Chapter 7 #2
But right now, I’m not actually thinking about the war I’ve been having with myself regarding that voice, and those hands, and the man to whom they belong.
I’m not thinking while simultaneously trying not to think about the way his touch sent electricity sparking through every dark, secret corner of my being, or how mortifyingly hard I got that night.
I’m only thinking one thing: that the motherfucker who sent those fucking messages to my goddamn sister, and called her a little slut, and wanted to meet her in the fucking woods that night, is Val.
…And currently standing in front of me, as said sister’s fucking date.
No, I’m not reminding myself how straight I am right now. I’m debating ripping his fucking head off.
Evie slips around me and cozies right up to Val, making pure murder explode through my veins.
“Val was sweet enough to cancel his plans tonight to help fend off all Dad’s creepy friends trying to offer me marriage to their sons. Wasn’t that nice of—”
“I’m getting another drink,” I grit out through clenched teeth. My eyes narrow dangerously on the motherfucker standing next to my sister. “Why don’t you come with me.”
Val’s brows lift. “I…think I could do that?”
“Don’t be long,” Evie groans, looking around. “The sharks are circling.”
Fury emanates from me like toxic radiation as I all but shove my way through the crowd. I can feel the fucker following me as I reach the other end of the ballroom and then stalk down a hallway, away from the festivities.
“I think the bar is back—”
Val grunts as I suddenly whirl, grab him by the throat, and shoulder my way into the library. I yank him after me, slamming the door shut. Shadows and moonlight glint across my snarling face as I shove him backward into a shelf, bristling with rage as I close my other hand to a fist.
“What the—”
“What the fuck is your game, motherfucker?!” I snarl, teeth clenched, hand tight around his throat, fist raised.
Val just smiles, arching a brow. “Well, you’re sure shaping up to be a fun—”
I tug him forward and then slam him against the books at his back.
“With Evie, you fuck!”
A look of utter confusion spreads across his face, his smile dropping. “What?”
My eyes burn into his. “Stay the fuck away from my goddamn sister, or so help me God, I’ll—”
“What the fuck are you talking about!?” he hisses back. “Evie is my friend.”
I bark a laugh. “Try again, motherfucker.”
His brow furrows even deeper. “Roman, I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about. But if you’re insinuating that I’m trying to get with your sister…” He makes a face. “No, man. Jesus Christ, no.”
Something stills in me. And slowly, it clicks into place.
Fuck.
Ever since I saw that message on Evie’s phone, I’ve been looking at this whole situation as Val actively trying to creep on my sister.
…But maybe I’ve been missing the forest for the trees.
They were using screen names. I’ve gone back since then and looked up Club Venom, and it’s apparently an ultra-exclusive, members-only kink club that only recently expanded into an online matching service.
…And the whole point of the club is anonymity.
My body tenses up, my hand still wrapped around Val’s throat.
Shit.
The odds are insane. But what if…what fucking if…he was on there anonymously, and my sister was too? And they happened to match without knowing who the other one was?
Fuck. Fuck. FUCKITY FUCK.
“Well?!” Val snaps, his eyes narrowing.
I may have gotten way ahead of myself here.
My hand drops from his throat, and my fist lowers.
“Never mind,” I growl, turning to step back toward the door.
“Yeah, no, we’re not fucking done here at all.”
One second, I’m walking to the door. The next, a strong hand is grabbing my shoulder and yanking me back so roughly I almost fly off my feet.
I grunt as my body hit the bookshelves hard, the breath rushing out of my lungs as Val cages me against the bookcase, his hands planted firmly on either side of my head.
My pulse jackhammers wildly. My throat closes off. His scent—cedar, leather, and sage—fills my senses and pulls a trigger inside me, dragging me right back to the night when he had me on the ground and breathed into my ear.
“What the fuck would make you think that after being friends with her for three years I’d suddenly be romantically interested in your sister?”
I swallow tightly, gritting my jaw. “Nothing. My mistake. Let me go.”
Val barks a laugh. “You’re the one who dragged me in here like you were ready to start a war, motherfucker. You’re not leaving until I get an answer.”
I narrow my eyes. “Let’s just drop it.”
“Let’s not and say we didn’t.” A shiver ripples up my spine as he closes the distance between us, his chest pressed to mine, his face inches away.
I grind my teeth together for a second.
Fuck it.
“You’re—you're on the Club Venom app,” I growl.
Val makes a face “Duh, asshole. So are you, cosplaying as a fucking girl for some weird—”
“I’m not.”
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, whatever you—”
“I mean it. I’m not on that fucking app.”
He stares at me. “Did you get punched in the head? Or is this selective amnesia concerning your raging hard-on the other night when I had you on the ground in the woods? Because for the record, memory loss is no fucking joke—”
“Look, I realize now it was all anonymous. But you weren’t messaging with me,” I snap. “You were messaging my sister.”
The room goes still as Val freezes. Slowly, his brow furrows deeper and deeper, and then his mouth starts to turn down at the corners.
“FUCK!”
I flinch as Val roars and whirls away from me, yanking his arms from either side of my head and shoving his fingers through his dark hair.
“Fucking FUCK!” He suddenly bends at the middle and makes a gagging sound. “Jesus fucking fuck…”
After a moment, Val shakes his head and stands up, his face pale as he angrily shoves his fingers through his shaggy hair again.
“What the fuck was Evie doing on that site?!”
I shake my head. “Not a fucking clue.”
“God.” His eyes squeeze shut. “She’s like a sister to me!”
“Yeah, well, she is my sister,” I snarl.
“So…” Val’s face twists in disgust as he turns to look at me. “So that’s why you were in the woods… You wanted to beat the fuck out of whoever…” He makes a face and gags. “I’m going to be fucking sick. Fuck.”
“You and me both,” I grunt.
He collects himself, throwing his head back and drawing in a deep breath. He fishes inside his pocket, pulls out a pack of American Spirits, and slips one between his lips.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“It’s this or hurl, man.”
I yank the cigarette from his lips and throw it in the general direction of the trashcan. “Then puke, asshole. You’re not smoking in here.”
He glares at me and dramatically rolls his eyes. Then he turns, raking his fingers through his hair again before he glances back at me.
“So that’s why you were there.”
“Obviously,” I mutter.
“Not because you were curious.”
I swallow heavily, my brow creasing. “No.”
“But are you?”
That same electric tingle from before creeps up my spine as Val slowly turns to look at me, the silvery glow of the moonlight illuminating half his face and giving him a devilish visage.
“Am I what?”
He cocks a brow, his mouth turning slightly up at the corners. “Curious,” he murmurs.
I don’t answer. I just turn my back on him and start toward the door. Then I gasp when he grabs me viciously from behind, spinning me around and slamming me back against the bookshelves.
“The fuck are you—”
“I think you are,” Val growls, his blue eyes glinting, shadows etched across his chiseled jaw. “The way you squirmed and moaned when I took control…”
A hum begins in my head—pulsing, twisting, arresting my every thought. My throat works, desperately trying to swallow. And why the fuck is my skin tingling and prickling like I’m getting a sunburn?
“I—I didn’t moan—”
“Yeah, you did,” he growls as his body sinks against mine, his body pressing on me as his fists go to either side of my head.
My muscles tighten. My pulse thrums and skips. And…oh God…my dick starts to get hard.
Really, really fucking hard.
I shake my head quickly, planting my hands on Val’s chest and shoving. “Get the fuck away from me,” I hiss.
But he doesn’t move. And honestly? My shove is weak as hell.
What the fuck is happening.
“I…I’m not gay,” I choke quietly, blinking rapidly against the unbroken blue glint of his eyes.
He lifts a shoulder. “Neither am I.”
“I mean I don’t fuck guys.”
A smug grin tugs at his lips.
“Who says you’d be doing the fucking?”
My pulse skips violently as heat crawls over my skin.
“I met your girlfriend out there,” Val drawls, his voice smoky and rough, sending sparks igniting through my senses.
“Fiancée,” I somehow blurt back. “I mean…almost fiancée. We’re not officially—”
“Yeah, I don’t give a fuck.”
My heart races as he growls the words right in my personal space, his cedarwood, sage, and leather scent filling my nostrils.
He lets his hands drop. But he doesn’t move back a single inch from where his chest is pressed to mine.
“Lotta chemistry there between you two,” he says dryly. He smirks as his hands come to cup in front of his chest. “Tons of chemistry,” he smirks.
“I’m surprised you even noticed,” I mumble.
“Yeah, what part of bi are you not getting, man?”
I smirk. “Any hole's a hole, huh?”
“Your words,” he grins salaciously. Then he frowns. “To be honest, though, that sorta makes me sound like a whore.”
“Aren’t you?” I toss back. “Seems all I hear about you from Evie is how many fuck buddies you have.”
Val rolls his eyes. “And you’re out there living a chaste life, Roman?”
I flash a cocky grin. “I’m young, rich, and single. I do just fine.”
Val smirks. “Yeah? You fuck a lotta girls?”
I lift my shoulder. “Like I said, I do—”
One minute I’m not allowing a whimper—a fucking whimper—to escape my throat.
The next, I am.
I shiver, biting back the fucking sound as he leans toward my neck, his breath teasing over my earlobe as my eyes fall shut. His body grinds to mine, our hard, coiled muscles shifting against each other. His hips roll, pushing against me, and fuck me, I feel it.
His cock.
Rock hard, swollen, and jumping against my own.
“Sounds like you’re compensating for something,” he growls. “And from what I felt the other day…”
He groans as he rubs his erection against my dick, which is thickening at a mortifying, terrifying rate.
I bite back another groan as my cock instantly swells to full arousal, electric sensations rippling and exploding through every synapse in my head as his bulge grinds against mine through our tuxedo pants.
“And what I’m feeling now…”
I shiver when he fucking winks at me.
“Well, it’s not the usual thing guys compensate for, is it? So,” he purrs, leaning back into my neck to let the words tease over my skin. “Now I’m just a little curious what. It. Is—”
“You need to get the hell away from me!” I spit coldly, my voice rising as I somehow find the willpower to shove violently at his chest. This time, either because I truly mean it or because I caught him off-guard, he stumbles a step back from me, the noose-like grip of his gaze uncoiling from around my throat before he fixes me with a look.
“And you need to get your shit figured out and be honest with yourself,” he snaps.
I shove past him in a dazed blur, my footsteps staggering and uneven, my pulse racing wildly as I lurch for the door.
This time, he doesn’t stop me.
When I get to it, I pause for a second, my vision swimming. I draw in a shaky breath as I turn back to him. “I need to get back to my fiancée.”
Val smirks, folding his arms across his broad chest, a smug smirk spreading across his perfect lips as he leans against the bookshelves.
“Better make sure that hard-on goes down first.”