Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TEDDIE
I stepped slowly through the house, taking note of each of the doors. Those ones, Hel said, were Fade and Oak's rooms. That one there led to the library. Hel's office was there. A powder room was behind another door.
Where, then, was the door to the basement?
Unable to figure it out from the inside, I stepped out the back door, past the pool, and did a slow walk around the house.
In the back, right corner, a spiderweb-covered egress window was built into the side of the house. Confirmation a basement existed.
I crouched and peered, but couldn't see a thing through the glass. The window was covered by a blind or a curtain. Hell, maybe it was boarded up.
Whatever it was, I got no answers except a basement was there.
I poked around, but as far as I could tell it didn't open from the outside. Not without force. A broken window wouldn't go unnoticed, so I left it for now.
I slipped back inside and headed over to the same wall above the window. Nothing was there but the pantry. Of course, the entry wouldn't be on top of the window. As far as I could tell, it wasn't near it either.
"Looking for something?" Oak stepped into the pantry and grabbed a bag of sunflower seeds. He tore it open with his teeth and tipped a handful onto his palm. "Would you like some?" He offered the bag to me. I almost expected him to add a rule or a condition, but he just stood there, holding them.
I took the bag and poured out a handful onto my own palm before handing it back.
“Thanks. I'm just getting to know the place," I said. "A house like this, shouldn’t it have hidden passageways?”
"That's what I said when I moved in," he remarked. "If there are any, Hel never told me."
Trying to contain my disappointment, I popped the seeds into my mouth and started to chew.
"Have you tried lifting up the cans to see if they open a secret door?" I asked, half-joking.
"I can't say I have," Oak replied. He eyed the cans. His brows dipped, as if suspicious that they might be hiding something he wasn't aware of.
"Where do you work out?" I blurted. Guys like these would have a gym in their house, wouldn't they? Maybe…in the basement?
"Hel converted the pool house into a gym," Oak said. "I'll show you if you want."
"I'd like that," I said. The entrance to the basement might be in there.
All right. It was a long shot, but stranger things had happened, right? I mean, if they had something to hide, they'd put it somewhere unexpected, wouldn't they? That's what I'd do if I was trying to hide a space with sixty-nine people chained-up inside. Probably.
I followed him back out, past the pool and over to the pool house.
"Hel said if there's any piece of equipment that's not in here, you don't need it.” Oak opened the door and gestured for me to step inside.
Like the other night, he wanted to keep an eye on me.
This time I didn’t bother to argue. I was wearing panties and the silver anklet with the dangling teddy bear I'd found in a box outside my bedroom door.
I had to admit, it was cute. I might keep wearing it.
Whichever one it was who wrote that rule, they knew my style. Or they guessed well.
"Hel might be right." I scanned the room. Stationary bike, treadmill, elliptical trainer, weights. Everything I could think of, it was all here. Along with speakers in every corner of the ceiling. No need for a gym membership with all of this close by.
Not that I had a gym membership except that time when I made a New Year's resolution that lasted three days. That was two days more than usual.
"Hel won't mind if you use it," Oak said. "Don't try using the weights unless someone's here to spot you. Wouldn't want you dropping one on your face." His expression was completely deadpan. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
"I could say the same to you." I tried to pull off the same stonewall face. I doubted I did it as well as he did. Most people told me I was an open book.
Oak's jaw tightened. "Did you fuck anyone else that night?"
Judging by the crease of his brow, it had been on his mind since we talked about it outside Loams. I'd thought about it too, but it wasn't eating me up the way it seemed to be for him.
I considered taunting him for a while, not giving him a direct answer. Instead, I walked over to the stationary bike and climbed onto the seat. My legs dangled, almost reaching the pedals.
"No, I didn't," I said finally. "I left right after that."
"You remembered me." This seemed to be equally as important to him. I put it down to male ego, not wanting to think he was forgettable, even if we didn’t fuck. Of course not; who wanted to think they weren’t memorable? I didn't.
"Yes, I remembered you," I said. "I thought it was you behind the mask on the Zoom call, but I couldn't be sure. I mean, you were wearing a mask and we didn't exchange names or numbers."
I'd liked the anonymity, it was exciting. If I was honest with myself, I'd admit getting to know the men behind the masks was even more enticing. I would, of course, not be honest with myself about that. I sure as hell wouldn't tell them.
"We almost exchanged orgasms," Oak said with a nod.
"Yes, true," I agreed. "They would have been good ones too."
I considered asking why he let the other two drag him away like that. One minute, he seemed into me, the next he was stalking away as if he'd done something wrong. Or…nearly did something wrong. Why was he like that, then, when clearly he wanted to fuck me?
Like always, his face was a brick wall, not inviting questions about anything, much less that night. I'd get the truth out of him, one way or another.
I pressed a button on the display of the stationary bike and looked at the list of places I could pretend I was riding through while I exercised.
Some of them, I'd never heard of. Others were exotic locations I wished I could go to.
I should make a list. When this year was over, I could do some traveling, see the world.
Could I convince Lyra to come with me? We could have a bunch of fun together.
"Why did you agree to this?" Oak picked up a couple of hand weights, lifting them slowly toward his muscular chest. "I know you want to save your fathers’ bar, but moving in with us? It's, I don't know…"
"Weird?" I suggested. "Unorthodox? Creepy?"
He lowered his arms. "You think we're creepy?" His gray eyes widened in surprise, maybe a hint of disappointment.
"You were the one stalking me," I pointed out.
I thought he might drop the weights and come over to throttle me. Instead he said, "I told you, I wasn't stalking you. I was watching what's mine."
"I'm not yours," I said. "And I don't see a difference." I turned off the stationary bike's display and swiveled around so I was sitting sideways on the seat.
"The difference is, I'm not a stalker," he said, as if that made any sense. "There's no law against watching someone in a public nightclub."
"I suppose that's true," I had to admit.
"Of course it is," he said continuing to do slow, mesmerizing curls. "What I don't understand is why you keep pretending you don't like it. I didn't see you refusing to come outside with me. You liked the idea. You were as down for that fuck as I was."
"It was a spur of the moment thing," I said. Why did I feel the need to defend myself? I hadn't done anything wrong.
He stopped to stare at me. "You're trying to tell me if you thought about it for long enough, you wouldn't have gone out there with me?" There was that surprised, slightly hurt look again.
"If I knew who you were, I would have given it a second thought," I said with complete honesty. "If I knew this situation was going to arise…"
What would I have done? I didn't know. I might have stayed inside the nightclub and gone on dancing. Maybe introduced myself to someone else. Or hunted down Lyra and had a few more drinks with her.
If he didn't like the answers he should stop asking questions.
"If you knew I'd end up living here, would you have talked to me in the first place?" I challenged. It was past time the proverbial shoe was on the other foot.
"One hundred percent I would have," he said. "I don't regret any of it. Except the end when those assholes interrupted us. I should have taken you somewhere more private. If I had my way, we'd still be there."
"You sound like a stalker again," I said. I was starting to wonder if there really was someone down in the basement. People Oak put there. Did he have sixty-nine potential hookups locked away down there? Excuse me if I didn't want to join their number.
One of his shoulders twitched upward. "I don't care. You're still mine."
"There you go with that again." I rolled my eyes at him. "Why do you think I'm yours?"
"Why does the sun rise in the morning?" he asked.
"Because we're moving around it," I said. I was sure he knew that, but I couldn't help the hint of sarcasm. Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.
It was his turn to roll his eyes. "The point is, it's inevitable that it'll keep rising. You and I, we're inevitable too."
"Say that's true," I said, deciding to humor him for a moment. "What about Hel and Fade? Where do they fit into all of this? Because we both know they want to." Even if it was only physical.
Oak lowered the weights to the floor and stepped away from them. "I don't know. That'll work itself out when the universe is ready."
"So I should sit back and trust the universe?" I asked. He made it sound simple and almost compelling. If I was the sit-back-and-see-what-happened kind of girl.
He gestured at me. "You're starting to get it."
"Yeah, I get it," I said, "You're a health food nut with a thing for woo-woo." Not to mention muscular and cut, like something out of one of those bodybuilding magazines. It wasn't fair that someone so attractive was also a prick.
"And a big cock," he said.
"And a big…" I started to echo him automatically. I stopped myself and wrinkled my nose. "Maybe."
He smirked and stepped towards me. "We both know it's true. You wanted me inside your hot, tight little pussy. I bet you're thinking, 'I wish he'd pick me up and fuck me against the door right now.'" His eyes darkened.
"You might be thinking that," I said. "Me, I'm craving a cheeseburger."
He grimaced. "Do you know what those things have in them?" He looked like the thought was going to make him dry heave.
"Flavor," I said with a nod. "Lots and lots of flavor."
"Something can be good for you and have flavor at the same time," he said.
"True, but they don't leave grease on your fingers so you can lick it off." I raised my hands in front of me and mimed doing that.
"If you want to lick something off your fingers, I can put it on there for you," he said, grabbing the front of his pants and squeezing. "No, I have a better idea. We can bypass your fingers and go straight for the back of your throat." He stalked a couple more steps toward me.
My clit throbbed at the idea of lowering myself to my knees and opening my lips for him. Letting him fuck my mouth until he came. Swallowing down his salty cum. Would he taste different to other guys I'd blown, after eating things like sunflower seeds? I couldn't deny I was curious.
"You only have to ask," he said softly. Judging by the bulge in the front of his track pants, he was aching for me to do just that. To get down on my knees in front of him and let him use me the way he wanted to.
The only thing that made me resist temptation was remembering I was still mad at him, and this whole proposal was nothing short of crazytown. That and I expected the other two to interrupt us, like they did the other night.
"I won't be asking," I whispered back. "Been there, done that. If you'll excuse me, I have some work to get back to."
I patted his chest, stepped around him and out the door.
He growled something under his breath, but didn't follow me.