One Night of Scandal (11 page)

“Let him go, you stupid brute!”

Darcy hurtled forward without thinking and threw herself at Jeff. She collided into him with a thud, grabbing his hair with both hands and pulling hard.

The man roared in outrage, and then his elbow shot back and clipped her right in the face. She flew backward, promptly losing her footing and falling on the floor with an ungraceful thump.

The curtain suddenly whipped open, AJ’s incensed voice rising over the music. “What the
hell
?”

Chapter Eleven

Reed struggled for air as his lungs began working again. AJ had yanked Jeff off him, and the bouncer was now being restrained by both AJ and Gage, who’d hurled themselves into the fray.

Panting out ragged breaths, Reed wildly searched the dark space for Darcy. His chest tightened right back up again when he spotted her on the ground.

Her palm was pressed to her left cheek, and the vulnerable, protective gesture smashed apart the last bit of his control. Growling, he threw himself at Jeff, whose arms had been yanked behind his back by Gage.

Reed bunched up the bouncer’s collar, digging his fingers into the flesh at the base of the man’s neck. He still couldn’t believe Jeff was the culprit. His supposed
friend
, the man he’d done a solid for by giving him this job. That error of judgment, combined with the fact that Jeff had laid a hand on Darcy, was enough to make him go postal.

“You better hope the cops lock you up tonight,” Reed hissed out. “Because if I find out you’re not behind bars, I’m going to hunt you down and kill you.”

AJ’s calm voice penetrated the red haze of fury. “Get Darcy out of here, bro. We’ll take care of this.”

The urge to beat the living crap out of their traitorous bouncer was so powerful Reed could taste it on his lips, but he forced himself to release the man. Sucking in a breath, he whirled around and took Darcy’s arm just as she staggered to her feet. Then he squared his jaw and dragged her out of the tiny space. He saw her mouth move, but couldn’t hear what she said over the loud music or the deafening hammering of his heart.

Reed shoved open the emergency exit door and pulled her through it. As they entered the fluorescent-lit corridor, the music became muffled again, and Darcy’s protests became audible.

“Where are we going? We should wait until the cops come!”

“You’re not staying in this club a second longer,” he snapped. He couldn’t even look at her, afraid that if he saw the damage Jeff had done to her face, he might storm back inside and strangle the man with his bare hands. “You’re leaving.”

He tried to forcibly make her walk, but she didn’t budge. “Reed, stop.”

“Goddammit, am I going to have to carry you out of here myself?” When another objection left her lips, he scooped her off her feet. “I guess so.”

Darcy’s astonished squeak barely even registered. He flung her over his shoulder and marched toward the metal door at the hallway’s end, ignoring her angry yelps and the small fists battering his back.

“Put me down right this instant! Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re doing this! I hate you so much right now!”

He didn’t respond, didn’t even acknowledge the squirming woman in his arms. To her credit, though, she was implementing a damn good worm, wiggling like a pro as she attempted to escape his grasp.

Only when they emerged into the alley that separated the club from the restaurant next door did he put her down.

Ignoring the death glare she shot him, he spoke in a low, deadly voice. “I have one question for you. And you better answer it right.”

Aggravation darkened her eyes. “I can’t believe you just carried me out of there like I was a five-year-old!”

“Answer the question, Darcy.”

“You didn’t ask one!”

He drew a calming breath. “What the hell were you thinking attacking Jeff like that?”

She looked amazed that he would even ask. “He had you pinned against the wall! I didn’t want him to hurt you. I was trying to protect—”

“Wrong answer,” he cut in. “The correct answer was,
I’m sorry, Reed. I was being stupid
.”

Her jaw fell open. “It was stupid of me to want to
help
you?”

“It was stupid of you to throw yourself at a man who’s twice your size! He could have killed you!”

Reed’s breathing was labored as he examined her face, running his shaky fingers over the red mark on her cheek. Jeff had hit her right on the cheekbone, and when Reed noticed the slight swelling there, red-hot anger bubbled in his stomach. The thought of Darcy getting hurt, and on his watch, made him want to smash his fist into the brick wall behind her head.

Afraid he’d say something he might regret, he gave her cheek one last caress before taking her hand and leading her toward the alley’s entrance. He expected more protesting, but Darcy followed him silently, all the way to the main street and then around the side of the club to the parking lot behind it.

“My car’s over there,” she said in a tight voice.

Her displeased tone didn’t spark even an iota of guilt or remorse. The shock of learning that Jeff was the one dealing drugs at Sin was nothing compared to the horror of seeing the man’s elbow connect with Darcy’s face. Protective urges he’d never known he possessed had reared their head, and they were surging through his blood now, refusing to let Darcy out of his sight.

He walked her to her older model hatchback, then gestured to her purse. “Keys,” he said flatly.

She pulled her key ring out of her purse and wordlessly handed it over. Reed clicked the button to unlock the doors, then hovered over her while she settled in the driver’s seat.

“You’re behaving like a total Neanderthal,” she muttered as she reached for the door handle.

Stifling his frustration, he rounded the vehicle and slid into the passenger side before she could drive away. “I won’t apologize for being worried about you. You saw the look in Jeff’s eyes—he was like a cornered animal. He would’ve knocked you unconscious if it meant escaping. “

After a beat, Darcy spoke grudgingly. “Fine, I can see why you’re upset.”

He waited, but when she didn’t continue, irritation seized his chest. “I still haven’t heard an apology for you throwing yourself in the middle of a dangerous situation.”

“I was trying to help you!”

“At the expense of your own safety? For fuck’s sake, I thought you had more sense than that.”

Her blue eyes blazed. “I’m hating you again. This whole alpha macho thing is annoying.”

“Tough shit. I don’t care if you’re annoyed. The next time you’re in the same room as a huge bouncer who’s out for blood, stay far away from him, do you hear me?”

The insufferable woman had the nerve to give him a haughty look.

“Damn it, Darce. What’s it gonna take to make you recognize how reckless you were? Am I going to have to fuck some sense into you? Is that it?”

Rather than the angry retort he expected, she responded with a gleam of defiance in her eyes. “Maybe you should.”

In the blink of an eye, the tension in the car transformed into a thick canopy of heat.

With a low growl, Reed leaned over the center console and captured her lips in a hard kiss. Then he pulled back slightly, hissing a warning against her mouth. “You’re trouble. Go home and put some ice on your cheek.”

“No.” She smirked at him.

“Darcy…”

“I don’t feel like going home yet. So whatcha gonna do about it? Punish me?”

Sweet baby Jesus. No woman had
ever
aggravated him this much. And for someone who worked in an environment that revolved around enforcing rules and following directions, Darcy sure as hell didn’t subscribe to her own teaching philosophy.

All she ever did was argue with him, challenge him, and at the moment, he was torn between yelling at her again, and ripping her clothes off and screwing her into silence.

Reed slowly released a breath. “Get in the backseat. Now.”

It was almost comical how fast she scrambled. Her excitement incinerated the air, and he was surprised that the windows didn’t fog up from all the heat she was radiating. But he didn’t expect them to stay transparent for long. The temperature spiked by about a hundred degrees as he climbed into the back with her. It was hard to maneuver in such a cramped space, but luckily they didn’t require much room for what he had in mind.

Slow and methodical, Reed undid the top button of her jeans, his gaze glued to her flushed face. Her lips had parted, the anticipation in her eyes so powerful it seared right through him and turned his cock to granite.

“Next time I say
wait here
, you’d better goddamn listen.” His voice was tinged with danger.

“Yeah, and what if I don’t want to listen?” Darcy shot back.

He pushed her jeans down her hips, then freed one silky leg from the denim. Her black bikini panties were so skimpy they barely covered her mound, and his mouth filled with saliva as he stared at her creamy thighs.

“Then that would make you a bad girl, wouldn’t it? And do you want to know what I do to bad girls?” Reed dragged his own zipper down, the tick-tick-tick of metallic teeth being released echoing in the car. “I fuck them. I fuck them hard.”

“Oh God.” Darcy squirmed beneath him, her arousal surrounding him like a seductive mist.

He cupped her damp panties with one hand and discovered that she was soaking wet. His cock pulsed, a jolt of need drawing his balls up tight. Christ almighty. He needed to be inside her more than he needed his next breath.

He eased his pants lower and released his cock from his boxer briefs. He paused to slip a condom packet out of his pocket, tore it open with his teeth, and sheathed himself. A second later, he drove his aching cock into her tight channel, so deep that the force of his hips had their bodies sliding toward the door and Darcy’s head bumping the handle.

She didn’t seem to care—her arms came around him, grasping the back of his head to bring him down for a kiss. Their mouths locked as he pumped inside her, over and over again, each unforgiving thrust stealing another piece of his sanity, another shard of his self-control.

“I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you,” he choked out, startled by the desperate note he heard in his voice.

Her eyes widened, lips parting in surprise. “Oh.” She visibly swallowed as their bodies went still. “I’m fine, Reed. I really am. You don’t have to worry about—”

He kissed her before she could finish, the adrenaline from the fight and the panic from seeing Darcy get hurt still burning like jet fuel in his bloodstream. Christ, he didn’t want to think about any of that right now. He just wanted…needed…
her
.

Groaning, he resumed the frantic pace, determined to send both of them over the edge.

“Don’t stop. Don’t ever, ever stop.” Her agonized pleas tickled his lips, and when she shifted her head and sank her teeth into his shoulder, Reed growled in pain and thrust harder.

He filled her with his cock, squeezing her breasts over her shirt as adrenaline and anger and concern and lust mingled together to fuel a furious tempo that set off a bone-melting release that spread through his body like waves of lava. He couldn’t control it, couldn’t wait for Darcy to reach that same earth-shattering apex, but fortunately she wasn’t far behind, and his dick remained rock hard as he fucked her through her climax despite the fact that his own had turned his brain and body to jelly.

Darcy rocked beneath him, her body trembling as she rode out the orgasm. Her hot sheath squeezed him so tight his cock jerked inside her again, pulsing with pure, unadulterated ecstasy.

Groaning, Reed collapsed on top of her, doing his best not to crush her with his weight. Again, she didn’t seem to mind, holding him close as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“I think I need to piss you off more often.” The words shuddered out on a laugh. “Because I’m totally digging your choice of punishment.”

Now that he’d come down from the orgasmic high and his brain had started functioning again, the feeling of deep betrayal returned.

“I was the one who hired him,” Reed mumbled. “Of all the stupid, irresponsible decisions—”

“Hey,” she said firmly. “You didn’t know what he was up to. You were just helping out a friend.”

A friend. Ha. More like a fellow troublemaker from his fuck-up days.

Damn it, he should’ve known better than to trust Jeff. To believe that his old buddy had actually changed. Instead, he’d given the guy a goddamn
job
, and that mistake could have cost him and his friends their business.

“Seriously, Reed, you can’t blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault that he—”

The wail of sirens cut her off.

Sirens that didn’t sound far away at all, but like they were coming from nearby.

Or, more accurately, from that very parking lot.

Reed froze as the red-and-blue lights shone through the windshield of their car, casting a ghostly glow over Darcy’s face. He discreetly lifted his head, then swore when he spotted the two police cars cruising through the lot.

Shit. The cops had arrived to arrest Jeff.

Which would’ve been a fantastic thing—if Reed currently wasn’t in the backseat of a car with his bare ass hanging out and his cock still lodged inside Darcy.

“Crap,” he mumbled. “Don’t make a single sound, Darce.”

Obedience was too much to hope for.

Darcy took one look at the flashing lights, opened her mouth, and howled with laughter.

“Oh my God,” she sputtered between giggles. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Reed was forced to clamp his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

He doubted the officers could hear them, but damn it, he had no desire to get arrested for lewd conduct. On the one occasion he’d had the misfortune of landing in lockup—after a citation for public intoxication he and some fighting buddies were slapped with back when he was twenty—Reed had vowed to become a model citizen. Jail cells were too damn claustrophobic, and he’d be damned if he’d ever feel trapped like that again.

A minute ticked by, then another, until finally the lights on the police cruisers shut off. Footsteps thudded from the far end of the lot, near the club’s back door. Male voices, more footsteps, doors slamming, and then the night was quiet again.

Reed carefully held the condom in place as he withdrew from Darcy’s tight sheath. “I think the coast is clear.”

Humor continued to dance in her eyes. “Am I a total weirdo for kind of wishing they’d caught us?”

“Yes.” His response was swift and unequivocal.

“We would’ve gotten off with a warning,” she protested. “Think of what a great story it could’ve made. All my friends have these awesome stories to tell, but nothing exciting
ever
happens to me.”