This Cruel Love

I let my rigid shoulders sag slightly. So, he was a Dom. What did that matter to me? At the moment, he was the only friend I had that was in on this whole situation, and I had a feeling I’d need him for my survival.

“So… do you both? I mean, are you both-”

“No. He’s not into that scene.” Cillian nodded over to where Jackson stood leaning up against the bar, scowling at us. “I showed him what it was all about, but it was never his thing.”

I was shocked. If either man appeared dominant, I’d have said it was Jackson. Maybe I did have a closed mind.

“That’s shocked you, hasn’t it?”

I nodded, but it hadn’t changed my opinion of the man himself. Jackson Caine was still a loathsome, sadistic loan shark and man-whore. I was swimming in the shark pool, and I had to keep my wits about me if I was going to survive.

“Ryley Emerson? Is that you?”

A tall guy, dressed as impeccably as the rest of the men here, stood to the side of us on the dance floor. His weasel features hadn’t changed since childhood though, and he still smelt of desperation and way too much cologne.

“Mason? Mason Lovall? Wow, I haven’t seen you in years. How are you?”

Cillian and I stopped moving, but he still held me to him as I acknowledge

d Mason, but prayed he’d go away as fast as he came.

Mason Lovall was that guy in high school. The one most women tried to avoid in the corridors and at every party. Rumour had it he was the biggest sleaze out, who couldn’t take no for an answer. I’d been lucky, though. He was in the same year as my brother Travis, so I’d been way too young for him. I was just a kid back then. From the look of his smarmy face tonight, he hadn’t changed much. He looked me up and down and spent a little too long gazing at my chest, before he looked back up at my face.

“I’m doing good, really good. Better for seeing you tonight though, Ryley. Can I cut in?”

Cillian looked at me for a reaction. I could tell if I said no, or gave him any indication that I wasn’t okay with it, he would’ve shot Mason down. I nodded, but the short sigh I gave was enough to tell Cillian to stay close by. He could tell I wasn’t one hundred percent down with it.

As Cillian stepped back and Mason stepped up to grab me around the waist, a waft of his cologne invaded my senses and I couldn’t stop myself from sneezing. I was able to cover my face with both hands and save my embarrassment. Cillian chuckled. He got it. I stifled a laugh myself as Mason frowned.

“I hope you’re not coming down with a cold, Ryley. It is quite chilly in here with the air con, and that dress you’re wearing…well-”

He stepped back to admire my dress, and the body filling it, no doubt. Goosebumps erupted over my skin. Not the good kind either. This man was bad news. I looked over Mason’s shoulder to where Cillian stood, and he raised his eyebrow in question. He wanted to know if I needed saving. I couldn’t brush Mason off yet though, that would have been too rude.

“I’m fine. So, tell me, Mason, what have you been up to since high school? Travis only really stays in touch with a few of the guys from his year. I haven’t heard anything about you.”

Mason took this as his red flag to bore me for the next five minutes, telling me all about his role in his father’s business. He filled me in on every minute of his life, including his last relationship and how long he’d been single for. All details I had zero interest in. Mind you, it was hard to concentrate when I was so mega conscious of the fact that his hands, splayed on my back, kept creeping further and further down towards my ass. Mason obviously hadn’t changed. He was still a sleazebag with the grabbiest hands in the city. I didn’t know how much longer I could wiggle out of his hold and keep it P.G thirteen. So I gave Cillian the wide-eyed look that said, ‘help, I can’t keep this octopus off me any longer.’

“You’re making me feel jealous now,” Cillian said, as he stepped forward and took my hand from Mason’s shoulder, draping it over his own and reclaiming me.

“Oh. I didn’t realise you were together.” Mason didn’t look in the least bit remorseful.

“Yeah, like that’d stop you,” Cillian whispered as he manoeuvred me well away from Mason’s grasp.

“Sorry?” Mason looked slightly pissed off. I think he’d heard.

“I said-” Cillian’s face went bright red with anger, and I knew he was going to repeat himself word for word, so I stepped in.

“It was lovely to see you, Mason. I’ll tell Travis you said hi.”

Mason grimaced and walked off the dance floor, but his putrid aftershave took longer to disappear.

“I’m not saying his cologne is overpowering,” Cillian said, gesturing to a piece of artwork sat on a windowsill, with two stuffed birds in a white gilded cage. “But those birds were alive before he walked in.”

I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “Don’t knock it. At least it serves as a deterrent for all womankind. No woman in her right mind would want to stand too close to him for any length of time with that stench.”

“She’d probably pass out. Although, from what I’ve heard about Mason Lovall, he’d quite like that. He’d use it to his advantage.” Cillian’s jovial mood altered slightly.

“Do you know him?”