Treachery Prequel

I wanted to laugh when Luca’s fingers shoved deeper into my hair, her small tongue sliding against mine with a frenzied motion that was almost as reckless and uncoordinated as the way she danced.

From the minute she’d arrived at the house, I’d watched her.

She’d stepped out of Gabriel’s car and tilted her chin to look up at the third story windows. I knew she couldn’t see me standing in the shadow of my room, but wondered why her gaze had immediately sought me out, how, on instinct, she knew I was staring down at her.

We were like two opposing forces that also had the a

The entire night I’d enjoyed watching her sneak peeks in my direction, her walls coming down with each drink Gabriel brought her, the hours ticking by until I knew I could convince her to do something stupid so that she ended up indebted to me.

I was a few minutes out from finally standing up, dumping the bitch from my lap in the process, and laying claim to a girl who was making me laugh the wilder she became, but then Shane waltzed into the room and damn near fucked the entire thing up.

It wasn’t that he had no role in this game, but he wasn’t supposed to kiss her, his ad lib bullshit pissing me off the second his lips got anywhere near her face.

I didn’t want to admit to myself it was jealousy that had me storming across the room to throw her over my shoulder like a damn caveman, but before I knew what I was doing, I was walking her down the hallway, tossing her on my bed and staring down at her like she was a fucking demon sent for the express purpose of screwing with my life.

Shane was going to have several new bruises and possibly a broken nose by the time I got my hands on him again. But in the meantime, here I was, kissing this girl like my life depended on it without having even the slightest clue why.

A knock at my door set us both flying apart, her unbalanced ass landing on my bed while I spun in place to narrow my eyes on whoever had the balls to interrupt us.

“What?”

The door popped open, Gabriel stepping through, his attention drifting between Luca and me before a smile creased his lips.

“Just checking to make sure everybody is still alive and well.”

Behind me, Luca attempted to push to her feet, but she groaned and grabbed her head, falling back down to sit on the side of the mattress.

“I stood too fast.”

Gabriel laughed and leaned against the doorframe.

“With the amount of alcohol you drank I’m surprised you’re still able to talk, much less sit up. Maybe you should stay there and try not to hurt yourself.”

His eyes met mine.

“You have a special guest arriving in a few minutes, but it seems our situation has changed.”

Gabriel shot a pointed look at Luca.

“How long?” I rubbed at the back of my neck knowing that I would have to take care of this problem myself if I wanted it done right.

“Five minutes.”

Nodding, I cast a glance in Luca’s direction, my eyes taking a little too long staring at how her shirt had slipped to the side revealing her naked shoulder.

The fuck was wrong with me? It was a damn shoulder and there I was staring at it like she’d stripped down and was giving me a lap dance.

“I’ll take care if it.”

Breathing out, I met Gabriel’s stare one last time before he gri

I turned to Luca, an aggravated sigh rolling over my lips to see she’d fallen back on the bed, her eyes closed and lips parted.

Storming over to her, I tried lifting her up by the shoulders to finish what she goddamned started, but she was out cold, her head wobbling back. In my bed. Which was not where I pla

Ru

It didn’t matter. I would still find a way to corner her one way or another.

Spi

But I still couldn’t leave her like that.

Cursing under my breath, I spun back to her, flung one of her arms over my shoulder and dragged her weight up the bed. Pulling the sheets out from under her, I tucked her in like a pussy-whipped boyfriend would do, for what fucking reason, I had no idea.

I was sure to roll her to her side as well because I didn’t want her choking on her own vomit should she get sick after drinking an entire brewery.

Satisfied that she wouldn’t die, I stared down at her with every ounce of hatred I was feeling for the problem she’d become in my life. A problem that would soon be over, thank fuck. And once it was, I could get my dad off my ass and return to my previously scheduled life of not giving much of a fuck about anything.

A knock on the door sounded and my five minutes were up. Judging by the forceful pound of it, a certain someone was pissed to find out where his precious girlfriend had ended up.

And wasn’t that interesting?

He was never meant to fall in love, but the more the weeks rolled on, the more he got in my way until a little birdie reminded him a world of shit was coming if he didn’t keep his end of things.

But whatever.

The finish line was in sight and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the asshole longer than was needed.

He’d had a job to do, and he did it. His services were no longer required.

I opened the door and Clayton tried to push past me, his expression a mask of rage that did nothing but make me chuckle.

All it took was a warning glare from me and he remembered himself real quick, his fingers shooting through his hair as he stepped back to give me room.

His eyes attempted to look around me as I left the room, but I blocked him with my shoulder and shut the door.

“You weren’t supposed to be here tonight.”

His angry stare met mine, the silent threat comical when you compared our sizes.

Clayton wasn’t a small guy, but he wasn’t athletic either. While I’d built my body up playing football in high school and lacrosse in undergrad, this asshole had been too busy mucking it up with other future sleazeballs of America, playing games and spending money while traveling the world on their daddy’s dimes.

He was your typical future politician. The only problem was he’d be a failure in that as well. His father might be a Senator, but I highly doubted it would help Clayton in the end. The apple had not only fallen from the tree, it had bounced a few hundred times and careened off a nearby cliff.

“I’m taking her home.”

The corner of my lips curled.

“You’ll do no such thing. In fact,” I said, scratching my jaw and smiling wider, “you’ll be breaking up with Luca tomorrow morning. I set you on her to get her closer to me, but now that she’s here, you’re done. One favor has been repaid. You only have two more to go.”

Clayton was a world of problems. Ones he caused, most of the time, and in order to keep them from leaking out and getting his Senator father in trouble, Clayton would often come crawling to me for help.