Page 8 of Trial of Deceit

“Who said I’m wondering?”she asked, stepping backward while he approached her.She did her best not to let her gaze drift below his neck.

“I can tell by your face,” he said, smirking when she fell onto the bed.“You already look so pretty beneath me,” he said.“Tell me, Just Ari, have you ever looked at yourself in a ceiling mirror, moaning loud until you can’t see yourself anymore because your eyes rolled to the back of your head?”

An uneven breath passed her lips while she slowly shook her head.Goosebumps spread across her skin as he towered above her with desire pooling in his eyes.“No.”

Jediah grinned.“Tonight’s your lucky night, my Ari.”

He wasn’t the type to lust after women he met the night before, but when he was unceremoniously woken up the next morning in an empty bed?He wanted her.

No.

He needed her.

Did shereallynot know who he was?

Jediah was never the one who woke up to do the walk of shame.It was always the women.Everyone deserved to remember that they were beneath him.

But Ari had run out after she’d gotten a phone call, leaving him to send Cameron on an important task.He needed to get his dick wet somehow.

He’d never had this happen to him before.He and Ari didn’t have sex, yet he felt like a cheap whore.

“Cover yu hood, bredda,” Dimitri said, tossing clothes at Jediah, who sneered at him.

Dimitri was three years Jediah’s senior.They’d been friends before Jediah understood what friends were.

Not bothering to be modest, Jediah hopped out of the bed and slipped the clothes on.“Where is she?”

“Don’ know.”

“You made her leave?”

“Mi did fi mek her stay?”Dimitri asked, then hissed his teeth.“Come.Yu have the meeting with Isley.”

Jediah scowled.He hated how Dimitri knew he was the only one he allowed to speak to him in any kind of way.But, more than that, he hated Isley Pinnock more than he hated not getting what he wanted.

He didn’t want to go to such an early morning sit down.The only thing on his mind was that woman from last night.Her eyes behind her big, square-framed glasses, scared to look him in the eyes.Her plump lips and how often she wet them with her pink tongue.He could’ve barely restrained himself from touching her during the car ride, and now he was hardening from thinking about her.

Snapping back to reality, he made his way downstairs.Four darkly tinted SUVs were parked in a single file at the hotel’s entrance.Cameron stood at the passenger door of the third vehicle.He opened the door for Jediah to enter while Dimitri entered from the other side.Cameron drove off and joked around with Dimitri until they arrived at the Richardson estate, which was nestled in the hills of St.Ann.

“Good morning, Jediah,” greeted Bryony Miller as Jediah entered the foyer.She was his nanny who’d become his substitute mother, still looking out for him at the age of twenty-nine.She’d willingly chosen to go fully grey a few years ago, and always kept the dyed hair in a neat, low bun.Her circle-frame reading glasses were tucked into her hair, as if it was a part of her body.

Jediah groaned.“I know that look, Miss B.I just came home.Don’t stress me.”

Bryony crossed her arms as he walked past her.“I told you to visit—”

Jediah perked up and rushed out, “He’s dead?”

“No,” she answered and his shoulders slumped.

“So, I don’t have a reason to visit him,” Jediah said, snickering at Bryony’s loud huff.

“Acacia has been asking for you,” she shouted at his back, making Jediah pause at the staircase.

As if she heard her name, Acacia entered the foyer.She was in a simple, pink house dress.She must’ve woken up not too long ago.Despite her skin being as pale as snow, Acacia was beautiful with her brunette hair and rosy cheeks.Jediah always thought she looked like a doll, but he’d never allow those words to leave his mouth.But Jediah would never allow those words to leave his mouth.

Not even if she was his fiancée.

Acacia’s focus drifted from Bryony to Jediah.Some color rushed to her cheeks as she opened her mouth to greet him.Jediah turned his back, mounting the stairs two at a time before Acacia could get the words out.He went to the private wing that hosted his bedroom.Seconds after he entered and closed the door, it pushed inward.

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