Page 47 of Deviant Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 4)

EMMIE

“Hey, can I get you another?”

Turning around to find the owner of the deep, unfamiliar voice who just offered to get me a refill, I’m pleasantly surprised when I find a guy who isn’t wearing a polo and chinos, which seems to be the dress code here tonight. Apart from Theo and his boys, who stand out like a sore thumb in their dark trousers and shirts.

“Uh… yeah, that would be great. Thank you…”

“Ben,” he says, giving me a smile that makes a deep dimple pop in his cheek.

He’s cute, long-ish sandy blond hair, blue eyes, freshly shaven. Pretty much Theo’s complete opposite. Not really my type, but I’ve had enough vodka that I don’t really give a shit right now.

He’s hot, and that’s all I need.

“Thanks, Ben,” I say in what I hope is my most seductive voice.

“Pleasure’s all mine…” His words confirm that he most definitely fits in with the Knight’s Ridge crowd rather than the brand of dicks from my past, but I push it aside. He doesn’t scream wealthy and pretentious, and that’s enough for me right now.

“Emmie.”

“Pretty,” he murmurs, running his eyes appreciatively down the length of my body. He pauses when he spots my switchblade, but he doesn’t seem turned off.

“Vodka and Coke. Make it a double. Or a triple,” I say with a shrug.

“I’ll see what I can do, babe.” He winks and ducks out of the room, leaving me alone once more.

With my eyes on the dancing crowd before me, I hop up on the dresser at my back and watch as the bodies bump and grind. Seb and Stella are unsurprisingly in the middle, hands and mouths everywhere. Alex is also getting his freak on with some girl I recognise from one of my classes.

Nico is on the edge of the crowd, chatting to Toby and a couple of other girls, but thankfully, Theo and his hoebag are nowhere in sight.

My stomach knots as I consider what that might mean.

Has she dragged him up to her bedroom and…

A violent shudder rips through me as I picture his hands over her body, whispering the dirty things he wants to do to her in her ear.

My skin still hums from the car ride here. I knew he was watching me in the mirror—my skin burned with need every time his stare landed on me. If it weren’t for Stella and Calli sitting on either side of me, I might have been even more brazen than just discreetly widening my legs, giving him just a few more inches to eat up.

It was dangerous—I was more than aware that he spent more time with his eyes on my body than he did with them on the road.

But there are worse ways to go. At least I’d have died knowing I was driving him to the brink of insanity.

“You’re in luck,” Ben says when he returns with two cups in hand. “My cousin was in the kitchen, let me use the bottle of Grey Goose she’d stashed for her nearest and dearest.”

“Sweet. Thank you,” I say with a smile, taking my drink from him and allowing our fingers to brush. There’s no body-jolting spark, but there’s not nothing, which I take as a good sign.

I don’t really care about the quality of the vodka. I only want it to serve one purpose: get me wasted and make me forget about him and the way he makes me feel every time we’re anywhere near each other. But as I take a sip, I can’t help but appreciate how much nicer it is.

“Good?” Ben asks, his eyes locked on my lips as I lick up the excess liquid.

“Really good.”

“You can thank me later.” He winks once again, suggesting that he’s teasing… but when his eyes drop to my lips once more, I can’t help but wonder if he is or if he’s just planned out our entire evening in his head.

“So you don’t go to Knight’s Ridge, right?”

“No,” he says, having a sip of his own drink and taking a step forward so we don’t have to shout quite so loudly at each other, but instead of standing to my side like any normal stranger, he gently nudges my knees apart with his free hand and steps between them, placing his palm against the wood of the unit beside me, lowering his body so we’re at eye level. “Thank fuck, have you seen the state of their football team?”

“Not really,” I confess, although I’m achingly aware of who’s on it.