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“Come on,” he begged. “You know you want this hot body.” He lifted his shirt, showing off his ridiculously huge muscles.

“Sorry, but you’re not my type,” I said, two steps away from the door. “No hard feelings, though.”

“Oh, I’ve got hard feelings,” he said with a nasty grin.

I reached for the doorknob, ready to make a run for it. But he lunged forward and pressed his palm against the door, holding it shut.

“Where you running off to, beautiful?”

“You need to leave,” I said firmly, determined to not show the fear I felt.

“Look, you fucking cock-tease,” he said, “you’ve been playing Warren and me both, and it’s not right. If you want information for your damn story, it’ll cost you. He’s not the man you think he is.”

“What do you mean?” I said, attempting to put on a brave face and ignore his threat. Instead, I latched on to his comment about Warren. “Is he involved in the smuggling?”

He sighed. “There you go with the damn smuggling again. All you do is ask questions. Time for you to give some up.”

“What the hell are you talking about? You’re not making any sense.”

The moment he reached out to grab my arm with his hand, I screamed, hoping someone would hear.

CHAPTER 7

Warren

When I heard Rose scream, I immediately began rushing to her CHU. The lights were on, but I had no idea what was happening inside.

Had she seen a rat or something?

Seconds later, the door burst open and she ran outside with Melvin lumbering after her, a sick and demented smile on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked once within earshot of her.

“You need to teach your boy some manners!” she said angrily, glaring at Melvin.

I turned toward him and the sickening smirk on his face. “What did you do?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Nothing you don’t want to do with her,” he said, puffing out his chest.

I stepped forward, pressing mine against his. He stood a few inches taller than me, but I wasn’t afraid of him in the least; brain won over brawn every time. “What…the fuck…did you do?” I said.

“Nothing happened,” Rose said, grabbing my arm and pulling. But I didn’t budge.

“You like me, don’t you babe?” Melvin said, patting her ass.

“Hey!” she snapped.

“That’s it, you son of a bitch.” I swung and punched him dead on the temple. He bellowed and bent into a defensive stance, his fists up.

“Knock it off you two!” Rose cried.

“Too late for that,” Melvin said and then lunged for me, landing an uppercut to my jaw.

“Why are we fighting?” I asked, dodging his next hit.

“Because you need to know who’s the alpha around here,” he growled.

I ducked out of the way as he swung again, and then landed a punch on his forearm.