Page 14 of Wicked Pursuit

Flashing your tits at anyone who looks. You’re about to make me have to blind the whole damn club.

I snort.

Wolf

Don’t try to call my bluff tonight, Ruby. You won’t like what happens.

I stare at my phone. This is the first time he’s called me by my actual name. The warning is a big flashing neon sign. It makes me wet.

I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me. At this point, I’ve made my peace with it. I’ve spent my whole life unaware of how deep my well of recklessness truly goes—at least until recently. Now I’m in a speeding car with no brakes. Crashing is the only way to stop.

You could ask for help.

“I’m not ready for it to be over,” I whisper. I send a quick reply.

I guess we’ll see, won’t we?

I drop my phone into my purse without waiting for a response. He left me hanging all day. It’s only polite to return the favor. I decide to ignore the small voice pointing out that I’m treating my stalker like there’s something between us. There’s not. Or at least nothing I want to explore. He’s bringing out something toxic and dangerous in me, and if I had any sense, I’d cut him out of my life the way I’d cut rot out of an apple.

It’s a quick drive to the Tower, a club that brings in an interesting mix of college students, businesspeople lingering after happy hour, and a scattering of people in the life. I don’t know that we consciously picked a club in Jasmine’s territory as the place to congregate, but this choice ensures there’s no friction with the various territory leaders. My parents never feel perfectly comfortable when I end up in Ursa’s part of town. They haven’t forgotten the threat she represented in the time after my grandfather died.

The club itself is exactly as it used to be when I’d come here all the time, first with a fake ID that Zayne sourced and then legally at twenty-one: bumping music, a packed dance floor, and a VIP section that circles the top and is filled with private booths that allow us to people watch like modern-day royals looking at our subjects.

Michelle appears in front of me, looking even better in person than she did in the video. She pulls me into a tight hug. “You really came.”

“I said I was going to.”

“Yeah, but this is twice in a week. How many times have you cancelled in the last year?”

Shame heats me as I realize she’s right. I’ve been going through the motions in more ways than one. I give her a bright smile. “All that changes now. I’m here. Let’s do it like we did in the old days.” Not that I ever allowed myself to go as hard as she did. But maybe that changes now. I’m single, stalker or no.

“That’s my girl.” She hooks her arm through mine. “Zayne already claimed our customary booth. Drinks are on the way.”

I lift my brows. “Then what are you doing down here?”

“Just getting a closer look at the options.” She grins. “But it’s early yet. We have time to do our picking later.”

Michelle practically drags me to the dramatic staircase leading up to the VIP section. Our booth is right in the center, though there’s more than enough privacy to encourage getting up to illicit deeds. Zayne lounges in the middle of it, arms outstretched across its curved back.

He smirks when he sees me, the pretty bastard. “Look who the ball and chain let out.”

“No more ball, no more chain.” Michelle releases me to drop down on one side of him, and I sink onto the other side.

He looks at me with interest. Zayne is built just like his father, athletic, with medium-brown skin and thick dark hair, and he’s got his mother’s beauty. He’s downrightpretty. Tonight he’s wearing a black suit with faint dark-purple pinstripes that elevate the look.

“It’s recent,” I say into the silence that stretches. “I’m still getting used to it, and he hasn’t moved out yet. That’s why I haven’t told you.”

Also the fact that we don’t talk as much as we used to. We haven’t since Luke and I started dating. Initially it was out of respect for my new boyfriend, because Zayne and I fucked a very long time ago before deciding we were better as friends. He flirts outrageously with anyone who comes into his sphere, regardless of their relationship status. Then the space was just... easier.

Which is kind of shitty, now that I think of it.

I clear my throat. “How have you been?”

He shrugs. “Same old, same old. Got a promotion to COO, which irritates Cassim to no end, but I’ve put in the work. He’s CFO now, but he’ll take CEO when Mother retires... If she retires.”

“She’ll retire.” Michelle leans against his side and props her head on his shoulder. “Just like eventually my old man will get tired of all the bullshit and step down. Cassim might think he wants that, but it just means more work for him.”

“Sometimes I think he gains sustenance from work.”

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