Claimed Darker by Em Brown
Chapter 24
DARREN
Past
Spring is near, and the weather today is sunny and cloudless. Bridget and I sit at Ludwig’s Fountain in Sproul Plaza with bowls of ramen we picked up at a little place off Bancroft Avenue.
“This is one of the best people-watching places,” she says.
I watch a man wearing a cardboard sign foretelling the second coming of Jesus and yelling at the sky, walk past a couple in full Goth from head to toe. Outside Sather Gate, a man plays the saxophone near another man selling newsletters to support the homeless.
“So you decide on the sounding?” I ask.
She squirms. “That’s what you came here for? To ask me that?”
“And to have lunch.”
“I don’t know if I’m that adventurous.” She leans toward me and lowers her voice. “Going anal was a big enough step.”
I pretend to be hard of hearing. “What was that?”
She smacks my arm.
“You’re more adventurous than you think,” I tell her.
“You said JD used to do what you do.”
“What are you referring to? BDSM?”
“Shh!” She makes a face at me.
“Is that what you’re referring to?”
“Yesss.”
“Yeah, he gave it a try.”
“So he doesn’t do it anymore?”
“Not really. I don’t think. I don’t keep close tabs on his sex life. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious. I can’t imagine Amy getting into it. I thought, if he was into it, maybe that’s why he doesn’t seem as interested in her anymore.”
I don’t respond right away. Now I know why she’s “just curious.”
“He isn’t as interested, is he?” she prods.
“We haven’t talked about it. Relationships aren’t really talking points for guys.”
“So JD doesn’t mention Amy to you?”
I can see myself getting into trouble here. A young man handing out flyers gives me one. Usually I don’t take shit like that, but I’m glad for the distraction.
“It’s for you,” I tell Bridget, handing her the flyer.
She looks over the information about a rally on climate change.
“I might go,” she says. “So does he?”
“Does who?”
“JD. You didn’t answer my question.”
“What was your question?”
“Does he mention Amy?”
“I told you, guys don’t talk about the relationship stuff.”
“Is he seeing someone else?”
Shit. I wasn’t prepared for to ask me that point-blank. I don’t want to lie to her, but I’m not sure what JD’s intentions are with Amy, and I can’t throw my cousin under the bus.
“Is that what Amy suspects?” I deflect.
“It’s what I suspect.”
“And why’s that? Just ’cause you saw JD chatting with another woman once?”
“It was the way he was with her. He seems to have an eye for pretty women.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“It’s one thing to look and appreciate. It’s another thing to be interested.”
“How do you know he was interested?”
“Are you saying he wasn’t interested in what’s-her-name? The one that worked for you?”
“Look, guys will always seem like they’re interested in other women. It’s biology. That’s why some have harems or polygamous marriages.”
I know I’m risking getting Bridget upset, but it’s better than talking about JD.
“Biology?” she echoes. “If it’s really just biology, why don’t all male animals have harems?”
“I bet some do.”
“Which ones?”
I’m just making shit up as a diversion, but I probably come off looking like an idiot. “I’ve no fucking clue,” I admit.
Her demeanor softens. “If anything, it would make more biological sense for the female to have a harem. Like queen bees.”
“Queen bees have harems?”
“Not really. That’s because drones die after mating with her.”
“I didn’t know sex could be deadly. So you think women should have harems?”
She shrugs. “Why not?”
“Would you?”
“Maybe,” she teases.
“You want to get fucked by more than one guy, I can make it happen for you.”
I must have said that too loudly because two women walking by turn to look at us.
Bridget blushes, then frowns at me. “You want to speak up a little?”
I raise my voice. “I said if you want to get f—”
She hops to her feet. “Okay, I’m done with lunch.”
“Sit down,” I command.
She considers resisting but takes her seat and crosses her arms in front of her. “You’d be okay with me getting it on with other guys?”
Surprisingly not. I’d fucking hate it. Though I would get turned on seeing her get off on multiple cocks.
“If it made you happy,” I reply.
She thaws again and seems touched. “Seriously?”
I picture another man taking Bridget from behind. I imagine her face contorted in pleasure. I might let it happen.
Then I’d have the guy killed.
“Maybe not,” I say.
“I didn’t think you were the jealous type.”
Me neither.
“I guess I’m not the sharing type,” I say, though it’s not true. I’ve shared women before. It just happens to be true at the moment. I stare at her seriously. “Right now, you’re mine, Bridget. Your lips: mine. Your pussy: mine. Your ass: definitely mine.”
Her anger returns. “I’m not an object you get to possess.”
“Does that mean branding is a hard limit?”
She shakes her head and checks the time on her phone. “I’ve got to get to class. But we’re not done addressing your caveman thinking.”
I watch her separate her chopsticks, disposable bowl and napkins into the compost or recycle bins, then pick up her backpack.
“Thanks for the lunch,” she says.
She’s still miffed at me.
I stand up. “Come here.”
She looks at me wearily and doesn’t move. So I grab her, crush her to me and kiss her long and hard. And long. And hard.
By the time I release her, she’s breathless and her eyes are glassy.
That’s how I know you’re mine, my gaze tells her.
She’s blushing red as a tomato. The guy with the Jesus sign stares at us.
“Have fun in class,” I tell her as I pick up my trash.
The kiss discombobulated her, and she doesn’t know how to respond.
“I’ll, um…” she begins. “We’ll…talk later.”
I release a breath of relief when she’s gone. I dodged a potential interrogation about JD, but Bridget’s not a simpleton. She’s after information, and she’s not going to give up so easily.
* * *
“So what’sup with you and Amy?” I ask JD two nights later while we’re at my club. Even though I told Bridget men don’t talk relationships, I need a better handle on what to say next time Bridget brings up the subject.
“What do you mean?” JD returns, propping his feet on the ottoman before him.
“You still interested?”
JD shrugs. “Kinda.”
“You into Hannah more these days?”
JD pulls out his phone and starts texting. “Maybe. I can’t decide. She’s visiting family down in SoCal right now.”
“I’m guessing Amy can sense you pulling back. Bridget tried to grill me about you guys.”
“What’d you say?”
“I changed the subject.”
JD chuckles. “Sweet.”
“But she’s going to try again. She suspects you and Hannah have a thing. Maybe you should just break it off with Amy if you’re losing interest.”
“Yeah, she has been kind of clingy lately, asking me why I haven’t texted and shit. I might see her one or two more times, then I’ll call it quits.”
“I’m taking Bridget out tonight for a celebration dinner. You and Amy can join us.”
“Celebration dinner for what?”
“She got some grant at her internship.”
“Where’s dinner?”
“Ishikawa West.”
JD raises his brows. “Haven’t been there since they opened. How’d you swing reservations?”
“Asked Ben Lee for a favor.”
“All right. I’m in. You want me to send my driver to pick the girls up?”
A phone call interrupts before I can respond that I was planning to pick up Bridget and head straight to the restaurant. The call’s from Manny, who hasn’t been to the club in a while. I think he might be avoiding JD. I had texted Manny about talking. Feeling bad for the guy, I decided I might loan him more money for his massage parlor venture with the Park Street Boyz.
“Hey, sorry I didn’t get back to you right away,” Manny says. “I can come over now if you still wanted to talk.”
“I was going to…hold on.” I turn to JD. “Sure, send your driver.” To Manny, I say, “Come on over. I’ll be here for the next hour.”
“JD there, too?”
“He is.”
“How long is he going to be there?”
“The same as me. We have dinner reservations. When you get here, we’ll talk in my office.”
“Fine. See you.”
After I hang up, JD asks if I was talking to Manny.
“Thought I heard his nasally voice,” JD says when I answer in the affirmative.
I tell Cheryl to inform me as soon as Manny arrives, but over half an hour passes and he doesn’t show up. I call Manny but he doesn’t pick up. Amy and Bridget arrive later and still no Manny. Cheryl calls Ishikawa West to let them we’re running late, but I don’t want to be too late because the Michelin-star restaurant books out a month in advance.
“You look good,” I say to Bridget, who’s dressed in a black cold-shoulder top, belt, and long suede skirt that hangs past fairly stylish boots with low heels.
She smiles back at me. “Told you I can dress myself.”
“What are we celebrating again?” Amy asks.
“Remember that grant application I was working on in Phuket? It was for two refrigerated vans so we can start our food recycling program. The foundation gave us a grant of a hundred thousand dollars. Now we’re only twenty thousand dollars short.”
“That’s awesome! Congrats!”
Cheryl comes over then to let me know that Manny just arrived.
“Shit, I can’t meet with him now,” I tell her. “We’re late enough as it is.” Seeing Manny, I walk over to him. “I thought you were going to be here an hour ago.”
“Sorry, I got tied up,” he replies. Spotting JD behind me, his face darkens.
“We can try tomorrow,” I say.
Manny steps aside so the four of us can head out to where JD’s driver is waiting with the car. A breeze picks up as we step outside. Bridget shivers.
“Want my jacket?” I ask, taking it off before she even answers.
“I keep forgetting that San Francisco can be much colder than Berkeley,” Amy says.
JD wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her close. “I’ll keep you warm, baby.”
She giggles.
As I put my jacket around Bridget, I notice a car drive up slowly. One of the tinted windows in the backseat rolls down.
I see the barrel of what looks like a semiautomatic handgun.
Shots are fired. Grabbing Bridget, I throw her to the ground and land on top of her. More shots are fired, but these are directed at the car and likely coming from my security guards. The car peals away with screeching tires.
It takes a few seconds for the searing heat in my body to register, but all I can think of is whether or not Bridget has been hit.
