Dark Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 6) Read Free Page B

didn’t react to Ace’s chosen way to refer to Lisa. ‘Skank’ was the club equivalent of ‘chick’, and Warren had long ago learned to not so much as blink when he heard it used. He still despised it, though, and he fought down a sneer of contempt.
    “Yeah, I’m sure she does,” he said now.
    “Ummm-hmmm.” Ace blinked at him, his black eyes flat and dead in his rugged face. “You really should take her up on her offer next time, man. She’d rock your world, I fucking swear it.”
    “Maybe,” Warren said in the most non-committal voice that he felt he could get away with.
    “Anyway,” Ace said. “I have a job for you. It’s easy, but it’ll take a few days.”
    Thrilled to be getting away from the topic of the club pass-arounds, Warren tilted his head at his President. “OK.”
    “It’s in here,” Ace said.
    Warren picked up his coffee, followed Ace in to one of the back rooms. It had obviously been used the night before: it reeked of sex and perfume. He slapped on his ‘I don’t give a flying fuck about anything’ face, glared around the room, trying to spot this mysterious ‘it’ that Ace had referred to. He saw nothing at all, and he stared at Ace, waiting for his instructions.
    Just then, the second door swung open, and Joker stood there grinning at him.
    “Hey, Derby,” he said.
    “Joker,” Warren said. “How you doing?”
    “Great.” He glanced over at Ace. “Now?”
    “Yeah.”
    Joker nodded, turned, went back in to the attached conference room. Silence, then a dragging sound.
    Warren stood up straighter, every instinct in his body on red alert. Yeah, he knew that sound, knew it intimately. It was the sound of a person actively resisting being moved. His heart sank, though his face remained totally disinterested.
    Joker reappeared now and sure enough, he was grappling with someone. Warren couldn’t see who it was, since their head was covered with a black hood, but he knew it was a woman – and not just because of the long, slim figure. She was sobbing, sobbing wildly, and his stomach clenched at the thought that she may be hurt. He saw that her hands were bound together, so tight that he saw bloody marks and purple bruises on her wrists. The sight of that damage on her pale skin kicked him in the chest, for some reason, before he took command of himself again.
    “ Shut up ,” Joker hissed at her, giving her a shake. “Shut up or I fucking smack you.”
    Right away, she went silent and slumped in his grasp, and Joker bodily dragged her the last few feet in to the room. He gave her a rough shove and down she went, landing on her hip on the floor.
    She cried out, a sharp sound of pain and surprise, and Warren had to fight to keep his feet in place. No way he was making a move to help her, since it was clear that whoever she was, she was trouble. She was also his job, whatever the hell that meant, and after eight months, he knew better than to make any assumptions about anything. Especially a job.
    Ace stepped forward and without a word, he tore the hood off her head. She cried out again, then shut her eyes against the light coming in through the window.
    “Shut up ,” Joker repeated. “Fuck, Ace, she’s been bawling for a fucking hour, man, and the Vegas boys said she cried like a bitch the whole drive down here. They got here an hour earlier just to get rid of her.”
    The woman sobbed once more, and Joker took a menacing step towards her.
    “I just said –” he growled, his arm raised to backhand her.
    “Hold up,” Ace said, stopping Joker. “Nobody touches her. Kirk’s orders. He wants her unharmed until negotiations begin, in case we have to provide proof of life.”
    At the mention of Kirk’s name, Joker backed up, and Warren quietly exhaled in relief. He was happy that beating a woman around didn’t appear to be in his job description, since he had no stomach for that at all.
    Having said that, he wasn’t totally delighted that this woman somehow had ties to