Chapter 2
two
Sweet cigar smoke clings to the green-felt air of the billiards room. My heels crack against the parquet floor as I stalk through, snag a Theta’s raised shot glass, then his friend’s, and down them both before they can blink.
“What the fuck?” they shout in unison, but I’m already on the move.
I gag through a grimace and scrape my tongue over my teeth. “You’re rich—why are you drinking Everclear?” I toss over my shoulder. The burn ignites my chest and settles in my belly like a mouthful of gasoline, but the spirits steel my nerves.
Talon’s not in the main bar area. Not in the hall.
Shouts erupt from the grand entrance, the chandelier swaying like a warning sign in response. Of course. Mafia-lite couldn’t even last one party without starting a fight.
When I jerk the front door open, an enormous blond man blocks the egress, his broad back an impenetrable wall. Two Theta guys in red jackets grapple with Talon beside him.
The valets hook Talon under his arms and haul him toward the garage as he flails, heels skidding over the cobblestones.
“He started it!”
None of the men dignifies that with a response.
I hustle after them. “Wait! What are you doing with him?”
“Fancy!” Talon twists in their grip, to no avail. “They’re kicking me out because I’m a Delta. Theta bitches!”
Henry Cardell, of all people, is one of the captors. His eye roll could power the whole Jacobean manor and send the Neo-Gothic gargoyles into flight.
“Let me at least tell him goodbye!” I say as he continues to fight them. All three men’s strength keeps their prisoner corralled. Hurriedly, I press a kiss to his neck and whisper so only he can hear. “Come to the back entrance.”
With a dismissive pivot, I aim toward the high brick garden wall. The rusted metal gate screeches as I slip through, not looking back.
Chaos surrounds the red-lit pool, its maroon water glimmering like lava. The oversized hot tub’s probably 70% cum and bacteria by now, judging by how many bodies are crammed inside and going at it.
“Excuse me!” A tangle of women lick each other over a vintage wrought-iron lounger, satin and sweat glinting in the amber light, their legs snaring mine until I fall into a crowd of thirsty sisters kneeling before—
That’s Landon Turner.
Hmm, useful? Not yet.
By the time Talon’s drunk ass waddles around the manicured boxwoods, I’m hot, seething, and one minor inconvenience away from homicide. Holding the back stairwell door open, I wave him in like he’s a child crossing a street.
He’s not stealthy. And that’s partly why he’s instrumental. But he stumbles over the threshold like he’s learning how his legs work. Thankfully, everyone’s too busy to notice. Or my current lust for blood would come rearing out at an inopportune time.
“I don’t have all fucking day,” I snap.
A sluggish grin is his only response, the smog of weed smoke clinging to his suit jacket like a skunk’s cologne. Reaching up, I tug on his mask so most of his face is covered. “There. Let’s go.”
“Where?” He can barely form the word. Perfect. Exactly how I need him.
With as innocent a smile as I can simulate, I grab his hand like a good girlfriend and guide him up the stairs to the president’s domain.
This time, when I push open the doors, Aiden’s sprawled in a mid-nineteenth-century crushed-velvet wingback by the fire.
One silk-clad leg crosses over the other, a double of something amber dangling from his fingers.
His ebony mask shadows half his face while his dogs laze around him—one massaging his shoulders, another stroking his hair, the third kneeling between his legs as he pats her head absently, like a prized poodle.
The moment I step inside, he notes my position with a scowl, his lush lips tightening into a thin line. Chest rising, shoulders taut, eyes fixed on mine.
Above the skeleton key inked on his pec, I catch his initials. AIC.
Asshole-In-Charge.
Other than that, he’s frozen. An ice god ready to unleash a blizzard of fury.
Exactly as expected.
Shifting into my ruse, I whisper a ginger touch down Talon’s chest, my fingers gliding along his knock-off suit jacket until it slips from his shoulders.
With deliberate flourish, I toss my hair back, watching Aiden study me.
Then I lace my fingers through Talon’s tattooed ones and guide him to the bed.
It’s not empty.
One Theta fucks another brother in the ass. The bottom boy’s tongue is buried in a Sigma sitting on his face. Her mouth is full of a third guy’s dick as he stands on the mattress next to the three. He leans over to kiss the first man, their grunts and moans ricocheting off the canopy above.
Talon fumbles to gather my waist, sloppy and unfocused, but manages to hug me and tug down my zipper. “Where’re the girls?” he whispers as he presses his lips to my shoulder.
When I step out of my short dress, all that’s left is a black garter belt and an open-cup bra. I face him, hands grazing his squared shoulders as I whisper against his cheek, “We’re attracting them. Act cool, Moretti.”
His surname is a trigger word that summons the ghost of his half-Sicilian pride. Truth is, if he spit in a DNA kit, there probably wouldn’t be enough mafia ancestry left to fill a cannoli. Doesn’t stop his father from trying to weasel his way back into the family’s good graces.
But I need Talon to pretend he’s still made of something now.
My tits ache in the cold air, nipples pebbling. I’m not wet yet. Not until I peek around Talon’s torso as he shrugs off his shirt.
Then…I spot Aiden.
His glare drills into Talon’s back like twin blades.
When Talon reaches for his mask, I catch his wrist.
“No,” I purr. “Keep it on. It’ll be so hot…”
With a grin, he grabs the back of my neck the way he always does—rough, uncoordinated, and far too pleased with himself.
His lips mash against mine in a graceless kiss as he grunts, grinding his erection into my belly. I weasel my fingers between us and undo his belt, then his trousers, each movement clinical, detached.
Once he’s undressed, I sink onto the soft comforter, making sure the smacking bodies next to me don’t mind.
There’s enough space for me to stretch out parallel to the man on his back.
He grunts through every brutal thrust from his partner, but still traces a finger down my arm—a wicked hello I answer with a slow, knowing smile.
I spread my thighs wide and curl a finger at Talon, beckoning him down like a crowned empress.
He misses the cue.
Of course he does.
Instead, he clambers over me, breath hot and panicked.
“This is weird,” he whispers with a darted glance at the man next to him, going to town on that ass.
“Eat my pussy,” I say flatly, planting my foot on his shoulder and shoving him lower.
“You know I don’t do that shit.”
Rage lights me from the inside out.
Yes, he’s a disaster in bed.
Yes, he’s always been this useless.
But tonight? It’s a crime.
Snatching his chin between my thumb and forefinger, I tilt his face up until he’s eye-level with my fury.
“Do you want other women to fuck you?” I hiss. “Then you better call them over here by showing them how amazing you are at eating a cunt. Got that?”
His eyes widen. “Yes, Mama.”
I close my eyes and breathe deeply.
I hate him.
Gods, I do.
But the boy does as he’s told, and when I glance down past my chest, my stomach, my spread thighs, and across the room toward the living area…
Aiden’s still watching.
Propped on my elbows, I tangle my fingers into Talon’s waxy, dark hair and roll my hips into his face. Shimmying, guiding. Showing him where I want it…where he always misses.
Locking eyes with Aiden, I part my lips and let out the softest sigh. Barely a whimper. More breath than sound.
The hand he uses to pat Mutton’s head stops. Focused and unblinking, his stare darkens, like a predator about to strike. I almost give away a smile. Instead, I drop my head back for a moment and wail with pretend pleasure, choking off the end of the sound when Talon uses his teeth.
“You come yet?” he mumbles into my pussy. I shove his head back down and writhe against his face.
From across the room, Aiden takes a slow sip from his glass. His fingers white-knuckle the crystal as his eyes narrow over the rim. Murder pulses through the vein in his temple. He bites his lip, before draining the last of his liquor, as if he’s deciding his next move.
I thrust my breasts out and heave a few breaths. In response, Aiden grips the crown of Mutton’s head and leans in. Kisses her like he means it—tongue, full tilt.
A knot twists behind my ribs. Righteous anger surges through me, along with adrenaline. Even more so when he guides her hand toward his dick. She strokes him through silk, slow and reverent, eyes captivated by his face.
My toes curl on Talon’s shoulders as he continues to fumble around my core with his wet tongue.
The way he keeps shifting his body sends a message.
He’s almost done. And I need to act fast. Grabbing his head, I work myself over his nose, his lips, his chin, and grind against wherever I can as I wail a resounding cry.
Each time Aiden touches one of those girls, I arch my back a little more. Give a small show. My weapon.
“Right there, daddy! Right there! Yes! Yes!”
I moan loud enough for Aiden. Then collapse, thighs twitching, air ragged in my throat. As far as everyone knows, Talon just took me to Heaven.
The guy next to us blinks. “That was…something. Good job, man.” He nods toward Talon, who stands up and wipes his chin with the back of his hand like some pussy paladin, self-appointed champion of orgasms.
Luckily, the foursome next to us vacate the area.
Before Talon can stick his dick in me, a shadow crosses over his back. My heart skips a beat.
Aiden, still masked, appears behind him, Cerberus in tow. Elowyn, Mutton, and the girl I don’t know trail behind on leashes like the obedient bitches they are.
Talon freezes, eyes raking over the cut frame of the man beside him. Aiden stands a few inches taller. Denser. Wilder. More dangerous in every unspoken way.
I hold my breath, waiting for a blow-up or a pissing contest…something.
But Aiden only tugs his girls closer, nodding toward the mattress. “Mind if we join you?”
Like he’s been invited to sit with the cool kids at lunch, Talon’s whole face brightens. His gaze drags over Elowyn, then Mutton, then the other one. Already imagining himself inside at least one of them, no doubt.
“Sure! Join in the fun,” he says, tapping the head of his cock on my clit as I sit, arms extended behind me.
Even three feet away, Aiden’s too close. My skin prickles like a struck match. He feels it too. I know he does. Without speaking, he arranges one of the girls on all fours in front of him, gaze never leaving mine. His dark brow furrows. His jaw tics. His neck grows taut with restraint.
For a beat, he glances at Talon’s dick. A flash of disgust? Jealousy? Calculation?
The smack echoes when he slaps Elowyn’s ass so hard, she lurches forward with a gasp, and I—
Get soaked.
Aiden bites his bottom lip and presses his hips forward against her—still clothed, but the bulge in his pants says everything. He’s hard.
And he wants me to know.
Talon watches Elowyn as Mutton glides her palm over Aiden’s bare chest. The dark-haired girl slips behind Talon and gathers his face between her clawed hands for a kiss.
I shift my hips lower until Talon’s cock catches on my wet entrance—enough motion to snatch Aiden’s attention. His gaze trails slowly up my waist to my breasts, then to my neck and lips. Head tilted, he studies every inch of me with fierce eyes. Everywhere they touch, my skin sizzles.
Fingers tightening on Elowyn’s hip, he shoves down his pajama pants and tugs out his thick, hard cock.
His large hand grips his shaft, stroking it once, twice…
never looking away from me. He guides himself between Elowyn’s ass cheeks as I curl my fingers around Talon’s length.
Roll the head over my clit. Slow. Deliberate.
Talon’s busy making out with the tattooed, dark-haired girl, feeling up her implants and sucking on her neck. Which allows me to control what’s going on below his waist by sliding his length toward my opening. Teasing it, dousing it with my wetness.
I’m close enough that I could touch Aiden’s forearm… In fact, my fingers graze it under the guise of propping myself up on a hand to arch my back.
Thunder crashes outside as lightning strobes through the windows and electricity jolts between him and me.
Aiden stiffens. His commanding, deep bass grits out, “I have an idea… Why don’t you try my girl out?” He bumps Talon’s shoulder with his own. “Switch?”
And there it is…
Got him.
He just made all of Talon’s dreams come true. High, drunk, and intoxicated on lust, Talon sways on his feet and nods. “Fuck yeah…”
Without hesitation, he slides over to Elowyn, lines up, and shoves inside her, the raven-haired woman almost forgotten. Mutton leans over where Talon is joined with Elowyn and glides her lips along his length every time he pulls out of her, licking Elowyn’s arousal off his dick.
The tattooed girl places her hand on Aiden’s shoulder, but he removes it, not so gently. “Help them out…” he says, almost under his breath, eyes still latched onto mine.
She does so by sitting between Talon and the bed, then lifts her chin to suck on his full sack. He’s lost in ecstasy. Back arching, he bellows a guttural groan.
My jaw falls open as I gasp for air. The heat blooming from my core has nothing to do with the foursome twisted together beside me…
And everything to do with the man standing between my thighs. Huge cock held like a weapon. Eyes on me with the kind of glare that razes kingdoms.
He’s frozen in place, but his chest rises with the same urgency as mine. Each breath we take is synced. Thick. Deep. And ferocious.
We hold each other in a stare so searing it could melt steel. For long seconds, I start crafting the perfect words to break the silence. To reassert control. But when I part my lips to snap it out, he lunges.
His rapacious body leans over me like a collapsing nova. One hand clamps around my neck in a squeeze that threatens death should I utter a whisper. Gravity tightens my spine as his mouth grazes the shell of my ear, his voice tidal.
Each syllable is an omen and a promise.
“Stop trying to play games you can’t win, baby girl.”