Uppercut Princess (The Heights Crew #1)(60)

Magnum lifts his gaze to glance at me in the rearview mirror. His eyes are hard, but he immediately looks away again while I focus on Johnny. “I thought you’d be better off not knowing all the danger you’re in. Why do you think I have one of my guys with you at all times? Why do you think I’m with you whenever I can?”

I shake my head. “That’s not how I want to live. I want to know the things that are out there trying to get me. You understand that, right? You’re the same way.”

Johnny growls. “Nothing’s going to get you.” He places his palms on my cheeks and moves forward, lips pressing into mine. He kisses me like a man being dragged under by a tidal wave. His lips scorch mine. This time, it’s easy to fall into him. I open for him voluntarily, letting him in until he’s making my head spin.

Before I know it, he’s pulled me onto his lap and grinding into me.

“Oh shit.” I break away.

Johnny stills. He lets out a breath and presses his forehead against mine, closing his eyes as if he’s drinking me in. He tips his hips up, pressing his hard cock between my legs.

Magnum clears his throat. “We should take her to Big Daddy. Don’t you think?”

I scramble off Johnny’s lap despite his attempts to try to hold me there. My cheeks burn. My stomach churns with bile. Tears gather in the corners of my eyes.

What the fuck is wrong with me?





21





Talk about taking a bath in ice water and then crawling around naked in a snowbank after a blizzard.

What the fuck am I doing? Like, literally, what in the actual fuck am I doing? What is it about Johnny that appeals to me? I can hate him one minute but crush my crotch against his the next.

I need to have my head examined.

I know. It’s all Brawler’s fault. I’ve been on edge ever since we had that moment in the apartment. I’ve been jittery, fucking horny, actually. Oscar didn’t make it any better. He only intensified the feelings.

That’s all it has to be.

Johnny adjusts his pants and then scowls into the front of the car. “Yes, we probably should take her to see Big Daddy.”

I blink. The conversation in the last half a minute is coming back to me without all the hot and botheredness. “Big Daddy?”

“My dad,” Johnny says, his voice low and hard.

I almost roll my eyes because who doesn’t fucking know that? Instead, I take a deep breath, my stomach bottoming out. The ice age that consumed my body is melting until my limbs are hot, pulling against me like I’m dead weight. I’m so anchored in this moment. “I’m going to meet him?” I ask like I’m some sort of ditzy brunette with an ultra-low IQ.

“He said he’d meet you when the time was right and considering you had a conversation with Detective Reynolds today, this is probably the time.”

Ever since the night my parents died, I’ve been wondering what this man looked like. This man who took everything from me. In my head, he always looks dark and dangerous. He looks like the kind of guy who would murder people for no fucking reason.

But when I check out Johnny’s profile, I wonder if he’s not like that at all. What if he’s handsome like Johnny? What if he looks like a normal person? We always tend to think of evil people as being able to spot easily. It’s one of those things that make us feel better about walking down the sidewalk at night. Or sending our kids off to their friends’ houses. That guy? That girl? No, they look normal. You know who looked normal? Ted Bundy. They even got Zac Efron to play him in a movie, like what the fuck? If that doesn’t tell you that terrible people can come in all different bodies, I don’t know what does.

Magnum’s gaze flicks to mine in the rearview mirror. I glance up to find the corners of his eyes creased in concentration as he stares at me. My stomach twists. If they know I’m not who I say I am, I’m dead tonight. I’m one hundred percent gone. In a blink of an eye, I could cease to exist just like my parents.

Except, I willingly walked into this. That’s the difference.

Even though my stomach is still roiling with the news, I steel myself. This is when shit gets hard. In a matter of minutes, I’m going to have to face the guy who killed my parents and not react. It will be the worst kind of torture. One I hope I’m ready for because everything is counting on this. This is what I came here for. If I can’t gain the leader of the Heights Crew’s trust, then I won’t be able to do what I set out to do. Sure, I might be able to walk in there now and somehow get in a lucky shot on Big Daddy K. Maybe even steal Magnum’s gun, go for the unexpected nature of it all. Pop off a shot that would hit him right where I need to. But, the odds of that are slim.

Besides, I don’t just want to kill him. I want to get away with it. Killing him will mean nothing if I don’t get away with it. I don’t want to go down too. Then I’ll have sacrificed my own life just to take his, and that’s not what I promise my parents when I talk to them at night. I promise them I’ll make my life better. That this is the means to a beautiful end.

“No need to be nervous,” Johnny says, inching closer. “I’ve already talked you up.”

I can imagine that conversation.

Yeah, Dad, I want to fuck this girl.

That’s good, Son, but you can’t fuck her until I say so.