Page 17 of King of Desire (Kings of Las Vegas #2)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Triston

I wake up close to noon, a pounding headache pulsing through my temples.

The drive back to my house after I dropped off Honeyeh was fucking torture. I nearly turned the Porsche around at least three times. The fact that I don’t know which apartment is hers, was the only thing that stopped me.

I could call. And say what…I was an asshole from start to fucking finish?

Yeah. Maybe.

I’ve always known that Honeyeh was sweet. Innocent. She’s hardly dated because she’s been taking care of a terminally ill sibling.

The fact that I stripped her and bent her over the side of a bed, and nearly took her virginity with a rough doggy fuck makes me hate myself.

That’s how I repaid her support last night.

But then…in an effort to slow myself down, I turned into a cold fucking prick. I know I sucked.

But I wanted her so badly it was the only way to gain control of my body. I had to turn my feelings off.

Honeyeh deserves to be wooed. Loved. Not fucked like a random piece of ass.

But it wasn’t until she was out of the car that I realized, and she didn’t understand any of it.

I fucking suck at anything that resembles real intimacy. No wonder I only date women for a month.

This realization prompted me to come home and hit the still-stocked bar, full of half-open bottles of champagne and all manner of hard alcohol.

I barely remember how much or what I drank, but I know it was a lot and very mixed because I can barely pull myself from bed.

I’m sure I need a shower, I can smell the liquor sweating out of my pores. Instead, I pull on athletic pants and head down to my kitchen.

Throwing every protein powder I’ve got into the blender, I toss in a banana and some almond milk and then hit blend, the sound making my head throb worse.

But when it’s blended, I don’t even bother putting the mixture into a glass. I chug it straight from the carafe, draining the contents.

Then I turn to the stove to make myself some eggs.

By the time I’ve eaten and taken some ibuprofen, it’s one in the afternoon, and feeling slightly better, I head up to the shower.

I scrub myself down. But as the headache recedes, my cock starts pulsing with a need so deep that my little man can’t be ignored.

He wants Honeyeh and so do I.

And last night I fucked it up.

Even in that moment, Honeyeh was so tempting, so perfect as she asked me with the prettiest please to keep going. Begged me to touch her.

Fucking hell, that woman knows just how to hit me where I’m most raw. It’s like she was made for me.

Was she? Am I stupid for fighting this attraction between us?

But I don’t do commitment, I don’t want a woman clogging up my life. I’ve been the break wall for my family for so long. Taking my father’s shit, and now, making the tough decisions for our business.

Why would I take on more responsibility?

Besides, this is not a place a woman belongs, getting bashed against the waves with me. Then again, Honeyeh is like the tide, pulling me out with such force, I can’t seem to resist.

I get out of the shower and towel off. Maybe I should have fucked her. Gotten it out of my system.

But then I would have been my fucking father. Selfishly taking without any regard of how much I’d hurt her.

Despite what Victoria said a few days ago, I don’t lie, and I don’t make promises meant to give false hope. Victoria can handle that even if she’s a bitch about it.

But Honeyeh, she’s so vulnerable. No matter how I proceed, I could break her.

Fuck.

I pull on slacks and a dress shirt even though it’s Saturday. I think I need to call Honeyeh, but I need armor to do it.

In jeans, I might just go over to her apartment and toss her over my shoulder, like I’m not a man on the verge of making billions with everything to lose.

But after I’m dressed, I head to my office, pulling out my phone. Do I call her? Apologize? Invite her to dinner?

I know where that’s leading. I’ll end up having her for dessert.

How long can I have her in my house, tempting me without tasting the forbidden fruit?

Should I pass her off to one of my brothers to have her work in his house? At the real estate office?

The very idea of her ass on display for any of them has me tensing with irrational barely contained fury.

I go back to my plan I considered yesterday. Marry her.

Not forever. But long enough to run my cock dry and get her brother the surgery he needs.

I fiddle with the phone. It’s a delicate ask. I want to make you my wife…temporarily.

Then again, she gets some major bonuses.

I tap the phone on the desk. Do I call her? Wait until Monday? I fucking hate indecision and in my business life, I work on instinct that never leads me astray, but this is different.

I pick up the phone and tap the screen, searching my contacts I find her name.

Christ, even looking at her name typed in my contacts makes me warm. I’m about to press her name and call her when a call comes through.

I blink a few times, my brother Killian’s name popping up on the screen.

I hit the accept button. “What?” I ask, as I place the phone to my ear.

“You’re a fucking prick you know that?”

“Same to you,” I rumble. But I know he’s right. I’m being unnecessarily harsh. And as Killian never calls on a Saturday afternoon, something is up. “It’s not two in the morning, so I’m assuming this is a social call?”

He snorts. “I never make social calls. Waste of time.”

“So it’s business then?”

“Personal,” he rumbles.

I’m more confused than ever and my head gives another throb, so I rub my temple. “Get to the point, Killian.”

“It’s Honeyeh.”

My blood runs cold. “What about Honeyeh?”

“You know how Mason asked me to watch Dimitri’s whorehouses?”

I stand, nearly crawling out of my skin. “Killian?” I can hear the question in my voice, the way I’m asking him not to say what I think he’s going to say.

He makes this rumble of regret and my entire body clenches.

“I saw her go in, Triston, makeup running down her face as she cried. She was between two men, each of them holding an arm…”

I jerk open my laptop, slamming the phone on the desk as I hit the button for the speaker.

My fingers fly over the keys as I pull up Dimitri’s website on the dark web.

It doesn’t fucking take much. Honeyeh’s at the top of the page. One night with her, bidding starts at fifty grand. Winner gets her virginity.

“What the actual fucking fuck?!” I roar, my fist coming down on the top of my desk.

“What is it?” Killian asks.

“He’s selling her,” I spit through clenched teeth. Does this have something to do with me? “Was she struggling? Did she look forced?”

“She looked really sad,” Killian answers. “And a bit panicked.”

“Anyone else with her?”

“Some little blonde chick.”

My mouth drops open. Brittany. Did Brittany put her up to this? “Where are you? I’m coming to you.”

Killian clicks his tongue against his teeth. “This place is locked up tight as a vault. If you’re breaking in, you’d better bring some fire power.”

That makes me pause.

I need a plan. “Give me a second.” I close my eyes and try to think. However Honeyeh ended up at Dimitri’s door, she belongs here. And there is no way I’m letting some other man touch her.

I may be worried about hurting Honeyeh, but I sure as fuck am better than whatever filthy animal buys her tonight.

There is no way that’s happening.

“Did you send me the address?”

“Yeah.”

“All right. In that case, station yourself outside of Dimitri’s home. His daughter. The nanny. Follow them.”

“Triston.”

“I know. And I know I promised no more work like this, but Honeyeh, she’s mine. And he’s going to give her back or…”

Killian drops several curses. “It’s not that I don’t see the wisdom…”

“I’ll try every other way first. But Honeyeh, she needs me to fight for her.

She can’t do it on her own.” The truth of those words hit me in the chest. She’ll be whatever I need, whatever I want.

A maid. An assistant. My lover. My wife.

She’ll beg me, she’ll let me bend her over the bed and fuck her however I wish if she just…

She needs my strength like she needs air.

“Fuck yeah, she does.” Killian starts walking. I hear his boots on the pavement. “And I’ll only ever say this to you once. But when you set yourself to protecting a woman like that, brother, she’ll give you every fucking piece of herself back until your whole life is better than you ever imagined.”

I look down at the phone. I can’t accept that. That I could give myself wholly and get a whole person back. But I can do this. I was going to war with Dimitri Ivanov anyway.

Honeyeh will be in no man’s bed but mine.

Grabbing my keys, I’m out the door.