Destructive Luxe_A Luxe Novel Book 2

by H. Q. Frost

  I want to kiss her and say fuck the Halloween party, but she pulls her eyes from me and she's smiling again.

  "Looks cool."

  I put my hand up for a high-five. "Best zombie team."

  She weakly slaps my hand, but her cute giggle makes up for it.

  On their way to the parking garage, Lilith occasionally glanced around for Ian, but he wasn't waiting around any corners like a crazed, stalking fiancé.

  Justin approached the motorcycle and she stared at it with eyebrows raised.

  "You want me to sit here?" The small seat meant for a passenger was a joke.

  "You want to take your car, princess?" He looked her over. "Zombie Princess."

  "No."

  Unlocking the helmet, he handed it over.

  "You always ride with an extra helmet?"

  "Most of the time." The smirk on his face told her exactly why.

  "Gross. We'll have to get me my own helmet," she mumbled and he smiled, liking the insinuation she'd ride with him again.

  "Chin up." He buckled the helmet then put his backpack on her back, tightening the straps. "You wear this."

  "Please don't let me fall off."

  "I promise you, you won't fall off." He laughed, folding down her pegs before he got on and looked at her over his shoulder.

  After another minute of staring at the seat, she hesitantly kicked her leg over. "This seat is small."

  The visual of her thick, pert ass consumed his thoughts briefly.

  "If you're too uncomfortable, El, we'll drive."

  "No, I want to try it." She pushed the faceplate down, but immediately pushed it back up. "Oh, and I wouldn't be able to bite you with my helmet on."

  He let out a laugh. "We'll say you pulled it off." The rumble of the motorcycle made her arms fly around his waist and her thighs clamp his sides. "You okay?" he called to her; she nodded.

  When he eased out of the structure into traffic she tensed up. Hoping it'd offer her comfort, he reached back and placed his hand on her thigh, feeling her tight grip loosen.

  They sat in traffic and he flipped his faceplate up. "You okay?"

  She flipped up her plate. "Yes."

  "You feel like you're gonna fall off?"

  "Yes."

  He laughed, rubbing her thigh. "I'll buy a bike that accommodates two." He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her until she pushed his faceplate down, making his grin widen.

  After parking, he reached behind him and took her hand so she could get off. She wiggled her numb legs, pulling the helmet off. Putting her fingers into her hair, she jostled her curls.

  He pulled his helmet off. "Was it awful?"

  "No, it was fun, but what's this?" She pointed to the handbrake.

  "Brake," he answered and her eyes widened thinking about how he kept his hand on her thigh instead of the brake.

  "Shouldn't you have used that?"

  He started to laugh. "Overrated." With his thumb he fixed her smeared eye makeup. "Did my track mark last?" He looked down at his shirt.

  "Could use a touch up."

  "There's a bathroom right around this door."

  She followed him through the back entrance and into the men's bathroom that he locked behind them. Unzipping the backpack, Justin handed her the black eyeliner and leaned in.

  "Blood?" she asked looking at the bag. "Or did you want me to punch you in the nose?"

  "Yeah, I do. I like a more realistic approach." He grinned and pulled the blood from the bag. In the mirror he reexamined his neck wound. "Put blood on that."

  Lilith pooled blood under his nostrils and while she waited for it to dry she put her fingers in his hair, doing something similar she did to her own.

  He chuckled. "Good?"

  With a shake of her head she grabbed the blood, cringed, then poured some into her mouth. When her mouth opened, she let the latex tasting liquid drool out into the sink.

  "Wait." Unintentionally, he grabbed her gauzed arm wanting to fix her makeup. With a squeak and a wince she pulled away, tucking her arm into her body, squatting from the burning pain. "Oh fuck, El, I'm sorry." He kneeled in front of her. "I completely forgot. I'm so fucking sorry." He pushed her hair from her face and saw tears glistening in her eyes. "Fuck, gorgeous, I'm sorry." Putting his arms around her, he held her until she stood. "You hate me?"

  Lilith smirked and sniffled while she took her coat off. "You didn't do it intentionally." Lifting her arm, she checked the gauze for blood.

  Realizing what she was checking for, he said, "Let me see," and softly placed his hands on her arm, looking her in the eyes. "Okay?" He began to unwrap the gauze, still maintaining eye contact.

  "Just be careful, please." She tried to subdue the painful look on her face but she was scared one of the butterfly bandages may have come undone and split the skin again.

  The gauze unraveled without sticking and when he saw the actual wound he blurted, "Holy shit, Zombie Princess, what'd you do?"

  Angry purple and red slashes were held together with bandages.

  "I cut it."

  "Fuck. Right, but on what? That needs stitches, beautiful."

  "It's fine. Let's wrap it. The air's hurting it."

  He attentively wrapped the gauze. "You okay? I'm really sorry about that."

  "I'm fine." She offered her genuine, sweet smile and he ran his thumb over her bottom lip.

  She pulled away and blew her nose before leaning over the sink and spitting out the remnants of the fake blood.

  "We're gonna win best costume." He grinned confidently.

  "All with outfits thrown together in an hour." Her smile was back and she took his arm.

  They stopped in his office to dump their coats and she observed his quaint space and smirked upon seeing signed and framed records from The Ramones, Black Flag, and Deftones on the wall. On his desk was a slew of paperwork, but he had Star Wars figures and a Bride of Frankenstein bobble head in one corner. He put the backpack on his chair, then his coat and her jacket over the back before looking at her.

  "Drink, ZP?" he asked with a grin.

  "ZP?"

  "Zombie Princess." He took her hand and locked his office behind them.

  Their fingers linked and they headed into a room full of people dressed for the festivities, but Justin kept his head down as he made his way to the bar.

  LILITH's caught in filigree

  This night will either be fun or a mess of awkward conversations and uncomfortable situations. The first thing I notice is Justin's avoiding people and I can't help but wonder if it's because I'm with him. He hasn't made an attempt to let go of my hand, but he's acting like he's really focused on getting me a drink.

  A really attractive blonde approaches and says, "There you are." She reminds me of Tash from Luxe.

  "Pam." He smiles at her. "This is El. El, this is Pam. She's my secretary."

  The slutty cat secretary, but she's not a slutty cat, she's a naughty nurse and my side boob and cleavage are nowhere near as inappropriate as her dress.

  "Oh! You're his girlfriend!" The huge smile on her face seems real, but of course I wonder why the hell Justin's not dating her.

  "Hi." Nervousness is battling in my chest and stomach but I politely smile.

  "Hi. Oh my god, Mr. Borg talks about you a lot."

  Mr. Borg is Paul, not Justin, so this is a bit awkward.

  "Oh?" I cock my eyebrow still smiling sweetly. "I hope it's good and he's not worried about his son." I glance at Justin.

  "He's not as personal about my private life as I am." Justin's smile shows his discontent that his father has apparently been blabbing he has a girlfriend…which he doesn't really have. God, I hope she doesn't know I'm an escort.

  "He has only said good things, I promise. You guys look awesome. Zombies?" She's still smiling.

  "All put together in under an hour." Justin grins. "Look." He proudly flaunts the mark I made on his neck and I inwardly wince because I made him bleed.

  "How cool. Yo
u guys are going to enter, right? Mark and his wife are zombies, but not as cool as this. You guys look like real zombies." She laughs and I smile looking at Justin whose laughing at her.

  "Run into a lot of real zombies, Pam?"

  Rolling her eyes she shoves him.

  "Know how I died?" This boyish grin on his face is making me wish we were somewhere more secluded, but it's better we're not. We're just friends; he's my client and I need to remember that.

  "Looks like you were run over?" She points to the tire mark. "But!" She starts to laugh, getting excited to unravel our zombie story. "It's because she bit you!"

  "This is why Pamela's my secretary. My dad's secretary is brain dead." He grins.

  "I was hired for my ZSI skills." She's glaring at him with a huge grin, waiting for him to get it, but he's looking at her like she's an airhead.

  "Zombie Scene Investigation," I say.

  "El knows!" she squawks with jubilant laughter. "I didn't choose him as my boss," she playfully mutters. "Apparently he hasn't found any brains yet."

  I laugh again and he gives me a smartass grin.

  "So tell me more of your backstory," she encourages.

  "I was taking her to the hospital for her bite wound." He gestures to my arm but doesn't touch it. "And she bit me on the way."

  "After I pulled my helmet off," I add.

  He's laughing and says, "Yes, after she took her helmet off." His playfulness with his secretary puts me at ease in what would normally be an awkward situation for me.

  "And how were you bitten, El?" Pam asks me and I smirk.

  "Hmm." I look at Justin. "We need to write the prequel."

  "She's actually patient zero," Justin says. "She was an apiarist and her mutant Honeybees attacked."

  I'm laughing so hard I'm almost in tears. Our ridiculous zombie story could make one of the worst zombie movies ever.

  "An apiarist? Is that a bee person?" Pam laughs.

  "Yes, Pamela." He laughs at her. "A beekeeper."

  "You guys are too cute." She giggles and he winks at me.

  "We got this in the bag," he says to her. "What's the drink this year?"

  "Oh! I made witches brew."

  "Alcoholic?"

  "Of course."

  I accept a cup of black punch with floating eyeball ice cubes and grin, but Justin declines.

  "Oh, come on!" Pam whines in an encouraging way.

  "We're riding," he explains.

  She starts to laugh again. "Oh my god, that's so funny!"

  She strikes me as the type to laugh about everything, but she's really very nice.

  "If you want to drink we could catch cabs." I didn't even think about him not drinking.

  "I don't want to make you get a cab alone back to your place. I'm taking you out tonight. I'd like to know I returned you where I got you from." He smiles at me all gentleman like.

  "Then you can return with me," I say, not actually registering what it means, but he doesn't say anything suggestive or even seem fazed by my comment.

  He takes the drink from Pam and takes a sip. "This is rank. You don't have to drink this," he quietly says to me and I laugh. It is gross, but I force it down.

  "Justin," I hear a familiar voice and we turn to face Paul Borg. "You came." He actually looks happy to see me.

  "Hi." I smile and carefully hug him, not to get anything on his suit.

  He looks at me again and now his delight has turned to confusion. He brings his gaze to Justin as his confusion turns to anger.

  Justin leans in to his dad. "No charge," I hear him whisper and Paul jerks his head to look at me. His jowls bounce with the jerk and I'm smiling like I didn't hear Justin.

  "What're you two? Dead?" he asks and I laugh.

  "Uh, yeah." Justin's laughing at him a little more discreetly than he did Pam.

  It's horrible to say, but when he's patronizingly laughing at someone, the man's adorable.

  "We're zombies, Dad."

  "Kids and zombie trash. You know they have a group of people who dress in this." He's waving his hand, gesturing to Justin's clothes but can't think of the words. "Garb," he finally spits out. "And they walk around the city."

  "It's a zombie walk. They call it Zombie March," Justin says.

  "It's not even during Halloween!" Paul sounds appalled.

  "That sounds fun." I grin at Justin and he smiles.

  "We'll do it. It's not till June."

  "A reason to be a zombie princess twice a year." I laugh.

  "I definitely wouldn't mind." He puts his hand to his neck wound and I feel my face heat up.

  "I don't think we should have a band tonight," Paul says like he hasn't heard a word we said.

  "Too bad, Dad. Already booked and paid for." He reaches out, pulling me a little closer like he's trying to protect me from something.

  I have a feeling this is where the fun turns into the part I was dreading.

  Lilith put her arm to his back and looked around, observing the other costumes. He introduced her to a few people and Paul introduced her to even more as Justin's girlfriend.

  "So." Justin pulled her closer and leaned into her ear. "The band that's playing is my ex's and she owes me some money so she's playing tonight to pay it back. My dad usually books a local band, but I figured she owes me money she won't pay me, so I can get them to play for free."

  That answered her concerns that started gnawing at her when Justin's grip became protectively possessive.

  "Is she going to be upset I'm here with you?"

  "She might try to be, but don't worry about it. I won't even let her talk to you."

  "Sounds like you have a lot to tell me."

  "I thought I was only supposed to talk about what I wanted to?" He grinned at her.

  "That's on the paid for nights," she whispered.

  Keeping a firm grin, he teased, "I don't really talk to my friends about my personal life."

  "I thought this became a date when I was introduced as your girlfriend?" Her smirk made him chuckle.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of commotion by the entrance of the room, tugging Lilith just a little closer. "Just hang by me, okay?"

  She looked up at him and smiled politely, nodding, not sure what to prepare herself for. Guitar amps were wheeled past, then two people carried a drum kit in. Justin kept his hand firmly around her hip and she turned into him, hoping maybe his ex wouldn't confront them.

  Watching his eyes bounce around the room like he was looking for her, Lilith said, "Maybe you should have done this solo."

  "For your sake, but trust me, you're doing me a huge favor—"

  She interrupted him with a snicker and said, "Oh," while stepping away from him. "I'm here as a favor." A forced smile hid how much that actually offended her.

  "So it's a favor any other time? The times I pay? But tonight you're actually taking this to heart?" he challenged with a cocked eyebrow.

  She softly responded, "I wanted to spend time with you."

  "Me too. That's why I pay ten thousand dollars a date to see you. Let me remind you, you're not paying me."

  "And you're not paying me tonight. All I'm saying is I wish I would have known tonight was a favor because of your ex instead of..." Her words lingered to a stop.

  "Of?" he prodded.

  "Justin," a female called his name and he jerked his head. "Can I get some help?" the woman snidely asked.

  Lilith didn't bother to look; the tone was bitchy and she assumed it was the ex. He looked Lilith in the eyes and she smiled, but annoyance was there.

  "You want to come?"

  "No," she said dryly. "I'm fine. Go."

  Justin exhaled knowing he upset her, but she was all wrong about the favor aspect.

  He hurried away and Paul Borg approached her. "Jacks makes you hand out freebies at times?" he asked, firmly holding a drink in his hand and tipsily rocking to his toes.

  Lilith looked at him, not understanding. "Freebies?"

  "Free
dates. Keep the good paying customers happy."

  That comment pushed her a little further into ire.

  With a brash grin she replied, "No. I opted to decline a paid for date so I could get to know Justin. My job is my job, but I am a normal person outside of escorting. I like making friends. I breathe the same air as the rest of the world. Ian Jacks doesn't keep us in a secret dungeon hooked up to oxygen tanks until we're booked for a date."

  Her brazen response didn't faze him, he only focused on one thing that he got out of what she was saying. "You're looking to date him?" He looked down his nose at her.

  "I'm dating him already," she quietly replied with a smile. "That's what you've been paying for."

  "He doesn't need any troublesome girls."

  With her fake smile set, she kept her cool. "That's very accusatory of you, Mr. Borg."

  "Now I'm not saying that's you, but I know your type of girl. You're a very attractive woman and what you do for a living is because you like it. My son's a frail heart and he's already had one woman bleed him dry. If you're looking for money I—"

  Lilith put her hand on his chest, stopping him. "If I were looking for money, tonight would have been a paid for date. I assure you I want nothing more than your son's company tonight." Fuming inside, she managed to hold a polite smile. "I'm not going to hurt your son."

  "Hurt who?" Justin approached.

  "Stock market," Paul blurted.

  "Hi, Paul!" A petite, longhaired, platinum blonde with black and red streaks waved, running up to kiss him.

  Bothered by the gesture, Paul fumbled with words while stepping out of her grasp. Lilith looked her over. She had tattoos on both her upper arms and exposed back. Either she was dressed as an outrageous rock star for Halloween, or that was her. She smiled wickedly at Paul who turned on his heel and walked away. The blonde looked at Justin and cattily giggled, then shot Lilith an icy glance before walking away.

  "That wasn't uncomfortable," Lilith muttered with the help of liquid courage from the three drinks she'd already had.

  "I'm sorry." Justin touched her arm. "You don't want to meet her, trust me."

  "Yeah, I don't." She rolled her eyes, still scorned from being his favor.

  Within twenty minutes the lights dimmed and the band was taking their spots at the head of the room. People were quieting down and many glances shot Justin's way. Lilith wondered what the ex did in the band until she grabbed the microphone. Lilith sighed; of course she was the singer.