Page 20 of Cole's Command
“What’s the problem?” Cole quizzed. “You signed it. Just get married at some point and meet the terms.”
“We all signed it,” Draco muttered. “But Seb was right to be angry. Dad had no right to inflict marriage on us.”
“I don’t think Seb feels that way now,” Cole replied, thinking how cozy his elder brothers had gotten with their women.
“Yeah, well, I’m not Seb.” Draco’s gaze traveled over Cole’s shoulder. “I’m gonna find a hot-shot lawyer who can help. Do you want in?”
“I...” Cole hesitated. He hadn’t been expecting the conversation to turn in such a random direction. “I don’t know, Draco.” He sighed. “I can’t concentrate in a place like this.”
“A place like this? You’re sounding more and more like Bal every day, Cole.” Draco smirked as he raised his voice to be heard. “But at least he’s the oldest. You’re in your twenties, man. What’s wrong with you?”
Yeah, what’s wrong with me?
Cole’s gaze slid to the throng of pulsating bodies on the dance floor. Surely, among all of those young desirable people there was one who stirred his cock?
“I’m just not feeling myself,” he shouted back, meeting Draco’ eyes briefly as he turned back to his drink. Condensation spilled over the rim of his iced water, confirming his statement. He’d never been to a club and only ordered water before in his life.
The truth was he hadn’t been his regular self since he’d left the offices of Lewis, Webber, and Wilson. His exceptional new therapist seemed to have wormed her way into his mind and whatever Cole did, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. From the wild curls of her hair, to the curve of her face and her soulful brown eyes, Dr. Lewis seemed to have ensnared him.
“Are you ill?” Draco demanded, his brow creasing, less with concern and more as if Cole was being preposterous.
Maybe Cole was?
He hadn’t been able to halt Eden’s inquiring yet consoling expression from appearing in his mind whenever his guard was down. What was it about her that was so damn alluring? Yes, she was beautiful, but it wasn’t as though Cole had a problem attracting delightful women. He’d had numerous lovers in the last few months and zero regrets, but the memory of any of them rarely lingered more than a day or two, and he never had any desire to see them again.
Until Eden. She wasn’t even his lover, but he couldn’t peel the idea of her out of his brain, and whenever he was alone he imagined ordering her to strip, devouring her sex, and taking her over the desk she’d sat so primly behind. The mental image was scorching hot.
I’m too young to be considering one woman. Pulling in a breath, he denied his desire. Too young to want any woman full time, let alone one so much older than me.
The idea resounded in his head like a mantra. He was too young, and yet wasn’t he too old to fall foul of schoolboy crushes like this? It reminded him of the time he’d become besotted with his high school teacher, Miss Miller; a futile and incessant infatuation.
I can’t ask her out. Cole’s jaw tensed at the insistent realization. She’s my therapist. He cut the thought short, conscious that Draco might overhear it.
“Yeah,” he called back, lifting one hand to his brow to rub away the impending migraine. “I think maybe I am.”
“Something you ate, perhaps?” Draco shook his head as though he didn’t believe a word, but Cole realized for a man like his brother, that was about as empathetic as he got.
“Perhaps.” Cole inhaled, inadvertently taking in the smell of his brother’s tequila. His stomach churned at the unappealing aroma, his gaze darting in the opposite direction.
Maybe I am ill?
“You should go then.” Draco shrugged, his compassion apparently at an end. “I’ll play on my own.”
“You go ahead.” Cole motioned to the dance floor, recalling a previous time at the same club when the roles had been reversed with another of his brothers. On that occasion, he had been the one following his dick while Sebastian had chosen to stay in the exclusive lounge. As he remembered, that had been the night Seb had met Rebecca. “I can wait here.”
“You’re cramping my style.” Brows knitting, Draco drained his glass. “I can’t leave you loitering up here on your own.”
“Fine.” Cole was only trying to do the right thing. He had no interest in staying at Indigo, anyway. Better that he go home to bed alone and see if he couldn’t sleep off the angry throb in his head. The next day would bring his second appointment with Eden, and the last thing he wanted was to not feel well enough to attend. “I’ll hit the road.” Reaching for his water, Cole drained the glass before grabbing his jacket. “I’ll walk down with you.”
“Great,” Cole’s eyebrow arched, perfectly illustrating his sardonic tone. “Thanks.”
Too weary to get sucked into a discussion about Draco’s response, Cole flicked his jacket over his shoulder and followed his brother down the staircase to the dance floor. A group of starry-eyed young women were waiting at the bottom of the steps, apparently eager to take their chances with anyone leaving the V.I.P. section. Cole’s eyes closed briefly after he’d examined their frantic expressions. Their short hems and made-up faces reeked of the sort of desperation that was an instant turn off for him, but the way his brother swooped into the group suggested Draco didn’t feel the same way.
No surprises there, then.
Cole watched as they surrounded Draco, their glances scanning Cole briefly before he steered toward the exit. Peering back over his shoulder before Cole made his way to the door and the cool night air, Draco was only visible thanks to his height and his mop of blond hair.
“Leaving early, Mr. Vaughn?” Sammy, one of the regular security guys, arched his brow as Cole approached the door.