Page 66 of Reaper Flame

“Not exactly,” I snapped, hoping the strobe light hid my heated cheeks. “We came to an... agreement... for now. Nothing is final, and I’m notyourfucking girl, Zander. Things can’t just go back to how they were before. Things have changed!”

“Have they?” Zander stepped closer. His body was inches away from mine, and the heat from his skin made my head spin. “You may not want to accept it yet, but we’ll wait. You may not be fully ours, but we are yours.”

On the yacht, the three of us had never been alone. Mieko, Vixen, and Q were always around to extinguish underlying tension. Being back in Port Valentine felt different. We were surrounded by other people, but it felt like we were the only four people in the room, and they were all looking at me like a meal.

“And we always will be,” Rocky confirmed, wrapping his strong arm possessively around my waist.

I hesitated, not sure whether to push Rocky away. He sensed my shift and held on even tighter.

“But what about the others?” I asked.

We’d never flaunted our status in the club before, and the dancers were watching our every move. Hooking up with Zander, West, and Red is something many of them aspired to. They collected notches on their bedposts like Girl Scout badges. Scarlett, a long-serving dancer who had a raging she-boner over West, looked over at us with bulging eyes.Take a picture, bitch. It’ll last longer.

“Let them stare,” West replied, brushing a rogue hair out of my eyes. “We have nothing to hide.”

“We’ll make the world burn for you, little one,” Zander said. “But it’s up to you whether you stay a Seven at the end of it. Whatever happens now doesn’t change our deal.”

You’re in control of the situation, Candy!I reminded myself.You have a way out if you want it!If that was true, then why did I suddenly feel so powerless?

“Can we pretend no decisions have to be made for now?” I sighed, putting an end to my racing thoughts. “Let’s just run with this. I need a fucking drink...”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, Red.” West shouldered Rocky out of the way. “Our lady said she wants a drink!”

I squealed as West threw me over his shoulder. If Hiram had his way, we’d all be dead soon. Was there any harm in living a little?

FIFTEEN

West’s voice rattled through my soul. “It’s time to rise, sleeping beauties!”

The bastard may as well have crashed a cymbal over my head. My eyes flickered, then snapped shut again as he threw open the curtains and blinded me with the morning sun.

I groaned. “But we’ve just gone to bed.”

“Whose fault is that?” West asked pointedly, raising one of his eyebrows in accusation.

Memories from last night came flooding back: twirling around poles and making new cocktails with drinks that don’t mix well together. Whoever had the idea of combining rum and vodka deserved to have pins stuck into their eyes. Shit… the more I thought about it, the surer I became that it was me.

Vixen lay on a nearby armchair while Mieko stirred underneath a pile of blankets near my feet. We passed out on the sofas after belting out ‘90s classic tunes. CCTV cameras better not have audio recording because I’d have to kill people if they ever got out. I have a badass reputation to uphold.

“Fuck off, West,” Vixen croaked.

Suddenly, Mieko jumped from her resting spot under the blankets and dashed through the room, holding a hand over her mouth.

I looked at the paper cups in West’s hands. “They better be ours.”

“Of course,” he said, passing them over with a grin.

How come he was able to wake up early and stop at a coffee shop? Zander was a grumpy ass and holed himself in his office all night, but West and Rocky joined in with our celebrations. Although I had a fuzzy recollection of them bailing when we started playing Britney on repeat. Their loss.

“Are they ready to go?” Rocky asked, entering the living room. The guys smirked at each other knowingly, but I didn’t have the energy to respond with a snarky line. They’d be smug for the rest of the day. “Zander is already waiting outside.”

“Don’t fucking rush me, Red,” Vixen warned.

“What about you, C?” Rocky asked. “Regretting hitting the bar too hard?”

His ‘I told you so’ look made me jump up in anger and spill burning coffee over my tits.

“I’m fine!” I insisted. “I’ll be ready.”

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