Mark places a hand over his chest. “Not possible to reschedule?”

“I’ll get back to you tomorrow,” I promise. He acquiesces, satisfied with that answer. Dickhead is confident I’ll say yes, and I’m not even sure if he’s wrong anymore now that he’s fucking hooked Addie.

He slaps a hundred-dollar bill to cover the tab, says his goodbyes, and heads off. With his presence gone, it feels like the air opens up again and I can breathe. He sure has a way of sucking everything good out of the world when he’s around.

I look to Addie, and she’s already staring at me. She doesn’t say anything, waiting for me to explain myself.

Sighing, I push out of my chair and hold out my hand, prompting her to grab it. Unsurprisingly, she ignores it. Grabbing her laptop case, she stands and follows me.

I walk her to her car in silence, and she doesn’t push.

“I’m not letting you within ten feet of that place. Him even knowing about you was never supposed to happen,” I say firmly. We arrive at her SUV. She unlocks the door but doesn't move to get in it yet.

“I don’t want to get involved, either,” she snaps. She looks away, contemplating something as she chews her bottom lip. The urge to suck it between my own teeth reemerges. “I don’t know what the hell you’re involved in, Zade, clearly something I probably don’t want to know about, but I think keeping me away from it is a bit too late.” She sighs, gearing herself up for whatever she’s going to say next.

“You already got dangerous men on my ass, so what’s one more, right? I’ll go with you this one time. I’ll get the information I need, and you get whatever you need from him.”

I never told her I needed anything from him, but I think she can sense I’m involved with this man for a reason.

“Afterwards, we can pretend to break up. You can actually get out of my life while you’re at it, maybe take Max and them with you, and that will be the end of it.”

I cock a brow, and her eyes latch onto the movement.

It’s not that simple when it comes to the underbelly of society. When you’re dealing with seriously evil people, you don’t just get out. Mark has his eyes on Addie, whether she realizes it or not. And if we “break up”—which would never fucking happen—she’s free game.

Instead of saying all that, I just nod. “You’ll come with me just this once. You’ll be safe and protected. And afterwards, I promise that Mark will never see you again.”

Because I’m going to kill him.

I just need to ride this out a bit longer until I can get the information I need.

“And the rest?” she pushes, thinning her eyes.

“If you’re expecting me to say that we’re going to break up, you’re more delusional than you believe me to be. There will never be an end to me and you. But I can assure you Max is not going to be a problem any longer. He and I had a nice little talk, and he's promised to be a good boy.”

Her eyes round. “Did you threaten him?”

“Well, what else would I do, baby? Ask him nicely and say pretty please?”

Her lip curls. “You probably just made him angrier.”

“If he miraculously develops a pair that are bigger than the ping pong balls he's got swinging between his legs and tries to hurt you, he'll be taken care of.”

She wrinkles her nose, and I don’t think she can decide if she wants to question how I know what size his balls are. I’d rather not relive that nightmare.

“Taken care of how? You’re going to murder him too?”

“Of course I am. Slowly, too. Start with snipping the Achille’s heel so he can’t run, and then—”

“That's fucked up, you're going to jail,” she cuts in, disgust curling her lip. “Actually, I hope you go to prison and are sentenced to death.”

She turns with a snarl, but she doesn’t make it a step before my hand snaps out, capturing her arm and whipping her back around, directly into my chest.

Addie inhales sharply, her eyes dilating as I seize the back of her neck with one hand and grab her delectable ass with the other, lifting her up against my body.

"Will you be my last meal, baby?”

Her mouth parts and her breathing hitches. Those light brown eyes are wide and swollen with emotion. Shock. Awe.

Desire.

I lean in close, my mouth hovering a mere inch from hers.

“You taste like heaven. I could feast on that sweet little pussy for hours and still die a starving man. It’ll be the closest I will ever get to God before they inject me with that needle, don’t you agree?”

She’s speechless, so I take advantage and capture those sweet lips with my own. She tenses beneath my hold but doesn’t pull away. The taste of fruit from her margarita blooms on my tongue, and I can’t help but groan.

“You taste like fucking nirvana,” I rasp, before sucking her bottom lip into my mouth. The faintest little moan slips free, and it’s enough to drive me wild with hunger. I’m ravenous and only the depths of her body will feed the monster.

Addie’s hands clench the front of my hoodie as I devour her. The hand cupping her plump ass slides lower until my fingers are brushing across her jean-clad pussy. Cupping her from behind, I lift her higher, grinding my rock-hard cock into her.

Her next moan is free of restraint, ringing loud and clear as it vibrates across my tongue.

“Mommy, are they having sex?”

The loud voice of a little girl breaks the shroud of lust. Addie jerks violently and scrambles back, bumping into her car to get away from me.

“Penny, get in the car,” the mother snaps from somewhere behind me. Addie’s rounded eyes drift over my shoulder, and whatever she sees has her face reddening to a concerning color. She’s panting heavily and flushed from both embarrassment and desire.

I turn my head to the side, glimpsing over my shoulder to see a blonde woman ushering her small child into the car. Her own face is red. She catches me looking and shoots me a scornful glare. I just smirk and turn back to my trembling little mouse.

She clears her throat, embarrassed and soaking wet by the flush of her cheeks and clenched thighs. She looks around, burning from the harsh wake-up call that we’re in a parking lot in broad daylight.

“That was inappropriate, don’t… don’t do that again. Just text me the details, okay?” she snaps, stuttering over her words. She goes to turn but stops. “Oh, and can you just text me from a normal fucking number? I know it’s you now. Quit trying to be cute.”

And with that, she gets in her car with an irritated huff and slams the door behind her.

Despite the clusterfuck we’ve just found ourselves in, I laugh, biting my swollen bottom lip between my teeth. She does a double-take through the window, her eyes locking on my mouth.

Then she seems to shake herself, start her car, and speed off, tires squealing from the urgency to get away from me.

I fucking love it when she runs.

Chapter 23

The Manipulator

“Y ou’re going where to do what?” Daya barks through the phone. I sigh, closing my eyes in resignation. “And with who? Zade? That’s your stalker’s name?”

“Yeah.” I bite my lip. “I don’t know if I really had a choice…” I trail off. Because that’s not entirely true. Zade was going to say no to Mark. But I made him say yes. Mark has information on Gigi and supposedly has valuable information for Zade as well.

“Look, I don’t know what this man is into, Daya. But whatever it is, it’s really fucking serious. And I can say that he really did try to avoid the situation.”

“How the hell did this even happen, Addie?” Daya asks, frustration evident in her tone.

“I was working on my manuscript at Bailey’s when Zade and a fucking senator approached me, introduced himself and said he wanted to meet Zack’s girlfriend. Zade was staring at him like he wanted to murder him. And he asked me to go along with it until he could get rid of Mark. Long story short, Mark’s father was best friends with my great-grandfather, John. He said he’d tell me more if I agreed to go to the party.”