He took a long drag from his glass, and his eyes didn’t leave mine as I watched the glass slip through his fingers. The loud crash of breaking glass pulled me out of whatever trance he seemed to put me in, and I rushed to Allie’s side as she bent to clean up the mess.
“Allie, I’d love another water.”
Allie stopped with a large piece of glass in her hand and stared at me as he spoke. Her eyes were round in shock, and I knew that she felt as confused as I did.
“Okay. Let me get this cleaned up, and I’ll get it right to you.”
He turned in his chair, looking down at us with pure venom in his voice. “I think the new girl can handle it.”
I could tell that Allie had no idea what to do. She looked from him to me, and I gave her a slight nod of my head. As much as I didn’t want to be left alone with him, there was no way that I would subject her to whatever he was going to do next. She hesitated before she stood, and I knew that she didn’t want to leave me here alone.
I collected the glass in my hand as fast as I could, eager to get away from him. I barely felt it as the glass slid into my skin. I tightened my hand around it, letting the burn of the cut ricochet through me. It took everything inside me not to tell all of them to go straight to hell, but I needed this job. I needed it far more than I needed any of them to like me.
“You’re bleeding.” His voice held no concern.
“I’m fine.”
“I wasn’t worried about you.”
I finally looked back up at him then.
“Don’t drop an ounce of that Vos blood on my carpet.”
“Beck.” It was his sister who spoke, but he shrugged her off as if she was nothing.
Instead, he leaned closer to me, his face almost level with mine as he spoke. “I don’t want to see any Vos blood unless it’s at my hands.”
I shot back as his words hit me like a whip. He wanted to draw blood from my family? From me?
“I am only a Vos by blood.” I barely knew anything about this guy other than his last name, but he thought he knew everything about me simply by mine.
He reached out. His hand landed on my cheek gently, and I hated that I flinched at his touch. “You’re still one of them.” He ran his thumb against my bottom lip, and my thighs tightened involuntarily.
He touched me as if he somehow had the right, and I wanted to snap his fingers in half.
“Fuck you.” I heard the others get eerily quiet at my words, but I didn’t care. I needed this job, but not that damn bad. If he wanted to fire me, then he could go ahead and do so, but I would be damned if I sat there and listened to him.
I rose to my feet, his broken glass in my hands, and I hated how intrigued he looked. He cocked his head to the side, and it was as if I was the only thing he could see. His focus was singular, and it was completely on me.
My teeth felt like they were going to crack as I stared at him. His eyes looked so dark they were almost black, and I couldn’t look away. Even though he had a small grin on his face that showed his perfect teeth, it was as if his eyes were dead.
“Don’t let me see you here again.” His words sounded sweet coming off his tongue, but I could still see the venom in his eyes.
“Or what?” I didn’t know why I said it. I felt eager to push him. He made me eager to find out what he was capable of.
He and I were complete strangers, but somehow, he felt like anything but. He apparently knew far more about me than I knew of him, and I hated that he had that advantage. But even through his palpable hatred, there was something about him that still made my heart race in more than fear.
He stood. His height towering over me, and I lifted my chin as I stared into his eyes. “Don’t test me, Vos.”
I had a feeling he wasn’t used to being tested. I had a feeling nobody ever questioned him.
It was time that changed.
“Then fire me, Clermont.” I took a step closer to him, and the smell of his cologne overwhelmed me. It reminded me of that moment on the beach. Before we became more than two strangers. Before everything was ruined. “If you have that power.”
He tensed, his body going stone-still. My hands throbbed around the glass, and I could feel my pulse booming through every part of me.
“If not, I need to get back to work.” I stepped to the side with every intention of passing him, then avoiding this table for the rest of the night, but his hand reached out and gripped my upper arm before I could escape him.
His skin felt like it was a flame against mine.
His face was so close to me and my stomach tightened against my better judgment. My head and body as much at war as I appeared to be with him.
“If you don’t leave.” He licked his bottom lip, and I couldn’t stop myself from tracking the slow movement. “I’ll make your life a living hell.”
Chapter Four
Beck
I had no fucking clue what she was doing here.
Was her father insane?
What the hell did he think was going to happen? He sent his daughter straight into my hands, and he thought that she would make it out unscathed?
“Did you know that someone hired Lucas Vos’s sister?” I stormed into my father’s office as my muscles shook. I didn’t care that he was on the phone. I didn’t care that his gaze snapped up to me and he looked as annoyed with me as I was with him.
“I’ll call you back in a bit.” He set his phone down on his desk with more force than necessary and looked at me. “Yes. I knew. Joseph called me this morning.”
I had to bite my tongue to not rage out at him. My teeth felt like they might snap from the pressure of keeping it all together. The fact that he still spoke to that man made my skin crawl. How the two of them could pretend like nothing had ever happened was despicable.
“Fire her.” I dug my fingers into the back of the leather chair that sat across from him and tried to rein in my temper.
He shook his head, and my fingers turned white under the force of my hold. “I’m not firing the girl because you don’t like her brother.” His tone was final, brooking no room for argument.
My head snapped back. “Do you remember what her brother did?” I spit at him.
His eyes snapped up to mine at my words, and I knew that I was walking a fine line. My dad was kind and humble, but he refused to deal with disrespect. It was the thing that drove me the craziest about this whole situation.
It was as if they were rubbing their disrespect right in his face.
“I haven’t forgotten.” He leaned forward, his nostrils flaring, and clasped his hands together. “I will never forget what that boy did. But she is not him.”
I had never seen my father as weak. Not until recently. Not until I saw the way he handled this.
But he felt weak now.
It was like I didn’t know him at all.
“Joseph said she has agreed to be on her best behavior, but she wants a job. He feels more comfortable about her working here than someplace he can’t control.”
“But he has all the control here, doesn’t he?” The tightness in my chest intensified as I snapped at my father.
“Watch your tone, Beckham.” My dad rose, and I hated the way he had to grip the desk to pull himself to his full height. I hated watching him wither away.