Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
“She asked for more money.” I sighed, throwing back the rest of my whiskey.
“You weren’t kidding when you said she’s just as skillful as before,” Samuel said.
I hummed, scanning the four of my six brothers.
“You’re not giving her the money, right?” Theo murmured, swirling the glass with gold liquid.
“Do you take me for a fool?”
“You did get her pregnant,” Liam, the youngest of the Astor men, drawled, head stuck in his phone. Even though he never seemed fully aware of what was going on, he never failed to keep up with the conversation.
“Fuck off,” I grunted. I’d been inebriated when I fucked her. I could have been screwing anyone. The problem was her for plotting to trap me. “And how do you know I went to dinner with her?”
Theo grabbed some papers and strode over, tossing the white printer paper onto my lap. It was clearly me, but they’d only gotten my profile.
“Do they have nothing better to do?” I crumpled the paper. “Did you bury this?”
“Contacted the team,” he grunted. I was already on my feet.
“Where are you going?” Oliver blocked my path, his dark hair flopping into his bloodshot eyes. “You’re supposed to help me out here,” he hissed.
“How about stop going on benders and getting pictures taken of you?” I shoved past him.
“Caine,” Theo snapped and I slowed near the door.
“I need to speak to Issa.” I waved my hand.
“Why do you need to speak to your au pair?” I didn’t answer Liam’s question as I rounded the door.
“It’s pretty obvious,” Samuel’s voice reached me, then I was down the hall, strolling with clipped steps.
The woman needed to be in my arms now.
I turned the corner into the greenhouse room, approaching the women gathered around the center table, drinks in hand.
“Where’s Isabelle?”
Vanessa blinked sluggishly up at me, swaying. “Oh my, C, she’s so pretty. How long have you been seeing her? Are you guys in love?”
Love? The ground moved under me. I grabbed onto the backrest of the couch. Is that what this is?
Fuck.
“Vanessa, where is Isabelle?”
“She had to go to her class.”
I frowned. She did have class, but I told her I’d drop her off. If she would have gotten me, I would have taken her.
“But don’t worry,” my sister-in-law slurred. “She took my driver.” She frowned. “Or my driver took her.”
As I turned, I lifted my wrist to peer at my watch. I should have been more aware of the time.
“Where are you going?”
I turned back around to look at Vanessa. “Stop drinking,” I ordered. “And you, drink water before Samuel gets out here,” I said to Nina.
Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I called Hermes to retrieve me on my way to grab Dalton. The quicker I returned home was best, because this crawling itch across my skin every time she was away from me needed to be satiated. She was the only one to succeed.
The woman undid me in every way.
John was sweet . . . a very sweet Alpha. I stabbed my fork into the slim piece of steak. I was almost done with it.
“Do you want some more?” he quirked an eyebrow at my plate.
“Sorry,” I muttered sheepishly. “Usually when close to my heat, meat is everything.”
A pink stain covered the bridge of his nose. Another thing I learned about John, he was relatively shy.
That made breaching the ‘sex’ subject hard. John was going on about something that happened during his fishing trip.
“Will you sate my heat?” I blurted. It sounded as awkward in my head as it did coming out. John blinked quickly, his mouth agape.
“You want me . . . to sate your heat?” he breathed, his eyes wide.
I nodded since I doubted I could formulate the words.
“I would be honored,” he breathed, his eyes almost glittering with excitement.
“You’re welcome to my place, I live with roommates, but they’re hardly around.”
He continued talking about preparing to make sure he has granola bars for me, and everything I may need for nesting.
My mind wandered as I absently nodded.
After swiping through every single message from that app, I couldn’t bring myself to reply to them. John’s text inviting me to dinner came through right when I was considering going through it alone like I had in the last four years since Awakening.
I watched his lips move. They were nice lips.
Hopefully good enough to erase Caine’s.
Tapping my foot on the floor of the elevator, I couldn’t stop moving from how on edge I was.
I kept pacing the hall and couldn’t handle waiting upstairs any longer.
After checking on Dalton to ensure he was still sleeping, I went to the elevator.
She’d been gone longer than usual. Something was wrong.
I’d been blowing up her phone for the last hour and there had been no response.
Once I got to the main floor, the cop I’d contacted should be close. The elevator dinged and opened up to the lobby. Striding across the tile, I came to a screeching halt at the sight of familiar long dark hair facing a young man.
“Want to go grab something to eat again this weekend?” the man said, so wrapped up in looking down at her he didn’t see my approach.
“I’d like that,” she said. She fucking agreed? No, more importantly, she was planning on going out while I’d worried about her safety. I quickened my stride.
He grinned, and I ached to punch it off his face.
“I’ll make sure you don’t regret choosing me to sate you during your heat.
” The rest of his words became a buzzing in my ear as searing disgust filled my stomach.
The thin man gripped her hand and leaned closer.
He’s going to fucking kiss her. Isabelle stared up at him, wide-eyed, seeming frozen in place.
“Hey!” I spat. If I hadn’t, I would have seen it all unfold—his lips on my woman. He lifted his head, his arm curling around her waist to clasp her hip, as if to defend her from me. “What are you doing?”
Isabelle gawked up at me and a red flush spread on the bridge of her nose.
“I . . .” She licked her lips. Now within arm’s reach, I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the man, sliding my arm around her waist to drag her to my side. “Mr. Astor,” she gasped.
Hearing her formal tone in front of another man made my blood boil. His attention turned from me to her, awareness spawning in his gaze.
“Isabelle,” I snapped.
She wrinkled her nose and dropped her eyes. I would spank her for allowing this kid to touch her.
“Let’s go,” I snapped and kept her tight to my side, pulling her toward the elevator.
“Wait,” the kid said. I slowed to narrow my eyes at him.
“Stay away from her.”
His gaze met mine in a challenge. “I saw you on the news. Aren’t you dating someone?”
Issa ducked under my arm, managing to slip away. She hurried to his side. “Show me, John.”
John. I narrowed my eyes. Is this another student in her classes?
“Let’s go, Isabelle.”
She ignored me, peering at John’s phone as he swiped. Her lips thinned and her gaze flicked from the screen to my face.
“Is she the same . . .” She clamped her lips together. “I heard what you were saying. ‘That she was as skillful as before’,” she muttered.
She’d heard my conversation with my brothers.
“That’s out of context,” I said through gritted teeth.
Her lips thinned even more. It was clear she didn’t believe me. John seemed too fucking smug. I exhaled sharply when John touched her arm. If I beat him to unconsciousness, the lawsuit we’d have to deal with would be fucking worth it.
“Wait, wait,” she gasped, getting in my way. “Just go, John.”
John backed away, holding his hands up. “I don’t want to fight, Mr. Astor,” he said and turned to Issa. “We’ll talk later, maybe,” he tacked on, eyeing me.
He knew who I was, but the way he said my name rang a bell. John strode over to the counter and leaned over it to talk to the woman behind it.
“He’s security?” I said, eyes narrowing. He’d made the mistake of touching my woman. I grabbed my phone, typing out a message to Barry about this kid’s termination.
Issa grabbed my arm and peered at my screen. “You can’t fire him!” she hissed. I ignored her and continued typing.
“Caine.” Her voice rose another octave. Nothing she would say could change my mind. “Alpha,” she whispered. I tensed, my cock immediately perking to attention. The way her tongue curled around the title made me burn. “Please, stop for a second.”
Her large brown eyes snagged me.
I sighed and shut my phone off, sliding it into my pocket. “Why don’t you believe me?” I asked quietly.
A furrow formed between her dark eyebrows, creasing her skin. “I saw the makeup stain on your shirt.” Her voice cracked, and it physically pained me.
I combed my memories. What could have caused—when Silvie grabbed at me. I gritted my molars.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Sure.” Her lower lip pouted out. I had to explain myself, but not in the middle of the lobby.
“Get upstairs, now.”
“I’m off the clock, so I don’t need to follow orders—”
I swept her over my shoulder, cutting off her rant. The two at the help desk gawked.
“How dare you!” she spat, hitting at my back with fervor. The thud of her fists smarted. She had a strong swing.
I unlocked my phone and called the last number I’d dialed. “She’s back. Thank you for the favor.”
“No problem. Anytime.” The cop on the other end hung up. That was why I liked the guy.
I pressed the button to the elevator, and it swung open.
She’d been thrashing the entire time, but I easily managed to keep my grip on her. I squeezed the side of her waist once, then slid her down the length of my body.
Her breasts rubbed against my chest, igniting every single nerve ending inside me. I kept my hands on the small of her back, keeping her close.
She peered up at me with wide, glazed eyes. The elevator dinged to signal the doors were about to close.
“Mr. Astor,” I hissed under my breath.