Page 15 of Mischief Mayhem
It was not the same for her. In her gaze, I saw the wall she’d drawn up between what we’d done and what would happen next, impenetrable and solid, the way her brother got when he’d made up his mind about something and wouldn’t be deterred.
Just as I opened my mouth to tell her how much more I wanted, she cut me off. “I don’t have to tell you to keep this between us . . . right?”
If the moon had suddenly fallen out of the sky and squashed me like a bug, it would have hurt less. Here I’d been planning the next time, convinced it had been just as good for her. But she only wanted to make sure I didn’t run my mouth about it.
Swallowing down the bitterness, I nodded. “Sure, V. You got it.”
“Good.” She leaned down to give me a kiss on the cheek, tender and chaste compared to the way she’d treated me moments ago. “Do you want me to stay with you? We didn’t negotiate aftercare.”
“You better go,” I said, my cheeks burning with everything rising up in my chest. “You don’t want to leave Wheels hanging.”
She narrowed her eyes like she didn’t believe me, but gave me one last kiss before pushing to her feet. “Thanks for the show. Have a nice night, Hollywood.”
Then, she walked to the door and left me there—kneeling on concrete, covered in my own come, legs shaking and arms writhing with the aftershocks of submitting to one of the most powerful women I’d ever had the privilege to know.
Fuck. Get it together, Hollywood.
Digging my palms into my eyes, I told myself it was just another whack. So what if V had watched? So what if I’d watched her? We were drunk, and if I had a couple shots before I passed out, I might get away with not remembering any of it.
I caught sight of her black lace undies on the ground between my legs. Chest clenching, I grabbed them and held them to my nose, inhaling her sweet musky scent before I stood, my toes tingling as blood rushed down my legs again. I had to stand there and lean on the table for a moment before I could trust myself to walk, and when I did, I found a dirty towel to clean up the mess. Then I decided the couch in the far corner was as good a place as any to pass out.
While I lay there in the decades worth of dirt and grime on the cushion, I thought of all the other one-night stands I’d had where I had taken those few shots before passing out, where I had chosen to forget it because why the fuck remember something so insignificant?
Not this night with V. No, I wanted to remember this forever.
Bringing the soft lace to my nose again, I took another long inhale of her, closed my eyes, and hoped for the best in the morning.
“Hey!” someone shouted, shoving me hard enough to have me snapping my eyes open like the world had suddenly caught fire.
“What?” I sat up, shaking my head as something soft and black fell into my lap. “What happened?” I blinked up at Bear, who stood over me with narrowed eyes and a scowl between his brows.
“What the fuck happened to you last night?” He laughed, pointing down to the underwear in my lap. “Whose are those? What about your celibacy streak, huh?”
For a moment, I wasn’t sure. I looked around, realizing I was in the side room. A deck of cards and a pile of chips lay in a heap on the table, and the smell of stale beer permeated from the red plastic cups scattered around it. I vaguely remembered playing poker with Wheels, Castor, Lore, and V. My brothers lost until it was just me and her . . .
Fuck.
It all rushed back to me, slamming down my spine and back up again, lining my gut with dread. I quickly palmed the underwear and curled it into a ball in my fist. What was I supposed to say?
Haha, I don’t know? Definitely not your baby sister’s?
“I’m still a virgin reborn,” I grumbled, my throat aching like I’d run a marathon. It wouldn’t take much questioning to learn V had kicked everyone’s ass in poker last night and Lore had left us alone after his last hand. Bear was next in line to the presidency for a reason; he was smart as a fucking whip. He’d put two and two together and string me up by my thumbs in a heartbeat. “I’m not sure which hang-around wanted to ride my face last night. I’ll have to go around the club and have everyone try them on like Cinderella.”
He stared at me for a moment, seeming to debate whether I was serious, before he shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. “Stay classy, Hollywood.”
I forced an exhausted, hungover smile, terrified he’d see right through me.
“Get up. It’s your shift with Leo.” Apparently having given V’s panties as much thought as he would, Bear turned toward the door and left. The tightness in my chest loosened the more distance he put between us.
He didn’t need to know I’d peeled them off his little sister with my teeth, that I had them stuffed in my mouth while I whacked off, that I used them as a calming scent to help me fall asleep. If he ever found out, he and his brothers would kill me . . . literally feed me to the pigs.
One thing was certain—V could fuck with whomever she wanted as long as they weren’t filthy, pathetic manwhore me.
6
HOLLYWOOD
“Well, well, well,” Leo said from his spot at the breakfast table, “it must have been quite the Valentine’s Day. You look like shit.”