Chapter 16
16
DEER
“Are you having a good time at the party, Fawn?” Scott whispered directly into my ear, his warm breath tickling and teasing.
All the air in my lungs gushed out.
With a smirk, he tugged on the lapel of my brand-new suit jacket. I’d loved this color when we’d gone to his favorite tailor because it reminded me of pipe tobacco, one of the few things I vaguely recalled about my father. My mother wasn’t a sentimental woman, but she’d kept his pipe in his desk, even after we’d moved, until I was almost ten. Scott adjusted my lapel again, as if he hadn’t made sure I looked perfect before we’d climbed into the elevator earlier to leave for this New Year’s Eve party at his friend Rafe’s place.
“Well, Fawn?” He nuzzled his nose into my hair, breathing me in, and goose bumps broke out on my skin. Why did he have to be so fucking perfect?
“Mm-hmm.”
Scott’s chuckle sounded absolutely evil. Because it was evil.
I felt dazed as I shifted, and the anal plug lodged deep in my ass sent electric sparks arcing up my spine. I was uncomfortably aware of my dick. I wasn’t hard, exactly. Instead, my junk existed in a bizarre limbo where I was firm but not embarrassing myself with a tent. I imagined I could feel his cum shifting around inside me.
Scott had fucked a load into me this afternoon before sliding the plug in.
The memory had my cockhead pulsing. He’d kissed his way up my spine, lingering, treating me like I was the most amazing thing he’d ever touched. He’d told me I could take the plug out if there was an emergency or if I was too overwhelmed to leave the apartment with it in my body—trapping his cum inside me—but I’d decided I could do this.
I wanted it.
Wanted him.
However, past me was a huge fucking moron because this was torture.
The dull thud of the bassline spilling from the speakers in the corner of the ballroom flooded into the sparsely furnished area we were currently standing in. The space was very bright and clean. Mom had friends who decorated this way, with barely anything to distract from the soaring ceilings and expensive wood floor, but then again, I’d never been here. Maybe Rafe had cleared everything valuable out so people could party more efficiently and destroy less of his stuff. There were enough people dressed in their best packed into the room that I was beginning to wish I’d left off the suit jacket. I was deadly envious of the women in strappy floor-length gowns that glittered and shimmered as they moved.
A server wearing a Happy New Year! tie with the typical black-and-white outfit drifted past carrying a tray of champagne flutes. With a bland smile, he stopped and offered them to us. Scott took two flutes, then passed me one, lingering so that our fingers brushed around the cold glass stem. His entertained grin was driving me crazy, especially when he waggled his eyebrows.
“Ugh,” I said with a strained laugh. I shifted from foot to foot and my eyes briefly drifted shut with the pleasure that accosted me. My dick was getting harder. Hell. I bit the tip of my tongue. How much more of this could I take before someone noticed? Pointed? Wondered what kind of slut Scott had brought with him? Fire blazed in my stomach and burned a path lower.
“Stop wriggling that bum,” he mumbled before nipping my earlobe. The wet heat and bright burst of barely there pain had me moaning under my breath.
When I glanced at him again, his attention was glued to me. I flushed because it didn’t matter that there were probably literally a hundred people packed into this apartment. I was all he could see. His blatant adoration was too much and just right. I was on the verge of floating away in my head, finding that meadow I’d created that was just ours. Except, I couldn’t fall to the floor here. I couldn’t be his deer.
Yes, I loved the way he looked at me.
And it was also bad . Very, very bad .
I couldn’t feel this way. If I got lost in the fantasy of this moment, I might never find my way out again when it was all over. I sighed and took a sip of the sweet champagne while staring at my shoes. All day the maudlin crap that always hit me at New Year’s had been swirling in my head, beckoning me toward a strange, depressed mood.
Another year down.
Time gone I could never get back.
What had I done with my life? I was almost finished with the classroom part of school, but I hadn’t made any headway on joining the Killough Company or even talking to my uncle about it. I didn’t even know how to contact him. And to make matters worse, I wasn’t sure that was a great idea anymore, but finding a way to prove that I was just as worthy as my brother Fionn of being part of the Killough Company was the only goal I’d ever really locked in for my life.
My mood drifted slightly darker when I caught sight of Ryan Killough out of the corner of my eye. He was laughing and talking to a man, who seemed flustered by his attention. Ryan and Scott had shaken hands earlier and shot the shit, so I knew him being here was merely a coincidence, but clearly, they shared the same social circles. Ones I’d never accessed before Scott. I wouldn’t have met my own damned cousin without a total stranger prying open the door for me.
Of course, Scott wasn’t a stranger now, but the point stood.
That was fucked up.
I sipped champagne and shifted my feet again, humming when another jolt of pleasure powered through me.
A sharp pinch on my ass made me focus on Scott. “Stop. Wrigglin’. That. Bum.” His grin was warm as he knocked his forehead against my temple. The gleam in his eyes said he was absolutely loving that something dirty was happening a foot away from him in a room full of people. The brush of need that streaked from deep in the base of my dick to the tip had me holding my breath.
This plug was a curse.
And a miracle.
I squeezed on it, wishing I had Scott’s dick in me.
“It’s hard not to do it.” My face burned, but I used some willpower and continued looking him in the eye. I gulped half of my remaining champagne, and Scott, the jerk, seemed like he was king of the fucking world.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and dragged me in against his firm muscles. The man radiated sex, and I wanted to melt against him and cuddle. Why was I stopping myself? We were at a party where plenty of other people were already drunk as hell and wobbling all around while leaning on their friends for support. I gave in and luxuriated in the public display of affection.
“Little fawn.” He pressed a kiss behind my ear that made me shiver. “My cock likes it when you show off that arse.” He nudged me closer, turning me into his space, and I bit my bottom lip when I felt his bulge pressed against my abs. “Thinking about my nut trapped in that delectable arse, your hole spread open by the plug. You’re a tease, is what you are.”
“You put it there.” I was on fire when his entire body shook with laughter.
“Behave you two!” Avery called from somewhere nearby. He’d drifted closer to Ryan, and they grinned at us. The music grew louder, as if someone in the ballroom had decided we’d all lost our hearing, and the floor-to-ceiling windows shook with the bass. The city’s lights glimmered outside, an array of diamonds spread across the night sky. Was Rafe rich enough that the neighbors downstairs wouldn’t call the cops? Oh, right, Scott was the neighbor below him. Then again, his penthouse was three floors high with a sweeping grand staircase. Maybe no one would care even if Scott did complain.
Ryan waved at me like we were friends now that we couldn’t easily hear each other. I didn’t want to like Ryan, so I hated that he and Avery seemed to be having a nice conversation together. At least, Avery was probably having a good time listening to Ryan’s Irish accent because the other man talked a mile a minute while Avery nodded.
Scott swore, and I grunted as something hit us hard from behind, and then Cricket sort of slithered in between us with his arms draped over our shoulders, a wide smile splitting his face. He nodded at a clump of people across the room gathered around a long table piled high with tiny cupcakes and cookies and sparkly silver candles that cast everything in a rich golden glow.
“Check out that arse!” He bounced on his toes. I guess everyone was sharing a brainwave tonight.
It was impossible not to grin back at Cricket because he looked so happy. “Which one?” I asked, loud enough that Scott frowned. I stuck out my tongue at him, and Cricket snickered.
“Pick one! Any of them!” He rocked me and Scott in a dangerous hug that almost clonked all our heads together. “Forgot how much I love New York City! I missed it. People are more stuck up here, sure, but look at the choices. Every one of them ready to spread wide for an accent and a promise of a good root.” He let out a sharp whistle that had people turning in our direction. Scott and Cricket laughed like what he’d done was the most hysterical thing anyone had ever come up with, and I attempted to hide behind my champagne flute until people turned back to what they were doing.
Cricket rocked us again with another friendly squeeze, and I grunted as the plug in my ass brushed just right on my nerve endings, making me go weak in the knees. Cricket grabbed me around the middle with both hands.
“You all right, mate?” he asked, eyebrows diving. “You pissed already?”
Scott shoved him off with a glare and tucked me under his arm again, which was good, because I was melting and couldn’t stand on my own. At the same time, my dick was doing its best to join the party.
“My Deer’s fine,” he growled, but a smile crept back onto his lips, and he winked at me. “Just fine.”
Cricket snorted, and I couldn’t stand that maybe he’d worked out some of what was going on with me, especially when he cackled. “I do not want to know.” He elbowed Scott, which was like a grenade going off. The brothers scuffled in a flurry of motion until I got knocked around and sloshed some champagne onto the floor. Okay, this was exactly why the furniture was missing.
Scott won the battle by slapping Cricket upside the head, and then they were both laughing again.
The songs switched, and Scott snagged my champagne flute and shoved both of our drinks into Cricket’s empty hands. He stared drunkenly down at them while Scott dragged me away toward the slow, thumping music that was belting out of the five-foot-tall speakers. The words in the song were all about a lover betrayed, but there was something tantalizing in the jazz-influenced beat. Before I knew it, I was snuggled up in Scott’s arms. Most people were shout-talking in here, and only a few other couples were dancing, but I didn’t care.
One couple was doing a waltz completely out of sync to the music, and I couldn’t help but smile at the two men. They were cute. One was tall and lanky and the other was shorter and thicker around the middle. They both had silver hair and that vibe like they’d been together for fifty years—and they were still in love.
I nestled against Scott’s chest. After a bit the music picked up and pelted along faster, a different song clearly meant for a rave. No one seemed to care, though.
Scott smirked down at me as he slid his thigh between my legs and hauled me close with both hands on my ass. I moaned as he nudged against my excited dick and teased me until my head felt ready to float away and my balls wanted to empty my load into my underwear. My abs clenched tight and my eyes began to water from being on edge.
“More?” The word was almost shouted in my ear, but I didn’t need to reply, simply rolled my hips against him. He buried his face against my neck, and I could feel the vibration of a turned-on growl rippling across my skin. I teased my dick along his thigh, feeling like I’d leaped out of an airplane.
I’d never done this.
I’d never been this out of control in public.
Scott made me feel safe enough to do these crazy things because I knew he wouldn’t leave me here on my own. When he was around a lot of shit might happen, but he always made sure to take care of me. Protect me.
I shuddered and was so close I could taste the sparkling joy fizzing like champagne bubbles in my blood as my body trembled on the edge of orgasm.
Scott brushed a kiss over my cheek and took a horrible step back.
I frowned at him, and he tweaked my chin, then spotted something behind me and spun me around to drag me off in that direction.
Shit, shit, shit, I’m hard. I tried to cover my crotch, but Scott swatted my hands away. He was probably right. That would draw even more attention.
Rafe, who we’d met as we’d entered the party hours ago, stood there still looking perfect and unruffled in his pale blue suit with his black hair swept to the side. His eyebrows did a little dance as he glanced between us, and then he sent me a crooked grin.
“I hope you’re having a good time, Deer.” His gaze dipped down my front.
I held my breath while I almost burst into flames. Nope. I refused to glance down to assess how far my dick was pushing out my suit pants. But then, I lost the battle. There wasn’t a chance I could play this cool. Nodding at Rafe, I turned and buried myself against Scott’s front. Yeah, I was hiding, but oh my God, the music was loud and the people were all talking. Someone else knew how turned on I was and what Scott had been doing to me. I didn’t hate the way my insides pulsed with need, but it was overwhelming.
“My Deer is bashful. Don’t suppose there is an out-of-the-way spot we could go for a minute or so. You know, let him collect himself?”
I slapped Scott’s chest, and he roared with laughter.
“Of course.”
I shot Rafe a glare, and he gave me a serious nod, even though amusement glinted in his eyes. He gestured to the left toward a long hallway. “The guest bedroom on the first floor is fine. I don’t need to tell you to clean up after yourself, right?”
Scott snorted and another round of laughter rumbled out of him, vibrating against my ear where it rested on his chest. He dragged me off toward the hallway and the staircase, where there was a small barrier made of red ribbon set up. A note dangling down read, “The party stops here!”
Even though Rafe had said it was fine, a thrill had my fingers shaking as we ducked under the ribbon and descended the staircase in a cage of glass windows. It was a downward spiral of flowing wooden steps with a black handrail.
When we got to the bottom, Scott led me down a hallway and to the left, into a spacious area that appeared to be a library with a couple of large fluffy white reading chairs and a chaise set up to look out the wide windows. Central Park was right outside and it was a peaceful view.
I staggered when Scott shut the door behind us and the endless racket from the party was muffled.
“Oh, that’s better.” I slid my hand over my eyes.
“Not yet, but it will be.” Scott attacked my neck from behind and sucked a kiss on it as he mouthed around to the side. “I promise.”
“He knew you wanted to do something dirty with me.” My dick kicked in my pants, and I sighed as Scott slid his hand down and covered it.
“Hell yeah, he did. Are you okay to do this here?” He stopped to stare into my eyes. “I know you need it, and we can always go back to mine.” He nipped at my neck on the same spot, and I ground my ass back against his dick, loving the streak of heat that shot through me as the plug smashed my prostate. “I’ll take care of you, trust me.”
“Oh, I do.” I rested my hand over his on my dick. He gave me a squeeze and a warm little growl that made me want to do anything he ordered.
“Walk,” he said sternly, and I fell headfirst into that mental space that was so easy to slip into with him. The one where I simply listened and followed his commands and waited for everything to feel fucking amazing. I would give up a lot to feel this way. The thought made me startle as he slapped my hands on a window. I liked to think I was a smart person, but he could tell me that I was never allowed to leave his apartment again. In that scenario, the only thing I could do with my life moving forward was wear the fluffy tail and collar and be ready and waiting for him to fuck me.
Oh, yeah, I would do it.
No one had ever paid attention to me like this.
No one had ever wanted to make me feel good like this.
I shivered with dread and need, and a thousand other odd emotions swirled together inside me with the champagne and left me feeling swoony. He unbuckled my pants, and I nodded.
“Yes, yes, yes.”
He chuckled. “Do you talk right now, Fawn?”
I shook my head and spread my legs wider.
“You can if you want. I’m just checking in.” He pressed a kiss to the back of my neck as I rested my forehead on the cool glass. My pants and boxers hit the floor. He tilted my hips out so that my ass was on display for him, and I knocked my forehead against the window as he tugged out the plug. The stretch on my slick hole had my knees trying to slip out from under me again, but he held me steady.
“Hang on to this,” he said, sounding deeply amused.
My shaking fingers closed around the end of the plug, and before I knew what was going on, he spread me open and swooped his tongue deep inside me. The hot wet muscle had no problem probing and fucking. I whimpered and thrust my ass back to meet him. At this point, I knew how good it felt to have him eat me out, but being in someone else’s apartment on New Year’s Eve when there was a huge party happening.... It had me rocked to the core.
“What if someone sees me outside?” I shivered but couldn’t say it was a bad sensation.
“We’re on the one-hundred-and-twenty-ninth floor. Too high up.” He grunted and went back to devouring me.
“What if I want them to see you doing this to me?”
He moaned against my hole. The vibrations had my leaking dick twitching, and my balls were right back on that precipice I’d been dangling above while we’d been dancing. He growled and lapped and sucked on my rim. He spread me as wide as he could and tunneled in, as if he was going to try to suck on my prostate. Which was impossible. Right?
All at once, it was over. Golden heat spiraled through my stomach and burst out to consume my body as my cockhead throbbed and my muscles convulsed. My cum sprayed against the glass, and I twitched in place.
Scott continued to fuck his tongue inside me like it was his only job.
I shivered and jerked while he kept going. Not long later, he hopped to his feet, and I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I saw his reflection in the glass. His hand on his dick, his teeth bared. He was jerking off fast. My dick was spent, but I swear it tried to shoot a few more drops of cum. I glanced over my shoulder and whimpered.
“Want all the other predators to know my fawn is taken,” he said through clenched teeth, and then with a gasp, stepped forward. He didn’t fuck into me, just popped the head of his dick beyond my hole. I moaned as I felt his hot cum spurt into my ass, right against my rim, ready to leak out. He grunted, then snatched the plug from my hand and shoved it in quick.
I whimpered at the sensation of his cum squishing around and rocked on my heels as he pegged my prostate with the toy. I didn’t come again, but a jolt of pure need settled in my stomach.
It would barely take anything at all to get me hard again. I clawed at the glass, then tightened my hands into hooves and tapped at it that way. He bent down and kissed each of my asscheeks as he pulled up my boxers, then my pants. He carefully tucked in my shirt and made sure I was perfect before he turned me away from the jizz I’d sprayed on the glass. His gaze never left mine as he buckled my belt.
“What about—” I gestured tiredly at the window.
He snorted. “Leave it. I can’t wait for Rafe to come down here and play I spy .” His face was flushed and he’d never looked happier.
How was he so sexy? I couldn’t help myself—I slid my arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hungry kiss. I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of him, and I loved it when he shoved his tongue in deep to swirl around mine, giving me a taste of my own musk. Moaning, I wrapped a leg around his hip, and he tugged me close. I had no idea how long we were like that, kissing, enjoying each other. My head spun, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of air or the night catching up to me.
A knock on the door startled us apart. Rafe stuck his head in and grinned.
“It wasn’t locked?” I froze in Scott’s arms.
“Huh. My bad.” He grinned, but the way his eyebrows shot up let me know he hadn’t meant to do that. My stomach heated to boiling all over again. He’d been so excited to be with me he’d forgotten.
“This isn’t the guest bedroom, it’s the observatory,” Rafe teased. “We’re about to do the countdown. Get your asses out here and start the New Year kissing!” He sounded a bit drunk now, and he was all smiles as he spun away.
Snickering together, we made our way back up to the party. We found Avery in a conversation with two men near the dessert table who were about twice his age, and he didn’t look comfortable at all. The men were holding hands, so maybe they were fishing for a third. Avery kept trying to inch away, but they shuffled along with him, obviously engaged. Cricket was nowhere to be seen.
“Should we rescue him?” I glanced at Scott.
He seemed to debate it, so I elbowed him lightly in the gut, and he nodded, laughing. “Never know! He might enjoy it. Learn something.”
I pinched his side. “There you are!” I had to practically shout to be heard over the music, and Avery gave me the thankful look of someone who’d just been tossed a life saver on cracking sea ice.
“Oh, do you need me for the thing ? So sorry, lads!” He dove between me and Scott and dragged us to the far side of the room while the guys stared after us sadly.
“Did you not want to be speaking with them?” Scott asked. He stuck out his tongue.
“Do you have eyeballs?” Avery screeched. “Where were you?”
I felt like an asshole doing it, but I started laughing.
Servers broke into the room, at least thirty of them, all carrying trays loaded with glasses. The music in the other room cut out abruptly, which had the disorienting effect of making the party space seem to grow three times the size of what it had been.
“It’s nearly midnight!” Rafe strode to the center of the ballroom with a glass in hand. His suit jacket was missing, and the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to the elbows. There was a round of clapping as a big glass ball was wheeled into the room. The decoration resembled a snow globe with the New York skyline immortalized inside, only it was so big it nearly touched the ceiling. I had no idea how they’d gotten it into the penthouse. I was mesmerized. Inside, a projection of a clock counting down to midnight had everyone gasping as a swirl of realistic snow began to tumble around in the globe.
“Oh, that’s pretty,” Avery said, glancing at Scott. “And you said this was going to be a mid party.”
Scott laughed.
“What do you want to do different?” I tugged on Scott’s tie, and he swung around to stare down into my face. His brow furrowed. “For the New Year, I mean.”
He shook his head. “I don’t do resolutions.” He dragged me in until my side was pressed against his. “If I want to change something about my life, I just do it.” His throat bobbed as he stared down at me, and it struck me that he seemed nervous. Scott was never off his game. Panic nipped at me.
“I’m jealous.”
Scott swooped in and pressed a soft kiss on my lips. “Would you want things to be different?” He studied my face with a pinched expression.
“What do you mean?”
He hauled me closer and tipped my chin up. “Would you like to take money out of the equation? I mean, I’ll take care of you and what you need, Fawn. But, would you like to be my boyfriend?”
Avery stared and sipped his champagne with his eyebrows raised. I was pretty sure everyone around us had heard. My heart tried to pound out of my chest and I tugged on my tie.
Stunned, I said nothing, then nodded.
Scott yelled and kissed me, using both hands to cup my face, and by the time he set me back down on my feet the clock in the snow globe was flashing Happy New Year and a cool light show was happening inside while “Auld Lang Syne” played over the noise of people celebrating. Others nearby were kissing. Some toasted. I’d never been in a room full of more excitement.
“I thought you didn’t do New Year, new me!” I said with a laugh.
He rested his forehead on mine. “I don’t. New Year, new us, though? I’ll do that.”
I couldn’t stop smiling when he leaned in for another kiss.