Page 17 of Compulsion

I watched as Seve slipped the jacket over his shoulders and also pulled away from the bar. He started to walk toward the main exit with a long, slow stride. He wasn’t deliberately trying to leave me behind, I was sure. But an irrational panic rose up in me, in case he did. I grabbed my coat off the back of the chair. My eyes followed the broad shoulders and the muscled arse.

And then so did my legs.

Chapter Nine

I MADE my way out of the club, weaving through bunches of people making their way in, ebbing around me like a human sea. The lights from the entrance desk in the lobby were too bright for me, and bursts of music followed in my wake every time the door opened to let someone in. By the time I emerged into the cool night, Seve stood at the curb, leaning back against a BMW. It looked very expensive and very smart, with midnight-blue paintwork like his shirt tonight. Seat covers as black as his hair. Woodwork on the dashboard as rich as the color of his skin. Shit. I had this thing bad.

I looked around but no one was asking him to move his vehicle on. It was nowhere near chucking-out time at the pubs and clubs yet, but I was pretty sure it was a restricted zone even for taxis. The bouncers stood at attention by the club entrance, silent and apparently unbothered, with aviator shades that hid their eyes. Bloody stupid at night, I thought. And it meant I couldn’t see if they were looking at him or not. I drew a deep breath and went to meet him at the car. “Yours, Seve?”

“Yes.”

Was he going to ask me to ride with him? Was I going to see something or somewhere that told me more about him? Or would we just drive to some lay-by along the coastal road, park beside a deserted café where the tea cakes and ice creams were locked away for the night, and then fuck away frenziedly in the backseat? Stupid teenage melodrama. But I knew the strength and irrationality of my need.

“Something more to say, Max?” He sounded sharp. “I see it in your eyes. In the way you stand there.”

I thought about what Jack had said about being careful. He’d obviously picked up on something about Seve even in that brief time. He was worried, though I didn’t know the exact reasons. Was I worried? “I need to know more.”

“What about?”

“You.” All he did was raise an eyebrow and I filled with warmth from my toes upward. “Something more than that, Seve.”

He smiled and nodded. “Will you get in the car first?” He glanced up at the indigo sky, lit in patches by the neon lights from the club and nearby marina buildings. “The forecast is for rain tonight.”

I ignored that. “Tell me. Are you the guy they sent in to oversee the refurbishment at Compulsion? One of the Medina family?”

For the first time, I saw a flicker of unease in his eyes. “Yes. But you know that already, I’m sure. Anyone here would tell you.”

“But you didn’t. You said your name was….” I struggled, briefly, to remember. “Nuñez.”

He shrugged. “My mother is a Medina. My late father was called Nuñez. I am the nephew of the owner of the group. Does it matter?”

“You didn’t say,” I persisted.

“Maybe I didn’t want you to know then. Maybe I didn’t want to waste time talking.” His voice tightened. “I applied for the job with everyone else, Max. You should know that I am qualified—that my position is earned.”

That wasn’t the point, but I wasn’t discussing that now. “You’re a company employee, though, right? You follow the company rules, agree with corporate strategy. And you’re family too, so you know what really goes on in all the clubs.”

He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

I shook my head, impatient with the anger that washed over me and with my inability to express the pain inside.

“Get in the car, Max.”

Behind me, a group of young women on a hen night shrieked with laughter. Two guys on the other side of the road were having an argument, maybe a lovers’ tiff. “No,” I said, even as I took an instinctive step toward him. “This isn’t going to happen.”

“Why not?” He reached out his arm and brushed a finger down my arm. Even through my shirtsleeve, I felt the heat from him. “We’re free, we can do what we like. Don’t tell me you don’t want more. It’s magnificent, yes?”

Fuck, yes. “No. Leave me. I’m on my way home.”

“Is it because of him?” Seve looked back toward the door of the club. “The man you’re with?”

“Jack? We’re….”

“Just friends?”

“No!” I was angry for different reasons now. “Not just friends! He’s a bloody good one, the best. He cares about me and that’s fine by me.”

Seve stared at me as I fidgeted there on the pavement. I could feel his gaze as if it burned through my clothes. My body was shivering at the thought of his hands on me, and my cock was swelling at the mere smell of his cologne. He shifted a little and I wondered with a sudden glorious wildness whether he was feeling the same discomfort. But why should he? He’d called all the shots so far. I was just the easy target.