Chapter 21
Ember Everettin my bedroom wasn’t the plan tonight.
Neither was fucking her in my helicopter.
Once she fell asleep, I couldn’t leave her. I don’t want to think about what would happen if my father took the chopper to one of his meetings.
The easiest thing was to sneak her into my room once the gala died down. I looked like a hero from a romance novel, Ember cradled in my arms as I carried her to my bedroom on the third floor.
Like she’s mine.
That wasn’t an act of desire, that was an act of control. How else do you get a drunk psycho to behave?
By sharing your secret?
I had to calm her down. I had to keep her on my side.
You have an answer for everything.
Sitting on the side of my California king, Ember passed out behind me, my eyes focus on Beau’s phone. Fuck what happened in our ‘copter, I need to keep up my end of the bargain: cracking the code on this thing.
Only thing is, I’ve hit the phone’s limit and now it’s locked. So, I’ll need some outside help but this means clearing our name will take longer than planned.
Glancing back, my shoulders drop. Ember lays curled up in the fetal position, her red hair splayed on my black silk pillow. My abs twitch.
Despite this spacious room, it isn’t meant for anyone but me. The modern features are a contrast to the rest of my home. My father’s home. But the walls are as black as my silk sheets matching the artwork framed in platinum around me. Basquiat’s skull matches Van Gogh’s. The chandelier hanging above my bed shines the only bit of light beyond the black velvet curtains. My drinking isn”t as bad as it used to be, but bottles still line a mirrored shelf to one side of the room.
It’s all designed to let the darkness consume me. My escape.
So why does she fit in so seamlessly?
We’re like magnets, pulled to each other’s darkness since the first day we laid eyes on each other. The problem is, it’ll ruin us.
My eyes move to the locket on the vintage chest I use as a bedside table. Opening it confirms once again who her mom is. My eyes settle on her dad, stoic, his hair curly and packed on his head. His auburn eyes bore into mine as if he knows what I just did.
Slamming it shut, I stand to my feet, looking back at Ember again. I’ve been keeping an eye on her at her hotel, but seeing her this peaceful up close makes me… crave a fucking cigarette.
At two in the morning, the house is back to being quiet. A crypt. Making my way into the hall, some staff linger behind, cleaning any leftover gala debris. My slacks are still on, and so is my collared shirt, unbuttoned below my pecks and rolled up past my elbows. Opting for a view, I move down the stairs and out the back patio doors.
The moon glistens on the pool and pond as I grab an iron chair and light up. Sweet smoke hits my lungs before I exhale it to the sky.
We’re in this together.
The words echo in my head. So do her moans. Her gasps, her breaths. My cock twitches. The mere thought of her is enough to wake the beast.
Fucking her is what we both needed. She needed to calm down and I needed to put her in her place.
I needed to claim her. So I did.
“Art.” Father’s voice startles me, my body straightening up. He appears in front of me, still in a suit. It’s a little crumpled, the gel in his hair fading. He puts his thick brown cigar to my cigarette before he pulls up another iron chair. Right next to mine. Glancing at him, those blue, cold eyes catch the moonlight. “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to get into the art business?”
I don’t know what he’s talking about but I’ve learned silence is my best weapon with him.
“I underestimated you,” he says, taking a puff. “You’ve filled in on my boring business ventures without telling me about your own.” He glances at me. “The artist that got the biggest bid today, I hear you brought her in.” He chuckles, “Ten thousand dollars for a piece is nothing to scoff at. And to bring the artist here was an extra special touch. I hear the guests ate it up. You have an eye for more than sports. Why didn’t I see that?”
Is that what he thinks?
Settling back into my seat, a weight lifts off my chest. “You’ve been so caught up in what you think I should do I haven’t had a chance to show you.” I play into his narrative.
“Hm.” I can’t tell if he’s thinking or agreeing but I’m not letting this go.
Sitting up further, I turn to him. “Let me focus on this. Let me lay off the usual business side of things and handle this instead. I can do a lot. I know people. This is?—”
“Extraordinarily feasible. Why didn’t we get into this before?”
“Never too late.”
He lets out a breath. A laugh? Relief? I’m not sure, but when his hand falls on my shoulder I know it’s far from negative. “Show me what you got, Malcolm.” He taps my shoulder before rising from his seat. “Oh, there was something else.” There’s always something else. He takes another puff, his eyes narrowing. “They found a hair accessory at the scene of the incident. A woman”s. Is there something I’m missing?”
Shiiit.
Think fast, McKinsley.
I shrug. “You know how us Paradise boys are. Could be from anyone. If his mother is any example…”
My father nods, getting my drift before he moves back into the house. His words and this cig settle into my bones. A smile comes to my face, my eyes on the moon as I hear his footsteps get further away.
This is what I need. Ember and my dad on my side.
Putting the end of the cigarette in the golden outdoor ashtray, I move inside, any traces of my father gone.
But when I”m back in my room, Ember’s not where I left her.
Leaning against the doorframe, I cross my ankles, watching her bare ass wiggle as she moves across the room. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
Ember freezes in front of the black door to the bathroom. “I should go.” She says, without looking at me.
“You won’t.” Moving into the bedroom, I close the door behind me. “We’re a team, Everett. You said so. You need me.” She still wears that collar, the only thing on her body. My fingers trail her soft skin as I make my way around to those bloodstone eyes.
She flicks her gaze upwards, a softness to her voice. “Do you need me?”
“I do.” A smirk comes to my face and when I tug on her collar, a smirk comes to hers. “And right now, I need you on all fours.”
“Four paintings in one month?”Ember’s voice rises on the way through the quad the next morning.
She moves quick, late for her class. That’s my fault. Our fault.
Those over-worn Oxfords hustle to the art building, her fluffy red curls bouncing behind her. She still sticks out in another graffiti shirt and torn-up jeans after refusing the gift cards to boutiques around town. Stubborn.
“Mac, how do you expect me to do four drawings in a month?”
Glancing at her face, I can’t read her. So I pull her behind a column. “Don’t be a pussy, Everett.” I catch her gaze, that heated stare right on mine. “You’re going to make a killing. Four weeks. Four drawings. Stop acting like you can’t do it.” My eyes drop to her neck where she still wears that butterfly choker. Pulling on it, I hover her lips over mine. “Tell me you can do it.” She tries to hide that smirk behind those lips but I see it. My lips follow before we’re staring at each other like I’m in some fucking romance movie. Tugging harder on her collar breaks the spell. “Tell. Me.”
She lets out a sigh, her minty breath landing on my lips. “Yeah, I can do it.” She rolls her eyes.
“You won’t like it if you don’t.” Letting go of her collar, I move away from her before I give into the monster inside me again. “Get to class.” I need to focus on my task. If she’s keeping up her end of the bargain I need to keep up mine.
“Halston.”
The room clears when I walk into Lab Six in the technology building. My eyes stay on the one fucker I know who can hack this shit. Harry Halston backs his wheeled chair against one of the large wooden desks with a thousand screens. When I get to him, I pull him closer, a hand on each arm of the chair. He winces.
“Ssh,” I whisper, reaching for the phone in the pocket of my slacks.
“What-what is it, Mac?” he stutters, pushing those black frames up his pointy nose.
“Want to make sure what happened at prom doesn’t happen again?” Harry nods, quickly. “I need you to unlock this.”
Harry reaches for the phone in his face, his body relaxing. “Oh, that’s easy. I can do it now.”
Pulling the phone back, I make sure he hears me. “Whatever we find, that’s between us, understand?” He nods again, this time slowly. I don’t need to spell it out for him. He knows he’s finished if this doesn’t work. I release the phone into his hand and lean against the desk to let him do his thing.
My mind drifts to where it always goes. Her. In my bed. On my cock. My hand around her throat. When all this is finally over, we can go back to enemies. We’re from different worlds and she ruined me before. Forget how her mouth moves, or how she feels when I’m buried inside her. I can’t let her ruin me again.
“Got it,” Harry says, shaking me out of my thoughts. “Sixty-nine, sixty-nine.” He glances at me, noticing my cocked brow. “That’s the code.”
Of course. Now I’m pissed I wasn’t able to get there on my own. I grab the phone before he can see who it belongs to. My grip is tight as I tap on the photos and videos. It takes swiping through countless videos from Fashion Week before I see her.
She laughs in the backseat of his Rover, drinking something out of his flask. They seem close. Chummy. Like she wants to be there. Not by force.
“Beau?” Harry’s voice comes from behind me. I was so eager to get into this, I forgot he was here. “And the new girl? They were friends? Do you think she has something to do with it?”
“Get out.”
“But I’m working on my assignment.”
I spin towards him, my jaw tight. “Get. Out.”
Harry grabs his backpack before he rushes out the door, leaving me with the video.
My grip tightens when I hear her voice. “Fuck Malcolm McKinsley, that insecure asshole.” She looks at the camera with glossy eyes and red cheeks. “I want his head. On a platter. On a stick. Buried six feet deep.” Beau’s laughter makes me happy he’s dead, Ember’s words loud in my head. “He’s a predator I wish would go extinct. And I’ll be the one to do it.”
Pausing the video, my hand tightens around the phone so hard I wonder if it’ll break.
Calm down.This was old. Before last night. Before everything.
I hear the rational voice in my head. But it’s not winning. It never does. And now? Now I have more to deal with.