Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Aiden moves, and I freeze until he passes by me toward the pool table.
Releasing a breath, I push a hand through my hair, wishing I could take off the mask and wipe away the moisture underneath.
I follow him at a much slower pace and nearly jump out of my skin when my phone starts frantically buzzing in my clutch, which I still miraculously have on my shoulder.
He twists, lifting one brow, and rests a hip on the side of the pool table. “Boyfriend?”
“Would you care?”
“No.”
I roll my eyes. “Friend. Checking on me.” I take my phone out and wave it around. “She’ll keep texting if I don’t answer her.”
Crossing his arms, he says, “Then answer her. Tell her you’re having a grand old time, and you’ll see her in the morning. But if you share anything about what happened tonight, I’m afraid the result won’t be nice for either of you.”
Like he had to reiterate that.
My mother’s phone is exactly where I left it, still charging, if it’s even still working. I secure it in a zippered pocket for extra safekeeping, and then I dig around for mine and fish it out.
There are several messages from Yasmine. Of course there are.
Yasmine: Should I pick out an urn in case Aiden finds out what you’re up to and someone goes all stalker/bodyguard on your ass?
Five minutes later.
Yasmine: Haha, very funny. I’m dead. Answer now. I haven’t had much sleep after the last few shifts. I’m already this close to crashing the fuck out. I knew I should have gone with you.
A minute after that.
Yasmine: Really not funny tho, Ri. Check in before I lose my mind and send Reggie over there.
Followed by more of the same at one-minute intervals. It’s been nearly twenty minutes since my last check-in. No wonder she’s panicking. And Yasmine is usually so unruffled. It’s why she’s going into emergency medicine.
My fingers fly over the keyboard before she can make good on her promise.
Me: Shit, I’m sorry. Got cornered by some drunk people on my way out and couldn’t get free until now. I’m fine, I promise. I found the phone. You get some sleep. I’m waiting for my Uber, and I’ll check in first thing in the morning.
I hope.
No matter what happens, I don’t want her to worry.
Yasmine: Who was your first crush?
Me: You’re joking.
Yasmine: Answer the question, sicko, or I’m calling the cops. If you’re really Catriona, then you’ll know the answer.
I nearly laugh. It comes out as a choked snort. Christ. This is a literal nightmare. But goddamn, I love her with my whole heart.
Me: I hate you. Kovu from The Lion King II, you bitch.
Yasmine: You love me. Fine. I’ll text you in the morning. Love your face. Glad you aren’t dead.
Me: I do love you. I owe you double margs.
Yasmine: Damn right you do.
I love her so fucking much. If I make it out of this, I’ll give her all the spicy margaritas she wants.
I lock my phone and stow it back in my clutch, realizing Aiden is still fixed on me like I’m a puzzle he’s desperate to solve. Could he have figured out who I am? Does he recognize me from the countless news stories and social media posts with the photos of my perfect family? Oh God, I hope not.
“Alright, I told her I’m about to leave.
She thinks I’m waiting on an Uber, and she’s going to sleep.
Please don’t… go after her or something.
She’s completely innocent in all this.” I’d die if something happened to her.
Yasmine is the only person who believes me.
Not even Reggie wanted to get involved in my suspicions, and he’s known me since I was a baby.
Aiden’s head tilts, reminding me of a cat. His muscular arms cross over his chest. “As long as you keep your word, I’ll keep mine. I won’t hurt her.”
“Fine,” I say. “Are we going to keep talking all night, or are you going to roll the dice?”
He gives me a long, hard look and then raises his hand to my mouth, the cream-colored dice in his palm. “For luck,” he says and lifts his hand higher.
When I press my lips together in answer, his mouth quirks in an oh-well gesture, like this is all a game to him.
And maybe it is.
Perhaps he wants to play with his food before eating it.
Aiden tips his hand, and the dice tumble out of it and onto the blood-red felt of the pool table.
I jerk involuntarily like I’m going to grab for them to stop this farce before I’m trapped with him for the night, but he takes my arms in his and moves so quickly, I’m pinned between his body and the pool table before I can do anything.
We both watch as the dice tumble and tumble and tumble until they crash into the side of the pool table and finally, finally stop. We both jerk as the number is revealed.
Snake eyes.
Two.
Probability of rolling a two? Less than 3 percent.
Less than three fucking percent.
Should I let it get to me that snake eyes are bad luck? My stomach hollows out as I consider exactly what he could have in mind for me for the rest of the night. I didn’t put any stipulations on what he could and couldn’t do. What does ‘do with as I please’ even mean to a man like Aiden O’Connor?
I dread finding out.
I’d gambled for my freedom… and lost.
“How should I have you first, pet?” he asks, his mouth unnervingly close to my ear, voice rumbling and dangerous—I’m pinned and helpless. “On your knees? Or bent over this table so I can see if you’re worth the trouble?”
Shudders wrack my body as I lock my knees to stay upright. Well, I guess that answers the question of what he has in mind for me. None of it good.
“Do you think that’s going to scare me?” I ask with more bravery than I feel. I’m giving up trying to interpret my emotions at this point. The one thing I do know is I can’t let him see any weakness. “Because it doesn’t.”
Instead of pissing him off, his lips hover at my neck, and he’s so close they tickle my skin as they draw into a smirk. “Alright, pet, whatever you say.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Then tell me your name now and I’ll call you that instead.”
That’s not happening.
A shiver threatens, but I turn to stone to fight it off. Chills race down my arms and tighten my nipples instead. Fantastic. “Fine,” I grit out. “Call me whatever you like as long as you tell me what you want from me.”
“Whatever I like?” he croons and backs off enough that I’m able to turn around in his arms. Strains of music from the party fill the momentary silence.
He’s close, far, far too close. But the only way to get by him would involve rubbing my body against his, and I don’t plan on giving him the satisfaction.
“We need to go back down to my guests. I have an alibi to establish. What better way to do that than with a beautiful woman at my side?”
A sick, greasy feeling rolls through my stomach. “You’re disgusting.”
His smile is a predatory carving on his beautiful face. “A fact I’ll prove to you before the night is over. You should have thought of that before you gambled with me.”
I knew he’d accept my offer. I just never thought I’d lose. Stupid. Playing games with men like Aiden is foolish, and I know better. “Couldn’t you just kill me and save yourself the trouble?”
“Do you think they’d believe you? How are you going to prove what you saw when there won’t even be a body?”
“Then why would you need an alibi?”
“I like to cover all my bases.” He tries to brush the hair away from my face, and I jerk away. He tsks, then says, “We’ll need to work on this. Like the pretty pet you are, you need rules.” When my only answer is a glare, he smiles. “Improving already.”
“Just tell me the rules so we can get this over with.”
“You’re to stay by my side at all times. No wandering off and getting yourself into more trouble.”
“I won’t—”
“Like you’ve already done once tonight,” he adds with a pointed look.
“Fine.”
“No excessive drinking.”
“Whatever you say.” The champagne I had earlier is already giving me a headache. When I make it through tonight, I’m going to spend the rest of my life devoting myself to being boring. Focus on finishing law school. A veritable saint.
“And no talking to anyone but me.”
“What the hell do you even want me around for if I’m supposed to be a statue by your side all night?”
He brings his thumb to my jaw for the second time and finally gives me the answer I demand. “Because I want to ensure you understand what will happen if you say one word about what you saw tonight or ever try to set foot near this place again.”
Fear clenches my gut like a fist. “You said you weren’t going to hurt me,” I whisper.
“Oh, pet, by the time I’m done with you, you’re going to wish I’d hurt you.”
His featherlight touch dances around the shell of my ear.
It takes every ounce of self-control I possess to keep from recoiling.
It’s too soft, a whisper of sensation. Barely anything at all.
And I already know he’s capable of far, far worse, but it’s so gentle, it reminds me of how sweet a man can be.
How attentive. How easy it could be to believe he wouldn’t hurt me.
Shoving at his arm, I try to put some distance between us, but his hand comes back, lightning fast, and he’s pressed so close against me, I can feel each of his breaths. His hand clamps on my jaw, immovable when it had been featherlight only seconds ago.
“Last rule. You let me touch you when I want to, however I want to. Do you understand?”
“That you’re an asshole? Yeah, I think I got that.”
“If you break any of my rules, what happened to that cop is going to be the least of your worries.”
I have no doubt about that, so I zip my lips and promise him with murder in my eyes that there’ll be retribution.
It only makes him grin, and I have to wonder how the hell I got myself in this situation.
Aiden gestures for me to go first, and I stride to the door like I didn’t just make a deal with the devil.