Page 32 of Under Your Scars

“Whatever you want,” he answers, far too easily.

“WhateverI want?” I repeat with a mocking gasp, and his eyes gleam with curiosity. I think about it for a minute. “Alright, Mr. Reeves. If you win, we go on a date—but ifIwin, I want an office with a view just like yours.”

“You’re on, Elena.”

He grabs my hand and I giggle as he brings us to one of the free lanes.

Christian rolls first, lining up his shot and hitting nine pins on his first, and the last pin on his second for a spare. He winks at me, and I wink back, taking the ball in my hand and lining up my own shot.

I hit a perfect, clean strike.

I turn around to see Christian’s mouth hanging wide open, and I give him a triumphant smile. “How did you do that?”

I tug my bottom lip between my teeth. “I was on my high school’s bowling team. National champions three years in a row.”

He smirks. “How convenient of you to not bring that up until now,” he mumbles as I roll another strike. He gives me a playfully pained expression. “Best two out of three?”

“No take-backsies. I’ll expect to move into my new office on Monday morning, Mr. Reeves.”

And then I play a perfect game.

CHAPTER 9

THE ANGEL

As I approach the Hellfire Lounge for my shift, I scold myself for daydreaming about Christian. I cannot get feelings for the CEO. I just can’t. It would be detrimental to my career when things inevitably go bad. I haven’t put myself through hell for the past five years to have everything I’ve worked for come crumbling down because I got horny for a billionaire.

But he’s so damn dreamy I can’t help all those butterflies going nuts in my stomach every time I think about him.

All the warm fluttery feelings disappear the moment I see our resident masked asshole thatstillwon’t leave me alone. He grabs me roughly by the arms and shoves me into an alley when I’m a block away from the club.

He presses me against the wall so hard my head knocks against the brick, but his hand cups the back of my head to soften the blow. “Ow!” I mumble, rubbing the spot. “What do you want, asshole?”

“I need your help with something. And don’t be dramatic, I made sure to protect your pretty little head.”

I roll my eyes. “You needmyhelp? With what?”

“Frank Valenti is up to something, and I want to know any information you can get me about this place. If you see or hear anything weird, I need to know.”

A knot twists in my stomach and I rip my arm out of his grasp. “How exactly do you expect me to get this information? Why don’t you just break in, since you seem to be such an expert at that?” I mock, bitterly pointing out all the times he’s broken into my apartment.

“I’m not exactly welcome here. It’s not as simple as walking in the front door.”

I chew on my bottom lip. “What did you do?”

“Exactly what I told you I would. I killed all Valenti’s friends. Spelled his name in their blood so he knows I’m coming for him next.”

I shudder. “You can’t just keep killing people for—”

“Icanand Iwill, Elena. Until there’s no one left that can hurt you. That’s a promise.”

I push him roughly away from me. “So, what, next time my father and I get in an argument are you going to run to Texas to kill him too?”

He huffs, pressing himself into me and caging me between his body and the brick wall. He softens his voice. “No, angel. I would never hurt your family.”

He looks at me for a long while, his green eyes bright behind the dark paint that surrounds them. I take a deep breath. “Look, I’ll try to help you, but only if you make me a promise.” He says nothing, but he nods for me to continue. “You have to promise me that you won’t hurt Christian Reeves. Ever. Ilikehim. I don’t want to wake up one morning to see that you murdered him because you’re jealous I’d rather fuck him than you.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Is that right, Elena? You’d rather fuck him than me?”