Page 33 of Sinful Desires

“I—”

“And don’t lie to me either. Because I know you left.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“If you’d let me fucking talk,” I growled in frustration. “We had to re-up.”

Her eyes narrowed, clearly not satisfied with my answer. Then again, she was never satisfied these days. “You went back to that club,” she accused. “Without me.”

She knew we’d been dealing with a club. She’d been perfectly fine with it until she found out that it was a sex club.

“I didn’t realize I had to bring you…” I trailed off, my eyebrows bunching together in confusion. Not to mention…Talissa hated other women. I assumed it was jealousy, but telling Jessica that would only piss her off more.

A scoff slipped past her lips as she stared at me like I was the lousiest boyfriend on the planet, and honestly, I probably was. Things have been different with us for a while, and all she did lately was bitch and complain. Cheating on her wasn’t something I would have ever contemplated before, but sometimes, it felt like she deserved it. She was selfish, conceited, irrational, controlling. It felt like I couldn’t catch a damn break.

The bitch was a nutcase for sure. I mean, she was in here for accidentally killing her ex-boyfriend and new girlfriend. The only reason she avoided jail was because it was proven to be accidental, and because she was under emotional duress when it happened. Sounded like a load of bullshit to me. She purposely started that fire. But because it supposedly went haywire and spread to the house they were in, she was let off easily.

“That’s your excuse?” she continued, her eyes blazing with fire. “There are naked women there and you thought it was appropriate to just…” she trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief.

Annoyance gnawed away at me. “You act like I’ve never seen a pair of tits before,” I retorted, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration.

Her hands balled into fists within her lap. “I’m your girlfriend; you shouldn’t want to see anyone else’s.”

It was impossible to win an argument with her. She always twisted things and made them bigger than they were. I cared about Jessica immensely—just not in the way she wanted me to, and that was out of my control. When we first got together, things were great between us. But as Jessica’s social ranking increased, that’s when the pressure settled in, and she started lashing out. Eventually, I felt suffocated.

My shoulders slumped in defeat. As much as I wanted to say my peace and go off on her, it wouldn’t help anything. “I don’t,” I caved. “I care about you, and only you. The only reason I even go there is either for the guys or when we need a fresh stash. You know that you can’t go for obvious reasons.”

Her features softened slightly as her guard slipped a fraction. “Do you mean that?” she pushed, searching my face for any sign of a lie.

“Of course.”

I moved forward and dropped to my knees on the floor between her legs. I reached out and took each of her hands in one of my own. My lips glided across the smooth skin of the back of her hand, and they feathered upwards toward her wrist. When my eyes met hers again, they were glazed over with lust, but sex was the last thing on my mind right now. Especially since I’d already fucked Raven earlier.

Raven.

My stomach twisted with guilt as she bulldozed her way to the front of my mind. She kind of snuck up on me. Raven Shaw wasn’t conventionally pretty; she was tall, curvy, and had some extra meat on her stomach that made wrapping my arms around her more enjoyable.

When I caught her checking me out the first time, it didn’t really phase me. Girls stared at me all the time. But then, when she didn’t give up despite my obvious disinterest, I started flirting back in subtle ways. As time went on, she became more attractive to me, and when she barged into my room wanting to fuck me, the rest of my restraint dissipated into thin air.

“Good,” Jess said, slicing through my thoughts. A small smile graced her lips as she peered down at me. Her fingers moved through my shaggy, brown hair and a groan ripped from my throat as she started massaging my scalp.

“Are you hungry?”

When she nodded, I rose to my feet and tugged her up with me. Our fingers slid together easily, giving off the illusion that we were made for each other.

“Oh,” she said in a rush, like she was just now remembering something important. “Is there any way that you can talk to Collin about Madison or something? She’s been really bummed about this whole thing between them.”

Here we go again.

“What do you want me to say?” I gritted out with an edge to my tone.

She lifted one shoulder in a shrug as she skirted past me toward the door. “I don’t know. Just convince him to talk to her or something.”

“That’s not my place, Jess.”

Rolling her eyes, a small sigh tumbled from her lips. “I get that, but you could at least mention it. Doesn’t he miss her?” My eyebrows bunched together as I considered that. To be fair, it’s only been two or three days since that happened, so it probably hasn’t even set in yet.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “He hasn’t said anything.”

A frown tugged at her mouth, but she nodded as she was forced to accept that. The tension rolled out of my shoulders as the conversation halted, giving me the space I needed to fucking breathe.

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