“You think so?” Loren pressed in closer until I felt the barest brush of his lips against my forehead. If I still wore my heels, he’d undoubtedly be kissing me right now. “Because I think the ones that you’re wearing right now are black like your heart, Braxton Fawn.”
He was right. They were.
Against my will, I backed up a step only to trade one wall of fire for another.
Jericho.
I was trapped with nowhere to run.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
My head flew to the right, and I never thought I’d be happy to see Houston. That was until I realized his angry gaze was directed at me, and so was his question. Unbelievable.
“Just a little playful hazing,” Loren answered when I kept my mouth shut.
“This isn’t a frat,” I snapped, feeling flustered. Neither Loren nor Rich bothered to move even though Houston had crashed their little party. “And you’re not boys. You’re grown men.”
“You’re absolutely right, and I have the dick to prove it.” Running his thumb across my lip, Loren’s gaze roved my face. “Tell me you’re not interested,” he challenged. Behind the cocky assurance, I could see the small glimmer of hope that I’d say yes.
“In catching a venereal disease? Not a chance.” Feeling a familiar ache between my legs and the taste of cherries stronger than ever before, I pushed past him, and he let me. “Now, if one of you could be professional and point me to a bathroom, please?”
No one said a word or moved a muscle for several tense seconds. Finally, Houston decided. “When you hit the stairs, keep walking. There’s one on your right.”
I fled the kitchen without saying a word.
By the time I found the bathroom, sweat had poured from my pores as fast as arousal ran from my center. Twisting the faucets on the sink until water rushed from the spouts, I pressed my back against the wall and wrestled my hand down my tight jeans and past my black thong.
The moment my fingers touched my clit, a cry slipped from my lips that I quickly muffled with my free hand. Another brush of my fingers and my eyes rolled back as right there in Bound’s powder room, I relieved the ache that had been building since the day I walked into that conference room.“Should one of us check on her?” I asked after too much time had passed. It had been twenty minutes since Braxton locked herself in our guest bathroom, and she still hadn’t come out.
“No, soft-ass,” Loren snapped with a scoff. “She’ll come out when she realizes she’s screwed like the rest of us.”
“Yeah, but why did you have to fuck with her? I thought we agreed to make her one of us.”
“We never agreed to like it. Or her.”
“I like her.”
Fuck me, what wasn’t to like? She was hot as hell, a rare gem of intelligence, kind… the icing on the cake was that she talked back when we weren’t. I got hard just being in the same room with her—my friends, too, though Houston liked to pretend while Loren had no problem making his attraction known.
Loren made another sound of disgust before waving me off. “You like everyone.”
“Yeah, lucky for you, asshole.” We’ve been best friends longer than I can remember, and I still haven’t figured out why. Loren slowly looked up from his phone and met my gaze. As much as I wanted to hold my ground, I looked away from the intensity of his stare and what burned inside.
Deciding, I stood from my seat behind my drums. “I’m going to go see if she’s okay.”
Neither of them bothered to stop me as I made my way out of the living room. I was at war with myself and needed those precious moments it took to reach the bathroom where Braxton was holed up to think about my next step.
She wasn’t my enemy, but I was hers. It was just the way the dice rolled, and neither of us was to blame.
I tapped on the bathroom door, using the drumsticks still in my hand before shoving them in the back pocket of my jeans. There wasn’t a peep on the other side, making me wonder if she’d slipped out without any of us seeing. I wouldn’t blame her if she had.
I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until the door slowly opened, and her big brown eyes appeared. How could someone who caused so much trouble look so goddamn innocent? She could fool the entire male population with those eyes. No one would ever see the huntress lurking beneath.
No one but me, apparently.
I shifted my feet. Why the hell was I nervous?
“I guess I overextended my welcome in your bathroom, huh?” she asked me after I just stood there like an imbecile.
“No, it’s not weird at all,” I lied.