15. Poe #3
The game went on, and somewhere around my third glass of whiskey, my wolf picked up on something the human hadn’t considered a possibility.
When it was her turn to deal, Ava peeked at the cards during the shuffle, and when she passed them out, she drew from the bottom of the deck for her own hand.
At first, I thought she might be cheating so she’d amass some great pile of our clothes.
But after she sat in only her matching lace panties, I realized she’d been cheating to lose.
But she wasn’t favoring me. No, I sat in only my boxers while Lycan still had his jeans and belt. She was doing it to help him, not that he needed it. Of all the times I’d ever played with him, I could count the number of times I’d won on one hand.
I debated whether to call her out. Was she trying to get herself naked…
or me? Wouldn’t she be better served by winning outright?
Unless this had been her plan from the start.
Did she and Lycan spend all day plotting about how to humiliate me best?
It didn’t seem like she had that in her, but she was a Vanderbilt, so who the fuck knew?
“Moment of truth,” Lycan said, flipping over his cards. Ava bit her bottom lip, smiled, and revealed a three of spades and a queen of hearts. She had nothing, same as me. I sat back in my seat as I revealed my hand and looked at Lycan, who wore a smug grin with shimmering steel-gray eyes.
“Foiled again, huh?” He tutted sarcastically. “I’m afraid I’ll need those beautiful lace panties, Trouble.”
“And leave me sitting here, shivering with my bare ass on the chair?” She pretended to pout. “You’re not very nice.”
“Oh, I am a merciful winner,” Lycan replied with a laugh. “Ask Poe.”
“I don’t know if merciful is the word I’d use,” I said. “Cruel and vindictive, maybe.”
He gasped and covered his heart with his hands. “So callous for someone so young.”
I sighed and squared my jaw, preparing for what was coming. He’d have both of us in the palm of his hand after this, and then the floor would drop out from under me and send me careening into Dante’s Inferno. We were at the finish line now, nothing left to lose, all chips on the table, so to speak.
“I need your panties, too, I’m afraid,” he said to me before shifting his focus back to Ava. “Trouble, I bet if you asked nicely, Poe would let you sit on his lap to keep you warm.”
I snapped my focus to him and froze as all the puzzle pieces fell into place. This. This is his endgame.
“Stop teasing him, Lycan,” Ava said.
“Why?” Lycan brought his drink to his lips, taking another indulgent sip. “Don’t you think he deserves it?”
“Lycan,” I warned.
He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table, his eyes glowing as they pierced whatever flimsy shield I still had up.
“He left us twice. He stood outside to watch me fuck your throat like some voyeur. Did you consent to being watched, Trouble?”
“No, but I—” She tried to say.
“No.” Lycan shook his head, but I recognized this for what it was. He was stacking the deck against me. He’d seen me too and didn’t stop despite the breach of consent. What little cheaters they both were.
“I know what you’re trying to do,” I said. “It won’t work.”
“You don’t think so?” He hummed and sat back in his seat. “Pet, come here.”
Ava hesitated for a moment, the tension rippling through the air like lightning strikes as she looked between us.
I kept my stare trained on Lycan, and he taunted me with a dominant one of his own.
Eventually, she pushed her chair out from under the table, stood, and walked over to the blond Bastard sitting across from me.
“Hand me your panties,” he said.
Shoulders trembling and skin prickling with goosebumps, she hooked her thumbs into her underwear and shucked them down to the floor.
When she bent over to retrieve them, I caught a glimpse of her cunt, light reflecting off her soaking skin in a delicate invitation.
The scent hit me next: needy female, sweet coconut, and delicious vanilla slick.
Fuck, I wanted to bury my face between her thighs and never come up for air again.
I fisted my armrests to keep my body in place.
She put the blue lace in Lycan’s hands and, ever the perverted hedonist, he brought them to his nose for a deep inhale.
“Fucking ambrosia,” he murmured, trailing one hand up her thigh to her hip. “You said you were cold?” Lycan nodded to his bent leg. “Warm yourself up on my thigh.”
Ava turned to sit sideways, but he tutted and corrected her. “No, Trouble. Turn to face Poe and straddle my leg.”
My pulse pounded so hard, I almost couldn’t hear her whispered question.
“Are you sure?”
“You can use your safeword,” he said. “You don’t have to do anything.”
Ava seemed to think for a moment before she looked over her shoulder at me, and whatever she saw there must have given her an extra boost of courage. She turned fully, lifted one leg over his, and sat down.
My cock kicked to life despite my best attempts to tell it to fuck off. This wasn’t right. They were married. I was nobody. This wasn’t any of my business. This wasn’t…this wasn’t…
My thoughts died when Lycan wrapped an arm around her waist and cupped one full breast, plucking at her nipple. He pulled her toward him so he could lean in to press his mouth next to her ear.
“Now ride my thigh like you want to ride his face,” Lycan said.