. Instead of going to the elevator, he headed for the hallway that led to her room.

  Tony strode after him before my feet had even moved.