by K. A. Linde
“I’m sorry,” she said. She tilted her head as she assessed me. “Did you love her?”
“Holli?” I asked in surprise. “No. We weren’t together like that. She was just my best friend. A lot of people thought we were together, but we weren’t. I cared for her but not like that.”
“I was trying to understand the situation. I mean, I know what it’s like to live with the ghost of a dead loved one.”
Her eyes were so sad. So sincere. It broke me to see that pain radiating out of her like that. To be so far away from the source on a night that was supposed to be pure magic and still ache from the inside out. I didn’t want that for her. I didn’t want any of this for her. She didn’t need to see me in a fistfight or deal with my sister’s horrible fiancé. She deserved way more than that.
“You know what?” I asked, straightening. “Fuck it. Let’s just leave.”
“Wait…what?”
“You’ve seen this part of my life. You’ve seen how awful it is, too.” I took her hand in mine. “But this trip is also about us. And this isn’t us. So, let’s leave and find something better to do. We don’t have to deal with this bullshit anymore. This is partly why I left anyway.”
“Are you sure? What about Katherine?” Sutton asked.
“This is still her world. She’ll survive.”
Sutton laughed at my own enthusiasm, and I ducked down to plant a kiss on her lips.
“You’ll go with me?”
“Of course,” she murmured.
I took her hand in mine and then tugged her back toward the entrance. We almost made it out the door when Katherine appeared out of nowhere.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“We’re heading out,” I told her. “Not quite my scene anymore.”
“You’re leaving?” she asked, aghast. “Where are you going?”
“Anywhere. Out.”
“Come with us,” Sutton told her. “You don’t have to be here with them either.”
Katherine eyed Sutton skeptically. “People will talk if I just disappear.”
“Let them talk,” I told her.
A sly smile appeared on her face. “All right. I know just the place, but let’s slip out the side so as to draw less attention.”
I grinned down at my sister in amazement. I never in a million years would have thought that she’d actually ditch this party. Not when this was practically her job. But the suggestion seemed to light her up, and within a few minutes, we were out a side exit and piling into a cab.
It was a short ride before we were dropped off outside of a Percy hotel. I couldn’t help it; I laughed.
“What?” Sutton asked, glancing at the name. “Wait…is Camden a Percy, Percy?”
“He is,” Katherine said.
“Oh…whoa.”
“Yeah. But we’re not going into the hotel. Just the roof.”
“Ah, it feels like high school,” I told Katherine.
She flicked her wrist as the bellboy opened the door for us. “Just because you disappeared from the city didn’t stop any of us from living on rooftops.”
We took the elevator up to the rooftop access and to what I assumed was Katherine’s latest favorite rooftop bar. In front of a black door was a nondescript black sign that read Bar 360. Nothing else suggested what we were about to walk into, but I could take a guess.
Katherine pushed through the black door and smiled at the bouncer on the other side. We followed in her wake to find a three-hundred-sixty-degree panoramic view of the city skyline from the top of the Percy hotel. High-end clientele danced to the club music blasting through speakers. A bar wrapped around the inside of the roof. A glass-bottom infinity pool extended off the edge of the building. And, suddenly, it felt like déjà vu, living this life with Holli before her death and then desperately searching for the same high by hanging out with Court when she was gone.
“Are you okay?” Sutton called over the music.
“It’s just weird, being back.”
“I can imagine. This so isn’t Lubbock.”
I laughed and put my hand on the small of her back to guide her through the crowd to a reserved booth. Katherine pecked a kiss on the bouncer’s cheek, who’d cleared the table for us.
“I think we’re a bit overdressed,” Sutton said, slinking into the booth.
“You can never be overdressed. Only underdressed,” Katherine assured us.
“What she means is that she’ll come back next week, and everyone will be wearing black tie because she showed up in formalwear,” I told Sutton.
Katherine raised a shoulder. “As if I can help it.”
A waitress in scantily clad lingerie appeared then with bottle service for the table. She poured drinks for us just as another familiar face appeared at our table.
“Penn!” Katherine cheered. “And, now, my night is a success.” She batted her lashes at him and leaned in to kiss his cheeks.
I shook his hand. “Good to see you, man.”
“Same,” Penn said with a casual smile. His eyes flitted to Sutton, and he arched an eyebrow. “And you’re Sutton, right?”
“Yes.”
They shook hands.
“Sorry about the last time we met,” Penn said, laying the charm on thick. “I didn’t know that mentioning that David was a Van Pelt would cause such a stir.”
“It’s okay,” Sutton said. “It all worked out in the end.”
“What does it even matter if he’s a Van Pelt?” Katherine asked. “He wasn’t the one who stole your family’s money.”
“Katherine,” I snapped.
Penn rested a hand on her shoulder. “Easy to lay blame at other’s feet.”
“I had a warped view of what y’all were like,” Sutton said over the glass of champagne. “I thought you were all monsters. But I just didn’t know you. I can see that’s not true.”
Katherine shot her a wicked grin. “Oh, darling, that is the most accurate thing you’ve said all weekend.”
Penn scooted Katherine over and sank into the booth. “Not all of us are monsters, Ren.”
She toyed with his tie and gave it a hard tug. “I do hope you’re not talking about yourself. If history serves…”
“Let’s leave history where it belongs,” Penn said. He pulled his tie out of her grasp and draped an arm across the back of the booth. “Either way, I’m glad you’re both here. It’s nice to get Katherine out of her society events now and again.”
Katherine tutted. “It’s nice to get you in the Upper East Side at all.”
Penn shrugged, unconcerned, and sent Sutton a charismatic smile. “Don’t listen to a word she says. Care to dance?”
Sutton glanced at me once, and I nodded. “Uh…sure.”
I let her out of the booth, and then Penn dragged her out into the mix. My eyes followed their movements, but it was strange then to be alone with my sister. I could feel her watching me.
“She’s a little ray of sunshine,” Katherine said.
“Isn’t she?”
“She suits you. Maybe because you each lost someone important. It changed you. Shaped you. I don’t think I really noticed until tonight.”
“Well, you never were that observant.”
She laughed and downed a shot of tequila.
“You’re doing well around her.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Katherine said, her eyes twinkling. “And, anyway, you’re the one who punched my fiancé.”
“He had it coming.”
“Assuredly.”
“Do you really plan to marry him?”
Katherine shrugged. “Changes based on the day of the week.”
I heard the sadness leak into my sister’s voice, and I caught her eye. For a moment, I could see the facade she portrayed drop off of her. She was drowning. Camden was holding her under. Our parents only made it worse. She needed someone. She needed a safety net.
I reached across the table and took her hand. I was surprised she let me hold it. �
�I’m here now. You’ll never be alone again, okay?”
She nodded and glanced back to where Penn and Sutton were dancing. “I’ll be fine. I always am.”
We both knew it was a lie.
“Come on. Let’s cut in.” I tugged her out of the booth. “Pretend it’s like old times, and forget your worries for a night, Ren.”
I could barely hear her over the music, but it drifted up to me.
“Thank you.”
I’d never known how much I wanted to have my sister back until that moment. And I was only standing here in this moment because of Sutton Wright. She was turning my world upside down, and I was pretty sure she didn’t even know it.
Fourteen
Sutton
“I really am sorry about what happened when I was in Lubbock,” Penn said over the music.
“Honestly, it was for the better. Bad timing, but it got it all out there.”
“I felt so bad about it, so I got him wasted.”
I laughed unabashedly. There was something about Penn. He gave off diverging vibes. I could tell that he was a good guy, but then sometimes, I’d see his eyes slide to mine or a smile touch his lips, and I’d take it all back. I’d met guys like him in college. The ones who could charm your pants off with a glance. He was a wild card.
“It’s really fine.” I put my hands over my head and circled my hips to the beat. “Are you and Katherine…”
He raised his eyebrows. “Together?”
“Yeah. You seem compatible. Like…really easy around each other.”
“We’ve been friends since we were children,” he said and left it at that.
“Ah, like David and Holli.”
Penn frowned. “Oh, yeah, that was a tragedy.”
“It sounds like it.”
I dragged him a little deeper into the crowd. I could feel people watching him. He was that attractive. When Annie had first seen him, I’d thought she was going to faint.
“Well, are you dating anyone?”
“You interested?” he joked with a wink.
“My best friend thought you were hot,” I offered.
He laughed. “Currently unattached.”
“She’ll be glad to know that. Are you coming back to Lubbock for Jensen’s wedding next weekend?”
“I’ll be there. Are you going to play matchmaker?”
“Oh God, no,” I told him on a chuckle. “You couldn’t handle her.”
That devious smile returned. “Try me.”
For a split second, I could see that maybe even Annie would be out of her league with a guy like this.
David appeared then at my shoulder. “Mind if I cut in?”
I snapped my attention away from Penn and up into David’s smiling face, thankful in that moment that I’d snagged the one nice guy from the Upper East Side. “Please do.”
Katherine’s arm slithered around Penn’s waist and up the front of his suit. “Hello, lover.”
David drew me into him until our hips touched as we swayed to the music.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I missed you.”
“Didn’t fall prey to Penn in the meantime?”
I shook my head. “Was thinking of how lucky I was that I got you actually.”
“That is not the normal reaction to Penn Kensington.”
“Well, I see that your sister is enamored with him.”
“Always has been, but it’s one-sided.”
But, when David spun me around and pressed himself up against my ass, I let all thoughts about Penn and Katherine flutter out of my mind. His hands were on my body. His lips against the shell of my ear. Our hips moving in a rhythm I was well aware of.
We refilled my champagne glass endlessly while we danced to the pulsing of the music and soaked in the aura that encompassed New York City. I knew that I was going from tipsy to drunk to wasted when my movements became slow, and I felt like I was about to fall over at any minute, but I was having the time of my life. Penn and Katherine had disappeared deeper into the crowd. David and I had to press firmly against each other, as there was hardly any room to move.
I was hot, my heart was racing, and suddenly, I was horny as fuck.
Champagne seemed to be an aphrodisiac. Or maybe it was from being so uninhibited here with David. No responsibilities. No expectations. No rules. Just me and him.
And I really fucking liked it. I knew I’d have to go home tomorrow and settle back into the life I’d created for myself in Lubbock. But I wanted to live this night to its fullest.
My hands snaked to the back of David’s neck, and I pulled his lips down to mine. Our tongues moved against one another, touching and teasing. I wanted all of him in that moment. My core was pulsing to the tempo. My fingers skimmed the front of his pants. He groaned into my mouth.
“Maybe we should head back to the hotel,” he urged.
“Or maybe something closer,” I reasoned.
“What do you have in mind?”
I took his hand, and he followed me out of the crowd. My brain told me that I should have more care, but I threw caution to the wind. For the first time in months and months, I actually felt exhilarated…even rebellious.
I located the one empty restroom that I’d seen when we first entered the club. David looked like he was going to protest, but I stumbled inside, and he hastily followed me, locking the door behind us.
“Sutton,” he said as if he couldn’t believe we were here right now. But, at the same time, he wasn’t stopping.
I was just fucking glad that it was an individual restroom.
I reached for his waistband, unzipped his pants, and pushed them off his hips. His eyes were wide as I thrust my hand into his boxers and grasped his cock.
“We should probably—”
I cut off whatever he was about to say by sticking my tongue down his throat.
“Fuck,” he murmured as I stroked him up and down.
I pushed him back against the door, rearranged my dress, and then sank to my knees right there on the restroom floor. I tugged his boxers lower, causing his cock to jut out toward me. I glanced up at him once, waiting to see if there was an ounce of protest. But none came.
Then, I licked him from the bottom of his shaft all the way up to the head. When I dragged the flat of my tongue across the tip, he shuddered at my touch. Pre-cum glistened in the slit, and I lapped the salty taste into my mouth.
His hand fisted into my hair. “Oh fuck.”
I wrapped my mouth around the head, and then he slowly guided me all the way down. I took a breath as I moved back out. Then, I took him in fully again. My throat swallowed back the urge to gag, but I wasn’t letting a bit of him go.
With my lips wrapped around him, I started to move back and forth. Slow at first and then a little faster as I worked up a momentum. I was still pretty drunk, so having him steady me was actually better. I worked him up until his shaft was practically throbbing with the need to orgasm.
“Sutton,” he said, tapping my head, “I want to finish in you.”
But I didn’t dare move. I wanted this. I wanted him to finish in my mouth. When he realized that I wasn’t about to get up to let him fuck me, both his hands moved to my head. He seemed unable to hold back control any longer. He held my head in place and then properly fucked into the back of my throat. It only took a few measured thrusts before I felt hot cum shooting into my mouth and down my throat.
He groaned as he finished, emptying himself entirely. I waited until he was finished and then swallowed, slowly dragging my mouth back. My jaw ached a little, but his eyes gleamed with heady desire and satisfaction.
I stood back up and carefully wiped my mouth just as someone banged on the door. David seemed to wake up at the reminder of where we were and what we’d just done.
He righted his clothing and then came after me. “My turn?”
“I don’t think we have time.”
“How close are you?” he demanded.
Then, his hand was under my
dress. I wasn’t wearing underwear, and his fingers stroked into my wetness. He firmly held me in place and started to circle my clit. The feverish banging from the patrons waiting for an empty restroom only hurried our passion.
“God, I want to fuck you right now,” David said against my ear. “To feel you clenching around my cock as I thrust into you. To draw out that orgasm so completely that you’d be seeing stars for days.”
His words opened something inside me; abruptly, my orgasm rocked through me, and I went straight over the edge.
I was still panting as I quickly straightened out my dress. A line had formed when we opened the restroom door and sheepishly left. One dude gave David a high five. I laughed. I couldn’t even be bothered to be embarrassed. Maybe with less alcohol in a different place on a different night. But not tonight.
“I’m so glad we did this,” David told me.
I arched an eyebrow. “Almost had sex in the restroom?”
“Came to New York. I feel reinvigorated. I feel like this was what our relationship needed. Like we’re on the same page again.”
“It really opened my eyes. I was so blinded by the Van Pelt name and feeling betrayed that I couldn’t see past that. I’m just happy you opened yourself up to me. I know your life now as well as you know mine.”
“You’re exactly what I never knew I always wanted.”
Then, he kissed me, and the world felt so right.
Fifteen
David
I woke up before Sutton the next morning.
She was completely naked and sprawled out across the king-size bed. Her hair fanned out across a pillow, her lips slightly parted, and her breathing slow and steady. She was perfection in the early morning light.
We’d come back to the hotel and spent several hours in bed and on the balcony and in the Jacuzzi. We’d made full use of the hotel amenities, to say the least.
I was surprised to find that I wasn’t ready to go back to Lubbock. I wanted to stay in New York in our little bubble. I knew it wasn’t realistic. Sutton needed to get back to Jason, of course. And I desperately needed to return to Wright Construction. But it was nice for the time to be here like this.
My hand stroked gently down Sutton’s exposed back, feeling every curve on her lithe body. I knew them intimately. I’d explored every one with my tongue last night. I was contemplating starting all over again when her eyelids fluttered.
