Chapter 10 #3
“Did I do a good job? What do you think? Selene doesn’t know how much potential she has. She could have any man she wants falling at her feet with a snap of her fingers.” She snapped her fingers and then headed for the door, Logan’s arm draped around her shoulders.
“I agree,” he answered, grinning at me, and together we walked out onto the porch, where we shivered in the cold air. My coat kept my top half warm, but my legs were freezing. The sheer pair of thigh highs I wore certainly did nothing to protect me from the cold.
Once outside, Alyssa and Logan went on ahead of me to Neil’s Maserati.
The thought of him looking disdainfully at me or tossing some insult or cruel joke my way made my legs shake.
Still, I silently followed the loved-up couple.
Inside, however, I wanted nothing more than to scream, letting out all the frustration that had built up in the last few hours.
“Don’t be a dick. They’re running late because they’re women, and women need more time to get ready,” Logan said preemptively, anticipating what his brother was about to say. Then, he stopped abruptly.
Neil was leaning against his car door, looking bored. He had a lit cigarette clenched between his lips, and he looked peeved.
He’d waited too long for us, and he wasn’t used to it. Neil didn’t like to wait; he wanted everything, and he wanted it now.
“Can we go?” he asked Alyssa, looking seriously at her.
He studied her outfit and raised an eyebrow without comment.
Luckily, he couldn’t see me because I was still hiding behind Logan, where I planned to remain.
Except Neil craned his neck to the side, looking for me, and when Logan realized that his brother was specifically trying to see me, he moved, showing me off to the devil himself.
I clutched my bag as his bright eyes slowly moved from the pronounced neckline down to the too-short skirt. Then on to the high heels that lengthened my figure unnecessarily.
My cheeks were scalding, and my breathing was rapid.
Traitorous feelings.
I looked around and focused specifically on a small bush nearby—anything to avoid looking at him. But I could feel his stare hot on my skin, burning the flesh upon which it rested.
Little by little, he was branding me, and I could feel the full power of it.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Alyssa commented, though I wished she would have stayed quiet. Compliments always made me feel shy, and I needed to feel strong just then, not weak.
Neil took a step toward me and then another. I could smell smoke as he got closer and closer, mingled with his regular pleasant scent. I lifted my chin to look at him when my nose nearly made contact with his chest.
I saw everything in his eyes.
I saw his audacity. His strength.
I saw his power. His fury.
I also saw his lust. The desire to bite into my flesh; the desperation to make me his immediately. I saw the yearning and the clash between his determination to resist me and the heat that had set him aflame—an exhausting torture.
I saw the urge he had to be inside me and his furious need, which had to be satisfied.
We were going to lose our minds just from looking at each other.
“So you’re serious about this?” he whispered, his voice rough. I knew that tone; it was the same one he used when he whispered obscenities into my ear in bed.
“Looks like it,” I said challengingly. I wanted to brush past him and get in the car. I wanted to appear confident, but instead I just stood there. Motionless, helpless, and intimidated. If he had tried to kiss me then, my legs would have given out from the sheer intensity of the moment.
This was the Neil Miller effect.
“Let’s go.” Mercifully, he pulled away and passed a hand over his face. I went back to breathing again.
I was surprised at his sudden surrender, and I was positive there was something strange going on that stopped him from going on the attack.
I didn’t say anything, though, and simply got into the car with everyone else.
The brothers sat in the front with us girls in the back. I was visibly uncomfortable, and I hadn’t said a single word while Alyssa continued to chat with Logan. I envied how attuned they seemed to each other. Logan was so attentive and kind. Neil, on the other hand…
I glanced at him. He drove in silence with a characteristic thoughtful frown on his face; his self-assurance was showing in the way he gripped the steering wheel one-handed.
He didn’t say anything more because, like usual, he wasn’t feeling chatty.
There were times when Neil displayed an inclination to talk but other times—like right now—-he clammed up, needing to be alone as he navigated his chaotic inner world.
After a few minutes in the car, it occurred to me that I didn’t even know where we were going. Logan and Alyssa told me the party was being thrown at a private club by someone named Bryder Janson, but I had no idea who that was.
After about ten minutes, we arrived at our destination.
The sight of all the people queueing up at the entrance of the enormous club took me back to Halloween—an evening much like this one that had ended in disaster. Logan, Alyssa, and I got out of the car and waited for Neil to park it and meet us.
A feeling of anguish stopped me in my tracks, and I stared at the club like I was looking into the void.
“Selene…” Alyssa called, trying to get my attention.
“Are you okay?” Logan asked, staring at me. I’d gone pale, and, what’s more, when I touched my cheek with one hand, it felt frozen.
“Yeah, of course.” I smiled.
“Let’s go.” Neil appeared behind me, and I stiffened. I had to quit being so tense.
Logan linked hands with Alyssa, and together they walked to the entrance. Neil, on the other hand, lit another cigarette and paid me no mind. He looked irritated and bored.
Without exchanging words or touches, we followed Logan and Alyssa toward a white LED sign reading NEW LION, the name of the club. I’d never heard of it, but Alyssa told me it was a haven for New York’s richest people. They threw all sorts of parties there.
The place was so exclusive that the bright red door only opened if security approved someone to enter. We watched as several people without the proper invitations were turned away and left grumbling indistinctly under their breaths.
I knew Logan had gotten a special invite, and I sincerely hoped that the exclusivity meant that it would be a nice place, but even more than that, that it would be low-key.
“They say that beyond the cocktail area, there’s some kind of playroom and suites where you can spend the night,” a young man ahead of us commented as he stood in line with his group of friends while we all waited our turn for the door.
“Yeah, and they have table dancers after midnight,” said another man.
Oh great, just what the place was missing—hot dancers with perfect bodies shaking their asses in everyone’s faces.
What kind of place had Logan taken us to?
I snorted and rocked back on my heels, feeling the discomfort in my back and calves. I wished I could take off my shoes and walk barefoot. I sighed, turning to see Neil.
He stood behind me with his phone in one hand and his eyes locked on the display.
He was messaging someone; I could tell by the rapid movement of his thumbs.
I wondered who it was—maybe Jennifer? Maybe someone else?
I’d never looked through his phone, but I knew what I would find if I did: lewd photos, sexts, come-ons, and offers to hook up.
“Why are you staring at me?” Neil grumbled. Somehow, he’d noticed my gaze even though he’d never even lifted his eyes from that damn screen. He was incredibly sharp.
“I’m not staring at you; I’m just trying to ignore the stabbing pain in my feet,” I answered with a wince of pain.
Never again.
Never again with the high heels.
“Quit whining. We need to find the lucky guy who’s going to fuck you,” he retorted, casting a bored glance over the line before looking back down at his phone. Despite my heels, Neil was still taller than me, and it was easy for him to look down on me, just the way he wanted.
“I actually wore my favorite thong for that very reason. Can’t wait,” I said breezily, faking a smirk.
Actually, I was just wearing my usual cotton panties, but I enjoyed provoking him.
His gleaming eyes immediately shifted from the phone screen to my face.
He looked earnestly at me for a moment before hiding behind his armor again, determined never to appear vulnerable or let me know what he was thinking.
“Why do we even have to bother with these door checks?” A familiar voice from over Neil’s shoulder drew my attention, and I spotted a girl with bright blue hair in a high ponytail.
She was facing away from us, leaving us with a view of her black leather skirt and a jacket in the same color that was tight across her narrow shoulders.
Neil didn’t hesitate. He stretched out an arm and, with complete confidence, smacked her ass. She jumped and whirled around, ready to retaliate against whoever had made a move like that. When she met Neil’s eyes, however, her expression softened, and she gave him a bright smile.
“Asshole! Your smacks hurt like hell, did you know?” Alexia whined, massaging the area that had been hit. I breathed in deep, trying to conceal how much Neil’s behavior actually bothered me, especially with Krew girls.
“Oh, he knows perfectly well,” Luke—whom I hadn’t even noticed next to her—cut in. His blue eyes popped against the darkness of the cold night, and his blond hair perfectly framed his evenly featured face.
“Shut up, Parker. Where’s the other one?” Neil stuck out his hand, and they greeted each other with grips of iron.