The Deception series boxset: FaCade, Cadence, Beneath Innocence (17 page)

“I’m quite nervous,” I said.

He glanced at me but kept moving, my feet scurrying alongside him to keep up with his wide strides. “Of?”

“Well, your friends. Meeting them.”

He sighed and pursed his lips as if angry with my admission. “
Our
friends
. This will be around the hundredth time you have
met
them, Star. For fuck’s sake, they were at our freaking engagement party. We holidayed in Vegas with Hunter and his then girlfriend. We spent last Christmas with Garth.”

“I’m sorry,” I said with a small nod.

He sighed heavily and pulled to a stop. “No, I’m sorry, baby. I should learn some of that patience I was talking about.”

I smiled softly at his remorse. “We both need to consider one another’s difficulty in this.”

Kissing me gently on the forehead he pulled me the remaining distance to the room our guests were situated in.

I followed him into the space, my eyes widening on what welcomed me. Three men chatted between themselves, but it wasn’t them who had grabbed my attention, it was the women accompanying them. Each was model worthy, their figures and looks simply striking. However, it wasn’t their looks that made me stare, it was the way they stood, each by the side of their men, each face lowered to the floor, each as submissive as the next. Although I often considered myself naive, I recognized ‘toys’ when I saw them.

All heads turned in our direction, every single eye in the room coming to rest on me. I twitched nervously beside Dante, my fingers tightening my hold on him. His clutch gently increased, supporting me when it was obvious to him my nerves were getting the better of me.

One of the men grinned widely and instantly strolled over to us. He stood before me, his grin turning to a soft smile. “Star.”

I glanced up at Dante in confusion. “Hunter,” he revealed.

“Oh.” I smiled up at the tall man, his thick mane of dirty blonde hair a contrast to the dark stubble on his chin. “We shared vacations.”

He smiled widely and nodded. “Vegas. Such fun.” I frowned at the twinkle in his eye, a hint of mischief evident. “You gave us quite a scare, sweetheart.”

Dante stiffened beside me with Hunter’s endearment but Hunter rolled his eyes. “Oh relax, Troy.”

I felt eyes burning through me, and turning towards the stare my body tensed at one particular girl; she couldn’t have been any older than eighteen. Her eyes were pinched, her stare on me intense and if I read her correctly, shock widened her pupils.

I dropped my eyes to my body, checking for rips in the fabric or splashes of perfume that had left stains but I couldn’t see anything. The hairs on the back of my neck were alert and frigid with the potency of her gawp. I shivered causing Dante to look at what held my attention. His own eyes narrowed as she continued to stare at me. I was growing uncomfortable, sure there was something wrong with me, something warranting her rudeness.

“What’s with your date?” Dante asked.

Hunter turned to see what Dante was referring to. He frowned then ventured over to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her to one side.

“She gives me the jitters.”

Dante chuckled and pulled me close to his side. “Don’t worry, my princess. Your knight will save you from the dragon’s evil intentions.”

I giggled. Dante’s face lit up and he gazed at me with a soft smile. “Now that’s something I have missed.”

“Dante!” Malik shouted from across the room. I hadn’t realized he had joined us until he stepped out from behind a curvy girl. He smiled at me, his eyes lighting up when he looked over my dress. I noticed Dante’s footing stutter when he caught Malik’s perusal.

“Star?” I smiled and nodded at the man who had appeared on my right. He snatched my hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles softly. “Garth. You probably don’t remember me. It was quite some time ago.”

I squinted at him.

The ball sailed through the air, gaining velocity the closer it got to me. I scuttled backwards, the back of my leg slamming into the bleachers as I attempted to shift myself from its destination. The hum of noise it produced with the speed it came made me squeal before it actually reached me.

Laughter erupted when it whizzed past my ear, marginally missing me but whipping my hair up and gluing to my face with the heat from the summer sun.

Dante jogged over to me, his teenage face bright and red with laughter. “Baby.” He laughed. “Are you okay?”

A few other friends ran over to us. “Shit. I’m so sorry.” Garth stared at me with a guilty grimace. I reached over and slapped at him.

“Do I look like a goal post?”

Everyone started with the hysterics again as Dante pulled me into his firm body. “I can guarantee you are nothing like a pole.”

My jaw dropped as the boys hissed and whistled. “Are you calling me fat?”

“What?” He shook his head quickly. “No. No!”

I winked at him then reached up to kiss him on the cheek. “Although, I must say, I’m rather partial to your long pole.”

I thought I’d managed to say it quietly but from the whistles and prods in Dante’s gut, I gathered I hadn’t. He grinned at me and winked. My heart swelled when he scooped me up into his arms.

“I love it when you big me up in front of my friends.”

“I love it when you’re just up me.”

My eyes widened and I grabbed hold of the table to steady myself. “Star?”

I gawped at him. “Garth. You nearly hit me with a football!”

He chuckled with amazement and nodded. “I did. Only nearly though.”

I reached out and placed my palm on his chest as tears filled my eyes. “I remember you.”

“What the fuck!” Dante hissed as he snatched my hand away from Garth. I was so excited I didn’t struggle with him.

“Dante!” I laughed. “I remember Garth. He threw a football at me at school.” Dante stared at me, his eyes wide. “You were there too,” I continued. “You scooped me up in your arms and kissed me.” His stare grew into a huge smile, one that melted my insides.

“You remember?”

I nodded. “Just that piece but… but that means that I may be getting my memory back.”

“That’s brilliant, Star!” Malik gushed from the side of me. I nodded to him, his wide smile firing up another of my own.

“Will you sort out your fucking whore!” Dante suddenly shouted at Hunter, making us all jump.

She was staring at me again but this time her eyes were wide instead of narrow, her features still holding shock but it was as though my flashback had surprised her.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked her, growing angry at her rudeness.

Her eyes widened further before they shifted to Hunter. He marched across the room, seizing her in a tight grip. She lowered her face to the floor immediately, almost submissively.

“Okay,” Malik interjected quickly. “I dunno about you but I’m thirsty.” He smiled at us all then selected a bottle of whisky from the cupboard on the side and gathered up some glasses.

Passing the full glasses around, I frowned when the girls stood to one side of the room. They weren’t spoken to, nor were they offered drinks. “You forgot your guests,” I whispered to Malik, surprised by his bad manners.

He gave me a confused expression then lifted a brow. “Oh, they’re not guests, Star.”

“Dinner!” Dante exclaimed, leading me into another room off the one we were in.

A large table was catered for six diners. It was only then I noticed the other guest, a small man with slicked back hair. He gave me the creeps, the way his inquisitive gaze found mine. He tipped his head, his eyes narrow. A trickle slipped up my spine at the blatant coldness in his expression.

“Garth’s boyfriend,” Dante whispered in my ear when he caught my tension.

“Ohh.”

Dante pulled out a chair for me, pushing it under me gradually as I sat. I studied each man as they sat. It didn’t go unnoticed that I was the only female actually eating. Leaning into Dante when the men talked among themselves, he inclined towards me. “Are they prostitutes?”

His chest heaved as he tried to contain his humor. His mouth opened then closed again. Turning to me, he slipped his hand over my thigh, the silk of my dress bunching under his palm. “The girls are… I’m not quite sure how to put this.” I frowned up at him, amazed at his loss of speech for the first time since getting to know him – again. “Playthings. Toys. Items of pleasure.”

“Prostitutes,” I restated.

“I suppose.” He smiled down at me and ran his finger over my cheekbone, my heart purring under his tenderness. “The guys like to come over and… play.”

“What?” I spluttered, the small mouthful of glazed prawn I’d just devoured spat back onto the table with an undignified slap. “Jesus holy Christ, Dante. I can’t...”

“No! No, no,” he placated. “We don’t play.”

My lungs decided they needed that bit of air they had just gushed out and I started to choke on the rapid intake of oxygen. The men halted their conversation and looked at me. “Went down the wrong way,” Dante excused for me as he tapped my back.

They smiled then carried on with their conversation, apart from Malik who I caught sneakily watching us.

“Well why do they come here to…play?” I had an awful feeling I wouldn’t like where this was going.

“Because you have a fetish, voyeurism. Actually, you prefer to be the one being watched. But I was building up to that until you forced my hand in the game you insisted on us playing. Before that we just watched them play.” His statement was so casual I just nodded. Then realization hit me and I gawped at him.

“We… what? We... we watch?”

He shrugged, biting into his own food. My heart plummeted. “It’s what you like, Star.”

“What? No. No, I can honestly tell you it’s
not
what I like.”

He sighed as though I was boring him. “Will you calm down? You’re starting to embarrass me.”

I scoffed, amazement and disbelief making me stare. “I’m so sorry. To be quite honest, I
am
embarrassed! How can we do this? I don’t want to do this!” My chair screeched as I shot upright and glared at him. “You know what, I can’t do this.” I was fuming. How dare he put me in this situation? Embarrassment was an understatement.

I felt every single pair of eyes on me as I turned away. They wanted to play; well they could play without me, that was for certain.

MY TEETH VIBRATED WITH THE fury that swelled inside. How dare she humiliate me like that! All eyes in the room were now on me, Hunter’s smirk and Malik’s tipped eyebrow proof that they were laughing at me inside. “Engagement not running as smoothly as you’d have liked, Troy?” Hunter snorted.

Throwing my napkin on the table, I turned my lips upwards into a cruel sneer. “Her feistiness is what makes me hard, Hunter. Excuse me while I tend to the
problem
.”

They all stared at me. Yeah, fuck them all.

The door bashed against the wall when I punched it open. My footing stuttered to a stop when I witnessed Hunter’s slut with her hand on Star’s arm, holding her in position while she spoke feverishly to her.

“Please. Even on a napkin, hell, my boob, thigh anywhere will do...”

Star stared at her in bewilderment. “I…”

“You have no idea how fucking shocked I was to see you. I mean… you, of all people I never expected to be here …although Mr Troy …It makes sense. I’m new to… Hunter but he said his friend, the big guy with the scar, liked them young and needed a good night so he was going to bring me. I had no idea.”

“I think you have the wrong….”

“But there you were,” the stupid blonde bitch gushed. “Like I’d walked into wonderland.” Her eyes roved the room frantically. “Damn, I don’t think I have a pen! Fuck.” She turned back to Star. “Do you? I bet you carry sharpies in your cleavage don’t you, for moments like this.”

Star’s face was comical, her eyes as wide as her gaping mouth but this was far from funny. “Sharpie?”

The whore nodded. “Yeah, I bet you have a Cartier pen, what with you being all sophisticated and all that.”

Jesus fucking hell!

“What are you doing?” I barked. Both her and Star jumped, spinning in my direction. Star’s fury from earlier had disappeared, her face now showing her amazement at what was occurring.