Page 29 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

Stella: Wanna go out?

Emmie: YES! I’m bored AF. Where we going?

I consider her question for a moment, my finger tapping on the side of my cell.

Stella: It’s a secret, but I think you’ll love it.

Emmie: Oh, mysterious. What am I wearing?

Stella: Your normal shit. We’ll pick you up. 45 mins.

She sends me a thumbs up and I put my cell down to get ready.

Racing to the bathroom, I have the quickest shower of my life before pulling on an old band tee, fishnets, and a pair of hot pants that barely cover my ass.

After curling my hair, which is in desperate need of a freshening up—the silver is fading and exposing the warmer tones beneath that I banished a few years ago—I pile on the black eye makeup and add the darkest red I’ve got to my lips.

I’m spraying myself with my favorite perfume when Seb slips into the room.

“Whoa, you borrowing Emmie’s clothes now?”

Spinning around to look at him, I narrow my eyes. “Funny. You going like that?” I ask, glancing down at his grey sweats that give me a nice tease as to what he’s rocking beneath.

“Looking at me like that, you’re making me not want to go anywhere but this room, Hellion.”

“Rein it in, Sebastian. We’re going out. I wanna see some big bad gangsters lose some blood.”

Dragging his shirt over his head and dropping his sweats, showing me everything he’s got seeing as he’s commando beneath, he pulls on a pair of boxer briefs and reaches for some clean clothes.

“There’s something wrong with you, you know that, right?” he asks, his voice teasing.

“Takes one to know one.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I pull on my heeled biker boots and do up the buckles.

“You ever been in the ring?”

“Not for a proper fight. I’ve only trained with the guys. Alex, Daemon and Nico fight, though.”

“Oh yeah?” I knew they had skills from the day we all sparred down in the gym, but it never occurred to me that they might actually fight, like, for real.

“They don’t really agree to fights during the football season because Coach hands them their arses when they turn up half dead after.”

“So they’re not very good then?” I deadpan.

He chuckles. “Yeah, actually they are.”

I nod, pushing to my feet once more, grabbing my purse and throwing it over my shoulder.

Walking up behind Seb, I wrap my arms around his waist, resting my chin on his shoulder, thanks to the extra inches my boots provide.

“Hey,” I say, capturing his eyes in the mirror in front of him.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re about to ask me for something that I’m not going to like?”

“Because I am,” I respond with a smile.

“Go on.”