Page 91 of Deviant Reign (Knight's Ridge Empire 6)

He flashes me a knee-weakening smile. Although, it doesn’t have the effect on me I’m sure it’ll have on the rest of the female population. He might be hot, but my body is craving another.

One that’s going to be waiting for me to climb into a car with them shortly.

Not happening.

I’d rather keep him on his toes.

“Thanks, Shorty. Let’s hope tonight is my lucky night, huh?”

“Make the most of that hotel room, X.” I wink before pulling the door open and marching out with him hot on my heels.

Thankfully, we make it out of the hotel and into the Uber without walking straight into Theo or any of the guys.

He’s going to be pissed, even more than I’m sure he already is after the state I left him in. Assuming he followed orders, that is.

My phone has been buzzing every couple of minutes since I left his room, but I’ve refused to even look.

I’m more than aware that his dirty words would hold the power to have me crawling back into his room, kneeling at his feet and promising to be a good girl.

But I refuse to even be tempted.

The second he finds me, I know it’s going to go to shit, especially with the buzz of vodka tingling beneath my skin.

“Did you ever consider cutting out this waste of time and just showing up at his room wearing that?” Xander asks when the car pulls to a stop on a street lined with clubs and bars.

“Where would be the fun in that?”

He rolls his eyes at me before thanking our driver and climbing from the car. Not wanting to battle with the passing cars, I slide along to follow him.

Thankfully, we’re early enough that there’s not a huge queue, and after showing the bored-looking bouncer my fake ID, we’re allowed to head inside.

Following everyone else, we head down a spiral staircase, the space around us getting darker with each step we take and the music getting louder.

I’m really not a fan of dance music, but even I can’t deny the heavy bass gets my pulse racing as we descend deeper underground.

The walls are lined with wood from old wine crates, and when we emerge into the main bar, our steps falter a little as we take in the walls that are made out of glass bottles of all colours. It’s really quite something.

“This is different,” Xander shouts in my ear as I spot more than a few of the kids from Knight’s Ridge looking over at me.

“Yeah, I guess.” Kind of feels like home from home right now, being judged by those arseholes. “I need a drink.”

“You got it, Shorty.”

Xander’s fingers thread through mine and he drags me through the crowd and toward the bar, where he orders four Jäger bombs that we throw back almost the second the glass hits the counter.

“Ugh,” I complain as I swallow the second. “That is rank.”

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand in the hope that it wipes the taste away as my belly begins to warm.

“Vodka and Coke. Double,” Xander shouts at the barman. “And…” He runs his eyes over the bottles of whisky behind the bar and I turn my back on them, putting my attention to my surroundings.

We’re on what seems to be a large platform running around the edge of the room, because in the middle there’s a barrier that I can only assume looks over another level. Seeing as no one is really dancing up here, I’m guessing that’s the dance floor. Somewhere I have every intention of being at some point tonight with a certain guy’s hands all over my body.

I bite down on my dark stained lip at the thought of him showing every motherfucker in this club just who I belong to.

It might not have been so long ago that I would have fought such a show of ownership. But now, after our time apart, after everything that’s gone down between us…

I need it.