Page 21 of Kings of Desire
Did he really come to ask permission to leave?
‘How can this even work?’ I guess Cole had questions of his own, regarding me ‘How does a girl like you get involved in something like The Pleasure Room? What were you thinking signing up for this? You’re a fucking virgin for fuck’s sake.’
‘What do you care?’ I wasn’t going to give an explanation to him regarding my reasons.
‘I don’t. I’m just curious. What was it, money? Clothes? Did you want to get out of the Pit?’
I guess my plan on keeping my mouth shut couldn’t work as I felt deeply offended. It wasn’t about clothes, or a better life for myself. It was about ‘Family. I have two siblings that I want to bring here into the city to live with me. I need money to do that. It’s complicated.’
‘Enlighten me. I have time, besides there’s not too much to be done around here, and if I keep making out with this bottle, I might put a smile on Ace’s face and break the bet.’
He did have a point, but I wasn’t going to spill my soul out just because he couldn’t keep it in his pants. ‘I said enough. Let’s change the subject.’
‘Oral sex.’
‘Excuse me!?’
‘I’ve changed the subject. Let’s talk about that,’ he snickered, enjoying the blushed color of my cheeks.
‘You’re not going to drop this, are you?’
‘Not unless you can find other subjects to get my attention.’
‘Fine. I need the money to pay for a lawyer since I need to get custody from my father. He won’t willingly let them leave... And I need other things too. Like pay for college, rent, food. Give them a better life. Satisfied?’
‘I don’t get satisfied so easily, but this is boring me. I thought it would be some exciting reason.’
‘Sorry I’m not living up to your expectations,’ my eyes seemed to roll to the back of my head. How could someone in the Elite ever understand, though I did suspect him not to be soeliteafter all.
‘But I could teach you to live up to them,’ a whispered promise that installed both anger and a certain level of uncontained curiosity.
‘Do you have a moment?’ One of the girls that I usually see at his end of the hallway cut in on us licking her pumped-up lips while trying to batt her eyelashes as seductive as she could.
She was flirting with him right under my nose, and even if our connection wasn’t real, it did leave an invisible trail in my ego. I was being stumped over once again. ‘I see that you have enough disciples,’ I spoke, trying to hide the tremble in my voice.
The words seemed to hit him differently than I \suspected they would, and turning his back on the all too eager marionette, he whirled to look directly at me. ‘Yes, but they don’t fear me like you do,’ his words so heavy and serious that they seemed to halt all things around us. The people evaporated and the music stopped just so that his affirmation will sneak into the deepest corners of my being. He wanted me to fear him, he thrived on my weak reactions, every single one of them confirming his supremacy.
I was empowering him.
‘Ahem...,’ the girl was still behind him, not being too successful at processing the oblivious message.
He never even bothered to address her, ignoring her presence completely. That would have made things clear in my opinion, though it seemed Cole had a certain power to possess the ladies as I came to find out, after two similar attempts that followed in the next few hours. At least they, and the crowd of people that wanted at least a nod of him acknowledging their presence, kept him busy, dispersing his attention from his mainvictim- me.
I was almost out of the woods. The party was slowly dying as everyone appeared to gradually evaporate, leaving the premises or seeking discretion in some secluded corners of the house. Though almost doesn’t quite cut it, especially with Ace’s eyes pinned down on me. I had to give it another try at seducing him, and it had to be something that his friend would get to see.
Mission Impossible since Cole had already caught onto the plan, but that didn’t mean I didn’t owe it by contract to Ace to have another shot at this.
I kept thinking of a strategy as another one of the pretenders to a warm place between his bedsheets just showed up. The notion of self-respect had died, brutally slaughtered by these girls...and now I was supposed to act the same as them.
My back glued itself to his chest, drawing my head far back to look at his cobalt eyes ‘My feet are killing me,’ I whispered, and with good cause since we had been standing for the whole night.
‘I don’t like couches, they give me ideas,’ he smiled, looking down on me, straightening his posture until I felt every rocklike muscle of his body.
The sexy smell of his leather jacket, the faded hint of whiskey, and the devils dancing in his eyes were all conjoining up to make anyone fall under his spell, and to be honest, if I had met him a couple of years ago, there was nothing that could have stopped me from doing the same.
‘I’m going to go and get myself a drink, then return,’ Aria, the girl that seemed to be stuck like a key chain to him, despite my presence there, finally excused herself, probably noticing that it was impossible to raise his interest.
‘Don’t try to play with fire. You may find me to be the perfect match.’ He was evil and sublime at the same time, recognizing the absolute dose ofeverythinghe was transmitting to me.
