Page 3 of Ruthless Touch

“When isn’t he telling me that?”

“That’s why you never live to please them, my friend,” he says, hooking an arm around my neck. He gestures to the club floor in front of us, bathed in bright neon-purple lighting. “Parents will have you pulling your hair out trying to impress them.”

“You would know.”

Joon-gi has bucked tradition from the moment I met him in high school. From a family of well-regarded attorneys, he sought a life of crime despite his genius-level IQ. His family has considered it the highest of disrespects, virtually disowning him.

If anything, it’s caused Joon to act out even more. The platinum blond hair being one of the most visually offensive examples.

“So you heard the bastard got away?” asks Joon. “Made a clean break and nobody caught him.”

“Black Silk,” I scoff. “More like incompetence. How was Lieutenant Im even within shot? And my father saysI’mincompetent.”

“That’s it, Gun. It’s all projection. They’re the problem. Not you. Never you.”

“Fuck off.” I shove at him to his laughter.

He stumbles half a step back, rubbing at his shoulder. “No need to get violent. Look around you—we’re in paradise, my friend. Eclipse is full of sexy ladies tonight.”

I scan the area, admiring the club from wall to wall.

Neon-purple lights spill over everything—ceilings, booths, even the floor looks like it’s been lacquered in liquid moonlight. The bar stretches across the far wall in sleek black marble, glowing bottles lined up like candy behind glass. The room throbs from the loud music; the dance floor packed with bodies grinding in rhythm. And then there’s the cages suspended in the air where girls in tiny hot pants shake their hips seductively.

“Am I right?” Joon asks, grinning wider than seems possible. He elbows me in the ribs. “Check out that group of tourists at ten o’ clock. You think the redhead would give me the time of day?”

“She’s out of your league. All of them are.”

“Big talk from you, Gun. But women are bored of your classic looks. They want unconventional. Like me.”

We’re both so busy giving each other shit we almost don’t notice the woman who really deserves our attention.

Joon sees her first, elbowing me in the ribs a second time.

He’s gone still otherwise, his eyes wide and voice full of awe. “And who isthat? Do you see her? Over at the bar counter? ”

I follow his gaze, my eyes traveling over the writhing crowd on the dance floor. It finally lands on the only woman Joon could possibly be talking about—and she’s not only stunning, she’salone.

She’s seated at the bar counter as the party happens around her, sipping on a simple cocktail like she’s satisfied in her solitude.

My heart flips inside my chest. The heavy pounding in my head suddenly ceases to exist.

I’m as awestricken as Joon, peering across the club at the beautiful woman.

She has smooth dark brown skin that radiates in the purple-tinted lighting and feline-like eyes that are dark and mysterious. Her hair is long and done in some kind of thick braided style, hanging down her back like rope spun from velvet. She has a nose ring and a full mouth she’s painted the color of wine.

Unlike most of the women in Eclipse, she’s shied away from the mini dress and skyscraper heels. Instead, she’s wearing a black top that’s cropped to show off a toned stomach—andanotherpiercing, this time a belly gemstone—and some kind of matching wrap skirt that hugs what are deliciously curvy hips.

But though she’s obviously beautiful, that’s not the only distinctive thing about her.

It’s the energy she possesses, so different it makes her stand out from the others in the club.

She has a calm, quiet, cool confidence as she sips her cocktail and her dark eyes roam the club space. Almost like she’s the queen surveying her subjects.

“She’s alternative,” Joon whispers, elbowing me yet again. “More my speed, yeah?”

I don’t answer him, too busy staring at her unapologetically.

Considered bad form or not, I don’t give a fuck.