20. Maverick #2
Phoenix jolts slightly, tensing at the touch of my finger against the smooth lips of her labia.
She followed orders, which is going to make this little game so much more fun for me.
She looks over at the dealer, who is very deliberately keeping his gaze trained on the surface of the table and the cards in front of him, and then turns her face slightly toward me .
Her hair falls across her cheek, but I see the reddening of her fair skin and hear her quiet whisper anyway. “Stop that.”
I laugh, low and dark. “I don’t think so, firebird.”
The dealer is making idle chitchat, which is fine. It’s what they’re paid to do—chat with the players and distract them, but keep them at the table at the same time.
It’s not until he speaks to Phoenix that I have a problem.
“Did you hear about Rachel?” he asks, his eyebrows lifting.
“Yeah, I did. It’s so sad.”
“Who the fuck is Rachel?” I ask, and Phoenix sends me a shocked expression. Her breath hitches as I stroke my thumb lightly along her seam.
“S-she was the girl that you and I played poker with the other night, the one that kept losing hand after hand?—”
“Okay, what about her?” That vaguely rings a bell.
Phoenix stares at me, her eyes flicking across my face like she’s trying to solve a riddle I don’t know I’m telling. Her legs start to close, and I pull my thumb away from her pussy, pressing my hand against her inner thigh until she relaxes. “A few days ago she was found in her trunk.”
“Why was she in her trunk?”
She blinks. “I’m assuming someone put her there after they killed her.”
“Oh shit. That sucks.” It really does. I may not particularly like them, but I don’t wish any harm to any of the girls that I spend time with.
“That sucks?” Phoenix echoes, an incredulous note in her voice.
I lift my hands in a shrug. “I mean, yeah, it’s sad. But is it really that unusual for girls who make a habit of hooking up with random guys to go missing? I mean, life’s dangerous, right? Especially for…what is it the police call them? Women with high-risk lifestyles?”
“This is true,” the dealer says, working on the next hand. “She’s not the only one. Another girl, Anna, went missing not too long ago. You know, the tall one with the silver hair?”
“I have no idea who she is, man, but hit me. ”
He deals me out another card and gives Phoenix a knowing look. She shifts uncomfortably, looking away. I tighten my hand around her thigh to stop her from moving, my thumb slipping between her legs and just barely brushing her folds.
“I think she was the girl who was with Con a few nights ago,” Phoenix says as the dealer flips another card for me. It’s a nine, giving me twenty-two.
“Fuck,” I say, and place my bet on the next hand. “What about her and Con?”
“Nothing,” she says with a sweet smile. “It’s the same thing Sarah and I were just talking about, though. How it’s weird so many people quit and don’t even give notice. Working here is actually a pretty stable gig, and there’s not a lot of those around here, so it’s surprising.”
I shrug. “Happens all the time. It’s the cost of doing business.”
Does this shit have something to do with why she’s been acting so strange? I cut her a look. I want to know why she was in Atticus’s room. I want to know what her end game is, and I want to help her achieve it. Why won’t she just tell me her secrets ?
Maybe I can tease them out of her.
I slide my hand further up her thigh, openly cupping her sex beneath the table while the dealer pretends not to notice. Smart man.
All the same, Phoenix shoots him a nervous look.
“It’s time for your break,” I tell him, and he nods, lifting his hands over the table and turning them back and forth before leaving the table.
A waiting dealer takes his place, this one a blonde woman.
She’s older and not much of a looker, but more importantly, not anyone that I would give a shit about seeing what I’m about to do to Phoenix.
As the dealer shuffles the cards, I slide my hand up further, my thumb circling her clit until Phoenix lays back against my shoulder and spreads her legs a fraction wider for me.
It’s all the encouragement I need.
“Do you like the way I touch you, little firebird?” I whisper in her ear.
She bites her lips and nods as I move two fingers to her drenched pussy and thrust them in .
Jesus fuck, Con wasn’t kidding . She is unbelievably tight. God, she’s going to feel so good around my cock.
One eye on the dealer, I tap the fingers of my free hand on the surface of the table. I keep working her pussy with the other, though, teasing her clit while playing blackjack.
It’s not easy to act unaffected when my cock is practically throbbing, it’s so hard. I can’t just fuck her. If she was any other girl, I would have her on her knees sucking my cock in one of the back hallways. Hell, I’d probably just have her suck me off under the table.
But I can’t do that with Phoenix. Not until she begs for my cock.
“Do you want to come, little firebird?” I nuzzle the skin of her ear, and she bites her lip harder as she nods, letting out a tiny little moan.
I look up at the sound and see that while we’ve been in our own little bubble, we’ve attracted the attention of a few players at other tables.
I shift my hand away and tug her dress down, giving them a hard stare until they glance away.
Nobody else gets to see her come. I don’t want to take her apart with an audience. Not this time, anyway.
“Stand up,” I order and stand, unseating Phoenix more abruptly than I mean to.
“What about—” She starts to gather my chips, and I settle a hand on the nape of the neck.
“Leave them.”
I march her into a service hallway and then further down until I find a small room used for meetings and small gatherings. It’s dominated by a large oval table, and a smile curls my lips at the sight.
Perfect.
Phoenix stumbles a bit on her heels as I walk her in ahead of me and flip the lock. I stalk slowly around her, our eyes locked as she revolves to watch me, wariness in every line of her body.
Wariness, and heat. I can feel it emanating from her.
Without speaking, I take a seat in the chair at the head of the table and crook my finger. She walks to me slowly, her hesitation only serving to amp my need for her to a boiling point. When she gets close enough, I grab her hand and pull her to straddle one of my thighs.
My hands go to her hips, and I push her down against me, watching with hooded eyes as her dress rides up and reveals the glistening apex of her sex. Her hips roll into an involuntary grind and her eyes slide closed on another moan.
“Mav…”
“Tell me your secrets, little firebird. Why are you really here? I know you don’t give a shit about the money. Why did you take this job?” I grab her drooping neckline and pull it to the side, exposing her breast.
“You requested me,” she says faintly.
“Wrong answer.” I maneuver her harder against my leg. “Ride me, Phoenix.”
She hesitates for a half-second, her eyes searching mine, and then she begins to move, her hips undulating and her pussy grinding against my thigh in search of friction.
Her hands jerk to grip my shoulders, her nails digging into me, and I grin.
“That’s it.” I love the way her hips are rocking, grinding hard, taking what she wants from me .
I won’t let her come like this, though. Not yet.
“Tell me why you accepted the job, Phoenix.”
Her eyelids flutter, and a little line forms between her eyebrows. Her tongue darts out to lick her lips, and when she replies her voice is thick. Lust drunk. “Because I thought…it would be fun. I thought getting to hang out with you guys and to party and?—”
“I don’t believe you. But fuck if I don’t want to.”
Grabbing her by the waist, I lift her off my thigh and lay her back on the table, ignoring her groan of protest. Her red dress is in my way, so I push it up, exposing everything from the waist down.
My gaze tracks her, lingering on her tits still hanging out of the deep neckline before moving on to her cunt.
Jesus fucking Christ, even her cunt was fucking gorgeous, glistening wet and the prettiest pink I’ve ever seen.
“Do you want to come, Phoenix?”
She nods, moving restlessly beneath me. “Please, Mav?— ”
“If you want to come, you’re going to tell me what I want to know. The truth, Phoenix.” I lean down and swipe my tongue through her slit, watching from between her legs as her back arches off the table.
Jesus Christ, the girl tastes like heaven.
“I don’t have any secrets. There’s nothing you don’t know. I thought it would be fun, and the money would help me…start over…somewhere else.”
“Why do you want to go somewhere else?” I ask, swiping my tongue against her folds again, this time circling her clit before backing off.
If I hadn’t had my gaze trained on her face, watching for her every reaction, I would have missed the flash of—fear?
uneasiness?...something—that illuminates her expression.
“Because my father’s dead, and there’s nothing holding me here. Just pain and regret.” Her tone dulls, and she closes her eyes.
That was a truth, and something gives a sharp twist in my chest. But there’s more. I know it.
“What are you hiding from us?”
“Nothing,” she whines, hitching her hips upward .
I let it go. Fuck, she’s so wet, and my cock is aching, throbbing in my pants. I’m not alone in my misery. Phoenix needs this nearly as much as I do, her thighs spread open before me in blatant invitation.
But she’s not begging me yet—not with words, anyway. And if she’s not saying the words, there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it.
Not without losing the stupid fucking bet.
I straighten, my gaze searing as I stare down at her, willing her to give me what we both crave.
Beg me. Just fucking get on your knees and beg for my cock , I silently plead. But I don’t just want her to beg—I want her to need me more than whatever truth she’s hoarding. I want to become the lie she tells herself instead.
Her restless movements on the table still as she opens her eyes and looks up at me. A question forms on her lips, but she doesn’t ask it. Resignation settles over her, and she presses those lips tightly together, looking away from me.
Goddamnit. She’s hurt.
I grab her by the hand and pull her to a seated position. Taking her face in my hands, I kiss her with all the fierceness I can muster. Then I pull her off the table and tug her dress down over her hips. “Leave, Phoenix.”
I sit back down in the chair, watching from the corner of my eye as her spine straightens and she takes a deep breath. Then she walks out of the room.
I curl my fingers into a fist, letting my nails cut into my skin to prevent me from calling her back.
I can’t be trusted to be alone with her right now without shoving my cock so far inside her we wouldn’t know where one of us ended and the other began…but I’ll be damned if I lose this fucking competition because I can’t keep my shit together.