Page 69 of Ruthless Ambition
Onyx didn’t care that much about the women he slept with once he had them in his bed.
Whoa, bitter much?
No. I actually wasn’t. Not for the fact that we’d had actual sex. The whole circumstances surrounding it?ThatI was furious with. Still. Six years later, and I still couldn’t move past the factthat he slept with me for a bet. Not even a good bet. Three hundred dollars.
Prick.
The swimsuit dropped from my fingers. I didn’t want anything of his. Not even a suit to swim in that his personal shopper had purchased. Why was I here? For safety? Whose? Mine? Onyx Santo could never offer me safety; there was no peace to be had when the Devil was in the next room.
I needed to go home.
Dressing quickly, I zipped up my overnight bag and headed down the stairs. If I left, the house wouldn’t be secure. It wasn’t the house’s fault that I didn’t want to be here.
He was a paranoid freak. Taking a gamble, I shut the front door behind me and heard a click. Testing the handle, I grinned in triumph when the door didn’t open. Just as I suspected.
Paranoid freak, just like I knew he would be.
Perching on a flowerpot, I called an Uber. I felt better after my night’s sleep, but my mama didn’t raise a coward. I was going home to battle my own problems, myself.
* * *
Opening the door to my house, I was hesitant to go inside. I had walked out of here last night scared, anxious, and with Onyx. The way I’d been feeling when I left last night had nothing to do with the man who had been beside me as I left my house. On what planet did Onyx Santo make me feel safer? But then, when I thought about it, he always had. The Devils were dicks, complete assholes, but they didn’t tolerate stuff like this, and I knew they would be actively looking for the person who was doing this to me. It was reassuring, and that small measure of comfort that they were offering me right now, I would gladly take.
Pushing the door open, I stepped inside and realized I was holding my breath. Angry at myself for being this frail person, I shut the door firmly behind me and struck the deadbolt home with a determined push.
Placing my overnight bag on the couch, which was still made up as a bed, I shrugged off my jacket. Everything looked the same, but everything felt different. With a shake of my shoulders to loosen myself up, I headed to my bedroom.
When they had left last night, I hadn’t been brave enough to go back there, and then Onyx had turned up and basically ordered me to go home with him, and then I had been in such a rush to leave that I hadn’t noticed what they had done.
Standing in the doorway of my bedroom, I looked at my stripped bed, the mattress bare, the pillows had no pillowcases on them, and the nightstand was askew. That had probably been Charlie as he rummaged under my bed looking for who knows what. I really hoped it was more thanjustmy vibrator, but at the same time, I didn’t want to know exactlywhathe was looking for.
Taking measured steps, I crossed the room to my bathroom. Looking around, I realized that in my haste to leave, I had missed things that Cooper must have taken.
My cell ringing made me jump, but I knew who it was likely to be, so I didn’t run to the living room to pick it up. Instead, I took note of what I needed to replace, and then when my cell rang again, I made my way to my purse.
“Hello.”
“When I tell you that there is a car coming for you, I actually send a car,” Onyx said with his low, lazy drawl, and I glared at my belly in accusation as I felt it flip at his voice.What the hell was that?
“I didn’t need one, but, um, thanks.” I had to stop thanking him. This was becoming a habit, and it was a habit I needed to break.
“I hear you’re taking a personal day,” he said casually.
“Yes, I feel nauseous.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Silence. I shifted the weight from one foot to another. “Is there anything else?” I asked him, my eyes closing at the submissiveness I heard in my own voice.
“You believe this is the best thing for you?”
No.“Yes.”I don’t know.
“Very well.” He hung up.
I’d never actually heard him say goodbye to anyone on the phone. Not that I eavesdropped on his calls, but he always just had either some smart comment or a derisory snort and then hung up. He wasnota Southern gentleman.
Now that he knew where I was, which, to Onyx, would be a very clear message that I didn’t want his or his Devils’ help, I wasn’t sure what to do. If anything, I had more tension after the call than I had before.
