Damned Sinner, page 16
part #1 of Jayne Series
“If Flynn would’ve given up just like that, we wouldn’t be here today. Think about it. Sometimes we want to be strong and independent and smart, but sometimes we need someone to tell us we fucked it up. Don’t fuck it up.”
There was a lot I wanted to say in response, but I held my tongue. It wasn’t the night, and I wasn’t in the mood to keep it going. We’d talk about it one day—when both of us were less emotional.
I headed back downstairs and took a look at my watch to check the time. It was close to seven, so I dialed Collins as I scaled the stairs to find out where he was.
“We’re in front of the house. We just pulled up. She was late.”
I rolled my eyes. “If I find out you were an asshole to her, old man, I will make sure you need a bag to take a shit.”
He grunted a sound into the phone and then hung up. Pussy.
I walked through the house, only mildly searching for Kelsey as I did. Jayne had either avoided telling me she was there, or she hadn’t arrived, but either way, I was on high alert. She would be there, and I’d have to see her.
The though made my stomach hurt and my balls throb.
Speaking of throbbing balls, I spotted Maya in the entryway, handing her coat to an attendant, and I stopped for a moment to get a good look at her.
She looked gorgeous. She’d done as I asked and picked up a dress—which couldn’t have been easy in the timeframe I gave her in a town like this. But she’d managed to find something both sexy and appropriate.
The dress was fitted on top and flared out at her knees in a bright pink, and her hair was pulled up so I could see the nice length of her neck. She was really a remarkable beauty, and it was a shame I wouldn’t allow myself to make a penny off of her. She could easily rival Jayne in looks—not that I’d admit that to Janie herself—but she was just the type of woman my best clients were searching for. That was a million-dollar broad.
“Maya,” I said, waving her over.
She smiled and ducked her head before walking over.
“Wow,” she said, smiling. “You look... wow.” She laughed a little and motioned toward my suit. “You really look like a boss now.”
I gave her a wry smile and shrugged. “It’s just a suit.”
She tipped her head and rolled her eyes. “You weren’t lying about this party. This house is unbelievable.”
I turned, looking around me. It was pretty intimidating for sure. “Between the two of them—Jayne and Flynn—they don’t do anything half-assed.”
I reached forward and pushed her bangs out of her face. “You look absolutely beautiful. The dress is perfect.”
She looked down and then back up at me, smiling. “I’m glad it’s okay. I feel a little under dressed now that I see everything.”
I leaned in, compelled to kiss her, and left a small kiss on her cheek. “You’re perfect. Come on, I’ll get you a drink.”
I felt comfortable with Maya, but the initial attraction I’d had to her at the brothel wasn’t there. I wasn’t sure why, but all I felt for her was companionship. Friendship. That wasn’t something I felt very often, which was why I had put the thoughts of pressing her for another job to the forefront. I felt like I could trust her—to an extent. She was smart, friendly, humble, and she wasn’t intimidated by me. Those were great qualities.
I grabbed a glass of champagne for her, a whiskey neat for myself, and walked into the main room to introduce her to a few people. I didn’t know most of the guests, but a few of them I knew from the casino, and others from my own endeavors. They were probably shocked as shit to find me at the most important engagement party in Nevada.
Fuck them.
I found us a spot to sit and waved for her to take a seat. It was almost time for dinner, and the back of my head wouldn’t shut up about Kelsey. If she was coming, she would’ve been there already. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. Maya was telling me about her shopping adventure and I reached forward to grab my glass from the table, and when I looked up, there she was.
I was frozen. Everything stopped—ceased to exist. Our eyes met, and it was one of those moments you imagine, but never expect. My entire body reacted, both with fear and arousal.
She looked as freaked out as I felt. But gorgeous. She was wearing blue, a very dark blue like the color of the sky with tiny jewels around the neckline that reminded me of stars. Out here, I found myself staring into space quite often from my back porch. Looking at stars wasn’t a regular pastime of mine—mostly because in order to see them in Vegas, you had to drive out of town. Here, they were part of my day, every day.
Staring at her in that dress with her hair falling over her shoulders in soft golden curls, her lips painted red and her eyes so blue they rivaled the color of her gown—I lost all ability to move.
I’d finally given up trying to figure out why she affected me the way she did. It was just the way it was. It was a primal attraction I had no control over. My mind—and especially my body—knew she was mine. I wanted her, and every part of me knew it.
I lifted the glass to my lips and gulped down the whiskey so fast it burned my throat. I never took my eyes off her, though. Not for a moment. I was afraid she’d disappear, as if she weren’t real.
“Are you okay? You’re sweating.”
Maya’s voice and her hand on my arm shook me out of the trance I’d fallen under as I stared at Kelsey. The shock and anger in her eyes caused my hands to shake and my dick to shrivel. She narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips tight before turning and striding out of the room. If looks could kill, I would’ve been six feet under.
“Who is she?” Maya asked softly.
My head snapped in her direction, and I narrowed my eyes. “Who?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “The woman in the blue dress. The one that just rendered you deaf, dumb, and stupid with one look.”
I blew out a long breath and leaned my elbows on my knees. “A girl I used to know. It doesn’t matter.”
Her hand tightened on my forearm and I looked up, giving her a small smile.
“So she’s the one,” she murmured. “She’s beautiful.”
I snorted. “She’s poison.”
Raising her eyebrow knowingly, she gave me a small smile. “Of course she is,” she quipped. “How else do you think we steal your hearts? Once the one gets under your skin, you’re done for. I knew you were gone the second you touched me. I knew she was out there.”
I gave her a puzzled look.
“That whole scene at the brothel... you thought you were testing me, but you were testing yourself. You failed—miserably, by the way.”
I let out a laugh. This chick was unbelievable.
“So are you a whore, or a philosopher?”
“Both,” she laughed. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s a broken man. Trust me. I’ve wasted a lot of years trying to change them. I finally figured it out, and I gave up. Then I started tricking, and it all made sense. Instead of changing them—I changed myself.”
My interest was piqued. “So you have me all figured out, have you?”
She shook her head. “No. Not entirely. You’ve got this dark side, and I can tell you have all these secrets that I would never attempt to figure out—it’s none of my business—but I also see a lot more to you.”
She laughed and shook her head a little, shaking one of her jeweled barrettes loose. “Honestly, that cold, dark part is what attracted me to you at first. That—and you’re incredibly good looking,” she said with a pointed look. “I wanted you.”
I cleared my throat and raised my eyebrow, smirking. “Why, thank you, Miss Moretti.”
She gave me a wry smile. “Then when I felt that other woman between us when you touched me...” She clucked her tongue and continued. “Well, it’s a damn shame, is all.”
I absorbed her words and their meanings, but all of it gave me a bad feeling—and a headache. I glanced up, back to where Kelsey had been standing, but she was gone.
“She’s a good woman. She made the right choice. What do I have to offer, right?”
She pinched my arm. “Your heart, idiot!”
“Ow,” I said, scowling. “Vicious little bitch.”
“Did she really have a choice?” she asked.
“Why do you care?” I snapped.
Smiling sadly, she sat back and closed her eyes briefly. “I don’t—not really. But I recognized the look on her face.”
“I see,” I said grimly. After a moment of silence—awkward silence—I stood. “Another drink? This is a party, after all. If Jayne catches us over here having sad times, she’ll have my nuts in a grinder.”
Maya laughed. “She doesn’t appear to be the type of woman to be trifled with. Yes. Another glass of champagne would be great.”
We grabbed another drink and made the rounds, and Maya continued to impress me at every turn. Not only was she beautiful and smart, but she was also cunning and persuasive.
Definitely an asset.
Kelsey was nowhere to be found, and I wasn’t sure if I considered that a good thing, or a bad thing.
I wasn’t sure what to think at all. About anything.
“She didn’t come with anyone,” Jayne whispered casually at my side.
Flynn had gotten sucked into a conversation with someone who bored her to death, so she snuck away to hang out with me.
“I wasn’t asking,” I snapped under my breath.
We were standing a good distance away from the crowd, but Maya was only inches away and I didn’t want to have that conversation in front of her. Even after the heart-to-heart we’d had earlier.
“You should talk to her,” she said.
I laughed quietly. “Not tonight.”
She pouted like a child and looked around the room.
“Whatever. I need to find Cherise and start gathering everyone for dinner. I’m freaking starving.”
She walked away in a huff, elegant and fierce with every eye in the room following her every move.
Everyone had been attentive with Jayne all night. Either out of curiosity or jealousy, they were all interested in the woman who finally nabbed Flynn Maguire. They were just intrigued by her presence. Just as I’d told her—they were spellbound. She took over a room the second she arrived in it.
The trepidation she’d had earlier was long gone. She’d finally found her place, and owned it. They were in her house, and on her turf. Within moments of showing herself to her guests, they clearly knew it.
I looked down at the empty glass in my hand and frowned. I wasn’t nearly drunk enough to forget the look on Kelsey’s face, so I headed to the bar to refill my glass.
That’s when I spotted her again, standing in an alcove near the stairs on the other side of the room.
She hadn’t seen me, though, too engrossed with something on her phone. I abandoned my drink and stalked toward her. I hadn’t been drunk enough to forget, but apparently, I was drunk enough to talk to her.
She either hadn’t heard me walk up, or she pretended like she hadn’t. She continued tapping at her phone as I approached her.
“Are you avoiding me,” I leaned in and whispered against her ear.
She gasped and fumbled with her phone and tried to turn around, but I stopped her.
“Don’t even think about it, baby.”
I wrapped one arm around her waist and pushed her against the wall with my body. With my free hand, I reached for her chin and turned her head so I could see her face.
“Are you afraid?” I said against her lips. “You’re shaking.”
She pressed her lips together tightly—stubbornly—and tried to yank her chin out of my grasp. I wasn’t having it.
“It makes my dick hard when you quiver.” I grinded myself against her ass as an example. “It reminds me of the way your cunt reacts to me when I’m inside you.”
The muscles of her belly contracted, and I pressed myself against her a little harder. Between the mixture of nerves, alcohol, and her, I’d lost control. I didn’t care that she’d left me. I didn’t care about that fucking boy she was messing around with, and I didn’t care about Jayne or her stupid party.
All I cared about was Kelsey.
“Vince,” she said in a strangled voice.
She was scared, and it pissed me off. She knew I’d never hurt her—or she should’ve known. The only pain I would ever cause her would be the kind that came after pleasure. There was something off about the way she said my name though, like she wasn’t sure.
“What is it, Kelsey? Are you surprised I found you?” I moved a hand upwards, running my thumb over her hardened nipple. “Excited at least.”
She whimpered, and I smiled.
“You weren’t even going to give me a chance to tell you how sexy you look in this dress,” I told her as I let my hand roam down and over her hip. “Like a fucking dream.”
“What do you want?” she snapped.
“Oh, you want to be feisty now.”
She arched her back, attempting to escape my hold, but I gripped her hip hard.
“I want you. You already know what I want. I still want it.”
“Go back to your date,” she hissed. “Just go.”
I chuckled and gathered the fabric of her dress in my hand on her hip and pulled upward. “I’m not going anywhere. I think I’ll fuck you right here, right in the open where anyone could come by and see it.”
“Just stop.” She said it so softly I almost missed it, but it was there, and I heard it loud and clear.
The words were like a bucket of cold water. I pulled away, dropping my hands to my sides and shook my head. I was no longer aroused, or inebriated. In fact, I felt nothing.
“It’s like that, eh?”
She tried to turn, but I reached out and held her shoulders to keep her still. “I walk away—I’m walking away. You feel me, Kelsey? I’m not playing games with you. You know what I want, and what I’m willing to give.”
“I’m not playing games with you, Vince. I told you in the letter—it’s for the best. Just like you said.”
I laughed darkly and gritted my teeth. “You came alone.”
She took a deep breath and then answered softly. “Because he couldn’t come.”
“Vince!”
I bowed my head and cursed under my breath. I didn’t even have time to recover from the hit of Kelsey’s words with Jayne barking out my name from somewhere in the house.
“Goodbye, Kelsey.”
I dropped my hands from her shoulders, leaned forward and kissed her on the back of the head, and spun around, walking away from her as quickly as my feet would take me.
***
The rest of the party went by in a blur. I’d finally fallen into a nice drunken stupor, got Maya safely into a cab and sent home, and fulfilled my obligations as the substitute father to Jayne. All I wanted to do was find my room, climb in bed, and pass the fuck out.
Jayne insisted I stay with them for the night; she didn’t trust me in my state of mind not to do something stupid. I wasn’t sure I even had the energy or ambition to do shit. The night had taken a toll on me. I was confused about Kelsey—pissed off about Kelsey, mostly—and I’d had more than my share to drink.
I made my way upstairs and felt my way through the dark hallway. My feet were as heavy as lead—much like my head—and my vision blurred from the whiskey. There were only three rooms on the third floor—one of them being Flynn’s office. It was quiet, and only remnants of the party below hummed. It was a good thing because I knew I was going to have a hell of a hangover, and the faster I fell asleep, the better.
I noticed faint light coming from underneath the door to my left, and wondered who else was sleeping upstairs. Cherise had her own house, built off to one side of the main structure, so I knew it wasn’t her.
I crept up to the door and leaned my head against the wood to see if I could hear any voices. Not that it mattered who it was—I wasn’t up for company—but I didn’t like being left in the dark. I needed to have complete control of my surroundings and I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I knew what was going on.
I turned the knob quietly and pushed the door open so I could peer inside. It was quiet and dark, only a small desk lamp lighting up the far corner of the room.
I could see the heap of a body on the bed, curled with legs tucked tightly and long blonde hair across a lonesome pillow. I gulped and moved away from the door, taking a few deep breaths before pushing the door open and walking inside.
I shut the door behind me as softly as I could and toed my shoes off one by one, careful not to let them make any noise.
She looked like an angel—an analogy my mind often used to describe her—especially when she was at peace and sleeping.
Her back was toward me, and I could see the curve of her shoulders down to her soft little ass. The blankets were pulled tightly around her, almost protectively, and as I shrugged out of my jacket and started unbuttoning my shirt, I realized it was probably because of me.
I’d upset her earlier, and there I was about to sneak into her room like a dirty bastard in the middle of the night. She was right to be weary of me and who I was. My intentions, however, had shifted since I’d seen her earlier. I was too drunk to fuck anyway. I could barely keep my eyes open, or stand on my own two feet.
No. I wasn’t going to bother her. I only wanted to hold her, and I just hoped like hell she’d let me. It would probably be the last time I’d ever had the opportunity, and as messed up as it was, I was taking it while she couldn’t refuse.
I climbed onto the bed and lifted the blankets to get in next to her. She whimpered as I yanked them out of her hands, and turned over with a small angry groan. Her eyes were pinched tight, and her lips pulled back into a grimace. She looked miserable.
She was still wearing her dress, I noticed. I wondered how long she’d been up here—alone. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was probably shortly after I’d mauled her.
I let my finger run over her cheek. It was clammy and still a little damp from tears. Brushing the hair away from where it had fallen in her face, I recorded into memory every delicate feature, every freckle, each and every one of her long, black eyelashes.
