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Issy and Dom weren’t exactly quiet. Issy’s laugh always travelled, but I didn’t mind. Mia being out of the picture would be good for the two of them. They might get to spend some time alone.

I just had to wait for them to go to bed so that I could sneak out.

When Issy finally came into the room, Dom was with her, guiding her into bed before dropping a kiss on her forehead and giving me a mischievous smile. She was asleep before he left the room, and I waited a few minutes after hearing my bedroom door close before I tip-toed out of bed.

Really, I had no hope of getting to sleep anyway. I was never comfortable in a new place, even if that place was just down the hall from my normal slumbers. The nightmares would come for me as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Quietly, I pulled on some trainers and my knee-length coat from the stash I’d hidden under Issy’s bed.

If I was subtle enough, Rocco and Andy might not notice me slip past them.

More likely, Rocco would offer to drive me and lecture me the whole journey.

At least I’d save money on a taxi.

A throat cleared behind me the second I slipped out of the room. Dom stood there, leaning against the wall, arms and ankles crossed. It was darker out in the hallway, casting his face in just enough shadow for him to look more menacingthan usual, the real son of Ivan Belov. A look he and my dad shared.

I’d seen it before when sneaking off to see Dom in my teens.

“Where are you off to?”

I flexed my hand in anger. Of course he was waiting outside for me.

“What’s under the coat?” he asked, jerking his chin toward my bare knees. “Don’t tell me there’s nothing underneath.”

I rubbed my thighs together, trying to make myself as small as possible. “Why are you suddenly so bloody interested in what I’m doing?”And flirting with me?

He seemed to think it over for a second, and then he stepped forward with all the prowess of a panther, caging me into the wall. He pulled at the tie of my coat and brushed it off my shoulders until the sleeves gathered around my elbows.

“That’s more like it,” he said, his eyes roving down my body. “I bet you never end up sleeping in that, though. I bet someone always rips it off with their teeth before fucking you.”

Fucking hell. My breaths increased, my chest heaving slightly. He was undoubtedly toying with me in his nasty, drunken state.

“But not Jared. Not tonight. Or any other night.”

“Yes, tonight,” I hissed, trying not to wake Issy. If he could just say Jared’s name a little quieter. “I’m going to let all of my frustration out on him. Use him like you would Mia.”

His jaw clenched. “You? Have angry sex? You’re a pillow princess.”

I gave a sharp exhale. “I don’t know why you have a drink and suddenly think you know me again, but I can assure you I am very enthusiastic in the bedroom.”

He bent his head to whisper in my ear, “Prove it.”

In my shock, his low voice ran down my spine and I panicked that he wanted to watch me sleep with Jared. Or maybe a sex tape. Surely, he didn’t mean me and him.

“You’re a drunk pig.”

“And you’re a horny drunk,” he said, his hand sliding down from my shoulder to my wrist. “Maybe I’ll have to make you sleep in your bed with me. Then I can stop you from sneaking off.”

“If I want to sneak off, I will. You can’t stop me.”

He pursed his lips, trying to stop his laughter. “If foreplay to you is a chase, I’m game.”

“You disgust me.”

“And you disgust me,” he snapped, his face inches above mine. “Thinking he deserves you, stooping so low to go back to him. It repulses me how little you think of yourself. It almost makes you as undeserving as you think.”

I slapped him. Hard. The thwack was loud in the hallway, and then there was silence.