by C. J. Thomas
I debated whether or not I should apologize or tell him to fuck off.
With how today went, and how he treated me like I was dirt, telling him to fuck off seemed like the more appropriate response.
9
Nash
I COULDN’T LET her leave without me.
The moment I saw her walk outside, I downed my drink and exited out the back. The woman I was talking with yelled after me, but I paid little attention. I moved swiftly through the alley, hoping that I’d catch her before she caught a cab.
She was the one I wanted. The one I laid eye on first. The same sweet sexiness that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
I straightened my shirt and ran my hand through my hair. My legs moved swiftly, and when I was about to turn a corner—Bam!—there she was, falling backwards from my brute force. My lips curled and all I could think about was how it seemed as if the universe was trying to tell me something.
She apologized before lifting her gaze to meet mine. Once she recognized who she was talking to, her lips pinched together and she narrowed her eyes.
Neither one of us said anything and time seemed to freeze.
“Look,” she cast her gaze to the ground, breaking the uncomfortable silence between us. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I did wrong. If there is—”
I pressed the pad of my finger to her lips and silenced her.
Her gorgeous, tropical green eyes widened and it wasn’t difficult for me to get lost in her beauty. My manhood swelled and twitched. Her lips were plump and were the type that stirred my imagination to awaken the dark desires I harbored—oh the possibilities with this one.
Slowly, I inched closer, closing the gap between us.
Her eyes darted across my face as she held her breath, waiting to see what I did next.
She was impossible to resist, and I knew from the moment I laid eyes on her this afternoon, that I had to have her. I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers.
She never backed away, nor did she protest. I held my mouth on hers and she closed her eyes as her mouth parted. My tongue plunged into her mouth with desperation.
She swished her velvety muscle over mine, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck as I pushed her back up against the wall.
My hands slid down her sides before coming back up and devouring her breasts. She arched her back and pressed her boobs deeper into my palms as they massaged her flesh.
The hum of car engines passed and echoed off the alley’s brick walls and she sucked me in deeper. Pedestrians walked by without a care, and God damn, she tasted so nice—a mixture between sweet candy cherry and alcohol.
She fisted my hair and curled her leg around my thigh.
I thrust my hips deep between her thighs and was painfully hard. When I pulled back, breaking our kiss, I circled my hands over her wrists and pulled her arms high above her head.
Her eyes glossed over as she sucked in her bottom lip and gave me a c’mon and fuck me look.
I tightened my hold on her wrists with one hand and made it impossible for her to wiggle free. My head dropped to her neck as I peppered kisses across her neck while I lifted her skirt with my free hand.
It didn’t take long to find her hot mound, the dampness already seeping through the thin fabric of her nearly nonexistent panties. My cock swelled against my zipper the second she moaned.
“You’re a bad girl.” I nipped at her ear.
Her teeth found bare flesh on my neck. “Yes. Yes I am.” She sank her teeth in.
I moved her panties to the side and slid my finger through her folds. She was so wet—wet and ready for my impending punishment. The pad of my thumb circled her swollen nub, and when I pressed it, her mouth rounded and she gasped.
“You want me to fuck you?”
“Yes.” She tightened her leg wrapped around my thigh.
“Say it.”
“Fuck me.”
“No.” I plunged a finger deeper into her hot cavern. “Say it like you mean it.”
My lips crashed over hers and our tongues curled over and tied a knot. She was a killer kisser. The passion she had, I wondered if this was just how she was, or if I’d brought something out of her tonight.
“I want you to fuck me hard,” she growled, fisting my hair.
My lips crashed over hers once again, and as she kissed me, I undid my belt, pulled my pants down to my knees, and freed my cock.
It ached and begged for relief.
I spun her around so her stomach faced the wall. I tore the foil wrapper open with my teeth, rolled on the rubber, hiked up her skirt, and plunged my thick girth into her dripping pussy.
She gasped at the suddenness of me driving deep inside her. Her sex clenched on my shaft and my fingers tightened their hold on her fleshy hips.
“Your. Answer. Was. Fucking. Brilliant,” I said through clenched teeth, pumping fiercely into her.
She sucked in a breath and rode the wave.
I continued punishing her with my cock.
She mewed.
I unleashed a frenzy of quick piston-like bursts.
Her mouth opened and her voice vibrated in unison with my assault.
I thrust deeper and harder. My hand reached up and hooked around her throat. The tingle at the base of my spine intensified and I needed to see her face as I came inside her. I pressed her face against the wall and forced her to look at me.
A second later, I threw my head back and worked through the most intense orgasm I’d had all week.
10
Alex
I GLANCED over my shoulder to see if he was following me.
What the fuck just happened?
My hands flattened and smoothed down my skirt. The moment they brushed over my hips, I winced. They were bruised from where he’d sunk his claws into me. My fingers worked feverishly to try to bring some kind of normalcy to my frazzled hair.
Disbelief didn’t even come close to explaining how I felt.
Nash Brooks just fucked me in an alley. Took me, claimed me as if I was his.
It was the hottest sex I’d ever had.
My shoulder brushed a couple I passed on the sidewalk. “Hey watch where you’re going,” the guy bitched at me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, hurrying along.
The walk signal flashed white the moment I hit the cross street. I scampered across the crosswalk with no real direction where I wanted to go. My head was still spinning. My sex throbbed, and the only thing certain was that I needed to call Kendra.
She wasn’t going to believe what just went down.
Hot damn, the rumors were right. Nash was seriously hung. So fucking big. I’d never been with a man like him before. The way he stretched me to painful pleasure was so incredible. The intense heat that set my insides ablaze was unlike anything I could have ever imagined.
I picked up the pace without reason.
And how he took control over the situation—he was dominant, liked things his way, and my sex was still quivering because of everything he did. He had me coming quicker than anything I’d experienced before. Wave after wave of pleasurable bliss.
I tucked my phone back inside my clutch.
Kendra and I had set rules and only called when we were both home safe and sound. If I called her now, she wouldn’t listen. No matter what it was I had to say. My story had to wait, and it was going to be a serious test of patience. There was still a lot of distance between me and my front door.
I kept looking over my shoulder, thinking he wasn’t done with me.
It didn’t matter that I saw him zip up and walk away. Because I also heard what he said. His words were seared into my brain. “This, between us, isn’t over.” He smiled and I quickly got lost in his sexy-ass dimples. “There will be more, and you should always be ready.”
And maybe that was why I was walking in the opposite direction so fast. It wasn’t because I was ashamed of what I allowed him to do. No, that was really fucking hot.
No, the reason I kept lookin
g over my shoulder was because I was in utter disbelief. It was unfathomable to think this would happen only an hour ago.
My shoulders tucked and I worked my way through a crowd standing outside the bar entrance, smoking on the street.
Nash created mystery, hope, and somehow made it fun. I liked the excitement of not knowing exactly what he was going to do next. If he’d even do anything at all. Either way, the game he’d started had definitely turned my shitty day completely around—even if it was just a onetime thing.
My feet shuffled over the concrete as I scurried beneath the street light. I heard what he said. Clear as day. He knew exactly who I was. And he liked my answer.
My lips spread across my face into the largest grin I’d had in what felt like a very long time. And just as I rounded the corner, I looked over my shoulder one last time.
He wasn’t there.
I’d just have to wait to see him tomorrow.
My toe jammed into a solid block, tripping me. I went flying through the air head over heels. Once I landed and pushed myself up off the cool pavement, I looked to see what I’d just tripped over.
What the—
I looked around, but I was the only one on this block.
Slowly, I crawled on my hands and knees until I hovered over the duffel bag. It was open and spilling bricks of hundred dollar bills out the top. Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any stranger.
A shiver shook my body.
The sound of my heartbeat thrashed in my ears.
Gently, as if the bag was going to bite, I pinched the zipper cautiously and opened the duffel bag a little bit more.
Holy shit. My eyes bugged.
There was more money inside this bag than I’d ever seen in my entire life. Voices battled inside my head about what I should do. One side told me to take it and run. Pay off my debt. Move to a new apartment. The other side screamed for me to run. This wasn’t mine. The money belonged to someone dangerous.
I looked around one last time.
The block was quiet and void of people.
My hand trembled as I zipped it back up.
Fuck me, I breathed.
My body shook uncontrollably.
Fuck it. I grabbed it and ran.
BOOK 2
On My Knees
The Hollywood Nights Series Vol. 2
CJ Thomas
11
Alex
CASH. And shit loads of it.
I looked over my left shoulder. My bedroom door was cracked. Only a little. But still too much to keep me from feeling comfortable.
I ran to shut it tight.
I bit the inside of my cheek as my fingers pinched the deadbolt. My chest rose as I inhaled a deep breath of stale bedroom air. Time seemed to slow as my fingers turned. My breath was trapped deep inside my lungs up until I heard the lock click in place—relief swept over me.
My forehead dropped to the door and I sighed.
I was home.
And I was safe.
At least for now.
My chest rose and fell as I took a couple deep breaths before finally turning around to face the reason I ran home as quickly as I could. I was hot and sweaty and still needed to kick off my flats.
My hands were still clenched tightly to the doorknob behind my back, as if subconsciously I wanted to flee. Run away from it all. Forget I’d made this really fucking bad decision.
That would be the smart choice. But now I was afraid that it was too late. I’d made my decision and it was something I had to live with. No one could know about this.
And I meant no one. Not even Kendra.
My heart pounded irregularly in my chest.
I hoped that I wouldn’t come to regret this.
My head fell back and crashed against the door in the same spot my forehead was pressed only a moment ago. I couldn’t help myself. It was impossible to resist. My eyes were glued to the pile of cash.
It was so bizarre. So many questions swirled inside my head. Not one of which I had an answer to.
Where did it come from?
Whose was it?
Why was it there?
My face dropped into the palms of my hands and I struggled to swallow down the pain in the back of my throat.
This wasn’t mine.
I should have just left it where I found it.
What was I thinking?
I rubbed my face and wondered how this could be real. There was no way. Any minute I swore cameras were going to pop out of nowhere and someone would tell me I was part of some reality TV prank. The joke was on me.
“Ha! Welcome to the big leagues, interns,” I could hear Nash Brooks’s voice saying.
My gaze fell at my clock sitting on top of my nightstand—after midnight—before falling to the floor, crumbling beneath the weight of my night. I pinched the bridge of my nose when they closed again.
And if it wasn’t an initiation prank from Nash Brooks, then it would be the police who would come knocking. Or even worse, the rightful owners of all this cash.
My eyes popped wide open.
No one knew me or where I lived, I tried to reason with myself.
No one saw me take it. Or, let’s hope there were no witnesses.
I was the only one who knew I had it. Please God, keep this between you and me.
There was no reason to worry—except I knew I wouldn’t find a wink of sleep tonight.
I pushed off the door and marched straight for my bed. Slowly, I lowered myself to the edge, letting the mattress dip beneath my weight. My fingers brushed feather-light strokes over the green bricks before I finally had the guts to pick one up.
My fingertips peeled back the wrapper and time seemed to freeze.
I counted it carefully. As the number steadily increased, my head started to float. It was $100 bills in stacks of 25. My eyes widened when I realized that I was holding $2,500 in just my right hand. All cash. And I couldn’t help but wonder, how much money was actually there?
I leaned over and pulled back the sides of the duffel.
One by one I counted the bricks inside. There seemed to be no end in sight. I kept going, digging through the pile without making a dent. I was sure the bag was bottomless.
Several minutes passed before I unloaded all of its contents, stacking each and every brick nicely on my floor.
I’d created a castle of money—100 bricks total.
I wiped my brow with the back of my shaky hand.
$250,000.
It wasn’t chump change, but the kind of money people killed for.
My breaths came out in small shallow rasps. I was scared. Really fucking scared. Like, the kind of fear that penetrated down to my bone, kind of terror. There was no denying I was in way over my head without a clue as to what to do next.
No one leaves or misplaces this kind of money.
Shit. Fuck. Holy. Fucking. Shit. I began pacing my room.
When I heard the front door open, my heart stopped.
My head spun in the direction of the bedroom door.
The air I was breathing trapped itself inside my lungs the moment my throat constricted. I held my breath and listened.
Heavy footsteps moved across the floor. I could hear a couple muffled voices through the wall. Quickly, I stuffed every last brick back inside the duffel, zipped it up, and tossed it under my bed.
The footsteps continued my way before they stopped right outside my door.
My hands trembled and my face grew hot from the lack of oxygen.
I stared and waited.
Then someone knocked.
12
Nash
I TOSSED an empty box across the stage. “Fuck!”
My hands rooted firmly into my hips as I fought to catch my breath. I’d torn the place apart. And all for what? Chasing a hidden and lost treasure I wasn’t even sure existed?
Fuckin’ Wes.
He was the one to blame. He’d planted these thoughts in my head and led me to believe it would b
e here, somewhere on my movie set.
I should’ve known better.
It was probably his way of getting back at me for something I wasn’t even aware I’d done. He was like that—ensuring we all knew who the big man on campus was.
All night, it was all I could think about. Well, besides what I did to my intern in the alleyway.
I bit my bottom lip and chuckled.
God. She was so fucking tight. The moment I slid my girth into her hotness, I knew that it wouldn’t be my last conquest. There was so much potential. Her height, size, and roundness left every last possibility on the table for me to have. And after experiencing that little taste of what could be, I couldn’t wait to explore every inch of her and make it clear she was mine.
My thoughts slowly drifted back to my conversation with Wes. The money was real. He wouldn’t just call me up, out of the blue, if it wasn’t.
What he did to Blake Stone left ripples across town. For the most part, the overwhelming majority were happy for Wes to take him on. Fight him for what he was doing to our industry. Yet, hidden behind all the praise, there were a handful of people who now swore themselves as Wes’s enemies.
Blake Stone would get what he deserved. I was sure of it. But I sure as shit hoped that Wes wouldn’t get what some thought he deserved.
As for me, I just wanted to stay out of the drama.
My mind was set on finding that money. I’d heard enough—through trusted sources like Julia Mabel—to believe that not all the money the DEA suspected Blake of making was accounted for. No one knew exactly how much was missing, but it was thought to be somewhere in the hundreds of thousands—the kind of treasure worth hunting for.
I let my eyes drift across the set.
It had to be here, hidden somewhere among all the clutter.
“What the hell happened here?” Ted’s voice echoed off the walls behind me.
I turned around and found him alone. He walked slowly toward me with his hands in his pockets, scanning the floor I’d just made a mess of.
I moved across the room and joined him.
It was a war zone after my tirade. He probably thought I was drinking and had a moment of self-doubt. It had happened before on a movie I had been filming, but not for a while. And wasn’t that something that happened to all creative types? Losing their cool when thinking what they created wasn’t good enough?
