Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DANTE
Desperate times call for a random, last-minute hookup.
After Rev dropped me off the other night, I showered and curled up on the fire escape in my comforter, irritated he hadn’t asked for more.
Really, I was mad at myself for getting upset and demanding to leave.
When I caught sight of him striding out of his bathroom in nothing but a tiny white towel, I actually debated knocking on his door and apologizing.
The horror.
To distract myself, I climbed back inside my dark bedroom and scrolled through numbers in my phone until I stumbled upon one with no strings attached.
Chris.
He’d slid me his info at Club Saturn one night, with the promise that he was just looking for a hookup.
While I’ve thought about canceling our plans a dozen times, I need something to take the edge off this tension. Papi’s murderer is out there, probably wreaking havoc, and all I’ve been thinking about is having sex with my neighbor.
I’m not going to comment on the fact that scheduling the hookup felt like a betrayal. It proves how much a quick fuck is necessary. I’m willing to risk a disappointing orgasm in hopes that it’ll get my mind off Rev Kotkas.
The rumble of an engine outside has me tensing. It’s a sound I’ve learned to associate with Rev’s loud-ass truck. He can’t just leave the teasing to our bedroom windows. He needs me to be aware of his comings and goings at all hours, too.
But this rumble is louder than his old truck. Not so chuggy and guttural.
My date, maybe?
Nerves flare as I rush to tug on clean briefs, a hoodie, and dark jeans. It’s not like it matters what I wear. The goal is to end up naked, anyway.
I pause to practice a couple of deep breaths to calm my hammering heart, but panic still manages to creep in.
Am I putting my date in danger by inviting him over? What if SIXX shows up to finish the job? What if Rev isn’t home? What if he is home and he sees me parading Chris inside with plans to let him fuck me?
As I’m pulling out my phone to cancel, a soft knock comes from the front door.
My stomach flips. I’ll just make this quick.
It wasn’t like I was gonna let this guy stay long.
Laz is at work, but he’s been switching around shifts without notice.
I’m sure he’s been texting Rev to make sure someone’s always here for me.
Pocketing my phone, I jog downstairs to unlock the door. Only, it’s not a hunky man with mismatched eyes waiting for me.
My temper rears its ugly head. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Rev smiles back. He’s dressed in a black long-sleeve shirt and fitted pants. His hair is perfectly tousled, his eyes are bright, and his dangly earrings catch the light as they move.
My gaze drops to the motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm, most likely the source of the new annoying rumble I heard earlier. Of course he has a loud truck and a loud bike. It’s fucking fitting.
Unfazed, Rev says, “I’m picking you up.”
“I have a date.” I frown.
A buzz in my pocket has me digging out my phone. The message is from Chris.
Something came up
“Seems Chris has other plans this evening.”
When I glance up, the wild shine in Rev’s eyes has me shoving at his chest. “What did you do?”
“Why do you assume I had something to do with it?”
“Because you somehow know his name, asshole. And because you’re smiling like a psychopath.”
“Ah, yeah.” He grins. “I struggle to hide that from you.”
My stupid heart skips. “You can’t just barge into people’s lives and pull strings like you own them.”
“He wasn’t a good fit for you,” Rev says matter-of-factly.
“Oh my god. The fucking audacity.”
His smile doesn’t falter one bit at my anger, so I slam the door on him. Bracing against it, I try to convince myself that I still hate him. That I wasn’t about to beg him to fuck me last night.
Screw that. He doesn’t get to make decisions for me. He doesn’t get to cockblock me, either.
I huff around the house, slamming more doors like he can hear it from next door.
When the boredom eats away at me, I pop in headphones and stress clean, but even my favorite scores fail to pull me away from thoughts of Rev.
Growling, I press the heels of my hands into my eyes. I could call Gage. Fuck. Am I that much of a dick that I’m willing to hurt my only friend’s feelings just to get off?
Somehow, I end up peeking out my bedroom curtains into Rev’s open window. It’s dark in his house. No sign of life.
Did he go somewhere?
He put that much effort into ruining my night, and he just wanders off to the next item on his to-do list?
Storming downstairs, I swing the front door wide open and march outside. Both his truck and his sleek black bike are parked against the curb. His front porch light is on, and he’s sitting in a metal chair beneath it, a leg propped up and a book open on his lap.
He doesn’t bother glancing my way.
Fine. He thinks he wants to take me on a date? I’ll go out with him. I’ll destroy his fucking night. I’ll prove to him once and for all that we have nothing. We will always be nothing.
We’re not going to address the part of me that wants to know what his hands would feel like on my naked body, or what stupid nicknames he would murmur in my ear while he’s thrusting inside me.
Scurrying back upstairs, I swap out my briefs for a pair of lacy pink panties. Then I tug on a nice beige sweater from the back of my closet.
My curls don’t behave when I try to tame them, so I end up tying half of them back. I know I don’t have to put in the effort, and that’s the thought that’s really messing me up. I can let out all my ugliness, and Rev weathers it like he was born to take on my storms.
He’s still sitting on his porch reading when I burst from my house once more.
“Hey,” I shout at him.
When he doesn’t respond, I stomp right over to him and snatch the book from his hands.
Fated to the Dragon Prince?” I hold up the cover showing an older, handsome man with no shirt on, held in the claws of a dragon.
“The plot is riveting.” Rev smiles, gaze roving over me in a slow perusal that brings heat to my cheeks.
Fuck the part of me that wants to know what he thinks of me. I don’t need his approval.
Am I even his type? What if I give him what he wants—what we both want—and we quickly discover that we’re not even compatible?
“Oh, the plot, huh?” I smack the book down on his thigh. “You’re gonna take me to dinner. Then you’re gonna bring me home. No expectations.”
He doesn’t blink twice at my attitude. “I’ll take you to dinner, but only if we ride my bike.”
I eye the black death machine on two wheels and fake a shiver. “It’s cold out.”
When he stands up, I naturally ease a step back. He sheds his leather jacket and offers it to me.
There goes another stupid skip of my heart.
“Um…that’s…what about you?”
“I’ll grab another one. This one is pre-warmed,” he replies smoothly.
“How considerate.”
But I’m melting on the inside as I slip into the toasty jacket. The moment he dips inside his house, I bring the worn material to my nose and sniff it like a freak. The leather holds the faint scent of his intoxicating body wash.
Rev returns in a fitted black jacket that gives him even more of an edge. He holds out his helmet, which I take apprehensively, eyeing the buckles with a grimace.
“First time riding?” he asks, cocking a brow.
I shove the helmet back at him and mutter, “Just do it.”
When he moves closer, my breath stalls. “Don’t bite me again. I’ll get hard.”
“I’ll do whatever I want to you,” I argue, but my raspy voice only brings a glint of humor to his pale eyes.
“You know I’d let you,” he murmurs.
My stomach does a flip as he gently tugs the helmet down over my head.
This is the absolute worst.
He tilts his head to the side in concentration while he works on the buckle beneath my chin. A lock of silver hair falls out of place, and I have to fist my hands behind my back to keep from reaching out to brush it away from his face.
“Where’s your helmet?” I grumble.
He hooks a finger around the tightened strap, tugging my face a little closer to his. “Worried about me?”
“Never.”
Smirking, he strides to his bike and starts it up with an aggressive growl. Seeing how comfortable he is with all that power between his legs makes me wonder if he rides often.
Does he date often?
No, I don’t want to know the answer to that. With the way he looks, I’m sure he can get anyone he wants.
The thought puts me in even more of a mood. I may hate him, but I hate the idea of his attention being directed somewhere else even more.
Which makes me a hypocrite, considering I was the one trying to hook up with someone else tonight.
Rev crooks his head to summon me over as he tugs leather gloves on his hands.
Okay, so I get the appeal of a bike.
My heart is racing as I climb on behind him, careful not to let our bodies touch.
“You’re going to fall off that way,” he says.
Huffing, I inch closer and loosely wrap my arms around his waist, choosing to rest my hands on the gas tank. He repositions them on his hard stomach. “Right here. Tighter, baby boy.”
Fuck it. I pull my body flush against his back, not giving a shit at this point if he can feel my traitorous, obscenely hard dick in my jeans.
It’s his fault. All of this is his fault.
Admittedly, it’s much warmer tucked against him.