Chapter 8
EIGHT
JESSICA
Ribbons of nerves unfurl in my stomach as Kane leaves the room.
When he drove us back here, I didn’t object or question where we were going because I wanted to spend more time with him, but I didn’t expect his friends to be hanging out at his place.
And I definitely didn’t expect to be alone with them. Well, this is awkward.
Engrossed in their racing game, they barely notice me as they banter with each other.
With his tongue between his teeth, Maverick crashes his car into Noah’s, forcing him off the road.
I take a moment to let my attention wander across the space. It is built for gaming. Multiple consoles, surround sound speakers, and a large display mounted at eye level. It feels more like a private studio than a playroom.
Where did Kane go? And when will he be back? Doubts start to creep in the longer I wait. Why am I here? I don’t belong.
Still sore from earlier, my body aches deliciously, and I try not to wince when I shift. Ha! Easier said than done. My pussy feels swollen and tender.
Checking the time on my phone, I consider whether I should leave while I still can. I’m fidgety and nervous and unsure if I should be here. My brother would kill me, for one.
I should leave. How hard can it be to sneak out while they’re distracted?
And what about the guards at the gates? How do I get past them unnoticed?
Would they stop me, or would they let me go?
There’s no reason for them to keep me here, but I have a feeling Kane would have something to say if I left.
“Don’t make us chase you down,” Maverick says, blocking Noah from overtaking him, his brows furrowing. I freeze and glance between them. Is he talking to me?
He glances over his shoulder. “You’re two seconds away from bolting.”
What? No. Why would he think that?
“I’m not.”
Don’t know why I sound so defensive, but I do.
They exchange amused looks.
“Please,” Noah says with a brash laugh. “You look ready to make a run for it any second.”
I mean, yeah, I was. But that doesn’t mean I’ll admit it.
Maverick pauses the game and holds the remote out to me. “You play?”
My eyes widen. Does he want me to try? Why?
“Go on,” he says, urging me to take the remote. “Don’t look so scared.”
I’m not afraid of a racing game. I regularly play against my brother and his friends, but I feel out of place here with these guys in their expensive clothes that cost more than I’ll ever earn in a month. I hardly dare sit on this luxurious sofa, worried I might stain it with my poverty.
Still, my body moves on its own. I accept the remote, unsure of what to do next.
“Have you played before?” Maverick asks as he shifts his large body slightly to study me with a curious look. The way they watch me makes me feel like an animal in a zoo. I squirm under their gaze.
“Of course. Who hasn’t?” I ask.
He jerks his head toward Noah. “Think you’re good enough to beat the master here?”
Laughing softly, Noah shakes his head.
Maverick jostles his shoulder. “Don’t be modest now just because there’s a woman present.”
The game soon begins, and we play in comfortable silence. Noah makes the occasional comment, his tongue caught between his teeth as he focuses, which is kinda cute, actually.
Maverick’s manspreading again, watching me without shame. Not flirtatious, just curious.
“You like Kane?” he asks, and my fingers pause on the controller. Noah takes advantage of my brief distraction to overtake me on a bend.
Shit.
“Excuse me?” I ask, feeling distracted and a bit guarded.
“You’re the first woman he’s brought back here.” Maverick examines my reaction. “Do you like him?”
That’s quite an intrusive question, isn’t it? What do I say? I still can’t make sense of my own emotions, let alone explain them to Kane’s friends.
Noah glances at him, half-amused, half-annoyed. “Give the girl a break.”
“What? It’s a legit question.” Maverick holds his hands out. “Our boy likes her.”
“That’s not true. I’m sure he brings women home all the time,” I mutter, trying to overtake Noah again, but I’m thrown off by Maverick’s statement.
They’ve got it all wrong. I’m just a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, nothing more. Not to mention, I have nothing to offer a man like Kane except sex. No, we all know he’ll get bored and move on to someone more his league, and that’s okay. Probably for the best.
So let’s not pretend this is anything more than it is.
Still, a swarm of butterflies takes flight in my chest, and a smile threatens to reveal my feelings. I squash it before it can betray me.
Noah scoffs. “Trust me, he doesn’t.”
No? Doesn’t he? I hate these unwelcome butterflies.
Maverick winks. “Do you have any hot friends?”
Pfft. As if I’d ever introduce him to my friends.
Before I can respond, Noah curses as he leans his huge body to the side, trying to run me off the road. “Stay away from her fucking friends,” he warns.
Maverick narrows his eyes at him. The cogs turn in his head. He opens his mouth to speak, but movement catches his eye.
Kane’s leaning against the doorframe, watching me with an intensity that would make me fidget if it weren’t for Noah’s dirty play. I can be very competitive, and so can he, it seems.
At the last second, I use a sneaky trick of my own to get ahead and leave him in the dust. A flurry of curse words spills from Noah’s lips as I speed ahead.
Maverick laughs and slaps his thigh. “Oh man, she’s got that street blood in her veins. How’s that ego holding up?”
I have to admit, it feels pretty good to win. I can hold my own against my brother and his friends, but the difference is that they know my tricks by now, so it’s harder to beat them.
“Prick.” Noah throws the controller at Maverick, but there’s no anger in his voice.
Kane crosses the threshold and approaches me with a determined look that signals trouble. No one has ever looked at me that way before. Heat floods my cheeks.
He leans over, resting one hand on the back of the couch, then threads his fingers through my hair and crushes his mouth against mine in a scorching kiss right in front of his friends.
The moment his soft but commanding lips claim mine, I nearly combust and clutch handfuls of his shirt to pull him closer.
The boys gawk as he tilts my head and deepens the kiss.
Wow. It’s like he was put on this earth for this very purpose. Even so, I might feel weak in the knees from the way he’s claiming me, but there’s something different about this kiss. Something unhurried. Something darker.
Kane’s touch is his way of claiming me—a silent back off to his friends. The trembling, raw passion from before has disappeared, replaced by a primal urge to mark his territory. Every touch, every swipe of his tongue, every nip of his teeth, exudes control.
Not that I’m complaining. I can’t. Not when I’m a puddle of need.
An involuntary moan escapes my lips. He tightens his grip on my hair, plunging his tongue deeper. A flush of heat sinks lower in my belly. It takes everything in me not to cave and beg him, in front of his friends, to fuck me.
Another deep, toe-curling claim of his sensuous lips on mine, and Kane trails his mouth to my ear and whispers, “Good girl. See how obedient you are when you don’t have a gun.”
Shivers run through me. I’m vaguely aware of his friends watching us as if Kane has lost his mind, but all I can concentrate on is his taste on my lips and the wetness between my legs.
Kane sits down and pulls me onto his lap as if I’ve always belonged there. Across from us, Maverick raises a brow and then passes Noah the remote without saying a word.
Kane takes my remote and starts another game. I’m tense at first, unsure where to look, what to say, or what to do.
At one point, I try to wriggle off Kane’s lap, but before I can move away, he presses his lips to my ear and says in that dark purr of his, “Stay, unless you want me to make you scream my name here in front of my friends.”
I don’t move again after that.
Not because I don’t want him to follow through on his promise, but because I enjoy the sound of it a little too much. And that worries me more than anything.
It’s too easy to feel at home here with Kane.
In his world.