Fatal Exposure (7 page)

No way. She was not going to put up with this crap again. “Who the hell do you think you are? I’m not a person who can be thrown away with the trash. I’m a human being, for God’s sake.” She stood up in front of him, but he wouldn’t respond with words or eye contact. “What is it? It’s not a fantasy anymore now that I have real name?” She watched for his next move, hoping his stone hard expression would lessen. “Say something,” she said softly, changing her tone. “Please.”

He scooped her panties off the floor and threw them at her. “Put ‘em on,” he grumbled and walked to the door.

Ava slid them on and wished she had more to cover herself with. She scanned the room for her teddy and saw it hanging by the door.

Kade picked it off the hook, scrunched the seethrough gown in his hand, and tossed it at her.

“Sorry.” He shook his head. “This whole thing was a huge mistake. I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what? That you were a selfcentered dickhead?” Ava shot back at him. “You’re so hot and cold, I don’t even know if there’s any warmth in that body of yours. Why did you come in here anyway? Did Poppy turn you down? Is that it?”

She was on a roll of fired up adrenaline and couldn’t stop. “She’s a smart girl. More than I gave her credit for. She knew a pompous ass when she saw one. Me?

I shoved away my doubts about you and just let you have your way with me. What kind of fool am I?”

Kade’s light turquoise eyes felt like they were cutting a hole in her heart from across the room.

“You should’ve listened to your intuition, Ava,” he said in a low voice and walked out of the room without looking back.

She wanted to run after him and slap his smug face. If she weren’t a survivor, she might consider crying. But he didn’t deserve her tears. No one did. She slipped her teddy on and clasped it shut. Just in time.

Jarred stumbled into the room breathing heavily with a key in his hand. “Not your boyfriend, huh?”

He threw the shiny piece of metal toward her. It glinted against the dim light and landed at her feet.

“Get in the office. Now. We need to have a talk.”

After a moment of consideration, she nodded and followed Jarred to the owner’s office. She’d screwed up and there was no doubt in her mind she was going to be fired. Although being alone in a room with Jarred for any reason was currently on the bottom of her list of fun things to do. She might as well get it over with. At least that room had windows so she wouldn’t be completely separated from the rest of the club.

She stepped into the doorway, and he pointed at the folding chair in front of the desk cluttered with papers, a laptop, and a few smut magazines. “Sit.”

“I’d rather stand.” She took another couple steps in, only far enough for him to close the door. She heard it slam shut behind her, and before she knew it, she was hauled against the hard wood. His chest pressed against her breasts, and his hands held her wrists above her head.

Tattered blinds hung halfway down the window that looked out to the rest of the club, not letting Ava see if anyone was watching. What had she gotten herself into now?

“Look at me, Ava,” he said into her ear while crushing harder against her. His body wedged between her legs, spreading them apart.
Shit
. Now she couldn’t shove the palm of her hand up the bridge of his nose
or
knee him in the groin. But, goddamn it, if he tried to stick his tongue down her throat, she was going to bite down with all of her might.

“Let me go, Jarred. If I’m fired, I’ll get my stuff and leave.”

“I want to know what you did with your boyfriend in that room.” He leveled his cold, damp lips to her jaw line and licked a path down her neck.

She squirmed against him, sickened by his unwanted touch. She had vowed she’d never let another man hurt her like Zack had. And now here she was at the hands of yet another abuser. “I’m going to scream if you don’t let me go.”

“Go ahead. Nobody gives a shit about you.” He held tighter onto her wrists, and his slimy tongue dipped into her ear.

“No!” she screamed, using the only weapon she had left—her voice. “No!”

“Shut the fuck up,” he growled against her cheek as his knee rode higher against her crotch. “No one’s going to save you. You’re just a whore, opening her legs for any lucky son of a bitch who walks through the front door.”

He mashed his lips against her mouth, and she prepared to bite down.

But a knock on the door made him pause. “Go away. I’m busy,” Jarred shouted to person on the other side.

“Hel—” Ava began to scream but was silenced by Jarred’s hand over her mouth. With his other, he scrambled to grab both of her wrists again. But he failed.

Her hand was free, which meant she had a weapon. Remembering her self-defense instructor’s advice, she shoved her palm as hard as she could upward toward his nose.

Chapter Four

Kade shook his head as he unlocked his hotel room. Why did
Lily
have to be his target? It didn’t make any sense. She had blue eyes, not green. What the hell was Zack Moreno trying to pull?

“Hey,” Poppy called out from across the street.

“Hey, you!”

He turned to see the blonde standing outside the club door wearing that same skimpy outfit she had on earlier. What now? She waved her arms frantically with a panicked look on her face, making Kade take notice.

Cars honked as they sped past. Some slowed and stared at the woman in distress with her fuzzy boa whipping about in the cold wind. Kade hurried across the street, dodging and swerving around the mess she was creating.

“It’s not a good idea for you to stand out here like that,” he said when he reached her, not really sure why he cared. He was saying and doing a lot of unexpected things since Lily—no, Ava crawled under his skin and lit a match.

“Lily,” she started to say, with chattering teeth.

“Get inside,” he ordered. “You’re freezing.” He reached for the door handle, but she stopped him, moving in front of it. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Go look in the office. She’s in there with him.”

Her voice was calm, but her eyes were narrowed and serious.

“Show me where.” He pushed her out of the way and opened the door.

The rugged looking bouncer who always sat by the front door stood from his chair and faced Kade.

“Arm’s up. Spread your legs,” he ordered.

“We just did this,” Kade said but took the stance anyway. He understood the need to protect the women who worked at the club. Who knew how many scumbags walked in here on a daily basis?

Hell, Kade was one of them.

The man patted up his legs while Poppy slipped by them, retreating through a door by the stage.

“Where is she?” Kade called out to her, but she didn’t turn around to acknowledge him. What the hell was going on here?

He scanned the rest of the room, looking for any signs of disorder, but everything and everyone was just as it was when he left. Well, except the bouncer named Jarred was nowhere in sight. The man had fury written all over his face when Kade had passed him on the way out. Unfortunately, Kade had been too distracted to put two and two together.
The son of a bitch better not have hurt her
.

“I need to talk to the owner,” he said, thinking that was his best chance of finding Ava and protecting her from whatever danger she was in.

“Owner’s not in,” the bouncer said, patting under Kade’s arms. “But you can find his brother in the office. Last door on the right. The room with all the windows.”

“Thanks.”

Kade weaved through the maze of purple tables and clear plastic chairs until he reached the first window of the office. Ava’s muffled shouts made him stop in his tracks. He dipped his head down and

peered through the small space under the blinds, but couldn’t see anything other than a cluttered desk. Where was she? His body tensed as he walked to the door and listened. Nothing except the blaring music from the nearby speakers and the thumping of his own heart. He brought his hand up and knocked twice.

A man’s voice answered on just the other side, followed by Ava’s cry for help and the sounds of a scuffle. Oh, shit. He needed to get in there. He had to save her.

His pulse quickened as he brought his foot up and kicked the door once and then again. It swung open just in time to see Jarred holding his bloody nose with one hand and backhanding Ava across the face with the other.

She fell to the floor, and Kade reached for his gun that wasn’t there. It was probably for the best since he believed any man who struck a woman deserved to die.

Kade helped Ava off the ground. Once she was standing, she pulled her arm away from him and looked at him as if he’d been the one who had hurt her. An unwanted feeling of guilt bit into him. He may as well have been. He’d taken advantage of her and left without a second thought. When would he learn?

She rushed out of the room, and Jarred made a move for her. Thinking quickly, Kade shoved him full force against the desk, sending papers flying.

“Stay the hell away from her. If I find out you even glance her way, I’ll kill you.”

“Fuck you,” Jarred said through the blood running into his mouth. “Tell her she can be a whore somewhere else. She’s fired.”

“She quits.” Kade gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Men like Jarred needed to be put in their place, but it wasn’t worth sticking around to fight with the loser. He needed to find Ava to see if she was okay.

****

More angry than frightened, Ava heaved the dressing room door open. She wasn’t leaving without her clothes. Not when she had so few of them to begin with. God, her entire life was in a constant upheaval, and she was sick of it. When was it going to get better? When were men going to stop trying to control her?

Poppy walked out of one of the stalls, and her mouth dropped open. “Did he hit you?” she asked as if it were a shock.

“Not until after I broke his nose.” Ava stopped in front of the blonde, letting her get a good look at the red mark Jarred had left on her face. Her entire left cheek was throbbing in pain. “He was going to rape me, Pop.”

“I don’t believe that. Jarred would never go that far. You probably just antagonized him.”

“Believe whatever you want, but just be careful, okay?” It was no use trying to warn a woman like Poppy—someone who had blinders on that read
thisway to love and happiness
all pointing to Jarred. Ava gave up after not getting so much as a blink as a response. She walked to the stall where her clothes hung.

Poppy followed. “Are you leaving?”

“I’m not sticking around here to find out what Jarred does next. He’s an animal.”

“Is that guy going with you?”

“No,” Ava answered with more force than she had intended. “I’m sure he’s going his separate way.”

“Really? Seems like he cares about you.”

Ava held back a laugh. “Kade cares for no one but himself. Trust me. He’s no better than the likes of Jarred.”

“I’m insulted.” Kade’s voice echoed into the stall where she stood, now completely nude as she prepared to dress in her street clothes. Poppy rolled her eyes at Ava. “Good luck,” she said and left.

Ava held her breath. Knowing he was so close made her ache for contact. Even though she despised him. Even though she knew he’d break her heart over and over until she finally got smart and told him no. How the hell was she going to turn off her own blinders?

A large shadow on the floor told her he was walking toward her. He stopped outside of the stall and leaned against it, staring her down. “You don’t think much of me, do you?”

She turned, letting him see her in full view. She’d rather have him staring at her breasts than scoring her with those intense eyes. “Have you given me a reason to?”

His gaze drifted down for only a second, and then quickly made its way back up. “I’ve never hurt a woman before and I never will.”

“Not that you’ve realized, anyway,” she mumbled and stepped into her panties. She slid them on but kept eye contact all the while.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He moved past her, brushing his muscular arm against her breasts, and sat on the bench behind her.

Her nipples puckered disobediently. “Do you mind? I’m trying to get dressed.” She reached over him and snatched her jeans off the hook above him. Without warning, he grabbed her waist and pulled her onto him like a little girl sitting on Santa Clause’s lap. The only difference was she was a grown woman with more passion for the man before her than she cared to admit.

He inspected her face, while his fingers gently ran down her sore cheek. “I shouldn’t have left you here with him. He had murder in his eyes when I passed him on my way out the door. I’ve seen that look before. I should’ve known.”

Ava wanted to ask where he’d seen it, the same expression she’d noticed on Zack before he beat her to a pulp. But she couldn’t speak. Infatuation filled her pores and tickled at her lips that were so close to his.

“You need to put ice on that,” he said with a visible gulp. “Will you come with me to my room so I can help you?”