Hi Guys, so this is a bit of a long chapter but packed full of stuff!!!! I loved writing it and hope you enjoy reading it because I love you all and want you to love the book – Happy reading!!!
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Hiding my shock behind a seductive smirk practiced on many before, I sauntered up behind Tony and stood slightly away from the chair he’d taken at the table. The fellow members of the party followed suit and took seats at the large wooden table, any accomplices standing behind them or walking around the room.
Removing my jacket, I slipped it off my shoulders, exaggerating the movement to be sure that I caught Xavier’s attention. Knowing I’d caught his eye, I slowly turned around so that my back was facing him (literally). I came dressed to impress and the backless shirt only connected by the two pieces of string left little to the imagination. I walked over to the wall of the room and slung the jacket over the seats by the windows before walking back and placing my hands on Tony’s chair.
I winked at Xavier and blushed as he smirked back.
“Good evening, Gentleman, Ladies,” his eyes drifted over to me, his head tilted with that snapback sitting on the crown of his skull. “I’m pleased you could all make it.
“Now, I’m sure we all know why you are here. My father and I are running a deal with Russian mafia gang, Quanto’s Brothers, and we are looking for partners and a merger in order to help us supply and store the goods before they can be transported elsewhere for later shipping and sales.
“The goods are drugs, illegally imported, but hey, it’s how we make our money_” Xavier broke off half way through his chuckle, stopping dead. I froze, eyeing the place curiously. Xavier straightened up and walked around the table, stopping behind a member of the Unity, and placing both hands on the table, leaned down until his face was inches from the representative’s face. He lifted his hand and dug it into the terrified man’s shirt, rustling about before pulling out a cable and hearing device attached. Oh shit, I thought.
Xavier grinned like the Cheshire cat and chucked the device to the security guard closest to him. “Dev, is that what I think it is?” Xavier all but snarled.
“Yessir, a recording device,” Dev answered, tucking the device back into his pocket.
“Take him outside,” Xavier said softly, thought it sounded like a shout in the deathly silent room.
“No, no please,” the man cried out, thrashing out against the security guards before trying to make a run for it out of the door of the conference room. Scrambling with the knob he was about to turn it when_ BANG!
My heart stuttered for a moment but I was quick to cover my terror was a face of stone.
Xavier tucked the gun back into his jacket before waving to the other men, “Clean it up and get him out of here,” he ordered and as if nothing had even happened, he smiled at the rest of the group. “Copper Jamie Ryland – under-cover. We’ve had the Unity gang under surveillance for a while now and confirmed they were FBI. Panic over, it’s all taken care of and the “unity” gang will finish up the case tomorrow having no sufficient leads to continue their inquiry.
“Right, back to business. After examining all the contracts and proposal put up by each of you, I have decided that due to reputation as well as proposal, we are decided to work with the TX3 gang. Casts will also work with us as allies of the TX3 as well as be in charge of arranging further transportation regarding the merchandise nationally.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. We’d got it! That should get Louis off of my back for the time being. I fetched my jacket as everyone was exiting the room, Tony and Xavier shaking hands with the leader of Casts, Jeremiah. I whispered in Tony’s ear that I was going for a drink and that he should come and find me at the bar once everything was sorted there and walked out of the room, fully intending to go back and join the party when a strong hand grasped my arm.
Locking eyes with my assailant, I wretched when I saw who it was, Darius Maxwell. Damn in a hole, why can it never be an easy exit? I asked rhetorically.
“Harleigh Swain, it’s been a while,” he breathed huskily, his face intimidating so close to mine. I couldn’t respond, as though my mouth was frozen shut. “Speechless? I guess I should take that as a compliment, seeming as your mouth hardly shut at all before,” he laughed at his own sick joke as I choked.
“Get off me,” I whispered, praying that Tony would find me.
“I don’t think so Harls, we’ve got some unfinished business between us, I think.” Eyeing up my outfit openly, I shuddered and opened my mouth, about to scream before his hand clamped over it. “Uh-uh-ah, Harls, we don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves,” he threatened. Closing my eyes as his fingers started to trail up my arm, I suddenly felt him being dragged off of me.
My eyes widened as I saw Xavier punch Darius into the opposite wall, Darius’ face gushing with blood as the skin opened beneath Xavier’s fist. I watched, shell-shocked as Xavier’s fists and booted feet kept pounding into Darius, who was crumpled in a heap, moaning softly. “Piece of shit, you don’t touch a girl like that, not ever!”
Finding my voice, I said softly then louder, “Xavier, stop,” I said. Seeing him continue beating the living crap out of Darius and said more forcefully, “Xavier stop, please, stop it. He’s not worth it,” I shouted, laying a soft palm on Xavier’s shoulder.
Xavier glanced up and paused, locking eyes on my face as my hand slid down his arm and intertwined with his fingers. Even mid-battle, he was beautiful. I tugged at his hand and pulled him along, into the club area which had become a lot more packed. I ushered him to the bar and sat him on one of the chairs, signalling over a bartender.
“Can I get some ice wrapped in a dish cloth please?” I asked out. My gaze moved to Xavier’s finger’s I was still holding and I sucked in a breath at the bruises and open cuts along his knuckles. “I’m sorry.” I apologised.
“What? Why are you sorry, it was that mug over there putting his hands all over you when you clearly didn’t want him to?” Xavier responded immediately.
“Yeah, but, you only stepped in to help me and for that at least, I’m sorry,” I said apologetically, and I could see his lips quirk upwards.
“It wasn’t an issue, Angel, don’t apologise. Look at me, I’ve come out of it a helluva lot better than the other guy,” Xavier smirked.
“Even still_” I broke off as the bartender returned with ice and antiseptic solution and cotton balls. For a bartender, he’s really tooled up first Aid-wise, I thought. Answering my question, Xavier smiled as he read my surprised expression and explained, “It’s not uncommon to have fights here.”
“Oh,” I understood and lowering my eyes, I took up the antiseptic and balls, damped the cotton and smoothed it over Xavier’s knuckles, gently. Hissing out a breath, I caught his cringe as the antiseptic cleaned the wound. “Did that hurt?”
“No!” he replied almost too quickly, and I smiled. Continuing with even strokes, I bathed and cleaned the wound before picking up the ice-cube bundle wrapped in a dish cloth and pressed it firm to Xavier’s hand, helping it flex it gently.
“Is that any good?” I asked.
“That’s great;” Xavier smirked up at me and then asked, “What’s your name, Angel?”
For a second I forgot how to speak as I gazed into his dark, forest-green eyes, “Uh...”
“Now, I’m sure that’s not your name, Angel. Don’t I get to know the name of my saviour?”
Snapping out of it, I replied, “Harleigh, Harls for short,” I answered him softly.
His eyes softened at my answer, “Harls, I like it. Like Halo,” Removing the ice from his knuckles and flexing out his joints again, he smiled down at me again and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Leaning down as to not frighten me, his nose stroked along my cheek and his mouth brushed my ear as he whispered, “Can I get a dance, Angel?”
Nodding my head slowly, he cupped my hand in his and pulled me gently into the crowd of gyrating males and females, all losing themselves in music. As the song finished, Xavier tugged me into him, my chest pressed to his, my eyes lost in his. A new song struck up, one I recognised as Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” and smirked as I started moving my hips softly from side to side. Rocking back and forth, I twirled around so that my back faced his front and slid down to the floor, 1, 2, bounce, then rose back up again. Curling my arms around his neck, I locked eyes with him and leaned forward, softly singing the lyrics to the song “take it, take it, baby, take it, take it, take it, love me, love me. Tonight I’m a let you be the captain...” I moved my hips in synch with his and we danced together, his forehead pressed to mine as cradled me against him, both of us rocked by the lull of the music as my hands toyed with the curls poking out the back of his snapback.
The song drifted into the next, “Strip” by Chris Brown feat. Kevin McCall, and I laughed internally. This set list was made for my activities tonight, I grinned. “I just wanna see you strip, right now...” I sang softly, my arms still wrapped around Xavier’s neck. I unwound one and let my hand trail down his chest before stopping it at the end of his t-shirt, playing with the hem teasingly, silently asking for its removal. Not eager to disappoint, Xavier took the hem and dragged it up his torso, displaying his rock-hard abs to the masses.
Silently thanking God in advance, I smiled at him and leaned in, getting within an inch of his lips as my hand slid back up round his neck and... lifting his snapback clean off his head before pulling away and crowning myself with the cap.
“D-d-damn you sexy-thing...” the music sang as Xavier smirked at my trick.
Grasping my hand, he pulled me back to him and whispered huskily in my ear, “Do I get to see you strip?”
Raising my eyebrows at him, I smiled mischievously at him before leading him off the dance floor and into a side door, pausing at its entrance and backing up as we heard the noises from inside. Opening the next door along, making sure we were clear of any “sessions”, I lead him to the snooker table in the middle and perched upon the top of it, with him flowing and standing in front of me.
Adjusting his snapback on my head, I scooped my hair to the side, the waterfall of red hanging down my front.
I leant in, drawing his willing lips to mine as he sat his hands on the snooker table edge, touching my legs. I closed my eyes and_
“Harls! We’ve got to_ Damn, I am so sorry!” Tony called from the door of the room, his hands shielding his eyes. “I didn’t realise that... you were busy,” Tony further mumbled apologetically, trying to exit the room without seeing anything.
“Tony, give me a second and open your eyes,” I called annoyed. Lifting myself down from the snooker table using Xavier’s muscled shoulders for support, I landed and sorted myself, before reuniting my gaze with Xavier’s amused one.
“So, Angel, am I getting my cap back or does it belong to you now,” he leaned against the snooker table, still towering over me despite him leaning against something.
“Oh, I’m going to have to talk to the big G-O-D about that one,” I joked, smiling.
He shook his head in light laughter then curled a wisp of my hair about his finger. “That was bad,” he commented nicely.
“I know,” I ducked my head into my hands.
“It was cute though,” he amended and I lifted my face to his. “Tell you what, why don’t you return it to me?”
“When?” I asked.
“How about tomorrow night?” he asked playfully, smiling, knowing that I’d caught onto his message.
“That sounds... like a good idea,” I agreed. Handing him my phone, he typed in his number and then rang it, automatically saving my number to his. I smiled at the smoothness of the action. “I’ve got to go,” I whispered and turned about to walk off when he grasped my hand. Bringing it to his lips, he kissed my hand and winked, before letting go and watching me walk off to a still hyperventilating Tony and our car.
“Well,” Tony began as he sat down into the front seat of the car, finally having calmed down to the PG moment me and Xavier had in the snooker room. “That goes a little above and beyond the call of duty, don’t you think?”
Gaping at him, I frowned incredulously at him. “This has nothing to do with the contract or the gang,” I argued, bristling at his insinuation.
“Look, I didn’t mean it like that,” Tony apologised, seeing the hurt in my expression. “It’s just... well, he was your mark and it was your job to get him on side,” Tony continued.
“He’s signed the contract, I’ve down my job as far as that half of the job is finished. I just like him, Tony, and if I have a chance of trying something outside the stupid gang controlling everything then I’m going to flaming take it,” I said determinedly.
“All right, Harls, calm down,” Tony said gently. “I’m just worried about you, okay? It’s dangerous, and you know Louis won’t like it if he finds out, not after what happened with Darius.”
Inside I knew he was right but I had spent too much of my life living under the thumb of the TX3 and doing what they wanted me to. If I could have a chance to some freedom, to go out and spend time with this guy then I’d do it, without a thought.
“Listen, I won’t say anything if you won’t say anything,” Tony mumbled, compliantly.
Hugging him tightly, I grinned at him, “Thanks Tony, I appreciate it. And I promise, if it does come out, I’ll take all the blame, they won’t even know you were involved.” I vowed.
“C’mon, you nut-ball, we’ve got to get you home anyway,” Tony said, turning down the next road. I settled back into my seat and closed my eyes, drifting off almost instantly, not hearing him say: “I just hope you know what you’re doing, for both our sakes.”
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I hope you liked it. You’ll see a lot more coming from Xavier and Harleigh (obviously) and we’ll look a bit more into Tony’s background as well. I hope you enjoyed it and please:
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