Page 12 of Retaliation
Sara laughed. “Damn, Dev. Who knew you were so wild under all those grouchy looks at the bar?”
I pulled her flush against my chest and squeezed her round ass. “I’m only grouchy when I’m not looking at you, beautiful.”
Sara smiled, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me toward her. I was nearly a foot taller than her, and I snorted as she pressed up on her tiptoes to reach me. I gripped under her ass and lifted her off the ground. Her legs wrapped around my waist as she slammed her lips into mine, her tongue searching hungrily. I nipped her bottom lip, and she bit back.
“So feisty.” I chuckled.
“Only for you,” she teased.
I scoffed. I knew that was a lie. It had to be. This girl was all unfettered fire, but I was happy to burn up in the flames with her for as long as she would have me.
The things I was feeling for Sara were unlike anything else. It didn’t make sense. How did we go from landlord and tenant to this? I wasn’t sure I cared. After tonight, all I wanted was more of her. More of her sweet mouth and her delicious scent. More of her beautiful voice and sassy attitude. I would never get enough of her.
CHAPTER FOUR
Sara
Iadjusted my tight, little plaid skirt for the hundredth time. The damn thing kept riding up my thighs as I walked. I paired the miniskirt with my favorite knee-high, suede boots and an off-the-shoulder, black sweater. I gulped down my steaming coffee, urging the caffeine to do its fucking job. Staying all night with Dev was not an option, so I snuck out of his apartment around 1 a.m. I barely slept all night and when I finally drifted off, the nightmares were awful. Hazy images of my sister screaming in pain and the sound of my mother chanting in a strange language, followed by terrible silence.
Father pulled Michaela and I from the wardrobe we were hidden inside. “Close your eyes, girls,” he whispered.
Michaela listened, still sleepy from the drugs. I didn’t. My eyes were wide-open as I stared at the bodies littering the floor. Some were bloodied and definitely looked dead with their glassy eyes and awkwardly positioned limbs. I noticed four younger boys, close to my age, maybe, lying near my sister. They didn’t look dead, just sleeping. They were curled up, and their faces looked scared. Were they kidnapped too? Father turned my head away before we got close to where mother and Lailah were lying on the floor. But I knew they were dead. Stolen from us forever. I could feel it. Something was broken inside me now.
“Zenith, you there?” I whispered, pulling myself from the visions of the past and trying to keep my lips from moving too much. The earpiece was barely visible, and I didn’t need anyone seeing me talking to myself.
“Always, Nova,” Tibby tsked, typing away. “How was the rest of your weekend with Prince Number One? Or are we definitely calling him by his name now?”
I rolled my eyes, even as a blush crept across my face. Dev’s behavior caught me so off guard. When he surprised me in my dressing room the other night, looking fucking edible and eyes smouldering, I couldn’t resist. His touch was rougher than I expected, and his tongue, gods, he was good with his tongue. But I still couldn’t give in. Couldn’t fully lose control and let a man like that own my body. So I faked the orgasms. I wouldn’t lie and say he was bad in bed. He was delicious in every way. But every time I came close to surrendering control, my brain shoved images of my past to the surface and I shut down. He believed the lies my body told. Dev fell asleep easily, and I slipped out of his arms without saying goodbye.
“Did you get any information out of him, you fucking slut?” Tibby scoffed, pulling me away from my filthy thoughts.
I barked a laugh, scaring a dude walking ahead of me. I passed him quickly before responding.
“Yes, bitch. He’s going to some secret cult meeting this week. On Tuesday. He didn’t actually say those words, but he lied. I could see it in his eyes when he made up some reasons he’d be busy this week. And Mo told me he was covering for Dev on Tuesday night.”
Mo was Dev’s bouncer and fill-in bartender who I had wrapped around my little finger from day one; the perfect unwitting spy.
“Well done. Congrats to your lady bits for taking one for the team.” Tibby clapped. “I’ve got a tracker on his car, so we’ll be able to find him.”
“You’re welcome.” I snorted.
Tibby stopped typing in my ear before responding. “You know, if you could see Dev right before he leaves for his cult meeting…I’d give you a teeny tiny device to slip on him, and we’d be able to listen in on their secret boyband talks as well.”
I frowned. How was I supposed to see him before his meeting without looking suspicious?
“I’ll think of something. Leave it at the club, and I’ll grab it later.”
“Right then, boss.”
A gust of cold, New England wind tore through my thin sweater, and I curled my arms across my chest as wisps of hair snapped in my face.
“I’m heading into the building now, keep quiet,” I whispered.
Tibby proceeded to sing “Say You’ll Be There” by the Spice Girls loudly in my ear.
My hair was swept back in a fishtail braid, and I wore simple makeup, eyeliner, mascara, and a burgundy lipstick, for my first day of classes at Harvard. I was going for a dark and moody Elle Woods to entice Prince Number Two. I also switched my contacts to a light blue instead of brown. The green of my irises turned them more aqua, and I thought he’d enjoy that.
From what Tibby and I could find, Andras Blackbyrn liked submissives who always obeyed his orders. He frequented some interesting websites with all kinds of BDSM kinks. Not that I was shaming; you do you, dude. I’d be murdering him and his shitbag father for plenty of other reasons.
