“Your setup turned out to be the date from hell! He tried to k . . . kiss me.” She completed her sentence lamely. She wasn’t sure if there was some kind of code as to what she could tell her best friend and what she couldn’t. Her heart was heavy at the thought. She definitely had some things that only girl talk would make better. She had almost died the day before, now had not one but two men in her life, was basically married if she understood the whole mate impression thing, had two bite marks on her shoulders, and didn’t even know where she was. This was a time to need a friend if any.
“I don’t give a damn if he tried to frisk you in the car! Mad at me or not, Z, I was worried. I couldn’t find you at all the last three days!”
“Three days! I’ve only been gone for a day!”
“Zelina, baby, where are you? I’m at the store. I know you like ice cream.”
The sentence drove home that her friend really was worried. They had developed it as kids as a way to ask if something was wrong and if the police needed to be called. When one of Jezzie’s cousins had been murdered by a robber, she’d been under bondage when her phone rang. The friend thought she sounded funny and knew something was wrong. Without thinking, she asked if someone was there, and if someone was hurting her. When Isabelle replied yes, out of fear, the robber had killed her instead of giving her the chance to give the police a description. That had stuck with Jezzie. It had stuck with them all.
“No, J. I’m fine, I swear it.” She heard Jezzie let go of the breath she’d been holding when Zelina hadn’t given the code phrase for “yes, get help.”
“Then where the hell are you? I’m coming to get you, or I swear to God the cops will! Don’t play with me.”
There was no way that she was going to get Jezzie off the bone when she was on it. The only way she’d calm down is if she saw Z . . . Problem was, Z had no idea where she was to be able to tell Jezzie. She couldn’t be that far from the restaurant, but she’d never seen outside of the room to see if she recognized anything familiar. After climbing out of bed and tossing on a T-shirt that lay crumpled on the ground, she went to the window to look out. The woodsy smell let her know it was Rion’s shirt. She turned to search for another shirt, saw a button-up and smelled Quin. Tossing that shirt on as well made her feel better.
“Okay, now about where I am,” Zelina started.
“Why? Going somewhere?”
Chapter Fourteen
Stalking. There was no other way to describe the way Rion had come into the room. Zelina had figured out over the eventful three days, as she now understood, that Rion was much darker than his brother. He was the more forceful of the two personalities. Where Quin could compromise, could smile, Rion seemed to be teetering on the verge of a blowup. She’d enjoyed that during sex. He made her feel as though he couldn’t be without her, that he was trying his best to stamp her with his essence so that she could never walk away. He was not the brother she wanted to hear the conversation that was happening. He would misunderstand.
“Rion, it’s my friend Jezzie. I’ve been gone for a few days, so she’s making sure I’m all right. She can be a little much, but I love her anyway.”
“Who the hell is that? And what do you mean ‘a little much’?” Jezzie screamed on the phone.
“Tell her you’re okay, and then hang up.”
“I’m not going to hang up on my friend. I’ve told her I’m okay. She just wants to come see me.”
“Tell her you’re okay, and then hang up,” he repeated, stepping closer.
“I said no, Rion. So what is this address?”
“Z? What is going on? Who is that?”
“Fine, have your way,” Rion replied, never breaking eye contact with her, and suddenly he was there in front of her. “Stay on the phone then.”
With that statement, he lifted her up and tossed her on the bed. The shirts lifted up around her midriff, and he got an eyeful of her bare lower body. He crawled over her, not letting her get up. She forced herself not to scream. Knowing Jezzie was on the line, it would not be a good thing.
“Rion,” she began.
“Too late.”
“Zelina! Answer me right now.”
“Jezzie, I’m right here. You don’t have to yell.”
“Who is that?”
“That would be Rion, my . . . boyfriend.” She couldn’t exactly tell her friend over the phone he was her mate and so was his brother. That was a conversation to be had over some wine.
“Boyfriend? Since when?”
Rion gave her the most satisfied smile she had ever seen in her life. Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Suddenly she knew what he was going to do. She scrambled, turning on her stomach, and tried to get away. It didn’t work. A solid steel band masquerading as his arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her in front of him on her hands and knees. He lowered his head, sniffing her before she watched his face shift to a more elongated muzzle right before her eyes. She stuffed her face in the pillow before a scream of surprise could escape, and then kept it there when his tongue swiped her. He licked her a few times before he pushed his tongue into her, curling it as he did before to play over her G-spot.
She moaned, pushing her hips into his face, riding his tongue. He felt so good inside her. She tangled her free hand into the pillowcase and held on for dear life. Rion wasn’t interested in being gentle. He wasn’t interested in being soft. This was a mark of claiming, and she recognized it. He flicked his tongue faster and faster into her, and she couldn’t stop her body from trembling.
“Your friend is yelling for you,” she heard in her mind, but her thoughts were mush. He felt so good, so deep in her.
“Answer her, or I’ll stop.”
“Wh-what?”
“Answer her, or I’ll stop,” he repeated and then stopped. Zelina got on the phone quicker than she ever had in her life, ignoring Rion’s chuckle in her mind.
“Yes, Jezzie,” she answered as he resumed. She hoped her friend didn’t hear the hitch in her voice.
“Who is Rion?”
“He’s . . . he’s my boyfriend, Jezzie,” Zelina repeated.
Said boyfriend spread her ass cheeks, pushed harder into her pussy, using his fingers now to swirl her moisture over her clit. She moaned in her throat.
“Since when have you had a boyfriend?”
“It happened kind of . . . suddenly, Jezzie. I just felt it . . . and it . . . worked.” She was nearly panting. His fingers circled her clit in fast and hard circles. Over and over he moved, counteracting his thrusting tongue. The feeling was mesmerizing. She could feel her juices sliding down the insides of her legs.
“Just happened? Where are you, Z? Really, hon, I’m worried.”
“I told you I’m okay, Jezzie. I wouldn’t lie about that.”
He ground against her harder, as if he didn’t like she’d gotten that sentence out without breathing deeply. She stuffed her face back into the pillow, bowing her back as she moaned, rubbing her clit against him. He felt so good to her. So right. The sting of the slap had her face coming out of the pillow and glaring at him, and she just caught the last of what her friend said.
“. . . it can be there quickly, Zelina.”
“Do you just not . . . believe . . . me?” Z panted, nearly unable to control her moans anymore.
“I just want to see for myself is all. You know me.”
Rion pulled out of her, fingers still dancing on her clit. She felt the thick head of his cock nudge her opening.
“Say you’re okay. Then hang up.”
She didn’t even think to argue this time. She hung up.
Chapter Fifteen
She thought having only one of them at a time would make things less intense, that it would be easier for her to handle. It may have been if it hadn’t been Rion. He never did anything nice and slow. His first thrust took him past his head before he pulled out just as quickly. He slammed in again until half his dick was inside of her, then pulled out. She braced for his last thrust, knowing he would kiss her womb. When it came, she moaned, letting her head fall forward into the pillow. She felt her insides stretching, seeking to let him in. The walls gripped him tighter, loathing to let him go as he pushed in and out.
Warmth spread over her back as he curled around her, one hand sliding over her breasts and the other angling toward her clit. He used her moisture to play with the tight bud and twisted a nipple at the same time. The result was electrifying.