Scrubbing my hands over my face and stabbing my hands through my hair I tried to block out images of that night but they refused to be repressed. My body woke up at the memories, making me bite back a curse. Next year I was going to outlaw sexy outfits, especially on hot little goddesses that fucking owned me.
“Fucking hell,” Jace growled from beside me.
We were sitting in a corner on the second floor, people watching. I couldn’t remember whose idea it had been to have a damn costume party but I was already bored with the entire thing tonight. The guys were all dressed as zombies, so freaking original. The chicks were all something sexy and normally I would have been watching them more closely, deciding which one I would be taking home and stripping what little clothes she was wearing off.
So far I’d seen three barely-dressed angels, one of which was an actual angel if you considered the fact she was a Victoria’s Secret angel. I’d lost count of the sexy nurses, and the leather-bound dominatrix chicks had left Jace biting his knuckles as he watched them pass us. I’d barely given any of them a quick glance. I was definitely not feeling this tonight.
Fuck.
I hadn’t been feeling any of this shit since Lucy had come back into my life. When I’d imagined having Lucy’s friendship back I’d thought things would have gone back to the way they were when we were kids. I hadn’t realized that everything would be so different, so intense for me. I’d given up on fighting how I felt for her. I loved that girl and there was no denying that.
It was everything else that I needed to keep in check. The way my body would catch fire if she got too close. I hadn’t been interested in any other chick in weeks. My body was going on strike, it seemed. If we couldn’t have Lucy, we didn’t want anyone.
“What now?” I lifted a brow at my friend when he glared at something over my shoulder, his eyes about to bug out of his head. “She that hot, man?”
Jace shook his head as if to clear it and lifted his chin at something over my shoulder. “That’s gonna be a problem, bro. Better contain it before things get crazy and you have an enraged Demon on your hands.”
Confused, I turned around to find five guys surrounding two sexy cops. Even with their backs to us I knew exactly who they were. There was no denying it from the way my dick suddenly thickened and bit into the zipper on my jeans.
With her hair straightened, it fell halfway down her back. The top she wore didn’t cover more than her chest and the shorts she wore with the heavy-looking cop belt hung low on her hips and ended just under the curves of her ass. Legs in ripped black stockings and leather knee-high boots that had a goddamn five-inch heel on them made my dick throb to have them wrapped around my waist.
Beside her stood Kin, but I didn’t even give her a second glance before I was out of my seat and pushing through the crowd to get to Lucy. A quick glance behind the girls told me that Marcus was on high alert, but for now he was keeping his distance. He knew my security staff would watch over his charge, but this was one time I wished he’d been glued to her instead of giving her a little independence.
One of the five guys who surrounded the girls was getting a little ballsy by the time I reached them. He was standing way too fucking close and the way he was looking down Lucy’s half-buttoned top made me want to slam my fist into his face. As if he felt my icy glare, the guy lifted his head and met my gaze. Recognition filled his eyes a second before he realized that I was headed right for him and his death warrant was already being considered in my mind.
The guy took two quick steps back and caused Lucy to frown and lift her head. When those nearly black eyes met mine, she grinned and stepped forward to hug me. I pulled her tight against me, her arms around me acting like a natural calming agent as my rage started to cool down.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she murmured as she stepped back and did a little twirl. “You like?”
I gritted my teeth before giving her the grin I knew she’d been expecting. “How the fuck did you get out of the house in that, Lu? Jesse Thornton is going to kill me dead if he finds out you’re dressed like that in my club.”
“Kin helped me sneak out. As far as Daddy knows I’m dressed like a nun.” She grinned and hugged me again, her arms staying around me this time. “Please, can we sit down? I hate these damn boots. My feet are killing me.”
I led her and Kin back to the couch where I’d left Jace. The four of us sat there all night, with Kin ignoring Jace and Jace doing everything he possibly could to get a reaction out of the redhead. I kept my attention focused on Lucy, taking her shoes off and messaging her feet for hours while everyone around us partied.
I had more fun that Halloween night than I’d had the year before when my frat had had a topless party. There had been two hundred chicks walking around with their tits bouncing free. I’d hooked up with three different girls that night. Yet, this year, with Lucy beside me and her feet in my hands, I’d had ten times as much fun.
Yeah, I was so fucked.
I was tired of fighting what I felt for her and I’d decided that I wasn’t going to anymore. Now all I had to do was wait. Wait until the 2nd of January, which was a just a little over a month away. Lucy would be eighteen then and I wouldn’t feel like a fucking sleazebag for wanting my best friend.
A month.
Shit.
A. God. Damn. Month.
I raked my fingers through my hair and groaned. A fucking month. How was I going to survive a goddamn month when all I wanted to do was grab that girl and kiss her every time I saw her?
There was a light tap on my door and I lifted my head in hopes that it was Lucy. I’d called up to tell Nate that if I saw him flirting with her again, if I saw her fucking blush one more time, I was going to give him his walking papers and then beat the mortal hell out of him. I’d done it in hopes of making the guy stop driving me mental from watching him flirt and make her giggle—because even though I hadn’t heard her on the security feed I knew she was fucking giggling—but I’d also done it knowing that Lucy would find out and come hunting for me.
Yeah, I was that fucking desperate to see her that I was willin
g to face her wrath. I was so screwed.
“Yeah,” I called out and the door opened enough to let in a long-legged blonde. I bit back a groan. Fuck. I should have known better. Lucy would have come storming in here, not have knocked so meekly. I’d been aching to see her. This girl? I could have lived a peaceful hundred years without seeing her ever again.
Tessa smiled flirtingly as she walked into my office. Dressed for a night out partying, she was nice to look at. If you went for half naked blonde chicks who were skin and bones and had a coke problem. I didn’t. I didn’t go for much of anything these days unless it was crazy curly brunettes with a body made for sin.