Destroy You (Destroy #3) (4 page)

I had to admit they made sense together. He was the classic bad boy with his tattoos, piercing, and overall badass swagger. I bet he even rode a motorcycle. She gave off a similar “I don’t give a shit” vibe. They’d probably get married and have a bunch of hooligans within the next few years.

Whatever. I was so over all this bullshit. Maybe Jeremy would still be open to a night of chick flicks and asexual cuddling.

“I’m obviously in the way here. I’ll just see myself home.” I didn’t wait for them to separate before I stomped off toward my house. Jeremy, Aiden, Reed, and Cameron would lock me in a tower if they caught me walking home in the dark by myself, but I refused to wait for one of them.

“Toni, wait,” Trent yelled.

I refused to stop and practically ran down the road. It wasn’t my finest moment, but after encountering two cheating douchebags, I deserved to go home and lick my wounds as fast as I could get there.

Chapter 2

Trent

“Trinity,” I snarled through clenched teeth.

She gazed up at me with feigned innocence. “Trent,” she said, mimicking my tone.

I knew from experience that prying her arms free from my neck would be pointless. Unless I wanted to be rough with her, she wouldn’t willingly let go. I was afraid she’d like it too much if I did that, so instead I kept my arms to my sides and waited.

Trinity blew out a frustrated breath and dropped the fake innocent act. “Fine. I need a favor.”

“Of course you do,” I replied and stepped away from her the moment she took her arms off my neck.

She moved back into my personal space and trailed her finger down my arm. “Trent, we could have fun. You used to like spending time with me.”

“Cut the shit, Trinity,” I sneered. “Don’t treat me like one of the guys that will fall at your feet and do whatever you want for a chance to roll around with you in the sack. I don’t think with my cock.”

“Sure you don’t. You were outside with the Latina with the giant rack for her conversational skills,” she shot back.

“It’s been fun, as always. Since you’ve wrecked my plans for the night, I’m going back to work.”

Her bottom lip trembled. “Don’t be mad. You’re the only one I have. If you’re mad at me, I’ll be alone,” she said quietly.

Seeing Trinity vulnerable went against the natural order of things. I hoped there was a soft part of her buried deep under the sarcasm, bitchiness, and barbed wire.

“Okay, I’m listening.”

She pulled down her sleeves and scratched her arms through the fabric. I’d been so pissed at her interruption, I didn’t bother to take a close look at her. Her eyes were slightly glazed, and she was twitchy. “What are you on?” I demanded.

“Nothing,
Dad
,” she lied.

“Bullshit, Trinity, tell me.”

“God,” she complained. “I’m not on anything. Look, I’ll get help from someone else. Don’t want to put you out or anything.” She stomped off.

She probably needed money or a place to stay. I’d given both of them to her freely in the past and been burned by her each time. There was a point I’d have done anything to save Trinity, but she wouldn’t let me when it was still possible to save her. The girl that stood before me earlier was not the same girl I grew up with.

I headed straight for my office, located in the storage room, where I could avoid my customers and hopefully finish the liquor order for the next month. I turned on my computer and banged my head against my desk while I waited for it to start up.

Toni was a stranger, and blowing my chance at getting to know her shouldn’t bother me this much, but it did. There was something about her. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but for the first time, I was interested in getting to know a woman beyond what she looked like naked.

It didn’t help that I hadn’t been laid in a couple of weeks. Not that there weren’t plenty of opportunities, but I’d grown bored with the party girls that frequented the bar. Hookups with them were always the same; they wanted to indulge in their bad-boy fantasy, and I wanted to get off and get out. It wasn’t romantic, and I only offered no-strings sex with absolutely no promises of a repeat performance. Hell, most of the time I didn’t even bother to learn their names.

Years ago, I took to calling all women I hooked up with by stupid pet names after I accidentally called a woman by the wrong name. I learned quickly that pissing off a chick when she had my cock in her mouth didn’t end well for me. Now they were all Baby or Sugar, and I made certain all of them knew I was only with them until the condom came off.

I was an asshole. I knew it, and so did they, but then again, the women I went for were about as interested in getting to know me as I was them. A bartender with tattoos and a lip ring was fine for a night of fun, but I didn’t fit into their post-college plans. Of course, I never told them I owned the bar, because that might have made me respectable enough for them to want to fix me.

Honestly, I never cared what they thought about me until Toni walked into my bar. For the first time, I wanted someone to see beneath my ink and piercing and want to get to know me. Years of meaningless fucking had added up to make me feel empty, and I wondered what being with someone I cared about would feel like.

My mood took a nosedive when the guy she was with opened a tab and started buying her drinks. They didn’t spend the evening hanging all over each other, but there was obviously a closeness, and I was immediately envious of it. Needless to say, I was confused when all of her friends left her alone. Why would anyone, especially the asshole buying her drinks, want to be anywhere else?

Once she was by herself, the fake smile she used on her friends disappeared. I wanted to know what a real smile looked like on her. Even more than that, I wanted to be the reason she was smiling. That was a new one for me, and I was even more surprised when I heard myself asking her to have dinner with me.

When I found out she was having a shitty birthday, I wanted to fix it for her. At least that was the reason I gave myself for asking her out instead of trying to get into her panties. My best friend would say it was because I have a hero complex, but mostly I wanted to get to know her a little.

“You know you’re going to go after her, so you might as well get on with it,” Melody, one of the other bartenders and my best friend, said from the doorway.

“Toni?” I asked, confused.

She cocked her head to the side, studying me. “The girl from the bar?”

I nodded.

Melody shook her head emphatically. “No. I think chasing down a girl you just met in the bar after she ran away from you is not the way to get a date. It’ll get you a restraining order, though. I was talking about Trinity.”

“How did you know she ran off?”

Mel raised her eyebrow. “It was either that or the rumors I’ve heard around the bar about your stamina were vastly overrated.”

I rolled my eyes and ignored her comment. “Do you think I should go after Trinity?”

“Fuck no, but what I think has never stopped you.”

My shoulders slumped. She was right, of course. I could never let Trinity suffer the consequences of her actions. I twirled my lip ring, a nervous habit I’d developed since getting the piercing. “It’s just if I don’t go after her, I’ll wonder where she’s staying and how she’s getting money.” My guilt would get me every time. Unfortunately, Trinity knew me as well as Melody did, and she played it against me.

“If that girl starts walking the streets, it won’t be your fault. You can’t save everyone, Trent. What has chasing after her ever brought you besides trouble?”

I didn’t have an answer for her. “I know you’re right—”

“But you’re going anyway.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. It didn’t matter that I believed I was probably going to fail.

“Go, then. I’ll keep things running here,” she said supportively.

I stood up and left my unfinished paperwork. “Thanks, Mel,” I said on my way out the door.

I didn’t have to go far. Trinity was sitting outside the door of my apartment above the bar.

“I see I’m pretty predictable,” I griped.

She shrugged. “You were mad. You usually come around after you’ve cooled off.”

“What was the favor you needed?” I asked.

“I need a place to crash for a few days.”

“You’re twenty years old now. When are you going to get your shit together?” I asked, not for the first time.

“It isn’t that easy,” she mumbled.

“Why? What is hard about finding a job, any job? You’ve got friends that will let you stay with them, Trinity.”

“I owe some people money.”

“Shit. What are you into now?”

“I’ll take care of it myself. I just need a place to crash. Can I stay here or not?” she asked petulantly.

“Tonight the couch is yours, but only tonight. You have a home you can go back to,” I reminded her.

Trinity glared at me. “You know I can’t go back there.”

“Only because you refuse to follow any rules—”

“Can I have the couch or not?”

“For tonight,” I replied. I let her in and went back down the stairs to get away from her.

I could access my apartment from a staircase inside the storeroom or from the alley entrance to the bar. I’d love to have a house, but I spent so much time working that it was more convenient to trudge up the stairs after the last drunks were kicked out of the building.

Few people knew I owned the bar, and I had no problem letting them think I was only the manager. Melody wanted me to keep it a secret because of Trinity and her associates. She was afraid I’d be robbed or worse because of something Trinity was involved in. As much as I hated to admit it, she had a point.

When I walked out the back entrance of the bar, I plopped down on a crate I’d overturned to use as a makeshift bench. Melody stepped out and lit a cigarette.

“Those things are going to kill you,” I said.

Her lips curled in a snarl. She took a drag and slowly blew out a stream of smoke. “Not as fast as I’ll kill the next guy who orders a drink while staring at my tits.”

Melody frightened and fascinated most men, except for me. It was hard to be fascinated by someone you once watched eat sand. She and I had been friends since we were in diapers, and for a brief period of time she lived with my family after her mother was in a car accident. She was like family to me, but I could still recognize she was stunning. Melody was tall at five foot ten inches. Her hair was black and kept in a short, wavy, twenties-style cut with bright blue streaks. Her eyes were an icy blue that displayed every emotion the moment she felt it. Mel was a mysterious mixture of vintage and modern, leather and lace, and soft curves and hard lines. The combination made her popular behind the bar, but it was her toughness that made me comfortable putting her back there.

“Did Princess get settled in?” she asked.

I rubbed my hand over my head. “Yeah.”

Melody threw her cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out with the sole of her combat boot. “You know what happened with the chick from the bar tonight is going to keep happening as long as you let Trinity use you as her personal savior, don’t you?”

I dropped my hand from my head and looked up at her. “What am I supposed to do, throw her to the wolves?”

“Why not? That’s where she wants to be. It’s not like what you have been doing has worked. Don’t you think it’s time to let her figure some things out on her own? It’s called tough love.”

“I told her she could only stay tonight,” I agreed.

Melody patted me on the head. “Good boy. Just for that, I’ll throw you a bone.”

“I’m not a dog, Mel,” I snapped. What was with the crazy women in my life?

Melody put her hand on her hip. “Do you want to growl at me, or do you want me to help fix your shitty night?”

I waved my hand, motioning for her to carry on.

“As I was saying, I know that guy who was buying your pint-sized hottie drinks earlier tonight. He’s in my Econ class. Since it’s summer, there’s like ten people in that class, and I bet I can find out a way for you to run into her again. All you need to do is make sure Trinity is gone in the morning. I doubt you’ll get a third chance with Toni if you blow it again.”

I looked up at her and smiled. “Now who’s coming to the rescue?”

Chapter 3

Toni

I settled down on the couch for the fifth night in a row with a pint of Cherry Garcia and a spoon. My plans for the evening were simple: binge-watching old dramas on Netflix and consuming large quantities of junk food. I wasn’t nursing a broken heart, but my pride had certainly taken a hit. And to think I’d almost fallen for Trent’s game the same night I’d caught Miguel cheating. One thing was clear to me: I was a magnet for assholes, and it was best if I never dated again. The ice cream would make sure I didn’t once my ass expanded to the width of the couch.

Jeremy sauntered into his living room and plopped down next to me. I tried to ignore him, because he’d been nagging me for days to leave the house. I didn’t even live with him, but Kate had been working extra shifts, and he insisted I not stay at my place alone all the time. He was right; being alone in my state of mind would have sucked, but I wanted to be allowed to wallow. However, ignoring him was like trying to stare at the sun. It was only possible for short bursts and usually gave you a headache.

He reached over and snatched away my ice cream. “Enough. You smell and you’re going to get fat, then I’ll be the only man that loves you.”

I rolled my eyes and tried in vain to take the ice cream back. “Sounds good to me. Now give me the carton and you won’t get hurt.”

He set the half-empty container down on the coffee table and grabbed my wrists. “I love you too much to watch you sulk any longer. Plus, I can’t stand to be around you anymore if you don’t shower. Either you get up and go on your own, or I’m going to toss you in. Choose.”

I huffed, paused my show, and tossed the remote onto the couch. “Fine. You win. I’ll shower, but then I’m going back to watching that.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Nope. You’re going to get dressed and go listen to a band with me tonight. A girl from my class is a singer or something, and she invited me to come to their gig tonight. I couldn’t invite Cameron, because we aren’t talking, but I don’t want her to think I’d be interested in her, either.”

“Cameron still avoiding you?” I asked, trying to get the focus off me.

He sighed. “He probably would if I were trying to talk to him, but I’m taking a step back. It’s time for me to try to find someone who’s actually interested in me.”

Jeremy nudged me to move, and I groaned. “Do I have to do this?”

“Yes,” he insisted. “And if you try to wear your sweats tonight, I’m going to cut them off you and set them on fire.”

He would do it, too. I had no doubt about that. “You suck,” I grumbled.

Jeremy was already dressed, not that it mattered; he’d look great in a towel. Asshole. Begrudgingly I let him drive us the few blocks to my house and rushed into the shower before he started going on again about how bad I smelled. Shit, I was depressed; I didn’t need to know how gross I was, too. As I stood under the massage setting of the showerhead, the hot water felt divine, and I had to admit, my mood picked up a little. After soaping up, I figured I might as well shave. Once I stepped out, I studied my butt in the mirror. I so was not getting fat. Jeremy was just being an asshole, but just in case, I should probably cool it on the ice cream. The more I considered it, a couch-sized ass didn’t sound appealing after all.

I took my time getting ready, not because I wanted to get attention, but in the hopes that Jeremy would get annoyed and leave without me. With my curling iron, I styled my long, brown hair into beachy waves. Next, I applied tinted moisturizer to my skin that gave it a bit of a glow, and added gold eye shadow that made my brown eyes pop. I found a red tank top with gold-beaded detailing along the neckline in the top in my dresser, then pulled on a pair of black pencil pants and strapped on some wedge sandals.

Jeremy snuck up behind me and caused me to jump in surprise. “Dammit, Jer! You scared the shit out of me.”

He grabbed my hand and started pulling me out the door. “Good. Don’t think I haven’t realized you’re trying to get out of this. You look great; now let’s go.”

***

I settled down a bit once I found out we weren’t going to Trent’s bar. We’d only talked a little, and I wasn’t sure when he even worked, but I wasn’t in the mood to run into him, either. Rowdy’s was an alternative dance club with live music on Wednesday and Saturday nights. The music was less pop-y and more rock than the other dance clubs in town. Not that I’d experienced them, because after my disaster of a twenty-first birthday, I’d pretty much hidden in my house or Jeremy’s, except for my trips to the store to buy more ice cream.

There was a line down the block to get into the club, but as usual Jeremy seemed to know someone that let the two of us bypass it and go straight inside without even having to pay the cover fee. The bouncer checked our IDs and stamped our hands, and we were in, but not before we heard the envious complaints from others that had been waiting in the line.

The front room held four pool tables and a long bar. Jeremy made his way through the crowd to the bar to order some drinks while I sat on a stool by the wall waiting for him. After a few minutes, he was back and placed a drink in my hands.

He gestured with his head. “Let’s go to the other side of the bar where the band is playing.”

I followed him into the crowded room filled wall to wall with bodies. Finally, I understood why the line was so long outside. There wasn’t room for more people inside this part of the club.

Blue, red, green, and white lights pulsed over the dance floor, making me feel a little drunk before I’d even taken a sip of the vodka tonic Jeremy had shoved into my hands. We pushed our way to the front of the room near the band, and I looked up onto the stage for the first time. Unfortunately, I’d just taken a rather large gulp of my drink and instantly started to choke when I saw the lead singer.

She looked exactly like Jeremy. I mean the same silvery-blue eyes and same dark hair, except hers had some streaks of either purple or blue in it. With the flashing lights it was hard to see the color precisely.

As soon as I stopped coughing, I whispered, “Oh my God.”

Jeremy glanced at me sideways. “I know. Weird, huh?”

I shook my head and gave her another look. “More than weird. Are you guys like long-lost cousins or something?”

He shrugged. “I don’t think so, but it even freaks me out. I mean, we could be twins.”

The drums started pounding a steady rhythm before I could say more. She swayed her hips and caressed the mic like she was going to tell everyone a secret, then closed her baby blues as she started to sing. Her voice sounded like a chorus of pissed-off angels, a pure, sweet sound with an edge of anger just under the surface. My heart started beating with the cadence of the drums, and I was hanging on every syllable that left her lips.

“She’s good, don’t you think?” a masculine voice whispered in my ear.

I glanced over my shoulder, and my breath caught in my throat the moment my eyes locked with Trent’s stormy-gray ones. My mouth opened and closed several times without releasing a sound before I settled on nodding.

“Can we go outside and talk for a minute?” he shouted over the music.

I started to shake my head, but Jeremy reappeared by my side and swatted me on the ass. “Quit being a brat and hear what the man has to say,” he yelled over the music.

Trent extended his hand to me, but I ignored it and sauntered out of the club, putting a little extra swing in my hips. Jeremy would pester me if I didn’t at least pretend to listen to Trent, but I didn’t have to like it.

Outside, Trent placed his hand on my lower back and directed me through the crowd still waiting to get inside. We went around the corner of the club into the alley. Once we were alone, he leaned against the wall and stared at me.

I took a moment to appreciate his long, lean body. He was wearing another pair of distressed jeans that showcased his firm thighs and lean waist, a fitted, black Henley shirt on top, and a pair of black Chucks on his feet. His shirtsleeves were pushed up his forearms, and his tattoos peeked out beneath the one on the right; swirling, bold black lines that made me desire to peel the shirt off his body and trace the shapes until I could learn what they were.

Miguel always wore fussy Italian leather shoes, trim slacks, and dress shirts, like he was an important businessman. It only made sense that I was drawn to his opposite after the way Miguel had treated me, but after seeing Trent with that girl, I wasn’t sure their differences went deeper than their appearances.

“If you’re done checking me out, I’d like to talk to you about the night we met,” he said.

I took a deep breath and tried to hide my reaction to him. “You don’t owe me anything. You didn’t actually cheat on her, at least not with me. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to her if I ever see her again.”

Trent groaned and leaned his head back on the wall, turning his face up to the night sky. He scrubbed his hand across the top of his head and then turned his face back toward me. “Trinity isn’t my girlfriend. She was my foster sister until she turned eighteen, and I still feel responsible for her. Trin has problems, and she needs someone to look out for her, but that was all that was going on.”

He couldn’t really be that naive, could he? “She wants you, and not as a brother.”

Trent shrugged. “I know she’s confused. Trinity doesn’t understand that someone could care about her without wanting something from her. She’s only familiar with being used.”

His expression turned serious, and he bit his lip ring. “What I’d like to know is, did her showing up ruin my chance to get to know you?”

I cocked my head to the side and considered his question. “Would you still want to know me if I said we could only be friends?”

“I think that’s a good place to start. I’m not going to lie; you fascinate me, Toni. I’m not sure what it is about you, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about you. We can start out as friends but—” he gestured back and forth between us, “—whatever is going on here, it isn’t over.”

“Do you dance?” I asked, changing the subject. It was a stupid direction to take if I was serious about us being friends, but I was dying to see if his body could move the way I had fantasized about. Of course, I’d pictured him with a lot less clothes on, but that was only when I was asleep.

He reached his hand out to me, and this time I took it. “Only one way to find out,” he said.

Inside the club, the band was taking a break between sets. A DJ had started playing a dance mix, and the dance floor was full of writhing bodies. Trent pulled me tight to his chest and draped my hand he was still holding around the back of his neck. He gripped my waist with his free hand and guided me to straddle his thigh.

The opening notes to Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty to Me” played over the speakers. My body was completely under his control as he rocked me back and forward. I told him I wanted to be friends, but the movement of his hard muscles against me made the most sensitive parts of my body hum with excitement.

His close-cropped hair beckoned me to discover if it was prickly or soft. I couldn’t stop myself from rubbing my hand across the top of his head the way he’d done earlier. I learned it was both and ran my hand across it a bit longer than was appropriate; hell, one second was too long.

Trent bent down, and his lips brushed lightly against my cheek when he spoke. “I think I like your version of friendship.”

I yanked my hand away from his head quickly. “I…I’m not…I mean, I didn’t…” My cheeks felt hot, and I had a sudden urge to hide.

“Relax, Wildcat, I’m just teasing you,” he whispered.

I dropped my arm from the back of his neck and took a step back. “I think it would be easier to be friends if we didn’t touch.”

“But a lot less fun,” he said with a smirk.

Jeremy came up behind me and put his arm possessively around my shoulders. He obviously wanted me to talk to Trent, but he wasn’t going to abandon me, either. “Melody wants to go get something to eat after they play their next set. Are you guys in?”

Shrugging his arm off my shoulder, I spun around and glared at him. “You planned this!”

Jeremy smiled, unrepentant. “You can thank me later.”

“What do you say,
friend
? Want to go grab a bite?” Trent asked me.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay. I’m in.”

***

A couple hours later, Jeremy, Trent, Melody, and I were sliding into a booth at an all-night diner. We were having a great time, as if we’d all known each other forever. The only issue was Trent and I obviously had different definitions of friendship.

He took the seat next to me in the booth while Jeremy and Melody sat next to each other across from us. Trent started out innocently brushing my arm, then his leg “accidentally” rubbed against mine. Not getting a reaction out of me, he started to stroke my thigh with his finger. Still I pretended nothing was happening.

I stole a quick look at him, and he winked at me. Lifting my chin higher, I dove into a conversation with Melody about her music. At least I think I did, because I couldn’t pay attention to what we were saying the moment Trent dropped his hand on my leg and squeezed. I gasped, which only encouraged him more. He caressed the inside of my thigh with his fingers, moving up toward the seam of my pants.