20. Chapter 19 – Knox
Chapter 19 – Knox
H oly fuck.
She kissed me.
She kept her lips pressed against mine and held the front of my shirt, keeping me pulled down against her as she kissed me. Sure, I could have broken her hold and pulled away, but why the fuck would I do that?
She didn’t move her lips against mine, but I felt the way they softened after a fraction of a second, like she wasn’t sure what to do with herself after making the initial contact.
So I decided for her.
I tilted my head and opened my lips, giving her time to pull away and let go, but she didn’t.
And I didn’t hold back. I ran my tongue over the seam of her lips before sliding my hand around the back of her head, anchoring her to me. She softened even more, and her tongue met mine, tentatively teasing me before pushing its way into my mouth.
I growled, unable to stop the primal reaction to feeling her accepting the kiss and reciprocating it.
Brody’s declaration about Lex’s sexuality a minute ago caught me off guard, but it was making more sense the longer she kissed me back.
“I can’t.” She pulled back and stared up at me with wild eyes and swollen lips. “I’m not—”
“I know.” I replied, understanding just how much she believed what she was about to say. “It’s just a game.” I smiled down at her, trying to give her the permission she was looking for to relax and blow it off .
I looked over her shoulder to where Hannah still stood, and my cock hardened from the look in her eye as she stared directly at me. “Hannah.” I called, trying to break her from the spell she was under.
She blinked and looked at Lex and then back to me before marching forward. “I want to taste her on your lips.” She all but climbed up my body in one jump, wrapping her legs around my waist and kissing me with everything she had.
“Fuck, baby.” I growled, walking her to the wall and pinning her against it. She clawed at my back and bit my lip as she kissed me, and I couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so worked up. “Easy, Hannah.” I warned, pulling my lip out of her teeth, and holding her arms out wide in a T, using her hold on my waist to keep her pinned to the wall. “Down girl.” I teased just for her to hear.
“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be in the middle of a kiss before as much as that one.” She panted.
I shook it off, knowing we needed to keep the game going, or we were going to get lost on the way to the bedroom. “My turn.” I slid Hannah down my body and grabbed my pool stick from the wall before lining up for an easy shot. It clanked its way into the pocket, and I grinned at Lex across the table. She wouldn’t quite meet my eye, but I could tell she was fighting to control her emotions. “Lex, truth or dare?”
Her nostrils flared a bit, and she took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. “Truth.”
“What do you want to happen tonight?”
“Sex.” She replied instantly. “Isn’t that why we’re all here?”
“Yes,” I nodded, “Then why don’t we cut to the chase and get out of here?”
Lex squinted her eyes slightly and cocked her head to the side, and I swallowed in trepidation. She was up to something. “No.” She grabbed her pool stick and slid up next to Hannah. “I’ve played your game, now you play mine.”
She wasn’t talking to me, though. She was staring directly at Brody. And he was staring back like they were about to fight. Or fuck. I couldn’t quite tell .
Lex grabbed the chalk and started dusting the tip of her stick as she walked to the end of the table and hit the button to dispense the balls again. “The game is simple.” She put the triangle down and started racking the balls. “Brody and I each set and break the balls. The one with the most to go in off the break wins.”
“What do I win?” Brody interjected and walked forward. I slid my body around Hannah’s tightly coiled form, fearing she might snap under the pressure of watching Lex and Brody duke it out.
“When I win,” Lex went on, as though Brody hadn’t tried to take the power from her. She stopped arranging the table and looked right at him. “I take Hannah home. Alone.”
“No.” I answered instantly. That was never part of our arrangement, and she knew it. I also knew she was only making the moves to regain control because of Brody’s stunt with our kiss. “Lex, that’s not going to happen.”
“Why?” She looked over at me, “Scared she won’t come back to you?”
“Lex.” Hannah almost pleaded with the woman who was toeing a line so close to destruction, it wasn’t even funny. Brody had been on board with the arrangement for the most part, but he’d walk away, effectively pulling Hannah and me with him, just to spite Lex for trying to get one up on him.
“Deal.” Brody interrupted, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “But when I win,” He leaned forward with his hands on the opposite end of the table of her and squared off. “I take all three of you home. With me.”
She clenched her jaw as she contemplated it. “Why? So you can sit in the corner and watch me fuck your girl?”
“Guess we’ll see in a few minutes, won’t we?” He rolled the last ball on the table to her and stood back up. “Ladies first.”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
I grabbed Lex’s bottle of whiskey off the table behind me and tipped it back, inviting the burn of the liquor as she set the table how she wanted.
“What do we do?” Hannah whispered, sliding her arms around my waist, clinging to me. “I mean, I’m not opposed to either option, but I’m scared as hell about what they’ll do to each either, regardless of who wins. ”
“We have to let them battle it out.” I nodded to the pool table. “I don’t think either of us is going to talk any sense into them.”
She sighed and laid her head on my chest. “I never wanted this.”
“I know.” I kissed her temple and sat back onto a stool, pulled her between my legs so I could pretend I was holding her when in reality, I was holding onto her for dear fucking life. Changing the dynamic of our relationship was going to be tough on everyone, but I didn’t envision this. “Just say the word and I’ll end it for them.” There were enough scars on my knuckles to prove I could put Brody in his place if I had to, didn’t mean I wanted to though.
Lex glanced over her shoulder at us and winked at Hannah before lining up her shot. My eyes instantly fell to the way her lush ass filled out those cut-offs and the ink that disappeared just beneath the frayed edge.
Did Hannah’s mouth water to take a bite like a man’s did? Like mine did?
That kiss left me with the lingering taste of Lex’s whiskey, and I found myself at a loss, searching for reasons to resist doing it again. I knew she was a lesbian. But she didn’t act like one when she looked at Brody and I. She looked like a woman torn. Indecision and confusion clouded her brown eyes when she thought we weren’t watching.
God, I was a fucking goner for her.
Lex pulled back and let a shot off at the cluster in the center, choosing a side aim to get the most penetration into the pack.
And it worked, because I watched and listened as three of the balls landed in pockets around the table.
Three on a break shot.
Incredible.
She stood up, slowly unfolding her body seductively as she stared at Brody with a shit-eating grin and a top dog attitude.
I could almost feel how badly Brody wanted to pry that mentality out of her brain and show her what it felt like to be a good girl.
And I also knew how fucking hot it would be to watch her do the same to him. They matched each other in every way.
“Shit.” Hannah hissed, playing with her lips nervously. “That was good. ”
“If you go home with her, remember where your home really is.” I whispered into her ear.
She turned in my arms as Lex walked around to Brody’s spot as he took hers, racking the balls with sheer determination in every muscle. The tighter the pack, the more movement when the ball hits.
More movement meant more chances of sinking the balls.
“My home is in here.” Hannah said, drawing my attention away from the dance happening around the table, and pressing her hand to my chest, right over my heart. “That’s not something I can forget, Knox.”
“I know.” Smiling down at her as she stared up with those big doe eyes, “I want you to enjoy yourself either way.”
“I’m going to, because Brody will win.” She winked at me. “He’s never going to give someone else control over my body without a fight.”
I snorted at her confidence and nodded behind her as Brody lined up for his shot. He took aim from the opposite angle that Lex did, even though it was out of his routine, and I knew he did it only to be different from her. I wouldn’t have taken such a risk with such a reward on the line.
But to each his own.
He pulled back and then took his shot, effortlessly sending every single ball crashing around on the table with his strength.
One sank.
Then two.
“C’mon,” I furiously watched them bounce off the rails as they started slowing down.
Three down.
“Oh, fuck.” Hannah whispered.