Chapter 8
ABEL
I can’t take my eyes off him.
He plays like a fucking dream—even better than high school, of course—so I grit my teeth and finally force myself to turn off the T.V. right as the game comes to a close.
It’s gotta be some sick twist of fate that Harvey’s work is what it is. That he brought me here tonight, of all places and times.
God—if there even is a God—must really fucking hate me.
With a sigh, I flop back on the bed and stare up at the ceiling. The textured tiles blur together after a while, and I feel my eyes starting to cross the longer I look up at them.
Irritated, I shove up and away and stomp into the bathroom to get myself dressed. If I’m going to be here, I might as well look damn good and try to feel it, too.
It takes me a good hour to get showered and ready, makeup in place and outfit flawless, but once I am, I feel good. With one last look at myself, I spin on my Converse-covered heels and make my way down to the lobby bar to get myself a good buzz before Harvey comes back for the night.
It’s busy but not over-crowded as I situate myself toward the far end of the bar.
“What can I get for you?”
“A tequila sunrise, please.” I need something strong and sweet that will hopefully give me a good buzz quickly.
It tastes pretty good when I take my first sip, and I find myself drinking it much faster than I should, but then again, this is practically a fucking vacation for me, even though I’m working, so why the hell shouldn’t I enjoy myself?
Harvey told me to—and, well, I’m getting paid to. So, fuck it.
I’m on my second glass before I realize and have a nice little buzz warming my veins when fingers graze the shell of my ear, making me shriek.
I jerk away from the touch with a startled, “What the fuck!” leaving my lips, only to see none other than Peris fucking Baxter staring back at me with a glare hot enough to melt steel, and my groin swarms with a buzzing warmth.
“Abel.” He seems to choke on my name, and my heart clenches painfully in my chest. I never thought I’d hear him say it again, and it feels so good to…
“What…” My eyes widen when I finally take him in. I can’t help it. He looks so fucking different. He’s thin, maybe even more thin than the last time I saw him, but he’s got more muscle somehow, and he’s taller. And he’s covered in tattoos that go together so well. And his fucking nose is pierced.
It doesn’t help that I already knew all of this, but seeing it on him in person is otherworldly.
“Peris,” I finally manage to choke out after a while, my brain catching up to my mouth. That’s when I notice Peris’s eyes drifting down to my exposed stomach, his pupils widening before his eyes snap back to mine.
I lift a brow, amused even as my head is spinning at all the what the fucks?
“What are you doing here?” he snaps, and I almost laugh. Almost.
Oh, baby boy…
You don’t want to know.
“Working,” I drawl, feigning nonchalance.
“What do you mean working?” he asks, sounding so confused, poor thing. And I can’t help the way my face twitches in amusement because, I mean, come on. He can’t be that fucking daft.
It’s a sick kind of entertainment to watch the realization wash over his face like a bucket of ice water.
“It will never end, will it?” he rasps, and the words take me for surprise.
There are so many ways I can answer that, but honesty is probably the best policy going forward—if there even is a forward.
“Not likely,” I tell him just as my phone buzzes, pulling me from the moment. It’s Harvey, I already know. He’s probably on his way home, which means I need to get back to the room and get ready for him.
Well, that kind of sucks. I pull in a breath to center myself. “I have to go,” I tell him truthfully, and it hurts. I don’t know why I didn’t expect it to, but fuck. “Goodbye, Peris.”
“Wait,” he says, arm snapping out to grab me. I yank away from his touch with a hiss, hating it as much as I need it. “You’re not going anywhere,” he snaps, like he didn’t just touch me. He touched me… like it was nothing.
“You lost the right to tell me what to do a long time ago, Peris,” I say, brushing some of my pink hair back from my forehead as my heart batters my ribs, fighting for an escape.
“You need—”
“I need to… What? Listen to you? Yeah,” I snort. “Fuck that.” Indignation burns in my gut. I can’t believe him. I turn on my heels to leave him again, and that’s when he stops me right in my tracks with words I never thought I’d hear leave his lips.
“How much?”
Ice floods my veins. No.
I turn slowly, my fingers twitching to clutch my necklace. “Excuse me?”
He drags his fingers through his hair and yanks harshly. “Come on, Abel. Don’t fuck around.” His voice gets louder, and my face starts to heat. “I know you cost a pretty penny, so how. Fucking. Much?”
I regard him for a minute. The hard set of his golden-green eyes. The blunt truth oozing from him.
My lips twist to the side in a devious smirk. Does he really wanna fucking play with me? He should know better by now… “Depends on what you want…”
Without missing a beat… “I want everything,” he blurts, and the muscle in my chest flips. “And I’ve got enough. So, let’s go.” He grabs my wrist and starts dragging me through the bar after clearing his tab—and mine—within minutes.
“You can’t just manhandle me,” I mutter, even though I fucking love it. I’ve missed this, but I’ll never admit it. Or maybe I will. Who knows what this night will bring.
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, baby. I can. I just fucking paid to do whatever it is I wanna do.”
I snort and run my tongue along the fronts of my still-crooked teeth. “You haven’t paid shit yet.”
The inside of his room is similar to Harvey’s, just less ostentatious. The door closes with a click behind him, and my breath hitches at the sound. My nerves are shot, and my hands are fucking shaking.
What is wrong with me?
“You look nervous.” Breath ghosts across the back of my neck, and my shoulders hike up to my ears as I shiver, gooseflesh rushing downward like a flood. Each hair on my head prickles and stands on end.
“I’m never nervous,” I rasp, hating how obvious the lie is as I say it.
Peris, of course, calls me out on my bullshit. “Liar.” His breath smells of alcohol as it washes over me.
My eyes roll back as I say, “You don’t know who I am anymore.”
He gives a derisive snort as his fingers come up to play with the collar of my shirt, just a soft brush along the fabric—enough to drive me insane.
“That may be true, but no one changes that much. I can still read your body…” And with that, he wraps his arm around my front and yanks me back against him.
I gasp, unable to help the sound when it’s pulled from the deepest recesses of my throat as my back is pressed entirely against his front, and fuck, does he feel good. Every ridge of muscle is lined up perfectly against me in all the right places.
His palm is pressed against my sternum, wide and possessive as he keeps me pinned against him. He dips his head down into the crook of my neck, and I shiver when his hair drags against my skin, rough and soft all at the same time.
Lips against my flesh murmur, “Told you.”
Air hitches in my throat feeling those lips against my skin once more. “What exactly did you tell me?”
“I can still read you. That hasn’t changed.”
For some reason, that irritates me. I don’t want him to know me so well. Not after so long apart.
“You can’t,” I argue fruitlessly.
This time, Peris snorts. “Baby…” he says softly, and I moan quietly, head falling back as he drags his lips against me. They’re chapped but still feel smooth against my skin. “You’re always such a fucking liar.”
“Compulsive,” I say on a breathless laugh, and surprisingly enough, Peris snorts. And then, his teeth nip at me, making me hiss.
“Ain’t that the fucking truth.” His other arm reaches down and around to my hip, holding me tight against his groin so his cock is nestled perfectly into the crack of my ass, and fuck, he’s so hard, and I’ve missed it.
Nothing and no one has ever felt as good as him, and fuck me if that doesn’t sting to admit right now.
“What are we doing?” I blurt against the side of his neck, tongue flicking out to taste his salty flesh. “Fuck,” I groan. Too good.
“Fuck if I know anything,” he says as he continues his perusal of my body. I feel him shiver when I lap my tongue out for more of his flavor. Sweat and cologne and something heady I’ve never been able to name. Something that’s strictly Peris.
Peris grinds his cock into my ass, and I gyrate my hips right back, hating the clothes between us as much as I know we need them because without them…
“The suit…” I choke out, forcing my feet to take a step away from his wandering mouth.
“What?” Peris says, releasing my throat with a loud sucking noise, and I would wince at the marks I know are covering my neck by now if I actually cared, but I don’t. Not really.
“The suit,” I try again, shaking my head to clear some of the fog. What am I doing? What are we doing? This is… this is crazy…
“Peris. What are we doing?”
“Don’t,” he says when I pull away, arms outstretched to bring me right back to him. His rolled up sleeves exposed his tattoos, and my eyes drop to them on instinct, taking them all in greedily. Art upon art is magnificent.
“Don’t what?” I rasp, blinking dazedly. I can’t focus.
“Don’t fucking pull away from me.” He reaches out and yanks me toward him. I fall against his torso with an oomph, the breath knocking out of my lungs.
Silence befalls us as Peris drags his nose through my hair, and I let him do it.
Honestly, he can do whatever he wants, and I don’t think I have the ability to stop him.
I feel his sharp inhale against me. The way he shudders.
How he holds his breath and rakes his nails down my spine before settling them at the base of my back, near the dimples just above my ass where he digs his nails in deep enough to make me cry out.