She maneuvered us away from the rest of the group, and we were in a private booth in the far corner of the nightclub. It was set in the back of a short hallway with only two other booths before us, and both of them were empty. If Blake was behind that part, then I would be extremely impressed. As it was, I was still impressed because if she was still going for the goal of distracting me, it was working. For tonight.
She moved to straddle me.
I reached for her legs and felt the press of something sharp against my stomach.
She’d pulled a knife on me.
She was my soulmate.
Not that I ever questioned Blake’s place in my life, but she just signed, sealed, and delivered that fact into my brain. She told me that I didn’t have the capability to love, but whatever this intense burning inside of me, the feeling that would take me to my knees for her, if it wasn’t love then I couldn’t imagine how powerful that was because right now, she was my reason for existence.
She regarded me with determination and settled more firmly on my lap, sinking down on me.
I moved my hands to her waist, moving my fingers underneath my hoodie that she’d worn every night to bed until I peeled it off of her. There was a clean laundry smell from it, so she must’ve washed it today. I liked that she wore my clothes. It made me purr inside, and I waited for her to start whatever she was going to do. I didn’t think she was going to pull my dick out and sink down on it, but I wouldn’t stop her if she did. She had picked this booth to give us the utmost privacy. No one could see us unless they specifically walked over to see who was in this booth. No cameras were mounted on the wall, but knowing Mauricio and knowing how I had surveillance in my own places, I was sure a hidden camera was pinned on us. When we first approached, the bouncer held up a hand to halt our progression. Barely a second later, another man came out from the door and leaned in to share something with the bouncer. Both gazes went to me with a warning in them. I stepped away from the group and lifted my shirt. Knowing we were coming here, I’d already handed my gun to Lassiter. Now, whatever he ended up doing with it wasn’t on me. Just as long as I didn’t have a weapon and I wasn’t recruiting within the nightclub.
I gave orders to Lassiter and Levi. Lassiter was supposed to get something from Spence, Octavia’s manager, for me. How he did it was up to him. Levi’s order was to keep an eye on the rest of Blake’s group.
She was starting to let them in, and I didn’t want anything to happen to them. For her.
I reached up to cup the side of her face, halting her in the mission she had in mind when she brought me to this private booth. She went still in my hand. Her eyes lifted, finding mine, and whatever she saw in my own eyes, I didn’t know, but she licked her lips before her mouth opened slightly. “What are you doing?”
I gave her knife a pointed look. “I could say the same to you.”
She bit down on her bottom lip, folding her head down, and rested her forehead to my chest.
My hand returned back to her waist, pushing up underneath my sweatshirt. It was warm in Octavia, but sometimes girls had different internal thermometers. As long as she was comfortable.
I felt her entire body draw in some air, as if she needed courage, and tipped her chin to me. Blake was giving me the feeling that we were two adversaries facing off across a boardroom.
I tugged her hips closer and rocked up into her.
She bit down on her lip again, one of her hands falling to my chest and her fingers splaying out. “Don’t.” Her voice caught as I moved her over me again, slower, intently. She could ride me like this. We could grind against each other until both of us came. Making out as if we were in high school would be fun.
She groaned and leaned back a little. “Creight.”
I stopped.
Her eyes grew hooded, which I didn’t like. I tipped her head up again, needing to see her. My thumb smoothed over her cheek softly. “What is this, Quokka?”
Pain flared over her features. “Don’t. Don’t call me that, Eight.”
I didn’t like that. “Why does that name bring you pain?”
She didn’t grimace when I used it in the past. Once upon a time, she used to love it. Now it brought pain? I didn’t like that. I shouldn’t have pushed the endearment, but she called me Eight. I wanted my own name for her.
She shook her head. “I don’t want to get into that now. I—” She raked her teeth over her lip again, bracing both of her hands on my chest. She pushed herself as far back as the table allowed. Her eyes were still hooded, but at this distance, she was more shadowed. I tried drawing her closer, wanting to be able to read her if we were going to hash something out, but she resisted. She gave a slight shake of her head. “No. I need this.”
As I waited, I contented myself with pulling down the side of her leggings, just enough so I could smooth my thumb over her hip bone.
She shuddered, lust swimming in her gaze. She cleared her throat, and tried blinking away the desire. I repositioned my hand so my thumb tunneled lower under her leggings, but pulled it to cover my palm.
Her lips tugged down. “I know that you’re going to go after Marshall.”
I paused. That’s what all this was about? For him? I wasn’t a fan.
The hand still holding her knife to my stomach trembled. “I made Lassiter promise not to hurt him on your orders, so if that’s what you were intending to do to get around what I made you promise, you can’t. I’m going to make Levi promise too.”
“I’d never give that order to them.”
