The Obsessed With Him Series: Complete Box Set (A Bad Boy Romance) (19 page)

“I told you, tomorrow morning. I’ll meet you at nine o’clock, at the drugstore by Loose Cannons, the one I saw you at the other day. I’ll give it back to you then.”

“And what? It will pick up all the conversations around me?”

“Yes. You are to wear it at all times, and ask Colt questions about his business.”

“’Cause that’s not going to seem obvious,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m not asking you to be obvious about it. Look for openings. Talk to other people if you have to.”

“Colt’s not… I mean, even if there was anything going on, he’s not going to tell me anything.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Caleb leaned back in the booth. “But let me make myself perfectly clear. If this is a rouse, if you do not provide us with the information we’re looking for, or if I find out that you’ve been dishonest in any way, you will go down with Colt Cannon. You will be arrested.”

“And charged with what?”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Obstruction of justice, drug trafficking, interfering with a federal investigation…” He ticked them off one by one on his fingers. “Those are just the felonies, shall I list the misdemeanors?”

“No,” I said. “I got it.” My heart was pounding deep in my chest as I realized just how fucked I was. Caleb and his team were not messing around. They weren’t going to stop until they got something, or until they were convinced nothing was going on.

And if Colt couldn’t be trusted – if what he’d told me about how he wanted to change Loose Cannons wasn’t true – then I was going to go down with him.

W
hen I got back
to the Loose Cannons, the back door was open, and I pulled Colt’s car into the parking lot and cut the engine.

The conversation with Caleb had left me reeling. Of
course
it was going to be unsettling, having a conversation with a freakin’ FBI agent. But it wasn’t just that. It was the things he’d said about Colt.

It felt like a knife was twisting in my stomach when I thought about how it would feel if I were wrong about him.

I took a deep breath and got out of the car.

As I got closer to the back door, I could hear voices coming from the back hallway, and I slowed down.

A second later, Colt’s Uncle Mick came waltzing out, holding a cardboard box loosely under one arm. He was wearing jeans and a black plaid shirt, and he was smoking a cigarette. When he saw me, he grinned.

“Olivia, right?” he asked. He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and then spit onto the ground, something brown and thick. The scent of tobacco filled the air, and I realized he was smoking and chewing dip at the same time.

The thought of it made me want to hurl.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m Olivia.”

He nodded, not showing a trace of emotion on his face, and then his eyes snaked up and down my body, so slow, so gross, that I had to resist the urge to cover myself. “You behind this bullshit?” he asked, and spit again. “Colt buying me out, trying to go legit?”

“Colt makes his own decisions.” I meant it to come out strong, hard, but my voice sounded meek.

“Don’t act innocent, bitch.” He spit again, and his spittle hit the pavement, thick and dark.

“I’m… Colt’s waiting for me.” Adrenaline pulsed through my veins, followed by strong hard panic. I started to walk by him and into the building, but Mick took a step toward me, fast, like he was going to try to grab me or even worse, hurt me.

I flinched and he started laughing. “Scared little bitch, aren’t you?” He smiled again. “Colt always did like them innocent.”

I took in a deep breath and rushed past him, my heart pounding out of my chest as I walked quickly down the back hallway. The afternoon service was starting, and I could hear the sexy bass line pounding through the club, so loud I could feel it in my ribs.

I snaked through the back toward the office, but before I could get there, I heard voices coming from the other side of the corridor, down by the private rooms, the ones Jessa had sent me to the other night, the night those guys at the bachelor party had messed with me, the night I’d cut myself so deep I’d almost passed out, the night Colt had saved me from myself.

“Get the fuck out,” someone was saying loudly, their tone commanding.

I stopped in my tracks.

Colt.

“Hey, hey, hey,” a girl’s voice shouted next, and I followed the sounds, rushing down the hallway toward the voices.

When I got to the private room, Colt was standing just inside the doorway.

Jessa was there too, down on her knees, her hair in a tangle around her shoulders. A middle-aged man was sitting on the couch, his pants down around his ankles, his paunchy stomach sticking out from underneath a too-tight t-shirt.

“Fuck, dude,” the man was saying to Colt. “Relax.”

The room smelled of alcohol and cologne, so strong and pungent I almost wretched.

“Colt,” Jessa said as she stood up, wobbling a little in the spiked heels she was wearing. “It’s fine, baby, relax.” She reached out and put her hands on Colt’s shoulders, like she was trying to calm him down.

But Colt didn’t calm down.

Instead, he pushed past her to the man on the couch, who’d buttoned his pants and was now standing up.

“Get out,” Colt growled.

The man grinned. “Fuck, no,” he said. “I paid for my shit, and now I expect it to be delivered.” He squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest, making it clear he was expecting to get what he paid for.

“Colt,” Jessa said, grabbing at his arm. “Colt, relax. Dennis is cool.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Colt said, pulling his arm from her grasp. He walked over to Dennis, who immediately took a swing at Colt, grazing his cheek with his closed fist as Colt ducked his punch. I watched in terror as Colt grabbed Dennis and pushed him back up against the wall, twisting the man’s arm until he cried out in pain.

“If you ever come back here,” Colt growled. “I will end you. Do you understand?”

Dennis nodded, all traces of bravado gone now, his eyes filled with fear.

Colt let him go, and Denis scurried out the door. Colt’s eyes fell on me, and he took in a sharp breath of surprise as he met my gaze, his eyes a question.
You okay?

I nodded.

He turned to Jessa, who was busy putting her clothes back on. “That really wasn’t necessary, Colt,” she said, annoyed. “I can handle myself.” She reached down and picked up a tiny little bag of white powder that was sitting on the leather couch where Dennis had just been sitting.

“You’re out,” Colt said, taking the baggie from her hand.

“What?”

“You’re fired.”

“You can’t fire me,” she said.

“I said no drugs.”

“Oh, come on, Colt,” she said, rolling her eyes. “No drugs? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I’m not kidding.” He set his jaw and shook his head. “I can get you into a rehab, Jessa, but you can’t work here anymore.”

She glared at him, then held her hand out. “Give me that.”

But he ignored her, instead walking into the tiny bathroom that was off the room. A second later, I heard the sound of the toilet flushing.

“You’re fucking insane!” Jessa raged and she was picking up her purse from the floor and then she was stumbling out the door, brushing by me in a haze of perfume. “You’re an idiot if you think he’s going to change,” she spat at me as she went, and I could smell beer on her breath. “You think he’s going to change for you, but he’s not. This is an act, and it won’t last.”

She was gone then, continuing down the hall, and I let out the breath I was holding, and suddenly, my knees felt weak. I leaned against the door frame and then Colt was there, his arms around me, holding me up as I collapsed against him.

“You okay, Princess?” he whispered in my ear.

“I’m scared.”

He pulled back and looked at me. “Why?”

“They’re after you, Colt, they…”

“Hey, I’m taking care of it,” he said. “Remember?” He kissed me soft and slow, his tongue dancing with mine, the warmth of his touch sliding through my body like a sweet hot chocolate on a winter’s day.

“Trust me,” he said again.

And I had no choice.

I was in this now.

I had no choice but to believe him.

T
he rest
of the day passed without incident, the other girls having been put on notice after word got out about what had happened with Jessa. The bouncers had been put on notice, too, and although a few of them quit out of loyalty to Colt’s uncle, the night had been relatively uneventful.

When we got back to Colt’s house, he made me dinner, homemade pepperoni pizza and Caesar salad.

“Where did you learn to cook?” I asked as I sat down at the kitchen table.

“Culinary school,” he said.

“You went to culinary school?”

“Don’t look so surprised, Princess,” he said, grinning as he set a glass of water down on the table in front of me.

“I just thought… I mean, I figured you always worked at the club.”

“I was a fuck up in high school,” he said, serving a helping of salad into a bowl for me. “So they sent me to a technical school, the place they sent the kids who have high test scores but don’t want to apply themselves?” He shrugged. “It was kind of bullshit, too, but they had a culinary program, so I learned how to cook, how to run a restaurant, that kind of thing.”

I nodded. “It was probably in your blood,” I said. “You know, because of your dad.” I tread very carefully, knowing that I was on dangerous ground by mentioning his dad. I picked up my pizza and took a bite.

“Yeah. Maybe. It was – ” He stopped, his gaze settling on my neck. “Olivia, where’s your necklace?”

“Oh.” I swallowed. “Um, the… Caleb took it. He’s going to put a listening device in it.”

Colt’s jaw twitched, and I saw the hurt flame in his eyes before he nodded curtly.

“Colt –”

“Is your food good?” he asked, cutting me off and letting me know he was done with that part of the discussion.

I nodded. “It’s really good, thanks.”

When we were done eating, we moved to the living room and Colt switched on the TV. “Movie?” he asked.

I nodded.

He grabbed the blanket from off the top of the couch and pulled it over me, and I cuddled against him, feeling the warmth of his body under mine.

We watched a silly action movie, not talking, not moving as he played with my hair absent-mindedly, letting the strands drop through his fingers and brush against my neck.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I felt his arms around me, picking me up and carrying me into bed. He undressed me slowly, until I was completely naked.

“I need to feel you, baby,” he murmured, and then he was naked too, next to me in bed, his body pressed against mine.

We lay there in the dark, gazing into each other’s eyes and I felt something passing between us, something so powerful, something I’d never felt before in my entire life. The electricity pulsed in the room between us, and his hands pressed against my back and pulled me toward him.

He kissed me softly.

I closed my eyes tight, wanting so badly to be right about him, wanting so badly to believe he was for real.

“Colt,” I whispered. “I’m so scared.”

“Shhh. You don’t have to be scared of anything. Just let yourself go, Olivia, and I’ll take care of you.”

His hand was moving down now, sliding over my ass, until he pulled up my leg and pulled me flush against him, his cock hard against me.

“Do you trust me?” he whispered.

“Yes.” I was wet now, down there, between my legs, and I could feel his cock pressing slowly against my opening, and his stare was penetrating me all the way down to my soul. “Colt…” I gasped.

“Yes, Princess?” And now the teasing tone was back, but it was laced with a dark want, and I wanted it too, I wanted to feel him inside of me.

He moved his lips to my ear and whispered softly, his warm breath tickling my neck. “Tell me what you want, Olivia.” His voice was strong, commanding.

“I want to fuck.”

He made me wait an excruciating second, and then his hand was moving down the back of my thigh and he pulled my leg up even more and then he was pushing inside of me, soft and slow, so big and hard that I gasped again and bit my lip.

He began to fuck me, holding me against him tightly, the whole time gazing into my eyes, and the crackling intensity between us was so strong I almost couldn’t take it.

This is what it is to feel,
I thought as we came at the same time, looking into each other’s eyes, his strong arms around me, his hands tangled in my hair.

T
he next morning
, Colt woke early and went to the gym, and I showered and got dressed. My nerves were on alert, worried about what was going to happen today, what my first day as an FBI informant would bring. The idea was so ludicrous it would almost have been funny if it weren’t so serious.

When Colt got back, he showered and dressed, then made us coffee and poured it into travel mugs.

We were quiet on the ride to Loose Cannons, and when he pulled into the parking lot, it was 8:55, just a few minutes before I was due to meet Caleb. I stared out the window, not wanting to get out, wishing Colt would insist I stay in the car the way he’d done before.

But he didn’t.

“You ready?” he asked, shifting the car into park.

I nodded, even though I wasn’t.

Colt squeezed my hand. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

We got out of the car and he kissed me before turning and walking into the club. I headed in the opposite direction, walking down to the drugstore where I’d first met Caleb the other day.

I got there at ten on the dot, and Caleb was already waiting outside. He had on a black suit, perfectly pressed, and his hair was combed back from his face, his face freshly shaven. He looked every bit the part of an FBI agent.

“Waiting outside?” I asked snidely. “That doesn’t seem very covert.”

“You alone?” He scanned the street behind me suspiciously.