Rastor (Lawton Rastor Book 2) (15 page)

Up until now, the night had been going great. We'd had dinner at this Greek place that a friend of mine owned, and then we'd hit a comedy show at a downtown casino, where we'd laughed our asses off at jokes that we'd probably forget by tomorrow.

Everything – being with Chloe, listening to her laugh, having her look at me the way she used to – it had been worth the trip, even if it meant I'd need to hop back on the same plane in just a few short hours.

I liked being out with her. No. I
loved
being out with her, because no matter where we were, she brought something into my life that I hadn't realized I'd been missing.

All night, I'd been dying to get her alone. But I was determined to do things right, which is why at midnight, we were at some club off Six Mile, where the music was loud, and the bodies were packed. On the crowded dance floor, I'd held her in my arms, and felt our hips grinding against each other, moving in time with the music.

We'd been out there a while when Chloe glanced through the gyrating bodies toward our table. I followed her gaze and saw our drinks – the ones we'd ordered when we first came in.

With obvious reluctance, Chloe pulled away and pointed. "Look. Drinks."

I'd already seen the drinks, so I didn't bother looking. I was thirsty alright, but not for the beer that I'd ordered however long ago. "Yeah?" I said. "Ready to sit down?"

She nodded, looking flushed and happy, so I took her hand and led her back to our table, where I took a good, long pull of the beer, not caring that it wasn't really cold anymore. As for Chloe, she took one sip of her drink and practically choked.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Now, she was half-coughing, half-laughing. "I think they made it a double. Wait." She glanced down and gave a small shudder. "Scratch that. Make that a triple."

I grinned over at her. "They probably thought they were doing you a favor." It happened to me almost everywhere I went, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

"A favor?" she said, still laughing. "Maybe. But it's not exactly thirst-quenching, if you know what I mean."

"Want me get you a new one?"

She looked around. Our cocktail waitress was nowhere in sight. "Nah, that's alright."

I grinned over at her. "You think so, huh?" I stood and reached for her drink. "Wait here. I'll be back in five minutes."

I left before she could argue, weaving my way to the far side of the club, where I had the bartender make Chloe a new drink. Not taking any chances, I watched personally as he added the right amount of alcohol, not too much, and not too little either.

Drink in-hand, I was halfway back to our table when I saw something that had me setting the drink wherever and pushing my way through the crowd, heading toward Chloe. She wasn't at our table, but I
did
see her, facing off against a guy who looked to damn familiar.

His name was Creed, and he wasn't exactly a friend of mine. The way it looked, Chloe was trying to move around him, but he wasn't letting her. She'd move, and then he'd move to block her path, and not only once.

That fucker was messing with her.

I was moving faster now, but the crowd was tight, and it was taking too damn long.

Creed – a big guy by any standards – was towering over Chloe and standing way too close. She craned her neck to glare up at him as they exchanged words that, even from this distance, were obviously unfriendly.

Chloe looked nervous, and maybe a little afraid, but she was standing her ground.

Damn it. She shouldn't
have
to stand her ground. I shouldn't have left her alone. I
wouldn’t
have left her alone if I'd known that Creed was anywhere in the building.

I'd known the guy for maybe seven years now. Way back when I'd been just starting out, I'd kicked his ass in front of his girlfriend, or whoever the girl was. We'd been at this downtown dive, and she'd been coming on to me strong, right in front of him.

I hadn't been interested. But
she
was. It was a problem.

Creed's solution? Kick my ass to prove what a big man he was – except it hadn't worked out that way. I'd left him on the floor and made my escape a minute later – not from the cops, or even from Creed's friends, but from the girl, who the way it sounded, was looking to reward whoever won.

Classy. Just like Creed.

Like once a year, I had the bad luck to run into him. It always ended the same way.

He was such a dumb-ass.

Whatever he was saying now, Chloe didn't like it. She edged backward and bumped into a tall girl behind her. The music was still blaring, but even through the noise, I heard the shattering of glass as the girl's drink hit the floor.

The girl yelled something, but Chloe didn't even turn around. Her eyes were still glued on Creed, who was saying something that Chloe obviously didn't like. By now, I was shoving my way through the crowd, not caring whose drinks I spilled along the way.

Finally, I was there. Probably, it had taken less than thirty seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. I shoved my way between them, with my back to Chloe and my gaze on Creed.

He was smiling, showing off the gold grillwork that covered his front teeth.

I could feel Chloe behind me. Over my shoulder, I said to her, "Baby, go back to the table. I'll meet you there in a minute."

Behind me, I heard another drink hit the floor, followed the sound of a girl saying, "Oh my God. Is that Lawton Rastor?"

Shit.

In front of me, Creed glared at the crowd. "Hey, everyone!" he bellowed out. "It's fucking Lawton Rastor! And his fucking squeeze! Aren't we so fucking lucky?"

All of a sudden, the music stopped. At my back, I felt a distinct drop in temperature as if the crowd behind me was backing away. That was fine by me, as long as Chloe was part of that crowd.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sudden movement, a fist flying toward me. On instinct, I snapped my head back and watched that same fist fly past my face, missing by nose by just a couple of inches. Behind me, I heard a gasp. Chloe. Damn it.

Shoving aside the distraction, I looked to my side and spotted the guy who went with the fist. I'd seen him before, hanging out with Creed. He went by the name of Snake, and he was a big muscle-bound guy with complicated facial hair. Without turning toward him I reached out and slammed my fist into his ear.

"Motherfucker!" he yelled, staggering backward like I'd knocked his marbles loose. Behind me, I sensed that Chloe was still there. I don't know how, but I just knew.

"Chloe," I said, trying to keep my voice even, "you'd better not still be there."

I heard footsteps, like maybe she was backing up. She'd better be, because I'd be a dumb-ass to turn around and look.

Creed took a swing at me. I swatted his fist aside, and then jabbed him in the nose with my other fist.

He staggered backward, and his hands flew to his nose. A river of blood poured between his fingers. "My nose! You fuckin' broke it, you asshole!"

Funny that he felt the need to announce it. If someone broke
my
nose, I sure as hell wouldn’t be telling everyone.

Again, I caught movement off to my right – Snake charging me. Without changing direction, I gave him an elbow to the neck. He dropped to the ground, wheezing. Looking to keep him down, I kicked him in the side, sending him rolling onto his back.

Already, Creed, with his face a bloody mess, was plowing toward me, head-first. I hit him in the gut and watched him double-over and drop to his knees.

About damn time.

Through the crowd, I spotted a couple of bouncers heading toward us. One was Terrell, a friend of mine who I'd introduced to Chloe on the way in. The other I didn't know. Terrell looked down at the Snake, who was still lying on his back. "Snake, you dumb-ass. Not again."

With something like a sigh, Terrell grabbed one of Snake's booted feet in each hand and started dragging him toward the exit.

Creed, now on his hands and knees, raised his head and muttered, "That son-of-a-bitch broke my nose!" He glared at me. "Third fuckin' time. You cock-sucker."

I took a step toward him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. In a low voice, meant for his ears only, I said, "You wanna fuck with me? Fine. Fuck with me all you want. But if you ever fuck with my girl again–"

I leaned closer to his ear and said, "I know where you live. The next time? It won't be your nose. It'll be your neck."

Creed glanced at Chloe but said nothing. With a shove, I let him go. The place was dead quiet. Creed looked around the crowd and muttered, "What the fuck are you lookin' at?" before getting to his feet and stumbling toward the exit.

And then, somewhere behind me, I heard a girl's voice, a different one from the first, say, "Holy shit, was that Lawton Rastor?"

Chloe was laughing.

I wasn't.

I closed the passenger's side door and headed for the driver's side. I was pissed off and trying, for her sake, not to show it.

None of this shit was supposed to happen. Five minutes – that's how long I'd left her alone in that place. The way it turned out, it was five minutes too long.

I should've paid better attention to who was around. Creed was six-and-a-half feet tall. He had neck tattoos and gold teeth. How in the hell had I missed him?

And why had I left Chloe alone? I mean, the place was nice enough, but it was near some places that weren't so nice. A rough element – that's what some people might call it.

I made sound of disgust. Rough element, huh? Money or not, that would describe me, too.

When I slid into the driver's seat, Chloe turned sideways in her seat to face me. "That was interesting," she said.

"That's one way to put it."

She paused. "Are you mad at me or something?"

I turned to stare out the front windshield. The parking lot was too dark, like someone forgot to pay the electric bill. You got that a lot out here, which was pretty damn stupid, considering all the bad things that could happen, especially in this town.

Chloe spoke again, her voice softer now. "Are you?"

Mad at her? "No," I said.

It was true. It wasn't
her
I was mad at. It was me.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

I couldn’t look at her. I didn't know what to say.

She spoke again. "You
are
."

I gave a slow shake of my head.

I felt her hand on my thigh. "Then what is it?" she asked.

I turned to face her. Her smile was gone, and her eyes were worried. Great. Now, I had another reason to be pissed at myself.

I tried to explain. "You could've been hurt."

"But I wasn't."

"But you could've been."

"So
that's
why you're mad at me?"

I squeezed her hand. "No. Baby. Not you.
Me
."

"Why you?" Her tone grew teasing. "You rescued me. You're the hero of this story, not the villain."

"You sure about that?"

She smiled. "Definitely."

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Well, let me ask you something? You ever have that happen before?"

She shook her head. "What?"

"You ever have some stranger come up and give you crap for no good reason?"

"Well, I
am
a waitress," she said. "So, yeah. It happens to me all the time, actually."

"You know what I mean." I leaned toward her, over the center console. "I shouldn’t have left you alone."

"Why not? I don't need a bodyguard."

"That place. I mean it's nice enough." I shook my head. "But the crowd. Shit." I reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. Thinking about what happened, I felt my fingers tense. "I wanted to kill him."

"Which one?"

"Both."

"Well, you did a pretty good job of
half
-killing them, so that's gotta count for something, right?"

Obviously, she didn't get it. This was no joke. I gave her a serious look. "I can laugh at a lot of things, Chloe. But seeing you hurt isn't one of them."

"Except I
wasn't
hurt." She grinned over at me. "I wasn't even touched. So there."

I recalled Creed's girlfriend – the one who'd been coming onto me way back when. I'd happened to see her a month later. She'd been sporting a black eye that she'd tried to hide with make-up. The work of Creed? Or someone else?

Either way, shit like that shouldn't happen. And with Chloe, what if I'd been ten minutes later? I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about it. I heard myself say, "But you could've been."

"Hey," she said, her tone growing serious, "I want to ask you something, and I hope you'll be honest with me."

At that point, I'd have answered her anything. I turned to look at her. And there she was, the sweetest thing I'd ever known. I loved her. And there was part of me that thought she'd be better off with someone else – maybe a nice accountant or something. That had been her college major, right?

What the hell was she doing with a guy like me?

If she wanted to ask me a question,
any
question, I was ready to answer it. Slowly, I nodded.

She leaned close and lowered her voice to just a whisper. "By any chance, are you Lawton Rastor?"

What the hell? Was she making fun of this? It was nothing to joke about. But damn it, I felt my lips twitch anyway. And then, I couldn't help it. I smiled over at her. "Me?" I said. "Nah.
I'm
the guy with Chloe Malinski."

"Oh her?" Chloe gave a dramatic sigh. "But she's just a nobody."

I gave her a good, long look. Chloe Malinski wasn't a nobody. She was the first thing I thought of every morning, and the last thing I thought of every night. She was the reason I'd come home, and the reason that returning to Vegas was the last thing I wanted to do.

I'd be flying out in six hours. She looked sexy as hell, sitting there in the passenger's seat. Her jeans hugged her hips, and the top of her blouse was unbuttoned just enough to make things interesting. I couldn’t see much, but what I did see had me wanting to see more.

Chloe Malinski, a nobody? If she weren't driving me to distraction, I might have laughed.

I leaned closer. "Baby, she's somebody, alright." Slowly, I moved my lips close to hers. But I didn't kiss her. Not yet. "Matter of fact, she's everything to this guy I know."

She was breathless now. "Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah."

I closed the distance, kissing her hard and hungry. She was here. And she was mine.

I felt her hands on my head, running her warm fingertips through my hair as our lips, our tongues, and our breaths combined.

She pulled away, flushed and trembling. "I want you," she breathed.

I wanted her, too. I always wanted her – physically, emotionally, and – I couldn’t help but smile – legally.

Except,
some
things I wanted to do to her might not be legal in all states. I moved my lips lower. I kissed her cheek, her jaw, her neck. I moved aside the fabric of her blouse and kissed her shoulder. It was warm and smooth, and she smelled like spring after a long, brutal winter.

I moved my lips lower, trailing kisses until she gave a whimper that made my breath hitch and my hardness surge. I wanted to rip open that blouse and keep on kissing her until she begged me to take her, right here, right now.

But I'd made enough mistakes tonight. I wanted to get her alone, but someplace safe. I asked, "Ready to go home?"

"I feel like I'm home right now," she said, looking toward the rear of the car. "Hey, look a back seat."

I laughed into her shoulder. "No way."

"Aw c'mon," she said. "I know you want to."

She reached a hand to my knee and trailed her fingers upward across my jeans, working slowly and surely toward my cock, which was raging hard now. When her hand hit home, I groaned against her skin. "Baby, you're killin' me over here."

"Then you should just give in," she teased. "It'll be so much simpler."

I pulled back and looked into her eyes. They were bright with excitement and filled with hunger. Damn, I wanted her. Still, I made myself say, "Not gonna happen. Not here. As tempting as you are."

"Why not?"

Because I loved her. That's why. But more than that, there were practical reasons.

I made a point of looking around the darkened parking lot. "A place like this, bad things can happen. And if anything bad happened to you–" I shook my head "–I'd never forgive myself."

Already, I'd let too many bad things happen to Chloe. Some of those things, I'd done myself. No more.

Chloe leaned into me. "With you here? I'm not worried."

It was nice to hear, but there was no way in hell I'd be taking that kind of chance, not now. Sure, I'd had my share of back-seat action, mostly with girls I'd never take home. Shitty or not, that's just the way it was. But Chloe, she was something special.

Plus, Creed and Snake had to be around here somewhere. I didn't want to be distracted. I wanted to focus on one thing and one thing only – her naked body as I did all those things that she liked best.

I grinned over at her. "Here's the thing," I said. "Yeah, we could climb into that back seat, but I'd have to keep an eye out." I reached out and put a hand on
her
knee, just like she'd done to me a minute earlier. Taking my sweet time, I moved the hand higher, skimming it softly up her thigh and heading for the sweet spot where her thighs met.

When my hand hit home, her eyes drifted shut and she made a sound – a half-moan, half-sigh – that drove me crazy with wanting her. I watched her face, loving the flush of her cheeks and the fullness of her lips.

Through her jeans, I moved my thumb in a slow, deliberate circle, hitting her favorite spot in her favorite way. "Or," I said, rubbing more slowly now, "I could take you home, where the only thing I have to think about is you."

"Home," she said. "Now."

Home. I felt myself smile. Oh yeah, I'd take her home alright – in more ways than one.