Page 31 of In Darkness We Claim

Kincaid casually shrugs his shoulders, as if he doesn’t care either way. “Fine by me.”

“If you let him see the footage, you won’t be able to stop him from handling it afterwards,” I tell Kincaid, who gives me a look that very much says he doesn’t give a shit.

“I’m sure we can come to an agreement together on how to handle it,” Kincaid replies.

“Can I see the footage?” Wren asks, shocking us all.

“Why?” Harper blurts out, looking at her best friend like she’s grown a second head.

Wren’s cheeks are now bright red, but she shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I missed a lot of what happened because I was trying not to get hurt. Call me nosy.”

Both Bram and Kincaid laugh, before looking at each other in shock that they agreed on something. “I don’t see a problem with you watching the footage,” Kincaid tells her, and Wren’s face lights up.

“Now?” she blurts out.

Kincaid holds out his hand to her, and Wren casts a glance between Bram and Kincaid, before sliding her palm into his and allowing herself to be pulled out of the booth.

“No time like the present,” Kincaid says, as he helps her to her feet.

Wren takes a couple of excited steps before stopping and looking over her shoulder at Harper. She grimaces a little, like she just remembered her friend was still here. “Do you want to come, Harps, or will you be okay here?”

I don’t miss the way she not so subtly glances at me when she asks if she’ll be okay. Harper looks at me out of the corner of her eye, though she tries to make it seem like she’s not, and I can’t help but smile.

“I’ll be fine,” she tells her friend.

“I’ll be back soon, I promise,” Wren shouts over her shoulder as she skips off with Kincaid, Bram following closely behind.

Now that it’s just me and Harper, the silence between us is almost deafening. I slide into the booth next to her, since there’s no point remaining standing while I wait for them to come back.

“Do you want a drink?” I ask, breaking the oppressive silence.

Harper seems to think about it for a minute, like I asked her a complicated math question, before finally saying, “Yes, please. Can I get a vodka lemonade?”

I give her a nod as I lift my hand in the air, signalling to the server allocated to us, who comes over straight away. I give her our drinks order, but before she can walk away, Harper shouts, “Can you make mine a double, please?”

As the server leaves with a nod, I turn my gaze to Harper, but she just shrugs her shoulders.

“It’s been a long night,” she says, and I can’t help but agree with a smile.

“It fucking has.”

The server brings over our drinks fairly quickly, and Harper doesn’t hesitate to take a decent mouthful of the alcohol, swallowing it with a hiss as I do the same.

We sit there in relative silence, each of us taking sips of our drinks as we steal glances at one another, hoping that the other doesn’t notice. Like there’s any chance I wouldn’t notice her eyes on me. Her gaze seems to burn my skin, leaving a heated trail across my sensitive flesh wherever she looks.

I’m not sure how much time passes, but we’ve both almost finished our drinks when Harper lets out a long moan followed by a huff as she turns her body until she’s fully facing me. “Can we talk?”

In order to face me properly, she has to bend one leg and tuck it under her arse, which causes the hem of her dress to ride up higher on her thigh, showing off more of her creamy flesh. Then, as she leans closer to me, so I can hear her properly, that movement pushes her tits forward, emphasising her cleavage even more.

My dick throbs painfully in my jeans, getting harder by the second, and it takes all of my willpower to keep my eyes on her face, rather than on her fucking amazing curves.

“What about?” I ask through gritted teeth.

She draws in a ragged breath as she shuffles around, before finally pulling her shoulders back and holding her head high, making herself appear confident. “I’d like to discuss the offer you made for me to be your Prize.”

“The offer you turned down, sweetheart,” I point out.

She glares at me, no doubt having realised I’m not going to make this easy for her. Though I am finding it hard to hide how intrigued I am by her bringing this up again. Let alone the flicker of hope I’m trying to ignore.