Page 10 of Covert (Ruthless Love #2)

Leana introduces me to the other girls, who shake my hand and seem friendly enough.

I sip my Champagne, but can't seem to relax.

My eyes shift around the room, to the doors, to the windows.

When my eyes scan the room again and I find Beckett watching me, he quirks a brow, in question.

I leave the little huddle I'm barely listening to to lean against the wall with him, keeping a respectable distance between us.

"I don't drink, and I don't go to parties, so I'm feeling..." I say as a way of explaining.

He nods and sips his glass.

"You drink?"

"Sprite," he replies, watching the other men playing poker. That makes sense. Being drunk means being vulnerable and opening yourself to being taken advantage of again. We're a lot alike that way.

"Will you watch over me? Make sure I get home okay, or at least lock up if I pass out on the couch?"

The look he gives me is equally surprised and touched. I just inadvertently told him I trust him enough to be drunk around him. I nod with understanding. "I trust you, Beckett. I told you that already."

I sip my Champagne.

"I still don't understand why," he says in response, and I feel my heart ache.

This poor man. One stupid, selfish person's agenda and it's fucked up his entire life.

We're both just surviving our pasts, not thriving, and I hate the world a little bit because of it.

But he doesn't believe me because he hasn't seen it.

I haven't proven to him that I trust him.

I stand so that I'm facing him and lock eyes with his whiskey brown ones, downing my Champagne as quickly as the bubbles will allow. His eyes widen as he watches me.

A tiny burp escapes me as I finish my glass and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand .

"Another, Leana," I say, holding my cup out towards the bottle, but never breaking eye contact with Beckett. "If I can walk, you'll walk me home. If I can't, you'll lock the doors on your way out. That way, you don't have to touch me if I pass out, okay?"

Leana woops and fills my cup again. I drink another, staring into Beckett's.

As I drink, he shakes his head, smiling like I'm a silly little girl.

But the more we stare into each other's eyes, the more they change.

They crinkle at the corner at first, but then they melt into sweetness, before hardening and heating.

Just his stare alone turns me on. Would he stare into my eyes when he fucks into me slowly?

He'd cage me with his arms. I'd wrap my legs around his back, pulling him into me to fuck me harder.

My breathing picks up at the same time I start to feel fuzzy from the drink.

I let it wash over me like a blanket, finally quieting some of my anxiety about not being in control.

The entire time, Beckett watches me. His eyes drop to my chest, still covered in my oversized sweater, before coming back up to my eyes and narrowing.

God, can he tell how turned on I am? What I'm imagining?

I hide my face behind my cup, finally breaking eye contact before I combust. My chest is still heaving, and I'm burning up.

He gently takes my cup from me, fingers gripping the rim. "I've got you," he says simply, as he nods toward an empty spot on the floor where Leana is calling me to dance. Two of the other girls are already dancing while Leana hooks her phone up to the Bluetooth.

I pull off my sweater, now too hot, and toss it onto the arm of the couch.

The music changes from rock to something sultry and sexy.

The mood in the room changes instantly, too.

They've moved the table to the side to make more room for dancing.

Maddox and Axel sit on the couch, both manspreading and looking fucking delicious.

Their eyes hold something like a challenge, but my head is too fuzzy to interpret what they're challenging.

Leana holds my hands and raises them above our heads, and I lose myself to the music.

I don't dance. I like the music at the shop just fine, but my flip phone doesn't do music, so it's not like I dance in my apartment.

But as the alcohol hits my blood and drowns out the noise, I let my hips sway to the sexy rhythm.

I feel sexy. And horny. I want to go home to my vibrator.

Or climb Beckett like a tree. I bet he would throw me around.

Bend me in all sorts of positions. Or be sweet about it and slow.

Maddox would be the one to throw me around. Maybe Axel. I bet Maddox would hate fuck like no one's business. Diesel would be sweet about it, but I bet he has a filthy mouth.

The image of the four of them, naked and surrounding me, is the last thought I can remember before I black out.

***

"Baby girl? Baby girl, are you okay?" Diesel's voice pulls me from unconsciousness as something caresses my cheek.

I groan. My eyelids aren't even open yet, and I can tell there's too much light coming in from the windows. Alarm bells go off in my brain, but I don't know what they mean.

Diesel's not dangerous.

An ice pick splits my skull when I try to move, so I groan again.

And then it hits me.

My eyes fly open and take a moment to focus .

"How did you get in?" I ask, my voice deathly low.

"I broke in," he says, his face going from concerned to relaxed.

I sag back in relief. Beckett had done exactly what I'd asked. I look down at the couch and see that they'd placed my head on a pillow and laid a blanket over me, too. I hope he didn't have to touch me, and that one of the other guys helped.

Water floods my mouth, and I know I'm going to be sick. I push Diesel aside and run to the toilet, heaving up yellow-green liquid. My stomach cramps as wave after wave of vomit is squeezed out of it. Each wave makes the piercing pain in my brain increase.

When I'm confident my body's done rejecting what I put it through last night, I fall back onto my ass and close my eyes, resting against the far wall.

Something nudges my knee, and I crack one eyelid open to find Diesel, nudging me with a bottle of water.

I take it gratefully. He flushes the toilet and wets some paper towels in the sink before crouching in front of me.

He places one blessedly cool towel on my forehead and one on the back of my neck gently.

I'm embarrassed but also confused.

"Thank you, but why are you here?"

He smiles. "One of the guys texted me a video of you sexy dancing from his phone.

I could tell you'd been drinking and got worried when you didn't answer any of my texts.

I don't know where you live, but the video was clearly here, so I came by this morning and saw your feet on the couch from the back door's window.

I got worried." His eyes grow stormy again.

"I can't believe those fuckers just left you here. "

I wave him off .

"I told them to. It's not a big deal."

"What the fuck do you mean, you told them to, Nik? You could have had alcohol poisoning or choked on your own vomit."

I blanch.

"Is that a thing?"

He throws his hands up in frustration. "Yes, that's a thing!" He stands and starts to pace. "Have you been living under a rock? People drown on their own vomit all the time." He runs his hands through his long hair.

He stops pacing long enough to stand in front of me, glaring down like an unapproving father. I grab the hem of his jeans and tug twice.

He sighs and sits next to me on the bathroom floor.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I don't drink, but I was trying to thrive and not just survive for Leana and prove to Beckett that I trust him."

Diesel's head hits the wall like mine, but he turns it slightly so he can look at me.

I cover my mouth and turn away. "I have vomit breath," I complain.

He gently removes my hand by the wrist. "Do you have to work today?"

I nod sadly. I have to work every day the shop is open, and they only close on Mondays.

Just then, I hear the voices of the other three.

"Oh God, what time is it?"

Diesel checks his phone. "Almost noon."

My head slumps back on the wall, and I groan. "Kill me now."

"Nik?" Axel's voice calls out, I'm assuming when he sees that the couch is empty.

"In here," I groan out, groggily. Causing my head to split again .

Maddox is the first to the bathroom door. "What the fuck are you doing here?" He barks at Diesel. He's vibrating with barely contained rage, and I'm too hungover for this.

"Just takin' care of my girl." He kisses my temple. "I'll see you soon," he whispers before standing and brushing past Maddox, bumping his shoulder. Halfway to the back door, he calls out over his shoulder, "You need to work on your security. The back door's too easy to jimmy open."

A moment later, the door closes, and an engine roars as he leaves.