Chapter 5
Dorian
It’s been almost two weeks since the video call with Edie. Almost two weeks where I’ve vowed to myself I wouldn’t go chasing after her like some lovesick teenager who hasn’t yet understood what it means to fully commit to a woman.
That happened just once in my life, and it killed me.
I’m not about to do it again.
So, I’ve stayed away. I’ve thrown myself into my work. Forcing all thoughts of Edie from my head. Well, almost all thoughts.
I flick my gaze to the surveillance wall opposite me, finding the monitor that displays the video feed into suite thirteen, one of the private rooms located in the bowels of my nightclub.
Although I guard my members’ identities with absolute confidentiality outside the club, inside its walls every room is monitored both for their safety and that of my clan.
Grabbing a cigarette from the packet on my desk, I place it between my lips, lighting it.
The slow draw of smoke fills my lungs and takes the edge off my need to enter suite thirteen and rip the head off the arsehole currently fisting his cock whilst one of my most alluring performers dances for him.
Even now, even engaged to a new woman who is pregnant with his first child, this arsehole still hasn’t learned his lesson. If I’d met Edie when she was married to this prick, I’d never have given him membership to my club.
But I hadn’t, and here we are.
Drumming my fingers against my desk, I debate whether to give in to my baser, more violent needs and end this fucker’s life for hurting Edie, or leave him to his predilections. It takes me until the last draw of nicotine in my lungs to decide.
Stubbing out my cigarette, I push back my seat and step out of my office onto the mezzanine floor, situated three stories above the heaving dance floor below.
As I stride towards the edge, Deep House music pulses through the club, blending seamlessly with Madam Vaine’s honeyed voice as she performs on stage.
Below, the crowd falls under her spell, every body swaying, every gaze drawn irresistibly to her.
She is the jewel in the crown of Avant Garde, my business partner, and my good friend of many years now.
She’s also my first progeny, changed the day I was.
“Is there something you need?” Logan asks, stepping forward out of the shadows, his eyes sharp, body taut as he scans the floor for danger.
“Relax, Logan. This is my club, remember? No one gets in or out of here without my express permission.”
“It pays to be cautious,” he replies, his shoulders dropping a fraction. “Especially since—”
“Don’t say it,” I warn, gripping the rail in front of me.
“You’re distracted,” he continues, ignoring me.
As my second, he has earned the right to say what he thinks, especially when it comes to my safety and our clan’s. It’s for that very reason I don’t rip his throat out with my bare hands. That and the fact he’s like a brother to me.
“Listen, I hear you, and I know what I have to do to set things straight. I have a plan.”
“And that is?” he asks, his watchful gaze dropping to the dance floor below.
“I’m going to fuck her out of my system.”
“And you think that’s going to work?”
“It has before, hasn’t it?” I reply.
His silence is telling.
“What?” I bite out, angling my body towards his.
“So you wouldn’t mind some company then?” he says. “I’m sure Edie will enjoy my attention, too.”
Before he’s able to blink, let alone take another breath, I have my hand wrapped around his throat and my teeth bared. “Stay the fuck away from her,” I hiss, my whole body taut with rage.
Logan grins, a rare sight even for my eyes. I release him with a shove, and like the arsehole he is, says, “Thought as much.”
“Fuck you, Logan. I’ve got this handled.”
“You’d better, because if you can’t get over this infatuation, you know what you’ll have to do.”
I nod, then stride towards the stairs, his warning ringing in my ears.
Standing on Edie’s doorstep less than half an hour later, my finger hovers over the doorbell.
Inside, I can hear her moving about her home, light spilling out onto the pavement from behind the partially closed curtains of her sitting room.
It’s late, almost midnight, and a part of me had hoped she would be sleeping, and I’d have an excuse to get the fuck out of here.
But when I hear laughter coming from inside, something inside of me snaps and jealousy expands in my chest. Why the fuck am I jealous? More to the point, who the fuck is making her so happy? Jabbing the bell with my finger, I wait impatiently for her to open the door.
A moment later I hear the sound of an internal chain being undone, and the lock unclicking. We’re going to have to have a conversation about her safety. She should not be opening the door to anyone at this time of night. There are way too many predators who could do her harm.
The door swings open and I’m immediately struck by Edie’s natural scent.
This time it’s not hidden beneath the artificial scent of perfume like it was when I met her.
She smells of long summer days and the salty air from a churning ocean.
It’s been a long time since I’ve stood on the shores of my home, but that’s what she smells like, home.
Like everything about Edie, it’s fucking unsettling.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asks, her smile dropping.
I can’t help but notice how her cheeks are flushed pink, and how her eyes sparkle with indignation as she glares at me.
“Why did you open your door?” I throw back. “I could’ve been anyone.”
“Are you seriously going to lecture me after you’ve turned up at my house uninvited at this time of night?
” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest, which only seems to push her breasts together beneath her t-shirt.
The very same t-shirt she wore the evening I came so hard I thought I’d finally found my way into heaven.
My gaze drops to her legs wrapped in skinny jeans that hug every curve, then lower to her bare feet, her nails painted a pale blue.
I grind my teeth together to stop myself from reaching out and pulling her into my arms, knowing to do so would cause me intense pain given she hasn’t invited me inside.
Fuck, I am so out of my depth here.
“I wanted to see you,” I reply, forcing a calmness into my voice that I don’t feel.
“Well, congratulations, now you have,” she retorts, slamming the door in my face.
I’m about to pummel my fist against the door and demand she let me in, when it suddenly swings back open, and she steps across the threshold shoving her hands against my chest.
“I have company,” she hisses, looking over her shoulder briefly before returning her attention to me.
“Who is he?” I demand, the jealousy I felt earlier building into something dangerous as I peer over her head searching for the bastard who’s dared to make Edie laugh so freely.
“It’s none of your damn business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I grind out. “Who you spend time with is very much my business.”
“You’re actually delusional. Just because we’ve kissed—”
“We’ve done more than kiss,” I remind her, arching a brow as her cheeks redden further.
“So, because we’ve had a mutual masturbation session,” she replies, lowering her voice as she peers around me, presumably to check we’re not being overheard by a random passerby on the street, “You think you have the right to demand to know who I’m spending time with. You don’t own me.”
A slow smile pulls up my lips as I step closer and finger that pretty streak of white hair that frames her face so perfectly. “What if I said I wanted to?” I ask.
“What, own me?” She scoffs, shaking her head. “No, that’s never going to happen. I’m not some simpering woman who’ll do anything for the sexy gangster, including giving up her self-respect.”
I cock my head to the side and grin. “You think I’m sexy then?”
“Of course you’re sexy. You’re tall and honed like a weapon—”
“A weapon, huh?” My smile widens. “You’ve no idea.”
“Shut up,” she snaps, pressing her palm against my chest to shove me away.
This time I’m ready for it. Grabbing her hand, I bring it up to my mouth and press an open-mouthed kiss against her wrist. She falls silent, her eyes widening and her breath hitching.
“You were saying?” I mumble against her flesh, my teeth gently scraping over her wrist as her pulse beats erratically beneath my lips.
All it would take is one quick bite, and Edie will be putty in my hands, the initial sharp sting quickly making way for intense pleasure for both of us.
I don’t bite her, knowing to do so would break the first rule I invented to protect our clan: do not draw blood from a human outside of Avant Garde. Ever.
It would also break my second rule: never feed from an Aegis. Yet here I stand, knowing if I can’t control my bloodlust, I could bite her and reveal what I am, with no way to glamour her memories.
“Look, you can’t turn up unannounced and expect me to do whatever you say just because you’re hot,” she argues, and even though she’s glaring at me, I know the anger is slipping away because she doesn’t yank her hand from my hold, instead she takes a step closer.
“I don’t care who you are, or how you’re used to being treated.
I am my own person, and I deserve some respect. ”
There’s hesitation in her eyes, but also a hell of a lot of lust. I can see her warring with herself. She’s afraid. Not of me, the man, but I suspect the damage I could do to her heart. She has every reason to be.
“You need to leave, Dorian,” she eventually says, her fingertips gently grazing my cheek as I continue to kiss her wrist. Even the slightest touch from her has me desperate for more.
“I don’t want to,” I say, pressing one last kiss against her pulse before releasing her hand.
“We barely know each other,” she protests, taking a step backwards.