Page 13 of Sugar (Gilded #1)

Gilded

EASTON

“ W hat in the ever-loving- fuck are you doing here?” I bit out before I could stop myself.

Maddie took a retreating step away, her panicked eyes meeting mine. “I… Uhhh… It’s not?—”

Her words cut off abruptly when I closed the distance between us. It was just as well. Whatever excuse she’d been scrambling for would’ve been bullshit.

The tenacious journalist was there because she’d followed me.

In search of a story…

Or was it in search of me?

Logically, I knew it was likely the former, but that didn’t stop my body from reacting to the possibility of the latter.

“She’s with me,” I said, halting the guard who was two seconds away from removing her.

Maddie tore her focus from me to glance at him.

I wanted it back.

“Look at me,” I ordered.

Just like when I’d told her to sit in my office, her obedience was immediate.

That shot to my dick, too.

“I can explain,” she rushed out, nervously tucking her dark hair behind an ear.

“Later. Emily”—I tilted my head toward the podium—“is going to give you a couple things to sign. Then, you’re going to go back out to Golden to wait for me. Understood?”

She shook her head.

Why am I not surprised?

I hadn’t expected her to mindlessly agree, but it’d been worth a shot.

I braced for the onslaught of questions I couldn’t answer.

But when she opened her fuckable mouth, it was to whisper, “I want to go in there.”

Okay. Strike that.

I’m very fucking surprised .

Every muscle in my body tightened in an effort not to give her what she naively claimed to want. To haul her inside and not stop until she’d seen all the depravity Gilded offered.

I exhaled through my clenched teeth when she leaned to look around me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that Cohen of all fucking people held the door wide open—giving Maddie a clear view inside. Who knew what she’d already seen before I happened to spot her standing there.

Like a forbidden angel from a wet dream.

If I was a smart man—a good man—I would’ve immediately marched her cute ass back to her car. And that time, I wouldn’t leave until I watched her drive away.

But if I was either of those things, I wouldn’t have been borderline obsessed with her to begin with.

To my credit, I’d made it three long weeks before manipulating our chance encounter outside of her newsroom.

“Go sign the papers, Maddie.” When she opened her mouth to argue, I narrowed my eyes. “Now.”

With a bratty sigh, she moved across the space to Emily.

Cohen finally let the door close, but it was so he could join me in the entryway.

And in looking at Maddie.

I fisted my free hand not holding my briefcase.

It was meant to stop myself from possessively pulling her into my arms, but my motives switched to wanting to punch my friend—and client—when he let out a low whistle. “When you told Atlas he was interrupting, we assumed you meant work.”

I shot him a look, but he was undeterred.

“Who is she?”

“A college student who was interviewing me for Coastal.”

A sentence that should’ve been enough to make my hard-on shrivel since it was a reminder that she was far too fucking young for me.

But my dick was also undeterred.

I expected Cohen to tense at that. Anonymity ruled at Gilded, and Maddie making it this far was already a breach. The fact she did it as a journalist—college publication or not—should’ve fired up a warning flare or two.

But he didn’t seem to give a shit. His focus was still zeroed in on Maddie. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“So, you wouldn’t mind if I gave her a tour?” He was goading me.

And I took the bait without a second’s hesitation. “Don’t even fucking think about it.”

He laughed and finally tore his eyes off her before I gouged them from his head. “Yup. That’s clearly all she is. How stupid of me to question you.”

Maybe beating him with my briefcase would be better.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Do you have time to stay with her while I meet with Atlas?”

I figured he would continue giving me shit to watch me squirm, but at the reminder of why I was there, he sobered. “Yes. Want me to keep her out here?”

I didn’t know much about Madeline Baker, but I did know she was persistent. She would get into Gilded.

With or without me.

At least with me, I could control what she saw.

Not that my motives were selfless. Allowing her in as my guest meant that I would also get to see her initial reaction.

I wonder if she’ll want to leave immediately.

Even as I thought it, I knew that wouldn’t be the case. If nothing else, her self-proclaimed nosiness would keep her riveted.

I shook my head. “Keep her at the bar, though.”

“Got it,” he agreed as Maddie returned.

Once she was close, she lowered her voice and finally launched in with the rapid-fire questions I’d been anticipating. “What is this place? What were those forms? What’s going on?”

Ignoring her questions for the time being, I made introductions instead. “Maddie, this is Cohen.”

She glared at me before politely offering a distracted greeting to the other man. “Hello.”

Cohen wasn’t distracted as he smiled down at her before turning it to me. “This will be fun to watch.”

“What will?” she asked.

I ignored them both. “Cohen is going to show you the bar.”

“Where will you be?”

“A meeting.”

She opened her mouth, and I could practically taste her argument, but Cohen cut in. “The bar at Gilded, not Golden.”

“Gilded?”

His responding smile looked playful on the surface. The kind that matched his boy-next-door good looks. But I’d known him long enough to know how it really was.

And to suddenly doubt my decision to leave her with him, even for a short time.

Fucking charming bastard.

I cut a warning glare to him before pressing my palm to Maddie’s lower back to start her toward the entrance. I should’ve learned my lesson the first time I’d done it in Doug’s kitchen and kept my hands to myself, but that didn’t seem to be possible where Maddie was concerned.

When we reached the door, Cohen grabbed the handle and paused for some dramatics. He opened it slowly and gave Maddie a few beats to take it all in before saying, “Welcome to Gilded.”

At first glance, the main room looked similar to Golden—an upscale bar with ample seating and nothing out of the ordinary. After all, sex and full nudity weren’t allowed in the open space.

But the intent was there.

I watched Maddie as she watched the room with something more than the detached indifference of a journalist. Her wide eyes. The blown pupils that nearly eliminated the pretty blue surrounding them. Her parted lips.

I’m going to hell.

Once we reached a high top at the edge of the bar—closest to the offices and farthest from the crush of people—I pointed to a stool. “Sit.” When she did, I grabbed her chin to tilt her head so she was looking at me. “Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back. Understood?”

She must’ve been more thrown than I thought because she didn’t argue or ask a single question.

Fuck, this is a mistake.

I forced myself to release her and walk away, lifting my chin at the guard that was positioned outside of the dimly lit hallway.

The door to Atlas’ office was already cracked, so I knocked before pushing it open.

The scary motherfucker’s dark glower softened—slightly—when he saw it was me. “Hey, sorry to pull you away.” His apology would’ve gone a lot farther if he wasn’t holding a gun while he issued it. He set it carefully into the open safe before slamming the door closed.

“You’re good.”

“Where’s Cohen?”

“Keeping watch over a pain in the ass angel who snuck into the devil’s playground,” I muttered as I yanked my laptop out and started it.

“ What ?” I glanced up to see him frozen, his alert gaze aimed at the door. “Why isn’t security handling it?”

I gave him a brief recap, wondering again what the hell she’d been thinking.

“How’d she get in?” Atlas asked.

“Stavros came through Golden.”

Atlas closed his eyes. “We just gave him a warning about using that door. That bar is not a damn buffet for him to go pick and choose from.”

It wasn’t a surprise that smug bastard was careless. Unlike a lot of members, he had no need for anonymity. His exploits were plastered on every gossip website. June found it hilarious that he often posted them to his social media to correct all the details they got wrong.

“What do you need?” I asked before he stormed out and banned the man who paid a fortune for a membership.

“Order of protection for a woman and her baby boy. A tight one. And fast.”

“Is the respondent a skip you’re after?”

Along with owning Golden and Gilded with his brother—who wasn’t actually his brother—Atlas worked as a bounty hunter. I didn’t know the specifics since he was the opposite of Cohen and tightlipped about everything. But I did know it wasn’t financial gain that pushed his pursuits.

“How’d you catch this?” I asked.

“There’s this biker club out of Boston, Court of Mayhem.

They help get victims relocated. Accompany them to court.

All that. They got a call on their line from a woman in San Diego who needed help.

Dire shit that couldn’t wait, so they asked me to help.

I got her and her baby boy to a shelter, but her piece of shit ex isn’t going to let them go easily. ”

“Are there any charges?”

Pushing a hand through his blond hair, he clenched his jaw and shook his head.

“I need her contact info.”

He grabbed his phone and tapped the screen a few times. “Sent.”

I forwarded the email to Matt in the office so he could get a jumpstart while I got more information from Atlas.

“Anything else I should know?” I asked.

“Not right now, but you know how it goes with me.”

I did.

Atlas would castrate himself before he hurt a woman, but he was still intimidating to most people. To an already abused woman? It took a lot of effort for them to trust him enough to escape hell with him. Getting them to talk was usually out of the question.

“If the shelter reaches out with anything more, I’ll let you know,” he said.

I closed my computer and packed it up. “In the meantime, Matt is already working on this. Can’t guarantee much will happen before Monday, but I’ll try to pull some favors.”

“Appreciate it.” He flopped into his chair and grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the bottom drawer of his desk.

“Don’t know if you know this, there’s a whole bar right down that hallway.”

“Also a whole lotta people.”

And one of them is a pretty brunette with mesmerizing blue eyes and an innocence that I’m fucking dying to corrupt.

“Fair enough.” It was all I said before I left him alone with his drink.