Page 42 of Falcon's Prey

I stopped at the entrance just to take him in. He was shirtless in a pair of gray sweatpants, with a gleam of sweat covering parts of his skin. Why did he have to wear those pants today?

Squaring my shoulders, I walked in and picked up the remote for the gym. I walked back to where I usually did yoga, but this time, I pressed the button for the pole to come out. I didn’t have to turn back around to know Ren had noticed because he stopped punching.

I didn’t turn around; instead, I turned on the surround sound and put on “Gods & Monsters” by Lana Del Rey and got down to it. I put my hand on the pole, took a step on my tiptoe, then did a twirl on the pole for warm-up. When I landed, I held on to the pole with both hands and shook my hips, gliding them down to the beat of the music, then back up. I did another twirl. This time when I landed, I put my hands as high they went and twirled, lifting myself up, feeling the burn in my body. I opened my legs and put the pole between them, then let go of one hand and straightened my body. I was slowly spinning, and he was right there watching me. He stirred on the press bench, not doing weights, but staring at me.

I lifted up again only to put the pole behind my knee, and I let go. My eyes met his as I was semi-suspended through the air, and the intensity almost caused me to collapse. I kept working the pole like I’d never worked it before, dancing to the beat of the music. Once the song was coming to an end, I climbed up to the top, then crossed my legs, my body in a sitting position. I didn’t look at Ren as I opened one of my legs so I could let go. At the same time, my body started to drop. I heard him shout my name. I ignored it. I crossed my leg a few feet before my body hit the ground, and my body came to a halt, stopping me from falling on my ass, which, judging by Ren’s shout, he thought would happen. I was breathing heavily as I touched the floor again.

Ren was right there in front of me, his body tense. I think he was scared I could have gotten hurt. I took a deep breath and looked into his icy eyes. I took a step toward him, and he didn’t move.

“Are you going to tell me that’s your gun?” I cocked a brow at him, referring to the bulge between his pants. It was long and thick, and sooner rather than later, it was going to be between my legs, pounding me into oblivion.

One second I was in control, the next Ren was. He reached out, putting his arm behind my head, pulling me closer to him.

“Do you always dance like that?” he asked with an edge to his voice.

I shrugged it off. “When the mood strikes.”

He didn’t say more, and I was feeling bold, so I reached out to touch him between his legs. The proof that no matter what he said, he wanted me as bad as I wanted him. I barely grazed him when he yanked my head back.

I groaned and not from pain.

“Kneel,” he commanded.

I smirked at him and did as he asked. My knees dropped to the floor in a heartbeat. I went for the waistband of his pants.

Ren pulled my hair again, signaling for me to stop.

Once I did, he brought my face to his crotch.

“Suck.”

The word was low. I got the feeling he was trying to keep his cool. So I did as he asked. I sucked through the thin material of the sweatpants. I heard his soft inhale as I did it, leaving a wet mess in the cloth. As I worked my way to the tip, I was yanked back, and I fell on my ass. I glared up at Ren.

“You want my dick, Ember? You have to earn it.” Then he walked away, leaving me panting on the floor.

“I hate you!” I screeched after him, having the last word.

He was making this harder than it needed to be. He would either leave by my hand or Silas’s, and I’d rather it was mine.

Ember Remington waslike lava under my skin, slowly rising and boiling, but I couldn’t let it erupt. It would be a clusterfuck if I did. All she saw were the half-truths and lies I’d fed her. I usually didn’t care what women knew about me, but with Ember, I wanted her to go in with eyes wide open—and that was the problem itself. I couldn’t scare her without telling her the truth, and in saying the truth, I’d be condemning myself.

Storming out of the gym facility, I made my way outside to the terrace; that way, I could keep an eye out in case she tried to leave the penthouse. When my eyes fell on top of the kitchen island, I remembered what Ember looked like touching her body. At that moment, I’d never hated a job more than I did right now.

People liked to run from their demons, but I chased mine. Now here I was stuck in limbo for a cause I wasn’t sure I believed in anymore.

Pam had fucked up, and I needed to fix her shit.

Hell descendedon earth when you least expected it.

Three days after humiliating myself, I woke up to a string of text messages from my friends. All of them congratulating me, yet demanding to know why I hadn’t told them about my new boyfriend.

As soon as I read those words, my stomach dropped. Opening the browser app on my phone, I searched my name and waited for the results.

Fuck me; I was going to be sick.

My body shook as tremors worked their way through my body as I stared at the picture on my screen.How could I have been so reckless?Closing the browser, I checked my text messages and my missed calls. I didn’t know if I should be relieved or scared that there were none from Silas. Immediately I called him, and it rang twice and got sent to voicemail. I felt like I was going to throw up.

I opened the browser app again, and I stared at the picture once more as if that would make it disappear.

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