Page 10 of Scorched King

“I really don’t mind. It will save you time and money.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t need to worry about saving money. The earnest look on her face was too damned sweet, and I had a feeling that saying no would hurt her. “I’ve got my scissors in my bag. I can do it now. It won’t take long, I promise.”

“You keep scissors in your purse?”

She laughed. “I keep everything in my purse. In my line of work, I need to be prepared for anything. Whether it’s a wardrobe malfunction or a hair emergency, I have learned it’s necessary to keep a lot of supplies on hand.”

“Smart, girl.” Her hand in my hair stilled for a moment and I could have sworn her breath hitched. Those two simple words had meant something to her.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice so low I barely heard it, but I felt it across my skin like a gentle warm breeze. I froze, unable to think beyond the sensation of her sweetness washing over me. I blinked against the feeling. What the hell was wrong with me? Clearly it was time to stop drinking.

“You really want to do it now? Wouldn’t you rather stay at the party? Have some fun?”

A gentle laugh rolled through her. “I’m not much of a drinker. I came more for the company.”

My eyebrows raised at that. “Well, don’t worry about drinking. I’ve done more than my fair share tonight, so you’re good. I’m not sure what kind of company I’ll make tonight, though.” I hesitated, hoping that if I just stopped talking my loose tongue would control itself.

“Where do you want to do it? Your room?”

My brain numbed at the thought of taking this beautiful creature to my room and the things I could do to her there. In fact, the idea of her sprawled on my bed with her legs wrapped around my head had just imprinted on my brain. But doing anything with her in my room was the worst idea possible. I should walk away now and get as far away from her as I could.

She was too sweet. Too young. Too everything for me.

“We’ll go to the kitchen,” I said far too gruffly as evidenced when her face fell, although to her credit she covered it quickly. I didn’t intend to offend her or come across ungrateful, but my dick wanted to be in charge tonight and I was going to have to fight it a lot harder than usual. With that in mind, it was better not to get too friendly so she didn’t get the wrong idea.

As much as I was attracted to her, and as good as the idea of burying myself in her pussy sounded, it wasn’t going to happen. There were boundaries I said I wouldn’t cross, and getting involved with someone as good as her was one of them.

“Okay. Let me get my bag.”

I nodded, and she hauled ass back to her table, whispered something to one of the girls, and then grabbed her bag.

I dragged myself off of the couch, knowing this was somehow going to be a mistake no matter how much I intended to keep this simple. The first time I’d laid eyes on Sasha, I’d felt a pull in my gut that I took as a solid warning to stay the hell away from her. And to this day nothing about that had changed.

All the women at the table turned and laid eyes on me and I inwardly groaned. I could tell by the looks in their eyes exactly what they thought was going on here, and that sent a ripple of annoyance running down my spine. Not that I normally spent any time on giving a shit about what other people thought about me. Fuck them.

I bypassed their table and headed into the industrial sized kitchen. When we’d converted this place from a lumber mill, we’d made sure to make this place a fortress that could house all of us and any of our loved ones if the need arose and thatincluded a kitchen where large quantities of food could be made when necessary.

Mostly, it was used for club parties, but over the years we’d hunkered down here for multiple situations. Weather being the most common. But there were times when our enemies had to be taught some critical lessons, and we’d found it necessary to take extra precautions to keep everyone safe. Which reminded me that I needed to go over the new safety protocols that Tel had recently put in place. The club was damned lucky to have him on our side, and I planned to do whatever it took to keep him there.

Fuck. I brushed my fingers through my hair as the responsibilities of being Club President broke through my drunken stupor. Which prompted me to swipe another bottle of whiskey from the liquor storage cabinet before I settled into place on a stool at the massive stainless-steel island that filled half the room. I was going to get one goddamned night of solid sleep if it fucking killed me.

I’d barely settled into place when Sasha entered the kitchen with her massive purse.

“What the fuck is that?” I laughed, looking at a bag that looked half as big as her.

“What? I can’t exactly use one of those ridiculously tiny bar purses if I want to be prepared.”

I laughed too. “Maybe you shouldn’t carry around the damned kitchen sink.”

She plopped that mother fucker on the island with a loud thunk and immediately started rifling through it. I had to admit I was curious to see what all she kept in there when she produced a small, zippered pouch.

“Here we go. Scissors, combs, brushes, hair spray, gel, water bottle, you know, the basics.”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “A fucking comb is basic. The rest of that is girly shit.”

She sniffed. “Well, this girly shit is going to get your hair cut done without it looking like I took a pair of garden shears to it.”

I hated to tell her that it wouldn’t faze me a bit if that’s how it turned out. I didn’t have an ounce of metro sexual nothing in this body, and all that mattered was keeping it out of my eyes and out of my way.

“Well, then have at it. I’m not too worried about how it’s going to look, but I really do appreciate you saving me some time.”

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