Page 8 of Midnight Masquerade

Cum spills into my boxers in response, my blood roaring through my veins in a rush. Fuck my life. She's innocent. Untouched. A goddamn unicorn virgin, just like me. My hands tighten around the steering wheel in a last-ditch effort to keep them to myself.

"Good to know," I say, my voice a rough rasp even to my ears. "Because I haven't either."

She stares at me for a second and then smiles devilishly. "You've never gone home with a guy?"

"Nope, afraid not." I chuckle. Her sassy attitude and smart mouth are far too goddamn attractive. Something about her teasing is just damn appealing. When Jack talks all the fucking time, it annoys me. Listening to her is the exact opposite of annoying. "I've never taken anyone home with me, either."

She blinks like a little owl, clearly caught off guard. "You're lying."

"Nope."

"I'm pretty sure you're doing the hot, single billionaire thing wrong, Drake," she says. "You're supposed to have notches in your bedpost and a drawer full of panties you've collected from your conquests or something."

"Yeah, none of that bullshit sounds appealing to me, Madeline." I glance over at her. "Doesn't sound sanitary, either. A drawer full of random dirty panties?"

"I don't make the rules, Whitlock." She shrugs one shoulder, making her horn bob again.

"Thank fucking God. I have serious concerns about your rules right now."

She giggles, peeking over at me. "So you aren't a billionaire manwhore. Why not?"

I pause, trying to decide how best to answer. "You want the truth?"

"Depends." She narrows her eyes on me as we pass beneath a streetlight. "Does it involve bodies in your basement?"

I smile despite myself, and then it slips. Fuck. I've never told anyone the shit I'm about to tell her, but she's trusting me with her safety here. The least I can do is trust her with my truth. If she's going to be living in this town, she's bound to learn it eventually, anyway.

"Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. I fucking loved everything about it."

"What changed?"

"When I was twelve, I went into this old, crumbling mansion on a dare on Halloween night," I admit. "I didn't know a man had walked away from rehab and started living there. I walked into the bedroom, and I guess I scared him. He jumped out of the bed, wrapped in this white blanket, screaming bloodymurder. He thought I was there to take him back to rehab. I thought he was a fucking ghost. I hauled ass out of there, convinced I was going to die. Naturally, I wasn't watching where I was going. I tripped on the stairs and fell down the entire flight. Broke my arm and my right leg, and managed to knock myself out."

"Oh no," she whispers.

"Yeah, it was bad. But that's not even the worst part." I pause again, my heart pounding. I can't believe I'm going to tell her this shit willingly. "The paramedics hauled me out of there in front of half the town, covered in my own piss."

"Oh, Drake," she whispers.

"You can imagine what that was like for a twelve-year-old kid. My classmates never let me live that shit down." Had it not been for my brother and a few friends like Steele, I would have been a complete outcast. "So yeah, unicorn, I'm dead serious. I've never brought a woman to my place. I don't even like most people."

"That's honestly kind of sad, Drake. You were just a little boy, terrified and in immense pain. It could have happened to anyone."

"You're right. But they were just kids, too. And to them, it was hilarious," I murmur. "Reminding me about it every day for the next six years was even more hilarious."

My heart squeezes in a vise when she reaches across the console. I don't know who the fuck this girl is or where she came from, but the minute she slips her hand into mine to comfort me, I decide that I'm marrying her. Whatever it takes, whatever I have to do to convince her, I'll do.

She's it for me, my one. My future.

"Do they still give you a hard time?" she asks. "If so, I'll help you egg their houses."

"Not really," I murmur, lacing our fingers together. "Some people say a lot of shit about me spending so much time alone,but most people around here forgot about what happened back then long before my brother and I made our first million. You never really forget when you're made to feel a certain way, though."

I certainly never did. Most people leave me the fuck alone about it. But some people…well, some people just don't fucking get it. To them, I'm odd. They whisper about me when they think I can't hear. I don't really give a shit, though. The whole experience made me…harder in a way, less trusting. I don't let people in. I don't get close to people. I mind my goddamn business and keep everyone at a distance. It's just easier that way.

At least, that's what I always thought. But everything feels different tonight. For the first time in my life, I don't want easy. I don't want safe. I don't want distance.

I want the woman seated beside me, even if it means exposing all my raw parts and uncomfortable secrets.

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