The Token 8: Kiki: A Billionaire Dark Romantic Suspense Read Online Free Page B

I push her, I can take her again.
    But her emotion shrivels my cock into a dehydrated pickle.
    “ʻI am a violent man, Chloe,ʼ” she recites, her fingers dropping from air quotes.
    “Was that a truthful assessment of my character? The warning. Among other things I explicitly told you.” My eyebrows rise.
    Chloe rubs her wrist. “Yes.” She blows out a harsh wave of pent-up air.
    “Do you still want to fuck me?” I lean forward until our faces almost touch. “And not tender, sappy, loving fucking—but my hand beating your ass, you being held down.” I run a finger down her highly sculpted cheekbone. The touch causes a rich pink color to bloom underneath my fingertip. “Your breath not a guarantee.”
    Her gaze meets mine. It’s unsure, fearful—excited.
    Always that.
    “Yes,” she whispers.
    I smile, lean past her, and pop the door handle. I capture her upper arm before she tumbles out.
    “Good.”
    She trembles and jerks her arm out of my grasp. But her eyes tell me she knows if I’d been intent on keeping it in my grip, I could have. Easily.
    “And Chloe?”
    She swipes at her leaking eyes. “Yes, Chet?”
    “I will drop you the instant you disrespect my friends again.” My eyes grill her on the spot. “And you will never talk about Kandace King to me again. Is that clear?”
    I see defiance overtake her expression before she can stop it, and I know she won't last long.
    She simply can't submit. She can't be pure in it.
    Chloe opens the door the rest of the way and gets out, slamming it and gripping the open car window. “One question,” Chloe asks, masking her fury badly.
    I sigh, dragging back inside my car, I close her door from the inside, shutting her out of it. “Ask.”
    “What do you see in her?” She runs her palm down her beautiful body. She's sculpted and slender, blond perfection in a lithe package with clear blue eyes.
    I am truthful, as usual. “What I don't see in you.”
    I hit the button for the window, and the dark privacy glass swallows the hole where her face had been.
    I put the Porsche in gear and rip out. My tire tracks leave behind ebony ribbons like a tattoo of my anger.

FIVE
    Kiki
     
    My phone dings, and I bump my hip on the corner of my kitchen table. “Shit!”
    I grab the phone.
    I know it's Chet.
    But the face that looks back at me under the saved icon isn’t Chet but Damon Axton.
    My breath shivers out of me. I slowly put down the cell.
    Damon “Ax” Axton isn’t who I’d expected. He's not even who I need. But maybe he'll keep me from dating Chet.
    The question is: why do I need anyone? No—I push my cell away. I don't need a former flame to “save” me from Chet. I need to jerk up my big girl g-string and deal with Chet.
    Speaking of…
    Another ding stacks on top of Ax's, and it's Chet. There's no face on my list for him.
    I swipe the silhouette guy icon to read the text.
    One word.
    Hello.
    Inhaling sharply, I can't help myself. I whip my finger over his prior messages. I've never allowed myself to look before—too tempting.
    Hello greets me over twenty times.
    My chin juts back. “That freaky sucker said hi over twenty times?”
    I struggle, my finger hovering over the greeting. Faren's words come to me.
    Text back.
    I click out a hi before I can stop myself and tap send .
    I wait.
    Five minutes clicks by. Then ten.
    Well, fuck me. I slam the cell on the kitchen table and stomp off. I'll go work Chet right out of my system. It doesn't matter that I'm fresh from my shower. I need to channel my frustration.
    I slam my hair into a top knot and gaze at my face, bare of makeup. I can't go out with a naked face. I throw a lick of mascara on my black lashes and swab my bottom lip with bright red lipstick. I roll my lips, spreading the lipstick.
    My white tee is a crappy choice of work out clothing, but it pairs great with my screaming neon-pink yoga pants. I stride down the hall to my bedroom and plop down at the foot of my bed. I tear my tennis shoes