CHAPTER ELEVEN
DAMON
When Athena didn’t reply after several minutes, I knew that she was ignoring me. Just as well. I loved knowing that I had backed her into a corner. She had no response. Playing with her was just too easy.
Sprawled on my king-size bed with an arm tucked beneath my head, I scrolled through Athena’s social media accounts. She was relatively active, posting photos and videos regularly. Silly stuff with her friends like the many trends always going around.
I took my time perusing her content. Analyzing the way her green eyes appeared brighter in the daylight. The soft golden tones that highlighted her dark brown hair. The way her entire face seemed to glow when she threw her head back in laughter.
She had a pretty sweet body. Tits that weren’t overly large but big enough for a good handful. An ass that had drawn my attention more than once in passing. A full sensual mouth that I couldn’t help but picture wrapped around my cock.
I lingered on a swimsuit photo she’d posted recently. A beach day with her girlfriends. Athena most definitely was not hard to look at. She knew it too. The bright yellow bikini didn’t hide much. I ate up the sight of her, my cock rising the longer I stared.
Would it be completely despicable of me to rub one out to her photo? Yeah, probably. But despicable had become my second nature. And she would never know.
I started to undo my jeans, reaching in for my hard cock. I never managed so much as one stroke before there was a knock on my door. Son of a bitch.
Zipping back up, I called, “What the hell do you want?”
Taking that as an invitation to enter, Noah opened the door and stuck his head inside. “What are you up to?”
“Jerking off. Why?”
He snorted out a laugh, his gaze dropping to my crotch. “Doesn’t look like you’re jerking off.”
“Because you interrupted me before I got started. Why are you bothering me?” My brows drew together as I glared in his direction.
It took more than that to chase Noah away. Letting himself all the way into the room, he came and plopped down on the edge of my bed. “Are you up for a job tonight? Something just came in, but Dom and I have to go handle something for Rebel. We can’t take this one.”
I’d been planning on smoking a little weed, eating something wildly unhealthy, and passing out to the sound of Two And A Half Men as background noise. Although the night was young enough yet.
Intrigued, I asked, “What kind of job?”
“Arson. A warehouse in the industrial district. In and out. Set the fire and leave. Pretty simple. Pays five grand.” Because he was a nosey fucker sometimes, Noah picked up my phone, spying the picture of Athena on the screen.
“You’re a sick bastard, Damon. Why don’t you just go fuck her instead of jerking off to her photos like a creep? ”
His mouth curved into a grin. Busting each other’s balls was part of our friendship. Having no immediate comeback, I punched him in the arm instead.
“Yeah, give me the address. I’ll take care of it.” The wheels in my brain turned as I had an idea. This might be a fun job after all.
After changing into black pants and a T-shirt, a black hoodie over top, I loaded the supplies I would need from the garage into the back of my Escalade.
Before driving away, I covered my license plate with one of those plastic license plate covers that distorts the letters and numbers.
If a cop pulled me over, he would assume it was to evade photo radar tickets.
I would remove it after the job was done.
Instead of driving directly to the warehouse district, I headed for Athena’s apartment. No doubt she was done with my shit for the night. Too bad though. She owed me, and I was coming to collect my first payment.
I considered calling or texting to give her a heads up then decided against it. I’d rather have the element of surprise on my side. When I arrived, I was disappointed to find the front door to the building locked. Not a big deal. She would let me in.
Pressing the button for her apartment, I waited. It took a minute before she answered.
“Hello?” She sounded nervous. Wary. I loved it.
“Open the door, cupcake. It’s time to start paying your dues.”
There was a pause before she said, “It’s late, Damon. Go home.”
“Nope. I’m willing to scale this building and climb up to your balcony. Is that what you would prefer?” I smiled to myself, knowing that I had already won.
“Are you fucking serious?” Athena muttered. “God, you are such a pain in the ass.”
A moment later the door buzzed as the lock disengaged. I let myself inside with a chuckle. Everything about her was so much fun. As I reached her suite, she jerked the door open, poking her head into the hallway.
“Why must you do this to me?” she demanded, doing her best to block my entry as I shoved inside.
“Get changed.” Ignoring her question, I gestured to the hallway that led to her bedroom. “We have a job to do. Wear something black.”
Athena stood there in loose fitting PJ pants and a tank top that revealed she wore no bra. She stared at me like she wasn’t sure she had heard me correctly.
“A job?” she repeated. “What are you talking about?”
Wanting to mess with her a little, I strolled past her and down the hall. There were two bedrooms. The first was relatively empty of personal objects, so I continued to the one at the end of the hall. Athena hurried behind me, demanding that I stop.
“We need to get moving. As adorable as those PJs are, you can’t wear that where we’re going.” I went to the closet and opened the door, pawing through her clothes for something comfortable and black.
Her small fists pummeled my back. “What do you think you’re doing? Get out of my closet. In fact, get out of my bedroom, and get out of my apartment. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You absolutely are. I need a lookout. Now get dressed before I dress you myself.” Finding a pair of black sweatpants on a shelf in the closet, I tossed them in her direction.
She caught them with a colorful array of expletives. “You can’t just show up here unannounced and start making demands of me. I didn’t agree to be part of your criminal endeavors.”
“Sure you did. You agreed to owe me until I decide I’m done with you. There were no conditions. Now get dressed.” When she continued to stand there and glower at me, I pulled her PJ pants down. I said I would dress her, and I meant it.
Wildly waving both hands, she shoved me away. “All right, all right. I can dress myself, thank you very much. Back off.”
Athena tried to shoo me from the bedroom. I sat down on the end of the bed instead, motioning for her to hurry up. “Get on with it then. You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.”
“Well you haven’t seen mine before so turn around.
” She stood there glaring daggers at me until I turned to look at the opposite wall.
The sound of clothes being pulled off and on followed.
“You really have some audacity, you know that? To show up here like this and start making demands of me. You are so out of line.”
I snickered, enjoying her little tirade. “Just so you know, all you’re doing is making it far more likely that I will show up here and do this again. Your reaction is exactly what I wanted. I’ve always loved a challenge.”
“Challenge this.” Athena’s snarl was accompanied by something soft but heavy bouncing off the back of my head.
I turned around to find a stuffed animal laying on the bed behind me where it had fallen after she had thrown it at my head. Picking up the fluffy elephant toy, I cocked my head to one side. “Come on now. You can do better than that. Don’t you have a snow globe or even a hairbrush or something?”
Athena’s gaze strayed to a wooden jewelry box on her vanity table. “Don’t give me any ideas. You’re lucky you only got the elephant.”
My laughter earned me a middle finger. That only made me laugh harder. I watched with obvious amusement as she retied the braid that fell over one shoulder before tugging on a dark navy hoodie.
“I’ll have you know that if we get arrested, I’m completely throwing you under the bus,” she said before storming from the bedroom.
“I wouldn’t have expected otherwise.” I followed her, trying to resist the urge to catch her from behind. To grab her by the waist and pull her against me. There would be time for that later.
Pulling open the apartment door, Athena motioned for me to exit first so she could lock up behind us. “When this is over, I don’t want to hear from you for at least a week.”
I sauntered from the apartment into the hallway, smirking to myself. “Good luck with that.”