Desire (30 page)

33

Jace

Isaac is all over
Maya, they are practically fucking on the dance floor. If he didn’t own the place, I might go over there and ask them to leave.

Is it two o’clock yet? This has been the shittiest night.
I’m leaned up against the bar, making sure the bartenders are cutting people off and calling cabs when they’re supposed to. Piper is hanging all over some douchebag that keeps grabbing her ass, not that she appears to mind. She sure is having a great time, well, she was until he got here.

She spots them long after I do and her jaw drops. It is so fucking obvious how much they love each other. Even the drunkest dancers turn their heads to watch
them for a moment. The way he kisses her, the way she holds on to him. You see that shit in movies, but it’s not even close to the real thing.

I was convinced it was just the sex at first
. I always knew Isaac would get all head-over-heels with his first girlfriend. Then I thought it was the desperation from wanting something that you can’t have. But it’s not. Piper has to see it too, she can’t stop looking at them. I wonder if she wants that. Hell, I wonder if
I
want that. Maybe we all do, because I see the same look on every face that turns towards them.

Speaking of drunk dancer
s, Piper’s relatively sober friend just snuck her another drink. We cut her off a fucking hour ago, she is blasted. Technically, it’s my job to stop it, but she didn’t drive here and she was on the prowl for someone to go home with from the moment she walked through the door. Who the fuck am I to stop her?

“You have to stop doing that
,” I shout over the music as I walk up behind her, startling her as she takes another unauthorized shot.

“Holy shit, you scared me.”

God, she is so fucking pretty. “I see you, ya know. You…” I take the shot glass out of her hand, making sure my fingers graze hers, “have been cut off.”

She bites her lip, the corner of her mouth lifting into a mischievous
grin. Holy shit, do I want to get in trouble tonight. “But the thing is,” she coos, leaning into me. “I know the head of security at this place. He lives in my building.”

I laugh. “Do you think that
means you get special treatment?”

“Actually, I don’t know,” she answers, growing more serious. “I can’t really tell if he likes me or not.”

Fuck. “He likes you just fine, but he’s working.”

“Yeah, but even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t
take me home, would he?”

“Piper…”

“It’s kind of obvious that he just wants to be friends.”
You are so fucking wrong about that.
“The thing is, I just can’t tell if he’s interested in any…” She drags her finger under the collar of my shirt, locking eyes with me. “Benefits.”

I swallow a knot in my throat. “He’s not.”

“They why the hell do you keep looking at me like this?” she asks, putting her hand on her hip. I love how forward she is, it drives me fucking crazy in such a good way.

“It’s insanely complicated.”

“It really doesn’t have to be. I’m not going to cry in the morning, Jace. That’s not how I am.”

“That’s what they all say.”

“Fair enough.” She laughs, batting her eyes sweetly toward her friend who was about to drink her own shot for a change. The girl hands it over, giggling and kissing her cheek before she runs off for another. Piper throws it back and shoves the glass against my chest. “I guess our hallway encounters are already awkward enough.”

“Hey.” I grab her arm. “No more. I’m serious. I think it’s time for you to go home.”

“Home?” she chuckles. “Oh, I’ll be going home, but it won’t be mine. Why do you think I came here?”

She turns and saunters away, walking impressively straight for someone whose that fucked up. She is Irish, after all. Our encounter chased away the douchebag that was groping her and she doesn’t give him a second glance as he
grinds against someone else.

Where the fuck did Isaac and Maya go?

34

Maya

“So this is your office?” I squeal, pulling my heels off as soon as my feet land on the carpet.

“Yes.”

“And you do actual work in here?”

“All the time.”

“But that’s not why you brought me up here, is it?”

That c
ocky tilted smile makes my clit throb, I am so fucking hot for him right now. “No, I was actually hoping I could get a BJ from this hot chick I met on the dance floor.”

“Well,” I coo. “You are the owner, after all, that should help
your chances.” I glance down at his crotch, licking my lips.

My head spins
and I stumble when he throws his arms around me with a growl, attacking my neck. “This dress.” He slides his fingers beneath the spaghetti straps and pulls them off my skin, letting them snap back. “Looks fucking amazing on you.”

“I know.
Why do you think I wore it?”

“I noticed
that you didn’t wear a bra.”

“Nope.” I lean forward
, dragging my lips across his jawline as I slide my hand down his flank. “You know what else forgot?
Panties
.”

His eyes roll back. “Okay, that’s it,” he gr
unts, picking me up and setting me on the desk. I groan into his kiss as he slides he finger up my thigh slowly until it’s inside of me. “I want this. Your mouth can wait.”

Panting, I’m fumbling with is fly, spreading my legs as he nips my earlobe. Then he rests his head
in the crook of my neck, his laugh heating my skin. “What?” I ask.

“I
’m sorry. I cannot fuck to the
What Does the Fox Say?
song, it’s just wrong.”

“Huh?”
Cocking my head to the side, my hearing zeroes in on the muffled music just as it hits the off key chorus. “Oh,” I giggle, pressing my forehead into his as he kisses the end of my nose. “Yeah, okay, this is weird.”

He picks me up and carries me over to the leather couch he’s supposed to be sleeping on when he’s with me. It is pretty comfy. “This is going to be such a hit at furry conventions. That’s the only thing I can think of when I hear it,” Isaac explains.

“Furry conventions?”

“You know, people who dress up
in dog and cat suits to get off.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, haven’t you heard of that?” he laughs.

“I have not. I guess you learn something
new every day.”

“Did you have a good week?”

“I did.” We talk most nights but he still asks me every time he sees me in person. I can’t ask him back. His arm is draped across my shoulders, his fingers toying with mine as I lay my head on his pec. “I’m really glad you let me come.”

“Already? You sure were quiet this time.” I poke his ribs as we chuckle together.
“But seriously, the only reason you had to ask was because it’s my club, Maya. You can go out whenever you want.”

“I know. But I wanted to see this place.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah, it’s rea
lly awesome actually. I can see you in the way it’s laid out. And in the colors.”

His eyes brighten. “
You can?”

“Ye
s. But I’m kind of ready to go home.”

“Are you sure?
”

“
Uh huh,” I yawn. “I am really sleepy and would love a shower.”

“Oh. Okay.” He looks a little disappointed as he moves to get up.

I grab the collar of his shirt and pull him to me for a kiss. “I didn’t mean right this second.”

“Oh really?”

“Aaaahooowwwoooooo,” I whisper in his ear, dragging my finger across his collarbone into his shirt and tracing circles on his bite. My hands roaming his body, I sing along to the rest of the song while he laughs, flipping into his lap right as it transitions to
Clarity.
This song kills me every time I hear it, it always makes me think of him. For a second, I start to choke up. “I really miss you, Isaac.”

His eyes are a little glossy. “Me too.”

35

Isaac

“Put your shoes back on, we’re home.”

“But my feet hurt.”

“I know, but you can’t walk around barefoot.”

“I hate shoes, I always have,” she whines,
her bottom lip sticking out as she fumbles with one of the strappy heels and I try not to laugh. “I never used to wear them when I was a kid and my feet were always stained bright orange from the clay dirt.”

That
unexpected Maya factoid is so fucking adorable. I’m getting her drunk again soon. “Okay, we’ll compromise then.”

She squeals delightfully when I scoop her up, her relaxed legs bouncing around as I walk briskly
into her building, glancing around to see if anyone’s watching us. I’m wearing a hoodie, but she is obviously her. This crazy hair everywhere is a dead giveaway, not to mention that we just got out of her car.

I take a few steps through her door into the
dark apartment. Maya is whispering all kinds of naughty things she is way too tired to actually do into my ear and she keeps sucking on my neck, totally distracting me. My shins slam into something solid and I double over, nearly dropping her.

“Oh, crap!” she cries out as I struggle for balance. “I forgot! Put me down.”

“What the hell is all this?” I ask when she flips on the light switch, revealing dozens of file boxes stacked in the middle of the path to her room. AJ is on top of the tallest stack, rubbing the corner manically as she purrs. “Hey kitty.” I pet her head and she instantly latches on to my wrist, nuzzling her wet little nose in my palm as she kicks my arm with her back feet. “Why are you so spunky?”

“I just brought these home today, they don’
t smell like her yet. She’s going to have a bald chin if she keeps it up.”

I laugh, carefully removing my arm from the fur ball
’s grasp. Cat scratches will be hard to explain. “So what’s in them? Are you taking on cold FBI cases or something?”

“No,” she replies, stumbling as she stands on one
bare foot to take off the only shoe she’s wearing. “You remember Professor Osbourne, right?”

“Yep, thesis advisor and favorite teacher. I am listening to you even when I’m staring at your boobs,” I tease.

“Oh, stop it. You do not leer at me when I’m talking.”

“So I am good at hiding it, then.”

Rolling her eyes, she shoves my shoulder playfully. “Anyway,” she says, pulling her dress over her head as she walks toward her room. If they are fucking watching right now, I’m going to kill them. “He’s working with someone who is attempting to officially prove the Riemann Hypothesis.”

“Should I even ask?”

“Okay, so nontrivial zeroes are like….” Drunk math Maya is even more confusing than regular math Maya. I have no clue what the hell she is talking about and the fact that she’s naked and using an accented, sleepy version of her super excited nerdy voice is making it even harder to pay attention.

“
Maya, I need the layman’s explanation.”

“But that was the layman’s explanation,” she
squeaks, pulling an oversized t-shirt over her head. “Even I’m just starting to understand it.”

“
So if nobody’s solved it in 150 years, why are they still trying?”

“Not solved,
proved
. Most practical applications assumes it’s true, that’s not the important part. Actually, it would be a bigger deal if wasn’t true,” she tries to explain. I just blink at her. “There’s only a few mathematicians skilled enough to even try, so in a sense, it’s a status thing. That and it’s a Millennium Prize Problem, so you get a million dollars if you figure it out.”

“There are a lot easier ways to get a million dollars,” I laugh. “Is that why you want to try it, or is it the status thing?”

“Are you kidding? I want to work for someone who’s working for someone who’s
thinking
about working on it. I don’t know if I’ll ever be that smart. And even if I was, I’m not sure that’s what I’d want to do.” She yawns loudly, rubbing her eyes. “But they do other stuff too, it would be a kick ass job, err internship. So I brought home basically every book and paper ever written on it. That’s what you just tripped on.”

“I’m pretty sure this is why we have computers now.”

“I know,” she yawns again, stumbling toward me with her arms outstretched. “But I like looking at it on paper.”

She is out like a light as soon as her head hits the pillow, snoring softly as the moonlight shimmers on her
tangled hair. I run my hand over her back and she mewls, scooting closer to me. Just as I’m about to doze off, my phone vibrates on the nightstand. Fuck.

“What’s up?” I whisper, quietly sliding out of bed.

“Isaac,” Jace says, obviously frustrated. “I fucked up.”
Great
.

“Tell me you didn’t…”

“Nope, I blew her off and started flirting with someone else so she’d get the hint. And that majorly backfired, man. She is
pissed.
”

“Good.”

“No, it’s not, because she’s also fucking hammered and about to go home with a seriously sketchy dude. And I mean fucking sketchy. Her friends are all gone and I can’t get within ten feet of her.”

“Piper
’s a big girl, Jace,” I hiss. “She can do whatever she wants.”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t want to do this
guy,
trust me
. Maya needs to come get her.”

“Maya is passed out cold.”

“Then get down here yourself. I am dead serious. This isn’t a jealously thing, I fucking promise.”

“Fuck!” Before I even think about it, I’m pulling my pants on. “Fine, I’ll be right there.”

By the time I sneak back into the club, Jace has already texted to say he’s leaving. It’s almost time to close and the crowd has thinned considerably, so it isn’t difficult to spot Piper. Holy shit, Jace was right. This dude is creepy. There’s nothing glaringly wrong with him. It’s just something about his sneer, his stance, his body language that screams trouble and not the fun kind. For a second I hesitate because I think I know him from one of the clubs and getting Piper off his arm becomes a lot more difficult, yet critical. But I don’t, he just radiates that same nasty, twisted energy.

Piper has been
way
over served, she can hardly stand up and this asshole is loving it. Her eyes are glazed over and half closed until they squint and widen with rage, obviously figuring out who I am as I get closer. She pulls away from the creep and starts to scream at me, but she tumbles over, thankfully into my arms instead of his.

“Okay, Piper
. Let’s get you home,” I say calmly, glaring at him.

“I’m not going home if
you’re
there,” she slurs.

“Maya is really worried about you.”

“Yeah, right,” she laughs, twisting away. “There is no fucking way Maya is still awake, she’s a lightweight.”

“
You
are barely fucking awake,” I tell her. “Can you even see this guy?”

“Fuck you, Isaac. I can do what I want.”
Philosophically, I totally agree, but she can barely hold her head up and her eyes are totally gone.

“Piper, did he slip you something?”

“Oh my God, you’re such a fucking hypocrite!” Piper slams her hands against my chest to push me away, but there’s nothing behind it. I’m pretty sure she’s just incredibly drunk, but I don’t give a shit. She’s coming home.

“Look asshole,” the creep says, grabbing Piper
’s arm. She wobbles on her heels and blinks like she’s trying to see clearly. “Fuck off. There are a lot of drunk chicks standing around, this one’s mine.”

Piper furrows her brow and cocks her head to the side, looking back and forth between us. “Which one of you said that?”

“He did,” we answer at the same time.
Goddammit.

“
This woman is unable to consent,” I tell him. “Do yourself a favor, walk away.”

“
Fuck that.”

As with most things, money is probably the easiest way out of this shitty situation.
“Okay then, how much?”

“
What?”

“
I am buying this one night stand from you right now. How do you feel about $500?” His posture changes from some useless douchebag bar fight stance as his face contorts in confusion. “If you can’t turn that into something better than humping a passed out drunk chick, I can give you a phone number that will make that happen.”

“
That’s fucking sick, dude,” he spits in disgust as he reaches toward her. “I’m not letting you take her.” Okay, maybe he’s slightly less creepy than I thought.

“
Shit, I didn’t mean I was literally buying your one night stand, bro.” Normal guys still say bro right? “This is my girlfriend’s best friend.” I have to let go of Piper to get my wallet out, giving him a chance to grab her, but fortunately she topples toward me as his eyes lock onto the cash.
Jace, you are splitting this one with me because you fucked this up.
“How do you feel about $1,000?”

“
Bullshit.”

“Count it.”

I slap the cash against his chest, throwing Piper off balance. The asshole just starts counting and doesn’t even look up as we walk away. Halfway to the door, Piper realizes whose arm is around her waist and tries to push me away, being loud and making a scene. The last thing I fucking need right now is attention. Restraining her to drag her out of here is not an option. I grab her arm as she stumbles away, pulling her against my chest as she flails.

“
Luke really does want her dead you know. He’s going to try,” I snarl into her ear, stopping the scream for help that was about to come out of her throat. “I can stop him, but not if you get me fucking arrested right now. Do you want to be responsible for it or not?”

Her angry eyes lock with mine, but her lips trembl
e. I am totally unprepared when she starts crying. At least everyone staring at us now thinks this is just a normal lover’s quarrel and stops paying attention. Piper doesn’t fight me at all when I help her to my car, glancing out from under my hood to make sure Glory’s fucking spies aren’t watching. I haven’t seen them around in a while, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t here.

“Do you want to go home or would you like to get a cup of coffee? I’ll let you interrogate me.”

“Interrogate you?”

“Yes.”
We both take a deep breath and stare at each other. “Honestly, Piper, I don’t blame you for hating me at all, but I
am
fucking sick of it. And I feel like shit chasing you out of your own home every time I come around, plus I’m putting a strain on your relationship with Maya.”

“So, what, you want to talk it out? Maybe hug afterwards
,” she says sarcastically.

Somehow I manage not to laugh. “Something like that.” She rolls her eyes at me. “I am in love with her and I’m not going away until she tells me to.”

“Guys like you don’t go away when we tell you to,” she shoots back, glaring at me. Despite her best efforts, she only holds onto the rage for a few seconds before yawning and rubbing her face.

“You’re not wrong. But I
would resist slipping into full on stalker mode and try to stay away,” I reply, surprising her with my honesty. “I’d
really
fucking try.”

We drive for a few minutes in silence. “
Some coffee sounds pretty good,” she mumbles.

“Where to?”

“Well, this will probably be a really fucked up conversation and I’m still pretty wasted, so let’s go to a drive thru and stay in the car.”

“Good idea.”

“I’ll try not to scream at you.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

By the time she downs her first cup of iced coffee with a triple shot of espresso, she’s actually relatively alert, considering. “I really do try to be nice to you, Isaac.”

“I know.”

“I do a pretty good job, for me anyway.”

“For you?”

“Didn’t Maya tell you about the basically court ordered anger management therapy?”

“No,” I laugh.

“Really?”

“This is the first I’m hearing of it, but I
can’t say I’m exactly surprised,” I admit. She laughs a little along with me, but once it fades away we’re left sitting in an awkward silence. “Go ahead and ask me, Piper.”

Inhaling deeply, she looks at her knees and fiddles with the paper straw wrapper. “Did you hurt her?”

I swallow and close my eyes. “Yes.” I wince as her fist clenches. “But probably not as bad as you imagine.”

“Ya think maybe you could expound a little on that?”

“Unintentional moderate to severe bruising. From rough sex, not the kinky shit.”

“That’s it? You honestly expect me to believe that?”

“That’s what happened. I never really hurt her. I scared her a lot when I yelled, and –”