Seeking Two Lovers, page 8
She would be tight. Hot. So tiny compared to me…fuck, she would feel divine wrapped around my dick.
I fucked into my fist, imagining her heels pulling against my ass as she moaned and begged me for more.
The shower beat down on me as I jerked myself, my lips parted in a pant, water droplets slipping over my mouth. My balls pulled upward, and I tugged them down with a groan.
Open up, I imagined Grey telling Lily, watching as he held her head, shifting her mouth toward his hard cock. He would smear his pre-cum over her lips before shoving over her tongue.
I shuddered—and came with a hissed curse, spurts of white shooting through the air to land on the tiled floor.
“Goddamn.” I gasped for air, my skin twitching as a final ooze of cum dribbled from my slit. I wiped it free with my thumb and rinsed it off in the shower.
Grey would have sucked his finger clean.
My dick twitched again, and I chuckled.
Since when did I jerk off to thoughts of a woman and have a memory of Grey make an appearance? Sure, we shared—a lot, the only action I’d ever gotten—but he’d never been a part of my spank bank. Hell, if he knew, he’d call me a kinky fucker and laugh.
A few minutes later, I collapsed back on my bed, deciding to ignore whatever had caused Grey’s words and body to appear in my fantasy of fucking Lily.
No text from her waited for me.
With a curse, I turned off my light, hit my pillow a few times to fluff it up a bit, and buried my face in the feather-stuffed cotton.
It’d been a hell of a long day, and the hot shower had been the perfect muscle relaxant. I passed the fuck out and didn’t have one damn dream for a change.
My cell rang, jolting me from sleep.
Six in the morning—I’d fucking overslept.
“Goddamnit!” I hopped up and grabbed my cell.
Coffee girl.
I grinned and swiped to answer, my morning wood making a full appearance. “Hey.”
“Good morning to you too.” Her normally husky voice sounded breathless like she’d been scurrying around. “Just got your text—didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m running late for work, but I wanted to say yes to your dinner invitation.”
“Great. Awesome.” I slammed my eyelids shut, cursing inside my head.
Her laughter curved my lips. “I’m starving for some pizza if that works for you?”
“I can always eat pizza.”
“I gotta run, but text me where you want to meet and I’ll be there,” she promised, her still-breathless tone sending lust twitching through my groin.
“Will do.”
Grinning like an idiot, I yanked on my work clothes and sprinted out the door without my coffee.
Grey had already left for work—if he’d been back at all. Wouldn’t have been the first time he’d fucked his way through an orgy of guys at some hotel rather than bringing them home where I would have to listen.
I barely made it to the new jobsite on time, and Wyatt showed up a half-hour later with coffees in hand.
“You’re stuck with me today,” he said, handing over a cup.
“Davidson?”
“Gone.”
I straightened, blinking, wondering what the fuck had happened. “What?”
Wyatt barked out a laugh. “No…not like that. I had to let him go. Calling in hungover earlier in the week and not showing up the rest…” He shrugged.
“Shit. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“His loss.”
And my gain, I thought as we set to work. Davidson had been a decent enough guy, but Wyatt was one hell of a hard worker, his easygoing nature allowing me comfort enough that my self-awareness didn’t get swamped with insecurity.
We labored alongside one another without difficulty, getting shit done long before I had expected to. Having finished two hours early, I headed to the cafe on the other side of town.
Lily had already left for the day, a co-worker of hers told me.
Probably for the best since my stopping by might be seen as a bit much since we had dinner plans.
I got home with a blueberry muffin and coffee in my stomach, butterflies rippling around enough that nausea grew.
After a long shower and impatient as fuck, I texted, asking if she wanted to meet for an earlier dinner.
Prince Pizza at five? I shot off, my face aching from smiling so damn much.
Coffee girl: Can’t wait!
A text came through from Grey before I set my cell down. The caterer for tonight’s party is showing up at the house in a half hour. Any chance you can get home early to let them in? I’m fucking stuck in the meeting with Joseph I. Devonshire III and can’t escape.
Already home, I texted back. Early day.
Grey: I owe you one.
He didn’t owe me a goddamn thing, but I’d never tell him that. Just leave me to my peace and quiet tonight, I texted.
Grey: Sure you don’t want to join us?
Me: No fucking way.
Seeing as how I had the entire second floor of his house to myself, the party would go on unaware of the recluse upstairs.
But I wouldn’t be there like I normally would have, and Grey would honor my boundaries by not even coming upstairs to look for me after I snuck out.
Me: I’ll help clean up in the morning.
Grey: You’re the best. Enjoy whatever it is you’re going to be doing while I’m getting drunk and having a blast.
If only he knew my plans. My insides tightened a bit over the fact I kept something from my best friend, but I wasn’t yet ready to share Lily. For once, I’d taken a step out on my own without him, and I loved the feeling of independence.
Until I walked toward Prince Pizza, my stomach in knots.
I missed my damn buffer, the one who set me at ease, the hand I could hold in my head while taking steps forward in life.
Lily had seemed excited for our date. We’d had a good lunch together…what if I made a fool of myself and who I was turned her off? There was no way in fuck I could pretend to be something I wasn’t.
“Blaine!” she called from behind me, and I stopped, turning.
Lily rushed up the boardwalk, hair fluttering from the ocean’s breeze. Pink flushed her face, her easy smile relaxing my insides. “Hey!” She beamed up at me, lips parted, chest rising quickly with each inhale. “I thought I was late.”
“I wouldn’t have minded waiting.” In that second, caught by her beauty, I would have twiddled my thumbs forever. “You look really nice.”
She popped out a hip, pulling my gaze over her summer dress the color of sunshine. “Thanks. You clean up pretty good yourself.”
“Oh.” Heat rushed to my face. “Yeah…I didn’t come straight from work.”
“I see that.” Her focus slid down over my black T-shirt and jeans. “Tall, dark, and handsomer.” She winked, and I swallowed a laugh, my insides twitching.
“Hungry?” I asked, nodding toward the pizzeria rather than point, which would betray my shaking fingers.
“Starved.”
I thought about offering my arm but shoved my hands in my pockets instead. “How was work?” I asked, as we fell into step beside each other.
“Long. Boring. I watched the door all morning long, bummed when no gorgeous landscaper came in to see me.”
My cheeks went ten shades of red. “I, uh, started at a new jobsite today on the other side of town.”
“So, no more butterflies and breathlessness for me?” she asked with an exaggerated teasing sigh.
Goddamn, this woman.
“I, um…”
She bumped me with her shoulder. “You aren’t used to compliments, are you?”
“No.” I pulled open the oceanfront restaurant’s door, the heavy scent of garlic and baking pizza hitting my nose harshly enough that my mouth flooded with drool.
A hostess sat us in a booth beside the front window, and I buried my still-hot face in the menu.
“Blaine.”
“Hmm?” I lifted my focus—barely.
Lily smiled at me from across the table, her eyes kind. “Do I make you uncomfortable when I state my mind?”
“Not uncomfortable, no.” I cleared my throat, glancing out the window. “I’m just…not used to this. I’ve never dated before.”
She didn’t respond, and I turned my attention back toward her.
I’d expected her to look at me like I had two heads or some such shit, but she simply smiled without a trace of teasing or discomfort over my weirdness. “So you said the other day.”
I’m repeating myself like a moron who has nothing else to talk about.
“That’s the best compliment I’ve ever received,” Lily stated, her glossed lips in a sweet curve that eased my embarrassment.
My grin felt crooked, and I shrugged. “You seem pretty special.”
“Is it too soon for me to swoon over you?” she asked with light laughter, fanning her face with her hand.
Seeing as how she’d pretty much done the same to me the second I’d first laid eyes on her, I didn’t think so.
I shook my head and relaxed in my seat, knowing I was going to have the time of my life on our second date.
12
Greyson
I had ten minutes to shower at the office that morning, thankful yet again for how Meryl insisted I keep clothes on hand.
It wasn’t the first time I’d arrived late for work in the same clothes I’d worn the day before. Meryl had simply rolled her eyes and promised to get me coffee. While quickly washing the scent of sex off my body, I replayed the night in my head.
Lily’s candor, her lack of fake-assed bullshit like I experienced with most female hookups, had been refreshing as fuck. Others on their best behavior, trying for perfect in their looks and manners, hadn’t impressed me one bit.
But a woman with a level of confidence and inner happiness that sparkled through her eyes without feigned emotions? Toss in her sweet spirit that gave me warm fuzzies inside like only Blaine could do, and yeah.
Lily was all that and then some.
The memory of the way she’d given me her body, the complete submission she offered with just the hint of demanding when chasing her orgasm, made me come harder than any release a pussy had squeezed from my balls before.
She’d also woken up a sense of longing inside me for something more than a mere hookup or quick fuck whenever the mood struck.
Perhaps it was time to find something like Dad had done with Daphne…to fulfill needs I was ready to admit still lay deep inside me regardless of my relationship with Blaine.
Add in the fact the sex had been fantastic, mind-bending, and I realized I was open to the possibility of more with the little minx.
Lily had crashed into a deep sleep after we’d finished. I’d stripped her skirt off her, moved her beneath the blankets without her waking, and stared like a creeper at her while she lightly snored. I’d heard and seen men pass out after having my dick, but not a woman.
Dick drunk, I’d mused, smirking, but she’d woken me up with those lips wrapped around my cock long after my alarm should have gone off and hadn’t. It was like fate fucked with me.
Late for the office or enjoy a good morning blow job that I feared would entwine us a bit more than either of us intended?
The way her tongue laved at my frenulum, shoved into my slit like she was cum-hungry…I couldn’t say no.
Didn’t really want to, regardless of the hairs rising on the back of my neck.
I’d given her the mouthful she’d begged for, wishing I’d had time to fuck her into the mattress. She’d denied me, stating if we fucked, she’d never make it in to work. Passing out after sex was her thing, she’d claimed, and Christ how I wanted to lay waste to her body and crash beside her to creep as she dreamed.
The scent of vanilla and sex filled my nose hours after leaving the hotel room, or perhaps it was just my memory as I tried to focus on work, but goddamn, the woman had gotten under my skin.
I’d texted her once when I’d have preferred to blow up her phone, but I refused to come off as desperate. We used Missing Link for a purpose, and neither of us were looking for anything serious. But fuck, did I want to see her again. Sink into her sweet pussy—her ass if she’d give it to me—and rock her world, sending her tumbling into oblivion while her soft hands soothed over my skin, tugging me closer.
The noises she’d made…her beautiful response to my kisses over her body—
“Mr. Scott?”
I blinked from my dick-stirring thoughts, giving Mr. Joseph I. Devonshire III my full attention across my desk from me. My biggest client was demanding as hell, arrogant as fuck, and full of himself enough that he gave my ego a run for its money.
“My apologies. Meryl?” I glanced behind him toward the woman seated on my couch, pen and paper in hand. She’d saved me time and again when I couldn’t bear to listen to the man drone on. “Coffee, please?”
“Of course.” She smirked as though knowing I suffered from the evening before. “Mr. Devonshire?”
He barked out his drink order, and she left us.
If only it’d been to silence. The man didn’t know when to shut the fuck up. If not for how I profited off his investments, I would have told him to take a hike. While I didn’t need his money in the least, I sure as fuck enjoyed it. Having lived with Blaine’s shared memories of poverty, I knew a man couldn’t have too much put away in his accounts.
Blaine made good wages at his landscaping job, but I would never have him lack for anything again. I didn’t get to call him mine, but I provided for him in every small way he allowed.
If only he held interest in the physical as well. Lily would look good on him. Between us. Our marks and cum smeared all over her petite body.
Even better would be her loving on Blaine while he allowed me to do the same.
Heart heavier than usual after a perfect lay, I rushed home two hours later, lucky to not be caught speeding.
The caterers had set up for Meryl’s surprise party in the open concept kitchen and living area, same as they’d done a few times before at my home.
Blaine had already escaped to the second floor, so I left him alone. He never joined in the parties I threw, choosing solitude to the noise and mingling people that made his skin itchy.
I didn’t push, no matter how much I wanted to help him gain more of a social life, no matter how much I desired to have him by my side—where I wish he realized he belonged. My entire office knew of my best friend, were curious as fuck to meet him, but he refused to make an appearance. He hadn’t come from money like I had, didn’t have social graces or the ability to pretend instilled in him since childhood.
But I loved him regardless and had zero wish to change him.
I gave him his space, but thoughts of him lingered in the back of my mind, same as ones of Lily while Meryl blew out the thirty candles I’d insisted light up her cake. All twenty-three in attendance sang her happy birthday at the top of our lungs, but my cell buzzing in my jeans’ back pocket had me checking. Just in case Blaine changed his mind.
Higgins, the PI.
I made a quick escape to my home office and shut the door against the ruckus, barely answering in time.
“It’s amazing what a little money will get inquiring minds these days,” Higgins said the second I greeted him.
“What’d you find out?” I stood in the middle of the dark room, my entire body tight.
“That place is completely off the grid. Sequestered like that damn Shyamalan movie but without the monsters.”
“Oh, there’s definitely monsters,” I disagreed. “They’re just in human skin.”
“On that, I have to agree from what I’ve seen so far. Public punishments. People shut away in small metal boxes, just like you’d claimed, but when they’re freed, the leader…he kisses their feet and leads them into what appears to be the temple or main gathering room.”
“You managed to get inside the compound?”
“Let’s just say I have eyes in the sky through black market means.”
Drones of some sort, I figured.
“And Sarah?”
The sound of papers shuffling reached through the cell I clutched tight to my ear, my heart racing over what he might have uncovered about Blaine’s sister. Would it set Blaine’s mind at ease? Stir up enough darkness that he’d crash into a deep depression I wouldn’t be able to help him escape?
My fingers curled into my palm, itchy for a soft hand—
“According to records, the cult leader, Abraham Quell, was married to a woman named Clara, but the younger woman I’ve seen countless times walking at his side and holding his hand is no stately raven-haired beauty.”
My lips pressed tight at the memory of what I’d exposed Blaine to with our last hookup—but even more worrisome was where Higgins headed.
“There’s no record of Clara’s death, but no woman I’d seen since keeping watch over the compound matches her description. There’s also no record of Abraham Quell remarrying, but it sure as hell looks like that’s the case. I’m going to send you an image…hold on…”
I put my phone on speaker, and a texted image came through.
My breath caught before I let out a curse at the slightly grainy headshot. She had the same hazel-green eyes as her brother. The same cowlick just left of center in her hairline. An identical deeply furrowed line between her eyes that pulled her dark brows low, portraying deep sadness.
Sarah could have been Blaine’s twin.
“That’s her,” I croaked.
Higgins let out an audible exhale. “She’s pregnant.”
“Fuck.” I rubbed a hand down over my face, pulling at my jaw, my stomach turning inside out. “Quell’s?”
“That would be my guess from what I’ve seen.”
Eyelids slamming shut, I cursed again, knowing how that news would wreck Blaine. “Find everything you can,” I stated through clenched teeth. “I don’t care what it costs or how long it takes. We’re toppling this fucker’s supposed kingdom to the ground.”
Higgins assured me he’d only just begun, and with the intel he’d gathered within a matter of days, I trusted him to get the job done sooner than later.
I fucked into my fist, imagining her heels pulling against my ass as she moaned and begged me for more.
The shower beat down on me as I jerked myself, my lips parted in a pant, water droplets slipping over my mouth. My balls pulled upward, and I tugged them down with a groan.
Open up, I imagined Grey telling Lily, watching as he held her head, shifting her mouth toward his hard cock. He would smear his pre-cum over her lips before shoving over her tongue.
I shuddered—and came with a hissed curse, spurts of white shooting through the air to land on the tiled floor.
“Goddamn.” I gasped for air, my skin twitching as a final ooze of cum dribbled from my slit. I wiped it free with my thumb and rinsed it off in the shower.
Grey would have sucked his finger clean.
My dick twitched again, and I chuckled.
Since when did I jerk off to thoughts of a woman and have a memory of Grey make an appearance? Sure, we shared—a lot, the only action I’d ever gotten—but he’d never been a part of my spank bank. Hell, if he knew, he’d call me a kinky fucker and laugh.
A few minutes later, I collapsed back on my bed, deciding to ignore whatever had caused Grey’s words and body to appear in my fantasy of fucking Lily.
No text from her waited for me.
With a curse, I turned off my light, hit my pillow a few times to fluff it up a bit, and buried my face in the feather-stuffed cotton.
It’d been a hell of a long day, and the hot shower had been the perfect muscle relaxant. I passed the fuck out and didn’t have one damn dream for a change.
My cell rang, jolting me from sleep.
Six in the morning—I’d fucking overslept.
“Goddamnit!” I hopped up and grabbed my cell.
Coffee girl.
I grinned and swiped to answer, my morning wood making a full appearance. “Hey.”
“Good morning to you too.” Her normally husky voice sounded breathless like she’d been scurrying around. “Just got your text—didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m running late for work, but I wanted to say yes to your dinner invitation.”
“Great. Awesome.” I slammed my eyelids shut, cursing inside my head.
Her laughter curved my lips. “I’m starving for some pizza if that works for you?”
“I can always eat pizza.”
“I gotta run, but text me where you want to meet and I’ll be there,” she promised, her still-breathless tone sending lust twitching through my groin.
“Will do.”
Grinning like an idiot, I yanked on my work clothes and sprinted out the door without my coffee.
Grey had already left for work—if he’d been back at all. Wouldn’t have been the first time he’d fucked his way through an orgy of guys at some hotel rather than bringing them home where I would have to listen.
I barely made it to the new jobsite on time, and Wyatt showed up a half-hour later with coffees in hand.
“You’re stuck with me today,” he said, handing over a cup.
“Davidson?”
“Gone.”
I straightened, blinking, wondering what the fuck had happened. “What?”
Wyatt barked out a laugh. “No…not like that. I had to let him go. Calling in hungover earlier in the week and not showing up the rest…” He shrugged.
“Shit. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“His loss.”
And my gain, I thought as we set to work. Davidson had been a decent enough guy, but Wyatt was one hell of a hard worker, his easygoing nature allowing me comfort enough that my self-awareness didn’t get swamped with insecurity.
We labored alongside one another without difficulty, getting shit done long before I had expected to. Having finished two hours early, I headed to the cafe on the other side of town.
Lily had already left for the day, a co-worker of hers told me.
Probably for the best since my stopping by might be seen as a bit much since we had dinner plans.
I got home with a blueberry muffin and coffee in my stomach, butterflies rippling around enough that nausea grew.
After a long shower and impatient as fuck, I texted, asking if she wanted to meet for an earlier dinner.
Prince Pizza at five? I shot off, my face aching from smiling so damn much.
Coffee girl: Can’t wait!
A text came through from Grey before I set my cell down. The caterer for tonight’s party is showing up at the house in a half hour. Any chance you can get home early to let them in? I’m fucking stuck in the meeting with Joseph I. Devonshire III and can’t escape.
Already home, I texted back. Early day.
Grey: I owe you one.
He didn’t owe me a goddamn thing, but I’d never tell him that. Just leave me to my peace and quiet tonight, I texted.
Grey: Sure you don’t want to join us?
Me: No fucking way.
Seeing as how I had the entire second floor of his house to myself, the party would go on unaware of the recluse upstairs.
But I wouldn’t be there like I normally would have, and Grey would honor my boundaries by not even coming upstairs to look for me after I snuck out.
Me: I’ll help clean up in the morning.
Grey: You’re the best. Enjoy whatever it is you’re going to be doing while I’m getting drunk and having a blast.
If only he knew my plans. My insides tightened a bit over the fact I kept something from my best friend, but I wasn’t yet ready to share Lily. For once, I’d taken a step out on my own without him, and I loved the feeling of independence.
Until I walked toward Prince Pizza, my stomach in knots.
I missed my damn buffer, the one who set me at ease, the hand I could hold in my head while taking steps forward in life.
Lily had seemed excited for our date. We’d had a good lunch together…what if I made a fool of myself and who I was turned her off? There was no way in fuck I could pretend to be something I wasn’t.
“Blaine!” she called from behind me, and I stopped, turning.
Lily rushed up the boardwalk, hair fluttering from the ocean’s breeze. Pink flushed her face, her easy smile relaxing my insides. “Hey!” She beamed up at me, lips parted, chest rising quickly with each inhale. “I thought I was late.”
“I wouldn’t have minded waiting.” In that second, caught by her beauty, I would have twiddled my thumbs forever. “You look really nice.”
She popped out a hip, pulling my gaze over her summer dress the color of sunshine. “Thanks. You clean up pretty good yourself.”
“Oh.” Heat rushed to my face. “Yeah…I didn’t come straight from work.”
“I see that.” Her focus slid down over my black T-shirt and jeans. “Tall, dark, and handsomer.” She winked, and I swallowed a laugh, my insides twitching.
“Hungry?” I asked, nodding toward the pizzeria rather than point, which would betray my shaking fingers.
“Starved.”
I thought about offering my arm but shoved my hands in my pockets instead. “How was work?” I asked, as we fell into step beside each other.
“Long. Boring. I watched the door all morning long, bummed when no gorgeous landscaper came in to see me.”
My cheeks went ten shades of red. “I, uh, started at a new jobsite today on the other side of town.”
“So, no more butterflies and breathlessness for me?” she asked with an exaggerated teasing sigh.
Goddamn, this woman.
“I, um…”
She bumped me with her shoulder. “You aren’t used to compliments, are you?”
“No.” I pulled open the oceanfront restaurant’s door, the heavy scent of garlic and baking pizza hitting my nose harshly enough that my mouth flooded with drool.
A hostess sat us in a booth beside the front window, and I buried my still-hot face in the menu.
“Blaine.”
“Hmm?” I lifted my focus—barely.
Lily smiled at me from across the table, her eyes kind. “Do I make you uncomfortable when I state my mind?”
“Not uncomfortable, no.” I cleared my throat, glancing out the window. “I’m just…not used to this. I’ve never dated before.”
She didn’t respond, and I turned my attention back toward her.
I’d expected her to look at me like I had two heads or some such shit, but she simply smiled without a trace of teasing or discomfort over my weirdness. “So you said the other day.”
I’m repeating myself like a moron who has nothing else to talk about.
“That’s the best compliment I’ve ever received,” Lily stated, her glossed lips in a sweet curve that eased my embarrassment.
My grin felt crooked, and I shrugged. “You seem pretty special.”
“Is it too soon for me to swoon over you?” she asked with light laughter, fanning her face with her hand.
Seeing as how she’d pretty much done the same to me the second I’d first laid eyes on her, I didn’t think so.
I shook my head and relaxed in my seat, knowing I was going to have the time of my life on our second date.
12
Greyson
I had ten minutes to shower at the office that morning, thankful yet again for how Meryl insisted I keep clothes on hand.
It wasn’t the first time I’d arrived late for work in the same clothes I’d worn the day before. Meryl had simply rolled her eyes and promised to get me coffee. While quickly washing the scent of sex off my body, I replayed the night in my head.
Lily’s candor, her lack of fake-assed bullshit like I experienced with most female hookups, had been refreshing as fuck. Others on their best behavior, trying for perfect in their looks and manners, hadn’t impressed me one bit.
But a woman with a level of confidence and inner happiness that sparkled through her eyes without feigned emotions? Toss in her sweet spirit that gave me warm fuzzies inside like only Blaine could do, and yeah.
Lily was all that and then some.
The memory of the way she’d given me her body, the complete submission she offered with just the hint of demanding when chasing her orgasm, made me come harder than any release a pussy had squeezed from my balls before.
She’d also woken up a sense of longing inside me for something more than a mere hookup or quick fuck whenever the mood struck.
Perhaps it was time to find something like Dad had done with Daphne…to fulfill needs I was ready to admit still lay deep inside me regardless of my relationship with Blaine.
Add in the fact the sex had been fantastic, mind-bending, and I realized I was open to the possibility of more with the little minx.
Lily had crashed into a deep sleep after we’d finished. I’d stripped her skirt off her, moved her beneath the blankets without her waking, and stared like a creeper at her while she lightly snored. I’d heard and seen men pass out after having my dick, but not a woman.
Dick drunk, I’d mused, smirking, but she’d woken me up with those lips wrapped around my cock long after my alarm should have gone off and hadn’t. It was like fate fucked with me.
Late for the office or enjoy a good morning blow job that I feared would entwine us a bit more than either of us intended?
The way her tongue laved at my frenulum, shoved into my slit like she was cum-hungry…I couldn’t say no.
Didn’t really want to, regardless of the hairs rising on the back of my neck.
I’d given her the mouthful she’d begged for, wishing I’d had time to fuck her into the mattress. She’d denied me, stating if we fucked, she’d never make it in to work. Passing out after sex was her thing, she’d claimed, and Christ how I wanted to lay waste to her body and crash beside her to creep as she dreamed.
The scent of vanilla and sex filled my nose hours after leaving the hotel room, or perhaps it was just my memory as I tried to focus on work, but goddamn, the woman had gotten under my skin.
I’d texted her once when I’d have preferred to blow up her phone, but I refused to come off as desperate. We used Missing Link for a purpose, and neither of us were looking for anything serious. But fuck, did I want to see her again. Sink into her sweet pussy—her ass if she’d give it to me—and rock her world, sending her tumbling into oblivion while her soft hands soothed over my skin, tugging me closer.
The noises she’d made…her beautiful response to my kisses over her body—
“Mr. Scott?”
I blinked from my dick-stirring thoughts, giving Mr. Joseph I. Devonshire III my full attention across my desk from me. My biggest client was demanding as hell, arrogant as fuck, and full of himself enough that he gave my ego a run for its money.
“My apologies. Meryl?” I glanced behind him toward the woman seated on my couch, pen and paper in hand. She’d saved me time and again when I couldn’t bear to listen to the man drone on. “Coffee, please?”
“Of course.” She smirked as though knowing I suffered from the evening before. “Mr. Devonshire?”
He barked out his drink order, and she left us.
If only it’d been to silence. The man didn’t know when to shut the fuck up. If not for how I profited off his investments, I would have told him to take a hike. While I didn’t need his money in the least, I sure as fuck enjoyed it. Having lived with Blaine’s shared memories of poverty, I knew a man couldn’t have too much put away in his accounts.
Blaine made good wages at his landscaping job, but I would never have him lack for anything again. I didn’t get to call him mine, but I provided for him in every small way he allowed.
If only he held interest in the physical as well. Lily would look good on him. Between us. Our marks and cum smeared all over her petite body.
Even better would be her loving on Blaine while he allowed me to do the same.
Heart heavier than usual after a perfect lay, I rushed home two hours later, lucky to not be caught speeding.
The caterers had set up for Meryl’s surprise party in the open concept kitchen and living area, same as they’d done a few times before at my home.
Blaine had already escaped to the second floor, so I left him alone. He never joined in the parties I threw, choosing solitude to the noise and mingling people that made his skin itchy.
I didn’t push, no matter how much I wanted to help him gain more of a social life, no matter how much I desired to have him by my side—where I wish he realized he belonged. My entire office knew of my best friend, were curious as fuck to meet him, but he refused to make an appearance. He hadn’t come from money like I had, didn’t have social graces or the ability to pretend instilled in him since childhood.
But I loved him regardless and had zero wish to change him.
I gave him his space, but thoughts of him lingered in the back of my mind, same as ones of Lily while Meryl blew out the thirty candles I’d insisted light up her cake. All twenty-three in attendance sang her happy birthday at the top of our lungs, but my cell buzzing in my jeans’ back pocket had me checking. Just in case Blaine changed his mind.
Higgins, the PI.
I made a quick escape to my home office and shut the door against the ruckus, barely answering in time.
“It’s amazing what a little money will get inquiring minds these days,” Higgins said the second I greeted him.
“What’d you find out?” I stood in the middle of the dark room, my entire body tight.
“That place is completely off the grid. Sequestered like that damn Shyamalan movie but without the monsters.”
“Oh, there’s definitely monsters,” I disagreed. “They’re just in human skin.”
“On that, I have to agree from what I’ve seen so far. Public punishments. People shut away in small metal boxes, just like you’d claimed, but when they’re freed, the leader…he kisses their feet and leads them into what appears to be the temple or main gathering room.”
“You managed to get inside the compound?”
“Let’s just say I have eyes in the sky through black market means.”
Drones of some sort, I figured.
“And Sarah?”
The sound of papers shuffling reached through the cell I clutched tight to my ear, my heart racing over what he might have uncovered about Blaine’s sister. Would it set Blaine’s mind at ease? Stir up enough darkness that he’d crash into a deep depression I wouldn’t be able to help him escape?
My fingers curled into my palm, itchy for a soft hand—
“According to records, the cult leader, Abraham Quell, was married to a woman named Clara, but the younger woman I’ve seen countless times walking at his side and holding his hand is no stately raven-haired beauty.”
My lips pressed tight at the memory of what I’d exposed Blaine to with our last hookup—but even more worrisome was where Higgins headed.
“There’s no record of Clara’s death, but no woman I’d seen since keeping watch over the compound matches her description. There’s also no record of Abraham Quell remarrying, but it sure as hell looks like that’s the case. I’m going to send you an image…hold on…”
I put my phone on speaker, and a texted image came through.
My breath caught before I let out a curse at the slightly grainy headshot. She had the same hazel-green eyes as her brother. The same cowlick just left of center in her hairline. An identical deeply furrowed line between her eyes that pulled her dark brows low, portraying deep sadness.
Sarah could have been Blaine’s twin.
“That’s her,” I croaked.
Higgins let out an audible exhale. “She’s pregnant.”
“Fuck.” I rubbed a hand down over my face, pulling at my jaw, my stomach turning inside out. “Quell’s?”
“That would be my guess from what I’ve seen.”
Eyelids slamming shut, I cursed again, knowing how that news would wreck Blaine. “Find everything you can,” I stated through clenched teeth. “I don’t care what it costs or how long it takes. We’re toppling this fucker’s supposed kingdom to the ground.”
Higgins assured me he’d only just begun, and with the intel he’d gathered within a matter of days, I trusted him to get the job done sooner than later.
