“I’ll kill him, Sofia. I swear to the gods I’ll do it.”
“He’s a daemon, Amelia. He can’t be killed.”
Sofia had not once seen Amelia in a foul mood. She’d always been a sort of fun auntie-type; not in her everyday business, but always in the background dropping in to check on her.
Amelia and Andrei had a long history. From Sofia’s understanding, the relationship had always been platonic. Now, seeing how upset Amelia was, she wondered if she’d misinterpreted the siren’s connection to Sofia’s father.
“I cannot believe him. I just … ugh. I’m so disappointed. I expected more from him,” Amelia lamented.
“Yeah, that makes two of us.”
Sofia downed the rest of her drink. They were sitting in the bar of Club Shadow; the club Amelia ran for the Marcellus Family.
As in Eriq Marcellus.
She’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to see him again.
When Amelia happened to call Sofia this morning—the morning after Andrei told her to leave—Sofia broke down. She confessed what she’d been caught doing, what she’d been doing for the past year, and what her father had said.
Amelia immediately chartered a plane and had Sofia in Charleston by late afternoon. It was now almost 5 p.m. and Sofia was already on her fourth cocktail.
“At least he called you and had you check on me,” Sofia continued. “I mean, he didn’t really leave me with zero options. He cared enough make sure I had some place to go.”
And what a place it was. Sofia, though saddened with her current predicament, fully intended to take advantage of her time here.
Amelia had offered Sofia a job, said she could help play hostess or have any open position she wanted. There was really only one thing Sofia wanted from Club Shadow.
Amelia grimaced.
“What?” Sofia asked.
“Your father didn’t call me.”
A crease formed between Sofia’s eyes.
“But you said you’d gotten a phone call from someone saying you should check on me.”
“I did, but it wasn’t from your father.”
The wheels in Sofia’s head cranked into overdrive. There was only one guest staying at the resort who was connected to Andrei, Sofia, and Amelia.
“Who called you Amelia?”
The hairs on the back of Sofia’s neck stood on end when Amelia looked over Sofia’s shoulder.
“I did, Koshenya,” rumbled a deep voice from the left.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins. Wetness pooled between her thighs. She knew she’d run into him here, but she hadn’t expected her body to react so severely.
“Give us a minute, Amelia,” he said.
Amelia hesitated, concerned for Sofia, whom she considered family. Eriq hadn’t bothered to look at Amelia. He only had eyes for Sofia.
Sofia blushed and held very still. Amelia debated interrogating Eriq about his sudden interest in Sofia, but, deep down, she knew Eriq was a good guy—one who had very adamantly told Amelia he wanted her to help Sofia.
Intuition told her to let it go, and Amelia knew better than to go against her gut.
“Alright. Check in with me later, Sofe.”
Sofia nodded.
Eriq took the seat Amelia vacated. He barely fit in it. Leaning back, with his arms crossed, he stared at Sofia, loving the way she was reacting to his presence.
He could smell her arousal. It took more effort than he thought possible to not jerk her out of the chair and fuck her against the closest wall, like he should have done last night. Maybe then she’d be out of his system.
“Thank you,” Sofia said, breaking the strained silence.
She didn’t like being under Eriq’s microscope. With his immortal’s senses, he had to know what was going on under her dress.
“You’re welcome. Are you okay?” he asked.
She blew out air, not knowing how to answer. In a way, she was glad to be out from under her father’s thumb. But Andrei hurt her, had wounded her badly.
Sofia didn’t understand what was so wrong with her behavior or how her father could so easily toss her out. She would never treat someone she loved so coldly.
Sofia swallowed the lump in her throat, not wanting to discuss the details.
“I’m okay. Or, I will be, at least.”
Eriq leaned forward and put his forearms on the table. His erection pushed further into the seam of his jeans. Shit. He needed to get off.
The hand jobs he gave himself last night and again this morning hadn’t done a damned thing for him. He had a training session with Lucy soon, thank goodness.
“Listen Sofia, about last night, I—”
Sofia held up a hand and shook her head.
“Uh-uh. Nope. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m assuming you heard Father shouting and you called Amelia. For that, I thank you. But I really don’t want to dive into my family issues tonight.”
Eriq smirked. Sofia wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. The more he was around her the more attractive she became.
“That’s fine. But I wasn’t going to bring up Andrei.”
He had plans for Andrei, but he wasn’t about to tell Sofia how he was going to deal with her asshole father. Few knew of his additional power. It was dangerous, and he didn’t like advertising his capabilities.
Eriq was a lover, not a fighter. Normally, he wouldn’t get involved. But something about Sofia made him want to defend her honor, even if it had been someone else making her come on that lounger.
He’d nearly chased after Andrei, so his fists could have a conversation with the daemon’s face. He’d held back after seeing the lone tear fall from Sofia’s eye, prioritizing Sofia’s needs by making arrangements for her to come to Charleston.
Eriq wanted to make it all better, to lick the trail of the tear away. It wasn’t what she needed in that moment, so he called Amelia, which was convenient since he had also meant to see Sofia again, preferably while naked. If she was in Charleston, it would be easy enough to accomplish.
“Oh,” she replied. “Sorry. What were you going to say?”
“Only that I saw you,” his voice lowered an octave, “behind the cabana. I saw your pretty face when you came for someone else.”
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. She wasn’t embarrassed, just surprised. What in the hell was she supposed to say to that?
Eriq looked pleased. Aroused, even. His pupils were dilated, there was no mistaking it. It made her nipples pebble and her core ache, having him look at her like this, remembering what his mouth and fingers could do.
“And you know what, Koshenya?”
“What?” she whispered, so turned on she couldn’t stop her hand from squeezing her thigh, from inching higher, right here at a table in the middle of the bar.
“I loved it. At first, I was jealous as hell. Pissed I hadn’t been the one underneath you. But then you came, and I heard the sweetest thing from your lips.”
Oh, gods. He’d heard her. He’d been there when she called his name instead of Mateo’s. Her hand slipped under the skirt of her dress, pressing on the front of her panties. She squeezed her eyes shut, imagining it was his hand between her legs.
“Look at you, touching yourself right here where anyone can see. You need it, don’t you, Kitten? Your hand won’t be enough.”
She exhaled, knowing he was right. She heard his chair scratch across the tiled floor, heard him move and crouch beside her.
Eriq grabbed her other hand and put it on his crotch.
“You feel this, Sofia? This is what you need. When I finally let you have it, you sure as fuck won’t be calling someone else’s name.”
She whimpered, pressing hard on her mound and squeezing her thighs together.
“You want to come, Sofia?”
“Y-yes.”
Eriq could scent how much she needed it. Damn her father for making her feel bad about her natural desires. At least she hadn’t given in to what Andrei wanted and denied herself what she so obviously craved.
He checked his watch. Shit. He was late.
“Come with me,” he stood, holding out his hand.
Sofia’s eyes popped open, eagerly reaching her hand for his.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Oh, somewhere where we can have a little tit for tat, Kitty Cat,” Eriq grinned wickedly, hauling her off to another room in the manor.