“Here, princess,” he greets as he leaves the hotel room next to us, and I pale at the thought he might have heard us. “Sorry. Had to shave my balls.”
“Lovely,” she responds with a contorted expression. “Let’s go!”
She walks ahead, Base following her until they’re out of sight around the corner.
Kade pushes away from the wall, leaning down to whisper, “If you weren’t such a twisted snake, I’d tell you how hot you looked tonight.”
I roll my eyes even though I feel like my nerves are on fire as we walk towards the elevators. “Your insults are getting weak.”
“A little like yourself. ”
I suck my teeth. “Call me weak again – I fucking dare you.”
“We don’t exactly have the best track record with dares. Do we, Freckles?”
I snap my head to him, halting my steps, and he nearly knocks into me. “Don’t call me that. What happened to forgetting?”
“Forgetting what?” he teases, a glint in his eyes. He seems awfully cheery compared to how he was earlier.
He doesn’t reek of alcohol, but his pupils are a little bigger than usual.
I turn away from him. “Stop talking to me. You’re annoying.”
Kade snorts, and we keep making our way down the hallway. “I’m making conversation, not trying to fuck you.”
“Thank God. I’ve faked enough orgasms with you to last a lifetime.”
I gasp as Kade snatches me by the throat and pins me to the wall in a flash, his chest and grip holding me in place as his heavy breaths hit my ear. “I’ll tell Base to take my sister without us and prove just how full of shit that fucking statement is.”
Shivers work their way down my spine, my pulse thrumming against his palm. “I’d rather you didn’t.” I pat his shoulder, hoping to deflate his ego in some way and hide how much he affects me. “But thanks for the offer.”
His jaw clenches, eyes blackening as he steps back and releases my throat. His hands fist at his sides, but the feel of his skin is still on me, shadows wreaking havoc on my hormones.
“I wish you never met Luciella.” And the bucket of ice that hits me then washes away that feeling. “I wish I didn’t kiss you that night. ”
Punching him would be bad, but I fucking want to right now. “I wish I never sucked your dick.” I turn my back to him. “But shit happens.” I throw his own words back at him – the same ones he used outside that warehouse of horrors.
“I wish you never rode my face,” he mutters low enough that only I can hear – Base and Lu are waiting for us by the elevator. “But sacrifices need to be made when one is bored.”
“It was the worst face ride of my life.”
“With how loud you screamed my name, I very much doubt it.”
My nails sink into my palms as we reach the bickering pair.
I intentionally step on his foot when we enter the elevator, and I swear I see him trying to hold back a smirk. The dimples I’ve traced with my fingers countless times dent deep, and I need to look away before Lu notices me eye-fucking her brother.
He stands beside me as the doors close. Mirrors line every wall, and I look up to see him staring at me through our reflection.
While Lu checks her phone, and Base watches her, I give him the middle finger like a grown-up should.
He stifles a smile and shakes his head.
Base looks me up and down, then looks at Lu. “Fuck me,” he groans. “Kade, would you kill me if I had a threesome with your sister and her best friend?”
I laugh.
Kade’s scowl turns deadly.
Luciella slaps his head with her purse and tells him to shut up.
25
STACEY
The busy club is large enough that we’ve barely seen each other. Kade and Base stay at the bar while the latter flirts with everyone. Me and Lu sit at a booth, and I think I’ve drunk all of her shots.
Luciella yells over the music that Tylar is flying over, that she finished work early and has a week off. She thinks she’s lying, because Dez is also flying over to meet his friends.
She doesn’t like this very much.
“Why is it such an issue if they’re together?”
She looks mortified. “Imagine I went there with Base! He’s my brother’s best friend.”
“Right, I get that. But Dez isn’t your brother.”
She chews on her cheek. “I just don’t want things getting complicated. What if they broke up, and it was messy? It would be awkward. If he cheated on her, I’d kill him. I’d tell him to stay away from my house, and then it would cause a war between me and my brother.” She shrugs. “I don’t want any of that.”
I understand, kind of. If she feels that way about Tylar and Dez, she’d hit the roof about me and Kade – past and present.
Base falls into the booth beside Lu and throws his arm around her. “You up for that threesome yet, ladies?”
She shakes her head, trying to hide the smile on her face without moving his arm. “In your dreams.”
He winks at her. “Dreams can come true, princess.”
And I take that as my cue to leave. “I’m going for a stronger drink.”
I know Base isn’t serious. He wants Luciella – not me.
I order a vodka as a young man in a fitted black suit, his golden hair styled to perfection, appears beside me; he smiles as he gives me a second glance, leaning against the bar and looking me up and down.
I thank the bartender and sip my drink through a straw, ignoring him.
“Gerald,” the guy says in his strong American accent. “This lady’s drinks are on the house.”
I nearly choke. “What? No.”
“I’m the owner. Someone as beautiful as you shouldn’t be paying for drinks.”
My brows rise. “And why would you do that? ”
Shrugging, he drags his gaze up and down the length of my body again. “I’m a nice, generous person.” He winks and takes his drink before he vanishes onto the dance floor.
A firm hand lands on my hip, sending instant flutters down low as a familiar voice whispers in my ear, “You need to stop flirting with my half-a-million-dollar target.”
I don’t turn around, but I do tilt my head a little, my eyes on the owner of the club, who’s now laughing with a group of girls. “He’s worth half a million?”
My breathing stops as he pulls my back to his chest, the slit of my dress giving him access to skin-on-skin contact as he moves his hand lower. “The more dangerous, the more I get paid.”
I stare at the guy bobbing around the dance floor with a goofy grin. “He doesn’t look dangerous.”
His chin rests on my shoulder, and my gaze shoots to the booth Lu was at, but she and Base aren’t there.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Kade says, his knuckles running up and down my ribs, the other hand dangerously close to an area that’s currently puddling with liquid heat as he drags his fingers along the slit of my dress, sending electric shocks to my core. “Stay away from him. I need to do my job and I don’t need you getting in the way.”
I gulp. His touch is soft and caressing as the laser show from the DJ booth amps up through the intense song playing.