“Shit.”
Chuckling, she taps my chest and removes her hand. Sliding to her feet, she ducks beneath my arm and hurries to fix her ponytail. Someone shoves against the door again and I finally let go, a confused Jake stumbling into the room, expecting resistance.
His dark hair matches his eyes, ones that immediately narrow on me. “The hell ma-“ he cuts off as I zip up my jeans, his anger turning to amusement as he gives me a knowing smirk. “My bad, should have knocked.”
Elysium blushes, not meeting Jake’s eye. He strides into the room, stripping off his shirt and leaving an abundance of dark, smooth skin on display and I shoot him a glare. Not sure what he’s thinking, but if he thinks this means Elyse is free game, he’s in for a rude awakening.
I acknowledge the whole situation is a hot mess, but sharing with Grave is awkward enough to wrap my head around. She may not want to commit to anything, but I can’t shove aside my feelings as easily. If I’m involved with her, that’s it for me; however long this not-relationship lasts. She can do what she wants, but fuck, she just riles up a possessive part of me that’s sure as hell going to complicate things and lead to problems before long.
“Mornin’, Elyse,” Jake greets smoothly, walking over to the treadmill and starting in on his workout.
She gives him a halfhearted wave, shuffling closer towards the door. “Morning. Since you’re up, I’ll go grab your laundry.”
Running my tongue over my teeth, I tamper down my annoyance. That’s the agreement for her living here, but I don’t have to like it. We’re grown ass men; we cleaned up after ourselves before she arrived, and there’s no reason why we still can’t as far as I’m concerned.
“Might want to put that off until later,” he replies easily, sending a warning look in my direction as he continues to speak to her. “Grave’s searching for you, El. By the extra pep in his step, I’d wager either his work is on the morning news again, or he has a surprise for you.”
Her gaze nervously flits in my direction before I shrug, trying to ease her fears before they can form. “Better go find him then. I’m going to hop in the shower.”
The tension dissipates from her shoulders as she nods. “Thanks, Jake.”
He winks at her before saluting me. “Good luck with that one, Ev. I’ll remember you fondly.”
Flipping him off, I follow her up the stairs, parting ways when I get to my room. Striding right for the bathroom, I flip the handle, the steam from the shower filling the room within a couple of minutes. Stripping, I climb inside, hissing in a sharp breath as I wrap my hand around the base of my cock.
Fuck, the things this girl does to me.
Bracing one hand against the slick, tiled wall, I shut my eyes, stroking slowly at first. Mentally, I rewind to before we were interrupted, of how things would have escalated.
I picture her sliding to her knees, tugging my jeans down with her. Those bright, innocent eyes would look up at me as she ran her tongue over my cock, swallowing me down as far as she could handle. Her hand, pumping over the rest as I’d fist the back of her hair. Normally, I’d shut my eyes and ride out the pleasure, but not with her. No, I’d make sure her attention was locked on me the entire time her lips were on my cock.
Fingers tangled in her hair, I’d fuck her mouth. Slow, shallow thrusts as I found out how much she could take, but as her nails dug into my thighs, my control would slip. Harder, faster, until I was panting. She’d blink up at me, sucking me down as I started to come down her throat, forced to swallow every last drop.
My hand stills as cum paints the shower wall, my cock twitching before I languidly continue to stroke it, working through the aftershocks with visions of Elysium taunting me as much as the woman down the hall.
“Jeeze, took you long enough. Gonna stay in there all day, or are you planning to go to work at some point?” He rips the shower curtain back and I’m left glaring at Grave’s psychotic face.
“Would it kill you to fucking knock for once?”
He shrugs. “Guess we’ll never find out. Elyse’s door is locked, so I figured I’d come get you first.”
Huffing in annoyance, I yank the curtain back in place and finish washing up. “What’s on the agenda?”
He doesn’t answer, and by the time I shut off the water and wrap a towel around my waist, it’s clear he’s no longer in my bathroom. I find him stretched out on my bed, looking at the ceiling and tossing a pocket knife in the air.
“Casino. Bossman decided it was time to start honing her other skills,” he replies flippantly, and I debate filling him in on what Maverick told me.
Ultimately, I decide against it, because he’s just too much of a wild card. If I was ready to storm Julian’s office after hearing about the way he threatened her, who the fuck knows what Grave might do? He’d be proving the man right, appearing like he was choosing Elysium over Julian. And as we’ve shown to far too many people in recent years, there are so many things worse than death.
“What do you need me for?”
Changing direction, I head for my nicer clothes that Julian insists upon any time we set foot there. A couple of thugs aren’t a good look in a place where you want people to whip out their cash instead of clutching their pearls to their chests.
Grave catches the knife by the blade, snapping it shut and tucking it away as he gets to his feet, scowling. “Contingent on her masquerading as your date, since he figured if she showed up with only me, it would put too many curious eyes on her.”
For the first time that I can remember, I actually feel bad for the man. He’s a fuckin’ nut job, a deluded one at that, but it’s easier to write him off as a violent psychopath than riddle through his nonsense. Julian’s treated him like a barely restrained, rabid dog for as long as I’ve known him, and honestly, we aren’t much better.
He’s far too exhausting to deal with daily to the point that I’ve resorted to putting in the bare minimum to get jobs done and home to my own bed. But the psychological damage Julian’s done over the course of Grave’s life, forcing him to always be on the outside looking in so that he’s solely dependent on the man, is actually… sad. And the first time Grave finds someone that brings him a bit of happiness, Julian sets out to rip her away, to keep her just outside his reach like a taunt in order to keep him in line.
