“What?”
“I said does your dad still like boats? That’s one of his hobbies, right?”
Elizabeth visibly relaxed. A tad.
“Oh. Yeah, sure. That’s right. He loves them.”
“Great. Wonderful. Glad to hear it.”
Lena checked her phone a second time, immensely relieved. Sweet escape. Thank God.
“Well, listen. As much as I would love to stay and chat, I have some clients meeting me here tonight. You don’t mind do you, Elizabeth? Ty, I’ll see you in a few. I wanted to ask you a question. About that thing.”
“What thing?”
Now Ty looked puzzled.
“You know that thing we were talking about earlier?”
She glared at him pointedly. Feeling Elizabeth’s eyes practically bore a hole in her back. Lena turned, phony smile back in place. She was indeed giving them both a completely quizzical frown.
“Yeah. Sure.” He wasn’t really. But he knew better than to say anything else. She was probably going to have him killed for real this time, after the shit he pulled with Danny.
Lena never took kindly to anyone making her admit she was human, and actually had feelings. But the look on her face when he did it was so worth any ass kicking coming his way.
Elizabeth didn’t look like she was taking kindly to being dismissed.
“I understand Lena. You must really need the extra money with all this added responsibility. If you people just borrowed what you could afford, it probably wouldn’t be so hard on you. Then you could give up the welfare checks for good and try to get a real job. Wouldn’t you like to stop getting government handouts for once?”
Lena chuckled. Giving Elizabeth an award winning smile.
Coming to the conclusion that a machete would indeed do the job quite nicely.
“Of course not. Hand-outs are what I live for. Or, so I’ve been told.”
Elizabeth blinked at her as Lena grabbed her drink, preparing to leave.
“Oh, and before I forget, please tell your sister and brother I said hi, and congrats on the wedding.”
“What wedding?”
“Oops. My mistake. Must have been someone else’s sister and brother getting married. To each other.”
“Sure. Right.” She didn’t look entirely convinced, but Elizabeth grabbed her expensive, yet incredibly tacky purse to walk over to the lounge.
“Have Danny come find me when he gets back. And just think of what I said as constructive criticism, Lena. It’s nothing personal.”
She gave Lena a snide smile.
Barely acknowledging Ty as she walked away. He gave her the finger as she passed. The two of them hated each other with a passion neither even tried to deny.
She headed over to speak with Danny’s bodyguard. Her greeting just a shade too familiar for Lena’s taste.
None of her business though.
Not her woman. Not her man. Especially not her man.
Most certainly, not her headache.
For a moment, though. Just for a moment.
She was wistful.
“You know,” Ty said thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t fuck that bitch with someone else’s dick. I don’t know how Danny can hit that every night. I heard she got passed around like a joint on inmate appreciation day.”
Lena bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at him. It would only encourage his asinine, often hysterically accurate, behavior.
“However he does it or doesn’t do it, ain’t none of my business. I don’t have time.”
Ty rolled his eyes. “Right. Whatever you say.”
“This is me. Ignoring your disbelief. And unasked for sarcasm. I really do have to see some clients. But you. Stay here. Don’t move. We need to talk.”
She jabbed him on the side of his cheek. Emphasizing each word.
“Damn…I said ok. It’s on the calm down.” He ordered another vodka tonic.
“And ease up on the drinks, dude. I haven’t seen you pay for glass one. You know I’m trying to get off those government hand-outs. So can you please let me earn my forty acres and a mule?”
She didn’t wait for him to reply, rushing over to greet several professional basketball players she was wining and dining. She looked over, pointing to him one more time for emphasis to stay.
Ty scowled after her, then grinned.
Cheap ass.
Bossy as hell too.
It was more than a little sexy.
He wouldn’t be opposed to shoving his cock deeply inside her at that very moment. He felt himself getting rock hard thinking about just how wet…warm…ridiculously tight…
Holy shit.
Her pussy would slide around him like a damn glove.
He murmured a very soft, “Fuck,” under his breath.
Trying to focus on something else.
Jesus. He needed another drink. He tapped the bar for Dion, who frowned at him. At Ty’s pained expression, he complied without protest.
Danny approached just then. He seemed sullen. Withdrawn. Angry.
He didn’t speak. Ordering another drink as well.
They sat. Not speaking together for a few minutes.
Tyler broke the silence.
“She’s over there. In case you were wondering.”
“Who?”
“Why, your wife, of course.” Ty gave a self-satisfied smirk. “Who else could you possibly be pining for in that pretty little head of yours, Daniel?”
Danny ignored him.
Ty nodded his head in Elizabeth’s direction.
“She fucking him?”
Danny glanced over. Watching her lean in close to his bodyguard, Remy. She caressed his arm in a way that looked entirely too intimate.
Remy didn’t look like he minded, either.
Danny didn’t look like he gave a tremendous fuck, one way or the other.
“I don’t know. Probably.”
He downed his scotch and soda in one mouthful, without turning around.
“Why do you care?”
“Oh, believe me, I don’t. But you should.”
Ty watched Lena talking to one of her clients. He turned, seeing Danny watch her too. He realized Tyler saw him, and quickly looked away.
“Oh, really. Why is that?”
Danny’s laugh was brittle and forced.
“Because she’s making an ass out of you, and living off your money while doing it. And what the fuck for? Out of some misbegotten sense of loyalty? Dude, she’s a straight up whore, who will fuck anything with two legs.”
Danny snorted.
“So are you. Yet, we remain friends.”
Ty refused to take offense.
The truth was the light.
“Maybe so, but I’m not your wife. Your wife would be the one practically on her knees, sucking Remy’s dick. And doesn’t seem to care if you know.”
Ty detested Elizabeth. To him, she would never be anything but a money grubbing, gold digging bitch.
Her sights set on Danny from day one. The fact that she was smart enough to get in at the ground level when they had nothing, meant little to him.
He was almost uncanny with his accuracy. Usually spotting a fake or a phony from a mile away. He thought Danny could too. Apparently, he suspended all suspicion where she was concerned, out of some sense of guilt or obligation.
Or whatever.
Something was going on there.
He just didn’t know what.
“Watch how you speak about her. She’s still my wife.”
Danny held up his glass for a refill.
“Oh come on. Don’t act like you care now. You don’t need to put on a front for me. We both know you were never in love with her in the first place. For some reason, known only to you, God and possibly the Devil, you married her anyway.”
Danny’s lips pressed into a thin line.
Continuing his silence.
“The fuck she got on you, baby? She know where the bodies are buried, or some shit like tha
t?”
He laughed, amused at himself.
“Leave it alone, Ty. Don’t look for what’s not there.”
Ty grinned, looking sly.
“Struck a nerve?”
Danny didn’t answer.
Naturally, Ty never could leave well enough alone.
“Maybe you could tell me where she keeps your balls, because mine have been feeling heavy lately and-”
Before he could move, Danny had him up against the bar. Knocking his glass to the floor. Ty continued smiling. Ignoring Danny’s arm. Currently wedged across his throat.
“I’m asking you nicely. Leave. It. Alone.”
“And I’m asking you nicely. When are you going to finally kick that bitch to the curb and go after what you really want? You know, if you keep waiting, somebody just might beat you to it.”
“Danny, oh my god- What are you doing?”
Lena rushed up, grabbing his arm.
“Jesus, what is wrong with you? Get off of him. Now.”
Danny eyes refocused as his vision cleared.
He went to that place only Ty…and maybe Elizabeth could take him. The hazy, red fog dissipated. He realized the sound he heard was his own breathing. Harsh and irregular.
He let Ty go, shoving him back onto the barstool. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to relax. His breathing finally returned to normal.
He looked down where her hand was.
Still on his bare arm. She followed his gaze.
Danny watched her throat convulse and swallow, as she snatched it away. He smiled. Mocking, bitter.
“So sorry I repulse you.” Muttering under his breath.
She heard him anyway.
He could tell by the way her body tensed. Then went on as if nothing was wrong.
“Clearly you guys can no longer be trusted to play together unsupervised. Do I even need to ask what happened?”
“Oh, you know us. Party and bullshit. Like we always do. Right Danny?” Ty sounded amused.
Danny knocked back another scotch and soda.
Gripping the glass. He stared at it.
His gaze twin daggers of muted rage.
“Yeah. That’s us. Party and bullshit.”
Lena looked unconvinced, but realized she wasn’t getting anything out of either one of them.
“Both of y’all are lying through your damn teeth. But whatever.”
She frowned at Ty. She knew whatever it was, he started it.
“Why can’t you act like you’re not twelve, for like, once? Can you do that? I don’t have time for your fuckery.”
She looked at Danny. “Or yours.”
She meant that on many levels.
“I think, maybe, you’ve had enough for the evening. Don’t you?” Her tone was somewhat gentler with him. Ty glared at them both. Petulantly.
“Oh, I’m good. Superb. But thanks for caring.”
Danny sounded sarcastic and defensive.
Lena knew that tone. It meant he wanted to be left alone.
Ty rolled his eyes.
“Danny knows I’m just fucking with him. Right, D?”
Danny ignored him, and didn’t answer.
This was becoming a habit Ty did not much like.
Superior motherfucker. Always so damned above it all.
He watched Lena. Who continued to watch Danny.
Danny watched the ice melt in his glass.
Refusing to look at either of them.
Ty decided it was time to break up the monotony.
Time to practice a little of what he preached.
Chapter 6
Mostly because if he watched Lena throw another glance Danny’s way, Ty was going to explode. And throw him more than a damn glance. Like a fist to his throat.
Rewind and press play, Malone.
The game wasn’t over just yet.
“So how’d your meeting go?”
He pulled Lena back in between his legs, rubbing her shoulders. Paying particular attention to the spot on her neck she loved.
“Good, I guess. I’m glad I got to them first. Some other agency’s been sniffing around, but I think we got them. And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. We still need to talk.”
Lena tilted her head up.
Subconsciously leaning back into his chest.
Still staring at Danny. Who continued staring at his glass.
He seemed lost in thought.
“I’m not doing anything. Just trying to help you relax, baby. Shut up and enjoy it. You’re all tight and shit. You need to wind down.”
He continued rubbing her shoulders. Letting his hands massage the chords of tense muscle under his fingertips.
“I think you were right to get in early, too. Don’t you think so, D?”
Danny felt the pleasant numbness of alcohol set in. Barely hearing him. In about ten minutes, he wouldn’t feel a blessed thing. The constant, gnawing ache would finally give him some relief. If just for a moment.
Sometimes, God was kind.
“Hey, Blake.”
Louder, this time.
Danny didn’t look up from his glass.
“What, Ty.”
“I said Lena was right to get to those clients early. Don’t you think? I think when you see a good thing and you don’t jump on it, you run the risk of someone else beating you to it. Am I right?”
Ty was playing a perilous game, taunting Danny like this.
Kind of like approaching a tiger at the zoo.
With no protective glass.
Not impossible.
Just dangerously stupid.
“I would hate if someone came through, taking something I thought was mine. Wouldn’t you?”
Dangerous, but more fun than he’d had in a long time.
They would both pay him back at some point.
Fuck it. You only live once.
“Let me show you what I mean.”
His hands dropped to Lena’s waist. Tightening and pulling her further back onto his lap. Before she could respond, he bent down. Placing a kiss on her bare shoulder.
Lena blinked up at him.
With a What. The. Fuck. expression.
Ty’s gaze was absolutely wicked as he looked at her.
Giving one big, salacious, wink.
“Like microphones, for example. Lena says she likes them...big. The microphones, I mean. You know, for when she sings. I say she needs to check out more than one brand. So she can decide which one suits her best.”
She glared at him, looking murderous.
He willed her to follow his lead. She’d thank him later.
And if not…too late to back out now.
“Now those salesman, they can be tricky little bastards, you know. Always trying to sell you the most expensive item on the floor. Not considering personal preference or what feels the best on…I mean…against your lips. It’s funny to watch them trip over themselves. Trying to outdo the other. Hoping they’re the one to finally close the deal.”
He finished the last of his vodka tonic.
Smiling at Danny directly.
Looking completely innocent.
“But ultimately, most people already know what they want, in my opinion. They might think they’re confused or unsure, but deep down, they know. Sometimes they just need some persuasion. What about you, Blake? What’s your preference?”
Lena knew something else was going on between the two of them. She’d be a complete idiot not to.
Reese would argue she was damn near close, regardless.
She made a mental note to slap her later.
In either case, it made no sense wasting time worrying about it now. Both of them were going to be completely tight-lipped.
Besides. Right now, she felt all of the day’s stress falling off her in waves. It honestly felt too good to care about anything else.
When Ty’s lips touched her flesh, she felt a new tension enter the air. Her body told her more than she ever thought she wanted to know about
him, and what his lips on her skin felt like.
Danny raised his eyes to look at Ty’s. Slowly glancing down and meeting Lena’s. She watched intently, as he took in everything.
How close Ty was behind her. Where his hands were on her waist. How he sat. How she allowed herself to be practically on his lap. He swallowed hard.
Ty undid Lena’s hair from the loose knot it was in. Danny watched it fall. A jumble of wild curls around her shoulders.
Ty massaged her scalp. His hands grazing the delicate curve of her neck. Lena contemplated why any of this was turning her on. This was Ty of all people. He touched her all the time. Tonight felt different, somehow.
Like you never thought about him that way.
Her inner voice was smug. Triumphant.
Lena told her to shut the fuck up.
Without warning, her whole body enveloped her with heat. She involuntarily pressed her thighs together, a familiar wetness pooling between her legs. She was torn between wanting to throttle Ty, and being completely ready to come apart at the seams.
The air was thick. Sexually charged.
You could cut it with a knife.
“I wasn’t aware you were singing now, L.”
Danny sounded hoarse. Barely above a whisper.
She heard him anyway.
“I’m n-not. Not really. Just working on some stuff in my spare time.”
She stammered, biting back an oath. Ty’s fingers applied more pressure to the tight spot in her neck.
“So. Do you?”
Danny’s gaze lowered to her thighs. Still tightly closed.
The slit in her already illegally short skirt exposed caramel, satiny, honey kissed skin. Covered with the barest sheen of sweat.
“Do I what?”
Lena slapped Ty’s hand away. Concentrating on Danny’s question. He ignored her. Deliberately trailing his fingers down her back. Fuck.
His fingers were magical little beings of light.
“Like large…microphones?”
“Y-Y-Yes. Fuck Ty. Right there.”
Lena’s voice lowered, becoming husky.
She emitted a small moan.
“Yes, what?”
He whispered in her ear. Sucking her lobe into his mouth.
She gasped, feeling pure sensation hit.
Nipples tightening and hardening.
Give and Receive: Books 1, 2, 3: An Interracial Menage Rock Star Romantic Series Page 4
