Wretched (Never After Series)(20)

Should have paid them more attention when I had the chance.

“Got lost.”

She narrows her gaze before sucking in a quick and shallow breath, her hand reaching out to grab my wrist. “What happened?”

I lift a brow, surprised by her tender touch, so at odds with the wall she erects anytime she’s near me. “Didn’t realize you cared so much, sweetheart.”

She turns, pulling me toward the nearest door and opening it so we can walk into a large office with mahogany wood and burgundy furniture.

“Just need to make sure you won’t bleed out on Westerly property,” she mutters as she pushes me into one of the couches against the wall. “It’s bad for business.”

I fall back willingly, the buttery soft fabric so comfortable I sink into the cushions.

“Stay.” She points at me as she walks across the room and into the door of the en suite.

I don’t stay, of course, hopping up immediately and walking over to the desk, my eyes flicking to the open door of the private restroom and then back as I hunch over to allow the camera a good view of the desk’s top. I don’t touch anything, and more than likely there’s nothing of importance out, but you never know.

“What are you doing?” Eveline’s voice breaks through the fog, making my stomach jump into my throat.

Stepping back, I run a hand through my hair. “Snooping, obviously.”

Her brows draw in. “I told you to stay put.”

I step into her until her ass is pressed against the edge of the desk and my hips are wedged against hers. “And I’m not a dog you can bark demands at, sweetheart.”

She smirks. “I beg to differ.”

My cock jerks, arousal warring with my brain, warning me to keep my distance. My brain loses, the way it seems to always lose with her.

“You’re right,” I agree, taking my uninjured hand and reaching around to grip her hip and pull her into me. “Tell me to sit and eat like a good boy, and I swear to fucking god I’ll do it.”

My mouth waters at even the thought of what she tastes like.

Her lips part, and I have the most delicious visual of my dick slipping between them, her big brown eyes staring up at me, and that tongue ring she didn’t have the night we met running along the shaft.

“This desk is worth more than your life,” she whispers. “And you’re bleeding all over it.”

I snap out of my thoughts, realizing that my fingers are digging into the meat of her ass, and I step back, letting go like she set me on fire before looking down to where there’s a small puddle of red pooling on the wood.

Jesus, what the hell is wrong with me?

A loud sigh pours from Eveline’s mouth and then she’s pulling me by the hand again, back to the couch, tossing me like a rag doll into it. She sits next to me, dragging my bleeding arm into her lap. Then she grabs the first aid kit and gets to work, pouring hydrogen peroxide over the wound.

The sting permeates through my skin and makes me hiss. “Ouch. Fuck.”

“Oops.” She looks at me with wide eyes. “Did that hurt?”

It gets quiet as she takes out the antiseptic and gauze, cleaning the wound and dabbing at it, her eyes laser-focused on the task at hand.

My stomach tightens and I take the moment to look at her, really look at her, wondering again what she’s doing here and how she feels about her family’s chosen profession. Sadness whirls through my center as I think of everything she could be.

Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe I can get her out.

“Why did you lie to me about your name?” she asks without looking up from where she’s bandaging the wound.

My chest twists. “The same reason you didn’t give me yours.”

She swallows audibly and peers at me through her lashes, her eyes moving back and forth quickly, as if she’s trying to see past the facade and drag out my soul. Her lips part and my abs tense, the air growing thick and filling the space between us until it feels like I might snap in half.

Her face is an inch from mine and when she breathes out, I breathe in, trying like hell to remember that she’s the enemy. That I’m here to take her and everyone she cares about down.

That none of this is real.

It can’t be real.

Suddenly, the door swings open and slams against the wall, causing us both to jump apart. Liam walks in, barreling straight to us and shoving his thick finger in my face.

“Fuck up like that again, and I’ll put a bullet in your fucking mouth. You understand me?”

Eveline’s brows jump and she stands, moving across the room to perch behind the desk.

I lean back against the couch cushions. “Remind me when I started to work for you, Liam?”

His cheeks grow red, his body tensing, hands rolling into fists like he’s about to try and hit me. Dude’s got anger problems, for sure.

“When you two are done measuring dicks, feel free to tell me what’s going on,” Eveline interrupts.

He spins around to face her, strands of his red hair falling onto his forehead. “Don’t worry about what the big boys are doing, sweetheart. Just sit there, look pretty, and run the numbers like your daddy asks.”

So she’s doing the books. Shit.

Him calling her sweetheart burns deep in my gut, because calling her that is my way of pissing her off, not his. Every time I say it, my cock jerks from the angry flush that pinks her skin. When the endearment falls from his lips I want to stand up and shove his face into glass the way I did Tony a few minutes ago.