Moments of Malevolence (The Hunters Book 1)

IF ANNOYING COULD HAVE A FACE, it would be this woman in front of me right now. She is talking—I mean, her lips are moving—but I can’t hear a word that leaves her mouth. It sounds like gibberish. Instead, my eyes find Alaska’s. She is watching the exchange from where she stands at the end of the bar.

“Did you hear me?” the woman in front of me asks.

I grip my phone in hand as I glance back at her. “What did you say?”

“I said you don’t need to pay for her services. I can give you a better rate.”

“A better rate?” I repeat her words as a question. The music is loud, but I’m not really paying all that much attention.

“Yes, like I said… My name is Sarah.” She rolls her eyes as if her pretentiousness will get her somewhere with me.

“I’m happy to pay whatever I’m paying now,” I tell her.

She bites her bottom lip as Alaska steps up right next to her. Sarah’s sharp eyes fall on Alaska, and she seems to stand a little taller.

“Are you lost, Sarah?” Alaska asks in a bored tone.

“I was just seeing if this customer here would like a better waitress,” Sarah says with false sweetness and all kinds of bravado.

“You can have him. He’s all yours,” Alaska answers, then walks off.

Sarah smiles brightly like she can’t believe her luck as Alaska heads back to the bar where she has been most of the night.

“She must really not like you if she was willing to give you up that easily. She never gives me anything,” Sarah says, her eyes lit with triumph.

I want to cut her lips from her goddamn mouth.

This bitch is fucking annoying.

“Get her back,” I order, waving a hand. Sarah pales at my words, and her brows pull together so tight they form a single line. “Get her back, or I’ll get you fired.”

Her hand swings to her hip as a slow grin touches her lips. “You don’t have that power.”

“You know the owner, then?” I ask.

She opens her mouth to speak but stops, then tries again. “My boyfriend is the manager.”

“Okay, so I will have him fired. Now fucking listen and… Get. Her. Back. You have ten minutes,” I warn.

“Fuck, you’re crazy. Hot but crazy.” As she storms off, she waves a hand over her head. “You can have your stupid crazy bitch of a waitress. You are not worth it,” she shouts over her shoulder. I see her stomp up to Alaska, who rolls her eyes when she speaks to her. Alaska spins around and comes straight back to me with no tray in hand.

“Sarah thinks you’re crazy, and that’s saying something coming from that idiot.”

I want to kiss her pink lips. Run my finger over them and hold her in place while I do bad, wicked things to her.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

One thing about Alaska, she has more balls than any other woman I have met. She speaks what’s on her mind and gives as good as she gets.

“Like what?” I ask.

“Like you want to eat me,” she whispers, but I hear it over the music. I sit back in the booth, draping my arm across the top of the seat as I cross one leg over my thigh. Her eyes track each movement.

“That’s because I do,” I reply honestly.

“Where is your knife?” she asks, with her chin raised in what seems to be a little defiance.

“Why? Would you like to be acquainted with it again?” I remember how hard she came last time I used it on her.

“No. And if you ever do that again, there will be hell to pay.”

She doesn’t realize what she just said… “Ever do that again.” She used “again.” Which means she hasn’t completely run from me.

Not quite yet anyway.

Placing my foot on the floor, I stand, leaning down until I’m in her face. She angles her head up slightly—in her heeled boots she is almost as tall as me. My hand lifts and touches the edge of her cheek. Stroking it, I lean down farther and kiss just below her earlobe.

“Are you wet, Trouble?” I ask. She nods as if she’s on autopilot, and I let out a pleased hum at what a good girl she is for me. “Show me where.”

She takes my hand that’s gripping her waist and moves it. Her little hand wraps around my wrist as she pulls it between us. She steps back just a fraction, so there is room as my hand is pushed onto her pussy.

She has tight little shorts on, and I let my fingers roam before one pushes aside the material and slides up. Her breath hitches and I let my thumb graze her lip as I stare at her. “Be quiet, Trouble. We don’t want your customers thinking this is a free service.” She blinks at me as my finger touches her wetness. She isn’t drenched, but she is for sure wet. If you are watching from a distance, it would appear like we are almost kissing. The side where my hand is in her pants faces a wall, so no one can see as my fingers push in all the way.

“Zuko,” she says breathlessly.

“Yes, Trouble?” I move my finger in and out of her while my other fingers rub over the outside of her shorts and over her clit.

“This is…”

“Good?” I finish for her.

She shakes her head, but I lean in and kiss her lips, not giving her a chance to respond. Her hands raise to my shoulders, gripping and digging her nails into my skin through my shirt.

“So this is why you wanted her back.” Alaska freezes at the sound of that voice. “I’m telling the boss. You’re getting fired, you stupid bitch.”

I slide my finger out of her as her eyes find mine. I keep my eyes locked on Alaska’s as I speak to the woman behind her. “Tell your boss to come here.”

“Oh, you can be sure I will.” Sarah sneers, and her contemptuous appearance clearly shows she has no respect for Alaska or me.

Alaska pulls away from me, fixing her shorts into place, and she swings around. “If I get fired…” Alaska gives me an angry glare.

I put my finger to my lips and taste in reply.

She stomps off.