Chapter 31
C assie
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Lara peered out from behind me, her tray of espresso martinis balanced on one hand.
Genevieve’s drink of choice, caffeine fiend that she was.
I’d got a taste of them and was now hooked.
“How to make friends and influence the influencers,” I quipped back. “A kind smile and a free drink will create happy thoughts about the warehouse and stop some of the bitching and the threat of further protests. I’ve been listening to what they’re saying, and the sniping about Divine needs to end. This is our mission. Are ye ready?”
My session of getting dressed with Dixie had revealed that the protesters outside were denting business. Not good for the women who needed to earn a wage. I’d come up with a solution to fix it and enlisted Clem’s help with rounds of drinks and some of her barmaids. None of us were technically working, but Lara and Moniqua had both agreed to uniform-up with me and do the circuit. Even Lonnie, my replacement guard dog after Mick was needed elsewhere, had approved the plan.
The three of us moved out and offered the cocktails with winning smiles.
A couple operating a professional-looking camera took the drinks with surprised expressions.
“Compliments of Divine’s hardworking team,” I told them.
I repeated the phrase to a group of ladies who were prepping to record. They cleaned out the rest of my tray.
“You work here?” one asked. She fished a metal straw out from her bag to sip the drink without ruining her makeup.
I confirmed it. “The warehouse is the best employer. We’re a family.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t it exploitative?”
“Only when it’s men at the top. When you have women running the show and helping each other, it’s a whole different picture.”
“Wait, there isn’t a head pimp guy living off the women?”
“Nope. Not at all. Only protecting them.”
Her eyebrows drifted up, and her gaze moved from me to the front of the clubs.
I hid a smile and turned around, ready to go recharge my tray and make a second loop. This was working. It was what I’d?—
A pair of cops blocked my path.
I tilted my head, appraising the two big men. “Oh, hello.”
Then my focus fell on the person behind them. Inch-perfect brown hair, elegantly greying at the temples. A smart casual business suit over a slim figure. The mayor of Deadwater was here, and not ten feet away from me.
I took an excited little rush of breath. Of course he’d come. Every person with any kind of audience was here to report on Bronson’s confession. Trust the mayor to steal some of that limelight and spin this as his success.
His gaze locked on mine.
I popped my hip out, my tray aloft on the other hand. Used correctly, it would make a great weapon.
All of a sudden, a shoulder hit my belly and I was airborne. Strong arms clamped my legs, and wide-eyed, I dropped the tray. But no part of me was confused by the identity of my skeleton-masked captor.
Riordan stormed through the throng, bypassing the cops and ignoring all, including his father, on his quest to return to the warehouse. His heavy biker boots hit the cobblestones in thuds, and his strong fingers indented my thighs.
“Stop, right there,” one of the cops called.
We didn’t, and I gave them a little wave and a smile that only grew bigger at the mayor calling out an order to them.
Happiness spilled through me, and I twisted to press an excited kiss to the side of Riordan’s face. “You’re back. I missed ye.”
Behind us, three or four skeleton crew members jogged to keep up and to block the police from following. Then we were inside and storming the corridor towards Divide’s dance floor. Music pounded, and the DJ got the staff party started.
Grim-faced, Riordan dropped me down, pulling me behind him as he twisted to see the way we’d come. At the entranceway, Lonnie admitted the crew but barred the police, locking himself on the outside and presumably telling them what I already knew. They couldn’t have me. Riordan had made his claim.
The door opened again, and Riordan jerked back, but it was only to let in Lara and Moniqua. They skipped past us, empty trays at their sides and neither saying a word.
Riordan’s nostrils flared, and he finally looked at me. Emotion swirled in his eyes. “What the fuck were you doing outside?”
“Meeting and greeting. All those people out there were going to badmouth us. I wanted to make a better impression about female empowerment, which I’m not sure if you helped or hindered, caveman.”
“The police showed up. The goddamned mayor is out there. The man we stole from and who wants you arrested.” He shoved his fingers into his hair, messing it so perfectly.
I couldn’t resist. Moving in on him, I brushed the strands from his eyes. “Ye are so beautiful. I can’t even deal.”
“And you could’ve been taken. Again,” he roared, loud enough to combat the thudding beat from the dance floor at the end of the corridor.
I popped a hip. “I’m fast as fuck, boy. I’d like to see them try.”
Riordan muttered something to himself then again snatched me up into his arms and marched down the hall. We entered the open space, a cheer going up as others noticed. I grinned, hooked on his dark energy and more than ready to see how this played out.
A vague sense of concern hovered at the edge of my awareness, but I wouldn’t let it in. Riordan had asked me to be safe, and I had. Even if those cops had arrested me, nothing would have happened. Arran owned their boss. My family had a judge in our pocket, a long-term arrangement since they’d paid him off to get me out of foster care.
Shite. Maybe I should have told Riordan some of that.
On the far side of the room, the DJ worked her station, the music not stopping despite the attention of half the assembled group being on us. An escalating beat pulsed through the space. Pink neon lights swirled, the party set up to celebrate everything the warehouse did and stood for. Tonight was going to be lit.
Lifting my head again, I spotted Arran with Genevieve and Shade with Everly and gave them a wave.
Shade put his fist to his mouth, barely hiding a smirk. I narrowed my eyes.
At a high table, Riordan placed me down belly first, one big hand to my shoulders to keep me there. He wrestled with the button of my tight black uniform shorts, and my pulse quickened. Surely he wasn’t going to fuck me here? I mean, I was up for trying anything, but exhibitionism wasn’t his jam, was it?
He undid the shorts then yanked them down over my backside, exposing my tiny pair of black underwear and fishnet tights. One rip, and he tore straight through the tights.
With my face heating, I struggled up, needing to see his expression. Riordan pushed me right back down again. Not before I spotted something in his hand.
He pressed it to my arse cheek. “This is a fucking tracker. Seeing as I can’t trust you to stay safe.”
A what ? My eyebrows furrowed, the words penetrating before a shock hit my skin. It barely stung, but humiliation followed fast.
He’d shot a tracker under my skin like I was his pet.
In front of everyone.
I gritted my teeth. Riordan wasn’t done. Tossing the gun-type device he’d used to the floor, he yanked my shorts back up and picked me up again.
Furious, I didn’t make eye contact with anyone we passed.
Out of the room, I smacked my fist into his lower back, forcing him to come to a halt in the centre of the corridor. On my feet again, I whirled on him.
“I can’t believe ye just did that.”
“Then let the sting in your ass remind you.”
I huffed in outrage, the patch of injured skin smarting. “I wasn’t in danger. Lonnie was in the crowd. He was instructed to stop me from leaving the warehouse area but even he agreed to us circulating drinks through the crowd. It was low risk. Dixie and Bonnie had wandered out and spent time talking to the people outside. The vibe is happy and excited.”
“The fucking police are out there.”
“We own them,” I yelled back. “The worst-case scenario is they’d arrest me and take me to the station to appease the mayor then quietly let me go. Two of my brothers get arrested with alarming regularity, but never have any of us been charged. We have this covered. It’s a fucking game.”
He backed me to the wall, his hand coming around my throat and forcing my chin to tip up. My chest rose and fell. The way he looked at me, the need and pain and hurt…
“Nothing about your safety is a game, Cassiopeia Archer. Nothing.”
“What ye did—” I started.
Riordan brought his free hand to the front of my shorts, still undone from his exhibition. Holding my gaze, he drove his fingers inside to cup me between the legs. I sucked in a breath, my heart thumping, and words failed.
Every cell of my body was tuned in to the man in front of me. My furious, beautiful love.
He didn’t pause at the edge of my underwear but pushed inside. I moaned, and my eyes slid closed.
“It turned you on. Driving me to the brink of insanity made you wet. I should fuck you here so anyone who passes understands how I punish you when you behave like you aren’t owned.”
I was so bad for wanting that. For the way my core tightened and the wave of need that drowned me and soaked his fingers. Except I had a better idea. My act of penitence. If we were lucky, we’d be right on time.
Forcing my mind to restart, I eased my hand over his, tugging it lightly out of my underwear.
“Come with me.”
I led him down the hall, my shorts open and gaping around my waist. My hips swayed with each stab of my black heels to the floor. My huge boyfriend shifted his grip to the back of my neck and moved with me.
At the lift, we travelled up to the third floor. The brothel.
I shot a message to Dixie to confirm we were here, then I found our room.
Riordan followed me inside. One wall was made up of glass, an empty room the other side providing a spill of light into our otherwise darkened one. Music played, and I smiled at Dixie’s choice. ‘on your knees’ by Ex Habit.
Riordan folded his arms. “What’s happening?”
The door opened in the other room. Dixie strutted out, bringing a man with her, Lex, another of the sex workers. In a cropped top and tiny skirt that flashed her underwear, she guided Lex to the single chair in the room and posed with her fingertips to his chest. I took the point, bringing Riordan’s gaze back to me.
“Sit down. They can’t see us.”
“Why are they there?”
“Why do ye think?” I propelled him to the black leather sofa.
Dixie circled Lex, drawing her touch around his shoulders, but her words were for me. “I’m going to start by stating the obvious. Any guy is going to get off by someone hot touching his dick. Getting him to come is easy. Seduction is harder. It’s a skill, just the same as giving a good blow job.”
“You don’t need to fucking seduce me,” Riordan grouched.
I didn’t reply, waiting for my cue from my teacher. Dixie didn’t disappoint.
“Eye contact is a must. Heard of the triangle gaze? Left eye, right eye, lips. A heartbeat spent on each then eyes down and smile to yourself. It’s how I used to get walk-ins to pick me above any other woman in the receiving room.”
I stared at Riordan, in love with his eyes, my insides clenching again at the cruel twist to his lips. He was so pissed off with me. I had to break that.
“Assuming you’ve got your guy and made it to a bedroom, it’s a game to keep control. You take it, then cede it at the right moment so he gets the thrill of the conquest. Order him to keep his hands to himself. Dirty talk a little if you can, meaning tell him the things you want to do to him. Then we’re going to remove some clothes, enough to give him a good view and get the blood flowing to the right place. Better still, do this.”
Dixie straddled Lex and whispered to him.
He smirked and stripped her cropped top, revealing her perfect, round tits in a very skimpy bra. Dixie brought his hands to them, using their joined fingers to caress her shape.
I tore my gaze away to Riordan. He wasn’t watching them. Instead, he waited on me, his jaw locked and his knees wide. As if anticipating me. And making it more difficult.
Moving between his knees, I popped the first button on my cutaway waistcoat. “I know you’re angry. If it helps, I’m sorry. I will make it up to ye.”
“With your body.”
Not a question, but I nodded anyway. “Not just that. I’ll find other ways.”
The second and third button opened, and I let the waistcoat slide off. Riordan’s attention grazed down me to my breasts, exactly as I’d wanted.
“Touch me,” I asked.
“No.”
“Then I’ll touch myself.”
I unclipped my bra and dropped it, breathing harder at how Riordan swallowed. How a muscle in his jaw ticked.
Fresh air ghosted over my skin, and I cupped my breasts in front of his face. Level with his mouth. In my imagination, he leaned in to kiss and lick. My nipples hardened, and I moaned softly. When I squeezed them, need flickered over Riordan’s features. His jeans were already tented. By his sides, his hands formed fists.
Satisfaction emboldened me along with scorching heat. I wanted to tease him some more. I wanted to take him to pieces.
“Once his hands start to wander lower, you cut him off,” Dixie ordered. “Get down on the ground ready to pray, pretty girl. Give him the view down your body, knees a little wide so he’s thinking about that space between them. Then hold that eye contact and undo his jeans. Carefully. We don’t want any zip injuries from an overexcited dick now.”
I didn’t watch her and Lex. Freeing Riordan’s dick took up every bit of my attention.
I was half afraid of him stopping me.
He didn’t. Instead, he adjusted his position with an elbow over the back of the couch. Casual, to any onlooker, but not to me. He was locked in. So focused on me and so hard, his dick gleaming with precum.
Dixie continued, “Now you’ve got the goods, bestie, you give one hesitant stroke while gazing up at him like you’re the sweetest most innocent thing who’s never seen such a monster. So big. So impressive. All you want is that in your mouth. So let’s get you there. Squeeze the base to get the blood flow to the end, then lick him like a lollipop. At the end, sink onto him, teeth covered, of course. Get him as wet as he should be getting you. Keep it slow so we don’t ruin the fun too early—most guys can only last a few minutes at most—and only suck lightly. If he gets too excited, come off him, cup his balls, and draw them away from his body. Ease your thumb between them. Be very gentle here. If you want a pro tip, do this with your mouth.”
I’d copied her with the first stroke, then watched for technique, Lex’s dick in her hands.
Riordan swore, and I peeked up at him.
“Getting impatient?”
He clamped his jaw. I took him into my mouth. His taste flooded my hot, wet tongue.
“Fucking hell, Cassie.”
I sucked. He groaned out loud.
In the adjacent room, Lex gave a low laugh, and Dixie crowed.
“What did I just hear? Fast little learner, hun. Show him you’ve got skills.”
Riordan passed one hand over his face, but I was emboldened and even more determined. Rising on my knees, I slid my mouth up and down his dick again then sank onto him, this time remembering to add the suction, like Dixie had suggested.
Another more controlled sound of pleasure from him then warm fingers speared into my curls. He didn’t try to guide me, just cupped the back of my head while I found a rhythm, getting him harder with every pass.
This was magical. I loved his taste and the thrill of the power I had over him. The slight buck of his hips he clearly tried to stop. The tightening of his body on every downwards plunge.
His breathing told me when to slow, and I toyed with his heavy balls, playing with him, and giving him space to calm down. I held his gaze and licked my lips.
“I’m close, sweet thing. You have to stop,” Lex warned softly from the other room.
Dixie came off him with a wet pop. “Advanced techniques include letting him fuck down your throat to the narrowest part. It cuts off your breathing, so I don’t recommend you try this as a beginner, and it’s for the guy to lead anyways. A better one is to grab some lube and tease his ass. Get a toy in there if you can.”
“No fucking chance,” Riordan grumbled.
“But we need to cut and run,” my friend continued. “Suck him good, bestie. See you on the other side.”
I hardly heard her and Lex leave. All I knew was Riordan’s touch when he pressed my jaw so I opened for him once more.
This time, he fed me his dick, holding my face as I took him inside. The music changed to something darker. Sultry as hell.
Without an audience, Riordan altered his attitude, too. He shifted forwards to the edge of the couch and took over the action, riding my face, though not deep enough to choke me.
Even if he wanted to.
After another few minutes, he growled and snapped his hips back then collected me from the floor to deposit me next to him on the sofa. I landed with a short exhale and automatically lifted my arse so he could remove the rest of my clothes.
Kissing my ankle, he held my gaze. “You’re as beautiful as you are crazy, wild girl.”
My cheeks warmed. “I did okay?”
“Let this tell you.”
He tugged me to lie flat on the cushions then ducked to lay another open-mouthed kiss to my thigh. A third direct to the centre of me. I sprawled out, lost to everything except for the feel of his tongue on my most sensitive parts. Every lick and flick had me desperate, every sound he gave up brought me close to the edge.
Riordan’s pleasure had wired me so tight I was filled with urgency. Bucking against his mouth and wet enough to soak his face and my thighs.
Right as I was at the precipice, he stopped.
My eyes flew open. I hadn’t realised they’d closed, but I absolutely got what he was about to do.
“No, please,” I begged. “Please don’t stop as punishment. I was being safe. I made sure I was protected. I’m sorry I scared you.”
In the dark room, Riordan loomed over me, his body forcing my legs open wide and his face all I could see. My breathing came in short stutters. I could cry for how badly I needed him to fill me. To finish me off. Whatever he said now, it was going to hurt.
With an expression resembling how I felt inside, Riordan pressed his lips to mine. Then fucked straight into me.
I moaned into his kiss. My knees fell open. My body accepted him in. He was so thick, it took several thrusts to bring him flush to my skin, no matter how wet I was. Then he rocked his hips. It hit into vital places inside me until so quickly I panted with desperate need.
“Tell me how you feel about me,” Riordan gritted out.
“So fucking in love.”
“Then understand the power of that is how I feel when you do something dangerous.”
He reared back and slammed into me. The action repeated. Again and again.
“Please don’t be angry.”
“I can’t switch off caring about you. Don’t make me try. Not half a day after we last had this conversation and here we are again.”
“Except ye aren’t threatening to leave me?”
“Not this time.”
The climax which had wound up tight then been held off rushed back and broke over me. Soundlessly, I gasped and clung to him, my brain a rush of light and feeling.
My throbs seemed to never end thanks to how hard he railed me, because Riordan wasn’t done. He fucked me relentlessly until I came a second time, throbbing around his dick and so well used I knew I’d be feeling it for days.
With a satisfied groan, Riordan pulled out and came over my breasts.
He collapsed down beside me, breathing as hard as I was, then drove his fingers into the mess, spreading it over my belly and down between my legs. His fingers pushed inside me.
“Dirty boy,” I breathed.
“Bad girl.”
His lips twitched. “Put your clothes back on over this. I want you to wear it.”
If that was my punishment, I couldn’t have been happier.