Chapter 12
CASS
"Jules!" He was halfway down the block when I stepped out the gallery. He didn't stop, or even slow.
Asshole.
I trotted to catch up to him.
"What the fuck, bro?" I pulled the clip out of my hair and tucked it into my pocket, letting my hair fall over my face. My therapist called it a defense mechanism. A way to hide. Maybe she was right. Whatever. I liked it this way.
Jules stopped so suddenly I almost rushed past him.
"Same question," he said, giving me a dark look. "I told you that would be a waste of time. I don't know why the hell I let you talk me into going."
"Yes, you do," I told him. "You can't help yourself. You want to be a part of this. Because if we aren't, those people? They get away with what they did. To Auggie. To all the others they violated."
"You think you're a fucking vigilante now?" he snarled. "Are you going to buy yourself a cape and wear your underpants on the outside?"
"You're confusing vigilante with superhero," I said dryly. Granted, the line between them was blurred. For example… Never mind, that can wait until later.
"You're confusing reality with getting involved with shit you shouldn't," he snapped back. "If those…people find out who you are, you think they won't come after you? You know they will. They won't stop until you're dead. Is that what you want? You want to end up like Augustus?"
"Are you going to throw that into my face every time we talk about this?" I asked quietly. "I miss him too."
"You might not have to miss him if she—" He gestured back toward the gallery.
"None of this is Harlow's fault," I growled. "The only person to blame for what happened to him was Fairfield. Not me, not her, not you. None of us. This 'placing blame' bullshit? You need to stop. All it's going to do is eat you up inside."
"Maybe I want to be eaten up inside," he grumbled. "You want to save the world? All the people in it? Did it ever cross your mind maybe I can't be saved? Maybe I don't want to be." He shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I don't believe that." He had a chip on shoulder the size of Manhattan, but he wasn't a lost cause. "You know what I really think?"
"No. I'm sure you're about to tell me." He rolled his eyes toward the sky.
"I think you secretly got off on what you saw the other night in Archer's apartment. I think you wished you were the one to do it." I hit the target straight on, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
"How fucked up do you think I am?" He drew his brows together, a divot forming between them.
"About as fucked up as I am," I said without flinching.
"You're saying you enjoyed that." It wasn't a question.
I glanced down at the sidewalk. "Seeing him get what was coming to him was satisfying, yes."
I looked back up and pushed my hair off my face so I could see him better.
"He knew what was happening to him and why.
I bet anything all the bad things he's done went through his mind at the end.
On some level, deep down, he regretted it.
But you know what, it was too late and he knew it.
He knew he was going to die. He knew he'd lost every inch of power he ever had.
We had it. Harlow, Archer, Boner and me.
We had the power of life, death and suffering over him.
We did. He took away Auggie's power and we took away his.
He knew exactly how his victims felt. Every bit of pain and suffering. "
Jules jiggled his keys in his pocket. "Are you listening to yourself?"
There was no heat in his words. If he could, he would have wrapped a tie around Fairfield's throat and held it there. Squeezing until life slipped away from him. Or would he have preferred to hold him under water until he stopped struggling?
"Yeah, I am," I said. "And so are you. You can deny you're listening, but we both know the truth. Fairfield is gone, but there are others."
"This… Eros guy," Jules said. "He had nothing to do with our brother."
"You don't know that," I said. "Auggie didn't tell us everything. If Eros wasn't present, chances are he was involved in some other way. If not with Augustus, then with others. Harlow's sister for one."
"And it comes back to her again." Jules tipped his head back and looked up at the sky. "Like she's the center of the fucking universe or something."
"Why do you hate her?" I asked. That was something I couldn't understand in all of this. His animosity toward her. And vice versa, I supposed.
He dropped his chin. "Because, if it wasn't for her—"
I interrupted. "Bullshit. You didn't like her long before you decided Auggie's death was her fault." I squinted at him. The truth hit me like a half frozen fish across the back of my head. Or a Nerf ball in the face.
"You don't hate her, do you? You like her and that scares the hell out of you. God forbid the great Julius Tucker Titmus would actually like someone."
"I do not like her," he protested. "I don't like anyone. Including you, right now. If you want to fuck her, go ahead. I can't stop you anyway. But I'm not getting involved."
"Yeah, that's why you won't meet my eyes right now," I said. He was looking anywhere but at me.
"I don't want to look at your ugly face," he said gruffly.
"They've always said we look alike," I pointed out.
"Never said I didn't have an ugly face too," he said.
"And denial is a river in Egypt," I said. "It's okay to like her, you know. If you got to know her, you'd see how amazing she is. And her mouth—"
He groaned. "Don't talk about her mouth. I don't want to go there." The tent in the front of his pants said otherwise.
I'm not gonna lie, I was tempted to drag him back to the gallery and tell her to get on her knees and suck his cock.
She'd do it if I told her to. Only the fact they were currently pretending to dislike each other kept me from doing it.
Once they accepted what was going on between them, then he could fuck her mouth.
"When you're ready, bro," I said instead. "I'm going back into the gallery. Can I trust you not to do anything stupid? Like getting arrested for jacking off in public while thinking about Harlow's mouth?”
"I'm not—" he started. When he realized he was protesting a little too much, he snapped his mouth shut. "Fucking hell, Cassius."
I grinned. "You know where to find me when you decide to help us. I meant it when I said you could be very useful."
"Gee thanks, little brother," he said sarcastically. "So glad you think I'm sidekick material."
"Better than being an NPC," I said unapologetically.
"How did I get such a nerd for a brother?" He shook his head sadly, as if he wasn't secretly as big a geek as I was.
I patted his shoulder. "You're just lucky, I guess. I'll see you around."
"Yeah, maybe." He turned and started off again down the street.
I watched him for a while before I headed back to the gallery.
Boner
Yeah, yeah, I know this is Cass' book, but I couldn't help myself. While he was off chasing his dumb fuck brother, I was busy schmoozing and subtly encouraging the last of the guests to depart so the real party could start. You're picking up what I'm putting down, right?
Of course you are.
When everyone else was gone, leaving Harlow, Archer and me alone, I ushered them into my office.
"Seems we have leftover hors d'oeuvres," I said, as if I hadn't put them aside myself. "It would be a shame to waste them, don't you think? After all the hard work Harlow put in to making them."
She gave me a well-deserved side eye. "Why do I get the impression you're up to something?"
"Because I am." I started to remove everything from my desk and place it aside. When it was finally empty, I turned back to both of them.
Archer reclined against the wall, watching with interest. Harlow, well her curiosity was definitely getting the better of her. Her tongue slid enticingly over her plush lower lip, inviting me to taste her mouth with mine.
I placed my arms around her, pulling her to me and kissing her. She tasted of champagne, with a hint of pear. She'd taste of a different pair soon enough.
Holding her carefully, I gripped her zipper and pulled it down slowly. Her dress slid down and pooled at her feet.
I delved into her mouth with my tongue and ran a hand up and down her body. She wasn't wearing a bra, just a thong, leaving her ass nice and bare. Just how I liked.
Without breaking the kiss, I worked an arm down to her knees and swept her up to place her on my desk.
I stepped back and appraised her.
"Any chance I could convince you to stay there forever?
" I grinned and reached over for the plate of hors d'oeuvres I'd set aside on top of a filing cabinet.
One by one, I placed them on her body. A couple on her stomach, one between her breasts.
Another on the top of her thighs to either side of her pussy.
"Very artistic," Archer said.
"Thanks, Hardstein," I said over my shoulder.
"Hardwick," he corrected.
I flapped a hand at him. "Whatever. Are you going to come over and eat?" When he took a couple of steps forward, I raised a finger. "Uh-uh, no hands."
He quirked an eyebrow at me, but bent at the waist and lowered his mouth to pick up one of the hors d'oeuvres from Harlow's stomach.
She wriggled. "That tickles," she protested, but she didn't pull away. She lay still and let me run my tongue around one of the hors d'oeuvres on her thigh before pulling it into my mouth and chewing.
"That is delicious," I said. "You and the food."
Archer murmured his agreement while he chewed and swallowed. "I think I should eat all my meals from her body."
"I might have missed my calling," she said. "I should have been a plate, not a chef."
"Oh, you should definitely be a chef," I said. "Plate can be your side hustle."
"Great, I've always wanted to be a side plate," she said with a laugh.
"You're not a side plate, you're a silver platter." Archer leaned down again to run his tongue around one of her nipples, down between her breasts and gripped the slider there with his lips.
I won't lie, watching that was fucking hot.
Speaking of fucking hot, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned as Cass stepped into the office.
"Just in time for a midnight snack." I gestured toward Harlow, indicating for him to help himself.
Eyes wide with anticipation, he didn't hesitate to step over and place his hands behind his back.
He leaned over toward her thigh, but instead of picking up the hors d'oeuvre, he gripped the waistband of her panties between his teeth and pulled them down, exposing her slick pussy.
When the black lace reached the vol au vent, he gobbled it down to get it out of the way.
Swallowing, he started on her panties again, tugging them down her legs before opening his teeth and and letting them drop to the floor.
"So fucking gorgeous," I whispered.
"Ours," Cass said, just as soft but firm. He nudged her thighs open with his cheeks and lapped at her pussy, his hands still behind his back.
"Yours," she whispered back, the word ending on a groan as his wet tongue stroked her clit.
While he worked her with his mouth, I ate the last slider from her stomach, my head turned towards Cass. Between the wet sound of his mouth and the scent of her arousal, I was hard as a rock.