this room with her for the rest of time. When I think about happiness, I think about being alone with Daphne. That’s peace.
Running my fingers through my chopped mess of hair, I sit down in the chair and stare at her through the mirror. “Do your worst,” I say, gripping the armrests. I’m not one that cuts my hair. It’s how it got so long in the first place.
“When it comes to you, I’ll only ever do my best.”
The first inch of hair falls to my lap and it’s liberating. The past is disintegrating, and the future has come, and her name is Daphne.
My Comet.
Have you ever seen someone that takes your breath away and you stare because they are so beautiful, you wonder how they exist?
That’s how I feel right now. I can’t keep my eyes of Tongue as we walk down the hallway toward the casino again. He is power, strength, fear, and intimidation rolled into one. His height, his build, his tattoos, his menacing snarl that is permanent on his face creates a threatening package I can’t get enough of.
Yes, he is all of those things, but there is something else, one detail no one will know about him except me.
The snarl on his face doesn’t exist when he watches me. He is every terrifying word a person can think of, but he loves madly, and he has set his instability on me.
I love it.
I’m sure people look at us and see a million reasons why we can’t be together. I’m so much more different on the outside than he is, but on the inside? He answers every call my body has. Maybe it’s wrong to some, but he is right to me.
And that is all that matters.
“You’re going to make me a ton of money,” Maximo says with so much glee he nearly bounces on his heels as he walks.
Tongue slides his hand into mine, his palm swallowing me from its massive size, and holds on tight as we walk. Not a single part of me is worried about Tongue entering the ring. I have no doubt he is going to win. No one stands a chance against him.
He’s vile.
Even the Devil wouldn’t dare to challenge this level of sin he has created.
As Maximo opens the door that leads into the main casino where all of the pretty women are dressed to the nines, and the men are wearing black-tie suits buying expensive drinks, they all turn their heads to stare at me. My shirt might be cheap, but the man it belongs to could kill their men with a snap of a finger.
Who needs money when I already have power?
I feel like I’m on top of the world and better than them when my hand is in Tongue’s.
Until my knee gives out.
I almost fall and slam it against the floor again, but Tongue is there, lifting me into his arms without effort or breaking a sweat.
“You need to rest,” Tongue says, and his chest vibrates from the whiskey notes in his voice. “Because I plan on doing more to that delicious body.” He sucks my earlobe into his mouth, and my head falls onto his shoulder, an arousing sigh escaping me.
“You’re gaining an audience,” Maximo states, pressing the button to the elevator.
The elevator doors ding and slide open. Maximo is the first one to enter, then Tongue, then the goons. I tilt my head to the left giving Tongue the access he needs to kiss me.
“What the fuck do they put in the water over at the clubhouse?” Maximo fixes the gold cufflink attached to his sleeves, and his initials are etched in the elegant gold. “I need to get me some,” he mutters under his breath, but no one hears him but me.
I act like I don’t because I value my life, and I know he wouldn’t be happy if he caught me staring at him. Maximo slides his card over a black scanner and the lights turn from green to red as we descend. After we pass the basement, the elevator doesn’t give the floor or a hint of where we are going. We come to a smooth stop and the doors open, revealing a dark, poorly lit place.
Tongue must feel right at home because he hums in appreciation, like a cat purring when it’s relaxed.
I thought the fighting ring would be fancier, but it’s bare-bones and basic. The hallway leading to the ring is narrow and the floor is dirt. When we