Society Girls: Waverly (16 page)

K
nox

“Are you ready, Knox?” Reina asks me.

The party is in full swing, and I know we need to get up on stage, but no, I’m not ready yet. “She’s not here.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, but you said you were going through with this either way.”

“I am. I just…she said she’d be here. I thought she was giving me a chance.”

“She just did,” she says, nodding towards the door.

Waverly just walked in with some of her friends, and while they’re all gorgeous, she’s all I can see. She’s got on a black bra or corset thing with straps that look like they connect behind her neck. Her pants are lace. Just lace, with some high-waisted black panties underneath, covering her up enough to be decent, but making my mouth water all the same. Her red hair is loose and curly, just the way I love it, and I can’t wait to run my fingers through it again. I owe Stella, like seriously, she’s on my Christmas list forever.

“Knox?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry, Reina.”

Her husband, Matt, helps her to her feet, rubbing her baby bump before letting her go. I give her my arm, and make sure she makes it up the steps okay. Once we’re in front of the podium, the rooms goes quiet without her even saying a word. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and everyone in this room knows it.

“Thank you all for coming tonight. I know you were all expecting just another night of fundraising and fun, but we have a special guest here tonight. Knox Edwards is going to be working closely with the Corrigan & Co. Foundation on a project that’s close to his heart, and he wanted to share it with you tonight. Once he’s done explaining it, we’ll kick the press out, and have some real fun.”

The crowd all claps and cheers as she moves aside for me. I lean over, and hug her before adjusting the microphone, and taking a deep breath. I’m proud of what we’re going to be doing, but I’m scared, too. I want to do it with Waverly by my side, but I’ve got to see it through even if she’s not.

“Hi everyone. Before I tell you what Reina and I have been working on, I need to make an announcement. I’m officially retiring from swimming.” The press goes crazy, and so do some of the party guests. I hold up my hand, so they’ll let me continue. “I thought I had one more Games inside of me, but I’ve come to realize that while I love swimming, it’s no longer my life. For reasons I’m not going to share with you, I thought my success in the pool was all that defined me, but now I want more. I want to make a difference outside of the pool.”

“You’ve always done charity work,” one of the reporters reminds me.

“Yes, but I want to do more. Recently, I had a woman school me on a treadmill. She didn’t look like she was in shape, and so I judged her. I thought because she wasn’t stick thin, she wasn’t healthy. As I said, she proved me wrong that day, and has inspired me to be a better man ever since.

“Society looks at weight more than health, and yes, the two do go together to some extent. But that doesn’t mean a woman—or man—who wear a bigger clothing size can’t be in shape, or healthy. I know I’ve been guilty of thinking the way many people do, and for that, I’m sorry.

“It’s come to my attention recently that women, and even young girls, have watched who I dated in the past and tried to make themselves look that certain way, thinking that’s all that matters, but it isn’t. I slept with a lot of women, and I’m not here to deny that or make excuses for it. Most of them looked the same, and I have no excuse for that, either. I
am
here to tell you that as someone who was once starving, I don’t want anyone purposefully doing that to try and make them something they think is my ideal woman. The truth is, my ideal women has vibrant red hair that matches her kick-ass personality. She doesn’t starve herself to fit into a certain size clothes, and while I might be able to outswim her, she can outrun me on a treadmill any day of the week.”

I look out into the crowd then, and find her. She’s smiling at me, and I smile back. God, but I love her.

“I came to Reina with a plan, and she’s helping me make it a reality. I will be working with the C&C Foundation on a program aimed at making women and men of all ages realize they can be healthy and attractive without starving themselves. The Foundation already has programs in place, but we’re going to expand on them. I like cake, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a piece every once in a while, or every night if you want it. It may mean an extra half hour on an elliptical, or in the pool, but no one should be ashamed of themselves for eating. Our bodies require food, and we should love it instead of fearing it.

“I’m not going to take questions today, but there are information packets on the tables by the doors. Please pick one up, and set up an appointment if you want to help out, or just want more information. Thank you again.”

I start to walk off the stage with Reina, ignoring the questions that are coming from the reporters being led out of the room, until one stops me in my tracks. “Are you going to settle down with the redhead?”

Waverly answers before I can. “Yes, he is,” she tells him, jumping on the stage, and pulling me into a kiss so scorching I don’t know how the room doesn’t burst into flames.

“Hi,” I say when she breaks the kiss. I think the press have been kicked out, but I don’t really care right now.

“Hi.”

“I’m so sorry, Wave.”

She puts her fingers over my mouth. “I read the letter. I know. You don’t have to say anything else.”

I kiss her fingers and take them in my own. We walk off the stage, and I can’t help but push her up against the wall to kiss her again. “God, I missed you so much.”

“How long do you think we have to stay here?”

“Not long,” Reina answers for me. I’d forgotten she was right next to us. “People will want to meet you, and take some pics. Then you can sneak out. You can take tomorrow off, Wave.”

“Thanks,” I say as Waverly buries her face in my chest, embarrassed at being caught like that. My sweet, sexy, and sometimes shy, girl.

We walk the room, and I take pictures with pretty much everyone there. Some of them want pics with Waverly, too, and she obliges. Once we’ve almost come full circle, we run into my parents and grandma, who are sitting with Jane Corrigan, and a few of the Society women.

“Waverly,” my mom practically screams, jumping up to hug her as my girl laughs.

“I’m surprised she waited for you to get here,” my dad says.

“Is it just me, or is the fact that my mother is in love with my girlfriend weird?”

“Trust me, it’s better than being hated,” Isa says.

“My mother’s special,” her husband, Jake, adds.

“Yeah, that’s the word I was thinking of when she put a hit out on me.”

“Whoa,” I say.

“Yeah, that was a little closer to my reaction,” Isa says with a wink.

“Are you going to introduce me, Knox?” my grandma asks.

“Oh yeah. Sorry. Waverly, this is my grandma, Rachel Edwards. Grandma, this is Waverly.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ma’am.”

“Do you call Jane ‘ma’am?” my grandma asks.

“Um, no.”

“Then please don’t call me that. We’re old, but we’re not stuffy or formal.”

“Okay.”

“Run along now. We know you want to be alone.”

We hug and kiss everyone, and make our way out the door. I don’t know where to take her, but Waverly has it figured out already. She pulls a key card out of her purse, and leads me to the hotel elevators.

“I don’t want to stay here all night, but I can’t wait for us to get back to my place.”

“Whatever you want,” I say, and mean it. I’ll do anything for her.

W
averly

After my fourth attempt at opening the hotel room door, Knox takes the key card from my hand. “Don’t be nervous, babe. I’ll gentle with you.”

“Well, what if I want you to be rough with me?” I ask spinning around to push him against the door once we’re inside. I palm him through his pants, as he growls at me.

“I can do that, too.”

“First, we need to talk,” I tell him, reluctantly. I know exactly what he can do, and while I don’t want to wait, we need to say things to each other.

“I’m glad you can be the sensible one, because God knows, I just want to sink into your body.”

“Training,” I say, and then I’m the one being spun around.

“Your training saved me, but I hate it. I hate what you were forced to do, and I especially hate myself for throwing it in your face.”

“It’s because it helped me save you that I can embrace it now, Knox. I wanted to join the Society, but I was holding myself back. I know so much already, but it wasn’t my choice to learn it, and that’s something I could never deal with. Not until I saw Barb with that gun in her hand. It was then that I knew it didn’t matter how I was trained. I was going to save you because of it, and I can save others, too. I always knew it, but I didn’t feel it deep in my soul until that night.”

“I know you want to talk, but I don’t know what else I can say that wasn’t in my letter, except for this. You are beautiful, Waverly. I don’t want you to lose weight, or gain weight, or anything else unless
you
want to. I love every curve and inch of your body. I dream of your body, and what I want to do to it. I wanted to hurt you because I was freaking out, and I succeeded. It’s the one victory I never want to repeat. I will do everything in my power to never hurt you again.”

“I’m glad, because I won’t change for you. I thought about it, and wondered if I could, but I can’t. It took me a long time to get where I am right now, and I love the woman I’ve become.”

“I love her, too. Let me show you how much.”

I nod, and he kisses me. It’s not long before my clothes are on the floor, and I’m bracing myself on the desk in the middle of the room. Knox enters me in one hard thrust, and leans forward to bite my ear.

“Is that hard enough for you, Wave?”

“Yes,” I tell him, arching my back as he cups my breasts.

“No,” he says, pulling out and bringing us to the bed. “I want to see you, and touch you. Ride us both where we need to go.”

I climb on top of him, reaching out to hold onto the headboard so my nipples are above his mouth. We both groan as he enters me again, and I start to move. I only get control for a minute, before he pulls out again and slides down my body.

“You’re not wet enough yet.”

“I’m literally dripping, Knox.”

“Not enough,” he says, licking up my center as I cry out. “Ride my face, and show me how much you like it.”

I do as he says, moving over him as he licks, sucks, and bites me. He’s let his stubble grow out, and he rubs it over me the way he knows I like. It doesn’t take long until I’m bucking over him, and coming on his tongue.

I don’t have time to recover before he slides back up, and thrusts into me again. I’m still feeling the aftershocks from how hard I came, and I arch my back as another orgasm starts building. “Knox.”

“I can feel it. You’re going to come for me again, and then I’m going to follow you over. Once we’re done here, I’m going to take you in the shower, clean you up and let you suck me back to life before I fuck you again.”

I never thought I’d want a man telling me what to do, but I love Knox talking to me like that. It makes me so hot, I can’t wait to be on my knees with him in my mouth. Just the thought of it is enough to push me over the edge again, and this time I’m screaming his name as I come. I don’t stop riding him hard, because I want him to be as crazy as I am, and I get my wish as he bites the top of my breast when he empties himself in me on a roar. It’s perfect, because we’re perfect for each other.

No matter what happens, we can handle it. We’re more alike than either of us ever knew, and I know he not only respects me, but he loves me just the way I am. He did what he promised, and started putting my heart back together. I know he won’t break it again, and I also know that despite everything I had to go through, I wouldn’t change anything about my past. It brought me my best friend, and now it’s brought me the love of a good man. The Society is just the icing on the cake of my new life. The one
I
chose for myself.

R
hieve

I can’t believe I’m sitting in Reina’s office waiting for Calum. He was once my best friend, but when he moved away, he broke off all contact with me. Now that we’re grown up, I run into him too often, and despise what I know he’s become. He hides it will from the people in his social circle, and his family, but I stumbled onto his secret a year ago. So yeah, I know he’s not the upstanding businessman everyone else thinks he is. My personal feelings towards him don’t matter right now, though, because I need his help.

“Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what’s going on before he gets here?” Reina asks.

“No.”

I’m about to reveal his secret, and the little girl in me who was once his friend feels guilty about it. The woman whose brother is missing doesn’t care one damn bit. The two are warring inside of me, and I can’t ignore either one.

“No matter what it is, we’re her for you,” my mentor, Jade, tells me.

“Thanks.”

“He’s here,” Reina says, just before her doors open.

I have my normal reaction to Calum, which means it takes me a moment to catch my breath as he walks in. Tall and lean, but muscular, he has dark brown hair that’s cut short, and piercing grey eyes that seem to see right through my clothes to where my panties are wet for him. I don’t want to be attracted to this man, especially now, but I am.

“Reina, Jade, Rhieve. How can I help you ladies today?”

Reina looks to me and nods. “Rhieve needs your help with something.”

“That right, love? What can I do for you?”

“You can help me find my brother.”

“Rhys is missing?”

“Wait, what?” Reina asks, but I ignore her.

“He was last seen at Thorns in Norwich.”

“I haven’t been up North in months, and I don’t know of this place you mentioned. Is it a pub?”

“It’s a sex club,” Jade says. “Or rather, a chain of them in small towns around the world. One that seems on the up and up, and is
very
exclusive.”

“He knows what it is,” I say, glaring at him.

“Are you a member of Thorns, Calum? Can you help us get in?” Reina asks.

“This conversation is making me a little uncomfortable,” he says, pulling at his collar. Mr. straight-laced businessman all the way. Well, at least in appearance.

“You didn’t answer me.”

“I don’t believe I’m required to.”

“Rhieve, do you believe he can help you?”

“I know he can. He’s not just a member of the clubs, he
owns
them.”

“I most certainly do not!”

“You most certainly do. I heard you talking to one of your bodyguards at a party last month. I was in a room, trying to get away from the latest man my mother sicced on me when you came in. I thought it was him, so I hid behind some curtains. Imagine my surprise when I heard you talking.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“Wait, seriously?
You
own Thorns?” Jade looks impressed.

“No one can know.”

“No one will as long as you help me,” I tell him. “I’ll keep your secret.”

“This is an unexpected twist, Rhieve, and I wish you’d told me about it before Calum arrived. Regardless, what exactly are you expecting him to do for you?”

“Let me see the security footage. I tried to hack in, but the encryption is too strong. You didn’t even know he was the owner, so I’m guessing Ainsley hasn’t found her way in, either.”

“She did run into trouble with a routine hack, but other things came up before she could dig deeper. Since there were no reports of anything illegal going on, we let it go for now.”

“You would find nothing illegal, because I make sure nothing happens there that isn’t consensual. I protect the people who go to my clubs.”

“And now you’ll protect me while you take me to the Norwich one.”

“You want to go to the club
with
me? As my date?”

“It’s the best cover. Despite what I think of you, I trust you to keep me safe.”

“I can take you there, and I’ll also give you any assistance you need to find Rhys, but I need something for you in exchange.”

I’ll do anything for my little brother, and this fucker knows it. “What do you want?”

“I want you to be my fiancé.”

“Oh hell no!”

“Yes. That’s my offer. I need someone suitable by my side, and there’s no one cleaner than you.”

“It actually might help you,” Jade says, and it’s her I’m glaring at now. “It would make sense for you to be at the club with him if people think you’re together.”

“It’s up to you, Rhieve. I can put a team on the club, and get the info you need, but he could give it to you faster,” Reina tells me.

“Can’t you just torture him into helping?”

“I could, but I’m not inclined to. He’s just asking for a fiancé, and if he tries to do something stupid like force himself on you, he’ll have us to deal with.”

“Or you could just practice your hand to hand skills on him, since you need some help there.”

“I’m a black belt, and I’ve played around with MMA, so we can spar whenever you want,” Calum offers.

I get to hit him? Sign me up. “Fine. My ring better be spectacular, though.”

“Consider it done.”

He reaches out a hand, and I shake it. I know this is a bad idea, but it’s a small price to pay for finding my brother. He’s always managed to get himself in trouble, no matter how hard my family tries to rein him in. And there is a bright side to this—my mother will have to stop trying to fix me up with men who can’t even keep my interest through the first drink. Yes, I’m going to focus on the positive, and then I’m going to kick that smirk right off Calum’s face.