Page 98 of Wicked Player

Gage

Tristan stood as tall and proud as I’d ever seen him near the end of the hall. The lights on the wall cast an eerie glow, and the scent of something meant to seduce and relax slid over me.

I was focused on very little except the small, trembling hand clasping firmly in mine at my side as Elizabeth and I walked toward him and the small black box burning a hole in my suit pocket.

Beneath my ribs, my heart pounded with a steady but rapidly increasing thump. Tristan helped me plan the entire night down to the blindfold dangling from his hand. It was just like the first time I met Elizabeth, except this time we were entering the room together. And hopefully, by the time we left, she will have promised to be mine forever.

“Tristan.” I greeted him with a small chin dip. I arrived hours ago to help set everything up and then went to get Elizabeth before bringing her here.

He returned the gesture and turned to Elizabeth. “Ma chérie. Bonsoir.”

She pressed a small piece of hair behind her ear, grinning up at the man like she’d expected to be here. In actuality, I’d promised her a surprise and when we pulled up at the back entrance, her face had paled. We hadn’t been to Velvet in six months, since the photos of us broke. Media had surrounded the club for a week or two, causing Tristan myriad headaches with the members. Many had left, but many more had requested to join which had pissed him off even more. Elizabeth and I didn’t come out of respect to the trouble we’d brought to his livelihood and also because we no longer needed it. She gave me everything I needed and craved in the privacy of our own homes.

“Hi Tristan,” she said. Her hand trembled as it drifted down and curled around my forearm where I held her other hand. “How are you?”

“Magnifique,”he replied. “It is lovely to see you again. And I believe, it’s been requested you wear this.”

He raised his arm and from outstretched fingers dangled the blindfold.

Elizabeth let out a small gasp and looked up at me. “A blindfold?”

“Just for a bit.”

A glimmer of excitement sparkled in her pretty blue eyes and she took it from Tristan. “Okay, then. Whatever you say, sir.”

I choked down a laugh. She hadn’t called me that since she found out who I was. This woman. I loved her more every day and she constantly impressed the hell out of me. After the press conference, she’d been suspended from work for thirty days. She was fortunate enough not to be fired, and even though it was upsetting feeling like everything she’d worked so hard for had been ruined, she was still grateful to have a job. She returned to the station after her suspension, dove in to behind the scenes reporting until all hints of attention on us disappeared and worked her ass off to regain any respect she may have lost among both her peers and viewers.

That was my girl. A fighter with the largest and strongest heart and mind of anyone I’d ever met.

A week after the press conference, all trace of photos of us disappeared courtesy of Jaxon’s team. He’d found Mel in her apartment in Holly Springs. After a brief conversation he relayed to me with dozens of colorful curse words thrown in, calling her every wretched name I knew and a handful I didn’t, she swore she wouldn’t be a problem moving forward. He confiscated her laptop and cell phone, and the last update he gave me was that Mel Anderson was now living in Idaho, on her family’s llama and alpaca farm.

Far away from us and hopefully she’d stay there. Once Jaxon and I reassured Elizabeth that Mel wouldn’t be a problem, she never asked about her again. She trusted both of us to take care of her and from that day on, she put that blip in the road far in her rearview.

Her ability to move on and bounce back were only some of the many things I loved about her.

“Come on,” I said, taking the blindfold from her and sliding it over her eyes. Once I assured she couldn’t peek, I grinned at Tristan and clasped my hand to his shoulder. “Thanks for all your help.”

“No problem. Enjoy your evening. And you too,ma chérie.”

“Thanks, Tristan. Have a good night.”

“I would say the same to you, but I’m sure yours will be much better.”

She slid a questioning glance my way even though she couldn’t see me and I rested my hand on her lower back. I already knew as soon as we went into that room that mine would end up being the best ever.

“I’m going to open the door and once it’s closed, I want you to do everything I say. Understand?”

She brushed her hands together and nodded. “Of course. I always do.”

Like hell she did. She had a mind of her own and only submitted when it came to getting my cock in her. “Sure you don’t,” I teased and reached around her to open the door. As I pushed it open, I turned back to Tristan.

He flashed me a wink, waved, and hustled down the hallway. He would hurry to get a front-row seat. When I called him earlier in the week to see if I could do this here, he’d emphatically declared there was no way he was missing it.

She inhaled heavily as we entered, her entire chest rising and lowering with her slow, intentional breaths. As the door shut behind us, I guided her to the center of the room. Curling my hands around her shoulders, I adjusted her so once she could see, she’d see everything.

“There are roses in here,” she said. Her voice was quiet, a mere whisper of a breath I’d have a difficult time hearing if I wasn’t standing so close. “Lots of them.”

“There are.”

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