Chapter 25
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Jessa. The entire evening, I could barely focus on anything anyone was saying to me because I kept getting drawn back to watching her. Yes, she was physically an absolute knockout; that much was obvious. The Viking vibe she had going on with her hair was making me crazy, and her body in that dress had kept me fighting a boner the entire evening.
But it was more than just her physical beauty that had me desperate for her. Distracted by her. Devoted to her. It was how cute she looked trying to navigate walking in her heels. It was the way she cut up some steak for Myles so when he came back to the table, it was ready to eat. It was her saying thank you to the bathroom attendant and really meaning it. It was the way she had patiently smoked a cigarette with her brother without putting any pressure on him to leave before he was ready to. It was because earlier she had asked Alex how his son was doing since she knew he hadn’t been feeling well. It was the way she laughed at Nile’s corny jokes, wasn’t offended by Ash’s ridiculous attempts at flirting, and made time to listen to a melody that Mika had come up with and wanted someone’s opinion on.
In the past few days, she had fit right in, to the point that it felt like she had always been a part of our little crew. A family of sorts. She even had Gordon enchanted, although he would never admit it. I could see a future with her so clearly. Moments of me watching her backstage at my concerts, helping her start the little coffee shop I heard her and Myles talking about, maybe adopting a dog, definitely convincing her to get a tattoo with me, showing her the world, sitting on the back patio watching Ash and Nile fuck around in the pool, bringing her to the gym with me so she could taunt me with that ass in her leggings, and ultimately just growing old together. The emotion I had around her one hundred percent of the time was an easy kind of happiness, one I had never experienced before and one I had to keep. As soon as I realized how I felt about her, it was as if suddenly, all the love songs in the world had become about her. I reached over and took Jessa’s hand, rubbing my finger over the pulse in her wrist.
“I can’t wait to get home,” I whispered. She cocked an eyebrow at me as if to ask why.
“I want you.” I kissed the side of her face and grew harder as I heard her breath hitch.
“Why do we have to wait till we get home?” she asked me with faked innocence.
I was at full mast in my pants now, imagining myself buried between her legs, hearing her moaning in my ear, and tasting her flavor on my tongue.
“We don’t?” I asked it as a question, but I meant it as a statement. She shook her head. I had to bite back a groan. Her hair was everywhere, her breasts were fighting to break free from the confines of her dress, her cheeks were flushed, and I knew she had to be wet from the way she was holding her thighs together.
“Come with me.” I stood quickly, willing my dick to deflate so the state I was in would not be obvious behind my fly, and tugged on her hand as she rose from the chair. We walked quickly to the other side of the room.
“Don’t make eye contact,” she said in that bossy tone of hers. “Or we’ll never make it.”
I laughed and pulled her closer to me as we walked even faster. I found an empty coat closet past the bathrooms, and we tumbled in, tripping on the carpet, and shut the door behind us.
“I can’t see anything,” Jessa said huskily. I could sense her near me, and I reached out my hands in the dark, feeling around until I touched her bare arm.
“They say everything feels better when you can’t see,” I told her, loosening my belt and unzipping my pants. I reached up her dress and came in contact with a thick material that stretched when I pulled on it but didn’t rip.
“What the fuck is this?” I demanded, growing impatient. She burst out laughing.
“Someone will hear you,” I cautioned. She snorted, which I found endearing, but she quieted, and I heard her clothes rustle.
“It’s shapewear to make everything stay where it should under the dress,” she explained.
“I don’t like it,” I almost whined.
“I’m taking it off; hold on, you big baby.” She giggled again. I had not brought my wallet to a fancy event like this, but I did have a money clip in my pocket in which Ash had snuck a condom. I reminded myself to tell him that he was my favorite friend. I pulled the condom out of the clip, feeling the money fall free and rustle to the floor. I ripped it open as she announced that she had taken off the offending shapewear, but that I had to help her put it back on afterward. I promised I would, and then I felt for her again, pulling her toward me so I could lift her up against the door as her legs tightened around my waist.
“You’ve been taunting me all night.” I groaned as the tip of my cock slipped into her, and I felt how wet she was. She moaned and shifted in my arms. The slopes of her breasts pressed against my chest, which was encased by my shirt and jacket that was still buttoned. With another push of my hips, I slid into her fully until I bottomed out.
“Y-yes,” she whimpered. I leaned in to kiss her, and her lips were soft against mine, but her mouth was desperate, kissing and biting as our breath became one in our frenzy. I slid out of her halfway and then slammed back in, hitting the door as I did and causing it to rattle against the frame.
“Who’s making noise now!” she gasped out as she teased me.
“F-fuck.” I let out a hiss as my nerve endings lit up all at once, and I felt her clamp down on me, slick and hot. I leaned my head down and pulled back the material of her dress just slightly so I could run my tongue over her tight, beaded nipple. I sucked on her until I felt her grow slicker around me, and I knew she must be bordering on discomfort. I pulled my mouth off and let the dress cover her once more.
“You feel so good.” I was fucking her in earnest now, slamming against the door, disregarding the need to stay quiet at this point. I felt her tighten around me again, and I could tell she was close. As much as I wanted to explode inside of her, I pulled out with a groan and gently let her down until her feet touched the ground. She hit my chest with her hand, the bracelet she wore making a jingling sound in the dark.
“I haven't come yet!” She sounded mad, which made me laugh. I knelt in front of her, running my hands up her thighs, letting her dress rest on my arms.
“Do you want to come in my mouth or on my cock?” I asked my angry, horny girlfriend. The air felt thick around me as I waited for her answer. I couldn’t see her face; all I could hear was her labored breathing. All I could feel was her soft skin beneath my hands. I curled my fingers gently into her thighs, squeezing them slightly, and I felt her breath catch again.
“Both,” she finally responded greedily.
I slapped her inner thigh, and without any hesitation, I leaned forward and put my tongue on her. She was soaking, and I lapped, letting her taste fill my mouth and overwhelm my senses. I moaned against her flesh, and she gripped my hair in response. It only took a few swipes of my tongue and three or four sucks on her clit until she flooded my mouth and came with a shout, pulling on my hair and clamping her thighs around my head until I had to peel her off of me so I could take a breath.
“Come here,” I urged as I pulled on her to come down to where I now kneeled on the carpet. She shifted and lowered her body so she could sit on me. I adjusted her so each of her legs was on either side of me, and I tilted my hips as I held her up against me so I could fuck up deep inside of her. In this position, her clit was rubbing against the material of my pants, and she was panting out things like, “Right there, oh my god, yesss, Kian. Faster, faster…”My heart skipped a beat.
“Say it again,” I demanded, fucking her so hard my thighs burned with the effort, and my balls felt ready to burst.
“Kian,” she gasped. She said it so effortlessly, so simply, in a way that made me feel like somehow, she had always been mine.
The truth was, at this moment, it felt like I had always loved her. I love you, Jessamine Bardot. I love you so much , I thought as I groaned in her ear, and she came again, messily and loudly. Her body gripped mine, and on the next slide into her, I came, gripping her hips and kissing her mouth like the desperate man that I was.
“Holy shit.” I leaned back, feeling sweat gathered at my hairline. “So good.” I couldn’t form any other words than that; my brain had turned to mush.
“Mmm,” she agreed against my chest. We stayed like that for a minute, in the dark, our bodies against one another, savoring the moment until we had to leave the closet and go back to real life.
Real life came knocking moments later.
“Jace?” It was Ash. His voice was muffled behind the door, but I heard an odd tone in his inflection that caused my intuition to perk up. I felt uneasy but didn’t know why.
“Does he want to listen again?” Jessa giggled, and she felt floppy in my arms. I kissed her cheek, oddly worried that whatever it was Ash had to say was going to disturb this pocket of peace she had found here, with me, but also within herself.
“Hey, baby.” I turned on the flashlight on my phone, and she blinked from the sudden onslaught of light. “Let’s get dressed.”
Ash rapped on the door again.
“Jace!”
“Hold on one fucking second.” I stood, zipping up my fly as I tripped over one of her shoes. She stood, eyeing me warily. The moment was over and had been replaced by this odd sense of urgency. I closed my belt and then helped Jessa step into the shapewear unsteadily and quickly pulled it up her body.
“This is barbaric,” I muttered.
“Apparently, Hollywood believes pain is beauty or whatever…” Jessa murmured, her hands on my shoulders as I lowered her dress and smoothed her hair away from her face. I took a deep breath in, and despite my desire to stay in our little pocket of peace and passion that we had found in this closet, I opened the door to find Ash, tie askew, face ashen, hair a mess, staring at me.
“Is the party over?” Jessa asked, looking at him, eyes wide, and then back at me. Ash looked over at her; his eyes seemed bloodshot.
“Everyone is gone.”
“Okay, let’s find Myles, and we’ll go home.” Jessa began to move away from the doorway when Ash made a strangled sound in the back of his throat.
“What happened?” I meant to ask it calmly, but it came out as a shout. Ash shook his head.
“Asher… don’t…” I had to lean against the wall because I knew. At that moment, I knew, but I needed him to say it. Jessa took one look at my face, tossed her shoes back into the closet, and took off running down the hall.
“They found Myles and took him to the hospital,” Ash choked out. “Someone found him with one of the waiters outside near the door to the kitchen. He was breathing but…” Ash shook his head, and his eyes grew wet. “It’s not good. The paramedics found weed next to him, and they think it was laced with fentanyl.”
“Who gave it to him?” I shouted, my blood thrummed through my body, thrilled to be reactivated, ready to fuck somebody up.
“The cops were questioning the waiter, but they didn’t arrest him yet. They left with the ambulance but told the staff not to go anywhere because they would be back to talk to them soon.” Ash seemed exhausted from having to share this terrible news. He’s going to be okay ; the words reverberated through my mind as I pounded down the hallway back to the now mostly empty room. I threw the doors open, panting as my fury overtook me. I felt my hands shaking as I spotted the waiter that I saw Myles talking to earlier.
“H-him?” I asked, pointing as Ash ran up behind me.
“Jace…” Ash warned.
“Was it him?” I roared. Ash took a step back and nodded. I bounded toward him, my focus on the waiter who may have killed my friend, my girlfriend's brother, and a man I had grown to massively respect. He looked up as I charged him, fear obvious on his face. I felt pride balloon inside of me. I had finally done it. I had become a man who could protect my people. I was going to make it right. I smacked up against him, and he fell. I scrambled on top of him, straddling his body. The first hit of my fist to his face made a popping sound, and blood began to stream from his nose.
“Stop!” I heard someone yell. I ignored them. I kept hitting him over and over until he was lying limp beneath me, breathing but still. His face was bloody and bruised. My arms burned, and my lungs felt empty. I felt hands pull me back forcibly, and I scrambled to my feet. I looked over to find Gordon, Mika, and Nile holding onto me. I wondered where Ash had disappeared to. I growled and tried to throw them off.
“Stop it!” Gordon shouted. “What are you doing?” He sounded furious. The adrenaline was still buzzing in my body, and when the waiter groaned and moved, I tried to lunge forward again, but they held me back—gripping onto me with all their strength.
“The police are back.” Gordon stood in front of me and quickly instructed me to put my hands in my pockets. The waiter had pulled himself up to sit on a chair. His right eye was swollen shut, his lip was split, he had a gash on his forehead, and his nose was obviously broken.
“I didn’t know there was fentanyl in the weed,” he told me as he spat out bloody saliva onto the floor in front of him.
“Shut the fuck up,” I roared. “If he dies, it’s on you, and I hope that knowledge rots you from the inside out. I hope it haunts you to the point that your life becomes so miserable that you forget what it feels like to be happy, you piece of fucking shit!” I snarled the words and then fell silent as the police walked up to us. They took one look at me and then back at the waiter and his fucked-up face.
“What happened in the thirty minutes that we were gone?” the officer asked sternly.
“He fell,” I retorted.
“He fell and broke his whole face?” The cop seemed shocked that I had even dared to say it. Gordon stood in front of me again.
“He fell,” he confirmed.
Mika nodded in agreement as Nile piped up, “Yeah, we saw it. He fell.”
“Did you fall on your face?” The police officer turned to the waiter, who now had blood dripping off his chin.
He looked at me and must have seen the anger burning in my eyes because he gulped and said through his swollen mouth, “Yeah, I fell.”
The cop shrugged.
“If you say so.” We could all tell that he didn’t believe us but didn’t care enough to push for the truth.
“Jace,” Mika said softly from behind me. “Jessa.”
Jessa . The name thudded through me, and I turned to look for her. My horror had distracted me, and now my guilt threatened to bring all the food I had eaten earlier back up. I had to find her.