Chapter 31
C assie
My tiny silver minidress rode high up my thighs until cool air ghosted over my backside, and I let it, enjoying my stroll through the brothel while people fucked around me and no one batted an eye.
This was part of me, I mused. My mother had known this life. It was in my blood.
Not that I intended to lose my virginity here tonight, but I could warm myself up by watching others go at it.
I kinda liked the feeling that someone was watching me, too. I could sense it. The creepy slide of their attention ghosting over my skin. It sent shivers down my spine and kept me alert.
At the end of the hall where it opened into the playroom, a man held a woman by her throat. “This is what he did,” he drawled. “Fucked her right where he caught her. Are you wet for me, darlin’?”
Slowing my steps, I scrutinised the game-reenactment clinch and checked that the lady on the receiving end wasn’t in distress. Down the way, a security guard also kept a watchful eye, and the sex worker issued a super-fake moan which did away with my worries and got her customer even more enthusiastic with his gross dirty talk.
“Run, baby. I want to chase you,” he purred.
She took off with a pretend squeak of fear that had him clutching his bulging groin then lumbering after.
Apparently, the game got under everyone’s skin.
Earlier, when it had been live streaming, I’d watched the action from my room and found my hand between my legs. No wonder the clientele were all hyped up.
It gave me big ideas. I wanted to take part but without the catching-and-falling-in-love element. The forever-let’s-have-babies vibes didn’t hit for me. It was unnecessary if you already had that but still wanted to play. Why not run a version where masked people just fought and fucked but weren’t making a public statement? I’d suggest it to Arran.
“Cassie,” an achingly familiar voice called.
I stilled and peered around.
Behind me, Riordan stalked the corridor, all black t-shirt over blue jeans and those chunky biker boots. My mouth fell open, and delight filled me.
To the thump of my pulse, I soaked him in. “Enjoy the game?”
He circled my wrist with his hand, the touch shocking. “You shouldn’t be wandering around this floor. The whole building, in fact. Not on a night like this one.”
I furrowed my brow. “Why?”
“Sex pests for miles around are in this club tonight. Even my ex-non-girlfriend somehow made it inside. The building is packed full of freaks.”
Ugh. The ghoul. “All paying to act out their perversions. I don’t see the problem.”
His glower deepened. “They might think you work here. What if someone grabs you?”
Aw, hell. He was looking out for me? If my poor heart had been crushing on him already, it cracked wide open now. I stepped into his space. Peered up at him and rounded my eyes. “Maybe I’m happy to sell my body to the highest bidder, Riordan Jones.”
“The fuck you are, Cassiopeia Archer.”
“Why, want to make me an offer?”
I held his eye contact, energy rising as a lightning strike inside me.
“No, I don’t,” he snarled. “And you’d do better to stay away from me.”
Well, that was a red rag to a horny little bull. I smiled winningly.
“Excuse me, sorry to intrude. Riordan?”
We broke our stare-off.
Alisha appeared beside us, her expression expectant and her uniform a metallic bikini under a floaty negligée.
“Arran asked me to find you so I could introduce myself,” she said.
“Alisha, right?” Reluctantly, Riordan released my arm. “I was trying to find you.”
“Here I am.” She spared a smile for me. “Excuse the interruption. I have somewhere to be, so this is now or never. Walk with me?”
He grumped agreement, calling back to me, “Go to bed, Cassie.”
“In your dreams,” I quipped back.
He disappeared, and I folded my arms and scowled. Tapped my foot.
He hadn’t once checked Alisha out, but I didn’t like him walking away.
The night I’d worked the bar, Riordan had sat with me for hours. He’d nursed a couple of beers, and in my quieter moments, entertained me with commentary on the dudes who emerged from the brothel’s lift. We placed bets on their perversions.
I’d never had so much fun.
He hadn’t mentioned Arran’s offer, but if Alisha had been sent to meet him, that screamed his acceptance. Which meant we’d be seeing a lot more of each other.
My spirits brightened.
I wasn’t about to stand here and pine over him. He’d come to me. When I was ready, which wasn’t yet, I’d make it happen. Just like with how my brother, Camden, had bought his wife in an auction, or how Sinclair used coercion on his.
I’d think up something better.
“Found you,” another voice hailed me.
I left my reveries to see Dixie approaching, a grin ready for me and her tits out for everyone else.
I pointed at her rack. “Did ye ever see that meme of men writing women? Something like ‘she titted boobily along the hall’? That’s what you’re doing now, titting boobily.”
The lass I’d come to find preened. “Thanks! Say, who was that guy with Alisha?”
My mirth died. “Mine.”
“Whoa, sis. I heard your ‘in your dreams’ comment. He your boy?”
I slapped my palm to my forehead. “I wish. Why couldn’t I come up with something better?”
She mused, “Like saying you’d go to bed if he came with you?”
“Yes! Teach me your ways, oh wise one.”
“Ooh, is he being hunted? You alley cat. Should I spread the word to avoid any cat fights?”
I considered that. “Does it matter that Riordan doesn’t know it yet?”
“Even better. I’ll warn everyone else off. Trust me, with his moody swagger, it’ll be necessary. Anyway, ready to hang out with me for a while? Alisha messed up my schedule, so I’m a free agent for thirty minutes.”
Linking my arm with hers, we trotted away, exchanging ideas for exactly how fucked-up I could go to make Riordan mine.