Quinn II (Undaunted Men #2) (23 page)

“Her makeup was so thick I could've scraped it off with a putty knife,” I grumble.

I can already tell I shouldn’t have come out tonight. Seems as if it takes no effort at all to dampen moods, namely mine, and I don’t need people feeling as if they need to tiptoe around my short temper. I drag this miserable mood around with me every day like a ball and chain, pulling other people down with me. I take a deep breath and push my chair back from the table, getting ready to stand up and leave.

Stryker places his hand on my shoulder and pushes me back down into my seat. I raise an eyebrow, and he smiles at me, giving me that stupid boyish grin all the women go nuts over. He’s not as rugged-looking as I am, but he and
Hunter
both have this pretty-boy thing going on.
 

Stryker has always had this exorbitant amount of charisma. I don’t know how he does it.
He’s so smooth he could talk a jail warden into trading places with him if he was a criminal behind bars. Hunter
cuts a close second to Stryker’s charm, and the way they hang out all the time, one would think they were brothers.

“New round,” Stryker announces as he raises his hand, signaling the waiter, and then looks at me. “This night is just getting started, Cowboy. We don't have to do women tonight.”

“So,” Hunter leans in to talk over the music as he rests his elbows on the small round table, “I hear you’ve got a plus-one going to Hawaii with us.”

Stryker takes a drink of his beer and then smacks his lips, answering Hunter, “As a matter of fact, I do.”
 

Travis, our comrade, and his fiancée, Jules, are getting married in Hawaii at the end of March. We’re all traveling overseas for the wedding and indulging in a little vacation while we’re there, but I was surprised to hear Stryker was bringing a lady friend.

“You guys have been dating for what, a month now? Do you even remember her name yet?” I ask in jest, because Stryker goes through women like toilet paper flying off a roll in gale force winds.
 

“I know, right?” Hunter cuts in. “I don’t bother getting to know their names either until at least a few months go by.”

“Maybe I should do the same,” Stryker mumbles.

“That’s not like you, Stryker. I’ve never known you to invest yourself like this in a plus-one event.”

“Yeah,” Stryker starts off, “she didn’t want to go unless I was interested in a serious relationship with her.”

“Are you…serious about her?” Hunter asks.

Stryker shrugs his shoulders. “Hell, I don’t know. I don’t ever know how these relationships are gonna play out.” He peels the label from his beer and adds, “I’m probably tempting the gods, but believe it or not, she’s been pretty cool so far. I haven’t seen the cray-cray surface just yet, but that usually comes in around month five or six.” Stryker’s eyes lift to the ceiling as he does the math. “So yeah, March will be cutting it close.”

“Man, you are playing with fire,” I chuckle.

Hunter sniggers, finding Stryker’s love life as funny as I do. “This is what you call the
safe zone
, right?” I'm looking confused about Hunter’s statement, so he takes it upon himself to enlighten me. “He’s got names for the different stages of his dating adventures.”

Stryker nods his head and grins. “And that’s what I’m hoping for, to still be in that little window I call the safe zone. I know the cycles now…I can almost set my watch to it.”

I burst out laughing. “Your love life is highly entertaining, but in the same breath, it’s not. I don’t know how in the hell you attract the crazies, but you do.”
 

“I know, I know.” Stryker shakes his head, huffing, “I should keep a fricken spreadsheet.”
 

The waiter sets our drinks down on the table and I pick up my glass, getting ready to toss my bourbon back. I take pause when I spot a married couple sitting a few tables away and grin. “Guys, how about a toast.” The guys pick up their glasses, and I lift mine in the air to clink against the rims of their drinks and toast,
“Not all men are fools. Some are still bachelors.”
 

Vince and I stood toe to toe in the barns’ office, me breathing heavily in a panic as he stood calm and self assured. I was so sick of Vince holding things over my head so he could have his way, and now he had resorted to drugging my horse as a power play to get me to comply. He looked at me, tilting his head to the side before he calmly asked, “Time’s ticking, so what’ll it be?”

“What do you want?” I sneered.
 

He clucked his tongue at me in disappointment over the use of my tone. “Let’s start this conversation over, shall we?” I narrow my eyes in hatred, willing him to drop dead of a heart attack. Seeing my hatred for him, he shook his head at me again, giving me a frown.
 

“You’re not listening, Sweetheart. I’ve got all day to get this right, but
your
horse
doesn't.”

“I don’t have time to play your games, Vince. You’re screwing with Griffen’s life.” I turned around to grab the phone, but he beat me to it. Not only did he yank the receiver out of my hand, he then ripped the phone’s base out of the wall, cord and all. I gasped in both disbelief and horror.
 

“Do you see how your bad decisions are affecting Griffen already?” He then turned me around and pushed my body against the wall as he pressed himself against me. He pierced me with a hard glare, which served to send a cold shiver down my spine.

I swallowed against the bile rising up from the pit of my stomach, and took a deep breath, trying to start over in a calm manner. My voice trembled as I spoke, “What do you want?”
 

“That’s more like it,” he admonished in a cool and collected tone. I closed my eyes, feeling my chest constrict with anxiety as I warred with myself to keep my anger in check.
 

“What do you want, Vince?” My hands shook profusely as every part of me felt frantic. “I will do anything, but please…God…just don’t do this to my horse.” My vision became blurry, and I tried in vain to keep my unshed tears from falling.
 

“I’m glad you’re beginning to understand the dynamics of our relationship now,” he said with a satisfied smirk on his face. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against his hard chest. “I fucking love seeing you in these Jodhpurs,” he growled as his hands slid down to my ass. He then gave my hind end a hard squeeze and ground his manhood against me.
 

He was certifiably nuts, acting as if my horse wasn’t on the brink of something bad happening. I wanted to yell, kick, scream, pull my hair out, but I did none of those things, because they would only prolong the help Griffen needed so desperately. I tilted my chin up and bravely looked into those dark brown eyes of his. With an uncontrolled, shaky voice, I pleaded, “Please, help Griffen. Please let me get him help.”
 

Vince leaned down and kissed my cheek, his lips softly grazing against my skin as he whispered, “Did you set a wedding date yet, Sweetheart?”
 

A whimper escaped my lips. I wanted to tell the bastard to go to Hell, but I couldn’t; Griffen needed me. I licked my dry, parched lips, my voice coming out soft and weak, “It’s whatever date you decide on, Vince.”

He pulled his head back with a raised brow, almost surprised I was being so agreeable. “Are you sure?”

I forced a quivery smile and nodded my head. “I want the date to work for you too.”

“I don’t know.” His forehead wrinkled as he studied me with serious conjecture. “You don’t seem very excited about this.”

Was he fucking kidding me?
He knew when he put Griffen’s life on the line he had the ace in the hole. He could ask me to skydive naked and I’d do it, if it involved Griffen’s safety.

“I am. I am happy about this, Vince,” I tried assuring him. “Look, I’m sorry for my short temper. I’m stressed out, okay? It’s not every day I walk in here and see my horse on the floor. You have to understand it caught me off guard.”

“But it’s you and me now,” he reasoned, “you shouldn’t be thinking about that horse. I’m your center, not Griffen. This…what we’re doing right now is more important.”

Vince never had done well playing second to Griffen, and this underhanded maneuver proved it. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m fine now.” I nodded my head, trying to appease him at every turn.
 

“Yeah? You sure about that?” he questioned, painfully dragging out the minutes.

I nodded my head again. “Yeah, I’m good.” I gently ran my hand over his expensive blue dress shirt and matching tie as I heard my voice projecting a calm I didn’t feel. “You need to pick the date that’s best, especially since your work schedule has been so hectic lately.”

It used to be I could give Vince a genuine smile, but that was before he turned controlling and more demanding. He’d become too powerful, intelligent, and perceptive and it scared me.
 

“Kiss me,” he gently demanded. He leaned forward, his lips brushing softly against mine, and I closed my eyes and gave in for the sake of Griffen. Silent tears expressed themselves from between my closed lids.

His kiss slowly morphed into a more intense, needy one as he swiped his tongue across the seam of my lips, requesting entry. I opened to him; I had to because he had me at his mercy. I kissed him back the best I could. It must have been satisfactory to him, because he groaned against my lips, and then slipped his leg in-between mine. I tentatively grasped onto his dress shirt, and twisted the fabric over his chest, needing to diffuse some of my pent up anxiety.
 

“Mmm…that’s my girl,” he whispered over my lips. “It’s been too long since our last kiss. I’ve missed this…I’ve missed you. I’m going to make you so happy, just you wait and see. I have a huge iron in the fire that is going to make me rich — make us rich. I’ve got everything set in place.”

I ignored his remark about our
soon to be wealthy
future. I had never lusted after money, and I wasn’t going to start now. I remembered a time when I used to enjoy kissing Vince. I would revel in his touch. Right now, however, his domineering kiss made me sick. It was sad because I never thought I could have felt this way about him. I thought we could remain friends after our breakup, but apparently that wasn’t part of his plan.

 
I closed my eyes against the nightmare and prayed. Time was slipping by quickly, and every second felt like an hour, but I waited him out, giving him the power. It’s what he wanted; it’s how he played.
 

He softly caressed my cheek, breathing over my lips, acting as if there wasn’t complete chaos swirling around the barn. “You know…it’s a shame.” He frowned at me as if I did something wrong. “This could have gone so differently, Lexi. What happened to Griffen…well, it was
only
to grab your attention.”
 

My brows furrowed as I took in his words, suddenly taking heed to his every syllable. “What do you mean?” I couldn’t figure out his hidden implications, and by the pronunciation of his word
only
, I knew there was a deeper meaning.

“I took extra measures to ensure you’d see things my way. You see, once Griffen returns to normal, what’s to stop you from changing your mind from marrying me...hmm?”

“What did you do?” I whispered, instantly fearing for the unknown.

“Remember when you and Myles broke up about four months ago?” he began. Of course I remembered; it almost destroyed me. “He told you he wanted a real woman in his life, one who could give birth to his children and give him a family of his own. He broke your heart, didn’t he?”

I’m stunned frozen, his words were a slap in the face and hurtful. The simple fact he knew what happened between Myles and me was bone-chilling. What happened in that relationship was personal, embarrassing, and soul-wounding, and it gutted me that Vince was dredging up my private and painful past.
 

“Why are you doing this?” I shook my head at the memories, willing him to stop talking about it.

“Seems I might have misjudged you. I didn’t know you were the jealous type, Sweetheart.” He ignored my question and scratched his jaw in false contemplation, as I stood here hurt and confused. “Myles being able to find a replacement for you so quickly was a shame, especially without even giving you a second glance.”

My hand reflexively covered my stomach. I felt queasy as Vince twisted the knife in my heart, tearing it to shreds. Yes, Myles broke it off with me after a year of intense dating. It wasn’t bad enough that he broke it off, but he stomped the hell out of my heart by having a new woman on his arm within the very next month. He was a douche. He later decided he wanted children, and of course I couldn’t have them, so he left me. Dropped me like a hot potato, and it damn near killed me.

“It’s amazing what one can do when they see nothing but blind rage and jealousy, isn't it?” By the evil smirk on his face, panic began to consume me.
 

My mouth grew dry, and I forced myself to choke out the words, “I don’t…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”