Page 8 of Power
“We’ve lost an entire day with her.”
“Archer connected with her at lunch. He made sure she will be thinking about nothing except him. Good or bad, remains to be seen.”
“Hmm.” He turns to stare out of the window. He is a man of few words unless he’s telling you all the delicious ways in which he will kill you.
“Jealous?” he asks, pinning my insecurity with alarming accuracy, as usual. No one knows me as well as he does, except for Archer. But even then, there are things that fall below Archer’s level of interest. Me living in his shadow is one of them. But it’s expected. The younger brother of the golden boy. The heir. TheKing.
“No. You forget I know her from before. I was responsible for watching her every move and ensuring her future with us.”
I swallow, my mouth suddenly flooded with saliva. Every time I see Bailey, I’m awestruck by her beauty. Her brilliant smile and shy personality make it impossible not to be drawn to her. With only a two-year age gap between us, I feel like I know her better than Finn and Archer. They are both six years her senior. Suave, sophisticated, and actively involved in the House of Hearts for longer than me, they sometimes lord that over me. But I’ve seen Bailey at her most vulnerable. They don’t know how intensely I used to watch her. How much Istillwatch her. I lick my lips, my hands itching to open my laptop to see her in her home, unaware of my eyes on her. Archer would skin me alive if he knew, but that just makes it more exciting. It’s not that he cares I’m stalking her – that’s kind of the point of this endeavor. He would be pissed that he wasn’t involved.
“What are you thinking?” Finn murmurs, almost seductively, like he wants to bury himself in my mind and riffle through my thoughts, analyzing them while he strokes his hard cock.
I let out a soft pant when I think about that. He is a no-go, though. He and Archer have a relationship that is complicated. It isn’t sexual, but it is affectionate. Finn is Archer’s pet, a creature he strokes and takes care of, loves and indulges.
“She has an effortless beauty that radiates from the inside out. Her stunning green eyes sparkle whenever she’s deeply immersed in whatever draws her focus. It’s as if she’s radiating a kind of light from within. It’s something that I can’t quite put into words, but I know it when I see it.”
“Poetic.”
“I need her.” I can hear the longing in my tone.
He turns to search my face, highlighted by the light outside, before he turns back contemplatively. “She is like a fine red wine that isalmosttoo exquisite to taste. But as soon as the cork is squeezed out of the confines of the deep green glass, you know you can’t resist taking a sip, and that’s when you lose yourself in her decadence.”
I narrow my eyes, disliking him at that moment for expressing what I can’t in words.
“Yes,” I croak.
“How soon can we initiate her?” he asks in a brisk tone that makes me turn my head. Somehow, he knew Archer was here, lurking in the doorway.
“Not yet,” Archer replies. “I want to make sure she is exposed down to her bare bones first. I want her toknowshe has dark desires. I want her to feed them. I want to take her to theRabbit Holewhile she is still so innocent and watch her corruption, encourage it. Demand it.”
My cock grows stiff when I think about her in the underground club where fantasies come true. Blindfolded, apprehensive, clueless as to the depravities going on around her.
My mouth has gone dry with the anticipation. “When?”
“Soon,” Archer replies. “Very soon. First, I want to test her. I want to see if she can be loyal to me.”
“You’re going to test her?”
“I’m going to fuel the darkness that I know lurks under that virtuous exterior. She won’t be able to resist going against her principles.”
The gleam in his eyes thrills me. I want to see it. I want to be a part of it. I need it like I need air to breathe. I need to see her give in, yield to his seduction and allow him to take her wherever his wicked mind leads her.
“I have to go,” I blurt out. I have to see Bailey. I have to watch her and release the tension that is building up inside me over finally having her where we want her, but needing to wait before I can touch her, caress her, kiss her, slide my cock into her.
I brush past Archer, but he slaps a hand on my chest. “Do not be late tomorrow. She will crumple under the intimidation of all of us. She will be forced into submission with you watching her. Are we clear?”
“Clear.” He doesn’t need to demand my attendance as my King, or my brother. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
He nods and lets me go.
I scoop up my laptop from my office desk next door to Archer’s and head out into the night, slipping into the waiting car idling at the curb. The sleek dark machine slides silently into the darkness, allowing me to flip open the laptop and click on the folder where the camera feed in Bailey’s apartment is stored. I had these set up before she even moved in. I was responsible for her securing this apartment in the first place. There isn’t a single section of her home that I don’t have eyes on. I want to see her at her most vulnerable.
Pressing the button to the separator screen, watching as it slowly inches closed, sectioning the driver off, I stroke my cock through my pants, my gaze finding Bailey already in bed, naked, the sheets bunched down, exposing her perfect tits.
I reach out and gently caress the screen over her body, unzipping my pants and pulling my cock out. I groan as I start to tug, needing a quick release. I’ve been on edge ever since this morning when things went wrong.
“Bailey,” I murmur. “Bailey. Bailey. Alice. Fuck…”
