Hunter sighs. “Yeah it shouldn’t be your problem, but that’s now how guys like them think. I had a cousin who got tied up in all that shit a few years back. Look, man. The mafia is all about respect and image. As far as they see it, this would be just as much about the money as it is about the image. And when someone fucks with the image of a mafia family, the fastest way for them to repair the damage is to kill or seriously hurt the person who embarrassed them. Do you follow?”
I glance over my shoulder, scanning the crowd for the men he’s talking about. I spot them near the stairs leading down to the main dining area of the yacht. Three men, all thickly built and wearing unhappy expressions. The tallest of the three says something to the man beside him when they see me looking. I lock eyes with them, feeling a growing conviction to walk over there and square this shit out like men.
“If they’re so pissed, why are the three of them too scared to come say so to my face?”
Hunter shakes his head. “This isn’t some schoolyard scrap, man. If guys like that want to hurt you, it’s going to be low key. You know, like the shit you see in movies. Cars exploding when you turn the key in the ignition or something.”
“Yeah? Well they can fucking try. I’ve got more important shit on my plate right now than some mobsters with hurt feelings.”
The truth is I haven’t been able to stop thinking about VirginPrincess88. My princess. The thought makes me grin, despite the three men staring daggers in my back and despite all the other shit I have going on right now. All I can seem to focus on is the way her smile flickered across her face like something rare and beautiful, and how much I want to see it again. That, and I want to have an evening alone with her in my playroom. I want to make her cum so hard and so many times she’ll forget what day of the week it is.
Most of all I think about the way she walked away from me. That has me more intrigued than anything else. If I want a woman, they are freely available. No chase. No challenge. No real reward. For the first time I feel the thrill of a challenge, and it has me up the fucking wall with anticipation.
Hunter grips my shoulder, stirring me from my thoughts. “You may not be taking this seriously, but I am. I’ll keep my ear to the ground. And you need to watch your back, okay?”
“Yeah,” I say.
7
Brianne
“You walked away?” asks Lacey the following morning, eyes wide.
We’re sitting together in the common room of the rec center. Lacey is sipping on some ridiculously complicated coffee and I’m staring blankly at the story open on my laptop, still unable to finish the scene.
“I mean,” I say slowly. “Technically, I kind of half-ran.”
“That still makes you half the dumbest person alive. You ran away from Jackson Pierce. Seriously.”
“I was overwhelmed. He was wiping wine from my dress and talking about how ice can make the senses more… something. I don’t even remember. I just know he smelled really good and he looked really good and I just… I panicked. Okay?”
“Well you panic yourself right back on the computer and beg him for another chance. I need you to do this, Bri. For me. I need to know how big it is, for starters.”
My cheeks flush red. “I can’t believe you want me to hook up with some guy we don’t even know for your own perverted little agenda.”
Lacey is about to respond when Cameron comes up from behind her and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hey, babe.”
Cameron is on the baseball team, and he has the typical lean and athletic build of a baseball player. Everyone seems convinced he’s going to make it to the pros as a shortstop. God knows he spends enough time practicing. Lacey barely ever gets to see him because he’s either at practice, in the gym, or getting in some extra batting practice between everything else.
She grins up at him and then gives me a face that says, not a word to Cameron, or you die. As if she needs to warn me. The last thing I want to broadcast to the world is that I actually showed up for a date where the guy was planning to buy me. Yeah. I think that would do wonders for my reputation. Especially, if I mention the whole BDSM thing. Then again, if I can believe Lacey, my virginity is painfully obvious, too. So maybe my reputation isn’t that impressive to begin with.
“I know we were supposed to go out tonight,” says Cameron, “but coach is having us run an extra practice tonight. Raincheck?” he asks, kissing her on the top of the head and jogging off toward a group of guys carrying gym bags.
Lacey glares at me. “Don’t even say it.”
I make an innocent face, looking down at my laptop. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“Oh don’t even. I see it all over your face. You think I’m being a pushover for letting Cameron keep blowing me off. You think I should break up with him and save what’s left of my dignity.”
“I mean, it kind of sounds like you think all that,” I say carefully.
Lacey folds her arms and leans back in the chair and takes a deep breath. “I just keep convincing myself he’ll start paying more attention to me soon. Once the baseball season calms down.”
“Isn’t he going pro? I mean, I don’t know if it’s ever really going to calm down for him.”
She runs her hands through her hair and gets up. “I need to get some fresh air. By the way, I heard VirginPrincess88 messaged Jackson Pierce your dorm number.”
“You wouldn’t!” I whisper angrily.
“Sorry. It was probably crossing the line, but I had a few drinks last night and it was on my phone and, well, yeah. In all honesty, after the way you said the date went, I’m sure he’s not going to come hunting you down like I thought. A guy like him has got to be way too busy.”
I shake my head in disbelief, grabbing my things to leave. “You can be really insensitive sometimes, you know that?”
“Insensitive? Sorry I want my best friend to break out of her writing funk.”
“Yeah, by practically trying to sell me off to some billionaire!” I snap.
“A ridiculously sexy billionaire,” corrects Lacey. “Really, I’m starting to see why you’ve been a virgin for so long. I’m basically waving the most perfect, filthy rich cock in front of your face and you just won’t bite.”
“First of all, I don’t think his thing is the rich part. And even I know you’re not supposed to bite it.”
“You can be such a nerd,” says Lacey.
Lacey heads off to class and I head back to the dorm, still feeling pissed and confused. I’m pissed because Lacey should know not to give my dorm number to a stranger from the internet, even if he looks as good as Jackson. It’s not like good looks mean the guy isn’t a serial killer. And I’m confused because I’ve spent so long thinking I wanted this to happen or something like it. I always dreamed of some set of improbable circumstances that practically fast-tracked me into the perfect guy’s bed. It would be spontaneous, romantic, and as inevitable as a trainwreck.
Now?
I’m seeing first hand that reality is a hell of a lot scarier than fantasy. Nothing feels as simple and clear as it did when I used to daydream about something like this. I just never bothered to think how scary it would be