Page 81 of House of Bass

“I know, I am,” I say with a pleased grin as I place my hands around his neck, my fingers still touching his hair.

“Keep taunting me and we won’t leave this house all day. I’ll fuck you in every room until you can’t walk straight” he murmurs, his deep voice lower than usual, sultry.

“Is that supposed to be a punishment? Because your punishment sounds like a dream,” I breathe, already getting hot and bothered all over again.

He kisses me from my jaw all the way down to my boobs, unbuttoning one of the buttons from the shirt, and he bites my right nipple. He sucks at it as I grind into his legs but abruptly he pulls away from me.

“After we eat. The food is going to get cold,” he states and I’m so annoyed that I push him away.

“Fuck you,” I growl and he tips head back laughing in full body shakes, then gazes at me with such adoring eyes that I can’t stay irritated at him for too long.

“That’ll teach you to say I didn’t fuck you right.” He bites my jaw and I roll my eyes, pretending not to love every second of it.

We sit on the large dining table, next to one another because apparently we would die if we aren’t within inches of each other. I chew on an apple as my hands find the nape of his neck again, “What are we doing today?”

“Your favourite thing in the world.”

“Ballet?”

“Second favourite thing in the world.”

“My sisters?” I feign confusion.

He glares at me and I giggle. “We are going to Anfield.”

Then it’s my turn to glare, “That’s not my favourite thing, that’s yours!” My family and I were all Arsenal supporters, he knows I despise the Liverpool team. “I’m not going.”

“I want to see the stadium. I haven’t been since mum was here,” he confesses. My heart softens immediately, realising this is important to him. Liverpool were his mum’s favourite team and Arden stuck by that even though his father is a Spurs fan. “I could never get myself to go to a game since she died.”

I briefly land a small peck on his lips, “This is a ploy to make me feel sorry for you, isn’t it?”

“Is it working?” he questions with a small smile.

“Unfortunately,” I reply, wanting to kiss his pain away. “I’m sorry about Katherine, I loved her too.”

“I know.”

We are interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing and both look at it to see MJ’s name pop up. The air in the room changes but we don’t unlatch from each other as we let the phone ring until it doesn’t.

“Where did you tell her you were going?” I ask.

“Here. I saw no reason to lie.”

“But you didn’t tell her it was with me, so it’s still a lie.” I sigh, then say what needs to be said. “We need to tell her about us, Richard. This can’t go on.”

“I’m working on it, I promise. It’s happening sooner than you think.”

“Really? You don’t need me to call Tallulah to find a way out of it?” My older cousin is a lawyer and since the engagement came as the cost of a business deal, I’d wondered if he’ll need one to get out of it. Someone who will be on our side. My cousin is nothing if not fiercely loyal and a champion for bad decisions, it might be a Bass family trait.

He shakes his head, “There’s a plan. A little risky but I don’t want to jump the gun by getting Lu involved. I’ll tell you in due time.”

“Okay.” I put my hands on his heart, “I trust you.”

After a few minutes of silence, I profess, “I’m scared. That she’ll never forgive me. I don’t know if I’m prepared to live a life without her but I can’t live without you anymore. It was killing me.”

He carries me onto his lap, releases a deep breath then speaks, “I never told you but it wasn’t just her parents involved in sending her to Thorncomb, MJ was aware about the engagement the whole time. They promised her something, she never told me what, but they agreed to the engagement because she did.” The frown on my face deepens as he continues, “I wasn’t made aware until two months before the day I told you I loved you. That’s also the reason why I had been assigned to show her around the first week she joined instead of you.”

I was the prefect so I should’ve been the one to do it. Arden was two years above, it never made sense to me. I let him carry on, wondering where this is leading to.