“I’m with someone else now, Zac.” My hand lifts to the chain hanging from my neck, my tether, and I straighten as I wrap my fingers tight around the T pendant. I amnotflirting with Zac, and I don’t care how well he trained my dick to perk up in his presence. I don’t want this, and I don’t want him. “I’m not yours, anymore. I haven’t been for a long time.”
“You’re wrong there,” he drawls. “I’m the man who showed you who you are. I own you.” A smug grin slides onto his lips as he keeps his gaze locked with mine. “You can run if you want to. But there will always be a hole inside you, Ned, and only my cock can fill it.”
Panic streaks through me as I drown in the familiar blue of his eyes. What if he’s right? For three years I’ve tried to rebuild my life, to find some sort of contentment there. I’ve failed. Something has always been missing, an aching emptiness I can’t deny. What if he’s ruined me? What if I can’t be whole without him?
“Back the fuck up with your manipulative bullshit!” Toni’s indignant shout comes from directly beside us.
Zac and I startle, creating enough space for him to shove his way bodily between us. He plasters his back against me, and I cringe as my erection brushes against the cleft of his arse. The erection he now knows Zac gave me.
“Who the hell are you?” Zac asks, glaring at Toni. I didn’t realise until this instant how similar they are in height. And build. And colouring. Zac is older, in his late thirties, but that doesn’t distract from the similarities between them.
“I’m the man you have to go through to get to Ned,” Toni replies, “and you’ve already gotten close enough.” He looks up at me with a sugary sweet smile, one hand lifting to leisurely stroke the length of my cheek. “Sorry I’m late. I got distracted talking shop.”
“It’s okay.” Releasing a shaky breath, I grab on to his hips and press a kiss to the crook of his neck. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Zac raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms.
Meanwhile, Toni appears to melt at my words. “Aw, you sweet man.” He turns then, as if noticing Zac’s continued presence. “You must be that Zachary person.” The words are dismissive, but his tone is poison. “How about you drop the pathetic stalker routine and run along?”
His eyes narrow. “It’s Zachariah.”
Toni snorts, derisively. “Whatever.”
Zac’s gaze lifts to mine. “This is who you replaced me with? This mini-me? Why he’s little more than a kitten.”
Laughing, Toni leans forwards at the waist to beckon Zac closer. The move pushes his curvy butt harder against my persistent boner, and I give an audible whimper. Exactly the effect he was after, no doubt.
“You know what they say about kittens and claws?” Toni drawls into Zac’s scowling face. “Well, I have a knee and a clear shot at your dick.”
Zac straightens, backing up a step.
Toni’s next laugh is devoid of humour. “Now, be a dear and fuck off.”
They glare at each other, neither one showing any sign of backing down. Finally, Zac breaks the eye contact, his gaze finding mine once more. “Enjoy your performance tomorrow, Ned. It’s as far as you and your little band are ever likely to get. Your ambition always did outweigh your talent—except in the bedroom.”
“For the love of god,” Toni cries, throwing his hands in the air. “Could you be any more toxic?”
Zac smirks, knowing he’s hit his mark. “See you around, Ned.”
After he’s gone, Toni spins to face me. His soft, brown eyes are wide with concern. “What a colossal douchebag are you okay?” The two sentences run together as he skims his hands over my arms and chest. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. I promised I wouldn’t let that brainwashing arsehole get to you.”
“I’m fine.” I hate the quiver in my voice and the ache in my chest. I hate Toni knowing Zac made me hard against my will. “I didn’t let him touch me,” I rush to assure him. “I would never—”
“Of course not.” He steps forwards to wrap me up in his arms and I sag against him. “I’m here,” he croons. “I won’t let you go.”
Over Toni’s shoulder, Zac is still visible through the crowd. He’s still watching us. A young man approaches him from the side, expression overflowing with confidence and adoration. Zac gives him the smile, lifting a hand to the back of his neck in a possessive hold. The ghost of that touch grips on to me and I shudder. I was that kid once. Young, arrogant, gullible. My stomach rebels, even as memories of the satisfaction I received at Zac’s hand spark a wildfire of carnal need in my veins. The combination is as familiar as it is distasteful.
“Make me yours,” I rasp into Toni’s ear, desperate to get away. I don’t want to remember the man I was when I belonged to Zac. “Take me back to the trailer, Toni. Fuck me senseless.”
He pulls back, cupping my face between his hands. “No.”
I flinch, but he holds on tighter. “You weren’t even considering leaving until that arsehole showed up to take a verbal piss all over you. Don’t give him the pleasure of seeing you run.”
“I’m not running,” I snap. His eyebrows lift in disagreement, and I force my limbs to soften. Leaning in, I lick the place his left dimple would appear if he were smiling at me. “You know, I can be yours in all sorts of ways. That’s what this means, right?” I lift the tether around my neck, drawing his attention to it. “It means you can do things to me, Toni—and I’ll let you.”
His eyes drift closed, and he groans. My fists clench as I wrap my arms around his neck. I’ve almost got him. “All you have to do is take me away from here,” I say in a low, seductive voice. “Away from him.”
Toni presses his mouth to mine and I breathe a quiet moan into his mouth, grinding myself against his growing hardness. Still, he shakes his head. “We’re not going anywhere.”
