Chapter 13 #2
I stomp my foot down, the heel hitting the floor hard, vibrating through me. I’m so done with this. With him. “Why should I? I owe you no explanations.”
“The fuck you don’t! You’re mine.” His fist slams into the tile wall and I jolt back.
“I am not yours,” I seethe, choking on my breath. “And we’re not doing this again. You’re wrong, Luca. I feel nothing for you.”
He smirks arrogantly, advancing a step. “That’s why your tits are practically spilling out of your dress with every uneven breath you’re taking, right?
So unaffected,” he mocks. “I bet if I wrapped my hand around your neck, I’d feel your pulse racing against me.
What does the sight of me do to you, Little Bird? ”
“Other than make me homicidal?” I’m light headed as I suck in ragged breaths. Hating how out of sync my limbs feel. I don’t like the way my body innately responds to him. “I mean it. I’m done arguing with you. I just want to go home.”
“This isn’t an argument, honey. This is foreplay.”
“Shut up and go, Luca.”
He ignores me. “You looked bored and miserable with him. Yet, the second you see me, your face is flushed and your body reeks of desire.” Another step and I barrel back into the wall of the small bathroom, watching like a doe in headlights as this predator advances on me. “Show them to me.”
“W-what?”
“Your panties. Show me your panties, Little Bird. Take them off and if they’re not wet, I’ll leave you alone.”
Goddamn him.
I shoot off the wall, trying to race around him.
Only this time he’s onto me. He catches my hand, simultaneously stopping my exit while dragging my palm to his mouth and kissing it before sucking a finger into his mouth.
I stifle my whimper and what am I doing?
I’m letting him touch me? Caress me with his tongue and lips and eyes? No!
“Show. Me. Your. Panties.” Each word is staccato, wrapped around a lick or a kiss.
He thinks he’s winning. And I can’t let that happen.
I may be affected, but he’s the desperate one.
The one chasing. “You want my panties? You can have them. Doesn’t mean you’re getting what’s beneath them and it doesn’t mean you’re the cause of anything you think you find.
You were four years ago. Barely memorable by this point.
You’re the only one holding on here, honey . ”
Yanking my hand from his, I do a cute little shimmy, dragging the tiny scrap of a dress up even higher. Right to the point where my pussy is barely covered. His green eyes are the deepest of jade and darkest of midnight as I reach up beneath the dress and slip my panties down my hips and legs.
I step out of one leg, practically sweating as he licks his lips and inhales deeply, and when the silk snags on my other ankle, I kick them up to him, forcing him to catch them as I saunter past him, out the bathroom door and back toward the bar.
“Suck on those, asshole. It’s the closest you’ll get to my clit.”
My glimmer of satisfaction quickly dies when I check my phone and discover my Uber is more than five minutes out.
So much for my grand escape. I could go back to my friends, to the party in the back room, but that feels more like defeat and five minutes is enough time to enhance my buzz and drink away this night.
That is until I come to a screeching halt, too many sets of eyes trained right on me, and I know what I must look like.
Luca’s brothers, except for Kaplan and Landon, and his friends are all sitting at the far end of the bar.
All staring at me. In my hooker dress I’m now rocking without panties.
Embarrassment floods my face and I offer a stupid wave.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen his brothers since I’ve been home these few weeks and even before that when I’d come home to visit. It was only Luca I’ve been avoiding. But right now, this feels like a walk of shame, and I don’t want an audience for that.
Carter goes to stand and my hand flies up, stopping him in his tracks.
“Not tonight, okay? Just stay where you are.” If they hug me, I’ll crumble.
I’m barely hanging on as it is. “Your brother’s an asshole I never wanted to see again.
” They’re all smiling at me, amused, and I don’t even know who I am or what I’m saying anymore.
I just want to go home and go to bed and forget this night.
“We know, Raven,” Oliver calls out, waving back at me. “Good to see you again, though. Amelia was sad you couldn’t make it to Rina’s tonight.”
Sigh. I wish I had. Then I wouldn’t have seen Luca again. Then I’d still be wearing underwear.
“You’re still on for whatever you have planned with Rina, right?” That’s Brecken. And now I feel even more miserable than I did two seconds ago.
“Grace misses you. Said she was going to call you this week. Hasn’t stopped talking about it.” That’s Carter.
“Yep. Can’t wait to see them either.” Kill me now.
I throw the guys another wave and turn slightly so I’m not facing them anymore.
The bartender approaches me and thank the Lord for people who serve alcohol.
“Two shots of Patron, charged to the man exiting the ladies’ room,” I tell him, but the words don’t get far.
I mean, he hears them, but they don’t linger in the air, and I don’t have time to watch him pour me two shots because a dark shadow looms heavily in my periphery just as the words escape.
And much like earlier tonight, I don’t have to look.
I smell him.
I feel him.
“You got what you wanted. My panties. Now shoo, fly. Shoo.” I swat him away as I would a bug.
“These are just a tasty appetizer.” His fist clutching my black panties lands down on the bar between us, his fingers rhythmically running along the material before he tucks them into his pocket.
“An amuse-bouche. I happen to know the main course is the only thing that can satisfy me.” It’s in this moment the bartender looks up, straight at Luca, clearly having overheard him.
“I’ll have three fingers of whatever I’ve been drinking.
She’ll have the same. The three fingers that is, but that’s for me to handle. Not you.”
I groan, shaking my head at the bartender, who looks as though he doesn’t know what to do. All I want is to collapse against the bar. And order both of those two shots to be doubles instead of singles. And crawl under the covers of my bed and never come out again.
“Did you really just say that? God, you’re such a—”
“Dick?” Luca smirks, cocking an eyebrow, his voice light, playful. “Read your mind on that one, right? We can use that too if you prefer.”
An unrestrained laugh bursts from my lungs and Luca grins at me as if that was his master plan all along. To get me to relax. To get me to laugh and smile with him. And his smile. That twinkle in his eyes. The way it makes my insides feel.
It disarms me in ways I don’t want to be disarmed with him. Not anymore. Not again.
“Asshole is what I was going for since I’m thinking that’s my new favorite pet name for you.
” But I’m still laughing. It’s all I’ve got left.
Because at this point, I’m just drained.
He’s turning me into that crazy girl again.
The one who somehow remembers the man I spent two inseparable months with.
“Glad I can still make you smile. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get the chance to see that pretty thing on your face again.”
My smile instantly slips, his quickly following.
“Are you going back to him?” He juts his chin toward the back room where I was earlier.
I don’t look even though I’m mildly curious if Antonio is somehow there, watching this unfold.
I doubt he cares. He’s an “if I can’t fuck her, I’ll fuck someone else” type of guy.
The bartender blinks warily at me as he pours my chilled—I should have mentioned I don’t like them chilled—shots of tequila into two small glasses.
“Is that why you ordered two?”
I sigh. Then I lift one of those glasses and down the clear liquid like a champion alcoholic. No lime or salt because who has time for that?
I meet Luca’s gaze. “Nope. They’re both for me.
You can keep your three fingers to yourself.
I’m not interested.” Then I grasp my other glass and drink that one down too, trying not to grimace at the harsh alcohol as it slides down my throat.
I set it down and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Thanks for the drinks and the panty raid. I’m off to bed now. ”
Luca is unfazed and just how disappointing is that? “We need to talk, Raven.”
“We’re done talking. There is nothing left to say.”
“There’s everything to say.” He snarls. “Let me give you a ride. That way I can make sure you get home safe.”
I turn into him, staring up into his eyes that try their best to breach all my defenses.
I grin evilly. “If I wanted a ride, I’d fuck Antonio or one of the bartenders or waiters here.
I’m more than capable of getting myself home and off without any assistance.
Not the first time I’ve left you in a bar and taken another ride home. ”
His expression turns murderous, his fist balling up as it lands on the bar between us.
But it doesn’t stay there long. In one swift motion, it lands on my lower back, his other hand in my hair as he drags me impossibly close, his face right in mine.
And let me tell you, his breath? Yeah, nothing like Antonio’s.
Luca is nothing if not sweet and enticing. Alpha and sexy.
He lets you fall for the ruse. Gives you the illusion of being captivated.
Only to rip the rug right out from beneath your feet.
He opens his mouth to say something that will likely rip me apart further when my phone pings on the bar beside me. “That’s my guy.” I reach up and kiss the corner of his mouth. “Hope to see you never ever again, Luca Fritz.”
I grab my phone and get the hell out of here. Slipping into the back seat of the car and trying to catch my breath. My body shaking. Dammit! The man has my panties. And I let him keep them.