AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Stella
I have a theory that men with mustaches love eating pussy. So, when the Phantom bartender with a mustache and a very charming smile slides me and my sister, Ruby, two shots, I wonder if tonight is the night to test my theory.
“On the house. Happy birthday,” he says. His eyes are dark and mischievous, and the black T-shirt he’s wearing is doing great things for his toned arms and chiseled torso.
Ruby nudges me, and I break out of my assessment and grab the shots. “Thanks,” I shout over the club music before we both toss back the liquor. She grabs my hand and starts dragging us back to the sea of sweaty bodies filling up the dance floor.1
“I get cut at one!” I hear him holler after us. I laugh and look over my shoulder with a smirk.
“God, I forgot what a horny drunk you are,” Ruby whines playfully.
“Hey, you only turn thirty once.” I laugh and begin to maneuver through the crowd to our friends.
It’s easy to find them. I think it’s subconscious, but people tend to give the Foxes a wide berth even in a crowded club like this. I don’t even think it’s their full-body tattoos. Or the barely concealed guns that the bouncers only let in because they own the club.
It’s as if thousands of years of survival instincts have programmed most people to avoid men like the Foxes.
Apparently, I’m not most people.
As I approach the group—the Fox brothers and their women—they step back and let my sister and me dance in the middle of the circle, cheering and clapping. It feels good to be celebrated, to shut out my responsibilities for once and just have fun.
My head swims, and heavy bass pulses in my ears. The dozens of tiny rhinestones on my sheer, mesh dress dazzle and change colors under the flashing lights. I lean into the music and let the beat consume my thoughts. The next hour spins away in a drunken blur.
At some point, Finn hands me another drink. He’s by far the grumpiest of all the Fox brothers and hates pretty much everyone, even his brothers half the time, so I’m extra tickled he showed up to a packed club for me. The cold liquid is a godsend when I’m burning up from drinking and dancing.
Suddenly, I feel hands on my hips. I’m not surprised to find they belong to Lochlan when I look over my shoulder, the youngest and only single Fox brother. I’ve known him since he was nine years old and I was sixteen. I’ve watched him grow up to become June Harbor’s most notorious playboy and one of my best friends, after his brother Cash.
The strobing lights cast his face with devilish angles. His normally blue eyes are like black coals and unreadable in the dark. He splays his fingers wider on my hips with a curl of his lip as if daring me to push him away.
Never one to back down from a challenge, I meet his cocky smirk by pushing my hips back until I can feel the buckle of his belt through my dress. One of his hands holds me close while the other ghosts across the front of my leg. His fingers brush my inner thigh and my stomach sparks like a live wire.
I’ve seen him dance before, confident and smooth, but feeling him dance is another thing entirely. Our bodies move in unison. Dancing. Caressing. Exploring. I want to blame the alcohol for the way my brain is emptying of everything except for the burning feel of his palms and the curve of his body against mine.
I don’t care that the whole Fox family can see us, not that they’re paying us any mind. And if they did, they wouldn’t think anything of it. Just a birthday dance between friends.
Absentmindedly, I roll my head to the side. I feel the tip of his nose drag up my neck. His breath tickles, and despite sweating, I shiver. He must feel it because he holds me tighter to his front, and there’s nothing friendly about his hard cock pressing against my ass.
I see it for what it is: he’s raising the stakes, seeing how far he can push before I back down. I can feel the threat with each swing of his hips, in the hand that slithers across my sternum, just barely grazing the bottom of my breasts, or when he quietly sings along to the music, his lips fluttering against my ear.
But I don’t push away. I push back.
My drink in one hand, I weave the other behind me and around his neck. I pull him closer. Letting my long nails bite into his skin, I hear him hiss in my ear. In retaliation, he bites my neck and the tips of his fingers breach the hem of my dress. I stifle a groan, my heartbeat beginning to skip.
How far am I willing to go to win this game?
My mind is too muddied to find a reasonable answer.
Instead, I don’t try to find one at all and spin around to face him while he pushes his long blond hair out of his face. He traces his teeth with his tongue, and there’s a smug tilt of his head, like he’s already won. I narrow my eyes, but he doesn’t miss a beat, sliding his hands down to my ass and slipping his thigh between mine. I wrap one arm around his shoulders and dig my fingers into his hard muscle when he presses his thigh to my core. Heat licks at my spine, and I can’t resist grinding back, pleasurable sparks flying from the friction. My eyes flutter closed, and I have to press my lips tight together so the breathy moans filling my lungs don’t escape.
“I like the way you use me.” My eyes slam open at his rough whisper and the ensuing somersault in my stomach that nearly knocks me off my feet. I stiffen, and he chuckles. “Aw, don’t stop now—ah fuck!” Someone knocks into my back and my drink sloshes down Lochlan’s entire front as it flies from my hand.
“Oh, shit,” I mutter and immediately fall into problem-solving mode. “Come on.” I grab his hand and drag him through the crowd. I know that at least Cash keeps a change of clothes at the Den and Peaches. It would be fair to assume there’s something stashed in Phantom’s office.
I can still feel the bass from the dance floor pounding in my chest when I push into the office. The door closes and the sound disappears, like walking into a vacuum. The automatic lights switch on as we enter, and I stutter to a stop in the middle of the room, covering my eyes with a groan.
I’m squinting, trying to adjust to the bright lights, when arms wrap around my waist. One cinches me tight and the other snakes between my breasts to collar my throat. Lochlan’s mouth crashes down on my neck, sucking on my pulse. I cock my head to the side to give him more access and finally let out the desperate moan I’d been fighting back all night.
