“You’re in shock, Prickles,” he informed me with that low, commanding growl, “and you’re scared. So here’s what’s going to happen…”
I swallowed hard as his fingers flicked the button of my jeans undone and the zipper practically fell down all on its own. Shit.Shit… was this going to totally screw things up with Rhett? The guilt almost made me back down, but I couldn’t make myself move. I wanted this too fucking much, and if I was dead tomorrow… well, no regrets, right?
“I’m going to make you come, Prickles,” Grayson rumbled in my ear, his teeth nipping my earlobe as his huge hand pushed inside my panties. I gasped but shifted my legs wider. “And after you come, I’m tossing your infuriating ass back into that car, driving us both to the hotel, then you’re going to explain what in thefuckyou were just thinking.” Two of his thick fingers pushed into me, and I moaned embarrassingly loud. “Am I clear?”
My response was a gasp and full body tremble as he pushed those fingers deeper, his thumb swirling my clit. It was rough, fast, and dirty up against the alleyway wall, but holyhell,I was into it.
“The correct response, Prickles, isyes, sir,” Grayson informed me with a husky laugh. “But I’ll let it slide. And before you get all in your head, Rhett won’t mind.”
What?!
He didn’t leave me to dwell on that information. His free hand gripped my hair, tugging my head back until his mouth could claim mine, and his fingers went to work on my throbbing cunt. For several minutes, he swallowed my moans and gasps, kissing me like he was also getting off. When my orgasm flared through me,wayfaster than I’d ever even managed to get myself there, he held me tight as I shuddered. My knees went weak, but he didn’t let me fall as he dragged an intoxicating release out of me like he had all the time in the world.
By the time he withdrew his hand from my pants, I was panting hard and my pulse raced like I’d run a damn marathon. Gray kept his strong arm around my waist, holding me close as he brushed a kiss over my puffy lips.
“Feel better?” he murmured, carefully rebuttoning my jeans for me. Could he tell that my brain was misfiring? I doubt I could have made my fingers move if I’d tried.
I had to swallow several times before I could form words. “Better.”
“Good.” Shifting his grip suddenly, he threw me over his shoulder and strode back along the alleyway toward the car.
I gave an incoherent squawk of protest, but by the time I was able to form fully fledged curse words, he was tossing me none too gently into the back seat of the car and slamming the door shut.
“Grayson, what the fuck?” I snapped, reaching for the door handle. It was pointless, though. I was fucking child locked in, and Grayson was already climbing into the driver’s seat. “This is kidnapping, Gray; you can’t just—”
“I can, and I am,” he growled back, throwing the car into reverse to back out of the alleyway. “Put your damn seat belt on.”
“Screw you!” I snapped back like a petulant child. But seriously, who did he think he was?
The next corner he took so sharply that I smacked my head on the window, so I gritted my teeth as I buckled my safety belt. Prick. I had to hand it to him, though, the urge to run had ebbed. Now all I wanted to do was kick him in the balls for manhandling me.
“We good?” he grunted, glancing in the rearview mirror. I extended my middle finger in response, and his lush lips tilted into a smirk. Fucking hell,thisversion of Grayson was a surprise. Who’d have guessed he liked to tease so hard?
For a few moments we were silent, then a wave of potent guilt made my chest ache. “We need to find Flo,” I told him from between clenched teeth. “She might be—”
“She’s fine,” he cut me off. “She’s in huge trouble, but she’s fine. They came foryou, Prickles. Has that fact not sunk in yet?”
I screwed my face up, shaking my head. “How, though? No one knew we would be—Oh.” The waitress. I’d bet she’d posted on social media about meeting Flo, and if she’d taken a photo without us knowing…
“You need to be more careful,” Grayson informed me, like I was somehow planning to belesscareful. Okay, stupid desire to run aside. “These guys aren’t fucking around.”
“I know,” I snapped, folding my arms defensively.
There was a beat of silence within which I could feel his eyes on me in the mirror. Then he sighed and ran his hand over his messy hair. “What was your plan just now? Where were you going to go?”
My throat tightened, and I bit the inside of my cheek. I couldn’t tell him. Admitting I was going to call Angelo and then get as far from Bellerose as possible… well, it’d mean telling him about Angelo’s visit last night. It’d also make me sound like some kind of martyr, when in fact, I was just a scared little girl clinging to the hope that Angelo would somehow spare me. Or that I could run far enough and hide well enough to escape the Ricci net.
When the silence stretched, Grayson huffed a frustrated sigh and shook his head, accepting the fact that I wasn’t going to reply.
I wet my lips and plucked up some courage to change the subject because I really needed some answers before we got back to the hotel.
“What did you mean?” I asked, my voice hoarse with… guilt? Fear? Something like that.
Grayson’s eyes flicked up to the mirror, meeting mine for a second, then he gave a small nod. He wasn’t fucking around with pretending he didn’t understand.
“I meant Rhett and I spoke this morning. You told him that we’d kissed.” I jerked a nod, not trusting my voice anymore. They’dtalked? “So, there’s nothing to hide.”
I blinked a couple of times, processing that logic. Then I scowled. “No, no, you said hewon’t mind. That’s a little different fromhe knows.”
