Beneath This Ink (Beneath #2)(10)

“Right. Okay. So I’m going alone.” Which meant it would be easier to corner Con and make my last ditch effort at begging without an audience.

“But you’re seated at the VIP table. With the keynote speaker,” Elle added.

“That’s fine.”

I mentally flipped through the contents of my wardrobe. My confidence was going to need a serious boost to do this. There was one dress I hadn’t yet worn. It wasn’t scandalous, just more body-conscious than I was usually willing to wear. When I’d tried it on in the dressing room, I’d felt…strong. Capable. Like a woman who knew what the hell she was doing and what she wanted.

I looked at the clock. I had three hours until the fundraiser. Three hours to apply my war paint and armor and come up with a strategy. I had to find some way to get Con Leahy alone and convince him to donate that damn property.

Elle was right. I’d had a moment of temporary insanity. I was not walking away from my dream—my heritage—without a fight.





I stood in the shadows of the bar, nursing my Jack and Coke, as I watched her flit around the crowd. A perfect social f*cking butterfly. She moved from one group to the next, making conversation and smiling her polite company smile. That smile was nothing like the one I’d seen on her face when her cheek was smudged with strawberry jam—before we’d both lost our tempers, and she’d walked out on me. Again.

I didn’t know when I started making a study of her different smiles, but I could tell this one was practiced. It was the one that graced the society pages. While she always looked f*cking gorgeous, this smile wasn’t going to launch a million ships or whatever the hell the saying was. There was something missing from it. It didn’t reach her eyes.

She turned and visibly stiffened. Apparently my subtle observation of her was actually several notches less than subtle. But it wasn’t shock I saw on her face. Whatever that emotion was, it was wiped away so quickly I wondered if I’d really seen it. Her perfect fa?ade was in place again—except for the pointed look in my direction and one raised eyebrow.

Yeah, princess, you caught me. I’m watching you. I’d watched her from the sidelines more times over the past two years than I would care to admit. Hell, even longer than that. I wondered if I’d ever get out of the high school mindset where I was the charity case and she was the perfect princess I’d accused her of being. God I hoped so. It was time to grow up. I shifted and adjusted the collar of my tux.

And yeah, you heard me right. My tux. I would’ve worn jeans and a T-shirt if I hadn’t given a shit, but I did. Not because I’d expected Vanessa to be here—which I had—but because I was here to support Trey. I couldn’t very well force him to wear a tux and not wear one myself. Even though I’d rented his, you couldn’t help but see the pride in his eyes when he’d walked out to my car tonight. He looked good, and he deserved his moment to shine.

He was the poster boy for success of an organization like this one. The only son of a single mother working three jobs, raised in the projects, and completely at risk for joining a gang. But he was smart, and his mama wanted more for him than a short life that would end with a drive-by bullet. So she started sending him to the Boys and Girls Club when he was young. They kept him out of trouble and up to his eyeballs in activities. He’d moved up to be part of the afterschool staff and a mentor. He’d started training with my guys over a year ago and dropped down to two days a week at the Club. The program director had been downright suspicious and had hauled his ass over to the gym to talk to me himself to make sure Trey was staying out of trouble. We came to an understanding: Any of the boys who wanted to box or had anger issues that required a little more…physical activity…to keep them in line, he’d send my way, and I’d vowed on my mother’s grave to keep them on the straight and narrow the best I could.

So tonight, Trey was receiving the Boy’s Award for Excellence. His mom had been excited to come, but at the last minute, she’d been called in to work. Too afraid to say no and lose a vital piece of their income, she’d consented. So I was the only one here for him. I turned to watch Trey being paraded around by the director to meet all of the big wigs. He hadn’t yet been introduced to Vanessa, and in this town, she certainly qualified as a big wig. I wondered if he’d recognize her in a designer dress, since he’d last seen her in a T-shirt and simple cotton skirt. My guess was probably not.

I looked over to where she stood, that dress clinging to her every curve. Goddamn. For the thousandth time, I wished I’d been f*cking sober that night. But then I probably would have said or done something to f*ck it up. I needed another shot—a do-over. But after the way we left things yesterday, that wasn’t likely.

Except…I had something she wanted. Desperately, considering she’d voluntarily sought me out. If nothing else, that should at least give me another opening.

That deed was leverage. A better guy wouldn’t dream of using it to his benefit. A better guy might do the charitable thing and donate the property and hope he’d win the girl over through his generosity and kindness.

I wasn’t a better guy.

Did I really want to get her back into my bed that way? Knowing she was only with me to get something from me?

Who was I kidding? I didn’t f*cking care how I got her back there. Now that she’d walked her fine ass back into my life, I refused to let her walk out again without getting my second chance. With Simon Duchesne out of the picture, and me holding all the cards, there was nothing standing in my way.