The Dom in him focused his attention away from the vision before him to Grit’s sub. Her voice was unsteady, her eyes looked red and swollen behind the shadow of her mask. The firecracker was without her spark this evening. “Are you okay, Tabitha?”
She nodded once. “Yes. I need to, um… Thank you, Violet.”
“Don’t mind her,” Violet said softly as the tiger hurried away. “She got some news she thought would make her happy and instead…”
“Not so happy.”
“Yeah. She’ll be fine. Grit knows how to handle her, whatever mood she’s in.” Her gaze raked him up and down a few times. “Seriously, Reaux?”
“I chose comfort over insanity.”
“Uh-huh, and I’m wearing six-inch heels that are distinctlyuncomfortable. Not for my health, definitely not because they make my legs look sexy as fuck,” she stated confidently, “but because Evander puts a lot of effort into organizing parties for the membership, and supporting him and the club sometimes means sacrificing the subtle things.”
Reaux growled in agreement. “Consider me appropriately chastised, Mistress.”
“Hmm.”
As the opening chords of his requested song played through the speakers, he ducked his head. “The heels? Absolutely, unarguably, are my new aphrodisiac, Bennie. In fact, I do believe if you don’t dance with me right now, I may be tempted to fuck you over the nearest table.”
Her head cocked, listening to the drumbeat before the singer kicked in with the lyrics. She was already moving to the beat, her shoulders and hips rolling to the almost primal rhythm of the song. “I haven’t heard this one before.”
“No? It’s been very popular in Amatory over the summer.” Reaux clasped her hand, her hip, and pressed her close. When she used him as a prop to grind against, he flashed a grin. “It’s calledGood Girlby Nation Haven. The first time I heard it, all I could think about was playing it on repeat while you came on my cock. Of course, that backfired.”
“It did?”
“Well, you weren’t there for me to use and abuse to the music, Bennie. Once the clientele became obsessed with it, they requested it constantly, so of course, all I could think about was fucking the one person I wanted when she was nowhere in reach.”
The chorus crooned through the room, hot and heavy; Violet bit her lip, rolling it through her teeth as she swayed harder, herpelvis undulating against his. “Major case of blue balls for you, huh?”
Blue? Try various shades of black and purple. Listening to the damn song over and over, imagining all the ways she would be his goddamn good girl.
“Understatement of the year, Bennie.”
She laughed and brushed her lips over his. “Maybe, if you’re a very good boy, I’ll let you play this later, as many times as you want.” Her hand hooked around the back of his neck. “I can’t believe this all comes to an end tomorrow.”
“It’s not the end—just a change in direction.”
“Yeah. So many directions.”
“Bennie, are you sure leaving is what you really want to do?”
“Are you backing out on me?
“Never. You’re stuck with me now until the day you clock me over the head with a skillet and drag my body into the basement.”
She laughed, but there was sadness haunting the sound. “Who says I’d use a skillet?”
“I thought that was the murder weapon of all true genteel Southern women.” Displeased with her sudden twist of mood, he cupped her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “What’s wrong, Violet? I don’t like it when you’re sad.”
Violet
Sad wasn’t quite what she was feeling, if she was being honest.
Shocked was far more apt.
Dealing with Tabitha’s emotional outburst in the ladies’ bathroom had emotionally drained what was left of her energy—for the past two weeks, she’d been preparing for the move home, all the while thinking about pregnancy, babies, and abandoning her friends when they needed her most.
Peeing on a stick in tandem with Tabitha wasn’t on her cards for tonight, but it seemed like the right thing to do.Moral support and all that. Only, the tiny assassin’s heart had broken when the test came back negative; a surprising reaction given her reluctance to become a mother, but Violet understood that even a glimmer of hope was catastrophic under the right circumstances.
