Chapter Forty-Five
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
SEBASTIAN
I fucking hate fifteen hour plane rides. Even more than I hate road trips, which is a lot.
There were other humans on board so there was no singing, but the chattering never stopped.
Not. For. One.
Fucking.
Minute.
I thought I would get some peace in a window seat, but I should have taken my own fucking plane.
Between Leena and Luke sitting next to me, Colton and Jace in the row behind and Ava and Ryan in front of us, I’m surrounded by the most idiotic conversations known to man. They talk about which celebrities they would “smash ,” which was a new fucking term to me. Then they go through ridiculous survival scenarios, such as how you would go about escaping a herd of gerbils if you were stuck on an island and only brought with you a single bag of marshmallows. Turns out, gerbils don’t like marshmallows.
How do I know this useless fucking information?
Because they goddamn googled it, using my credit card to pay for onboard Wi-Fi.
I step out of the airport into the humid air, breathing in the smell of my freedom.
Maybe I’ll swim home.
“Aw, cheer up Seb!” Colton slaps my back and I scowl at him as he hobbles past me, using the luggage cart for support since he’s too damn stubborn to use a crutch. I don’t understand how someone who got shot less than forty-eight hours ago is still so fucking chipper.
I guess Leena has a way of doing that.
The thought makes me happy for a moment, but then I stop to glare again, this time at one of Colton’s bags. If he thinks he’s going to use the things he has in there on Leena before I get the chance to, he has another fucking thing coming.
And he better fucking share since he left mine and Luke’s go-bag to get shot up during their bolt from the penthouse.
As we wait at the curb, I mindlessly fidget with the little strip of paper I keep in my pocket, thinking of the phone calls Luke had to make, explaining to the cops and the cleaning crew we hired how a duffle bag full of police-grade restraints and BDSM equipment wound up strewn across the terrace.
I smile at the memory.
It was fucking hilarious.
When Luke pulls up to the curb in our rented SUV, I shove the note back into my pocket, then follow after the team as they load up and pile inside.
We were able to find a villa to rent for the next several weeks. It’s not far from the airport, but inland enough to be away from tourists. The last thing we need is for someone in the Deck to recognize one of the three of us wandering around town. All the Cards have hideaways on this island, which means they have eyes on every hotel. So a privately owned villa where we could vet the owner and set up our own security system for the duration of our stay seemed like the best option.
And Colton called in a favor with a friend and got us a helicopter on standby. It’s at a private airport on the coast in case we wind up needing it.
After a trip to the store to stock up on food, tequila and coffee for Leena and Colton, I punch in the code at the security gate and drive up to the villa.
The three story building is old and it looks like the forest is trying to swallow it up. It’s not fancy, but it’s large enough to accommodate our entire team and the gear that was delivered yesterday.
“We’re here,” I tell the vehicle full of people hoping they cut the chatter and move their asses.
We all get out, but they just keep talking.
“Thank fuck. That car smelled like shit. I’m sleeping on a completely different floor from anyone with a penis. Because I know damn well it wasn’t Leena who let one rip,” Ava says, grabbing her bag and heading toward the house.
“Well, I guess you’re sharing a room with Ry!” Jace calls after her.
“I heard that!” Ryan says from the other side of the car as he struggles with his bags. “Funny Jace. That was a great one.”
“Hey Jace, quit it. Jamaican him nervous,” Colton says flatly.
“Hey Colton, you actually get ladies to fuck you with that mouth? Or do you just bore them to death with your shitty puns until they give in?” Jace retorts.
“Your mother didn’t complain about my mouth last night. Could someone carry my bags? I’ve been shot,” Colton says.
“What’s the door code?” Ava shouts from up at the house.
“None of your fucking business!” Jace yells and I close my eyes in exasperation.
I think I might actually have a headache.
“35-68-01,” Luke answers.
“Aw, 68? So close.” Jace tisks, hauling Colton’s duffles over his shoulder. “Hey babe, I got your bags, need me to do anything else for ya? Haircut, massage, blow job?” he asks as they both follow Ava and Ryan up the steps.
“Oh… yeah, I’m gonna have to pass on the blowie, I don’t know where your mouth has been. But a massage sounds lovely. Thanks, Jace!”
I blink, staring after them.
On second thought, no house is large enough to accommodate our entire fucking team.
“Hey Seb? Mind grabbing our bags? My arms are full,” Luke says, and I turn just in time to see him scoop Leena up bridal style. She lets out a squeak, which is adorable, and I think he’s joking about the bags, until he starts making out with her.
Alright. I’ll give him this one. But only because I know what they’re doing.
And it’s not going to fucking work.
I pull their bags from the SUV and manage to get the hatch closed before walking past them and up the steps.
“Hey!” I call back, but they don’t let up. It’s all this pent up sexual energy from not being able to fuck each other for the duration of the flight.
They were pestering me about when they would get to.
But we have shit to do.
“Leena,” I try again. “If you want twinkle-toes to share a bed with us tonight, you better get your ass in there. There’s only one king bed.” I continue forward, then stop when I don’t hear them following behind me.
I turn back to find Luke still making out with Leena, but she’s holding her phone up to his ear. “You’ve gotta be fucking me.” I grumble.
“Hey, Colt?” Luke says between kisses. “First floor, king bed. Make sure you snag that before Jace finds it?... Thanks man.”
Leena drops her phone onto her stomach and grabs Luke’s face, pulling him back down to continue the fucking show. He grins, showing off that fucking dimpled smile as he kisses her. I watch, catching glimpses of their tongues. When Leena bites his lip, he moans, jamming his tongue deeper. It goes straight to my dick.
I lower my head and let out a long, relinquishing breath.
“Fine. We can get a quick one in before setting up the equipment.” I glare at them.
They quit the PDA immediately.
Luke sets her down, and the two of them and their fucking smiles stroll past me, hand in fucking hand, into the house.
—
“Don’t you people ever sleep?” I say once I follow the noise of music and voices to the game room set up in the basement.
After traveling all the way here, we spent another several hours installing our own security system around the house and property, then organizing all of our shit in one of the larger sitting rooms upstairs.
How in the fuck do they still have energy? Then I look around, and roll my eyes.
That’s how.
It looks like a frat party threw up in here. Between the alcohol, soda and sugar, no wonder they’re all fucking wired.
In the twenty minutes it took for me to double-check all they security systems, they’ve already made themselves right at fucking home down here. But I guess they always do this shit. We could be in a bunker trying to survive a nuclear fallout and they would still fucking act like this. I guess it could be worse. Better than shitting themselves over what we’re about to pull, like normal humans would be.
I shrug, then snag the bottle of tequila off a nearby table.
“Ha!” Ava shouts as her third dart lands in the center of the dartboard. She retrieves them, then waves them toward Ryan. “Your turn.”
“Oh, no way,” he says.
“Why not?” She stares at him.
“Um…” He pushes his glasses back up. “Because I’ve never played and those look sharp.” He eyes the darts in her hand.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me. Here.” She walks over, holding them out for him, and he puts his hands up like he doesn’t want anything to do with them.
“Um, no, that’s okay. Maybe next time,” he says, then tries to flee, heading toward the pool table.
“Oh no you don’t,” she says, grabbing him by the arm. She forces his hand out flat so she can place them in his palm.
And watching a grown man turn beat red from his interaction with our little intern suddenly makes me grateful that I came down here to see it.
I find Leena perched on Luke’s knee as they watch Jace and Colton square off in a game of pool. Both of them throwing taunts and laughing.
“Watch the stitches, Fisher,” I mutter as I walk past them. I can see how he’s leaning against the table for support.
“Sure thing, boss.” He then proceeds to hobble over to take his shot. I shake my head.
Stubborn bastard.
I head straight to Leena, leaning down to plant a kiss on her perfect mouth. I glance over at Luke’s mouth, then to the eyes watching me, his lips tipping up into that fucking smirk. I try to stifle my smile, but I can’t fucking help it as I straighten. I pull up a chair and sit next to them, taking a swig of the tequila and hoping it will calm my dick down before passing it to Luke.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? Bullshit you haven’t played!” Ava shouts over the music.
“I haven’t, I swear!” Ryan replies, laughing and throwing up his hands. I look over, nodding in approval when I see three darts in the dead center of the board. “It’s just math and physics!”
“Leave it to Ry to make throwing darts fucking nerdy.” Jace laughs.
“We should have put some money down. Lesson learned,” Colton replies. Ava glares at both of them, then the board, as she takes her turn. A smug looking Ryan sips on a diet soda nearby.
“Corner pocket,” Jace says but I’ve stopped watching. I’m too busy studying Leena as she stares at Colton. I glance at Luke, wondering if he’s picked up this little development. He sneaks a look back at me that says he has.
I run a hand over my face. We told her she could fuck him, not fall in love with him. I take a moment to process this information.
I know Luke noticed this to some extent before we gave her permission, but I didn’t believe him.
It’s fucking weird having it confirmed.
I hear a ball land in a pocket, and I can tell by Colton’s expletives that he fucking lost. I chuckle at that.
“Alright, we doing this?” Jace asks, tossing his cue onto the table and pulling off his shirt. Leena’s eyes go wide, wondering where this is going, all of us burst out laughing at her reaction.
Colton steps closer, tipping her chin up toward him. “Calm down, beautiful. You’re not getting a show,” he tells her softly. It’s not the tone he uses with her normally, and it’s certainly not a tone he uses with submissives.
And that catches Jace’s attention.
Luke and I watch as he stops in his tracks, staring wide-eyed between Colton and Leena. Then he looks at us, and seeing that we’re not bothered by this must confirm his suspicion. His eyes grow wider as he looks between all of us.
“What?” Colton says when he notices the man standing there like a deer in the fucking headlights. It only takes him a second to figure it out. “Oh, sit the fuck down, I’ll tell you later.” He grips the man by the back of the neck and shoves him into a chair.
As Colton starts unpacking his tattoo equipment onto a nearby table, I glance over at Ryan and Ava. They are still busy laughing over their game of darts, clearly having missed that entire interaction. Thank fuck for that, I’m not sure how much more of our bullshit those two can handle. And we’re trying to be professional here.
Professional. I chuckle at that.
Because we’re about to tattoo one of our employees with a Queen of Diamonds playing card so that tomorrow, we can throw him into the fucking fire.