One Touch More by Mandy Baxter Page A

their status by keeping quiet, respecting Joey’s rules about not using on hotel property, and by always paying up front in cash. He might seem like an idiot, but in truth, he was running a top-notch business. The smart criminals were always the hardest to catch.
    Which was why they’d had a hell of a time getting their hands on Lightfoot. Obviously he surrounded himself with equally crafty associates.
    Damien spent the next hour handing out product to Joey’s dealers and clients, all the while making mental notes about each and every one of them. The dude ran a tight ship and the people who bought from him behaved like professionals. A few of them were dirty and already high enough to raise a brow, but for the most part, they handed over their money, took their backpacks full of product, and left. By ten o’clock, Damien had handed out over half of Joey’s weekend supply, and he wouldn’t be seeing the other half of his customers until tomorrow night.
    Silence permeated the air and settled over Damien’s skin like shrink-wrap, squeezing all of the oxygen from his lungs. He let out a gust of breath and cracked his neck as he stretched it from side to side. It was too goddamned hot in the room. Too stifling. The walls were slowly closing in on him. If he didn’t get some fresh air, he was going to snap.
    He snatched the key card from the table and hung a Do Not Disturb tag on the door as he closed it behind him, as an indicator to any of Joey’s clients that they should wait in the hallway. Unwilling to be cooped up in another small space, he took the stairs down to the ground floor and left through the side exit that Tabitha had left unlocked. As the cool night air met his lungs, Damien inhaled deeply, holding his breath as he stretched his arms high above him. A cloud of steam billowed in front of him on the exhale. Early winter wasn’t exactly balmy in Idaho, but the cold had never bothered him.
    â€œWhat part of no do you not understand?”
    The words echoed across the parking lot, spoken with a mixture of anger and anxiety. Damien recognized the speaker in an instant and walked toward the sound of Tabitha’s voice. He found her standing next to an older model Toyota 4Runner, both hands on the door handle. Beside her, Joey’s friend Tony held the door closed, one meaty arm caging her in while his free hand fiddled with the short strands of her hair.
    â€œQuit being such a frigid snatch. I know you like to party. Joey said you’re the best piece of ass he ever had. I don’t see a problem here. It’s not like you’re with him anymore.”
    Damien’s temper surfaced in a wave of heat that seared through his veins with every beat of his heart. What sort of low-life son of a bitch talked that way about his girlfriend? Ex or not. And had Joey indicated that Tabitha was one of the perks offered to his customers? A free sample that you got when you spent over a thousand dollars? She obviously wasn’t down with that, and she shoved against the asshole who’d just picked a backpack up from Damien not five minutes ago.
    â€œNot if you were the last man on the planet, Tony. Get away from me and take your hands off of my car door before I call the cops. I doubt Joey would want them taking a look inside your backpack.”
    Damien picked up his pace to a slow jog. Tony let out a loud bark of laughter. “As if you’d call the cops. As long as Joey has Seth by the balls, you aren’t going to do shit.”
    He leaned in and Tabitha abandoned her struggle to open the car door, to push against Tony’s unwelcome advance. Damien swooped in and grabbed the asshole by the collar of his jacket, spinning him away. He slammed him up against the 4Runner with enough force to rattle the bastard’s teeth and braced his forearm against Tony’s throat.
    â€œI know you aren’t tryin’ to start shit in this parking lot when you know the