Chapter 28
Shay-Lee
P eople’s voices echoed through the house walls as I walked down the long hall leading to Soren’s home office. The party was already in full swing when I arrived a while ago, yet two people were missing. I wanted to look for them immediately but was delayed by Soren’s older brother, Lucius, whom I hadn’t seen for quite some time. As different as he was from his brother, I liked him. We’d initially met when Soren had taken me on a ski vacation with his brothers last winter. Since Ash hated the snow, he hadn’t joined, and instead, I tagged along.
It was so much fun.
“There you are,” I said after walking into Soren’s office to find him and Camilo standing by his desk. My eyes immediately went to my man, and a big smile spread on my lips at the mere sight of him.
Camilo’s lips pulled into a smile that matched my own, and the warmth in his dark eyes was like an expression of love I could never get enough of.
“Hey,” he said, and I fought hard not to jump on him right away.
“Hey.” I beamed like a kid with a crush .
“Suddenly, I feel extremely unnecessary in this room,” Soren sighed, intruding on our moment with his sarcasm.
“You’re such a diva,” I joked and finally moved from the doorway and joined them by the desk. The urge to go straight into Camilo’s embrace was strong, and I had to force myself from doing that by choosing to stand next to Soren. It was a pointless effort because Camilo immediately moved to my side. Aww . And while Camilo and I were rather obvious, Soren pretended to be oblivious to the situation and act normal.
“Are you here alone ?” he asked nonchalantly, basically doing the job for Camilo.
“Yeah, I am.” I then looked at Camilo, whose eyes were already on me. “Jordan went to visit his mom by himself.”
To hide his smile, Camilo looked down at the floor, and I held back my excitement because I was fucking happy Jordan wasn’t here, too.
“So, what are you guys doing in here?” I asked, my eyes going to the desk where several files were spread. I managed to read a few words, such as a blow to the head and cold weapon , before Camilo answered my question.
“Nothing important.”
I tried reading more when he placed a hand on my shoulder and turned me back from the files to face him. “You look nice.” He ate me up with his eyes while dragging his finger along the hem of my shirt.
“You look nice, too.” Biting my lip, I gave him a once-over because he was seriously too hot to handle with the outfit he wore today.
“Well then, I think I need to go back to the party,” Soren announced, reminding us that he was still in the room.
Camilo continued to look at me for a few more seconds before he turned to face Soren. “Thanks for talking to me.”
What did they talk about?
“Of course.” Soren patted Camilo’s shoulder .
Fuck. I loved that they were getting along.
“We can talk more later,” Soren added before he left the room.
Talk more about what —
The second Soren closed the door behind him, Camilo was on me, and all my thoughts were pushed aside in an instant. Grabbing my body, he lifted me up so I sat on the desk before he moved to stand between my spread thighs. His lips were on mine the next moment, his big palm squeezing my nape while he ravished my mouth as if he hadn’t tasted me in years. Sharing his hunger, I sucked on his greedy tongue while sliding my hands underneath his sweatshirt and roaming them along his strong body. My temperature rose, and my skin burned with desire, especially when he moved his lips to that sensitive spot behind my ear.
“We can’t fuck here,” I laughed, out of breath, while he sucked on my neck.
“We can’t?”
I could feel the smile on his lips as he kissed along my neck, all the way up to my ear. A low moan escaped me before I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back just a bit.
“We can’t.” A warm smile coated my wet lips while my eyes traveled down his sexy body. “Even though I want to.” Especially with that oversized ribbed sweatshirt he wore, which I wanted to sleep in.
Grabbing my hips, Camilo pulled me closer until I nearly fell off the desk, if not for him stopping me. “Fine.” He ducked down and took my lips in a short kiss. “So I’ll have to tame myself until this party’s over.” He slid his palms to my thighs and rubbed them as I leaned back on my arms.
“I doubt a mutt such as yourself is capable of taming himself,” I teased with a wicked smile.
Lifting his chin, he returned my smirk. “For the right treat, I might.”
“The right treat, huh?”
Camilo lifted my legs and crossed them around his waist before pulling me close. “Yes, Llorón, for the right treat, I’ll do just about anything.”
“Well, I guess we’ll need to wait until the party’s over to see what I’ll treat you with.”
He bit his lip before dropping his head with a sigh. “Fuck, you’re something.”
“I know,” I agreed, self-satisfied, until Camilo chose to ruin the moment by asking why Jordan wasn’t there.
Closing my eyes, I huffed. “God, let’s not get into it.”
He cupped my neck and forced me to look back at him. “Why? What happened?” He sounded concerned.
“Nothing, really. We just had a big fight yesterday.”
His brows creased with worry. “About what?”
“All sorts of things.”
“Did you tell him about us?”
Pursing my lips, I shook my head. “No, although I think he might know? Or maybe not, I’m not sure.” I shrugged. “He left before I could actually check.”
“He left ?” Camilo’s expression hardened. “As in, you broke up?”
I thought back on last night while scratching my chin. “Truthfully, I have no idea. He got so pissed that I was too scared to bring up the idea of breaking up, so I guess I’ll have to wait until he’s back.” I then looked around the room. “Anyway, we should go back outside. I’m starving, and there was a sushi table with my name on it.” I tried getting off the desk when Camilo grabbed me and lifted me back up.
“What’s wrong?” I frowned.
“What do you mean you were scared?” he asked in a low voice that carried a clear warning.
Nibbling on my bottom lip, I tried to avoid his piercing stare. Camilo wasn’t about to let it slide and instead cupped my cheeks and made me look at him.
“Speak. Up.”
“He yelled, and that scared me a little bit, but that’s it.” I laughed nervously. “It was so fucking silly, Camilo, I swear. We both know I get scared over nothing. It’s also why I didn’t want to tell you—”
“This isn’t nothing, Shay-Lee,” he hissed, his jaw tensed. “Did that asshole hit you or something?”
“What?” I gasped. “Are you crazy? It’s Jordan. He’s, like, the biggest pushover ever.” Saying it made me sound like an asshole, but it was the truth nonetheless. Sure, he practiced boxing almost every day of the fucking week, but it wasn’t like he was actually capable of hurting someone for real, never mind me. This was the guy who’d cried throughout my rehab, like, actually sobbed when I struggled to walk. He was that sensitive.
“I don’t want you anywhere near that guy.”
“We’re living together, you know?” I tried to laugh but quieted down once the muscle in Camilo’s jaw twitched. Fuck .
I placed my hands on his shoulders and massaged him with my thumbs. “He and I are practically over, Camilo, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. Besides—” I leaned close until our faces were an inch apart. “—he’s gone for the whole week, meaning I’m yours without any interruptions.”
“You’re gonna end it once he’s back?” Camilo held my stare, his dark eyes boring into my soul.
I leaned in until our lips met in a short kiss. “Yes,” I whispered over his mouth.
He kissed me back, only this time, it wasn’t rushed and impulsive but slow and caring. Gradually moving his lips along mine, like he cherished every crease and inch of me, Camilo took his sweet time.
“ Te amo ,” he whispered ever so softly, and my heart just went crazy.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I leaped on him, my arms practically hugging him as hard as I could.
“How about I sleep at your place tonight?” I asked while burying my face in his neck. His scent, warmth, voice—every part of him made me lose my mind .
Hugging me back, he leaned his head against me. “Only if you’ll sleep in the nude.”
I chuckled. “Will do.”
We would have stayed pressed together if not for my stomach erupting in a loud growl that totally ruined the moment.
“Seems like somebody’s hungry.” He grabbed my hips and helped me off the desk. “Let’s go find that sushi you were craving.”
“I think there was steak tartare there, too,” I said as we walked toward the door.
“Fuck off.” He slapped my ass before opening the door for me.
Leaving Soren’s office, we began walking back to the party while I continued teasing him about raw meat. It was funny, or so I thought, until Camilo’s expression turned sour, and he looked like he was ready to kill with how hard he clenched his jaw. But it wasn’t my poor sense of humor that made him this angry but my fiancé, who, for some reason, just walked into the party.
Diesel
Two hours had passed since that hijueputa showed up out of nowhere and stanched the damn party. Two hours in which I had to bite my tongue and grind my teeth so I wouldn’t punch fucking Jordan in the face. And fuck me if I didn’t want to do just that. He’d been glued to Shay-Lee from the moment he’d arrived unannounced and acted like everything was cool between them, which put me off, considering what Shay-Lee had told me earlier.
It wasn’t jealousy that challenged my patience but unsettledness, even more so after the conversation I’d had with Soren. But there would be time to dig into that later because currently, I was too bothered with Jordan, who was constantly forcing his proximity on my Llorón. Right now, they were talking to some guy, who I think was Soren’s older brother, when Jordan wrapped an arm around Shay-Lee. The way Shay-Lee shifted his weight from one leg to the other told me he was uncomfortable, and it pissed me the fuck off. Especially because it had been like that since Jordan arrived. I knew they were allegedly still together, but it didn’t give Jordan the right to touch Shay-Lee as he fucking pleased.
What a bastard.
I was ready to go there and rip Jordan’s arm off when Shay-Lee excused himself from the conversation by saying he wanted to grab another drink before walking inside the house. Surprisingly, Jordan didn’t follow him in, which meant I finally had the opportunity to catch Shay-Lee alone.
Ready to follow him in, I was stopped by Jessie, who walked toward me with a stupid smile on his face.
“What is it, Jessie?” I asked, my eyes locked on the house, where Shay-Lee had disappeared into.
“I was wondering if you can—”
“Sure,” I cut in without lingering to hear the rest of his sentence before going after Shay-Lee.
Despite the chilly weather, I was sweating my balls off and could use a drink or two to calm down my nerves, which only grew stronger after I couldn’t find Shay-Lee near the bar stand. Shit . Where did he go? Looking around, most of the guests were outside in the yard, so the house stood empty. Maybe he snuck back out? Deciding to wash my face with some cold water before going to look for him, I went toward the bathroom, and lucky me, Shay-Lee was just stepping out of it, and we bumped into one another in the hallway.
“Why the fuck is he here?” I hissed the words that had weighed in my heart since Jordan showed up.
“I don’t fucking know, okay?” he snapped while keeping his voice low.
“What do you mean you don’t know? You said he left.”
Shay-Lee muffled a curse while running his fingers through his hair. “I know. Fuck. I know, okay?” He took a sharp inhale of air before hissing it out with the word “fuck.” “I’ll figure things out, okay? You just need to stay chill until this party ends. ”
“Stay chill?” I snarled, feeling my blood boiling. “How the fuck can I do that when he’s all over you?”
Shay-Lee pinned me with a harsh look. “You’re gonna have to find a way ’cause I’m not going to cause a scene in the middle of Soren’s party.”
Not pleased with his tone, I frowned. “You make it sound like this is my fault.”
“It isn’t—” He started yelling before lowering his voice. “It isn’t your fault. Fuck .” Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. “He just blindsided me by coming here, and I’m fucking pissed. But I promise you it will be alright.” Moving toward me, he cupped my jaw with one hand. “Trust me, okay?”
I didn’t want to because until now, whenever he’d asked me to trust him, it often ended badly, to say the least. But being a fucking pussy whenever it came to saying no to those baby blues, I sighed. “Fine.”
Pleased with my cooperation, he dropped his hand and was ready to leave when I grabbed his wrist.
“Remember, you owe me a fucking treat tonight.”
A wicked smile took over his lips. “I already have an idea in mind.” He winked before walking away and leaving me to stand by the damn bathroom.
What a fucking mess.
I did end up washing my face, and after grabbing a bottle of beer, I went back outside, where I blended into a boring conversation my boys were having about school. Andrei was blabbering about his latest exams while Levi mentioned some crap called computer science? Just hearing him say words like Java and Python made me realize I was probably dumb as fuck because wasn’t a python some sort of snake? At least Jessie was there to join my immense lack of understanding, and at some point, we just watched cat videos on his phone.
It was getting late when guests started leaving, and by now, with the sun almost set, the party had turned intimate. I spent some time with June and Cyrus and even grabbed a beer with Mel, Chief’s mom, who I hadn’t seen in years.
Tired and ready for this day to end, I sat around the fire pit to get warmed up.
“What’s up, man?” Andrei asked after sitting on the sofa beside me.
“Nothing much,” I said, not taking my eyes away from the dancing flames.
“You sure? You seem pissed.”
I stayed quiet, and he seized the moment to shift closer. “You know you can talk to me, right?”
I acknowledged him with a half smile before movement caught my eye, and I focused my sight on Shay-Lee, who stood across the yard while speaking with Soren. If only I could snatch him away right fucking now.
“Is there something going on between you two?”
Andrei’s voice intruded my thoughts, and I turned to face him. The second our eyes crossed, I knew there was no point hiding the truth, and I gave him a short nod.
“Shit, man.”
A deep crease formed between his brows, which looked even deeper due to the lights reflecting on his face from the fire.
“When did it start?”
“Thailand.”
He snorted. “So the trip was successful after all.”
Leaning back on the sofa, I sighed. “You could say that it was.”
“Does Jordan know?”
That made me snort, and I gave him a cocky look. “What do you think?”
“Fair enough.” He moved a hand over his jaw while pursing his lips. “What’s Shay-Lee going to do, then? Will he break off the engagement?”
“Oh, fuck that bullshit.” Hooking one hand behind the sofa armrest, I scrunched up my face with disdain. “Shay-Lee ain’t going to marry that caremonda. ” Just thinking about it left me with a bad taste. “Besides, all I care about is getting Shay-Lee away from that crazy son of a bitch.” The laugh that erupted from Andrei made me turn to him. “Why the fuck are you laughing?”
“Nothing, man. It’s just that”—he leaned forward—“I get why you hate Jordy, but he isn’t such an awful guy. Sure, he testified against you, but the dude was always in love with Shay-Lee. He’s just a bit desperate, that’s all.”
A bit desperate, my ass . I bit the inside of my cheek while recalling the conversation I’d had with Soren earlier. Putting my ego aside, I simply didn’t buy that crap about Jordan being this good guy who was just caught up in other people’s mess.
“Did you know he stayed at Christian’s house during the trial?” I asked Andrei, who turned to face me, stunned.
“What?” he gasped, brows narrowed.
“Yeah. According to the info Soren’s guy collected at the time, Jordan lived with the scumbag the whole time. In fact, he moved into their guest house a few weeks before everything turned to shit.”
We both sat so close to the flames that the heat began to itch my skin, but it was nothing compared to the fire burning in my guts after finding out Jordan had become a permanent resident in the Christian Rogers household.
“This is huge, D. You think Shay-Lee knows?”
“I doubt it.” My eyes went back to track Shay-Lee, who was still talking with Soren. Seeing him laughing reminded me how much I was willing to sacrifice for him. “But don’t worry,” I told Andrei as I stood up. “I ain’t gonna let the son of a bitch get away with it.”
Andrei looked up at me. “What does that mean?”
Slamming my hand on his shoulder, I gave him a few pats. “I’m gonna see if there’s some crunchy vegan shrimp left,” I said while watching the worry grow on Andrei’s face. Well, he had nothing to worry about… for today . After all, I’d promised Llorón I’d tame myself. Having said that, there was only so much taming a crazy hound could do before he’d snap.