Read Destroying Beauty (Hell Hounds Motorcycle Club): Vegas Titans Series for Free Online Page B

asks me suspiciously
as she plops down on the sofa next to me.
    "Maybe," I say with a smile. "I invited
Holt."
    "The guy?" she asks, raising her eyebrows
excitedly. "Well, I'm excited to meet the man who's managed to finally get
you out of your apartment." I wince.
    "I've been a bad friend, haven't I?" I realize.
"I'm sorry, I got so lost in myself with the divorce…"
    "It's OK," she says, waving away my concerns.
"I knew deep down I just had to wait it out. But I'm glad you're coming
back."
    Elise is the best.
    "Oh," I breathe, glancing up at the dance floor.
Holt is walking through the crowd, looking around, his head reaching several
inches higher than everyone around him. He's wearing a leather jacket over a
tight Henley. My stomach contracts at the sight of him. He's almost painfully
good-looking. Elise glances at me questioningly. "There," I say,
pointing to him.
    "Fuck," she murmurs, as we watch him move
gracefully despite his size. "Yeah, I'd leave my apartment for that, too."
He looks around the perimeter of the club at the tables and his eyes fall on
us.
    "Shit! Pretend we're talking," I say, panicking,
not wanting him to catch me staring at him.
    "Um, a guy asked me to pee on him the other day."
    "Wait, what?!"
    "I said no!"
    "No, I just meant…is he walking over here?" I ask,
purposefully not looking at him. Elise responds by turning and looking slowly
up at Holt, who has just appeared next to our table. He leans down and brushes
a kiss against my cheek. I feel a few days' worth of scruff rub against my
cheek.
    "You look different out of uniform," he murmurs.
    "I'm Elise," she says, extending her hand to Holt.
"The best friend."
    "Holt. So you're the one I have to impress," he
says, with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
    "Exactly," she laughs. I move over so he can sit next
to me, and reach forward to pour him a drink. I see the other men in the booth
eyeing the large newcomer.
    "Where are you coming from?" I ask him, using the
question as an excuse to lean in closer. He smells like earth and fresh air.
    "Just hanging out with some friends," he says. His
breath lands pleasurably on my ear and I squirm a little in my seat. "You
come here a lot?" he asks, glancing around.
    "Never."
    "Thank god."
    "Wanna go back to your place?" I watch him glance
at me in surprise, and then take a long pause. Shit. Did I misread the signals?
He's been texting me, so I thought…
    "Sounds good."
    I turn to Elise. She opens her mouth before I have a chance
to speak.
    "Go! Don't worry about it. If you don't go home with
him, there are about a dozen other women in here who will." She nods
around the club. I follow her gaze and see that there are indeed several sets
of eyes upon the man to my right. Holt seems to be unaware; he's just sitting
back and texting something on his phone. I hug Elise quickly and turn to Holt,
who stuffs his phone back in his pocket and stands with me. Again he takes my
hand and walks in front of me, guiding me through the crowd. I feel myself
relax as we walk out onto the curb, both because Holt gives me the feeling of
being protected, and because I'm glad not to have that music jostling my brain
anymore.
    He leads me down the street and to a pickup truck that looks
vaguely familiar. Probably what he took me home in the other night, though I
don't remember everything about that night so clearly. He steps in front of me
to open my door and I smile at him before climbing up and in. When I was with
Steve, he used to do things like open doors for me at first, and it would always
rub me the wrong way because he made a show of it, like he was doing it just to
be thanked. But Holt just seems to be following some protective instinct, and I
have to admit I like it. He starts the truck and we head toward the highway.  
    "You don't like clubs?" he asks, rolling down the
windows a bit. The wind catches my hair and blows it back. I close my eyes and
enjoy the feel of it against my skin.
    "Not really. I like