Reign of Wrath (Dirty Broken Savages #3)(78)

Ash helps me clean up, smoothing my dress back down and fixing my hair where it got messy in our fucking. He has a crooked grin on his face, and it hits his eyes in a different way than his usual charming grin does. He’s happy, through and through, and I’m so glad to see it.

He kisses me, pulling me close to him. I can feel the heat of his body and smell the scent of our banging on him, under his cologne. It makes me shiver, remembering what we just did.

“I’ll never let you forget how I feel about you,” he murmurs against my mouth. “That this is real.”

I swallow hard, overcome with a sudden wave of emotion. I put my arms around him, holding on tightly and breathing him in. I don’t think I could ever forget how he feels about me, even if I tried. Even when I wanted to.

Ash just smiles, taking my silence for the agreement that it is. He kisses my forehead and then takes my hand, pulling back.

“We should probably get back out there. Priest has probably done what he needed to do by now, and we don’t want to fuck up the plan.”

“Right,” I tell him. I smooth my hand down my dress and then nod. I’m ready.

We head back out to rejoin the others, and even though we did our best to put our appearances back to rights, there’s not really any hiding what we were just doing from the others, who are pretty trained to recognize it by now.

“Really, Ash?” Gage asks, shaking his head. “Here? In the middle of the mission?”

Ash just shrugs, not looking bothered at all. “I do my best work right after I come. I need a steady hand for this shit, and sex soothes me.”

I laugh at that because he says it so seriously. Hell, he probably does actually mean it. Gage rolls his eyes, but then focuses on something beyond Ash’s shoulder. We turn to look at the doorway leading to the large room we’re gathered in, and my heart jumps into my throat for a second.

Julian has just walked in.

Here we go.





32





Ash





I wasn’t exactly kidding about a good orgasm giving me a steadier hand. I actually do feel more relaxed after sex, and I figured this could only help. But seeing Julian walk into the room makes me tense up immediately, so all that relaxing sex almost goes flying right out the window. Just because one asshole shows up at the party.

I almost snort under my breath. I should have known.

Julian is a fucking dick, and it takes all my self-control not to walk over there and punch him right in the fucking face. Of course I’m tense.

Luckily, I’m good enough with my hands that it won’t matter. I can still do what I need to do.

Julian doesn’t see us at first, so we stand there and watch him for a bit.

We have a good vantage point of the rest of the room, so we can see him as he puts on his game face, in this case, that smug, fake charming smile, and starts to schmooze his way through the crowd.

He’s shaking hands and talking to people, but only the really important ones. He can’t afford to piss anyone off here, but it’s clear he’s really only interested in rubbing elbows with the people who can get him somewhere. Which, to be fair, is almost everyone in this mansion right now.

He laughs at jokes that probably aren’t funny, sucking up to anyone he comes across that seems like they fall into the right category for him. It’s kind of disgusting to watch, actually. The way he’s kissing asses and pretending to be this smooth as fuck gentleman or whatever.

It’s amateur hour because you can’t pretend to have charm when you don’t have any to spare, and I find myself hoping that everyone can see through him. They probably can’t though. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about rich people, it’s that they love having smoke blown up their asses.

Even if it’s not real. Even if it’s from someone they can’t stand. The fact that they’re in a position where they matter that much gets them off something big. It’s a power thing, most likely, and it’s fucking gross.

But Julian fits right into that whole scene, playing the game as best he can to try to climb that ladder.

Which makes it even clearer how fake he is when he turns and finally spots us. I can see it when his features change. That charming grin slips right off his face, and a look of disgust takes over, his lip curling into a sneer when he sees River. This is the real Julian. An ugly, petty murderer, who doesn’t deserve anyone’s fucking time.

We don’t move from our spot, and he comes over to us instead. As he gets closer, it’s clear he’s fuming, pissed off that we would dare to be in the same place he is.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he demands, his eyes snapping with disdain and anger. “Did you forget what I said to you the last time? I’ve been fucking lenient, not going after you for when she tried to steal Hannah away at the wedding.” He jerks his head at River. “You don’t belong here.”

“First of all,” River snaps. “Hannah is—was—a person. You can’t steal people, and she didn’t want to be with you in the first place. I don’t blame her for that. Second, we were invited, so we have just as much right to be here as you do. You might think you’re the only one who knows people, but you’re not that fucking special. We didn’t say anything to you, so maybe you should go about your business.”