He had told me on the rooftop how all his meaningless encounters had only lasted the one time they happened. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I wasn’t a meaningless encounter; he showed me that last night—hell, he’d been showing me in a lot of ways.
I’ve known this man for months. I’ve hated and been irritated by him half the time. Even now, he still irritated me a bit, and he was not above a straight punch to the nose if he misbehaved, but—the only difference between then and now was that I understood the way that brain of his worked.
Right now, he was probably thinking he should have left things the way they were, but then again, even if he had leftthings the way they were, I already knew—he had told me when we were high out of our minds on that rooftop—how much he respects women, and the reasons he’d never been with anyone more than once.
I was an exception, and I knew him wanting to make things extra serious was a given, but I didn’t think it would feel so overwhelming, so scary to the point that I wouldn’t know what to do or say to avoid hurting his feelings or make him think I didn’t care enough. I did.
It wasn’t just the sex. But I needed time. At least to talk to Devil, clear things up, and tell him all that had been going on. Hell—I’d be willing to tell all of Street if necessary.
“I should go,” I said. “I’ll come by later after I think it through. You should try to get some rest.”
“Okay.”
I offered a smile, about to sidestep him, when I saw the two cats just by the entrance, watching us.
I looked back at him. “On second thought… Would you mind walking me back to your room to change into my own clothes and then to the door, please?”
CHAPTER NINE
Zahra
“Where the bloody hell haveyoubeen?” Upper asked the moment I walked into our suite, a coffee cup in his hand, his voice groggy, eyes dark from lack of sleep.
“Why do you look like you didn’t get any sleep?” I asked, closing the suite door. He was wearing an oversized sky-blue hoodie with sweatpants, hair all angles of messed up, nose a different shade of red.
“I fell overboard, drank too much, had a mini fever all through the night, almost puked my intestines out, and—”
“Made out with agirl,” Dog said with a smug smile, appearing from around the corner as he grabbed a cup of coffee from the coffeemaker.
“What?” I asked as Milk walked out of her room, wearing a bathing suit and sending a wave my way.
“It was nothing.” Upper sent a glare Dog’s way, but Dog didn’t see it because his eyes were on Milk, who looked like she was getting ready to head out. “The girl wanted to make her boyfriend jealous; she walked up to me and asked me to kiss her; I told her I was gay, and she said, ‘Even better,’ and then she was sucking my face.”
“Oh…”
“And where are you off to?” Dog asked Milk with a frown as he leaned against a wall.
She was tying her hair up in a ponytail as she glanced his way with a grin. “While you guys were whoring away, I gotinvited to a pool party by some cool guys I met last night,” she said. “They’re staying in a gold suite, and it isincredible.”
Dog’s frown deepened. “So… you’re just gonna fuck off to a stranger’s space because ‘Oh, hey, they think I’m pretty, and they’re pretty, too; why not go to the pool party hosted by people I don’t know just because I have great tits and I think they’re cool.’”
Milk’s brows shot up. “You think I have great tits?”
“Somebody shoot me,” Dog said with an exasperated sigh.
Milk snickered as Devil came out of his room, freshly showered, looking more responsible than anyone else. “Z,” he said with a frown, eyeing me from head to toe. “Where the hell have you been?”
I blew out a breath. It was now or never. “Okay, before Milk leaves for the cool people’s party, can we all gather for a mini briefing?”
Milk’s brows furrowed in confusion, and I knew she was curious about what this briefing meant. She would have told them the mission had succeeded, and Kareem had invited me to join his table.
They settled around the lounge area, Milk and Upper on a beanbag, Devil on the arm of the couch Dog had taken. I stood before them like I was about to give a speech. “As far as yesterday went, I think we already got that invite from Kareem. We talked, and he invited me and anyone I wanted to bring to events here and outside the cruise… So, we can score ourselves a private tour of the Arturo manor with a little talking.”
“Yes,” Upper said. “Milk told us how you fucked everyone without fucking them.”
I glanced at Milk, who shrugged.
“That’s a… really odd way of putting it, but yes, the dance was a success. It got us what we wanted, at least… it got us on the right path to what we want.”
