Page 93 of Creed

“I’m getting her a replacement today and I’ll keep this one plugged in and in a drawer so it’s out of sight and out of mind. Do you need anything else from us?”

Lachlan simply repeats that he needs us to dial from her phone. Once we do that, he confirms the connection and tells us to put the phone out of sight and that he’d keep us updated. After he disconnects the call, Creed calls and arranges for extra security around Collins. He wasn’t stripping her of freedom, but I doubt she’d take kindly to having new shadows following her everywhere. But that’s where we come in.

Creed and I will do our best to distract her and to keep her happy. I think she’ll be glad to be rid of the nasty shit that this guy has been sending her.

Collins is still napping by the time we stop for our first stretch break so when Creed comes out of the bathroom, I catch him by his elbow, speaking low, not wanting Collins to hear in case she wakes now that the bus isn’t moving. “You didn’t really mean what I think you meant when you told Lachlan to deal with it, did you?”

That half-unhinged grin spreads across Creed’s face and his ice blue eyes light up as he tips his head to one side, his expression full of mischief and malice. Fuck, this situation has Crazy Creed rearing his wild head. “What did you think I meant, Ri?”

I look around, double checking to make sure Collins isn’t listening around a corner. “You don’t mean for them to…kill the guy?”

Creed’s smile never wavers. In fact, it gets fucking crazier. I jump when both of his hands clasp my cheeks by my jaw and he just stares at me with that cocksure, shit-eating grin. It’s really unnerving. Then Creed does his Creed thing and pulls me in, pecking me on the tip of my nose with his lips before releasing me with a pat on my cheek. “You’re so smart, Riley Benjamin.” And he walks down the hall, chuckling.

Oh, fuck.

This is getting bad. Creed has never been a violent man, but what Collins’ former foster father has done has him fucking contemplating premeditated murder. I mean… I can’t blame him after seeing what I saw, but still. Murder?

A few minutes later, I hear the gleeful rasping squeal that is uniquely Collins and the tension leaves my body and my heart warms at the sound of her laughter. Creed reappears at the same time I plop back onto one of the couches with a laughing Collins thrown over his shoulder.

My eyes momentarily snag on the roundness of her ass and the smoothness of the backs of her thighs. I also don’t miss the Creed-sized handprint near her ass as well. My cheeks heat and my dick twitches at the thought of Creed spanking her. My mind flashes to the images of her bound and gagged and I quickly shove them away, giving her a huge grin when Creed finally sets her back on her feet. I slip my Vans onto my feet and push to a stand.

“Sleep well, Snow?” I ask her, ruffling her hair as I pass her to head towards the steps of the bus.

“Very, I haven’t been able to sleep that hard in a very long time.” She says softly behind me as she follows me off the bus, Creed right behind her to lock up.

“It’s not the only thing that’s been that hard in a very long time.” Creed mutters under his breath. Collins chokes on air and I feel my face heat, remembering earlier when I had come to the sound of Creed and Collins doing…whatever they were doing to make her moan like that. I kept facing forward to hide my embarrassment.

We round the corner to the restaurant that Steve had booked out for us. Collins catches up to me and links her arm through mine. I glance over at Creed who’s caught up to us and he seems blissfully unaffected by the fact that his girl is currently clinging to me. Neither of them know you’re fucking crushing hardcore on her. You’re her newly appointed best friend. Be that for her.

“Have you ever been to this restaurant?” she nods toward the entrance.

Words & Whiskey.

“Yeah,” Creed answers, slinging an arm over her shoulder and kissing her temple as we approach the front door. “When our tours take this route, Steve usually books out the same restaurants because the owners are all familiar with us and are able to keep out other patrons to reduce the risk of paparazzi invading our personal lives and downtime.”

She nods, “That makes sense.” Creed opens the door and ushers us in with extra flare. I roll my eyes and jab him in the side with my elbow when I pass him. He seems a little more tame now that he’s got his eyes and hands on Collins, so I relax, knowing his crazy isn’t shining as brightly as before. He lets out a dramatic umph and clutches his side before pulling me into a headlock only to smack a sloppy wet kiss on my cheek.

“You’re disgusting,” I say, though I’m chuckling as I wipe my cheek on the shoulder of my shirt.

“You love me.” He says, patting my cheek like he loves to do, and walks up to Collins, wrapping an arm around her waist. She melts into him. I can’t deny how much I love the way her body relaxes when she’s around him. That she can finally just release the tension she’s been clinging to for so long.

She hasn’t asked for her phone and I’m not sure if Creed has clued her in to anything yet, but I leave it be.

The rest of the crew is already seated within a large circular booth at the back of the restaurant. This place is actually pretty cool. It’s got warm tones throughout and dim lighting. There’s a mini stage in the opposite corner that serves as the speakeasy on weekdays, but on weekends it turns into a stage for smaller bands and the occasional karaoke DJ. Tonight I guess it’s karaoke because an already drunken Tony is up there singing along to False Pretense by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I roll my eyes. How appropriate.

Bear and Ayla sit at one end of the booth, talking and laughing amongst themselves. Creed ushers Collins in next to Ayla, then slides in after her, and I sigh while sliding in last, knowing I’ll have to tolerate Tony. But I’d rather it be me than Creed while he’s still half in and out of his crazy state. Definitely me over Collins sitting beside him. Tony is unpredictable when he’s sober, but he’s worse as a drunk, like when he was continuously verbally harassing her at the club. I couldn’t be more thankful for him passing out when he did. While I was trying to not combust at Collins dancing in my lap, I’m not sure I could’ve taken it if she’d done the same for someone like Tony who would only debase and degrade her for dancing.

“You want to split this appetizer sampler?” I hear Collins shout over Tony’s shitty singing and I look up to see her eyeing me and Creed. “I know they’ve got other fancy stuff on the menu, but greasy finger foods sound delicious.” She practically moans the last word and Creed and I both freeze and he shifts, no doubt adjusting his hard on as he slips his hand to her thigh under the table.

I place a hand over my chest and groan playfully. “A woman after my own heart, Snow. This is why you’re my best friend.”

Creed’s head snaps to me, his face a mask of mock horror. “I thought I was your best friend?”

I laugh at his expression and nudge his shoulder, hating that I still have to yell over Tony’s song. “Can you blame me? She’s the fucking coolest. How can I not give her the number one best friend spot?”

“Ha!” Collins pumps her fists into the air as Ayla laughs and Creed says at the same time, “You got me there.”

The girls start talking after placing their order and Creed leans in with his chin propped on his fist like he’d rather be nowhere else but right here, in the thralls of girl-talk.

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