Page 111 of The Need to Know

Cesar winced. “That’s a must.”

Usually, it was, but I’d been too caught up in the moment. The thought of watching Nastasia take me into her mouth set my blood on fire. That was a part of her whole appeal. Wanting to see the good girl’s bad side. To see her do things just for me.

I scratched at my jaw. “Yeah, well, I was distracted.”

“But the sex was incredible?”

His tone of voice and his repeated probing were eating at me. I cut my eyes over to him, letting him know he was working my nerves. “Yes.”

“Hmm, you won’t go into detail,” Cesar mused.

“Wanna tell me what you and Leslie did last night?” I shot back.

“No.” Cesar regarded me. “Because I love Leslie.”

Fuck him, because he knew what he was doing.

In a way, he was right. Nastasia going ghost would make this easier on both our parts to move on now that we crossed the line. But at the same time, I wasn’t ready to walk away.

For a brief moment, I questioned if I deserved this cold silence. That was the thing about some women, they figured since a lot of men were dogs that it was okay to treat all men accordingly and disregard their feelings. It was a defense mechanism I could understand, but I didn’t feel worthy of it from Nas.

I took a glance at the other people on the deck, watching to see that everything was all right. Most times, it was. There was a spell over the Spade Suite, one step out on it and tranquility took over and there was no room for animosity. Though, Cesar’s antagonizing was seeping through the haze. We’d been friends for too long to⁠—

She was here.

Across the way, I spotted Nastasia. She was wearing a strapless black top that pushed her breasts up and a white mini skirt. Knowing her body like I knew it now, I could see she wasn’t wearing panties.

Cesar followed my line of vision and whistled once more. “Bold.”

I came back to him, stealing a moment of clarity before I bolted. “Watch the club for me. Thirty minutes, tops.”

Cesar chuckled and I didn’t have time to feel a way as I stood up and crossed over to Nas. The bartender, Adrien, was handing her a glass with what looked like fruit-flavored wine in it.

Since when did she drink wine?

Her hand had just touched the glass when she turned and noticed me. Guilt didn’t even register on her face. Instead, she lit up and appeared bubbly and friendly.

“Zeke! Hey, how are you, friend?” She came and gave me a small hug, something you gave to a casual acquaintance on the street. “I haven’t seen you in a minute.”

I didn’t know what game she was playing, but it wasn’t going down like this.

I took her arm, set the wine down on the counter, and took off for the elevator.

Nastasia managed to keep up with my quick stride, not losing her smile an ounce.

Once we were alone on the elevator, she stood at my side, looking up at me with glee. “You look nice.”

Somehow, I managed to calm down and laugh a little. I already knew what I was going to do before we arrived at the second floor.

Pops hadn’t shown up tonight, which gave me free rein with the office. I led Nastasia inside and locked the door behind us. Even if the room was soundproof, I wanted total privacy.

Nastasia stood back, watching me. Still acting nonchalant and as if last night hadn’t happened. “So, what’s up, friend?”

I closed my eyes and blew a breath out through my nose, before opening them and settling my gaze on Nas. She knew what she was doing. “Friend?”

“Yeah, that’s us, two peas in a pod.” Nas came closer and swept her hands across my chest, smoothing out the material of my dark blue dress shirt. She flickered her eyes to meet mine. “Friends till the end.”

“And last night?”