Honor

I called Chuck and told him to make sure the building was clear of people and also to see if he could find a twenty-four-hour exterminator. He already had his guys doing a floor-by-floor sweep for any remaining clubgoers. He told me to take the night off and that we could tackle the mess and whoever was behind it in the morning.

I begrudgingly agreed and made my way over to where Keelyn was standing by her car.

“I need to burn everything I have on right now. You owe me a new pair of Jimmy Choos.” She stuck out her foot and scowled at the strappy, nude-colored high heel her foot was encased in.

“I’ll buy you whatever you want. Let’s get out of here. I’ll follow you up to the house.” I had been spending so much time at the club I hadn’t been to the mountain house in almost a full week. I was ready for a night in my own bed. Preferably with her under me . . . or over me . . . I wasn’t too picky.

“Are we seriously going to just pretend like the entire club wasn’t overrun with rats like some kind of plague and pestilence out of the Bible? What’s going on, Nassir?”

I sighed and rubbed a hand roughly over my face. “I’m not sure. Can we talk about this later? I want a shower and five minutes to calm down so I don’t put my fist through a wall.”

She must have seen the barely contained violence that was boiling in my gaze because she took a step back without arguing and nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you at the house.”

She got into her little car, and I walked over to my much more expensive one. I loved the Bentley. It screamed king of the fucking mountain, but it was also fast and handled like a dream. I appreciated the opulence of it. I pulled out of the parking lot behind Key, making sure to keep her in sight as we tooled through the city. My mind was a million miles away, wondering how someone could be circumventing my security system and what they gained by messing with my new club.

I made enemies like it was the one job in life I was born to do, but most people with a grudge against me wanted to put my head on a pike not a dent in my fat pocketbook. I didn’t understand it and that annoyed me even more. Revenge and retribution were the things I’d been weaned on, so I should be able to figure out why someone was toying with my new club. It all felt very random and woefully immature.

I rested my wrist on the steering wheel and forced myself to concentrate on the twin red taillights in front of me. Desire, sharp and jagged, poked at the anger that was flooding my veins. I would have Keelyn in my house, alone for the next few days, while the infestation at the club was taken care of. If there was ever an opportunity to show her that this thing between us was inevitable, this was it. She could push and push at me until she tired herself out and then I would pick her up and take her to bed because by then she would be begging me to. A grin pulled at the corner of my mouth at the idea of Keelyn Foster begging for anything, ever. It was a nice fantasy, but I knew she was going to fight me every step of the way. That’s why no one else but her would do.

I squinted as bright lights suddenly illuminated the interior of the car. I glanced into the rearview mirror and frowned when all I could see was headlights because the car behind me was so close to my bumper. The hair on the back of my neck stood up a little as I eased my foot off the gas and slowed way down. I heard an engine rev up as the car behind me sped up instead of slowing down to match my new pace. I frowned and tightened my hands so that I was actually holding the steering wheel in a tight grip. I saw Key’s taillights pull farther and farther away, which was what I wanted. I wasn’t sure why the person behind me was riding my ass, but after the week I had had, I wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

I let the Bentley pick up a little bit of speed and switched lanes to see if the person behind me would pass. They didn’t. They switched lanes as well and I wasn’t surprised in the slightest when I heard metal screech against metal as their bumper made contact with mine. The Bentley wobbled a little, but Bentleys were luxury cars made for rich people with a lot to lose, so the love tap barely sent me off course. I slammed the gas pedal down to the floor and the car leaped forward smoothly. I shot my gaze to the rearview to see if I could get a license plate or tell what kind of car it was, but the brights shining in my eyes made that impossible.

I knew I had the driving skills and the horsepower to outrun pretty much anyone on the road. But I didn’t have that luxury, because as soon as I sped up I ended up catching up to the Honda and to Key, who had obviously slowed down to see where I had gone. I swore and tried to flash my lights at her to get her to move, but that just made her slow down even more, forcing me to slam on the brakes to avoid rear-ending her and pushing her off the road. I didn’t have any choice but to let the other car that had been chasing me catch up. I didn’t want to run the risk of speeding past Key and having the other driver pursue her instead. When the other car reached me it was still going top speed since the driver was trying to catch up to me, and the impact when our vehicles collided was brutal and violent enough that it sent the Bentley careening off the shoulder of the road.

I probably would’ve been able to regain control. The Bentley was made to take a hit; what it wasn’t made to do was fly. The shoulder had enough of a lip on it that once the wheels caught it at the speed I was going, the car lifted up into the air. I watched everything go upside down, and I knew the impact was going to be harsh and violent. All I could think about was Key telling me my forever was never going to be as long as someone else’s and how this just served to prove her point.