on him like a parasite, and he wanted no part of it.
Mano watched as a man approached their table. He could feel a spike of anger surge through him like a warning that trouble was on the horizon. He pushed his body off the wall and sauntered towards the booth where the ladies were seated. He stepped around the man and leaned down, kissing Page on the cheek.
“Sorry I’m late, babe.”
He sat down next to a shocked Page. He lifted his shirt and placed his Glock in his lap, directing his attention towards the intruder.
“You wanna tell me why you’re over here trying to chat up my woman?”
The stranger raised his hands in surrender. “Hey man, I’m sorry. I don’t want any trouble.” Though the Glock was hidden, the man could see it, and it scared him. He’d heard the rumors about this place. He had just figured two good looking women alone might mean a pick-up and a stranger fuck.
“Then get the fuck out of here and take your friends with you. You’ve got thirty seconds. Move it! I don’t like repeating myself.”
The man scurried away like a scared kid on the playground, proposing to never return to the establishment again. Most of the patrons had heard the rumors that 'The Club’ was owned and operated by Colombian cartel. It was easy to allow the veil of secrecy to enable them to sweep the gossip under the rug because everything was run so professionally. It was more like a private—for members only establishment. It didn’t fit the clichés of gun-wielding drug runners who shot first and asked questions later. The encounter with Mano was enough to open the patron’s eyes to the reality: ‘The Club’ could be a dangerous place to be under the right circumstances. A woman was always the right circumstance.
“We could have taken care of that,” Page looked at the man who was sitting a little too close—with a gun—in his lap.
Mano looked at her through hooded eyes. His expression was serious, and a dangerous vibe rolled off him in waves. She took a moment to study him. Dark brown hair that was just long enough to have a sexy messy look to it, a five-o-clock shadow that made her want to feel it scratching over her cheek, or better yet between her spread legs and green eyes that were honed in on her like lasers made her very curious about who the knight in jagged armor was.
“Like you took care of the fixer who was working for you?!”
Uh-oh, this guy knew who she was. Page tried to make it look like she was sitting up straight in an indignant manner, but it came out more like a nervous squirm. “I’ll have you know, I had nothing to do with that man’s death.”
“I’ll have you know you had everything to not only do with his death, but your little antics resulted in putting heat on his family and the Colombian cartel.” His voice dripped with sarcasm on the first part of the sentence and warning on the second.
“Oh shit; no wonder everybody is being so nice to us,” Judy whispered.
“Except for me,” Mano stared Judy down until she looked away and then returned his cold gaze to Page.
“Now, here’s how things are going to go, Kavya. Page. Wordsmith.” He let the fact he probably knew more about her than she knew about herself sink in before he continued. “I own you. I’m going to be on you like stink on shit, little girl, or in this case, a predator on prey. I’ll give you three guesses who the prey is.”
“I’m nobody’s prey,” Page growled. This guy was pissing her off with his arrogance and scaring her with his information about her. She’d keep the scared part to herself. No sense in letting the enemy know he had the upper hand. Too bad, he wasn’t some ugly stinky fucker. His alpha personality only added to his good looks, and the way he had scared the customer off was a turn-on.
Mano’s hand was around her throat so quick she never saw it coming. He was lightning fast, and he was pissed. Not a good combination. If she thought somebody was going to come to rescue her, she was sorely mistaken—wrong bar. There wasn’t a knight in shining armor to be found. He could probably choke her and pitch her dead body under the table, and no one would care. They’d just wait until closing time to help Mano