Prologue
—Maddox
Six weeks. It’s been over a goddamn month since Emmy ran
from me.
Just gone.
It took me three days to
find her—thanks to the tracking device I had placed on her car—down in some
small Podunk town in south Florida. Even
if she had been trying to hide, she’d done a shit job of it. One search for her parents would have brought
me right to her.
It took me longer to
actually get eyes on her than it had to find her. She was holed up in some cheap-ass hotel for
three weeks. She called in her meals and
never left the room. And unfortunately,
I had to leave and rush home when things out of my control needed attention and
I again had to pull Asher’s head out of his ass. Now I’m back and I’m not leaving until I get
my hands on her.
She doesn’t want to be
found. I know that, but damn if I’m
going to let her run off and get away for good.
I’ve pushed and pushed her away.
Every bone in my body has screamed at me to take what she’s been
offering for years. I’ve seen her, I
know what she wants, but I won’t let my demons hurt her. Not my Emmy.
Since day one, she’s been
the greatest temptation, but I refused to take everything innocent that is Emmy
and let my blackness take her. Because
that’s what will happen. It will wrap
around her soul and slowly choke the life out of her. Just like every other person I’ve allowed
in.
I’ll taint her. I’ll ruin her. And in the end, it will destroy her.
One smile from her made me
fall. So I pushed her away. I told her that she would never be what I
need—that I would never want her. God, if
she only knew. I crave her and
everything she keeps trying to hand me.
I crave her and everything she could give me. My very being calls out to her, and I work
daily to refuse it.
So I pushed.
Until she ran.
But that ends right now.
Looking up at the gaudy neon
lights thrown on the top of this hellhole, I know that was my first mistake.
SYN.
A motherfucking strip club.
This is not a place where my
angel belongs. Just the thought of her
inside this club makes my skin crawl. I
can feel my anger becoming a force of its own as the blackness in my soul threatens
to burst through. It’s burning inside my
veins and demanding blood. My nostrils
flare, making my breaths come in loud pants.
My fist clenches—demanding something to pound into, something to
destroy. My skin feels tight. Every vein in my body is pulsing with each
wild beat of my heart.
I’m going to explode.
The bouncer doesn’t even
give me a second thought. He gives me a
brief glance as I pay the twenty bucks to gain my access into the hellish
place. I immediately rip my sunglasses
off, taking in every inch of the room.
Black walls with dim lighting, stereotypical red carpeting and leather
booths lining the room. They have the
name right with the smell of this place—sex and sin with a mixture of smoke and
sweat. There are three stages set up around
the room, the center one being the largest and two smaller ones to the left and
right, with a bar against the back wall and one on the top floor.
The whole top-floor bar area
is set up on a glass floor, giving these douchebags around the room the perfect
view between the barely dressed servers’ legs.
Taking my eyes off the top floor, where the bartenders are clearly
working the glass floor to their advantage, I scan the room again, squinting my
eyes to see through the dim lighting and heavy smoke.
That’s when I spot her.
“What. The. Fuck,” I snarl
under my breath.
The anger I felt earlier
burning through my body starts to boil.
It’s almost as if my body becomes a force of its own. The monsters inside me wanting free.
There she stands, not even
five feet away, looking exhausted, wearing next to nothing. Her skirt—if that’s what you want to call
it—is more like a napkin someone cut in half.
From the way she stands—slightly to the side—I can just make out the
perfect roundness of her ass peeking out the bottom of the hem. Her pert tits are pushed together and held in
a tight bikini top, the fabric so thin that I can see the outline of her
nipples clear as day.
My eyes take in every inch
of her exposed skin and I want to roar with rage.
No one should see her like
this. No one but me. And even though I don’t have the right to
feel this way about her, there isn’t a damn thing that can stop me now.
She hasn’t seen me yet, so I
stalk over to where she’s standing. She
turns right when I’m about to reach out for her and her eyes go wide, shock and
alarm clear in her beautiful, honey-brown eyes.
“Wha—”
“What the fuck are you
doing, Em?” I bite out.
She shrinks back at my tone
before she catches herself and goes stiff.
I can tell instantly that I’m not going to like anything she has to
say.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, Emmy. What in the hell are you doing in this
place?”
She tilts her head slightly,
taking me in. Her eyes leave mine and
roam the room before she gives a stiff nod.
When she turns her focus back to me, I go stock-still at her words.
“I’m exactly where I should
be, Maddox. I’m home.” Her tone is submissive, and that fury inside
me goes from a boiling fire to ice cold.
With that, she turns and
stalks off towards the bar. And I see
that not only is her ass hanging out, but so are her hot-pink boy shorts.
“Dude. She’s a fine piece of ass, right?” The man she was just talking to speaks in
awe.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I
growl, feeling that rage return like a switch has been flipped.
“Ah, you’re new here. Just sit back, my friend, and get ready for
the show.” He laughs, takes a deep pull
from his beer, and turns his attention back to the main stage, where the
current entertainment is doing her best to swallow the fucking pole with her
pussy. She’s working so hard for it that
she might as well be fucking the damn thing.
I’m no stranger to strip
clubs. Back when the guys were all
single, we would hit some local ones around California. No better way to let off some steam from the
shit that is constantly swirling around in my head than to sit in a room full
of naked woman. Where the music pounds
into your body, the drinks are always flowing, and the pussy is in
abundance.
One thing’s for sure: This
isn’t a place for Emmy. Hell no.
Without taking my eyes from
Emmy, I drop my body into the nearest booth.
She’s in a heated argument with the bartender and an older man who looks
about as run-down as this fucking town.
She throws her hands in the air, her head moving wildly, and if I had to
guess, her stunning eyes are burning bright.
She points over to me a few times, and all the older man does is shake
his head, obviously not giving her what she wants. I just scowl at them from the booth, waiting
for her to walk her ass back over here so I can explain to her that it’s time
to go.
“Hey there, handsome,” a
raspy voice says to my right. “Looking
for some fun tonight? I bet a big man
like you would be up for something wild.”
“No.” I don’t even look at her. My eyes never leave Emmy—who is now looking
at me. A mix of ire and hurt is written
all over her face. Even with the shit
lighting in this place, I can see it…and I hate it.
Fucking hurt? Is she serious right now? Pissed I can understand. She didn’t want to be found and I found her.
“I won’t bite, baby. That is unless you want me to.” Her hands snake around my neck and down my
chest.
Turning my attention away
from Emmy, I look at the bleach-blonde hair, weathered skin, and fake tan of
this bitch in front of me. I’ll give her
credit—she tries to hide it with more than enough makeup for about ten women,
but this piece of work in front of me has to be pushing fifty.
“I said no, woman. What part of that didn’t you understand? And for the last time, do not touch me.” I reach up and pull her hand off my stomach
before she can go any further.
Moving my eyes back to where
I last saw Emmy has me coming up empty.
What the hell? I scan the room
but she is still nowhere to be found.
“Ah, sweet cheeks. I know what you want. Good luck with that one. Rose doesn’t play around, and honey, why
would you want her when you can have me?
After all, I taught her everything she knows.” She leans down and, before I can guess her
intent, licks my neck, clearly taking my distraction at her words to her
advantage.
I turn swiftly and move into
her space, making sure she doesn’t mix this shit up in her head to think that I
would somehow ever want her ass.
“Do. Not. Touch. Me. You got that, sweet cheeks?”
She looks me in the eyes for
a few beats before throwing her head back and laughing. The sound of it hits my ears like nails on a
chalkboard.
“Your loss.”
When she walks off, I start
my scan of the room again. No Emmy in
sight. I run my hand over my buzzed
scalp before settling in for the wait.
Thirty minutes later and I
still haven’t found her. The crowd is
getting restless. The chicks taking
turns on the stage now haven’t been impressive and they undoubtedly want more. The pole humper has moved on to one of the
smaller stages. The last act on the main
stage was slightly better, but all she did was basically finger-fuck herself on
the stage before fumbling to get to her feet on her ridiculous heels.
Jesus Christ.
I wait, determined not to
leave until I have her with me. Another
thirty minutes and two more rotations on the stages have my frustration levels
going up even higher. How the hell did
she just disappear? I know she didn’t
leave. The tracking device on her car,
which is sitting right next to my truck in the parking lot, hasn’t alerted me
of any movement. I’ll be damned if she
takes off on me again.
After signaling over another
server, I order a beer and check my phone again to make sure the tracker isn’t
malfunctioning. I’m just putting my
phone in my pocket when a deep voice cuts over the music.
“Gentleman of Syn. It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. The one your dicks have been begging for all
fucking night. The Princess of Syn
herself. The one and only, Rose!”
The Princess of Syn? What an
idiot. I laugh to myself, placing my
beer to my lips for a long pull. The
music starts and the first few notes of Lollipop by Framing Hanley fill the
air. Got to give this chick props—at
least she picked a good song.
The house lights go down,
plunging the room into darkness, before a spotlight hits the main stage. The smoke clinging to the air gives the stage
an eerie glow. I take my eyes off the
action and attempt scan the darkness of the room again for Emmy. Movement by the back corner catches my
attention at the same time that the crowd goes electric. Idiots start throwing their money left and
right, calling to this Princess of Syn
to take them.
What morons.
I focus on the corner again
and see the blonde from earlier smiling her wicked smile at me before pointing
to the stage. Turning back to the stage,
I watch as a woman, who I assume is this so-called princess, spins effortlessly
on the pole, her movements all but blurring her body from the men wishing she
were spinning on their dicks. It doesn’t
take me long to see why the bitch from earlier is telling me to look.
With one quick spin, her
hands are placed at the center and her legs are spread wide and parallel to the
pole, showing off her barely there G-sting, I see my Emmy. It takes a second for the shock to wear off,
and in that second, she gracefully drops from her spin with a guarded smile to
the men crowding the stage. Lifting her
small hands from her side, she drags them up her flat stomach to take her tits
in hand and jiggles them.
Fucking jiggles them.
I can’t control my body at
this point. I’m focused on one thing—the
best way to get her off that stage and out of this place.
She reaches up and, in a
move that is obviously practiced, removes her top, throwing it in to the
crowd. There she dances with her body on
display, caressing her naked tits until her nipples pebble. Turning her back to the room, she bends at
the waist and starts to slowly pull her G-sting down her long, toned legs.
This is when the reality of
this situation hits me. I’ll fucking
kill all of these motherfuckers in the room.
Then she drops to her knees
before getting on all fours and crawling towards the end of the stage.
Hell. No.
I’m on my feet in seconds,
stalking through the crowd, pushing any man who stands in the way of my woman and
me. I don’t even lift my arms from my
side. I just barrel through the bodies
with one goal in mind.
She doesn’t see me coming
since she’s back on her feet and walking to the pole again. With a leap that would make my high school
track coach proud, I’m on the stage, and a second later, I have a naked Emmy
thrown over my shoulders before I jump off the stage. The sharp pain up my leg does nothing to
extinguish my determination.
I can see the bouncers
coming, and with one hand on her slick ass, I reach out and punch the first one
in the face, taking great pleasure watching him instantly buckle to the
floor. The other one comes at me from
the side, but he doesn’t get far before I pick up the chair to my left one-handed
and crack it against his fucking head.
Emmy is struggling with such
vigor that I’m forced to put her down.
She looks up, ready to spit fire at me, before snapping her mouth shut
when she sees the expression on my face.
I have no doubt that I look just as feral as I feel.
“Don’t you open that sweet
fucking mouth, Emersyn. I swear to
Christ, now is not the time to fucking piss me off any further.”
I rip my shirt off and
roughly pull it over her head. She
struggles and puts up a fight, momentarily distracting me from the third
bouncer coming at full throttle. His
fist takes me by surprise, but not for long.
Grabbing her wrist so she doesn’t get away, I turn to the motherfucker
stupid enough to get in my way.
“You shouldn’t have done
that,” I seethe.
He goes to punch me again,
but I duck and pop up before he realizes he failed. Bringing my head forward, I head-butt him
right between the eyes and almost smile when he falls instantly.
I’m stopped at the door by
the last bartender she was speaking with earlier. He goes to make a move but pulls up when he
sees the look in my eyes. I’ll fucking
kill and I’m sure it’s written clear as day on my face.
“Do it. I dare you.”
My tone leaves no room for argument.
I’m leaving with her and there isn’t a person on this Earth who can stop
me.
Locke has always been my favorite of the Corps Security guys. I think he stole the show in book 1 and continued to do it throughout the others. I could not wait to read this book.
Locke's backstory was not at all what I was anticipating. He was always described so dark that I was assuming something way worse. I liked finally finding out about his life before, during and after his military career, but it was nowhere near as traumatic as I was expecting. What he went through was definitely no walk in the park, but the way it was presented makes it come off more toward ridiculous than heartbreaking. Maddox was surrounded in all this mystery and danger in the other books, kind of a stoic badass sage, and Emmy was a little mousy princess type. Actually, Emmy's past got waaaaaay more WTF's from me than Locke's did.
I have to admit, I lost the respect and feelings that I had for Emmy after getting her story. I can't understand her. I don't know why she put herself in the position that she did when she was 21 and definitely when she went back.
Locke is still a great guy in this book. He faces his past and accepts his problems. He has interesting piercings which I love. He has a pretty awesome fight scene where we get to see him use some hot moves.
Some points that I really liked and must mention: The therapy box idea sounded genius to me. Anyone with a painful past could use this as a means to help them get beyond it. The hug between Locke and all the ladies of the group he has helped along the way was such an awww moment. I also thought it was sweet when he was looking at the pictures and flashing back to the memories, especially the sleeping photo. Probably my favorite part is the epilogue, seeing him interact with his kids. And just learning about the next generation is pretty cool.
Dark Notes by Pam Godwin
