Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (30 page)

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

Dax

"
I'm
Dax," I said as I offered my
hand to the stunning woman occupying the barstool next to me. She was more than
half way to drunk, but that didn't at all detract from her looks. She was the
epitome of a California girl – tall, blonde, and shapely, with a megawatt
smile. I didn't want to like her just on principle, since these were the girls
who had tortured me when I was a teen. They always maintained a distance that
kept them just out of reach.

This woman was
different from those girls, though. She seemed less severe, less judgmental.
Her long blonde hair had been wound into a loose bun at the back of her neck,
but was now trailing loose pieces that she kept blowing out away from her face
in a comical way. She was wearing the uniform of every Los Angeles lawyer, but
somehow, on her it looked both sexy and professional, and I had a difficult
time keeping my eyes up above the gap in her blouse that revealed the tops of
her rounded breasts as she leaned forward to grab her beer glass.

"I'm
Brooke," she said, shaking my hand as she looked at me with her intensely
blue eyes. There was something about her that was open and yet mysterious. I
wanted to turn on the charm and seduce her, but there was an air about her that
told me if I did that, I'd blow it and that if I blew it, I wouldn't get a
second chance. So, I held back and waited.

"Nice to meet
you, Brooke," I replied and then let go of her hand. "What brings you
here on this fine evening?"

"Stupid
men," she said as she picked up her glass and drank from it. She didn't
sip like so many women do. She actually drank her beer. I watched her for a
moment, unable to take my eyes off of her lips and the way they wrapped around
the edge of the glass. Then, I closed my eyes and tried to think of car
engines, greasy fries, and road kill – anything to keep the blood from flowing
too far south and making me uncomfortable.

"What did the
stupid man do?" I asked.

"What do you
think he did, Dax?" she asked as she turned her gaze on me. Her eyes were
so intensely blue that I felt like I'd been cornered, but I couldn't look away.
She held my gaze with an expectant look.

"I'm sure it
wasn't good, I'll tell you that," I said, finally tearing my eyes away
from hers and looking back at my glass.

"Damn right,
it wasn't," she said as she wobbled a bit on her stool. I reached out and
steadied her. Her silk blouse was soft under my fingers. It was transparent
where the beer had splashed on her when she dumped her glass and I had the urge
to slide my hand up her arm until I could cup her breast. She turned and looked
at me and blurted out, "You hitting on me, Dax?"

"Well, let me
put it this way, Brooke," I said as I leaned in and spoke softly into her
ear. "You are one smoking hot woman, so I would say that yes, I am hitting
on you."

"Oh, you're
good." She grinned as she looked at me and then took a long drink from her
glass.

"Thank
you," I smiled.

"You're quite
handsome," she said as she leaned close and rested her hand on my arm.
"More handsome than any man has a right to be."

"Does that
gain me any advantage?" I asked, leaning in close enough to smell the
lingering scent of her perfume.

"It
might," she whispered as she leaned a little closer.

"Either of
you want another one?" Billy's voice broke the spell. "Sunshine? You
okay?"

"Fine, Billy,
I'm just fine," she said as she looked at me and smiled. "And, I
think Dax here is fine, too, aren't you?"

"Fine, I'm
fine, too," I said smiling back at her. There was something about her look
that told me before long I would be pulling that wet blouse off of her and
exposing those gorgeous breasts. It had been a while since I'd gotten laid, and
I could feel how tight my pants had become since I'd sat down next to Brooke. I
needed relief and she seemed like a woman who would enthusiastically seek it
out with me.

"I like you,
Dax," she said as she slid a hand up my thigh under the bar. "I like
you a lot, I think."

"I like you,
too, Brooke," I said in a low voice as I leaned closer and pushed a stray
lock of hair away from her face. I was bending down to brush my lips across her
neck as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I ignored it, but the sound continued,
then stopped and then started again. I sat up, apologized, and then pulled it
out of my pocket and looked at the screen. It was Riza. "I'm sorry, I have
to take this. It's business."

Brooke waved me
off with an understanding nod, and I stepped away from the bar and answered the
call.

"What's
up?"

"Bad news,
boss," Riza said.

"Lay it on
me, then," I replied.

"I found
Lydia," she said.

"So, bring
her back to the club and we'll dry her out. She's got a bail hearing for Pook
and Jimmy in the morning," I told her.

"Well, that's
gonna be a problem, boss," Riza replied.

"Why? She's
been on benders before, and we've always sorted her out and gotten her clean
before court. No biggie."

"Boss, she's
dead."
 

"What the
fuck?"

"She's
dead," Riza repeated. "The Coast Guard pulled her body out of the
water about an hour ago."

"Riza, who
did this?"

"Not a clue,
boss. They won't let me get anywhere near the body before the coroner gets
here, so I can't check to see how she was offed," she explained. "I'm
gonna hang out here and see what I can find out, then I'll swing by the club
and let you know."

"Find out who
did this, Ri," I said. "I'll take their sorry asses out and leave
them laying in the street as a message to all the rest of those lousy fuckers
who think this shit is okay. Fuck!"

"I know, I
know," she said. “Chill out, I've got it covered. I'll be back in the club
in a couple of hours."

"Okay, see
you then," I said and disconnected. I walked back over to the bar and gave
Brooke the best smile I had, then said, "I gotta run. Business
calls."

"Oh, I
see," she said as her smiled faded and she looked down at the scratched
wood on the bar. "Well, it was nice talking with you, Dax."

"Brooke?"
I said as I slipped my fingers under her chin and tipped her face up so those
blue eyes were locked on mine. "I'd like to take you to dinner, maybe
tomorrow night if you're not busy?"

"Oh, you are
good," she smiled up at me. "I'd like that."

We stood there
staring at each other like a couple of lovesick teenagers until Billy said,
"Brooke, please give Dax your phone number so that he can call you and
arrange for a pickup time."

"Oh! Yes, of
course," she laughed as she looked down and opened her purse. She pulled
out her card, flipped it over, and wrote her cell number on the back.
"Call or text, whatever is easiest."

"I'll give
you a call in the morning and confirm the time," I said. Then, I leaned
down and gently kissed her cheek before I turned and walked out the door.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Brooke

"
Sunshine
, I think it's time for you to head home,"
Billy said as he collected the abandoned glasses from the bar and immersed them
in the soapy water.

"I don't
wanna go home," I pouted as I shredded another napkin and added it to the
substantial pile in front of me.

"I know, but
I need to close this place up and get home to my wife," he said gently.
"I'll get you a cab."

"I don't need
a cab, I can walk," I protested stubbornly.

"I'm going to
have to overrule you on this one, kiddo," he smiled. "I already
called, the cab will be here momentarily."

"Why you
gotta be like that, Billy?" I asked.

"Like
what?"

"Like my
brother!" I shot back. "All of you are so protective. I can do this
on my own, you know."

"I know you
can," he said. "But sometimes we all need a little help, and tonight
it's your turn. Maybe next week it's Teddy's or mine, okay?"

"You'd come
to me if you needed help?" I asked.

"Without a
doubt," he nodded. "No question."

"Okay
then," I said as I got up off of the stool and did my best to walk in a
straight line to the door. The cab driver honked, and I turned and waved to
Billy before I walked out and got in to the waiting car.

Less than five
minutes later, I was getting out of the cab in front of my apartment building.
Billy had already paid the guy, so all I had to do was get in the front door.
Luckily, Fred, the doorman, held the front door open for me and then helped me
to the elevator.

"Heya,
Fred!" I said in a still drunken voice.

"Hey
yourself, Missy!" he laughed. "What have you been up to
tonight?"

"I had a
drink with a guy at the bar," I said. "He was cute."

"Well, that's
good," Fred replied. "I'd hate for you to be drinking with an ugly
fellow."

"Oh,
Fred," I laughed. He steered me into the elevator, pushed the button for
my floor, and then wished me a good night.

Fifteen minutes
later, I was passed out on my bed.

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

Dax

"
Ri
, what the hell happened?" I
shouted as she walked through the door. "How in the hell did Lydia end up
being pulled out of the Pacific by the Coast Guard? What happened to her?"

"Easy, easy,
Dax," she said, holding up one hand to fend off my questions. "I
don't have a lot of answers, but I did the best I could to make some
connections with the cops out at the recovery site. I'll check back with them
later and see what I can find out."

"How did she
die?" I asked.

"Execution,"
Riza said without emotion. "Bullet to the back of the skull. They must
have dumped her off a boat or something because she was too far out to have
floated in that short of time and the currents were moving in the opposite
direction, so she might have been dropped even farther out."

"Fuck."
I ran a hand through my hair and tried to think about how I was going to deal
with the bail hearings this morning without my lawyer.

"I called
Lydia's office and they said they would send a lawyer over to handle Pook and
Jimmy's bail hearing this morning," Riza said as if reading my mind. I
nodded. One less thing to worry about.

"Whoever did
this knows that getting rid of Lydia would put a crimp in our business," I
said. It wasn't that I couldn't hire another lawyer. That would be the easy
part. In Los Angeles, lawyers were a dime a dozen and I could easily replace
the legal counsel, but what I couldn't replace was the trust and loyalty. Lydia
knew things about the business that I wasn't eager to share with anyone else,
and she knew how to keep her mouth shut.

"Do you think
they got anything out of her before they killed her?" Riza asked.

"Shit, I
don't know," I said. Riza’s face was blank. While the fact that she rarely
gave anything away was good for doing business, sometimes I wished she would
give me a little more so I could tell what she was thinking. Not knowing
bothered me. But Papi had taught his daughter well, and she had put those
lessons to use.

"I'll do what
I can to find out what they know," she said.

"Ri, what
does your gut tell you happened?" I asked.

"Honestly,
from what I could see, they tortured her, boss," she said. "She
looked pretty beat up. But then again, it could have been from the water. I
just don't know."

"Alright, we
need to get this locked down so that we don't appear weak," I said.
"If the others think that they can come after us and just abduct and
execute our people, we're going to have problems. I want you to figure out
who's involved and I want a public spectacle made of them. Got it?"

"Got
it," she saluted.

"And
Ri?"

"Yeah,
boss?"

"Don't lose
sight of that little fucker Beck," I said. "He's starting to become a
real pain in my ass."

"No worries,
boss," she said. "I got it handled."

I watched her walk
out of the office and hoped that she was right. If she didn't have it handled,
we were going to suffer in ways that not even I could imagine.

#

I
sat at my desk thinking about whom I could call and ask about finding a new
lawyer. There weren't many people in LA that I trusted – and certainly not many
lawyers. In my line of business, I had to be careful that I didn't spill the
wrong information to the wrong person and wind up having them turn state's
witness in a case against me. But there was no question that I needed a new
lawyer.

I shifted a little
in my chair, then reached down and tried to alleviate the pressure that I felt
in my jeans.

The news about
Lydia, while sad and disturbing, hadn't done much to alleviate the hard on I'd
had since I'd met Brooke, and it was starting to feel painful. So, when one of
the cage dancers stuck her head in the door and said she needed to speak with
me, I waved her in.

"What's up,
babe?" I smiled as the gorgeous brown girl glided across the floor and
dropped to her knees in front of me. She smiled up at me as she unzipped my
jeans and slipped her hand down into the front of them so she could stroke my
rock hard cock. I looked down at her, calmly watching as she did what she had
always done best.

"Mmmm, you're
hard tonight," she said as she pulled her hand out and ran her flattened
tongue over it several times before slipping it back into my pants. The slick
sensation of her saliva-covered hand made me groan when she gripped my cock and
stroked up and down.

"I need you
to do what you do best, baby," I growled as I reached out and stroked her
cheek.

"You know
I'll do anything you want," she smiled as I lifted my hips and pulled my
jeans down around my knees. Diamond was one of the girls who danced on stage or
in a cage over the bar every night. She was tall and lean, and she gave the
best head of any of the dancers I employed. She loved giving blowjobs, so I
felt no guilt in taking advantage of it.

I leaned back as
she slowly ran her tongue from tip to base and then back up, coating my cock
and making it slippery. She did this until I began to groan with need and push
my hips up, then she wrapped her full lips around the head of my cock and began
the agonizingly slow descent to the base. She sucked and licked until I felt
like I was going to explode.

Normally, I would
watch her as she performed her magic, but tonight, I leaned back and closed my
eyes. I pictured Brooke's beautiful blue eyes looking up at me as she wrapped
her lips around my shaft and moved her mouth up and down. I imagined how she
would look and sound as she took the entire length of my shaft into the back of
her throat, and I began to pump my hips as I envisioned her beautiful breasts
resting on my thighs as she sucked and sucked and sucked. The image was so
powerful that I thrust my hips up as I held Diamond's head and owned her mouth.

"Oh fuck,
fuck, fuck, yes!" I groaned as I let go and filled her mouth. Diamond
sucked and licked as I throbbed and pulsed, making me see stars as the
explosion continued. My eyes were still closed and all I could see were
Brooke's blue eyes looking up at me as she smiled, her mouth filled with my
cock.

"How was
that, babe?" Diamond asked as she rose up off her knees and sat on my lap.

"Very, very
nice, little girl," I smiled as I ran my hands over her breasts.

"You want
more tonight?" She ran her hand through my hair and down across my cheek.

"I'd love to,
but I can't tonight, sweetie," I said with a feigned look of regret.
"I've got some business to take care of so I have to get going, but maybe
later?"

"Anytime, you
know that," she smiled as she stood up. She bent over and kissed my cheek
before turning and walking across the room. The way she swung her hips never
failed to get a response and even though she'd just given me a bit of relief,
tonight was no exception.

"God, you're
hot," I said as I watched her go.

"Just for
you, babe." She winked over her shoulder as she opened the door and
stepped out into the hallway.

I'd always liked
Diamond because she understood the game. I wasn't any more or less special to
her than any of her other clients, but she made me feel like I was the only one
she'd ever want. It wasn't love, but it was the next best thing.