Fury (New Adult Romance) - #1.5 Fierce Series (26 page)

I brush my fingers through my hair, anxiety rushing through my
veins. Suddenly a pretty blonde girl comes up to me, and I roll my eyes. I’m
not at all in the mood for this right now.

“Hey,” she says.

When I look at her I swear I’ve seen her before. And then I realize
she’s the girl that was in a fight with a distributor the other day. I was
outside, minding my own business, when they started screaming at each other,
and Wes told me to back off. She’s
that
girl.

I don’t know why I remember, because she isn’t anything special. I
just do. For some reason, this stuck with me. Maybe it’s because of Wes’
threat. Or maybe it’s because the distributor she’s dating is Leafy’s friend.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight as the girl leans
in to me and places her hand on my arm. “I’d love some of that stuff you offer.”

I clear my throat. “You want to buy something from me? Isn’t your
boyfriend part of Alpha Psi too?”

She scowls. “I’m not in the mood to ask him for squat.”

She folds her arms, blinking rapidly as she looks his way. He’s
sitting on a couch with a bunch of girls, smoking again, and they’re all over
him. That must upset her. I don’t like seeing girls hurt.

I purse my lips. “Are you okay?”

“Yes …”

“You don’t look too good,” I say. “You sure you want drugs?”

A quick smile fades from her lips. “I’m fine. Just give me something
to kill the pain, all right?”

“Drugs aren’t the way to kill the pain,” I say. “They could kill
you, though.”

She laughs. “I’m not letting that happen. I’ve got way too much to
live for.”

“All right, if you say so.” I fish out a blunt I rolled before and
hand it over to her. She pushes a few bills into my hand in exchange. “Thanks,
hun.”

She leans against me, her arm around my shoulder while I light the
blunt. She takes a few drags without any trouble. Looks like she’s done this
before. I’m not surprised, knowing she’s the girlfriend of a distributor.

“You know, you look rather cute,” she says, her fingers drifting
through my hair as smoke fills the air around us. Yep, doesn’t take long for
that shit to take effect. She giggles and presses her lips against my cheek.
I’m not really in the mood to be fondled, so I try to push her away, but she
clings to me like I’m her only solace.

“Why can’t I just hug you?” she jests, clearly high as fuck.

I roll my eyes. “You have a boyfriend.”

She snorts. “He doesn’t care about me.” She runs her finger along my
chest. “You look like the type who does care about women.”

I should tell her to fuck off, but my pity for her is stronger than
my apathy.

She hangs on me like a wet towel, draping herself over my shoulder.
She hovers close to my ear, and whispers, “Name’s Scarlet. Could you sell me
some more? I need some cocaine for later. I’m hanging out with some friends. By
the way, I love your muscles.”

It’s hard not to smile at a compliment, but I know that’s the drugs
talking. However, I still give her what she asks for. Anything to get rid of
her as soon as possible.

My gaze shifts around the room while I rummage in my pocket. I
notice Jaret sitting at the poker table, not able to even sit straight. He’s
shitfaced, and it makes me laugh. As I hand Scarlet the packet, my gaze settles
on a brown-haired girl who’s wearing such a short black dress I can almost see
her panties. Her thin legs are amazing and I can’t wait to see what she looks
like up close. But when she turns around, my heart drops to the floor. It’s
Leafy. Shit.

She’s looking straight at me. I know what this must look like,
especially to her. I can see her heart shatter from a distance. I’m painfully
aware of the fact that the one girl I care about sees another girl hanging on
my arms. There couldn’t have been a worse time for her to see me.

Selling drugs is what I do, she knows that. I tried to show her that
she needed to stay away because of all this. Clingy drug-addicted girls come
with being a dealer. Yet I know Leafy thinks I’m a bastard. I can see it in her
teary eyes.

She turns around and runs out the door.

Immediately, I bolt after her, not even caring about anyone else
right now. Jaret brought her here, and I know for a fact that he can’t bring
her home. He’s wasted, and I’m not letting her step into a car with someone I
don’t trust. Wherever she’s running off to, it’s not good.

When I catch up to her, I grab her hand, but she starts kicking
backwards like a crazy girl. “Let me go!”

“No. Not until you listen to me,” I say. I want to explain this to
her. What she saw isn’t who I am.

I’m so distracted by holding her back, she kicks me straight in the
nuts, and I groan. My grip on her slips. “Wow, nice kick. You’ve learned a
lot,” I say, like now’s the time to use some self-defense. I’d hoped she
wouldn’t use it on me.

She makes a run for it, so I swallow away the pain and storm after
her. We’re in the parking lot, surrounded by cars, and I wonder where she
thinks she’s going. She can’t run away from me. I won’t let her get away
without giving me a chance to explain. I need to make this right. But she keeps
running away from me, even though I know I’m faster, which makes me chuckle.
“You wanna play catch? I can do that. I’m Hunter. Seizing innocent prey is what
I do best. You should know better.”

I’m sorry, but chasing girls has always been one of the better
things in life. I like when they put up a good fight. Especially when they’re
dressed like she is right now. Damn, that dress. If it weren’t for our
continuous struggle to get as far away as possible from each other, I’d strip
it off her. But since she’s kind of mad at me right now, it’s better not to
think about that. However, I won’t give up trying to catch her, because I need
her to know that what she saw wasn’t what she thinks it is.

Walking backwards, she shakes her head. She almost tumbles over a
ridge, but I manage to catch her just in time before her head hits the asphalt.
My fingers are wrapped around her wrists, and I snatch her up in my arms.

“Let go of me!” she screams, fighting me off.

“No,” I say, holding her down before she starts slapping me.

“Fuck you!” she hisses. “You can’t keep me here forever. I’m
leaving.”

She tries to squirm free, but I hold her tight between my arms. Her
tiny body is no match for mine, and I can go at this all night. I won’t say no
to a wrestling match with her.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I say.

“Let me go or I’ll―”

Empty threats will get her nowhere. “You’ll what? Scream? Yeah,
nobody’s going to react to that. Not here,” I say, laughing. She thinks she’s
the one in control, but I got news for her.

“I want to go. Now,” she snaps.

“Go where? Home? Good luck. Your driver is wasted, and there’s no
way I’m going to let you go on your own. It’s too far to get to the dorm,
you’ll never make it on foot.”

No way I’m letting her step into Jaret’s car again. I can’t believe
he brought her here in the first place. And to think she got into a car with
him … fuck, I’m feeling jealous of her trust in him. For some reason I feel
like punching trees. Everything’s so fucked up tonight, and she won’t listen to
me.

“I’ll call a cab,” she snarls.

Right, because obviously she can pay for that. I don’t believe two shits
of that. She just wants to get away from me. “With what money?” I ask.

“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?”

Well, that’s nothing new. I never believed she viewed me as anything
but an asshole. I just don’t want her to endanger herself because of it. Although
I seriously don’t get why she keeps calling me all sorts of names without actually
knowing what’s going on.

“Why? Because I give girls what they want?” I say, laughing. It’s
quite amusing hearing her fume like this when she doesn’t have a clue what’s
going on. She thinks I’m into girls like Scarlet.
That’s
why she’s mad. She’s mad because I’m not what she thought I was. I hate
disappointing her, but this is the cold, harsh truth. I’m not good for her, and
she knows it.

“Let’s face it, you thought I was a sweet, troubled guy who just
needed a friend. And now you find out how wrong you are about me,” I say.

She slams her mouth shut, clenching her teeth together, angrily
staring at me. Hatred seeps through her eyes. Of all the times, this is the
moment she chooses to keep her mouth shut?

“You can give me the silent treatment all you want, but we’re going
to talk. Eventually. I can wait.”

“Fuck you! I saw you in there … Pathetic. Scarlet’s with Brody. How
could you do that?” she yells.

“Brody was right there with us. Do you think he’d be relaxing on a
couch with a bunch of girls if he minded?” I shake my head. “You’ve got it all
wrong. Scarlet’s the one in pain. She was just looking for some distraction.”

“Whatever.” Averting her eyes, she looks away.

“Regardless, I’m not going to let you just walk away from here.”

“And you think you can stop me? Not a chance.” She starts wriggling
in my arms again, but I have her firmly in my hold.

“Want to test out that theory?” I whisper close to her ear, smiling
like the fucker I am. It’s never been this tempting to run after a girl, which
I have done before. But I’m not in the mood to play games. I’m serious. I’m not
a guy you can run away from. I’ll catch you eventually.

I place her down on the ground, grab her hand and drag her to the
car Wes gave me. “Get in.”

If she doesn’t want to talk, fine, then I’m taking her home. I won’t
let her stay here, and she’s not going anywhere without me, either.

“Since when do you have a car?” she says.

Like it matters. “Borrowed it. Now get in.”

“I don’t want to,” she says.

I sigh. “Do you want to stay here all night? Or do you want to go
home?”

“I don’t care.”

I’m done. “Get. In.”

“No.”

“Goddammit, get inside or I’ll lift you up and lock you in myself.”

I’m not taking no for an answer. She needs to be safe and sound, and
the only way to do that is to get her out of here, fast. I’m the only one who
can do it.

She sighs, but then finally sets a foot inside. When she sits down,
I say, “Stay here,” and I close the door. I make my way to the other side of
the car, get in, and start the engine.

Chapter
22

No More Holding Back

Rain is pounding on the car window. It’s deadly quiet in here since
Leafy stopped talking. I don’t like it one bit. It’s not her at all. And now
I’m getting frustrated too, because I can’t see anything through this rain.
Damn it. Nothing’s going right today. I want to fix this between us, but I
don’t know how.

“Before I take you home, I need you to do something for me,” I say.

She snorts and shakes her head. My request isn’t that awful.

“Talk,” I say. That’s all I want. I want her to tell me why she’s so
mad. I need to know what she feels for me. If she can see past all this.

“You’re really mad, aren’t you?” I say when she refuses to answer.

“Damn right I am,” she scoffs.

I laugh, because she’s cute when she’s angry. “You’re getting worked
up over nothing.”

“You were trading drugs again! I wouldn’t be surprised if you took
some yourself, too,” she snaps.

I laugh. She has it so wrong. I’d never willingly take the crap I’m
forced to sell. “I only sell it. I don’t take it. I told you, I hate that
stuff. I would never take it unless they forced me to.”

“Well, you were at that party, which is already bad enough.”

I agree, but it’s not like I can do anything about it. And what was
she doing there anyway? She has no business coming to Alpha Psi parties. Damn
Jaret for bringing her there. “You were there, too,” I say. “Quite a surprise
to me. I can’t believe you showed up there. Do you even know how fucking
dangerous that is, huh?”

She obviously doesn’t realize this gang can fuck people up. Big
time.

“I was looking for you. Jaret brought me. It was his idea.” She
folds her arms.

“Yeah, and I’m going to thoroughly thank him for that later.” If it
wasn’t for the fact that I need him to help me, I would have kicked his ass.

“Don’t blame it on him. I didn’t say no. I wanted to see what you
were doing, and I was right all along.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Oh? So now you’re the one watching me?” I don’t
want to admit that I’ve been looking out for her, but I have. She shouldn’t see
it as a free pass to get reckless, though. “You’re following me, checking what
I do,” I add. “You went to a party in
that
dress, just to keep up with
me.”

I skim her dress again, my eyes lingering on her barely covered tits
and her succulent thighs. I’m hungering to find out what color panties she’s
wearing. She looks fucking hot in that dress. It surprises me, because it’s not
something she usually wears.