Page 42 of Queen of Spades

The bathroom door creaked as it opened, and I froze, the panic quick to return as I listened to the footsteps approaching, a blurry figure visible on the other side of the glass. A moment later, the shower door slid open, and a very naked Anders was watching me, an indiscernible look on his face. I backed up as he stepped inside, the water rushing over himas he stared at me. “I thought you were with your lawyer,” I mumbled stupidly.

“I told him to fuck off and call me once things are sorted out,” he replied, stepping closer to me, forcing my back into the shower wall.

“I watched you die,” I blurted out, fading out of view as his golden eyes flashed at me with his penetrating stare. He nodded slowly, and his hand came up to cup my face, shockingly gentle.

“I saw you die too,” he rasped, and my cheek warmed under his skin as he shifted closer to me, our thighs nearly touching. “Now, put your hands above your head.”

A groan escaped my lips as I lifted my hands up and cupped them behind my head, leaning back against the wall. His fingers skimmed up along my thigh as the blood rushed to my groin, my cock growing stiff between us.

“You belong to me,” Anders whispered, and I closed my eyes as he gripped my length, torturing me with slow, gentle strokes. “They will never,ever, touch you again. Tell me you understand.”

I bucked into his hand, chasing more as heat began to build inside of me. “I understand,” I breathed. He pumped me in his first, harder now, sliding up and down until I was leaking and thrusting against him. My hips bumped against his until I felt his erection pressing into me. “Fuck, Anders!” I groaned, my nails digging into my scalp. He would let go of me soon, I was so close now. This was when he would step away, leaving me wanting and desperate. Instead, he pressed closer, his body melding into my side as his tongue raked up my jaw before catching my earlobe between his teeth.

I groaned low in my throat as he brought his lips to my ear. “Come for me, Levy,” he murmured, and I spilled my release into his hand, moaning his name. “You belong to me,” he repeated softly, and I nodded, my eyelids shuttering closed.

“I’m yours.”

Chapter twenty-six

Erik

Two months later

Taking over as the head of a major organization was no cake walk, and somehow, three of us were smack in the middle of it. I could swear, we were like ships passing in the night now. Grace, Anders, and I were busy, on the phone all hours of the day and night, maybe spotting each other at a distance once or twice a day when one of us wandered into the kitchen for something to eat. Jesse and Levy flitted between the three of us, helping out whenever they could, but most of the time they were at the beach or the pool as Jesse taught Levy how to swim.

Somehow, all of us were finally under the same roof again, and we saw each other even less than before. It was frustrating, to say the least. I missed my Angel and Jesse. Levy was coming out of his shell more and more lately, visible more often than not. He was even letting his hair grow out, and I thought he looked sexy with his floppy black hair. Hell, I even missed Anders.

Maybe Iwasworking too much.

I groaned and checked the time on my phone. It was 7 pm on a Friday night, why was I still in my office? Throwing open the door, I headed toward the living room where Grace was normally camped out with her laptop and her phone, but it was empty. Frowning, I headed upstairs instead to check Grace’s room, but it was empty as well. I checked Jesse’s room next, and it was also deserted.Where the fuck was everybody? Did they all go out and leave me behind?

Grumbling a little, I knocked on Anders’ door and walked inside, finding him at his desk. Well, at least I wasn’t the only one who’d been abandoned. “Hey, where is everyone?” I asked. He sighed and looked up from his laptop, scanning me briefly with a small frown.

“Levy said something about their project downstairs. I wasn’t listening,” he confessed, looking back at his laptop.

That fucking project again, hm?A few weeks back, Levy and Jesse had taken over the guest room downstairs, even going so far as covering the secret window so we couldn’t see what they were working on in there. I’d sort of forgotten about it, my curiosity waylaid by all the work I’ve had to do.

“And Grace?” I asked, rolling my eyes as Anders’ lips pulled down in annoyance, not bothering to look up this time.

“What about Grace?” he asked absently, continuing to type.

“Do you know where she is?” I snapped, and he sighed and shut his laptop, running a hand through his hair.

“No, I don’t. Let’s go check if she’s in the clubhouse with them,” he replied sharply, and I smirked as he stood and brushed past me, forcing me to follow at his heels.

We tromped downstairs, listening as voices filtered out of the guest room, the door firmly shut with a ridiculousFunOnly Clubhousesign someone clearly handwrote tapped to it, and aNo Work Beyond This Pointsign someone else made tapped underneath. Jesus, were we twelve again? Three of us had gotten massive responsibilities dumped on top of us and the other two decided to regress back to childhood.Unbelievable.

“Higher I think,” Levy’s voice carried toward us. What the hell, were they playing with legos or something? Anders scowled and rapped on the door sharply, crossing his arms over his chest as we waited.

The door cracked open, and Levy’s face appeared, glancing at us both. “Password?” he asked in a goofy voice.

“Don’t fucking test me,” I snapped back, and Levy rolled his eyes.

“Phones in the basket, no work allowed beyond this point,” he told us, dropping his voice. I muttered something about finding a babysitter for the children in this house and tossed my phone in the little basket beside the door. Anders grimaced but did the same, and Levy smirked and stepped back, letting us inside.

“What the-” My eyes widened as I stepped inside the transformed room. They’d painted, making the walls a dark, sultry purple. The old furniture was gone, and had been replaced with a couple of arm chairs, a little bar cart, and… well, I had no clue what some of the things were but I assumed they were for sex, the way Anders teeth ground together. But that was nothing compared to what was in the center of the room. A series of hooks and anchors were installed in the ceiling— which explained the horrific drilling I’d put up with last week—and thin red ropes hung from them.

Grace, my beautiful, sexy Angel, was suspended above the ground as if floating. Her arms and shoulders were bound underneath her, and her head was tipped back, her hair cascading like a golden waterfall toward the floor. More ropes around her waist and hips forced a beautiful arch in her back, and one of her legs was suspended straight up in the air like a dancer. Her other leg was bent, her calf pinned to her thigh, and forced out at an angle so everything was on display.

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