Reign A Romance Anthology - Nina Levine Page 0,58

know how else to do this. I fucking wanted her like I needed the air in my lungs, but ever since I was a kid, my idea of relationships had been fucked up. Somehow Bianca had survived what very little of our father’s lessons in love and devotion showed us, but I had borne the brunt of his lessons.

Along with patricidal modeling, Wren was in my head too, scrambling my thoughts and making shit fucked up.

Looking at her now, covered in dog fur, I shouldn’t be attracted to her. I should head back to the club, call some of my Dolls, and have a fucking orgy off the clock. Screw the no-fucking rule. I needed some pussy, and I needed it now. Since Wren couldn’t—or wouldn’t—give it to me, I’d have to go elsewhere.

But that thought was like a fucking bullet to the chest.

I wanted her and only her.

When the fuck did I become such a pussy?

“Will you come?” I asked harshly.

She nodded, clasping her hands in front of her. “I will.”

Relief flooded me. “Good. I’ll pick you up at six.”

With that, I unlocked the door and strode from her shop. Andy was waiting at the open rear door. I slid inside the car and let out a breath once the door was shut. I turned to find Wren standing just outside her shop, her brows drawn down like she was trying to figure out a problem. Well, good luck to her because even I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with me.

Shit. I have to get my head on straight. I was Bane-fucking-Rivera. I never let pussy dictate to me. I never let pussy interfere with my business. What I needed to do was remember who the fuck I was and how I’d gotten here. Mooning over Wren had made me soft.

“Back to the club, sir?” Andy asked.

“Yeah,” I snarled, shifting my raging erection in my pants. I needed a fucking release. Otherwise, I would lose it the next time I laid eyes on Wren. I wouldn’t stop myself, I wouldn’t give a fuck about our stupid one-night-only agreement. I would simply take what I wanted and force her to see things my way. Once I was in her blood, she wouldn’t walk away so easily.

Ten minutes later, we pulled up outside the club, and I got out without waiting for Andy. I opened the door and stepped into the cool darkness, the velvet-smooth wrap of my Dollhouse. Fuck, I hated Mondays. I hated how empty this place felt when it wasn’t filled with women or music. I hated how empty it made me feel too.

Where had that thought come from?

I wasn’t empty. I was fucking fulfilled.

With a growl, I stalked up to my office and poured myself a drink. I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do now. I couldn’t get a release. I was fucking wired, and nothing was going how it was supposed to. My head jerked up when there was a knock at the door.

Dagger stepped into the room, his blank expression looking tight—if that were even possible. I took one look at his face and shook my head.

“No,” I hissed, slamming back another shot of whisky.

“Two more hits. Simultaneous.”

I curled my free hand into a fist. “Who this time?”

“Rabbit and Red.”

“Fuck.” They were my two best sellers. “Same MO, cash taken, drugs left?”

Dagger grunted. “We need to retaliate, boss. Sitting here with our hands on our dicks is sending the wrong message.”

I moved before I even realized I was doing it. I slammed Dagger against the wall, my forearm against his throat. Pushing my face into his, I hissed, “You think I don’t know that? You think I like sitting here waiting for the next dealer to go down?”

He stared at me with his dead eyes but said nothing that I needed to hear. “Goddammit!” I wrenched myself away from him and began to pace. My fingers turned to claws as they raked through my hair. Could this day seriously get any fucking worse?

“I have a guy we can use,” Dagger said in a low voice. “He’ll find out what’s going on, then dispose of the culprits discreetly.”

“Fucking do it,” I growled, waving him away. We didn’t need to speak of my outburst. Dagger knew what kind of stress I was under. I knew he would understand. He left me after that, left me to stew, left me to turn ideas and possibilities over in my head until I was