“These are pricey drinks. I want payment before I hand them over.” He stands there with his tray on one big palm and gives me a look that clearly says you’re fucking insane and I’m here to give you one last chance at an out.
“I signed the contract today,” I tell him, and all three vamps look like they’re about to shit their pants. “What? Harry’s my BFF, aren’t ya, Harry?”
“Two grand or no drinks,” he snarls as I sigh. Once I waltz back in here with the crown and an entourage, he’ll forgive me. He just has to.
“Here,” Vyce says, passing over a shiny gold credit card. The Three Wishes card. It’s the most common form of currency with supernaturals nowadays, but you’ll never hear of a human that knows a damn thing about it. There’s an entire economy running beneath the surface of the world that humanity knows nothing about. Mostly, supes trade in blood, sex, and favors, but occasionally a charge card’ll do.
Harry tucks the card in his apron and passes out the drinks from his tray.
“You are playing a dangerous fucking game,” he growls in my ear, one of his tusks brushing my lobe slightly. Vyce sees and goes completely stiff, waiting until Harry moves away to make eye contact with me. Personally, I’m more interested in the fact that the guy’s bitching about dangerous games and yet he pauses to hit on an ogre girl with a pure-blooded ogre boyfriend.
“For fuck’s sake,” I growl, and Vyce turns to see what I’m looking at. When he turns back to me, I can see that he’s tense as fuck. “Sip your drink,” I tell him, just before I do the same and feel that sharp whiplash in my brain that says holy fuck, what are you drinking?! The alcohol fuzzes my thoughts right away, and the blood surges through me, making my limbs burn and ache. And that’s from one sip. Imagine how good I’ll feel after the whole damn pint.
“That’s your boyfriend?” Vyce asks quietly, and it takes almost a whole moment for his question to sink in. When it does, I throw my head back and laugh, drawing the attention of most everyone in the bar.
“Harry? Fuck no. We couldn’t be less attracted to each other. He’s my bestie. Don’t you have a friend like that? One that worries too much about you while you do the same about them and yet never take each other’s advice? That’s a true BFF right there.”
“My job doesn’t exactly allow for friends,” Vyce says, his eyelids drooping, blood-red irises shimmering with sex. I turn away from him and put my straw in my mouth. Harry serves everything with straws—beer, wine, Scotch. He’s just weird like that. I’ve come to appreciate it though. It’s easier to suck shit down with a straw, and it takes a boatload of alcohol to get me drink, soooo straw. Yup. I’m a serious straw fan now.
“Shame,” I choke after another wave of Heartbeat euphoria sweeps over me. As soon as I drink down that second sip, my skin gets this tight, achy feeling. Like, I just need to be touched. If I had a jacket on, I’d shed it, kind of like Sorrow and Wolfe are doing now. Wolfe makes a face and glances away sharply, like the thought of friends and loneliness and all that shit is really getting to him. “Oh, so you do have some humanity left in you?” I tease as I spin to face him, my knee bumping against his.
As soon as that happens, I see the bare skin on his arms prickle with goose bumps, and I smile.
“I was turned when I was three years old. I was never really human.”
“Pathetic excuse,” I say as I pull my drink close and Wolfe does the same. I notice he doesn’t use the straw, downing almost half of it one go and shivering as he licks shiny red blood from his lips. Fuck, that’s hot. I have the strongest urge to kiss this uptight asshole, just so I can see what he does. And even if this drink also tastes just like gin and tequila, I bet Wolfe will somehow taste amazing. The mean ones always do. I think they have to taste sweet or they’d never get laid. “I’m a dhampir, you’re a turned vamp, we’re natural allies.”
“Not really,” he growls out, his gray eyes dropping to my cleavage. He turns away almost as soon as he does it, but when I see that, I know. He wants me. He fucking wants me. Wow. Some cold, cruel asshole this guy he is. I thought he’d be a tougher nut to crack. “This is all business for me. And frankly, Vyce deserves to be king of House Stiltz. I’m not even sure why I’m here.”
“Aw, low blow,” Sorrow growls out, but he’s grinning. “You’re probably right. Vyce would make the perfect king. And come on, we’ve been a team for almost ten years now. All for one and one for all, right?”
“Rumpel must have big plans if being a king isn’t at the top of his list,” I say, but none of the guys answer me on that one. Fine. I didn’t really expect them to. Instead, I drop a hand on Wolfe’s knee, just for fun.
His eyes flick up to mine and his nostrils flare.
“I have to pee,” I say, standing up suddenly and swaying my leather-covered ass down the long dark hall to the bathroom.
I barely make it in the door when a huge body is pressing me forward and slamming it closed behind us. Wolfe locks the door as I glance over my shoulder, noticing that his hands are already at the button of his jeans, freeing the thick, hard length of his cock.
Oh.
He’s got a Prince Albert piercing at the tip. How...unexpected.
“Might as well take care of business,” he growls as I arch my back and present my ass, knowing how fucking fabulous it looks in these pants.
“Oh, for sure,” I say, my heartbeat thundering. There’s a reason those drinks are called Heartbeats, you know. My pulse is racing at the speed of light. I can hardly breathe as Wolfe flicks the lights off and plunges us into darkness. Since I’m not a full-blooded vamp, it takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, blinking myself into various shades of gray. I can see just as well at night as I can during the day. The only difference is color. All the color’s leeched away.
Doesn’t matter though, not when I have sensations surging through me like these—Wolfe’s hands on my hips, his fingers curling under the waistband of my pants, yanking them down so that the swollen, aching plumpness of my cunt is exposed.
Wolfe takes a fistful of my hair at the same time he lines himself up with my opening.
“Ready?” he asks, but all I do is wiggle back against him in response. He thrusts deep and we both groan, my muscles flickering in a natural, excited little rhythm. Wolfe fucks me hard and fast, keeping a tight grip on my hair as he pounds into me. “Goddamn it,” he snarls, leaning over me and sniffing at the side of my neck. “Why the hell do you smell so good?”
“Bite me,” I groan, feeling his tongue flick up the side of my neck. Before I can even take another breath, he’s obliging me, sinking his teeth deep and penetrating me in more ways than one. It’s so base in there, so animalistic. I hardly feel human at all as Wolfe takes both food and sex from me, using deep, slow thrusts of his hips to churn up waves of pleasure inside of me.
He reaches one long arm around me and stimulates my clit, slicking my own natural wetness up and using it as lube to bring me to a quick and violent climax. How can I resist, with powerful vamp pheromones surging through my body, making my nipples so hard they hurt, stealing my breath away.
I come so hard that a scream slips out of me, echoing around the small, dark bathroom. My muscles squeeze Wolfe tight, hold him still and force him to release his seed deep inside of me.
Slowly, he pulls his teeth from my neck and licks the wound almost...possessively?
It’s a move most vamp men wouldn’t bother with unless they were with a real lover and not just a quick fuck.
We stay there for a few moments, panting and sweating and shaking.
I blame the Heartbeat.
“One down, two to go,” he growls out, but there’s no way I can take that offensively, seeing as his voice is droopy and heavy with sex. He hardly sounds like a man performing a chore.