by LC Lehesaho
This guy is unbelievable. I'm about to say no to him, but then I remember Puma's words that I need to do something to draw the attention away from Tiger. Call me a heartless bitch, but Luke just served himself on a silver platter.
"You don't have any idea who I am, do you, Luke?" I ask him, tilting my head.
"I know your drinking manners are hideous, and you're kinda grumpy, but I find you adorable, so I want to get to know you." He flashes me a smile. "After tonight, I will know who you are, so please?"
"I'm far from adorable, but fine. I'll text you my address, don't chicken out when you come." I warn him, but he just cocks an eyebrow at me.
"I'd never chicken out on you."
"Well, let's see about that. At five, don't be late, boy." At that, I put my headphones back on and ignore him. From the corner of my eye, I see him shaking his head with a smile before he leaves.
This might be a fuck up, but I least I'm going to try. Puma better be proud of me.
"What do you mean they didn't know who it was?" Puma stares at Wolf and blows out smoke. "Romero knows everyone, dude is like ancient."
"No one knows who is behind the cargo. Just like Dad said, Leone doesn't know either. It's a ghost. The only ones who would know are dead." Wolf walks beside the window and leans his back to the wall and folds his hands. "Havoc is asking around, and he will get back to us at the end of the week. Leone is trying to find information about Snow's books, but I bet he won't find anything there."
Romero is the Pronto Muerte, the man is probably in his late fifties, and he's been around since before Leo. He was a business associate with Leo's sperm donor, aka his father, and if Romero doesn't know, no one does. It means only one thing.
We have a shitload of work to do.
If someone is trying to sneak and bribe their way into this city, we have to find them and kindly inform them that that’s not okay.
"There is also something else," Wolf says. "Cops have nothing on the arsonist, but the animal skull which was left in front of the burned club suggests that it was personal."
The room goes quiet.
"A what?" Bear asks, stunned for once in his life.
"Dad is at the station right now, figuring it out, but it appears to be a wolf's skull. We need to keep our eyes open."
"Well, fuck me. What about Wong's men?" Falcon asks from the couch.
I keep quiet because I have enough work just sitting next to Tiger. I know I should be listening and participating in the conversation, but I can't. When I'm close to him, the pain is ten thousand times worse. I miss him so much, even though he is right next to me. Still, it feels like he is in a different universe.
"I'm sensing some kind of an ask around." Bear grins from the armchair and stretches his hands behind his neck, bulging his muscles. "I'm going out with Rose, so my suggestion is that we play dress up and go drop in for a visit after dark."
"That's what I had in mind." Wolf nods to agree.
Oh, shit. The fucking date. I clear my throat, trying to keep myself calm. "What time exactly are we talking about?"
Everyone turns to look at me. I keep my eyes on Wolf and hope I look normal. He raises an eyebrow. "Nine p.m. Are you going somewhere?"
"Uh… yeah, but I'll be back in time." I get up, without looking at anyone, but I feel their eyes on my back. Trying not to run out of the room, I walk toward the door.
"Cobra, where exactly are you going?" Wolf asks, and I know he won't stop until he knows my location. He tracks us down like it's going to save our life.
"Out. An amusement park. I'll be back in time."
At that, I rush out the door and almost run to the stairs to get up to my apartment. I’m breaking out in a cold sweat and it’s running down my spine, I can't help it. I know I should let them know because that's what Puma wants and that’s the whole point, but I don't want...
"Cobra."
...Tiger to know. I stop at his voice, almost on the door of my apartment. Shit.
Slowly, I turn around to look at him as he walks up the stairs toward me. His black hoodie hugs his broad shoulders, and his gray sweatpants look just like gray sweatpants are supposed to look on a guy—sexy as fuck. His hair is tousled and looks like he's been running his fingers through it, multiple times.
All I want to do is hug him and never let go. What kind of a fucking idiot am I?
"Hmph?" I can't speak. My tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth, and my throat is as dry as the fucking Sahara desert.
"With who?" His dark eyes are piercing through my soul, and I feel as naked as the day I was born. Emotionally and physically.
"Uh…" I tear my eyes away from him and look at the floor instead. He can't catch me if I run to my apartment. Can he? Yeah, he's way faster than me. I really, really don't want to answer. "I need to go, or I'm going to be late."
I turn around, feeling like my entire body is ready to explode, but when I open my door and step inside, he catches me. My world spins around, and I feel his hand on my throat, and the door behind him slams closed.
15
Cobra's hands cling to my arm as I hold her against the wall in her apartment's hallway. Her breath catches from my hold, just the way I want it to.
"I asked you a question, baby girl," I murmur as I let my eyes wander over her perfect skin. So fucking smooth. The bruises are gone, and her cheek is almost healed too. I'd like to mark her, especially now.
And because she keeps her mouth shut, I give a little bit more pressure to her throat, knowing that it leaves a mark. Good. I lean closer, inhaling her sweet scent, and feel my body responding to her. My dick twitches alive, ready to mark her from the inside too.
How on earth did I think I would be able to stay away from her? I only lasted like… a couple of days. My spine is made from iron, sure.
"Answer me," I whisper in her ear and press my lips to the velvety skin right behind her ear.
"Luke." She gasps, trying to catch a breath.
The rage explodes inside me like a grenade. I lean back to meet her eye to eye. "Are you fucking kidding me? Why the fuck are you going out with him?"
Her eyes are wide as she stares back at me, and her hands tap my arm like…
"Tiger…" Her suffocated voice snaps me from my bubble, and I realize that I've tightened my grip. The second I loosen it enough for her to breathe, she gasps air as she'd been without for a good while.
I didn't mean to be that hard, but…
"Answer the fucking question, Cobra. Why are you going out with him?" My anger doesn't back down. It never does.
"Puma said…" She's still gasping but keeps her eyes on me. "I need to draw attention away from you."
I frown at her. "What?"
Her cheeks are slightly red from the lack of air, and that sight makes me lose a bit of my rage. Fuck, it's hard to concentrate when she’s around.
"He said that I need to give them something else to think about other than… us."
That shit sounds exactly like something Puma would come up with. The guy watches way too much TV.
Cobra's tongue comes out as she wets her lips, probably because of the gasping, but I don't care why. I just know what it does to me. I close the distance between us and sweep my tongue inside her mouth, kissing her hard. She opens up to me without hesitation, and her hands grasp my hoodie's collar, pulling me closer.
My fucking God, I love her taste.
I keep my one hand on her throat but grab her ass with the other and give it a hard squeeze. Like she’s reading my mind, she jumps up and wraps her legs around my waist. I pin her against the wall with my body, and my dick is right in place against her core. It makes her moan into my mouth and grind her hips against me. I will fucking come in my pants if she keeps grinding me like that.
"Do you want to fuck me, baby girl?"
"No." Cobra quivers against me, her hands sliding down my hoodie and she jerks it up enough for her to get to my skin. Her hands feel so good, I want them all over me.
&
nbsp; "You're a pretty little liar." I bite her lower lip, not so gently. "Try again."
"You're a goddamn idiot," she retorts, swaying in my arms. "But yes, I want you."
"Did you enjoy fucking him?" I push her as her hands grope my pecs. But she doesn't say a fucking thing, just continues kissing me. I tighten my hold on her neck to keep her in place and separate our lips. "I asked you, did you enjoy fucking him?"
"Yeah, I did," she answers, meeting me eye to eye.
"Tell me, baby girl, did you think of him or me when his dick was inside of you?"
She bites her lower lip. "You. I wanted it to be you."
I have an inbuilt lie detector for her, and the way she looks at me tells me that she is telling the truth. I fucking knew it.
"I promise you." I lean into her and suck her lip into my mouth, giving it a bite. "I'm nothing like you've ever experienced."
She grinds me again. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for? Show me what you got."
A challenge. I fucking love her.
“Wake up” by Black Veil Brides starts to boom in the hallway—in her pocket.
Oh, hell no.
"Shit," Cobra curses, wiggling in my arms. I don't let go. "Tiger, seriously, I need to take it."
"No, I don't think so."
"You're an ass." She manages to get her phone in her hand and answers it, me still pinning her against the wall. Her legs around me, and my hand on her throat.
"Yeah?" Her brows furrow. "Shit, really? Now? What time—" She glances at the clock on her phone and curses some more before placing it back to her ear. "I'll be there in a sec." Then she ends the call and gives me a look—the look which tells that she's not happy, at all.
"Let me down. I need to leave."
Anger flares inside me like it never left. "Is he here?"
She nods. "Yeah. Dad's there, too."
Ah, I would like to see that. I wish he would break his nose and maybe put a bullet through his brain. Would make my day.
I squint at her. "You better not finish with him what we started. If you even think about f—"
"Jeez, Tiger! I'm not gonna fuck him again." She even has the audacity to roll her eyes at me. What a bitch she can be.
"I’ll kill him if you let him touch you again." I swipe her lips with mine. "I'll let that one time go, but dare to do it again…"
Cobra huffs out a heavy sigh. "We're still not a thing, Tiger. I don't want you to get hurt."
"You and I are always a thing, whether you like it or not, and I'm telling you, baby girl." I lick my way to her neck right under my hand, just above her collarbone. "You're mine." Then I suck her skin, leaving a massive hickey on display.
"What the actual fuck, Tiger?" she barks out, but too late. I did it already, and when I drop her to the ground, I see it clearly on her skin. Just like the reddish marks from my hand on her throat. Her flushed cheeks. Swollen lips. Pupils that look like she's on drugs.
I did that to her. Me.
"Go on now, baby girl. Don't be home late from your date." I smack her ass, and she scowls at me like she wants to kill me. I can't help but smile. "I love you too."
"My God." She shakes her head and walks to her bedroom, coming back in a moment, wearing a different shirt. She zips up the hoodie, all the way up to her chin. "Leave from the balcony, I don't want anyone to see that you were here. Not now."
"You know, that won't cover it. You still look like you've been making out," I tell her and adjust my boner better in my sweats. Her eyes drop to my crotch, and she swallows, her throat bobbing sensually. I would love to give her something to swallow.
"Duh, bye, Tiger." Cobra turns around to the door.
"Remember to keep your pants on and use your mouth only for talking, or I'll kill him, and then I’ll make you beg."
"Yeah, I know, and if I fuck up, you have every right to do just that."
At that, she leaves. Even though Cobra is going out with another guy, this might be the first time I can actually breathe since the opening night.
Because I know what happened now… it’s a game-changer.
16
Holy mother of all fucking gods.
There is deeply, undeniably, something wrong with me.
I'm nothing like you've ever experienced.
Like I even have doubts? I want Tiger so bad I can't even see straight and the most fucked-up thing is that I messed up, again. We should stay apart, not make out. It's impossible when he touches me like that. In a second, I turn into a pool of lust, and every reasonable thought leaves me. I'm like a fucking nymphomaniac when he acts like that. There is only Tiger in my world at that moment. I forget everything else, why we shouldn't, why it's wrong, and most of all, I forget who we are.
He says jump; I ask how high.
It shouldn't be like that, but it fucking is, and there is nothing I can do about it. With him, I can breathe even though he wouldn't let me. I breathe him, I don't need air.
You're mine.
I know it. I'm always his. Always have been. No matter who I fuck or whose dick I suck. And it shouldn't be like that.
It's not safe for him, but he just doesn't get it.
When I walk out the mansion's front door, there's everybody. Dad, Falcon, Bear, Wolf, Puma… and Luke. The latter looks discombobulated as fuck. They are standing around Luke's car, and I know he must be questioning all of his life choices right now.
"Hi." I greet him with a wave. His eyes shoot up to me, and I can see him letting out a breath. Poor boy. "I see you met my family."
"You didn't tell me you were going on a date," Dad states, giving me a judgmental look.
"I didn't know earlier." I hush my family. "Leave him alone. We're leaving." I give a smirk to Luke, a completely fake one, but he doesn't know it. "I can't wait!"
He walks to the passenger side of his steel gray Audi TT Coupe and opens the door for me with an unreadable expression. "Let's go then."
I know that only Dad's presence keeps Bear's mouth shut from making any snarky comments, but he wiggles his eyebrows and pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue like a stupid teen. I squint my eyes at him and swear to myself that someday I will kick his annoying ass. No one else says anything either, but Falcon looks a bit dubious about what's going on, and Puma gives me an approving nod.
And Wolf? He measures Luke like he’s thinking of the size of his coffin and scowls at him, oozing sinister vibes.
Luke doesn't say anything when he gets in the car, and I don't know what I should say. I haven't been on a date, ever, so I don't have the slightest clue what topics are appropriate. When he rolls his Audi out of our gates, he gives me a look and cocks an eyebrow.
"Should I know who you are?"
I watch his clean and sunny features. "Maybe, but I don't think it matters anymore. You survived that, so I think we can just be Cobra and Luke, right?"
I don't like to explain my family, so I hope that after this, he asks someone else. Practically everyone else knows, and I know he can get an answer.
"Okeydokey then," he replies, and I stare at him, stunned. He gives me an amused smile. "And hey, don't think that I bought that can't wait act you put on."
He's sharp, I’ll give him that. "Yeah, well, I'm here now, so you got what you wanted."
"For a girl with pink hair, you're not a very cheerful person."
"I think you knew that already when you asked me out," I state and observe his appearance a little bit better. I have to admit that on the opening night, I didn't look at him very closely.
His blond hair is still whispering surfer vibes, and his long lashes are curvy, rounding his bright baby blue eyes, so they look even more sparkly. His entire being oozes happiness.
"A penny for your thoughts." Luke's voice snaps me back to the moment, and I stare at him, but still I feel Tiger's hands on me. His lips on mine.
I need to get myself together.
"Phew, I'm not that cheap." I look around and take note that we're almost at the a
musement park already. "What are we going to do here?"
"What people do at an amusement park." Luke parks the car and smirks at me. "We're going to have fun, of course."
"Oh, well, good luck with that." I huff at his optimistic attitude. There are a lot of cars, so I bet the park is crowded. I've never been to this particular park, but I don't have my hopes up. If I just survive this for a couple of hours with him, I can go home, do the job, and sleep. Falling into a coma could also work nicely.
Luke walks to me when we get out of his car, and without hesitation, he takes my hand in his. I glance up at him in surprise, and he smiles, shining like the sun. I can't help but notice that he's as beautiful as an angel. It makes me feel even more like shit for using him like this. I shouldn't have come here with him. I shouldn't have done anything with him in the first place.
"Hey, whatever you're thinking, let it go and enjoy the moment with me, darling," Luke whispers when he leans closer and then squeezes my fingers. "Just for a few hours, focus on me, okay?"
I stop and look up at him, my stomach convulsing from the shitty feeling. "Luke, you're a nice guy, but this is not right. I'm not the girl you think I am, and truth be told, I'm fucked-up to the bone. I'm sorry I used you last Friday, but that just shows how sick I am. Can you take me back home?"
"No." He shakes his head and steps closer, wiping a strand of hair from my face to the back of my ear. "I'm aware that you have problems, that’s obvious, but that doesn't mean I don't want to get to know you. I don't think you used me 'cause I was willing to give you what you needed, and I'm willing to do it again if you want me to. I'm not taking you back until you give me these few hours, and let me brighten up your day. Please?"
He stands there, asking me to let him brighten up my day. I think this guy either has a savior-complex or he is an angel who fell down from heaven.
"You can't brighten up my day, Luke," I tell him.
"Do you like gambling?"
I shrug. "Yeah, why?"
"I knew it." He laughs, all bright and bouncy. "Let's make a bet. If you can put your hand on your heart, and say that you didn't have any fun with me after a few hours, I won't ask you out again. But if you do, then you admit you were wrong."
