This Is Where I Sleep (16 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Liam

This Goddamn woman,
I thought as she descended the stairs covered in a too tight, too short, black dress. The front was covered in a black shimmery material, but the sleeves, sides and from what I could see, the back were made of a sheer black material, exposing the fact that she was not wearing a bra or panties under this thing. The dark, smoky eye makeup and dangly earrings all gave an alluring look to the outfit, but what completely set it off was Coral’s toned legs on full display in the pair of “come fuck me” heels she was wearing. The heels had to be at least five inches and every time she moved, the muscles in her legs and ass bulged and flexed to perfection, causing a stirring in my loins. Even though I was still pissed as hell at her, I had to tuck my hands in my pockets to keep them off of her. For now.

This insane woman hadn’t spoken to me since she stormed out of my office earlier today. I was so pissed when she slammed my door, I threw my very heavy glass paperweight against it, causing it to shatter. Maintenance had to spend several hours cleaning up shards of broken glass and the dent in the door. To say my employees were all shocked was an understatement. I didn’t lose my cool like that. Not ever. Except when it came to her. It was then I made a decision…well, a few decisions. The first being that there was no way she was going to walk into that club without me nearby. She wasn’t doing this alone. The second decision was that I would finally tell her why I’d left all those years ago. I would confess what really went down, explain why I did what I had to do and then make her understand that her place was and always has been with me.

“What do you think?” she asked as she spun around giving everyone an eye full. 

I squeezed my hands into fists when I heard someone behind me whistle low in appreciation. Ron, Brian, Mitch and a few more of my security staff were there to accompany Coral to the club. It might’ve been overkill but was the only way I felt comfortable going into this.

“You look great, Coral. No doubt you’ll catch Rodrigo’s eye,” Brian said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

I cut my eyes at him trying to figure out if he was trying to calm me down or egg me on.          

“You’re sure he has no idea who you are?” I asked, moving my gaze from Brian to Coral. I saw her breasts rise and fall as she sighed heavily, clearly annoyed by my question.

“I’m sure your team explained this to you already.” She barely looked at me.

“They have, but I want
you
to explain it to me,” I ordered, stepping directly in her line of sight, so she had nowhere to look but up at me. I planted my feet and folded my arms over my chest, waiting impatiently for her to reassure me of this plan.

She ran her hands through her fluffed curls, affixed her earrings and smoothed the sides of her dress before she looked me in the eye again. “Rodrigo never met me. All the interviews were done through Ron,” she gestured to Ron, who remained quiet on the other side of the room. “I was always in a separate room, and Rodrigo worked the night shift, so he was never at the office at the same time I was since I’ve always been there during the day. Only the people in this room know I’ve been working this case. So, you can relax and let me do my damn job.” Her face was a hard mask of impatience and agitation.

I stepped closer, peering down at her. “The fact that you’re in that slinky ass dress and not locked up in my bedroom is proof I’m letting you do your damn job,” I said low enough for her ears only. I watched as her chest heaved and the small vein in her neck quickened ever so slightly, revealing my words have the desired effect on her.

“I’m going to kick your ass one day,” she growled lowly.

“I’m looking forward to it. Let’s get this over with.” I stated the second part loud enough so everyone in the room hears it, as I gripped Coral’s arm and lead her out the room.

This woman was going to be the death of me,
I kept thinking to myself as I watched her dress rise up almost showing her entire ass as she bent to get into the car. It’s going to be a long damn night.

****

Coral

             
This man was going to be the death of me
.

This was all I could think as I strutted my way through the club, but felt his eyes on my every move just as much as if he were touching me. As far as plans and assignments went, this one was relatively easy. My goal was to simply make contact with Rodrigo, entice him a little, and get him into one of the private rooms. Once there, I’d plug him for information. I knew he was there at the office the night of Larry’s death. He had to have known or seen something, if he knew enough to go to the junkyard and start asking questions.

              I scanned the club, and there were hundreds of people here. The bass of some techno-mix was playing loudly, and the strobe lights made it difficult to focus on any one spot for too long. Luckily, I’d already prepared for all of this. I knew exactly where Rodrigo was positioned in the club. His spot, I’d been informed by our contact, was posted up by the hallway that leads to a number of rooms where patrons could pay to have some privacy for however long. I looked up to the second level where there were many scantily dressed women and men pushing up on them, dancing. I spotted one of the new security guards Liam had brought. Most of the rest, including Ron, were waiting outside. Rodrigo knew who they are and would likely suspect something if he saw them.

Instead of making my way over to Rodrigo, I strutted over to the bar. I smiled at the young, perky bartender. “Rum and coke, Sweetie.”

“Coming up,” she beamed, as she made her way down the bar to prepare the drink.

I watched as it was made. She slid the drink down the bar, and I caught it with one hand and pulled out a few bills out of the top of my dress with the other. Winking at her, I paid for the drink and her tip. I brought the drink up to my lips, and the smell automatically made my stomach roll in protest. I hated the smell, taste, and even the thought of alcohol. I’ve hated it ever since I was a kid, and I would smell the stench of alcohol on my father as he used me as his personal punching bag, then forced me to get up and make him another drink. Usually, I was able to mask my distaste of alcohol when I needed to for a case, but it was harder for some reason this time. 

“Shit!” I exclaimed as someone bumped into me spilling my drink. Only my quick instincts allowed me to avoid spilling it on my dress.

“You didn’t want that shit anyway,” a low, familiar and comforting voice said in my ear.

My lips curled up into a smile of gratitude as Liam sat on the stool next to me, keeping his head turned away so no one saw his face or that he was talking to me. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he gestured for the bartender and leaned over whispering something to her. She scurried off with a crisp $100 bill in her hand, made another drink that looked like the one I had just spilled and brought it to me.

“Here you go, hon,” she winked at me and then moved to the next customer.

“You can drink this one,” I heard Li say before he rose from the stool. “I’ve got my eyes on you,” he said before disappearing into the crowd. I sniffed this drink, and there was no alcohol smell to it. I sipped and realized it’s just regular coke. I could have sworn I saw the bartender pour rum into the drink. I realized Li must have paid her off to make it look like she put alcohol in it I thought as I casually sipped my drink looking around the club. I finally let my eyes rest on the area I knew Rodrigo was in. I feigned as if I was just looking around until I made eye contact with him. When he saw me, I tossed him my most flirtatious smile then looked down again, taking another sip of my drink. After a few more moments I raised my lashes and looked right at Rodrigo, to see if I still had his attention. When I saw I did, I smiled again, placed my drink on the bar, and headed to the dance floor.         

              As luck would have it, Beyonce’s “Flawless” remix featuring Nicki Minaj came on, and I let myself get into the song. I grabbed the closest guy to me. He was actually an inch or so shorter than me in these heels, but not bad looking with his rich caramel skin. Unfortunately, he tried to talk and almost singed my eyelashes with his breath. I placed my finger over his mouth, shushing him. “Just enjoy,” I crooned as I turned and began grinding on him to the beat of the music. I looked up to see if Rodrigo was still watching me, and I put a little more emphasis on it, turning to give him a nice view of my ass as I held my breath and continued to dance.

As soon as the song ended, I made my way off the dance floor, ignoring my dance partner’s pleas for a second dance. I focused intently on Rodrigo, as I strutted slowly over to him. I watched as he eyed me up and down, licking his lips.

“Hello,” I whispered, breathily, looking up into his dark brown eyes. “Want to dance?”

He gave me another once over and bit his lower lip. “I-I can’t leave my post, beautiful.” His voice was laced with regret.

“Oh, are you working?” I asked in my perfect minx voice, trailing my finger up and down his muscular chest.

“I’m security.”

I got close and whispered in his ear. “Well, you definitely deserve a little something for keeping us all safe,” I said, sliding my hand down his stomach. Suddenly, Rihanna’s “Pour it Up,” began playing and I smiled devilishly at him. I pulled him towards the dance floor. He gave minor resistance but then followed. Once in the middle of the floor, I turned my back to him, threw my hands up to cup around his neck and began a heart-stopping grinding session. I grinned and looked back at him as his hands began to move down my sides, gripping my waist. He started moving his own hips, grinding them against my swiveling behind. Less than a minute into the song I felt his growing arousal beneath his jeans. I released my hands from around his neck and turned to face him, continuing to allow my hips to move to the music. I felt his hands go around to cup my gyrating ass. I had to tamp down on the instinct to body slam him.

“Take me someplace quiet,” I whispered once the song ended. To add understanding to what I was saying, I lowered his head to mine, and licked his lips, then moved my head to the side to nip at one of his earlobes.

“Mmm,” he moaned, gripping my ass even tighter. “Let’s go, Beautiful.” He turned, pulling me off the dance floor and down the hallway he had been guarding. “Mannie, watch my spot for me for a little while,” he told another guard that had shown up from the other side of the room. Mannie grinned as he looked between me and Rodrigo. I kept my fake smile pasted on, but I really wanted to knee both men right where it hurts. Instead, I allowed Rodrigo to pull me down the hall, as he twisted doorknobs, testing to see which one was unlocked.

When we reached one that was unlocked, he paused and tossed me against the wall aggressively. A second later, I felt his moist mouth cover mine, and I fought hard to control my hands from clamping down on his carotid artery. Instead, I tightened my fingers around his shoulders and turned my head slowly, to which he began kissing down my neck, leaving a trail of saliva from his sloppy kisses. When his hands moved down my ass and tried to make their way up my dress, I pulled back.

“Not out here out in the open, baby.” I was proud of how coy I managed to sound.

“Okay, okay.” He hurried and pushed the door open and stepped back a little to allow me to enter.

I entered the room and saw a huge leather couch and nightstand. I decided against sitting on the couch as my mind conjured up all kinds of thoughts of who’d been on it and what they’ve done.

“I’ve got protection. We’re going to have fu--Oh shit!” Rodrigo yelled.

I slowly turned to see Liam with one hand pressed against Rodrigo’s chest against the door, and the other held his piece to Rodrigo’s face.

“What the fuck is this?” Rodrigo wondered, his eyes shifting from the glock, to Liam, to me.

I simply stood there with my arms folded.

“Bitch! You set me u-” his tirade was cut off as Liam stuck the barrel of his gun in Rodrigo’s mouth.

“Show some Goddamn respect. She wasn’t a bitch thirty seconds ago when you were feeling all over her ass.” Liam’s voice was dripping with disdain, and I could tell he was close to losing it.

I suspected his ire was more a result of seeing Rodrigo touching and kissing on me more than the actual reason we were there.

“Li, he can’t tell us anything if you kill him first,” I reminded him, my tone flat and unbothered.

I watched as Liam contemplated for a few tense heartbeats before stepping back just a little, and removing the gun from Rodrigo’s mouth.

“Mr. Bennett.” Rodrigo’s voice was one of complete surprise as he realized the man who just held a gun to his mouth was indeed the CEO of the company he was hired to do security for.

“You know me. Now, do you know why I’m here?” Li asked.

“I have no idea. All I know is this bi-” Again Rodrigo’s angry diatribe directed at me was disrupted by Liam as he slammed the butt of his gun against Rodrigo’s face. The crunch of breaking bones was evident, and the blood squirting was the dead giveaway that his nose was broken. “Ahhh, shit!” Rodrigo screamed, hunched over as he covers his nose.

“I told you to show some damn respect. Now, you’ve got blood on my sleeve.” Liam’s expression was deadpan. “Sit down!” Liam ordered Rodrigo.