Page 116 of Vega

“Elana, get the fuck off me.”

Her smile twitched, but she stayed where she was. “What’s wrong with you? You don’t talk to me like that.”

“I just did.”

Knox leaned back with his drink halfway to his mouth. “Well, damn.”

She tried to laugh it off, but her ego had already been bruised. “You must’ve forgot who I am.”

“I know exactly who you are,” Vega said. “That’s why I’m telling you to move before I make you move.”

Elana finally noticed me. Her eyes looked over my glasses, outfit, and hands folded in my lap. She looked at me, very unimpressed.

“This why you talking to me like this?” she asked Vega, but her eyes stayed on me.

Vega moved before I understood what was happening. One second, he was seated. The next, he was standing, which forced her to her feet.

“Don’t do that,” he said.

Elana’s chin lifted. “Do what?”

“Don’t look at her like that. Don’t talk about her like that. And don’t make me repeat myself in front of all these people.”

The warning in his voice made my skin heat.

Elana swallowed, but she didn’t back down all the way.

Vega looked her dead in the eyes. “Walk away while I’m still asking.”

Even with the music blasting, I felt the silence from the men around us. Lux stopped joking. Lowe sat forward. Prodigy’s drink lowered. Wise watched Vega with a raised brow.

Elana looked around and realized she had lost. Her pride wouldn’t let her leave softly, though. She smoothed her hands down her hips, gave Vega a bitter smile, and stepped back.

“You’ll be calling by next week,” she said.

Vega sat down beside me again. “Good luck with that, sweetheart.”

She walked away with her head high, hips swaying, making sure every man in the club remembered why she deserved every dollar in their pockets.

I watched her disappear into the crowd.

Of course Vega had connections with women here. He owned the club. He had money, power, a face women probably lost sense over, and a body that made bad decisions feel reasonable. Women were half-naked all around him, dancing for him, smiling at him, waiting for him to look their way. It would’ve been stupid to think he hadn’t touched some of them. It would’ve been delusional to think Elana was the only one.

Vega leaned closer. “Sonnet.”

I kept my eyes on the stage. “I’m fine.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m processing.”

“Look at me.”

I didn’t want to, but I did anyway. His eyes held mine with no apology in them, but there was no game either. “My past is my past. She’s my past.”

“That isn’t my business. I’m not your woman, just your prisoner, remember?”

Vega cut his eyes at me, but I looked back toward where Elana had gone. “She’s beautiful.”