51. Bay
FIFTY-ONE
bay
BAY: This is YOUR fault.
BAY: If you hadn’t brought those ungodly cute kittens, I wouldn’t be out looking for them all day.
CAIRO: Did you leave the door open?
BAY: Yes. Because I like to invite random people into my house. I mean, would an open door keep Ozzy from sneaking in? Is that the trick?
CAIRO: Look under the bed, Little Terror. I’m sure they’re around somewhere.
BAY: I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just tell me to check the obvious.
CAIRO: They probably fell asleep in a weird spot. They’ll be back.
BAY: Tell Mae that.
It took everything to get her to go to school today with her missing kitten still at large, and if I don’t find it by the time she gets back, she’ll be up all night looking.
Just like I’ve spent all day looking.
CAIRO: Where’s Wallace?
BAY: Out looking for a replacement.
CAIRO: Seriously?
BAY: You don’t know how dire my circumstances are, Sinatra.
CAIRO: It’s a cat.
I’m going to strangle him.
And the reason is something I’m going to be sure makes it around because imagine the King of Wharf Bay being murdered over the gift of a kitten.
Stupid.
I make another round around the house, searching high and low again, for the millionth time. The little shit is nowhere to be found, and I even call out the hundreds of new names I can remember Mae calling it, but to no avail.
The damn thing is gone, and I don’t know how.
All I’m convinced of is that Levi and I are in the deepest shit if we can’t get the stupid cat back.
A knock on the front door stops my search as I glide over to open it, and that’s when I’m attacked.
Not by a stranger or solicitor, but Cairo Black himself.
He spins me around, slamming my spine mercilessly into the door when his lips find mine, and he coaxes them wider when his tongue demands immediate entrance.
I practically melt against him, meeting his lashes with my own before his hand dips between the waistband of my sweatpants and goes in right for the kill.
He swirls my clit around through my panties, demanding all my attention and will for his own needs when I suddenly pry myself from his needy lips and finally get a full breath in.
“What are you doing?” I rasp, andCairo takes the opportunity to latch his mouth to my neck.
“I thought you were tryin’ to get me over here,” he mutters. “You win.”
Wait, what?
“No, I was serious.” I try to look down and catch his eye, but Cairo is way too busy making me weak at the knees with how good he is at kissing my neck and working my clit into a frenzy.
Holy shit.
My eyes practically roll back in my head when he shoves a finger inside me, and I’m losing the plot here.
I’m really losing the damn plot here.
“You didn’t disappoint me, Little Terror. How long have you been wet for me?”
My cheek brushes against his hair as I inhale deeply to get some oxygen into my lungs. When I don’t respond right away, he pushes another digit into my cunt.
“Mae’s kitten really is missing.”
He pauses, but he doesn’t move away from his spot. “You’re serious.”
“You thought I came up with a cat story to get you over here?” I roll my eyes with a scoff because please. I’m not that desperate to get off.
Or I wasn’t.
Cairo sinks his teeth gently into my throat before his nose brushes along the marks. “That’s a pity, Little T. I had plans for you.”
And before I can manage to ask what those are or maybe get back into it, he straightens his spine and pulls his hand from my pants.
I feel the loss instantly.
“Well, what’s five more minutes?” I press, doubling back on ruining what he was doing.
“Five minutes? You think that’s how long it’ll take me?” I don’t know the right or wrong answer to that, so I press my lips together. “Where have you looked?”
“Everywhere.”
He lets out a silent sigh before pivoting and waltzing deeper into the house. I don’t move from the door when he disappears in the direction of the bedrooms, but I do try my best to steady the needy throbbing in my body and how he came in here like he did.
Cairo fucking Black.
Fuck me.
That boy went from zero to a hundred from hating to wanting to fuck me and my head is still spinning from it. The night at the hotel was hot as fuck, and I’ve replayed it in my thoughts a hundred times over.
I’ve even repeated it accidentally when something triggers in my brain mid-conversation.
All the damn time.
I hear Cairo’s footsteps quickly reenter the space he just left me in, and I find a scowl painted all over his face as he looks down at his cell phone.
“I need you.”
The urgency in Cairo’s voice has me peeling myself off the damn door and forward. “What’s wrong?”
“Reeve. I need backup. Where’s Wallace?”
“Out, but I can?—”
“Get him. I’m going to need his muscle for this one.”
My pulse picks up at how disturbed Cairo sounds. “Where is he?”
Cairo inhales deeply before spewing, “Brighton. Again.”
“He’s not going to come to me,” I argue truthfully. “He can’t stand the sight of me.”
“I have an…” His exhale is weighted, and I don’t like how I heard it nor that he did it. “Idea. And he’s gonna get hella pissed.”
“What?”
Cairo steps forward, erasing but a foot between us, and peers down at me with a detached expression. “I need you to show up with Wallace.”
“Okay…”
“Then you take it from there.”
“Why do you need muscle?”
“Because he’s fucking Devin Donahue.”
My stomach immediately drops to my ass, and I can’t breathe. A pain in my temple starts to throb incessantly, but I still torture myself and forge through. “Who the hell…is Devin Donahue?”
“The mayor’s son. Comes with a full security detail, and he really likes Reeve. If we drag Reeve out, we’re getting thrown out.”
“Why would?—”
“Because Devin is an entitled prick, and he doesn’t like his fun being fucked with.”
I bob my head, even though I don’t care about Devin whoever.
Because he’s fucking Devin Donahue.
Reeve has every right to do whatever he wants to do after what I did to him, but I didn’t think it’d be like this.
Never like this.
“Bay…” I blink, bringing Cairo back into view. “Do you want me to try something else?—”
“How are we supposed to get in?”
Cairo studies my face for a second before saying, “Open invitation. We won’t have an issue with that. But you walking in with me isn’t going to do anything. Reeve won’t believe you’re with me like that.”
“We’re not.”
Cairo’s dark eyes pinch. “See? You’re already believing it.”
I didn’t mean to say it like a dick, but Cairo…this is just for fun. He’s never going to rid himself of Vivian, and I’m not going to beg him to either.
And I think I have enough boys on my plate for now.
“How do you expect Wallace and I to pull him out?” I ask, digging my nails into my palms to keep my voice steady.
“I’ll handle the distraction,” he replies smoothly. “You get him out.” I bow my head even though I don’t want to do this. I’d rather deal with my prior issue. “The kitten is behind Mae’s stuffed animals in the corner.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
“You’re welcome. Now, you owe me.”
The fuck.
I’d argue, but Cairo does that smirk thing when he knows I could argue, but it’s not going to get me anywhere.
He came over, found the damn cat, and now I’m helping him get my ex out of a party while he’s out fucking everyone and their mom.
“I don’t want to do this,” I mutter honestly, hating the vulnerability that comes easily off my lips. “He can’t stand the sight of me.”
Cairo reaches out and gently brushes his fingers along my jaw. “I promise you things are gonna get fixed. Trust me.”
Trust me.
How easily it falls from his lips. It’s just hard to soak it in and believe him.
“Do I have a choice?”
“No,” he says instantly. “But it’ll just be another way to blow your fucking mind.”