Chapter 9
Kian
SHE FUCKING LEFT
Rolling over, I slide my hand across the bed, looking for her. In between our multiple fuck sessions, I slept like the dead. And after I fuck her once more, we’re going to snuggle up and go back to sleep. Hell, maybe repeat that all fucking day.
When I reach the other edge of the bed and don’t make contact, my eyes open, and I look around, something sinking within me.
She’s not here.
Fuck.
What time is it?
The blackout curtains make it so dark, it’s hard to tell.
My chest burns as I look at the bedside clock. Just before seven. Barely fucking daylight and she’s gone.
Ace.
The best fuck I’ve ever had in my life.
Jesus.
I don’t even know if I can call it that. Whatever we did, it felt a lot more intimate than just fucking between two adults. We connected in a way I’ve never done with a woman. Our bodies pulled together like magnets. Her pussy was made so goddamn perfectly for me. Tight and smooth.
My cock twitches under the covers, but I’m too goddamn pissed off to stroke it.
She fucking left.
I know for damn sure that it wasn’t because she didn’t enjoy herself.
The way her pussy pulsed around my cock made me come harder than I ever have.
Honestly, I’m surprised she was even able to walk this morning.
Though I would have happily carried her out of here, taken her back to her hotel, and at least gotten her number.
I wouldn’t mind traveling to wherever the fuck she lives every once in a while.
Maybe she had to catch a flight.
Still. She should have fucking woken me.
I would have taken her to the airport myself and flown her home on a private jet just so I could fuck her again while being thirty thousand feet in the air.
She deserves a trip over my knee for leaving without so much as saying goodbye.
My irritation lingers as I get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. By the time I’m done and dressed in the same clothes I wore to the club, I stomp over to the vanity.
Jesus.
It's everywhere.
Her goddamn cosmic rave glitter shit is all over me. My hands, face, neck, even my fucking clothes. No matter how many clean washcloths I use, I can’t get it all off. Finally, I stop trying and storm out of the bathroom.
As I stop to grab the key card, I narrow my gaze at the black poker card sitting next to it.
An ace of hearts.
Heart racing, I flip it over, expecting to find her phone number on the back. My stomach drops when I see there’s nothing on it. It’s just a regular playing card. Her favorite one. Which also happens to be my second favorite.
After staring at it for a long time, I finally tuck it into my suit pocket before strolling out of the penthouse and into the elevator. I probably look like a damn disco ball as I make my way into the blinding daylight of Las Vegas.
So much for getting my thirty-eighth year around the sun off to a good start. I got exactly what I asked for. A no-ties, one-night stand with no names and no numbers exchanged.
I’m just not sure why it feels like I didn’t get what I actually wanted.
I don’t like it.
Not even a little bit.
“Hey, man.” Beckett slides into my office like it’s his own, his signature fuck-boy smirk on his face. “Whoa, what the fuck happened to you? You look like that hot glittery girl attacked you with all her sparkly-ness and then kicked you to the curb.”
Closing my eyes, I breathe in. Throwing the stapler at my brother won’t help my temper. It would really fucking feel good, though.
Fuck it.
I grab the heavy-ass stapler and hurl it across the office at him, getting immense pleasure when he doesn’t fully dodge it, and it hits my brother in the shoulder.
“Ow! Fuck!” He jerks away and puts his hand over the spot like he’s dying.
“Get the fuck out of my office.” I turn back to the spreadsheet I’ve been staring at for the past two hours.
“Wow. For a guy who for sure was getting fucked last night, unless you did something stupid to piss her off, you’re in a really shitty mood.
What’s wrong? Oh, no, was she a Domme or something?
She try to do some freaky shit with you that you didn’t like?
” Beckett shrugs. “If you ask me, you should try everything once because you never know.”
The headache that has been settled in my temples since I first got up throbs harder. Staring at Beckett, I keep chanting in my head that I can’t shoot him. That is definitely a limit. But damn… it’s tempting.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Did Mom shake you when you were a baby?”
Beckett barks out laughter, then sits in one of the guest armchairs and makes himself comfortable.
Jesus Christ.
I don’t want to deal with this asshole today.
Why did Beckett choose now, of all days, to come and fuck with me?
“Probably,” he finally says. “Anyway, come on. Let’s fucking go.”
Squinting at him, I lean back and tip my head up. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Dinner. Jordyn and Quinn planned it for your birthday. Remember?”
Closing my eyes, I try to catch up to whatever my brother is saying, but I’m drawing a blank. Like I’ve been doing ever since I woke up to find Ace gone.
“Kian,” Beckett snaps. “What the fuck is going on with you, bro? Did that girl drug you? Or are you having some sort of reaction to all the glitter she exploded on you?”
For fuck’s sake.
I don’t know who invented that shit, but they should be sued. And then shot. And then buried out in our desert, where I can go piss on their grave for the rest of my life because I’m pretty fucking sure that’s how long it’s going to take for me to get it all off me.
Even if I wanted to meet another woman, it would be fucking impossible, considering they’d take one look at me and tell me to fuck off. No woman wants to fuck a man with another woman’s glitter all over him.
Shaking my head, I press my fingers into my temples. Fuck, I need some pain reliever.
“Dude, can you just shut the fuck up and give me a straight answer for a second?” I snap. “My birthday was yesterday. We all went out to the club.”
Beckett stares at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “Yes. And last week, when we did family dinner, the girls planned a family birthday dinner for you tonight because we said we were forcing you to go out for your birthday. You agreed to it.”
Shit.
I did.
That was when I wasn’t in a foul-ass mood.
“Cash and Xander will literally murder you if you don’t show up, so get that look off your face.
” Beckett rises and straightens his suit jacket.
“Come on. We can ride together so you can tell me all about your sexscapades with that knockout I saw you eye-fucking on the dance floor last night. We should probably stop by your place so you can shower and wash all that shit off. Don’t get me wrong, bro, you look fabulous with all that glitter, but it’s not really your style. ”
I look around my desk for something else to throw and grab my empty coffee mug from when I first got here today.
“Call her a knockout again, and I will knock out every one of your pretty white teeth.”
Without hesitation, I chuck the ceramic mug at him, and this time, Beckett catches it before it crashes to the ground. Then he bows as he sets it on an end table, and for the first time all day, I chuckle.
God, he’s so fucking annoying.
Closing my laptop, I stand and sigh. “I already showered this morning. My skin is fucking raw from how much I scrubbed.”
His eyes go wide as he looks me over. “Jesus.”
“The girls are going to ask a million questions,” Beckett says as the driver pulls up to Xander and Quinn’s beautiful new home.
Ever since my older brother came home from rehab and married Quinn, he’s become a totally different man. Still an asshole, but a softer one. He shows a bit more happy emotions, which is saying a lot for Xander.
“Hey, it’s our thirty-eight-year-old brother,” Xander calls out, stepping onto the front porch like he’s excited that we’re here. “Oh, fuck, what happened to you? You’re sparkling. Like that fucking guy. The one from that movie. Dude, don’t tell me you’re into vampire kink.”
Beckett laughs, and Xander follows right along with him while I simply flip both of them off and walk into the house.
“I hate you both,” I say, and then make my way into the kitchen, where Quinn and Jordyn are laughing about something. Cash is there, watching Jordyn like a crazed fucking stalker from a bar stool at the kitchen island.
Quinn sucks in a breath when she sees me, and Jordyn covers her mouth. It takes Cash a minute to tear his gaze away from his wife to look at me.
“Jesus Christ,” Cash mutters when he finally does. “Didn’t know Tinkerbell was joining us for dinner.”
Xander and Beckett bark out laughter and fist-bump Cash.
Looking at my sisters-in-law, I narrow my eyes. “How the fuck do I get all this stuff off me?”
Xander and Beckett enter the kitchen, while Quinn and Jordyn cast a glance at each other and then burst out laughing.
Fuck my life.
Why am I so close to my family?
“That is a look,” Jordyn finally comments with a grin.
Sliding her hand to her swollen belly, Quinn bends slightly, still laughing hysterically.
“I told you he was going to hook up with her,” Quinn finally chirps to Jordyn. “I just didn’t realize the proof would be all over him.”
“Fuck this. I need a drink,” I mumble and turn around to go look for one of the built-in bars.
Xander chuckles. “Good luck with that, bro. We don’t have a drop of alcohol in this house. Do you honestly think I’m going to let my baby have something like that around it?”