The fight went on and on. People moved quickly to get out of their way. A table was destroyed, along with two chairs and numerous bottles and glasses. I remember watching a live MMA fight with Linc once, and that was what the two men before me seemed to be doing right then. They twisted at odd angles to get their punches in, didn’t seem to care if they fought dirty or not when Zander double-punched Devlin in the stomach and then kneed him in the balls.

Wasn’t that a big taboo with men? Never go for another man’s package?

Devlin groaned in pain but didn’t pause in his attempt to annihilate his friend. He gained the upper hand in a move that I wasn’t sure possible for such a tall man and started hitting Zander in the ribs.

Two bouncers broke through the crowd and tried to pull Devlin off Zander. He shrugged them off like they were just bees that annoyed him. Two more stepped forward to help and finally they were able to break the two rockers apart. Both were bleeding, throwing curses at each other in a verbal battle now that they couldn’t continue with their fists.

Still I remained where I was, not even sure if I was breathing because the pain that was ripping through me was so consuming.

It was all a lie. My relationship with Devlin Cutter was nothing more than the product of Devlin wanting to win some bet against his friend. All our nights spent in each other’s arms, all his whispered words of how much he cared about me, worshipped me… They were all lies. I was nothing more than a bet. Nothing. I was nothing to him.

Natalie

April

I loved my job. How many people my age got to do what I did, meet the people I did, without a college degree or any experience? Emmie had showed nepotism by hiring me to be her East Coast assistant when I was eighteen, doing it as a favor for my brothers, but I’ve never given her a reason to regret her decision to give me a chance.

But tonight? I hated my job tonight. Honestly, I would rather have been in a dentist’s chair with no Novocain while he filled every tooth in my mouth. Emmie had known that was the case when she told me I had to come tonight, and she hadn’t batted an eye as she told me over FaceTime that it wasn’t negotiable. I had to go to the freaking charity ball thing to represent her since she was unable to make it to the East Coast. Jagger had a fever and she wasn’t going to leave her son when he wasn’t feeling well.

I understood that, but why did it have to be me? Why couldn’t my brother and his wife have gone? Drake and Lana were in New York for a few weeks to promote the new season of America’s Rocker that would start in the fall. I got that Lana was having a rough time with morning sickness, but it was eight thirty at night; shouldn’t that shit be over with by now? But what did I know? I’d never been pregnant, and it wasn’t likely to ever happen since to get that way you had to have sex.

Sex was not on my to-do list that was always attached to my clipboard. If it wasn’t on my to-do list, then it wasn’t happening.

Muttering a curse, because I was pretty sure I needed to add sex to that freaking list so that I could work off some of my stress and maybe even move on after my messy breakup with douchebag Devlin Cutter, I stepped out of the town car that had picked me up from my apartment twenty minutes before. Knowing the driver would find a place to park and wait on me, I took a step toward the hotel, determined to get through tonight without stabbing someone.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like to represent Emmie at the many charity events that she always had her fingers in; if anything, I was honored to be able to contribute to such worthy causes. Like a battered women’s shelter that Emmie had donated more than a million dollars to last year, or the new children’s wing of a local hospital that Emmie and the Demons had all made possible right before Christmas two years ago. Tonight’s charity ball was to raise money for a foster home that was specifically for children who had been badly abused. The money raised would go toward plastic surgeries that some of the kids needed because of the disfigurement their parents or someone else had caused during beatings, as well as a few other things that the children needed. I was glad to help out in any way I could for this charity.

What I was pissed about was finding out that Axton and Dallas, who also contributed to this particular charity, hadn’t been able to attend and had asked someone else to go in their place. I was going to have to sit beside him, all night, and smile for the cameras that would no doubt be flashing as millionaires handed over excessive amounts of money. All night.

All. Fucking. Night.

Inside the hotel, I found my way to the ballroom, which was already overflowing with men in tuxes and women in crazy-expensive designer dresses with diamonds dripping off them. As I entered the room, cameras flashed and I forced a smile as I nodded my head at the hostess. The woman came over and I handed over the envelope that Emmie had overnighted to me. Inside was a check for an amount of money I was never likely to see in my lifetime. Emmie was very generous to this charity in particular because of her own childhood, and hadn’t even batted an eye when she had told me how much the check was for.

“Thanks for bringing this, Miss Stevenson,” the hostess who had made this ball possible murmured after the cameraman had turned away to take a few shots of the couple that had come in behind me. “Mrs. Armstrong is very kind to help us like this.”

“It was my pleasure. If there is anything else that Emmie or I can do, please feel free to let us know.” My smile wasn’t forced this time and I returned her air kiss as we embraced. I moved on into the ballroom so the next person could have their five seconds of fame for donating to such a worthy cause by having their pictures taken and hoping it ended up on the society page tomorrow.

Yeah, I will admit that I hated pretentious people who used their ‘generosity’ just so people would think they were good people. Especially when I was sure that once those good people got home, they drank like a fish and beat their wives, ignored their children, and carried on affairs with their secretaries. Not all of them did that, I know. But a lot of them were exactly like that.

After a few steps I was swallowed up in the crowd. I worked my way through the worst of it and found a quiet corner where I could keep my eye on the people coming and going. I accepted a glass of champagne and tried to spot the man who was supposedly my companion for the evening. Or so Emmie had informed me two hours ago.

I was on my second glass of champagne and my third refusal to dance when it hit me: that subtle scent of Acqua Di Gio. In a room where expensive perfume was polluting the air, that fresh, clean, manly scent was able to reach me and teased my senses. My heart clenched painfully before my heart rate sped up, my hands growing damp, and my anger rising as I glanced around for the possible source of that particular scent.