Page 101 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

I add a pair of panties, brush out my wet hair, and call it a day.

I have no idea who’s still here, but let’s be honest, they’ve all seen me in a worse state before.

I pull the door open and quietly make my way down the hall.

Loud snores come from Alex’s room, and I reach in and pull the door closed as I pass. But when I get to the living room and find three passed-out bodies, I discover it wasn’t actually Alex, because he’s on one of the couches with Nico and Calli on the other two.

I try to keep any noise to a minimum, but my need for coffee means that only a second later the starting of the machine makes all three of them stir.

“Fuck off,” a deep male voice rumbles. “Make it stop.”

I can’t help but laugh when Nico drags a pillow over his head to muffle the noise.

“I’m dying,” Calli adds.

“Welcome to the world of hangovers and regrets, Callista,” Alex sings.

“Oh God, what did I do?”

I can’t help but laugh at the panic in her voice.

“You expect me to remember?” I ask with a laugh.

“You’re good, Baby C,” Alex mumbles. “You didn’t fuck anyone in the pool, or give anyone a blowy in the steam room.”

His words might reassure her somewhat, but when his eyes find mine, I realize that he’s only recalling some of my actions from the previous night.

“You’re gonna need to work harder to embarrass me, Deimos. We both know it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“We should have invited our own pussy,” Nico grunts. “Partying with my little sister is a buzzkill.”

“You could have left,” Calli snaps.

“Guys, it’s too early for this shit,” Alex grumbles. “Coffee,” he groans. “I need coffee. Princess?” He bats his eyelashes at me and I roll my eyes so hard it hurts.

“Fine. But you’re ordering food.”

“Deal,” he says, pushing to sit up a little and reaching for his cell on the coffee table.

I grab a box of painkillers and swallow two before throwing the box at a needy-looking Alex while the mouthwatering scent of coffee fills the air around us.

Calli stumbles her way down toward the bathroom, and I can’t help but laugh as she bounces off the walls as she goes. Like me, she’s dressed in one of the guys’ shirts from last night, although I don’t remember whose. They weren’t wearing them long before they all dived into the pool.

Calli and Emmie refused for a while, preferring to watch them act like children from the loungers, but as they should have predicted, it didn’t last long before Alex and Theo wrestled them away and unceremoniously threw them both into the pool, clothes and all.

Calli had a swimsuit on under her dress, but Emmie had apparently point-black refused to wear the pink bikini Calli had offered her and ended up just in her black underwear, much to Theo’s faux horror and barely-concealed delight.

That sly fuck is so gone for her it isn’t even funny.

He spent most of the night watching her every move, and I’m pretty sure it would have been the case whether she was walking around in her tiny thong and bra or fully dressed. All we need to do now is convince him to admit it to his pig-headed self and make a move.

The sound of someone moving around down the hall catches my attention as I deliver the first coffee to Calli—much to Alex’s disgust.

“Ladies first,” she sasses as she drops back down to the couch, clearly having come back to life a little after her trip to the bathroom.

“You’re no lady, Baby C.” He winks at her like he knows something I don’t.

“You weren’t thinking that last night while you were staring at her tits in that itty-bitty swimsuit.” Alex cuts me a scathing glare while Nico groans, letting us know that he’s not passed out under his cushion.