Page 40 of The Souls We Claim

Switch laughs, then tips his head back and drains the rest of the whiskey in his glass. “I was just messing with you. I think you’re going to.”

“You think I’m going to what?”

“Sleep with her. I’ll put five hundred bucks down that you do.”

“Fuck off.” Even as I say it, my thoughts go back to the bedroom, my fingers sliding in and out of her tight, slick cunt. It took all my self-control to not bury my face between her legs, licking and sucking on her clit until she came in my arms.

And let’s not even think about the way she fell apart. Tits quivering, back arching in a way that made me think about how her back would look when I fucked her from behind.

IfI fucked her from behind.

Which I’m not going to.

Switch laughs. “You got hungry eyes for her. And I saw the way they narrowed at Brandon. There’s no way you aren’t banging that in the next thirty days.”

My mind goes back to the shower. I knew for maybe the last ten seconds she was there. My brain took over, imagining her slipping out of those pajamas, falling to her knees in front of me, and offering that pretty mouth of hers to do whatever I liked with it. Which in my dirty mind consisted of some serious deep throat, then coming on her face and tits.

I don’t tell him about the moment in the bedroom or the bathroom. I feel like I’m on a collision course with Arianne every time I’m in her orbit. Maybe the loss of some cash will help reinforce that me and her are absolutely not in Lola’s best interests.

“Make it ten grand.”

Switch coughs and splutters. “Jesus, you must be really concerned you’re going to end up railing her. I’ll take the ten grand.”

“Asshole.”

“Are we talking hole preferences, or are you just mad I called you out?”

I glance at Switch. “Is there no one you can be stitching up or something?”

“If anybody gets that injured today, we’re doing a little girl’s first birthday party all wrong.”

Rae walks by me, a grin on her face. Her hair is up, but it wasn’t ten minutes ago. “We should probably do cake soon.”

King turns the corner into the bar, still fixing the buckle on his belt, and suddenly it all makes sense. My prez has been banging his old lady, a detail I didn’t need to know.

“Cake sounds good,” I manage to say. “Thanks so much for helping pull this together,” I say as King reaches us and slips his hands around Rae’s waist, kissing the side of her neck. “Prez, can I have a word?”

“Is it club business?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah, I just need twenty minutes of?—”

“Not today.” King shakes his head. “Today is a celebration of life.”

Anger starts to swirl. It’s like a flash fire, taking hold. I look around the bar. Men are drunk, laughing. Women are chatting. Kids are running around the clubhouse, and we’re at a birthday party for a one-year-old who won’t even know if she had a party or not.

“These people are at risk,” I say before grinding my jaw.

King’s face hardens. “And I said not now. Everyone is safe here.”

“For now.” I step away and head to my room. I need a minute to calm myself.

One second.

One breath.

One second.

Another breath.