Page 9 of Diamond Desire

All those combined made it awfully hard for me to do anything other than sit in a velvet navy armchair, pouting and smoking a Cuban cigar and watching the pair of them, as I waited for one of my most trusted Red Diamonds gangsters to call me back with important information that I was far too impatient to sit around for, for much longer.

I had to get out of the hotel before I did something utterly stupid.

Something that I knew I would never do under normal circumstances.

Blowing smoke out between my lips, I forced my face into a snarl that I did not mean.

“We gotta go.” Snapping, I got to my feet, disposing of my cigar in the crystal ashtray on the side table. “We need to let Sapphire know we’re back and fill her in on what we found so this bullshit can wait till later.”

Raya always overdid her hotel rooms with opulence in the most obscure places. Like there were solid gold spoons in the drawer in the kitchen, as though rich people had to stir their tea with them. Sure, I had used it once. But it grossed me out, and the coffee had tasted worse than usual. Not that I would have said anything in complaint. Seeing as she had let me rent out her penthouse suite indefinitely, despite not charging me a penny for it even when I had insisted on paying, it seemed polite to keep my mouth shut about the things I found ridiculous.

I’d have transferred her the money, but Raya would have sent it right back and I wasn’t in the mood for long-winded games with a woman who didn’t fear pissing me off in the slightest.

“Right now?” Aiden had his large hands on Ruby’s waist, holding her still and stopping their game of pretending to not notice me in the room.

It made me want to shoot him, but I never would. I liked him too much to want him dead. Plus, if I pulled a gun, I wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t get one out faster, and then I would die for nothing but pettiness. And sure, if he was my actual enemy, then I wouldn’t mind petty games that lead to my death. But seeing as he was my boyfriend, and I cared about him being alive, I would restrain myself.

For now, anyway. If I had to spend another night listening to him and Ruby fucking, I wasn’t entirely sure how much longer I would last without being forced into action.

“Yeah. We have to gonow.” My jaw ticked as I glared at Aiden, daring him to push me when he knew full well I was in a pissed off mood.

So what if I was cock blocking him? It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it for how loud he’d made Ruby scream the night before, and it made me feel the slightest bit childishly satisfied. It had not been a fun night for me having to listen to their tryst, and I was fairly sure the sounds she’d yelled out were burned into my eardrums, echoing around my mind and tormenting me even when I was asleep.

Not that I slept much lately. Not since Ruby had come into my life.

If someone cut me open and bared my soul, they were going to be rather shocked to find claw marks in the shape of her wickedly sharp nails that had been etched into me without mercy. I could practically taste the bitterness of the frustration in the surrounding air, the lingering residue of their passion doing its best to suffocate me and remind me why I never bothered trying to like people, women especially.

Ruby had already started worming her way into my head and no amount of drinking or ignorance about my feelings seemed able to kick her out. The only trouble was, I knew it would come to bite me in the ass soon enough. The tension in my body was palpable, every muscle coiled like a spring ready to snap. Though I knew on the one hand that I hated Ruby for being a woman, the other part of me ignored all of that. It blocked out the trauma and my decades of pain and concentrated on the single, stomach churning and sickening fact that had been forming a pit in my stomach for far too long.

I fucking liked her. IlikedRuby. And even though every fiber of my being rebelled against her, against the unfairness of having my walls crashed into and ruined, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It didn’t matter how resolute I was in my thoughts. The things she was bringing up inside my brain were unyielding, fueled by a fire that burned hotter with each passing second and no amount of wishful thinking or ignorance on my behalf would put it out.

For now, though, I would keep pretending. And part of that was making sure I didn’t have to keep suffering and being led astray by the sexual tension in the room that I was sure would vanish soon enough when I resolved my dilemma and reminded myself that I was too set in my ways to think stupid things about people.

“Fine.” Aiden sighed and stood up, bringing Ruby with him as he stretched out his long limbs, and I pretended not to notice the large bulge in his tight blue jeans, that was far too hard considering we were about to go outside.

Ruby squealed in surprise and wrapped her legs around his waist, making her short emerald pleated skirt rise high enough I could see her thick ass cheeks. More importantly, I could see the brand new tattoo she seemed to have gained in the last handful of days we had been in Diamond Grove before returning to Vegas.

“Nice tramp stamp.” I muttered.

As Aiden walked the pair of them to the front door, my glare narrowed in on the bright red lip print that had been inked into Ruby’s pale skin. It looked like a man’s kiss, not a woman’s, and I wondered if I was imagining things or she’d let a guy kiss her ass for a tatt. Then I wondered just how much I could torture a stranger for if he had indeed kissed her there.

Just friendly, unbothered, work colleague things, ya’ know.

“Thanks, sugar.” The second she was on her feet, she grinned at me – a feral sort of grin that had a lot of teeth and malice behind it. “You want one? Could make your ink less borin’ and let you pretend to have an actual personality beyond grumpy teenage boy whose mommy asked him to stop playin’ games and go to bed.”

As I walked toward the front door, I clicked my tongue, pretending not to want to laugh even though I was annoyed. “I have more tattoos than you.”

“But yours suck. Mine are fun and show off my personality. Yours are such man tatts.” She grabbed a pair of glittery silver hooker heels from the shoe rack by the door, shoving her feet into them and standing tall with a practiced confidence. “You literally have a clock and roses on your arm; it’s the sign of a guy being a huge douche.”

Snorting, I grabbed an extra gun from the sleek marble sideboard next to her, slotting it into the back of my pants before I handed Ruby her cropped denim jacket she had bedazzled her name on the back of, like a toddler who needed reminding what clothes were hers.

I pointed toourboyfriend. “Aiden has roses too.”

“Aiden doesn’t act like a bitch, though, so it’s different.” She winked at him as she shimmied into her jacket and took a second to check out her reflection in the large oval mirror.

Before I could respond, the man in question opened the door, ushering us both out with a roll of his eyes.

“Save it for later, children. We have stuff to do.” His deep voice grumbled.