Chapter 49
Harper
I’m sittingat Ben’s birthday party with Drew after he showed up at my work to take me to dinner and I told him I couldn’t go because I had somewhere to be. When he found out where I was going, he insisted on attending. He claimed it’d be a good opportunity to show everyone we were working through things, but I know it’s an audience of one that he wants to see us together.
“So Benny, speaking of birthdays when are you ready to strip down to that birthday suit in the name of charity?” Joss smirks at Ben, just after he blows out the candles and Violet starts to cut the cake.
Alex showed up and I’ve been doing my best to avoid him. In part because I don’t want Drew to get suspicious and in part because as much as I want to see Alex, getting to see him from across the room but not be able to touch him or talk to him, is a special form of torture.
“Did my wife volunteer me for this?” His eyes flick between Joss and Violet.
“No. She said I’d have to convince you first and then she’d think about it, but you’d be donating your body to charity.”
“How would I be doing that by getting naked?” He frowns as he takes a bite of cake Violet hands to him.
“Cause you’re going to do it for my camera. They’ll be tasteful. We won’t show too much. Just enough to titillate, you know.” Joss winks at him. “If I get enough of the guys on the team we’ll make a calendar. We’ll even make a few of them signed editions.”
“Who else has agreed to this?”
“Xander and Tobias are both on board, right boys?” Joss lifts her eyes to them and they both nod.
“Waylon?” Ben looks to him.
“I’ll jump if you jump, and if Mac okays it.”
“I’ll okay it for charity, and you know… as long as they’re not getting to see too much.” Mac gives Joss a look and she smiles.
Violet slides me a piece of cake, and I take it along with a fork.
“Tasteful. I promise. Violet’s seen my work before.”
“And yet she hasn’t agreed.” Mac looks to Violet.
“I’m going to agree. I’m just possessive is all.” Violet shrugs, waving a piece of cake toward Mac. “Joss does good work and she’s gonna have even more women drooling over them.”
“Their egos are already sky high.” Mac looks at Waylon and raises a brow.
“I can’t help it they all want this.” Waylon winks at her.
“Yeah well they aren’t getting it.”
“Of course not. Only one woman in the world knows how to argue her way into bed with me.”
I smile as I watch the two of them bantering back and forth. Violet slips Colt and me our slices of cake, but Drew shakes his head. It annoys me that he won’t just eat a piece of cake at this party. Like participating is beneath him.
“Has Colt agreed?” Ben looks up at Joss, and I swear I see a flicker of a devious grin come and go on his lips.
“Not yet.” Colt, who’s sitting to my right, pipes in before Joss can reply, and she shoots him a pointed glare.
“If you can get the priest to say yes, I’ll do it.” Ben and Joss lock eyes and something floats between the two of them I can’t quite read. Colt for his part focuses on his cake, eating like they’re not having some sort of silent war over him.
“Do you not feel comfortable?” I ask him quietly.
His eyes flick up to mine, and a warm smile crosses his face. “I could be convinced.” His eyes drift to Joss and then slip over her form.
I need to ask Violet what the story is there because Colt and Joss seem like polar opposites, but I’ve also never seen Colt look at a woman the way he’s been looking at her tonight.
“So I need to lean on the photographer then?” I smirk.
“Might help the case.”
“Does she know how to bribe you?”
“I’m sure she has some good guesses.”
“I see.” I grin, and just then Joss looks at me, raising a brow.
“Don’t be over there conspiring with him Harper. He’ll lead you down a dark path. Trust me.”
“If she can handle Xander, I think she can handle Colt,” Ben interjects, and both Joss and I look at him. I can feel Drew tense next to me and Ben’s eyes go wide and shoot to the side. I stop myself from looking at Alex because I know what I’ll see.
“Ben, dearest, I think you should probably just eat your cake unless this is the age you planned to die.” Violet kisses his cheek.
“It’s his birthday. He can start shit on his birthday,” Waylon defends him.
I shake my head and smile to myself as they all continue to debate back and forth, eating the last few bites of my cake. I can feel Drew wanting to say something next to me, but he stays silent a moment too long and his phone rings. He looks down at the caller ID and his brow furrows.
“Fuck. I have to take this.” He looks around the room. “Is there somewhere private I can go? It’s a new client.”
“You can go out on the deck. I think everyone is inside right now.” I look around.
“All right. This might take a minute. It’s a big deal we’re trying to wrap and he’s skittish as fuck over it.” He kisses my cheek like it’s a year ago and everything is normal. I just do my best not to react.
“No worries.” I shrug because I’ll be glad to be free of him for a little bit. Rid me of the creepy feeling of being watched every moment.
After he disappears outside, I clear my plate and notice Violet starting to try to declutter the kitchen.
“Hey, I just have to run to plug my phone in to charge and then I’ll be back to help, okay?” I smile at her.
“No rush. Are you okay? Sorry about Ben, he wasn’t thinking.”
I give a flat-mouthed smile. “It’s fine. He’ll get over it. He’s outside talking to a client so I can breathe for a fucking minute anyway.” I sigh.
“All right.” She returns my muted smile and nods at me. “Just let me know if you need me, okay?”
I nod and give her a small half hug before I take off to the room I’ve been staying in. Thankful for the small reprieve from Drew. I flick on the light in the room and go to close the door when I feel resistance, turning to see Alex standing there.
“What are you doing?” My heart immediately starts to skip at his proximity.
“Following you. Obviously.” There’s a playful grin on his face.
“If he sees you he will—”
“He’s outside on the phone. Tobias is watching him and is gonna text me if he heads this way. He’ll stall him.”
I give Alex a doubtful look, but he closes the door, shutting us in the room together. I hear the door lock click a second later as he turns it.
“What’s he even fucking doing here?”
“He came to my work, wanted to take me out to dinner. I told him I couldn’t and when he found out where I was going, he guessed that you’d be here. So of course he wasn’t going to let me go alone.”
“Of course. He has to prove a point.”
“Apparently so do you.” I give Alex a meaningful look. “This is stupid, risking your career just to follow me in here.”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“You can text me.”
“That’s not the kind of talking I want to do.”
His fingers are under my chin and tilting my head up as his lips land on mine, kissing me like he’s trying to remind me how good he is. Not that I need any reminders.
“Alex…” I warn when he pulls away for a minute.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The way you say my name when you’re irritated. Like you’re scolding me. Fuck, it turns me on.”
He backs me up against the wall and kisses me again, harder this time. My hands go to his chest, bracing myself at first and then I let them wander. I hate being away from him, but I might hate watching him from across a room like I’ve been doing all night even more.
“I’ve missed you so fucking much, Saint.”
“I miss you too.”
“Having to sit there and watch him touch you, act like you’re his again… It’s fucking torture.”
“I know,” I whisper as his fingers thread through my hair. “But we shouldn’t be doing this. If he catches us…”
“I don’t give a fuck. I want you.” His hand slides up my thigh under my skirt, his fingers wrapping around the elastic. “Let me.”
“Alex…” I protest but I’m weak. The idea of having him again, especially here like this already has me on edge. “I want you so much. But… We shouldn’t. It’s not smart.”
“Fuck it. I need you. I hope he does catch us,” he mutters against my skin before he pulls my panties off, setting them on the dresser then his hand wraps around the side of my jaw again. “I hope he sees the way you look at me when I’m inside you.”
My fingers go to his jeans, undoing the button and zipper and he smirks as I reach up to kiss him again. I take him out, and he’s already hard for me. I slide my hand over him and he jerks forward, a small grunt coming out with the motion.
“I knew you’d see it my way.” He grins as he pulls a condom from his pocket.
I raise an eyebrow, but he just grins harder.
“We have to be fast. Really fast.” I give him a meaningful look. “I don’t want a scene at Ben’s house on his birthday.”
He pulls his phone out and sits it on the dresser, “If Tobias texts, we’ll stop, and I’ll go down the back hall. You can just pretend like you were doing something in here.”
“I was doing something in here before I was interrupted,” I grumble, pretending to sound more irritated than I am. But his fingers slide between my legs and all my attention is dragged back to everywhere he touches me.
“Fuck. You’re already so wet. Which do you like more—the idea of getting caught up here or me fucking you with him downstairs, Saint?” He gives me a mischievous little grin.
“I just like the idea of you.”
His eyes go soft when I say it and he kisses me as his arms wrap around me. He starts to pick me up and press me against the wall.
“We’ll be too loud like this.”
“The bed?” He nods to it and raises an eyebrow in question.
“No. That’ll mess up my hair and wrinkle my clothes. Just bend me over the chair here and fuck me from behind.”
“Christ, Saint. You say shit like that, and I might need you to stay with him a little longer so we can keep fucking like this.”
I grin at him as we step over to the chair and he slides his hands up my skirt, teasing my clit with his fingertips as he presses kisses down my throat and back up again before his lips are at my ear.
“Now bend over like a good girl and take my cock.”
He pulls my skirt up and slides into me a second later, groaning when he’s all the way in.
“Fuck, Saint. I miss this too fucking much.”
He starts to move and I brace my hands against the chair as he grips my hip with one hand.
“I wish he could see you like this though. So fucking perfect for me.”
“Faster,” I remind him because worrying about Drew has my stomach flipping at the same time I feel every nerve ending in my body flickering to life.
He does as I ask, picking up his pace, taking me hard and fast. That combined with the looming threat has me coming quicker than I ever have. I bite back a moan, gripping the chair and burying my face in the upholstery to stop any sound from escaping.
“You take me so well like this,” he praises, rubbing a hand over my ass as I inhale deeply.
He fucks me through his release, finishing inside me, and then he pulls me up, turning me around and pinning me between him and the chair as his eyes search my face. We’re both still breathing heavily, and his chest moves with the effort.
“I can’t take much more of being away from you. I miss you too much,” I confess.
“I miss you too. So many fucking things I miss about you. You make me feel so much I didn’t think I could. I love you and being away from you is killing me.”
My heart stops in my chest.
“What did you just say?”
“You heard me.”
“We barely had a fake relationship. Alex, you can’t possibly—”
He smirks and shakes his head.
“Can’t possibly love you? Saint, I’ve been in love with you. Fuck, I think I might have loved you since you talked about comets and pilgrimages. Since you tasted like grapefruit and fucking tequila and kissed me like your life depended on it. Or maybe when I thought about breaking you out of your wedding so I could have you for myself. When I started wearing this medallion like a fucking collar. Even though it tortured me to see you with him every time… I’ve definitely loved you since you told me I was yours.”
I stare at him dumbfounded, and he kisses my lips softly.
“I need you. You’re my path, Saint. My pilgrimage. The one who keeps me grounded. The one that takes me back to you and puts me on my knees every night hoping that I finally get to have you for good.”
“But you… I can’t…” I stumble over my words, trying to process it because I can’t believe it.
“You don’t have to love me back—yet. But I promise, you will. Because as soon as we fix this, I’m spending every fucking minute making sure you never have to worry again. That I earn everything you give me.”
“I love you, Alex. I just didn’t think you’d love me back.”
“Of course, I fucking love you. I’m yours.” He smiles at me.
Then his phone dings from the dresser, once, twice. It’s enough that I can imagine it’s Tobias telling us we’re in danger.
“Fuck,” he mutters. He makes quick work of the condom and putting his clothes together while I straighten my skirt. He picks up his phone, his eyes flicking over the screen.
“Tobias is stalling him, but I’ve got to go.”
“Okay.” I nod.
“I know Ben’s been passing the word along but my father’s taking care of it. I’m just waiting on the final say. I’ll let you know the second I do.”
“The girls and I are figuring out a plan tonight or tomorrow. I guess Violet and Joss have ideas already.”
He smiles, “It’ll work out, Saint. We’ll fix it.”
I give him a bright smile in return, and he looks at me one last time. Like he’s reluctant to leave. Then he suddenly reaches around his neck, grabbing his chain and crosses the room to put it over my neck.
I run my fingers over the metal and look up at him confused.
“Wear it until we’re back together. You need the protection more than me right now.” He kisses me one last time and then disappears out the door.
I lock it behind him, putting my panties back on and smoothing out my skirt again, doing my best to make sure I look the same leaving as I did coming in. I glance down at the chain, tucking it under my shirt and praying it doesn’t show anywhere. A text pops up on my phone.
DREW
Where are you?
Just charging my phone. Going to use the restroom and then I’ll be right there.
K.
I can tell from the question he’s suspicious. I’m torn too, because half of me hopes he drops the idea and the other half of me hopes he knows I was with Alex. I will be, the second I fix the mess he’s made.