“Why did you come get me?” I asked, glancing up at him. “It was going well.”
“I can’t let you hang out with another guy for too long before it gets suspicious,” Clay answered easily.
I shook my head. “He looked like he wanted to murder you.”
“Then the plan is working.”
I laughed, but the sound died in my throat when we slipped back into the loud house only to quite literally smack into Maliyah.
“Oh!” She bounced back in surprise, and Clay’s hand shot out to right her before he could even think better of it. I knew, because in the next instant, their eyes locked, both of them swallowing hard.
It was like being in the presence of movie stars, seeing the two of them together. They were both tall, far too gorgeous for their own good, and had the kind of energy that made others in the room revolve around them. I glanced at her and then at him, back and forth, and again found myself wondering how the hell someone like me was supposed to make her jealous.
Clay’s arm lingered around her, his breath shallow before he finally released her and resumed his grip around me.
“Clay,” she said, her doe eyes flicking to me next.
I smiled, thinking she might introduce herself, but instead, her eyes raked over me, brow arching higher as she took in every inch of my outfit.
“Maliyah, let’s go dance,” a girl I hadn’t realized was standing behind her said. She had long, jet black hair and tattoos lining her left arm — which Maliyah threaded her own through before letting the girl tug her away.
She flicked her hair over her shoulder, not looking back, but once she hit the dance floor, her eyes found Clay automatically.
What the fuck?
She clearly knew Clay was frazzled from running into her, and rather than talking to him, she was purposefully dancing while looking at him. She wouldn’t do that if she didn’t care that we were together, if she didn’t still want Clay.
But if she wanted him, why wouldn’t she just take him? She could do it — right here, right now.
I ground my teeth. “What is her game?” I asked, looking up at Clay.
He looked like a sick puppy, face almost green as he watched her in return. “I wish I knew.”
I narrowed my eyes, then squared my shoulders, grabbing his hand in mine. “Come on.”
I didn’t know what my plan was as I dragged him through that crowd, but I made sure to parade right in front of the dance floor before squeezing in on one of the couches lining the wall facing it. I pulled Clay down to sit next to me, and the space was so tight from the other people on it that I was crushed between him and the arm. When I wiggled out of the vise grip, I was half in his lap, tucked under his arm, consumed by every tense inch of him.
“Look at me,” I said.
Clay dragged his gaze from where Maliyah was on the dance floor, and I framed his face with my hands.
“If you’re not playing, you’re losing, remember?” I rolled my lips together, swallowing past the knot forming in my throat. “So, let’s play.”
Clay frowned, tilting his head to the side.
“Use me,” I clarified. “Make her remember what you had. Show her what she’s missing.”
Clay arched a brow, glancing around before his eyes met mine again. “It won’t be just her watching.”
“I trust you,” I breathed, and then I tangled my fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled him into me.
I should have been used to it.
I should have been struck with the fact that it was fake, all pretend, every time his lips met mine. But it was the same shock of surprise that flitted through me, and my breath caught in my chest, heart plunging off the highest diving board into a pool of white hot fire as he kissed me.
Clay inhaled a deep breath through his nose, one hand winding around the small of my back while the other cradled the back of my head and held me to him. His chest swelled against mine, and then he tilted my chin with the tip of his nose, demanding access to my neck.
My eyes fluttered closed, nipples pebbling under my thin blouse as his large, warm lips caressed the skin stretched over my throat. Each brush of his lips was more firm than the last as he made his way down, and he nipped at my collarbone, eliciting a hiss from me as I twisted my hands in his shirt.
I didn’t have to have my eyes open to know we were being watched.
I felt the gazes of not just Maliyah, but every person in close proximity at that party burning into my skin just as fervently as Clay’s kisses as he trailed his way back to my mouth. His next kiss was like a brand, demanding and brutal, and for the first time, he slid his tongue against the seam of my lips, requesting access.