Page 37 of His To Claim

“Fuck off, Silver,” Drake says, calling Bass by his last name. I can feel their stares on me burning me from behind.

“Let’s go,” I murmur to Drake, pulling him with me toward the beach and ignoring the guys behind me. It’s foolish of me to think they’d let me go so easily.

“Not so fast, Little Red, I haven’t given you my congratulations,” Ace calls out, his deep, raspy voice coming from behind us.

God, his voice instantly sends a shot of heat right through me. He shouldn’t affect me this much, not after everything that just happened with Drake. Drake looks down at me and I tense.Can he see it on my face?The effect Ace has on me.

“I want nothing from you,” I shout, yet don’t sound convincing.

“Not even a little parting gift? Maybe another like the one I gave you the other night.”

I feel Drake’s body tense beside me. His grip on my waist tightens, his fingers digging into me.Son of a bitch, of course he would bring that up.His boys chuckle on cue.

“Ooo yeah, tell us about that again, man.” This time it’s Alek who speaks.

I look up and find Drake eyeing me curiously, a million questions running through his mind, but his glare turns straight to Ace. I hadn’t noticed before, but Jade and the guys are right behind us, a small crowd forming ready to enjoy the show.

I look over to Jade and she raises a brow to me silently asking what the hell Ace is talking about.

Alright, this is how he wants to play it out then, let's play. I squeeze Drake’s arm and smile softly at him before turning to face Ace. And fuck if he doesn’t look good.

He’s wearing the same leather jacket and black jeans he was wearing the other night, but this time wears a white V-neck shirtunderneath. His beanie hides his unruly blond hair while his blue eyes are almost clear in the moonlight. Ace stands across me, arms crossed over his chest as he stares hungrily at me, his bottom lip tucked between his teeth.

His smug expression irks me. “Yeah, Ace, why don’t you tell us about that again.” I step toward him slowly and can hear him growling as I approach. “Tell them about how you tricked me into coming out to meet you by pretending to be Drake. How when I came up behind you, you grabbed me and put your hands and lips on me.”

Behind me, I can feel Drake approach us. “You fucking touched her?” he snarls, coming toward Ace, but I hold him back.

“Let me remind you I did nothing you didn’t let me, Red,” he answers, a smug grin plastered on his beautiful face.

“You mean because I didn’t pull away quick enough,” I blurt out.

“I mean because you kissed me back,” he says, moving forward to meet me.

Ace looms over me, his head leaning down to meet my stare. The crowd gasps in unison and his grin widens. This fucker thinks he’s won, but he’s forgotten who he’s playing against.

I smile slightly, a smug grin now appearing on my lips as I walk up closer to him whispering loud enough that those closest to us can still hear.

“You wanna know why I kissed you back, Ace. Because I was thinking of him the whole time. He’s the one I came out to see. The one I was imagining running his hands up my waist and around my body. The one whose lips were claiming me. Claiming. What. Is. His.”

Ace’s face contorts in anger, and he’s suddenly fuming at my response. The crowd gasps louder, but this time I can also hear a few laughs coming from the audience, so I speak louder for everyone to hear.

“You only did that after I’d hung up on you and told you to staythe fuck away from me and mine. Don’t confuse my need for him with anything else.” I place my hand on his chest moving my fingers upward with every word. “I have my very own dragon to ride, I don’t need a lousy horse.”

I hear a bunch of oohs and aahs as I turn to Drake who’s grinning at me as he places his arm around my shoulder. He kisses me and salutes Ace as we take off toward the beach leaving the Horseman and his people standing alone, not bothering to look back.

“That shit was fucking amazing, Scar,” Jade says, laughing as she comes over to our table a few minutes later.

Jax comes up behind me lifting me up into his arms. “Fuck, you should have seen how pissed he was when you guys just walked away. I swear I saw fucking smoke coming out his ears.”

“That was dangerous, Scarlett,” Stella says nervously. “He’s pissed, which means he’s going to retaliate. Nobody’s ever challenged him like you are,” she continues, and I can see she’s truly freaked.

“Which is why he doesn’t know what to do. You could see it on his face. He was dumbstruck,” Ruby chimes in, also visibly proud of me which is odd.

“Yeah, and you embarrassed him in front of his followers. Which is exactly why you need to be careful. A show of power in private is different, but a stand-off in front of his people, fuck, Scar, I don’t know what he’s going to do.” Stella turns back to where the crowd was huddled a few moments ago but they’ve all gone their separate ways, not a damn king in sight.

“Relax, Silver, we’re good. He knows now that I can’t be fucked with. That I won’t allow myself to be played. Sure, he took an ego hit but he’ll get over it.” But sadly, I don’t sound very convincing.

Drake turns to me. “Scar, we need to talk,” he says, and I immediately cringe knowing damn well he’s gonna ask what happened.

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