Relish: A Vicious Feast Book 2 (21 page)

I suppressed a moan when he nipped at my pulse. “Oh, you know…”

“That’s the thing.” He licked at the spot he’d bitten. I lost my battle with the moan. “How can I know if you won’t tell me?”

Oh, two could play this game. I thrust my pelvis upward and rubbed myself against him. He cursed into the pillow then rolled away. The sudden chill he left behind unnerved me. Slowly I settled my arms to my sides and turned toward him.

“No,” he said between pants. “I came here to get some sleep.”

My jaw dropped. “Seriously?” And here I was ready to go all the way with him, no questions asked.

He breathed in one more time then met my gaze. “Seriously.” 

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-T
HREE
D
ENSE

Luka did indeed come to my room for sleep. As soon as he’d calmed down from teasing me into insanity, he’d shutdown. His breathing lapsed into soft snores. And like the stray I knew him to be, he was gone by the time a streak of sunlight sneaking in through the space between the drapes woke me. The damn bastard left me hanging…again. I should have been used to it by now. Maybe if I’d apologized clearly last night instead of teasing him we could have reached an arrangement. At least relieved some of the tension.

No go in that department, so I damned him to the deepest pits of hell all throughout my morning shower. The entire night he’d kept me up while he slept like a baby. During the bit of shut eye I did get, no dreams—of the disturbing chanting, being chased by a mad man, or subconscious Luka variety. It was the only thing I was thankful for. God knew what would have happened if I’d woken up freaked out by one of my crazy dreams. Then again…I shook my head as I dried my hair. Not going there. Getting him off once during one of my episodes was more than enough. I didn’t need the awful pall of sexually harassing him hanging over my head.

Just when I thought I’d figured him out, he goes and does something uncharacteristic. Forget simply stupid. Luka, even as a guy, kept me guessing every step of the way. We might as well have switched sexes. A part of me liked him for it. The other part hated him with relish.

In a surprisingly lush hotel bathrobe, I ambled to the desk and eyed the clock. “Shit.” I dropped the towel I used to dry my hair and hurriedly pulled on jeans and a thick sweater. I’d worry about underwear later. The band’s schedule was tight today. If I missed breakfast, I had no idea when I’d get a chance to hang out with them again without the hustle that came with performing in front of thousands of adoring fans.

Taking the time to pull on socks at least, I shoved my feet into my boots as I hopped to the door. I reached for the knob only to double back for my camera. I’d gotten so used to not having its weight around my neck during my break from photography that I could almost function without it. The lie I told myself.

Only a couple of floors separated my room from the suites at the top. The hotel must have had thirty rooms tops. No wonder the band thought it best to rent the entire thing for the Belfast leg. Easier that way when you were a gagillionaire.

The elevator bobbed when it reached the top floor. I used my weight to pull aside the accordion door and stepped out. Four suites dominated the floor plan. Two on each side. Yana neglected to tell me which one Demitri and Phoenix shared. Luckily, the room service rolling tray parked beside one door tipped me off. I ambled to it, rehearsing my apologies. Just as I raised my fist to knock, I heard Phoenix say something about my being late and the door opened.

She gasped at the sight of me. Her surprise quickly transitioned into a leaping hug. I stumbled back to catch my balance and wrapped my arms around her. She buried her face against the side of my neck and sobbed.

“Are you okay?” Her breath tickled my skin.

Beyond her shoulder, I spotted the rest of the band sitting around a fully laden table. Breakfast galore. Plates of sausages, bacon, eggs, and grated cheese surrounded bowls of black and white pudding. My mouth watered. I’d forgotten about dinner last night. Yana, in festive Irish green, poured tea into a dainty tea cup while Dray shoveled food into his mouth. Demitri concentrated on a newspaper. And Luka, legs crossed, brought a cup of coffee to his lips, his gaze on me the entire time. I returned my attention to Phoenix.

“I’m fine,” I said, stroking the back of her head.

She held me at arm’s length and looked me over, not believing the sincerity of my response. It was hard to take her seriously in chocolate-colored sweats with the word Lickable in a rhinestone arch above her boobs.

“Luka got there in time,” I assured her, pinning her with my gaze.

She glanced over her shoulder at Luka and frowned at him. “He shouldn’t have allowed you to go in the first place. Graham’s the worst.”

Luka merely arched an eyebrow at her. The one with the sexy bolt I loved. He stabbed at a slice of sausage with a fork, the tines hitting the plate harder than it should have, and brought the piece to his mouth. My mouth watered for a whole different reason. I swallowed and played referee before an argument broke out.

“Don’t blame Luka. I left before the concert was over.” I squeezed Phoenix’s shoulder. “Plus, he couldn’t have stopped me even if he wanted to.” This I said while staring daggers at my stray. Luka’s shoulders lifted ever so slightly. I rolled my eye at him.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Phoenix placed a kiss on my cheek.

Warmth suffused my chest. “I’m sorry I made you worry. And I’m sorry that I went out and got drunk with that shithead Graham. The band…”

“Don’t worry about the band.” Demitri folded his newspaper with a deft flick of his wrists and set it aside. “We’ve weathered worse.”

I had an idea of what kind of “worse” he referred to.

“What are you doing, Phoenix?” he barked at the love of his life. “Surely Dakota must be starving.”

As if Demitri’s teasing admonition brought Phoenix back to life, she ushered me to a vacant seat between Dray and Luka then settled herself in a seat beside Demitri. He patted her thigh and placed a scoop of black pudding on her plate. She kissed his cheek and dug in, merrily humming to herself. Ugh! Their sweetness gave me a toothache. I hazarded a glance at Luka. He had all his focus on the tablet beside his plate displaying guitar chords. Must be the new song he added to the set list.

Dray leaned toward me and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “Just say the word. I have the perfect poison ready. Leaves no trace. Makes it look like natural causes.”

A chill ran down my spine even if the sweetness of his gesture touched my heart. Demitri choked on his coffee, sputtering into a coughing fit. Yana laughed into the back of her hand like a maniac. Phoenix kept eating while slapping Demitri between his shoulder blades.

Luka chuckled then said, “And I know the best place to bury the body.”

Already sucked into the madness, I added, “But Dray said it would look like natural causes. There’s no need to hide the body.”

The mad scientist blushed, keeping his gaze on his plate. “Raging Pistols is never opening for us again.”

He said it with such conviction, my eye welled up. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him toward me for a hug. In typical Dray fashion, it took him a moment to return the gesture. When he did, I planted a kiss on his cheek and whispered “thanks” into his ear. His blush went from pink to crimson. Everyone at the table laughed.

“She’s mine,” Luka told Dray.

Those two words killed the laugher in the room. Yana, Demitri, and Phoenix all stared at Luka, who returned to the tablet he’d been studying since I sat down. Speechless, I sat there wide-eyed. Unaffected by the hint of a threat in Luka’s words, Dray picked up his fork and resumed eating.

Tension weighed heavily around the table after that. I didn’t know what to make of Luka’s sudden declaration. My fingers itched to drag him out of the suite and torture him until he spilled the truth. Surely he was kidding. Never in my life had I been anyone else’s but my own. And he ruined my breakfast with the band. Unforgivable. Even with Yana’s and Phoenix’s effort to start a conversation, I couldn’t find it in myself to engage.

Demitri excused himself, citing practicing the new chords for tonight. Phoenix and Dray quickly followed after him. And Yana’s phone rang. I caught the instant relief in her eyes when she pushed away from the table and left the room to answer the call.

Chewing on my scrambled eggs, I gripped my fork hard enough for my hand to grow numb. I kept myself from stabbing him with the tines by moving chunks of potatoes around. My tongue hardly tasted the delicious spread in front of us.

“Breathe,” he said after a while, not taking his gaze from the tablet.

I dropped the fork on my plate with a clatter. “Breathe? Breathe!” My entire body shook from the effort not to flip the table over. “And how am I supposed to do that when I’m trying really hard not to murder you right now.”

That got his attention. Like a languid feline, he eased back against his chair and stretched. The movement pulled up the hem of his sweater just enough for me to catch the trail of blond hair leading toward a place I dared not think about while utterly pissed off at him. I refused to get distracted.

“I’m sensing hostility,” he said then popped a grape into his mouth.

My jaw hurt from gritting my teeth so hard. “What’s with you suddenly getting all possessive, huh? Last I checked I am no one’s property.”

One corner of his lips stretched up into a sinfully sexy grin. Oh, I hated him for what he made me feel. His actions unraveled me as much as his words did.

“The last thing I think of you is property.”

“Oh, yeah?” I rested my elbow on the armrest, balancing all my weight there. Maybe more space between us would allow me to think clearer. At least, I assumed it would. “Then what’s with warning Dray off?”

Heat replaced the amusement in his gaze. “Dray is an impressionable guy. You shouldn’t be teasing him.”

“Don’t make this my fault, mister.”

Like a quick cat, Luka leapt forward. His knees corralled me in my seat. He closed his hands over the armrests of my chair. His hovering forced me to look up. My annoyance saved me from melting because of his sudden closeness.

“You drive me crazy,” he said, his lips a stern line and his brow creased. I opened my mouth to respond, but he beat me to it. “When you’re not around, I wonder what you’re doing. When I know I’m in the same room with you, my first instinct is to search for you. Can’t you see?” He ran his fingers up my arm. “All I want to do is touch you. All I think about is kissing you. Even when I’m writing, I can’t shut off thoughts of you.”

His words should have been the most romantic things to reach my ears in forever. But the way he said them, all frustrated and pissed off, it was hard to feel mushy. I squirmed in my seat and scrunched up my face in disbelief.

“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way,” I said.

His answering bewilderment caught me off guard. “Don’t you see?”

I searched his expression, utterly confused. “What?”

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?”

“A better hint would help, yes.” He may think I was teasing him, but I wasn’t. The way he acted freaked me out. Why couldn’t the guy just say what he really meant without having to go around in circles?

He pushed off my chair. With quick reflexes of my own, I shifted my weight forward so the chair wouldn’t topple backward. Luka shoved his fingers through his hair and paced the length of the room. Then he said, “Why do you have to be so dense?”

I crossed my arms. “Sure, insult me more.”

With an incredulous expression, Luka stomped out of the suite, muttering something about being unable to share a room with an idiot. Slack-jawed, I didn’t know what to make of what just happened. Minutes passed before I could remove my gaze from the door Luka slammed behind him.

“What the hell just happen?” I asked the empty space.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-F
OUR
S
ESSION

“And then he walked out,” I said in complete disbelief, raising my hands up in the air and dropping them over my stomach again. I lay stretched out on Samrah’s couch. From breakfast with the band that crashed and burned, I went straight to my shrink session and spent the last fifteen minutes explaining what had happened. “What kind of idiot does that?”

Expecting a reply, Samrah’s silence baffled me. I glanced over the arm of the couch at her. She tapped the tip of her pen on the notepad. Her meticulously shaped eyebrows pulled together, carving out a deep valley between them. Frown lines emerged at the sides of her lips.

I huffed, returning to my prone position. “Your face is gonna stay that way if you brood much longer.”

“Not falling for that,” she mumbled, clearly still in the middle of figuring out my predicament. Luka left me confused and flustered. He staked his claim like I was some gold mine up for grabs. Then he babbled on about me making him crazy.
Me
? Making
him
crazy? After leaving me hanging last night without any hope of release? The hell if I was the one making him crazy.

“And he just left?” Samrah asked—an upward pitch to her voice like she couldn’t quite believe my story either.

“That’s what I said.” My patience reached its limit. I gripped a throw pillow to keep from bursting into a full on temper tantrum complete with hotel suite mass destruction. “He left me muttering to himself. What am I supposed to make of that?”

Samrah’s lamented sigh reached me from all the way across the room. “I know that you’re really fixated on wanting to figure out what Luka is up to, but remember why you’re here. Why we are here.”

It was my brows’ turn to come together. The corner of my lips turned down. “I know. I just can’t move on until I understand what happened.”

“Have you considered the possibility that Luka was in the process of confessing his feelings for you?”

I pushed up onto my elbows to give Samrah the full effect of my scowl from over my shoulder. “Are you telling me that Luka has feelings for me? Come on! The guy’s in love with Phoenix. Isn’t that why you’re on this tour? So that he can work through his issues concerning her?”