by Nina Levine
Ten minutes later, we pulled up outside the club, and I got out without waiting for Andy. I opened the door and stepped into the cool darkness, the velvet-smooth wrap of my Dollhouse. Fuck, I hated Mondays. I hated how empty this place felt when it wasn’t filled with women or music. I hated how empty it made me feel too.
Where had that thought come from?
I wasn’t empty. I was fucking fulfilled.
With a growl, I stalked up to my office and poured myself a drink. I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do now. I couldn’t get a release. I was fucking wired, and nothing was going how it was supposed to. My head jerked up when there was a knock at the door.
Dagger stepped into the room, his blank expression looking tight—if that were even possible. I took one look at his face and shook my head.
“No,” I hissed, slamming back another shot of whisky.
“Two more hits. Simultaneous.”
I curled my free hand into a fist. “Who this time?”
“Rabbit and Red.”
“Fuck.” They were my two best sellers. “Same MO, cash taken, drugs left?”
Dagger grunted. “We need to retaliate, boss. Sitting here with our hands on our dicks is sending the wrong message.”
I moved before I even realized I was doing it. I slammed Dagger against the wall, my forearm against his throat. Pushing my face into his, I hissed, “You think I don’t know that? You think I like sitting here waiting for the next dealer to go down?”
He stared at me with his dead eyes but said nothing that I needed to hear. “Goddammit!” I wrenched myself away from him and began to pace. My fingers turned to claws as they raked through my hair. Could this day seriously get any fucking worse?
“I have a guy we can use,” Dagger said in a low voice. “He’ll find out what’s going on, then dispose of the culprits discreetly.”
“Fucking do it,” I growled, waving him away. We didn’t need to speak of my outburst. Dagger knew what kind of stress I was under. I knew he would understand. He left me after that, left me to stew, left me to turn ideas and possibilities over in my head until I was practically spinning with betrayals.
I couldn’t leave for my sister’s house like this. I was a fucked-up mess. I needed to relax. I needed to fucking calm down. Picking up my phone, I dialed Kandy.
“Hey, boss,” she answered, her too-bright voice hurting my ears. It was a good thing she wouldn’t be able to talk with my dick in her mouth. “What do you need?”
“You,” I replied. “My office. Bring a friend, too.” I hung up, went to sit on the leather sofa, and poured myself another drink.
It was twenty minutes later when Kandy strolled into the office with Rachel on her heels. Both of them were wearing short sundresses, which was fucking fine by me. Kandy was the one who approached me first, perching on my knee. I let my gaze travel down her, taking in the swell of her breasts and the taut peaks of her nipples. She was already fucking turned on. I looked over at Rachel, spread my legs a little wider, and tilted my chin, indicating what I wanted.
“Sit on my face, Kandy,” I commanded. The woman clambered up on the high back of the couch, balancing herself there as she dropped her bare pussy onto my waiting mouth.
Rachel unzipped my pants, springing my straining cock. I sucked in a hiss when she wrapped her lips around it, then proceeded to fucking eat Kandy like she was the pussy I really wanted to be feasting on. Kandy writhed against my face, her hips flexing and retreating as she fucked my chin and mouth. I swallowed her down, realizing I was blowing past a line here. My Dolls gave me blowjobs only, and I never reciprocated by eating their cunts, but there was this driving need in me.
I wanted this to be Wren.
I wanted this to be Wren’s dripping pussy on my face, so for a few minutes, I would pretend that’s what it was.
Rachel bobbed up and down on my dick, and I reached out a hand blindly, placing it on the top of her head. On the downstroke, I held her against me, grinding into the back of her throat until she gagged. The sensation made me groan, and I eased up a little on her. But only for a moment. I needed that again. Pushing her back, we continued this sick game of asphyxiation until I felt my balls tighten.
Tapping Kandy on the thigh, I indicated for her to stop. “On your knees with Rachel,” I commanded darkly, wiping her juices from my chin. She did as she was told, falling to her knees between my thighs. The pair took turns sucking my dick until I couldn’t take it anymore. Sitting back, I wrapped my hand around my cock and began to pump. I thought about Wren perched between my thighs waiting for me to cum all over her face and tits. The taste on my tongue was Wren’s champagne. The fingers digging into my thighs were Wren’s.
With a roar, I came on the two willing women, who sat with their mouths open and their eyes hungry. I came on them, but in my mind, it was only one woman.
Wren.
When I’d finally wrung the last of my pleasure out, I caressed Rachel’s mouth. “You give good head.”
“Thank you,” she blushed.
“If you ever want to come out from behind the bar, let me know.”
16
Wren
“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do?” I hated how desperate my voice sounded. But I was. Desperate. This was my last chance to help Hawk out, even though the financial ramifications would leave me living hand to mouth for the next decade or two.
The loan manager shook his head and gave me a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Ms. Montana, but I can’t approve a loan of that amount.” He flicked through the application in front of him, frowning at the dire straits of my finances. “And given the state of your revenue stream with your business, I can’t see how I can loan you anything at all.”
My heart fell to my feet, although I wasn’t truly surprised. I knew getting a loan was going to be near impossible. I nodded. “Of course. Thank you for your time, Mr. Kahn.” I stood and walked from the bank, now truly left without another option. As I stepped out into the baking afternoon sun, I began the walk home.
As I dodged people on the clogged sidewalks, I thought about what else Bane was going to cost me. Because I only had one choice now.
When I got back to my apartment, I showered and changed, taking extra time on my makeup and picking out an outfit. I settled on a knee-length navy blue dress and wedges, then piled my hair into a messy bun at the top of my head. I’d just completed putting the finishing touches on my makeup when there was a knock on my apartment door.
I was suddenly breathless.
“Little Bird, I can hear you on the other side of this door.” Bane’s timbre voice rumbled through the hollow wood. “Let me in.”
Unlocking the bolts, I twisted the knob and opened it. I edged back a step when I saw the heated look in his eyes, the hunger that burned there. His gaze drifted down my body, taking in my dress and the heels. When they finally returned to my face, I felt a shift in the air. He took a step toward me, then halted. I looked down to find his hands balled into fists at his sides.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah. What’s wrong with you?”
“You’re what’s wrong with me.” He looked down my body again. “How am I supposed to keep my hands off you tonight?” It seemed strange that he would. At my cocked head, he added, “I won’t touch you again until you agree to our arrangement.”
Huffing out a laugh, I shook my head. Bane Rivera was a tough man to pigeonhole. Grabbing my purse, I asked, “Are you ready?”
As I walked past him, I felt the heat of his body. It was like my soul prickled with awareness. Shaking myself a little, I stopped just outside the door and locked it behind him. Together, we walked to the bank of elevators.
“What’s your sister’s name?” I asked a little hesitantly.
“Bianca.”
“Is she older or younger?”
He gave me a sideways glance. “Older.”
“Who looks after who?”
“I look after her. Always have,
even when I was a kid.”
For some reason, that answer lit me up on the inside, warming the hollow in my chest. He was just like me, only in reverse.
Clearing my throat, I asked, “Where does she live?”
He spun toward me a moment later, walking me backward until I felt the wall at my back. The hard, unforgiving surface didn’t yield as I pressed myself against it. Bane filled my vision, my nose, my ears. The only sense he hadn’t tortured yet was touch. And with the heat that filled his eyes, I wanted him to touch me.
He ghosted his fingers over my cheek, his gaze burning. “I don’t know why I spill my truths to you all the time.” His words were a gruff whisper. “But I do.” His entire body tensed right before he pulled himself away. Holding out his hand, he said, “Come.”
I let my fingers slip into his, and he pulled me close, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“I can’t resist you, Wren,” he muttered. “No matter what I do, no matter what I say, you keep drawing me back. I know I said I wouldn’t touch you, but if this is going to be the last time I can… goddammit, I’m going to touch you until I erase the touches of every other man before me.”
We rode down to the lobby in silence, his arm never unwrapping from my side. When we stepped out, he hustled me through the vestibule and out to his waiting town car.
“To Bianca’s, Andy,” he said to the driver, who stared at me like he’d never seen Bane with a woman before. Maybe it was because I was fully clothed that was so shocking. Whatever the reason, I didn’t need to worry myself over it now. Sliding into the cool leather interior, I let out a little sigh as Bane closed us in there together. His cologne filled the space, and I turned to look at him. That same hunger from before blazed, and I gasped as he dragged me onto his lap.
A small moan made its way out of my throat as I felt his erection pressing insistently at my ass. One arm was anchored around my waist, his free hand sliding through the hair at my nape. A bolt of lust hit me as he pulled back, creating a sting of pain that I was growing to like.
“I need to be inside you again, Wren. Tonight. If this is it, I need to have you one last time. Tell me I can taste your champagne cunt again.” He stroked my bottom lip, pulling it down like he was imagining every single illicit thought running through his head. “I need to experience your pretty mouth on my cock. I want to push to the back of your throat and fuck your face until you choke. Tell me I can fucking worship your body all night, make you scream my fucking name?”
I clutched at his shoulders and bit my lip. Jesus, the filthy words this man says to me will be my undoing. I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know what the answer was. Instead, I reached down between us and stroked the steel length between his legs. He stopped me with a growl on the third stroke. His eyes were foggy with lust, and I really liked that I’d put him into that state.
He shook his head, pulling my hand free and kissing the tips of my fingers. “If you keep doing that, we won’t go to my sister’s. I’d have Andy take us to my place, so we could play, and then my sister would chew me out for ditching dinner.”
Snuggling back into his chest, I watched the street lights of downtown LA flicker into sporadic bursts. I was pushed back into Bane as the car ascended, making switchbacks up a hill.
“Where does your sister live?” I asked into the darkness.
“Bel Air.” His words rumbled in his chest.
Holy fucking shit. The entire family must be loaded. I swallowed. “You grew up here?”
He snorted and shook his head but said nothing more. “Maybe I’ll tell you the story one day, Little Bird,” he said, stroking my arm in a hypnotic wave. “Not tonight, though.”
When the car finally pulled to a stop, I began to scramble back to my seat. I didn’t want Bane’s driver to catch me in such a compromising position, but Bane wasn’t having any of that. He held me tightly until the door was opened, then helped me out. I stared up at the mansion in front of me and let out a jagged breath. This place was amazing. I’d barely had a chance to absorb it all when Bane took my hand and urged me up the path.
The door opened before we even got to the doorstep. A willowy dark-haired beauty stood there with a smile on her face.
“Bane!” she squealed.
Bane dropped my hand and scooped up who I was assuming was his sister.
“Bianca,” he replied in a soft voice, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “How are you?”
“Better now that you’re here,” she replied, then looked over his shoulder. “Is this her?”
Damn, talk about being self-conscious. I stood there with my hands clasped in front of me, not sure what to do.
Bane saved me, though, by taking my hand and pulling me closer. “Bianca, this is Wren, the woman I was telling you about.”
Bianca held out her hand to me, and we shook. “It is so nice to finally meet one of Bane’s girlfriends!”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” I replied.
“It’s complicated,” Bane said at the same time.
Bianca looked between us and smiled. “Come in. I’m just finishing off dinner.”
Bane gave me a heated look as he ushered me inside, shutting the door behind me. He toed off his shoes, and I did the same, my bare feet hitting the warm honey blonde hardwood. He led me through to a kitchen in the same color tone as the wood beneath my bare feet, and I stopped dead when I saw the size of it.
“It’s bigger than my entire apartment,” I whispered to Bane when he asked me what was wrong.
He chuckled. “It’s a large house,” was all he said.
Well, no fucking shit, Bane.
Bianca was working effortlessly in the kitchen, moving from the marble-topped island counter to the eight-burner stove with ease. Honestly, I would have expected a personal chef.
“Where’s my girl?” Bane asked Bianca, and my ears pricked. A surge of jealousy shot through me, but I pushed it down. I had no right to be jealous. He owned a fucking gentlemen’s club. He was surrounded by beautiful women—I’d seen them.
“She should be up from her nap by now,” his sister told him, pulling some tomatoes from the fridge. “You should go and get her.”
Bane kissed me on the cheek and strode from the room, leaving me with Bianca.
“Can I help?” I needed something to do with this nervous energy vibrating through me.
“Sure. You can start tossing the salad for me.” She pointed at a large bowl filled with green leaves and red and yellow peppers. “So, how did you meet my little brother?”
I paused, then got with the program again. “At work.” That seemed like a safe reply.
Her brows shot up. “You’re a Doll?”
“Ah, no. Not one of them.” Jesus, even I could hear the disdain in my voice for them. “He and my brother have a working relationship, and I met Bane through him.”
She hitched a hand onto her hip. “Younger or older?”
“Younger,” I reply with a grin.
“Hells yes. Little brothers are such a headache, right?”
A smile pulled at my lips. I liked Bianca. Where Bane was gruff, she was friendly. Where he was aloof, she was open. She smiled a lot more too. “My brother could win awards with the headaches he’s caused me.”
She snorted and got back to chopping. “I don’t know… Bane caused his fair share for me, too.”
“Oh?”
“To say he was wild when he was a kid is an understatement. He was always getting into trouble, but do you know what? He was always there when I needed him, too. He may be younger, but he’s protective of me.”
“I can see that trait in him,” I reply. I looked up when I heard Bane walk back into the room, a little girl cradled in his arms. Fuck, my ovaries may have just exploded because seeing him with a baby made my womb ache. He walked over to us, a smirk on his face. I was trying really hard to connect the man I thought I knew to the man I know, and to the man I was being shown now.
Bianca put down the knife, wiped her hands
, and rounded the counter. “There’s my beautiful girl,” she cooed to her daughter.
“She’s gotten big,” Bane commented, staring down at the swaddled bundle.
“You would know that if you visited more often,” Bianca volleyed back, and I got the distinct impression this was an old argument.
“You know how busy I am.”
She stroked the baby’s head. “I know.”
Bane looked up and locked eyes with me. There was such warmth in them. “This is the other female love of my life,” he said. “Valentine.”
Wiping my hands, I walked toward him and peeked inside the blankets. The baby girl blinked up at me with dark blue eyes, eyes that were very aware of her surroundings. She had a shock of dark hair and the most perfect nose and cupid mouth.
“She’s beautiful,” I murmured.
“Yeah, she is,” Bane rumbled in reply, and I looked up to find him staring at me. Flushing, I walked back to my salad-tossing station.
“How old is she?”
“Four months,” Bianca replied.
“And where does she get her dark hair from, your side or her daddy’s?”
“James has blond hair, too, as does all his family, so I think she’ll probably have the same hair as Bane.”
Bane smiled at that.
“Why don’t you two go and sit down. I can take it from here.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Absolutely.” She made a shooing gesture with her hands. I followed Bane to a set of four armchairs grouped around a glass table. Bane sat in one with Valentine still cradled in his arms while I sat opposite him. As soon as he was comfortable, though, Valentine began to fuss.
“I have to feed her,” Bianca said, coming over and taking her daughter. Gesturing to her kitchen, she said, “Just leave that. We’ve still got time.”
She left us together, and Bane patted his knee. Hauling myself out of my chair, I lowered myself onto his knee.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked, rubbing his thumb over my bottom lip.
