Page 10 of The Masks We Wear

I plop into the bed next to him. “Did you bring what I asked for?”

He gives me a look of doubt. “When have I ever not delivered?”

“Good point.”

Rocco slips a hand into his pocket and pulls out a baggie of blow and some edibles in another baggie. My eyes light up at the sight and relief washes through me. He hands them to me and I immediately start with the baggie of blow. I open it and pour some on my nightstand, making quick work of forming two lines. Rocco watches me with a relaxed expression, “What’s the deal with him anyway? You guys fucking or something?”

I whip my head at him. “No. He’s a prick and I can’t stand him. He wouldn’t let me go see Aria or Ivory today and he talks down to me like I’m a dog he’s doing obedience training with. I can’t stand the guy.”

He looks at me as if he doesn’t believe me. “What?” I ask.

He snorts, “No guy gets mad at another guy’s presence unless he’s jealous and that man downstairs is jealous.”

I sigh and let out a pent up, irritated breath. “I don’t want to talk about Harvey. Do you want a line or not?”

Rocco leans closer to me and places his hand on my thigh,“You thought I was gonna let you have all the fun?” He grins as his head dips past mine and down to the nightstand. He snorts the first line and wipes his nose after. He gives me a look of expectation and I grin. This is who everyone knows me to be. As I lean down to snort the second line, my shoulders relax and the tension in my body eases. All the stress and anger I’ve been holding in these last two days dissipates and once I sit up and wipe my nose with the back of my hand, I exhale. I throw my body back onto the bed and Rocco does the same. We don’t have sex every time we hangout. I’d consider Rocco a friend and I enjoy his company as much as I enjoy the sex which is a fair amount. Aria had the right idea about needing to get laid. I think it would really relax me to have a good orgasm but for some reason I’m not interested in going there with Rocco right now. He isn’t on my mind like that.

Once the blow kicks in twenty minutes later. Rocco and I are silently staring at the ceiling. “You sure you haven’t fucked him?” He asks doubtfully and I know immediately he’s talking about Harvey. “There’s too much sexual tension there.”

“I didn’t fuck him.” I answer but for some reason I wish it weren’t true. I blame the drugs but even sober there’s no denying that Harvey Taylor is a God brought to life. From his broad shoulders to his chiseled muscle and jaw, he’s most women’s wet dream. Hell, he may even be mine. A mental image of him shirtless and on top of me, pounding into me with sweat dripping down his body and his hair sticking to his forehead creeps into my mind and I feel a pulse between my legs and warmth in my lower belly. He’s the last person I should be turned on over for so many reasons. The first is that he’s off limits to me and the second is that he’s an asshole. But why then can’t I get him off my mind? Especially when Rocco is laying on the far side of the bed. I’m so in need of release right now I’m almost ready to put my hand between my legs which alsoconfuses me since I have access to a man who’s already in my bed and more than willing to have sex with me.

“But you want to.” He assesses.

I bask in the happiness flowing through my veins in the form of cocaine, mixing with my blood and filling my head with silly and happy thoughts. “I do.” I laugh at the ceiling.

Chapter 6

Harvey

I want to strangleher. No, scratch that. I want to stranglehim. Rocco comes to her house knowing she’s using him for God only knows what upstairs in her room right now while I’m pacing the lower level of her home. She’s successfully rattled me, and I don’t get rattled. Every time I push her, she pushes back and nobody has ever been as persistent as she has. It’s infuriating.

She knew the rules and of course she found a loophole. She only did it to piss me off and it’s working. The image of Rocco’s smug face in my head, of him knowing he’s able to touch her sets me off. Not because I’m jealous. I’m most certainly not jealous, but his smug face… I didn’t see this coming and that’s why I’m this angry, it has to be. The possibility that the churning feeling in my gut could be because of another emotion I’d rather not open the door to infuriates me even more. Not even a full two days and Brody Drake has me questioning myself and my…emotions.

They’ve been up there for hours. I haven’t heard much noise aside from a laugh here and there both from her and from him but I haven’t heard anything else and the thought satisfies me. I have no right to be angry over the idea of the two of them sleeping together but for some unknown reason the idea bothers me. So much so, that I’m contemplating destroying her brand-new door just to ruin their fun.

I grunt as I force myself to sit on the black leather couch in the living room. I rub my face aggressively with my calloused palmsand sigh audibly. By now, my clients usually bend to my will and obey me. Of course, she has to be the outlier in the trend. I just have to be patient and consistent. She may be a little tougher than my previous clients but that doesn’t mean she’s impossible. I’ll still have her bending to my will and doing whatever I say in no time. It may take a little longer than usual but I’ll get it done. I’ve never failed, and I won’t let Brody Drake be my first failure.

The bedroom door opens, and they exit together, laughing at something I’m not aware of. The sound of her laughter is so genuine and sounds almost strange coming from her. I’m used to her scowling and stomping around in fits of anger; I’ve never seen her smile a genuine smile and I’ve never heard her laugh. The sound is intoxicating, and I feel a burning sensation in my chest that Rocco is the reason she’s making that sound.

They make their way down the stairs, and I leap off the couch immediately. My eyes find Brody immediately and I scan my gaze over every inch of her, hoping her appearance will give away what they were doing upstairs. I exhale when I find that she looks exactly as she did when she went into the bedroom. She doesn’t look like she just had sex and neither does Rocco who she’s still smiling at, the stupid fucker. She doesn’t spare me a glance as she walks him out and says goodbye. He kisses her cheek and she doesn’t return the sentiment which satisfies me but I want to castrate him for putting his lips on her.

Once she locks the door behind him, she turns and avoids my eyes, keeping her gaze on the floor as she stalks past me and towards the kitchen silently. “No witty comments for me?” I start but she doesn’t respond.

I follow her closely and watch as she opens the refrigerator and scans the newly stocked contents -thanks to her assistant- for something to eat. She pulls out a bowl of freshly chopped fruit and starts picking out all the strawberries. I watch her mouth as she chews. I almost have to force my eyes to moveand my brain to focus. What is this girl doing to me? It’s so infuriating. This has never happened to me before, but then again, I’ve never had a client as cunning and devious as her. “You don’t feel like talking?” I question with a sudden harshness to my voice. My patience with her is wearing thin. “Too bad I don’t give a fuck what you feel like doing. What was that, huh? Are you trying to prove a point to me or something? Do you like playing games?” I snap on her, raising my voice.

She finally meets my gaze but for some reason it looks like she isn’t reallyhereeven though she’s physically here. I raise a brow as I assess her closer. Her lids look heavier, and she quickly focuses back on her fruit. “You started it, I finished it.” She says nonchalantly, talking around a mouthful of strawberries.

Her calm expression and tone sets me off even more. I want her to be fuming the way I am right now. “You planned that whole thing out to get back at me. Does Rocco know you used him?” I try cutting deep with the last part, hoping to take in her reaction and get a better understanding of her feelings towards Rocco.

She smiles weakly, still avoiding my eyes. “Rocco knows you’re a tool, yes, and he knows why I asked him to come over. He doesn’t care.” She giggles, “Call us even now.”

It seems she doesn’t have actual feelings for him and that he knows he was a pawn in her game. The knowledge satisfies me for some unknown reason, but that satisfaction is quickly overruled by the strange lull in her voice. Her voice sounds different, almost sleepy but honeyed. It doesn’t sound like her usual silvery voice, the one I’ve come to know so well already from her yelling at me. Something is off about her. “Did something happen with Rocco?” My anger dissipates at the possibility that something bad happened. Did he touch her? Hurt her? I’d kill him for touching my client. It’s my job to protect her and if something happened behind that door…

She scoffs, her voice muffled as she chews the fruit, “What? No.”

I raise a brow, “You’re acting different.”

Her eyes widen and she suddenly puts the lid back on the fruit and shoves it back in the refrigerator. She tries to duck past me and out of the kitchen, muttering, “This has been fun, but I’m going to bed.”

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