Chapter 4 Black Stallion

SETH CHASE.

Gray's beautiful dark eyes dilate with deep desire at the sound of my words. Her lips part and I see the conflicted contemplation in her eyes. She wants this but she won't give in to it.

Her body wants this but she won't let herself give in to sweet temptation, to me.

I'm afraid to admit that I've always had a thing for Gray but that's only because she resists me. The only other living woman part of Sofía's friendship circle that actively steers clear of me. Not only that but she intrigues me and I can't say that for many women.

Not bothering to say a word to me or come back with a hot remark, she stands and glances at me for a brief moment before she looks away. Gray starts to walk away from this conversation when she suddenly stops dead and her body language goes rigid.

Out of curiosity I follow her gaze.

Hot fury boils like acid in my veins. My knuckles clench tight with heat and the muscle in my jaw ticks. A sheen of sweat dots right above my eyebrow and bile rises like a tide in my throat.

Already knowing my reaction to his mere presence, Gray steps before me and places a firm hand on my chest, "I won't allow you to make a mockery out of me."

"Are you kidding me? Clearly that asshole is the joke, what's he doing here anyway?" I try to keep my voice low and calm but it only grows thick and heavy.

"Seth this is not the time nor place..."

"He's here for you, isn't he?" I feel the tension rise from my core and sizzle within my muscles, preparing to attack when necessary.

"Isn't he," it's no longer a question, her hesitation answers plenty. She's on a damn date with her ex-husband, Jesus.

"Seth, I didn't know...I..." Gray's voice falters in a soft whisper and her hand falls away, tears pool at her eyes.

I consider yielding, letting it go and calling the police but when I make eye contact with him, I lose my humanity.

With a grunt I move past her and beeline for him like a bullet being shot from a gun. I walk over to Baxter fucking Caine and grab him by the collar; I ignore all the gasps and sudden stirs of chaos around us as tension breathes fire into the air and I slam his disgusting perverted ass up against the wall.

The shock in his green eyes is a satisfying sight only for a blink of a moment when his iris pools with a dark sage mischief that sickens every atom in my body until my core.

I'm staring straight into the eyes of a snake. A snake that slithered it's way into my life and took advantage of my sister. This sick bastard took away our innocence and waltzed away like nothing fucking happened.

I grunt and press him up against the wall, his lips curve and he hisses, "Look at you, squirt, all grown up."

Hot rage roars from within me and burns all paths to sensible thought into nothing but ash and debris.

Next thing I know I'm on top of him and wiping that sadistic smile off his face with my fists. Everyone and everything around me turns into white noise. Nothing around me is clear, only my hatred towards this son of a bitch makes sense. Everyone is just loud and deafening, trying to desperately get me off of him.

"Seth, stop!" A voice yells but it's yelling at a brick wall. "Someone call the cops!"

I cling onto him and punch his hideous face with all the pent up resentment I have towards this disappointment to humanity. I swore on my life that when I was to see him again I'd make it his last day on earth and today is that day.

Blood covers my cufflinks and knuckles, he struggles and squirms beneath me, even getting in a few lucky punches in. But I'm stronger and younger than this bastard, a fucking stallion compared to this dipshit.

I wrap my hands around his neck and choke him. With a delight I didn't know I possessed, I watch him flush red and struggle to breathe. Baxter frantically scratches and claws at my arms for relief but I only tighten in grip and grit my teeth. A pair of strong arms pull at me from all sorts of directions, determined to get me off of Baxter-if only they knew.

"I promised I'd kill you and I never break my promises," I growl just when they manage to finally pull me off of him.

Baxter splutters blood all over himself with a gurgling cough. He doubles over and struggles to breathe, his body trembles but murder is written all over his emerald gaze. He wheezes and reaches for his throat while being helped upright by The White Pearl staff from his futile position. One would think fear and horror would be written all over his face but one couldn't be more wrong.

His eyes dance with amusement and rage, the sick grin on his face holds a sinister promise. A promise for much darker days. I've just woken a sleeping giant and god forbid I pay for it later.

Two security guards get brutally physical and handsy with me, a little too excited about my little stunt. They attempt to move me to the back of the restaurant to a holding room when Wilson steps in and flashes them his pretty credentials, fucking Canadian Intelligence. They let go of me immediately and my first thought is Gray.

She's still where I left her, immobile and bleak with colour. She looks sick.

I don't wait for her to compose herself or register me closing in, I reach for her elbow and steer her towards the back door. She yanks out of my grip and leads the way. Her elbow is now covered in that asshole's blood, I grimace. That asshole that treated her like trash for years until she finally drew the last straw and demanded a divorce after he allegedly cheated.

No one knows what really happened, she never talks about it-not even to Sofía-but thank fuck she left him. I couldn't stand his existence.

Gray bursts through the doors and just as I step out, she shoves me. I don't expect the act of aggression but I take it wordlessly. I stumble from surprise but hold my ground with a glare. Gray's purse falls and collides with the ground, the clink of the expensive accessory echoes in the quiet alleyway.

"You had no right, no right at all!" I find myself at the end of her long manicured finger. "How dare you, Seth? How dare you! Are you fucking crazy?!"

"Me? What the fuck did I do?" I scoff, appalled by these false accusations.

"Oh I'm sorry, were you not there?" Gray softens her voice but it drips with a sarcasm that makes my skin itch. "Well let me fill you in on what happened, hmm? You assaulted a customer in a refined establishment, a customer who did absolutely nothing to provoke you!"

"He did everything to provoke me!" I raise my voice much higher than I mean to. "He deserved everything I gave him," I continued hoarsely.

I wish I could tell her, really I do but I made a promise to Morgan to never tell a single soul about what that pig did to her.

Gray shakes her head, running a hand through her hair, "We don't treat people like that. Violence..." she sucks in a breath. "Violence is never the answer. Conflict only causes more problems, it doesn't present solutions."

"That thing is not a person, it's a monster," I spit out excess blood that tastes metallic and raw on my tongue.

Gray falls silent and glances at her arm, a visible shiver courses through her body at the sight of his blood. I reach for her and she flinches away with a sharp reflex, her glare bores into my soul.

Her actions hurt more than her words.

"Look, I'm sorry I ruined your night," I start and she just breathes through her nose with a tight smile and a nod. "But you can come to my place-"

"No thank you, the last thing I need right now is being around you any longer than I should've been," Gray's eyes sweep over me and I just feel defeated.

I wasn't even going to suggest something that could've blurred the lines between us. I'm a tease and I know it but I'd never act on it, Gray would never allow it. Consent goes both ways and unless she gives it to me, I'm never touching her.

I don't even care to say anything, I just slump against the wall and sink to my feet. The sound of my jacket brushing against the wall is the only sound in the tense and dark alleyway, the only light is from the streetlight up ahead. I silently listen to the soft ache of pain in my hands while Gray stares at me with an uncertain look.

I might even detect a sense of worry and compassion in those cold brown eyes of hers but even I know that's a far stretch. And her heartless capabilities first got proven on my eighteenth birthday when I embarrassingly and drunkenly confessed my undying love to her.

She just laid there, saying absolutely nothing.

I look at her and a pang starts on the corner of my left eye but I ignore it as I'm taken by the sheer beauty of Gray Spence.

I hate to admit that this is the first time I see her in a dress of some sort, a dress that's very sexy and revealing. Gray is naturally beautiful, it never really matters what she wears but she's not one to be casual and comfortable in her own skin. She'll always cover herself up and be formal even when the occasion doesn't require her to be.

It's refreshing to see her in spaghetti straps, it's different and different is good.

The warm light glows around her like a halo, her brunette hair falls over her shoulders and down her back. Her arms wrap around her slim waist and unintentionally pull the dress higher to reveal her tan legs and creamy thighs. I shift to keep from the stirring dick in my pants. Shit.

I look at my hands and say, "Your night is ruined and you have me to thank for that. The least I can do is make sure you get home safely."

Gray chuckles and the sound pulls at my lips, it's an angelic melody. "I don't need your version of toxic masculinity escorting me home, you've done enough."

"Toxic masculinity?" I arch an eyebrow and she shrugs, continuing to hug herself.

She glances at me one more time before she turns and walks down the alley. I shake my head and rest the back of my head against the brick wall. My fingers intertwine and it's just myself and stray cats now between the buildings. I wince at the hot seer that lingers around my busted and bloody knuckles.

My agent is going to have a fit and so is the director. They'll just have to put their best make-up artists to work.

The crunch of dirt beneath the sole of a shoe pulls my attention. I look to my left down the alleyway and a shadow obscures against the distant light. I hear his chuckle before I see his green eyes. I get to my feet and shield myself mentally and physically, preparing for round two but he stops a good distance away from me.

Baxter leans against the wall and pulls something out of his pants, a cigarette.

"Do you feel better now, Little squirt?" He lights it and pulls a generous amount of lung cancer through his teeth, I cringe. "Are you at peace with yourself yet?"

"Clearly I didn't hit you hard enough, you fucking dipshit," I step towards him and he blows out a puff of smoke.

"I'm not here to fight you, I'm here for my date, the one you deprived me of," he points his cigarette bud at me with a wink.

I clench my fist and grit my teeth, Gray's unwanted voice of reason about violence rings in the back of my head and I take a step back. I couldn't care less about going to jail, I've been there and I've already done that-but for some reason disappointing Gray is enough reason not to smash his skull against the wall.

My ankle hits something and when I look down it's Gray's purse, I bend and pick it up. I grimace at the dry blood that taints it. The blood of the ass that thinks it's perfectly fine to be talking to me.

If she wanted a date with a prick like yourself, don't you think she would've stuck around for it?" I smile at him and open the door, leaving him outside.

I walk through The White Pearl and Wilson glares at me but still nods when I signal to him that I want to leave. He finds a way to safely weave me through the restless current of paparazzi all taking low blows at me for what I just did. If only they knew the kind of dick he really was.

"Will, you remember where Gray Spence's estate is, yeah?" I ask him from the backseat and he raises an eyebrow at me from the rearview mirror but he nods and changes route towards her place.

I manage to clean my hands but my cufflinks are still marked with blood and the busted parts of my knuckles are still bleeding. I loosen my tie and take off the jacket just as he stops at her gate. We get clearance and he ventures further up the long driveway. Every single light is on.

I get out and press on the doorbell.

To my very downfall, Gray answers the door in nothing but a black silk robe that reveals her black lace lingerie.

Possessed by God knows what, I cross the threshold uninvited and kiss her.