“What do you want, Lo?”

“I wanted to tell you—”

“Oh shit, Kace, I almost forgot my…” Pepper’s voice trailed off as she entered from the hallway and saw me standing in the middle of Kace’s room.

Kace stood up instantly and looked at Pepper with a death glare.

“Uh, sorry. Didn’t know you were in here, Lo.”

“Just talking to Kace about my new provisions.”

“Cool,” Pepper said as she nodded and looked around, avoiding eye contact, just like Kace.

Umm…this was awkward.

“Do you need to talk to Kace?” I asked as I started to walk toward the door.

“No, uh, I can just, um come back later,” Pepper said as she continued to look around.

Her wandering eyes were driving me crazy so I looked around too. What was going on?

Realization hit me when I saw Pepper’s purse on Kace’s nightstand with her Jett Girl lingerie sticking out of it and next to the nightstand were three opened condom wrappers.

“Oh my God!” I shouted as Kace’s hand flung around my mouth and Pepper grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

“I’ll take care of this,” Kace said as Pepper nodded and ran out the door, closing it behind her.

I tore myself away from Kace and looked at the guilty expression on his face.

“What. The. Fuck?”

Running his hands through his hair, he said, “It isn’t what it looks like.”

“Oh, is that right? Well, it looked like you fucked Pepper three ways to dawn, am I wrong?”

“Yes, it was four.” Kace smirked.

I wacked his chest and said, “Does Jett know?”

“No, and you can’t fucking tell him.”

“You can’t be serious…”

Kace got in my face and said, “I’m dead fucking serious,” no more joking around now.

“Why would he care?”

“Because, he would.”

Well, that didn’t make me feel good. Jett shouldn’t care because he was with me now, right? Isn’t that how it worked?

“You’re not making me feel really good about myself right now,” I admitted.

Kace blew out a frustrated breath as he started to pace the length of his room.

“It’s nothing against you, Lo. Jett just wouldn’t be very fond of his buddy fucking a girl he used to.”

“Then why did you do it?”

Stopping mid-stride, Kace turned and looked at me. “I don’t fucking know. She was drunk last night, I was…feeling sorry for myself so we fucked.”

“Why were you feeling sorry for yourself?” I pressed.

“I don’t want to fucking talk about it,” Kace snapped as his hands ran through his hair. “Just keep your mouth shut.”

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine?”

“It’s not easy dealing with your privileged ass all the time.”

“I’m not privileged.”

“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”

“You’re just jealous Jett claimed me first.”

Why the fuck I said that, I had no clue but it hit hard with Kace because he looked up at me and the stone cold man was gone and in his place was a man with damaged eyes.

Instantly feeling regret, I walked closer to him and went to apologize when he held up his hand to stop me.

“You want to know why I was feeling sorry for myself? Because the girl that I’m falling in love with went off with another man, committed herself to someone else.”

Love? There was no way he was talking about me, not a fat chance in hell but as I stood there, thinking about what he was saying, his eyes roamed my body and I realized at that moment that Kace was talking about me and all this time I just thought the guy hated me.

“What?”

“Forget it,” Kace said while pushing me out the door.

“Stop! What are you talking about, Kace?”

“I said, forget it.”

He opened his door and stood up straight when he saw who was behind me. I spun around to see Jett walking down the hallway with his hands in his pockets. When he looked up and saw me, his jaw tensed and he stopped in his tracks.

“What are you doing down here?”

Still thrown off with what Kace said, I stumbled as I replied, “I, uh, just wanted to tell Kace about my new role.”

“I can handle that,” Jett said as he came up behind me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, claiming me right in front of Kace.

Heat blazed through me from the tension that was building up in the hallway.

“I just wanted to make sure everything was clear.”

“Everything is, isn’t it, Kace?” Jett said in a menacing tone.

“Crystal,” Kace said as he pushed past both of us. “Practice in ten, Lo. That’s if you want to join us.”

With that, Kace walked off and left Jett and me standing in the hallway.

“Why were you down here?” Jett asked, clearly angry.

“I told you, I wanted to make sure Kace knew that I wasn’t to do lap dances anymore.”

“You don’t need to come down here, Goldie. I communicate with Kace every day; I can take care of that business.”

“Okay, sorry. I was just trying to help,” I said softly as I entwined my fingers together.

I learned too much information in the past five minutes that my mind was spinning. I didn’t have enough energy to try to sass Jett right now and stick up for myself. I was still reeling over Kace’s confession. He was falling in love with me? Jett hadn’t even said that to me yet and he’s had his tongue spread all over every orifice of my body.

Not really paying attention, I was startled when Jett grabbed me and pulled me into his chest. He kissed the top of my head and said, “I don’t trust him.”

I didn’t blame Jett! But I didn’t tell him that.

“No need to worry.”

“I have issues, Goldie, issues that run deep and I don’t like you hanging out down here. It isn’t good for my head.”

I had no clue what he was talking about but I felt the tension in his back and knew this was him trying to open up so I cleared my head from the past five minutes and focused on Jett.

I grabbed the sides of his head and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize this made you uncomfortable.” I kissed his chin and continued, “I promise you when I say, you have nothing to worry about. I’m yours, Jett.”

He nodded his head and the vulnerable Jett that I was beginning to love pressed his forehead against mine. There was something so special about a powerful man being able to drop his façade and break down in front of you. It made him real and it only made me fall for the man even more.

“You might have to keep reminding me.” He pulled away and hit the wall with his fist, startling me. “Fuck, I don’t act like this.” His vulnerability turned into anger in a matter of seconds, slightly scaring me. “I don’t show weaknesses, ever.” Hello Mr. Moody.

“It’s okay, Jett—”

“No, it’s fucking not.” He gripped his hair and slouched against the wall until his butt hit the ground. I looked down at him and was introduced to a new man, a deflated man, a confused one and my heart reached out to him.

Taking a chance, I sat down next to him and turned his head to face mine.

“This right here—” I pointed to us on the floor, “—this is okay. It’s okay for you to show me your weaknesses, to show my faults and your defects. That’s what makes you human, Jett. You know all about my downfalls in life and you don’t judge me for them.”

“I wouldn’t call trying to survive and provide for yourself after you lost everything a downfall,” he responded. “I would call that being a strong individual and not giving up.”

Well damn, he could make a girl blush.

“Still, though, Jett. I will never judge you…”

“You can’t say that until you know the whole story.”

“Then tell me,” I practically begged.

He shook his head, making my heart deflate on the spot.

“I just can’t. Not now.”

“What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that I’m going to leave you?”

“Yes!” he shouted as he stood and started walking away, leaving me completely confused.

Shaking my head, I ran after him and grabbed his arm.

“Don’t you dare walk away from me,” I reprimanded. “You can’t walk away from me. Remember, no fucking games. If I can’t take off my necklace then you can’t walk away from me. If you don’t want to talk about it then fine but do not disrespect me by walking away.”