She woke on the verge of orgasm in an unfamiliar bed.

Panic came first. It was so dark, and the bed felt different than hers at home or on the bus. Or Teag’s. This mattress was like a high-end board, and the one stingy pillow smelled of…

Him.

Her clit was throbbing and she was wet, so wet. But the pressure between her thighs couldn’t compare with the fire blazing through her shoulder to her neck. She let out a moan, trying to make it stop. To kill the aches, both of them. She shouldn’t have been able to feel the pulse between her legs when she was in so much pain, but both sensations were overwhelming.

Then the door opened, a light spilling in from behind him and outlining his broad shoulders. He didn’t have a shirt on. Or pants, now that her eyes were adjusting. He’d wrapped a loincloth around his hips—

Okay, no, that was a towel. His skin was wet.

Just like she was.

“What is it?” he snapped.

“What happened? Where am I?” She tried to sit up and the world tilted precariously. “Did I drink?”

“Not all you did.” His big hand slapped on the wall and overhead lights came on, their brightness assaulting her. She threw up her other arm to shield her eyes and realized she’d pulled a pillow between her legs as she slept.

Dear God, had she been humping a pillow on Mal’s bed? How would she ever live down the horror?

She dropped her arm and stared at him, aghast. Unless there were worse horrors.

So much worse.

“Did you—did we—is that why I’m so…”

“We didn’t do a damn thing except dance. So if you got yourself all worked up,” his pointed gaze dropped to the pillow she’d tried to nudge discreetly away, “don’t blame me.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did we dance? Why am I here?” She kicked aside the stupid pillow and rubbed her forehead. A headache was brewing, and she was dizzy. Her stomach couldn’t decide if she was hungry or queasy.

Plus, she was still so horny, and the only man around had a cock the length of a goddamn alligator and almost as wide. And that was its shape through the towel, no less.

She’d rubbed up against it on the dance floor. Shamelessly, like a cat in heat. His idea of dancing with her had mostly involved letting her gyrate up on him while he appeared stony-faced and unaffected.

Minus the erection. There was no unaffected there.

“We danced because you asked. You’re here because you’re staying with me now.”

“Oh, no, I am not.” She didn’t know why he’d come up with such a preposterous idea, but it still was enough to propel her up into a sitting position. “I’m calling—”

Who? Teagan? What time was it? Where was Teag anyway?

Mal waited, cocking his brow. His alligator twitching its tail.

“I drank,” she said slowly, trying to put the pieces together. They were all so fuzzy and indistinct. “I came to see you play even though you hate me.”

“Never said I hated you. Seems rather stupid to invite you if I hated you.” He scratched his chin and the rasp of the short hairs there against his palm caught her attention. “And to dump you in my bed.”

She’d smelled him in her sleep. Leather and the light tang of sweat and some soap that a mountain man would use to scrub his pits in a cold water stream. Even now, her nipples were on high alert every time she sucked in a breath.

“You’ve got a nasty habit of doing that,” she muttered, grabbing the pillow she’d kicked aside to use it to hide her chest. He’d see. He’d know, and he’d use it against her later.

She wasn’t even sure she’d blame him.

“Dumping you in my bed? Nope. Gotta say this is the first time.” He leaned on the sleigh-style footboard, the muscles in his shoulders shifting and bunching. “Can do it again though if it gets you off.”

She pressed her thighs together. “I definitely didn’t get off.”

“Yet you think I fucked you until you passed out. You think even less of me than I realized.”

“I didn’t think that. Exactly. I don’t know what to think. I should be at Teag’s.”

“That’s the last place you should be.”

“Why?” she demanded.

He didn’t answer.

“Look, obviously, I can’t remember, and that seems to happen a lot around you. I mean, I have pieces of it, but there’s chunks missing—”

“Stand up.”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“You heard me. Stand up.”

She didn’t know why she listened to him. As a rule, she never did. But she pushed the pillow off her lap and awkwardly stood, reaching out to grab the footboard when she wavered.

“Now empty your pockets. All of them.”

“Excuse me?”

When she didn’t make a move to comply, he stepped forward, dwarfing her with his stupidly enormous size for an instant before he gripped her ass in both hands. She gasped, shocked by the pleasure that speared between her thighs. She rubbed against his hard cock like a damn kitten, helpless against the clenching in her core. But he wasn’t trying to feel her up. His big hands were in her pockets, and when he didn’t find what he wanted in back, he moved to the front, the jab of his fingers skating far too close to her clit.

And she wasn’t at all sure it wasn’t intentional.

He came back out with a baggie of tiny colorful pills. She swallowed, confused. They didn’t look like the pain pills the hospital had prescribed her, and she’d never dug into the bottle anyway. “What is that?”

“You tell me.” He held up the bag closer to the lights. “Little e on them. Hmm, lemme guess what these are. Ecstasy? No wonder you’re a horny little thing. Still riding that high.”

Shame made sweat pop out on her bra and between her breasts. She stared over his shoulder, sure he had to be wrong. She hadn’t slipped. Okay, yes, she had with the alcohol. She’d drank far too much. But E? She’d never taken that even back when she was using.

Maybe someone at the club had stashed them in her pocket while she was dancing. Had to make a quick dump and run maybe because of the cops.

Or…

“You could’ve planted them on me while I slept. How do I know? It’s not like I can trust you.”

Something flashed over his face and his lips curled into what passed for a smile. But it wasn’t one, not even close. “You’re right. You can’t trust me. Next?”

She searched around for her purse. Her phone. Hell, even her shoes. “I’m leaving.”

“You definitely aren’t.”

“Oh yeah? Try to stop me.” She moved to push past him to the door and he gripped hold of her good arm, pulling her back against him with just enough force to be on this side of pain. She cried out, but he didn’t let her go.

“You walk out this door, and I’m calling your brother. You know what I’m going to tell him?” He spoke against her ear, ruffling her hair with his warm breath. “I’m going to tell him I watched you get drunk off your fucking ass and that you came backstage fucking high with goddamn Ecstasy in your pocket. Wanna know how fast he’ll be on a plane here? Can you guess?”

Tears blinded her. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Test me.”

She let out a sob.

“And what about those cute little nieces of yours? I know how much you dote on them. Pretty sure Nick and Lila won’t be letting their druggie aunt come visit.”

Pain slashed through her, dark and deep, and this time it didn’t have a damn thing to do with coming down off a high or her injuries. She couldn’t lose Charlie and Avery. Those little girls meant everything to her.

But he was right. So right. If Nicky got even the slightest whiff of what had happened tonight, he’d shut down on her and take away access to the girls. No way in hell would he risk her poison tainting them, not after what she and Nicky had endured with their father.

And worst of all? He would be right.

“My next call will be to Lila and Donovan. Who will then consult that handy little morality clause in your contract and drop your ass so fast that you won’t even have time to say ex-member of Warning Sign.”

The tears were running thick and fast now, smearing all over her face. “It was just one little mistake.”

“Uh huh.”

“Everyone slips up. I was hurt—”

“You were. Should I pour you some hot milk and get you a cookie? Is that the going rate for flesh wounds now?”

“You fucking bastard. I always hated you.”

“Well, then, don’t stop on my account.” He adjusted his hold on her arm and the pressure eased even if his hold did not. “The choice is yours. Cry and pout and run to Teagan’s and I make those calls. Or stay here and dry the fuck out where I can monitor who you’re hanging out with and what the fuck you’re doing.”

“It was one slip-up. Just one.” She shook her head and the tears dripped off her chin, soaking the front of her tank top.

“You drank. You took some stranger’s goddamn pills, and you don’t even know what was in them.” Rage roared through Mal’s voice as he spoke against the back of her neck, branding her skin with his anger. And his disappointment. That came through loud and clear. “I almost took you to the fucking ER to get your stomach pumped, you little idiot.”

Humiliation drenched her and she lowered her head until her heavy hair fell across her face, hiding it. “Please don’t tell Nicky. He’s all I have. The only one who loves me, and he w-won’t. He won’t anymore.”

“Don’t make me tell him, and I won’t.”

“Why do you even care? I’m nothing to you. Less than nothing.”

Without warning, he turned her around so abruptly that she fell against him. Pain sang through her injured arm, but it was nothing compared to his dark, mad eyes. And beneath the stark fury, something she never expected to see.

Pure fear.

“I care,” he gritted out, letting go of her so that she sagged against the footboard. Then he walked out the bedroom door and shut it behind him.