Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Kace
The bell over the front door rings. Bellamie and I freeze for a split second before she nods toward her hands.
If I’d have found out about the auction a few hours earlier, I could have made it in time to buy her and I wouldn’t have to lay claim to her here. But there’s no turning back time. No negating the fact that Loren won last night. No forgetting seeing him carry her out of the club.
As I unhook her hands, I whisper, “I locked it.”
“My boss?” She starts to pull her panties on and pauses, looking between her legs.
My cum dripping down her inner thighs is such a beautiful sight, except that it can’t do its job if it’s not inside of her. I reach between her legs, drag my fingers through as much as I can, and smear it into her entrance. I whisper, “Get your panties up.”
She works awkwardly around my hand, and when I reluctantly remove it, I wipe my fingers on my lips because it's not just my cum, it's hers too. Then I wipe the rest on my stomach and pull my shirt on.
The sound of footsteps can barely be heard as I help Bellamie get as presentable as possible. I make sure her clothes are straight and brush her hair out of her face. The only thing I can't get rid of is the blush on her cheeks, her aura of being recently fucked, and the scent of sex.
“Let me get her to the back. Try not to let her see you.”
I finish dressing quickly and allow her to exit the dressing room, hanging back a second, giving her a second to occupy her boss so I can sneak out.
“Loren?” I hear her gasp.
Oh, fuck.
The door to the dressing room flies open. Loren glares at me.
I start to open my mouth, but Bellamie shoves her stepbrother backward. “How did you get in?”
He holds up a set of keys on a lanyard. “You left so fast, you forgot these at home. I thought you might need them.”
She rips the lanyard from his hand. “You can leave now.”
“What the fuck, Kace, this is why I can’t get hold of you?” He turns to Bellamie, his jaw flexing.“Is he why you were in such a hurry? Did last night mean nothing?”
I bolt out of the confined space. Last night… I’ve been a wreck ever since seeing him leave the auction with her, not understanding why she would be in a virgin auction and why she was with him. If they wanted to have sex, they could have– I cut my thoughts off before my brain explodes.
But also because I have to hear her answer.
“Last night you fulfilled your end of the contract. You said so yourself.” She’s hurt. I can hear it in her tone. What the fuck happened?
Loren tries to grab her arm but she darts to the side, bumping into a clothing rack. He waits for her to steady the clanging hangers. “Yeah, and I got you home… away from that horrid auction. So we could be alone.”
She cocks her head to the side. “Horrid? What if I liked it?”
I can’t hold back. “Bellie, is that why you held back the other night, because you had to stay a virgin for the auction? Why didn’t you just tell me?”
Her nod is almost imperceptible.
“Stay out of this, Kace. I’m sorry, Belle. I should have asked. I just… everything… ” He looks at me. “Why are you here? You’re supposed to be at the other festival.”
“I had to know…”
I pause to consider my wording and Loren interrupts. “If you could completely destroy my trust, ruin everything we’ve built.”
“Nothing has to change.”
“Everybody knows you can't mix business and pleasure.” Loren’s losing it.
I can’t blame him after how I felt last night. He needs time to process and plan. Fuck! This is moving even faster than I like. “Let’s all calm down. Everybody's not always right.”
“Wait!” Bellamie jumps in. “What do you mean, mix business with pleasure?”
Loren holds a hand up, for me to back off. “Kace is my business partner. I assumed you knew. But when we were talking to our parents this morning, it occurred to me that you hadn’t put it together.”
Her mouth drops open. “How would I put it together?"
“How many Kaces do you know?”
I own my fuck-up. “I didn’t tell her my name.”
Loren looks at the dressing room. “You fucked a guy without knowing his name?”
I can’t let him go there. “You wouldn’t have given it a second thought if a guy did that.”
He squares up with me. “Except this wasn’t spur of the moment. You didn’t tell her who you were on purpose.”
“Yeah, I’ll own that.”
“Perfect timing. What do we do now?” He puts himself between us. “Belle, I’m sorry I confused you last night. I don’t want us to end.”
She worries her lower lip as she rubs her wrist.
“Don’t make this hard on her, Loren. We can work this out.”
“You broke bro code, man. This was going to be hard enough.”
“Oh shit.” Bellamie stares out the front of the store. “That’s Debbie, my boss.”
“Well, hello, Bellamie and company.” Debbie looks at each of us expectantly.
“Hi, my brother was just dropping off my keys.”
“Hi.” Debbie smiles at Loren, but definitely notes something’s up.
“Hi, that’s my… Kace. He’s on his way out of town.”
“Okay. Hi, Kace.”
I nod and wave, not daring to shake hands with her given what they’re covered in.
“Thank you for bringing my keys, goodbye,” Bellamie says and motions toward the door.
Loren waits for me to move first. I don’t want this to be any more awkward for Bellamie, so I don’t fight it.
When we're outside, I step to where Bellamie and her boss can’t see us and try to reason with Loren. “Let’s meet back at the Airbnb. Talk this out.”
“Get the fuck out of town, Kace. Our family has enough to sort out.”
“You owe it to me, Loren.” I’m full of wishful thinking at this point, because there’s no chance he’ll see my side.
“You misled my sister so you could fuck her. I don’t owe you anything.”
Then it hits me. This isn’t about him or me. “Then you owe it to Bellamie.”
“Like I said from the start… stay away from her.” His nostrils flare as he looks ready to throw a punch.
I step backward raising my hands to show him I don’t want to fight. “I'm just trying to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”
“I’m making a mistake?”
“No offense, but you suck under pressure.” I’ve never used Loren’s need for planning against him, always accepted it’s his process, but I’m pulling out all the stops.
“Maybe it is time we stop working together.”
“If you’ll pull your head out of your ass for two seconds, you’ll remember that we’re good together. You’re the planner, I’m the risk taker. And I think it’s pretty safe to say she wants both of us. We can make this work.”
“She only hooked up with you because she misunderstood what I meant last night.” His words cut through me. He might be right.
But we can back this up even further. “Maybe, but she only made it to the virgin auction because she cut our date short. I didn’t get it at the time, but it makes sense now. She gave her word to be in the auction.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You’re right, I don’t. But I do know that if we keep fighting, we won’t just lose each other, we’ll lose her. And I’m not about to hurt her. See you at the house.”