Pack or Prey (Wolfblooded book 1)

Chapter 11, Part 2

"Frank," I managed to force out on a shaky breath.

I was frozen, staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. Eleven months I'd been free of him, and he still managed to grip me with fear as strongly as the day I left. Just saying his name aloud made my blood turn to shards of ice, cutting me up from the inside.

Frank apparently found triumph in catching me off guard. His lips curled with a self-satisfied grin as he watched how I reacted to him.

"Blonde, huh?" he said finally as he straightened up in his seat, pulling on the collar off his jacket. "Have to say, the darker hair was better, but I guess I could get used to it."

The idea of him being around long enough to get used to anything made me squirm.

"What the hell do you want, Frank?" I finally managed to say, though my voice seemed less confident than I had tried to make it.

Frank simply continued to smile at me, his ruggedly handsome face full of mirth and something much darker. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was absolutely giddy that we were in the same room again. He rubbed a hand over the back of his head, which was covered by a black bandana.

"What do I want?" he repeated, dropping the hand to hang between his legs. "Well, I want what I paid for. A dance."

Alarm bells rang out in my head. I needed to get out of there. Get as far away from him as I could manage. I wished Jackson had been working so I could run to him and tell him that I was in trouble, but he was still home recovering.

I’d seen this man crush a skull like a pop can. I wasn't sure any of the other bouncers were big enough, or strong enough, to take him down. All I knew was the longer I stayed there the more he was going to get into my head and that never ended well for me.

"Go to hell." I finally managed to peel my white-knuckled grip from the pole and step down off the stage. "Find somebody else to dance for you."

I turned and stepped towards the door, ready to make a run for it. Maybe I could withdraw all my cash and get my things out of my apartment before he caught up with me.

"Well that's fair, I guess," he said the moment I gripped the doorknob. "Wouldn't wanna cause problems. I'll just ask for that pretty little blond you were talking to at the bar."

My spine went stiff, and I stopped, my eyes peering through the cracked door and falling on Liz. She was laughing with the bartender. Carefree and completely unaware of the danger she was in because of me. He knew he had my attention.

"She's cute. Small. Doesn't look like she'd give me too hard a time. Tell me, Harls... She a good friend of yours?"

It sounded so innocent. Just small talk from anyone else, but coming from Frank, I understood the underlying threat that question held. I stared at Liz for a moment, my jaw clenched. Even though I'd been angry with her this morning I couldn't let him hurt her. She hadn't been spying on me for him because he was trying to use her as leverage against me. I closed my eyes as his question loomed in my head. He had watched us, and he was using it to his advantage.

"Fuck!" I growled, pounding the side of my fist into the wall just inside the room. I took a step back and slammed the door behind me, rattling the decor hanging on the wall.

"One fucking dance," I said through clenched teeth. "Then you get the hell out of my life."

I walked back to the stage and Frank's awaiting grin. I'd have loved nothing more than to slap the smugness right off his face, but that would only make things worse. I wanted to get him out of there not give him a reason to continue to fuck with me.