8. Verona
8
VERONA
P ollux was in great spirits during our visit, literally counting down the days until they released him. The nurse who had given him her number had been working today, so he mostly ignored me and Castor in favor of flirting with her until her ears turned pink. I liked her, and I hoped my brother was worth risking her professionalism and reputation in the end.
Then Wheels accompanied me to the Beacon, where I helped Ru pick out a replacement for the counters in the bathroom that had been ruined in the explosion. By the time I got to the clubhouse to see my dad, it was nearing seven o’clock. Most of the members were already milling around, playing pool or drinking and bullshitting on the sofas. I swept my gaze over Hollywood, KC, and Bear seated around the bar, their backs to me. I normally would have walked up immediately to start shit with them, but I decided to seek out my father first.
He sat in the back with Aris and Coins, murmuring among each other, reminding me of the kings of old as they schemed and plotted against their enemies. Not much had changed since the medieval times, unfortunately. Humans were still intent on killing each other until the bad blood flowed so thick, the world drowned in it.
“There she is,” Dad said when I wrapped my arms around him, giving him a hug. I regretted how much this war with the Caputis had drained him, physically and mentally. He’d aged so poorly in the years since I’d been gone. I’d left behind a man in his forties, only to come back to one that looked to be in his sixties. Gray streaked his long, thick, dark hair, and wrinkles marred a once youthful face. “Hey, V.”
“How’s it going?” I smiled up at him before giving a hug to Aris and Coins. Both had been officers in the MC as long as I’d been alive, my father’s adopted brothers in every sense. They had become surrogate uncles to me somewhere along the way.
“Just talking shop.” Dad kissed my temple. “How was your day? Did you go see Pollux?”
“He’s excited to come home,” I said.
“I swung by this morning,” Dad said. “He told me the same.”
We caught up for a few more moments before I headed over to the bar for a drink. Still feeling rocky from the previous night, I opted for a bottle of water, sliding the fridge door open so I could grab one from the bottom row.
My skin prickled like someone was watching me, and I didn’t have to glance up to know who. Hollywood had tracked me the moment I’d walked over, his dark gaze raking down my body and back up again. When I glanced at him, he pulled his lips into a smile around the top of his beer, not bothering to hide his obvious perusal.
My pulse sped up, my stomach fluttering with butterflies as a tremble raced down my spine and back up again.
No, I reminded myself. Off-limits. Danger, danger.
“Hey, V,” Bear said, raising an eyebrow in my direction. “Riddle me this ... where’d you get twenty-five hundred dollars to blow on a few hours of Hollywood’s time?”
“That’s not a riddle,” I said, twisting off the top of the bottle so I could take a drink of cool aqua and wash down the scalding shame of how I spent Valentine’s Day.
“Answer the question,” he said. “Imagine my surprise when I learned my baby sister got into a bidding war over my best friend.”
Hollywood kept his casual stance, leaning on the bar with his elbow, his forearm raised so he could rest his cheek on his palm. Like that, he resembled a lazy male lion that had snoozed while the others caught his meal for him.
Too bad I’m a lioness, Hollywood. I’ll just claw back.
“I’m not a baby,” I reminded my brother. “And I thought we agreed we wouldn’t talk about how I made my money.”
Bear grimaced before taking another drink.
“Aww,” KC cut in, reaching across the bar to chuck me on the chin, a proverbial older brother despite him being my cousin. “My little baby cam-star cousin, all grown up.”
“Hmm.” I took another drink, zeroing my gaze in on Hollywood, who had let this go on despite his part in what had happened last night. I couldn’t help teasing him. “What about you, Hudson? Am I a baby to you, too?”
He smirked, pulling one side of his mouth into a grin. “You’re definitely no baby, V.”
“Hey!” Bear punched Hollywood’s arm.
“What? She’s hot.” Hollywood balked and held up his hands, feigning innocence. “She knows she’s hot, and she’s not my sister, thank fucking fuck.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Bear rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You want to beat him now, KC, or wait until he’s toasted?”
KC only shook his head and sighed. “Hollywood thinks everyone is hot, Bear. Let the man have some peace.”
Hollywood winked at me, smiled, and finished the rest of his beer in a single gulp.
“Besides, I’m still a born-again virgin.” He slammed the empty bottle down and threw his head back to let out a wolfish howl. “Eight months and counting, baby!”
I laughed, trying to keep up appearances as my skin burned and my heart pounded. We’d gotten too close last night, much too close, and I had to keep my guard up in order to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“Aww, c’mon, Hollywood,” Chelsea said, appearing out of nowhere to wrap her arm around his shoulders and press her obnoxiously fake tits against his bicep. “It must be a throbbing mess by now. Let me kiss it better.”
Time slowed as she raised her hand to bring it toward his lap, reaching down like she meant to grab his cock right there at the bar in front of the rest of us. A fiery stab went through me and I reacted before I could stop myself. I reached out and snatched her wrist in a vise grip, sinking my nails into her skin so hard I’d leave marks.
“Don’t touch him,” I snarled, leaning over the bar to get in her face. “Don’t ever fucking touch him again. You understand?”
For a moment, everyone stared. Chelsea dropped her jaw, widening her eyes like she didn’t know how to react. Most of the time, I ignored the hang-arounds. They came and went, and only if they married one of the brothers did I consider the idea that they might become family. But this bitch had touched Hollywood without his permission for the last time or I would tear her Goddamned throat out with my teeth.
“And who the fuck are you?” Chelsea finally said, trying to yank her arm away from me. “His mother?”
I cackled at her audacity, the heat of furious challenge rising inside my gut. “No, I’m the bitch that’s gonna beat your face in for touching people without their consent.”
At that, I jumped up on the bar to climb over it, not caring I kicked glasses and ashtrays out of my way. I needed to teach her a lesson. After I was done with her, she wouldn’t touch anyone like that again, and she’d think twice before laying hands on Hollywood.
I’d just gotten on the other side, about to grab that disgusting mop on her head when a strong grip circled my waist and lifted me into the air.
“All right, that’s enough,” Hollywood said in my ear as I kicked and squirmed, trying to get out of his hold so I could scratch her eyes out. “C’mon, V.”
His voice came out in broken chuckles, and that infuriated me more.
“Are you laughing?” I shoved against him while he carried me to a back room, putting me down long enough for me to struggle while he opened the door.
“Yeah,” he said, shoving me inside before kicking the thing closed behind him, leaving us in the soft glow of moonlight trickling in through the window.
“Why?” I huffed, blowing hair out of my face and curling my hands into fists to keep myself from swinging on him instead.
“Because you’re adorable.” His grin nearly made me punch him, and he tilted his head to the side, seeming to admire my ire.
“Oh, fuck off.” I shoved at his chest, growing more aggravated when he barely budged. At over a foot taller than me, he had me by at least a hundred pounds of muscle, if not more. I must have looked like a fussy little rodent to him. “I hate you.”
He blew out a breath, narrowing his eyes into predatory slits. “Don’t I know it.”
Ice sizzled down my spine, turning my incinerating anger into a simmering and sultry desire. Last night came rushing back—the way he’d let me hold him in place with my boot, the way he’d taken my panties off with his teeth, how he’d moaned when he came. Christ, it had been so enticing.
And the worst part? I had enjoyed it.
Then, I realized we were in one of the bedrooms in the back, hardly more than a closet with a cot and a small bathroom on the side. The brothers used these rooms to fuck their old ladies or whatever hang-around they corralled that night.
I was trapped. He’d trapped me.
“Let me go, Hollywood.”
“Not until you take a deep breath—” he stepped closer, invading my personal space to make me back up “—and tell me why you went after her like that.”
“She’s a bitch,” I hissed. “She shouldn’t touch you like that. They can’t just touch you however they want.”
“Hmm.” He nodded, taking another step, forcing me back another pace. “Why do you care so much?”
I opened my mouth, but all that came out was, “No one should be touched without their permission.”
“Is that all?” Hollywood raised his eyebrows, moving close enough that he’d pressed me up against the opposite wall, my spine straight against the cool plaster. His scent overwhelmed me, that damnable mix of leather and sandalwood and cologne . I didn’t know how much longer I’d be able to put up the good fight to resist this.
“Of course, that’s all,” I snarled. “What else would it be?”
With nowhere to run, I stared up at him, prepared to bite and claw my way out this if I had to. My pulse beat through my body so fast, I heard it pounding in my chest. I clutched at the glass jar under my shirt, terrified he might see the outline despite it only being less than an inch in length. He couldn’t know that I carried a piece of that night around with me, that I stared at it when I reached rock bottom.
“Well.” He shrugged, rolling those pretty eyes at me. “I mean, after last night?—”
“Last night was a mistake.” I gulped against a painfully dry throat. “We were drunk. It won’t happen again.”
He smiled wider as he drew his massive frame mere centimeters from mine, wrapping his arms behind his back to be sure he didn’t touch me. But the heat building in that small space was worse, a million little tingles of electricity from the near connection cascading over every part of my exposed skin.
“You sound sure of that,” he said.
“I am.” I nodded, my voice shaky despite how much I tried to force my confidence. “You’re Bear’s best friend. You’re ... you.”
At that, he straightened, staring down with a dark, playful gaze, letting my protests hang in the minuscule space between us. I trembled embarrassingly hard and tried to hide it, but he definitely saw it, and he knew why.
“That’s right. I’m me.” He leaned down and ghosted his lips over my ear, whispering a quiet, “I think that’s the part you like the most. How wet do you get thinking about me on my knees for you? Does it get your little clit hard to imagine me sucking it?”
The last time Hollywood had me pressed against a wall to whisper filthy things in my ear bounced through my mind, and I quaked so hard, my teeth nearly chattered. Hot steamy lust shot right down to my cunt, clenching in my lower stomach, forcing my thighs together.
“I want you to take the cat-o’-nine-tails to my back,” he went on. “I want you to put clothespins on every part of my body and whip them off. I want you to bite your name into my skin hard enough to leave bruises and ride my face until you can’t stand. Only then am I allowed to fuck you.” He sank his teeth into the shell of my ear, making me gasp and let out a soft desperate moan as goose bumps erupted down that entire side of my body. “God, the thought of it has me so fucking turned on.”
He bucked his hips into my stomach, a thick, decadent bulge proving his point. I almost broke down and agreed.
Then, he stepped back, cold air rushing into the void he’d left, smacking me out of my disillusionment. He put his hand in his back pocket, pulling out something black and lacy while he continued to move backward.
Are those my undies?
“Your move ... Mistress .” He put the fabric to his nose and inhaled, grinning like a villain as he twisted the door handle and whipped it open. He left me standing there alone and hating him even more.
I didn’t stay much longer after that. I didn’t want to see if Chelsea would try to sink her teeth into him again after I’d warned her not to.
Wheels took me home, and when we got there, he inspected the house before announcing he’d head to bed downstairs, the same room Thor had once occupied.
“You okay, V?” he asked, pausing at the door to the basement.
“Yeah, of course.” I furrowed my brows, confused about his question. “Why do you ask?”
He shrugged. “You went after a hang-around. It seems beneath you.”
“I bet she’ll keep her hands to herself from now on.” I flashed him a playful smile, one saying that was all it was.
“Yeah, okay.” Wheels squinted his eyes into a knowing look before pursing his lips and opening the door to downstairs. “Have a nice night, V.”
“You, too.” I waved and wandered down the hallway to my room. But sleep did not come easily that night. After I did a wind-down yoga session and meditated to clear my mind, I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, frustrated none of it worked. Hollywood’s words spun in my head like a broken record.
“How wet do you get thinking about me on my knees for you? Does it get your little clit hard to imagine me sucking it?” I brushed my hand down the center of my body, pausing to clutch at the necklace hanging over my heart. “I want you to take the cat-o’-nine-tails to my back. I want you to put clothespins on every part of my body and whip them off.” His voice rattled through my body, and I pushed my hand lower, ducking under my skirt and panties to find my clit. I hissed when I touched the sensitive skin, sucking in a breath that made me throw my head back. “ I want you to bite your name into my skin hard enough to leave bruises and ride my face until you can’t stand. Only then am I allowed to fuck you.”
The fantasy it had me rubbing circles into myself. I was already dripping, and the forbidden thought of dominating Hollywood Hudson spurred me on. I should’ve stopped it before it started. I should have pulled my fingers right out of my panties and kept them above waist level.
But I didn’t.
I moaned my way through an orgasm at the thought of his head between my legs and how all these years might have improved his skills. In the aftermath, I panted from the high and wondered if there was any way out of this now or if there ever had been.
I shouldn’t want it. I should continue to shut him down whenever he brought it up. But after that night, there could only be one thing to do.
He’d told me it was my move, and I planned to make it worth my while.