Page 17 of Desperate Haste
“Malcolm, hey, Malcom.” My eyes shoot to the voice calling my name and see my three friends watching me with wide eyes. “You good, dude?” Hank asks as he and his wife look at me, then to each other, then to Ophelia who is halfway across the bar by now. Bailey is suppressing a smirk and Hank gives me an amused look.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” My eyes flash back to where Ophelia used to be but she’s lost in the crowd by now. I swallow hard and assess the people around the bar, making sure no one needs a drink.
After an hour, my friends have filled the stools on the opposite side of the bar. Cat ears girl is long gone once she realized I was no longer interested. The girls, minus Ophelia, are sitting in the stools while my friends stand defensively behind them. Conrad has been kind enough to give Margaret his stool and is standing next to her, chatting casually. The night is going well, people are donating to the cause, and everyone is enjoying the evening. Alice and I are holding down the bar in sublime synchrony as we always do. Every so often, I’ll look up from where I’m standing and search the sea of bodies to see if I can spot her.
“Yo, Malcolm, we need more reds, man,” I hear Alice shout from down the bar.
“I’m on it,” I shout back over my shoulder. I give my friends a quick nod and dip under the folding door of the bar. Walking through the room, I check in on the people who are eating and drinking, and glance over at the makeshift dance floor we created just for the night. Normally Butcher and Block is a bar and restaurant only, but on special occasions we turn it into more of a nightclub to keep people around longer. I’m halfway to the storage closet when I spot her standing in the corner talking to a guy holding a drink. He’s staring at her tits and has a hand on one of her hips. Her body is flush with his and their eyes are locked and for a second I think he’s going to lean down and kiss her. My mind goes blank and without even meaning too I walk straight up to them.
“Enjoying the evening, little fox?” My voice comes out cocky and I run my fingers through my hair. Her eyes get heated when she sees me standing next to her and crosses her arms across her chest. I know I shouldn’t, but I love the way the movement lifts her chest even higher.
“Excuse me?” she scowls.
“Do you know this guy?” her suitor asks.
“Of course she does, she’s my little fox,” I answer, not giving her room to explain.
“I’m not your anything,” she scoffs, shifting her weight into her other foot.
“That’s not what you were saying when I had you in my bed a few weeks ago.” I revel in how her cheeks flush and her eyes go wide.
“Emphasize on the ‘weeks ago,’” she spits. Her lashes flutter and she snaps her head to the guy standing next to us, dumbstruck. “Will you excuse us?” The guy nods, clearly confused, and Ophelia wraps a hand around my arm and drags me through the bar. Not wanting to catch our friends’ attention, I grab her wrist and drag her behind me through the back of the kitchen and out into the alleyway. Once outside and alone, she gives me a good hard shove and glares at me, clearly pissed.
“What the hell is your issue?” she shouts at me. Her brown hair is big and curled and my first instinct is to wrap my hand through it and pull her face to mine. With the way her expression is contorted though, I don’t think that’s the best plan.
“You’re kinda hot when you’re angry,” I tease, taking a step closer to her with a smirk.
“Don’t play, Malcolm,” she barks, ripping off the mask she’s been wearing all night. The way her olive toned skin radiates in the back alley street light warms my core. “This is the second time you’ve pulled a little stunt like that and I’m over it. Why the hell won’t you leave me alone?” Her words are hot and her cheeks are flushed.
I take a few steps closer to her as she takes a few steps away from me, backing herself up enough to be nearly flush with the wall. “You wanna know why I won’t leave you alone?”
“Don’t try to be cute, it’s not a good look,” she spits, tilting her head back to look at me. I take another step closer to her until she’s pinned between me and the wall. I lean a hand against it, bringing my body close enough to hers so our clothes are brushing against one another.
“So you think I’m cute?”
“No, I think you’re a pain in my ass and not in a good way.” My eyebrows flinch for half a second as my brain takes in what she’s just said. I’ve never done that kind of thing before but I would if she asked me to.
She takes a step closer to me and presses a finger into my chest. “I want you to leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that,” I reply simply.
“And why the hell not?” she demands. I swallow hard, unsure if I’m actually going to tell her or not.
“I won’t leave you alone because you won’t get out of my fucking head. I don’t know what you did to me that night in my apartment, but every time I take someone home with me, I end up thinking about you.” The words explode out of me and I can tell that her chest is noticeably rising and falling. I lean in further and bring my face so close to hers that our lips are brushing against one another. “No one’s ever done that to me before, but you did. And now, when I see you out with someone else, especially in my bar, it drives me fucking crazy.”
I bring a hand to her waist and wait to see if she slaps it away. She doesn’t. “And you coming in here dressed likethistonight, how did you expect me to keep my hands to myself? It’s a cruel game you’re playing with me, little fox, and part of me thinks you like it.” Her lips turn up just enough to flash a glimmer of her teeth. The hand I brought to her waist is now exploring every curve and rounded edge of her body, traveling up her torso. When it reaches her chest, she lets me drag a finger across the top of her bodice and slip it down just enough to graze her nipple. Her breath hitches in her throat and I feel my own smirk grow on my face.
“Tell me you wanted me to notice you tonight. Tell me that when you slipped into this slutty little outfit and put these perfect tits on display, you were thinking about me while you did,” I try, hoping for nothing more than confirmation that she feels even an ounce of resemblance to how I feel for her. She swipes her tongue across the bottom of her red painted lips and lifts her eyes to me.
“And what if I did, pretty boy?” She pushes herself off the wall and makes her body flush with mine and I’m positive she can feel how hard she’s made me through my jeans. She confirms that she can when she brings a hand to my package and lightly massages it. I groan softly and drop my mouth to be next to her ear so she can hear what she’s doing to me.
“Then I’d tell you to go home and wait for me. I’ll be off in a few hours and then I’ll come over and fuck you into tomorrow like you deserve to be.”
“What if I’d rather have a taste of you now?” Her hands find the button on my jeans and start to undo it and as much as I want to let her do what she wants, I stop her.
“No, no, not here. Not yet. I’m going to make you wait as punishment for how you’ve behaved. No one toys with me and then gets a reward. You have to wait.” I pin her hands down by her waist and lean into her neck, pressing a soft kiss and playful bite into the side of it. “But I promise you, the wait will be worth it.”
She sucks in a breath as I sink my teeth into her. “And if I don’t listen? I have rules, you know?”
