CREENA WASN’T HAPPY. Whoever she was speaking to on the phone pissed her off and, surprisingly, it gave me the same reaction. This was new. Nothing I was used to. We had been friends for a while but now that we’d slept together, it was like I actually cared. I wasn’t used to that, and it irritated the fuck out of me.
When she hung up her phone and placed it on the seat of her bike, she let out a hard sigh. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough,” I told her, sitting on the ratty old couch by the wall. “Who pissed you off?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “The same man who’s pissed me off my whole entire life.”
I raised an eyebrow, a hint of jealousy twisting through my gut. Again, another feeling I didn’t like. “Your father?”
She met my gaze. “Surprisingly, no. My father was an asshole but never to me. He passed away over ten years ago. Now my brother, on the other hand …”
Brother. That explained things and also made me happier I didn’t have an ex to deal with. It was something I didn’t want to admit, not to her, anyway, but I enjoyed seeing her mad.
“You’re getting enjoyment out of my misery, aren’t you?” she asked, leaning against her bike.
“How do you figure?” Fuck, she could read me well.
“It’s my job to figure shit out. I may be a nurse, Stone, but when it comes to the Harlots, I get paid to read people and figure out if they’re in fact lying or not. Brogan is the muscle.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m the mind reader in a way.”
“Huh.” I rubbed my jaw. “I had no idea.”
“Why would you? No one knows except for us girls. So, tell me, you enjoy seeing me pissed, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I answered automatically. A tremor rippled down my spine. The fact she could pull information from me easily drove this need inside of me to power over her. It was a battle I couldn’t win, but I would have fun trying.
She raised an eyebrow, her gaze falling to my lips. “I don’t get you, Stone. I don’t get you one bit.”
“I could say the same for you,” I scoffed. “We fuck last night and every time I’m near you, I get strung the hell out. I need to touch you, but I also need to push you.”
“I’ll push back,” she reminded me, taking a step toward me.
“I want you to push back.”
Creena sat on the couch beside me, curling her legs under her. “My brother is a powerful …business man. He went into it after our parents passed away, but I think it’s gone to his head.”
“Both of your parents are gone?”
She nodded. “It was a long time ago. I miss them, but maybe not as much as I should. Our family was … different.”
I cupped her knee, giving it a light squeeze. “So, your brother runs the family business?”
She laughed. “You could say that.”
I searched her face. When she didn’t meet my gaze, I knew there was something more to her story then she was letting on. It may have been a family-run business but everything in me was saying it was a subject she wouldn’t open up about. This woman captivated me. She was a war I wanted to win, and I would battle every fucking demon just to get her to open up to me. I just needed to figure out how the hell to do that.
***
(Creena)
Every time I had Stone figured out, he did or said something to make me second guess everything I believed. He was an asshole. He was sweet. He pushed. He pulled. He shoved me over the edge but made sure to be right there beside me. It was a delicious war. An intoxicating battle over who would dominate who in the end. But right now, I was tired and I wanted him to silence the noise threatening to deafen me.
I leaned my head against his shoulder, my gaze locking on his hand gripping my knee. “I don’t like talking. It’s boring and makes me feel things I don’t want to feel.” My confession slid between us, drifting off into the wind without a response from Stone.
“We’re one and the same, baby girl,” he finally said awhile later, “because I was thinking the exact same thing.”
We’re one and the same.
Why the men in my life felt I was just like them was beyond me. I was me. Creena Chan. No one else. And I wouldn’t let anyone own me or hold power over me. Not unless I wanted them to.
“Hey.” Stone pinched my chin, turning my head to meet his stare. “I felt you tense. Talk to me.”
“I …” My gaze fell to his mouth. His glorious delicious mouth that had been on me earlier that day. Just a little closer and I could kiss him. A little more and I could have him writhing beneath me. An adjustment here. An adjustment there. And he could be back inside me.
“Creena,” my name fell from his lips, the deep rumble of his voice sliding over me like melted chocolate. “You need to stop looking at me like that.”
“How am I looking at you?” I breathed, wrapping my fingers around his wrist.
“Like you want me to fuck you senseless.”
“You have no idea what I want,” I told him, licking my lips.
A groan escaped him. “Shit.”
I smiled and leaned forward, kissing the corner of his lips. Sliding my mouth down the length of his jaw, I gripped his knee. “If you want me tonight, you’ll have to come find me.”
“Yeah? And where will you be, Creena?”
I smirked and moved to the other end of the couch, placing my feet in his lap. “I could be here. I could be at Meeka’s and Asher’s. I could be at my place.”
“You better not be alone,” he said, his voice turning deadly.
A hot shiver raced down my spine. “You going to protect me, baby boy?”
“Fucking right I will.” Stone smoothed his hands over my feet, pushing his thumb into the sole of my foot.
“None of us should be alone. Even you guys.” I sat forward. “Clearly these fuckers don’t care about a specific sex.”
He grunted, massaging and kneading his fingers into the arch of my foot. “What would you do?”
I rubbed the back of my neck, giving my shoulders a shrug. “I have no idea. Brogan is the one who tortures people. I just read them when needed. I guess when we found out what happened to Brogan and Coby, my first thought was that I wished I could have been there to watch the life leave Tina’s eyes. And now that Charles and Zane are dead, everything should be peachy-fucking-keen. Right?”
“The lives we live will never be peachy-fucking-keen, Creena.” His gaze snapped to mine. “You know that.”
I pulled my feet from his lap and sat cross-legged beside him. “Do you ever regret joining the military?”
“This conversation is becoming fucking heavy.”
“I know.” I chewed my bottom lip. “You told me to get to know you now. That’s what I’m doing.”
Stone rested his arm across my lap, pulling me closer. “Yes. I do regret joining sometimes. But now it’s a part of me.”
“Do you talk to your old team?”
His gaze snapped to mine. “You know about them?”
“The guys talk and the girls talk to me. I know something happened, but I don’t know exactly what.”
“There was an attack. One member of my team died and the others were all medically discharged.”
“But not you,” I pointed out.
“What are you saying?” he asked, his tone clipped.
“I’m not accusing you of anything, so you need to fucking relax, Stone. It sucks what happened, but you’re safe.”
“Yeah,” he scoffed. “Safe. Physically, maybe.”
“How can you still be in the military then if you have PTSD?”
His gaze flicked to mine. “Who says anything about me having PTSD?”
“Either you are a really good fucking actor or you just don’t care, but any normal person wouldn’t be able to move on from that.”
“Well, I did,” he snapped. “So, drop it.”
I laughed, shaking my head.
“What is so damn funny?”
“You.” I thrust an arm out. “All of you. You expect us to let you in but you don’t do the same. I’m too old for this shit, Stone. If you want nothing out of this or we’re only going to fuck, fine. But don’t you dare sit there and expect—”
A rough mouth crushed against mine, interrupting everything I had intended to say.
“Stone.” I pushed him back. “You can’t just kiss me—”
“Shut the hell up.” He curled his hand in my hair, tugging my head back. “For someone who finds talking boring, you talk way too damn much, Creena.” His teeth sunk into my chin, sliding down the length of the jaw. “Way too damn much.”
“Yeah.” I gripped his shirt tight in my hands. “Well, you touch me too damn much.”
He leaned back, his gaze searching my face. “Is that a problem?”
“I don’t know.” I inched my fingers beneath his shirt, running them over his abs. “Should it be?”
“Fuck if I know.” He cupped my face, inching his mouth closer to mine. “But right now, I need you to give me your tongue, baby.”
“Why?” I breathed, pushing my hands further beneath his shirt.
“Because I’m going to suck it and send shivers rippling down the length of your beautiful body.” He reiterated his point by sweeping his tongue along my lower lip.
“You think it makes me shiver?” A surge of heat rushed through me. I fisted the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer.
“I know that’s what happens. Just like when I kiss below your ear and you arch beneath me. We may have only spent one night together but I can already read your body.”
“We need to go to the meeting,” I panted, turning my head to give him better access to my neck.
“They can come find us.” His mouth never left my throat. “Now give me your tongue.”
Sticking my tongue out, I pulled him between my legs when he crashed against me.
Hands roamed beneath the fabric of my dress. Fingers massaged and kneaded. Tongues danced and moans sounded. God, this man. This heartbreakingly delicious man. Him touching me was a damn problem I always wanted.
“Fuck, I don’t know if I can wait until tonight,” he whispered in my ear.
“You’re going to have to,” I said when I saw Brogan coming toward us. I pushed Stone back, taking deep breaths and tried easing my racing heart.
“Shit.” He turned toward me, shielding the erection sporting between his legs. “I need a moment.”
I smiled at him. “Hey, Brogan,” I said as she stepped into the garage.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt but Dante’s King’s will be here any second, and I’d like to get this shit done and over with.” She went to her bike, grabbed a cloth, and polished the gas tank with a couple swipes of her hand before turning back to us. “Someone’s being sent in to check up on Tyler.”
“Really?” My eyes widened.
Tyler Bone was Jay’s ex and someone who attacked Max a couple months before. The fucker was in jail but after being shot in both knee caps and his dick, he was stuck in the infirmary. The bastard should rot there.
“I’m surprised he’s still alive,” Stone finally said, rising from the couch.
“Same here,” Brogan added. “But he has protection. He’s made some friends along the way after spending years with Dante’s Kings.”
“The guy is shady as fuck.” I rose to my feet but stumbled over my dress and landed right in Stone’s arms.
“I got you, baby girl,” he whispered, helping me steady my footing.
Brogan stood there, watching us.
“What?” I stepped out of Stone’s embrace, ignoring the flutter in my stomach over his words.
“Nothing.” She grinned. “Nothing at all.”