Giving me a full-on grin now, as if he knows something I don't, he bends and kisses me, upside down. And in that one kiss, I feel a million things. Things I’ve no business feeling. Things I haven't felt since my sophomore year.
And, God, I’m so screwed.
Chapter 13
Pia
“Where is this?” I ask when Onyx pulls up outside an imposing brick house in Bonnie Brae, a small but extremely wealthy residential neighborhood known for its impressive mid-century designer homes and quiet opulence.
Before we left the compound, Onyx asked me to spend the night with him again, and despite my many fictional reasons why I couldn't, he still won.Again. Because what Onyx wants, Onyx gets. We’re supposed to be swinging by my apartment to pack an overnight bag, but Onyx made a detour without giving me a heads-up.
“Just need to drop something off real quick,” he explains as he digs his phone from his front pocket. He dials someone and lifts the phone to his ear, grunts “Outside,” then hangs up and tucks it back into his pocket.
As we wait, I arch my back to stretch my spine while looking around the quiet, character-rich neighborhood, with its twisty tree-lined streets and luxuriantly manicured landscapes. Such beautiful homes…
The sound of gates creaking open draws my attention back to where we are.
What the—
“What the fuck?”
My exact thought was finished out loud by none other than Calvin Granger, who’s paused just outside his stately gates in lounge pants and a plain tee, his face a mask of confusion.
“What’s going on right now?” I demand.
“You tell me,” he hisses low, glancing nervously over his shoulder to the house. “Why are you here, at myhouse?”
“What?”His house?Desperate for an explanation, I nudge Onyx. “Um, hello? You mind telling me what we’re doing here?”
Instead of answering me, he takes his glasses off and fixes his stare on Calvin. “You see where she’s at? With me. Back of my bike. It’s a thing. So forget her number. Not another call or text. Got it?”
“What the hell, Owen,” Calvin grinds out, marching forward. “You’re breaking all kinds of bro codes right now. P is mine—”
“No, she isn’t. Not one of your ‘dumbfucks’ or your gold-digging chickenheads. She’smywoman now. If I see your name pop up on her phone again, I’ll pay a visit to Stefano next.”
Calvin’s jaw tightens, his fingers curling into fists. “Youwouldn’t.”
Onyx’s chuckle is humorless. “Do you know me or don’t you, Cal?”
For several beats, Calvin just glowers at him, before he takes a step back, capitulating.
He starts to turn to me, “Pia—”
“Nuh-uh,” Onyx cuts him off. “Don’t talk to her. Don’t even fucking look at her. Go inside to your fiancé.” He fires up the engine, the heavy metal vibrating under us. “You made your bed, now lie in it.”
With that, he rides off, leaving Calvin staring after us.
It takes a few minutes for the shock of what just happened to wear off. Possessive men are contemptuous to me. I downright despise them. Yet at the moment, I can’t tell if I’m pissed the hell off or turned the hell on. Not with this rumbling metal between my thighs and my body pressed up against his.
“Hey, babe,” I call over the wind. “Can we stop at theBonnie Brae Ice Scream Shop? I’m feeling for something sweet.”
Several seconds pass by, and I’m beginning to wonder if he heard me when he answers, “Yeah, sure.”
Minutes later, he decelerates to a stop a few blocks shy of the ice cream shop and switches off the engine.
Climbing off, I ask, “Why park so far away?”
“Because,” he says slowly, dismounting, “it’s Sunday, which means there’ll be a bunch of families there. Not an appropriate place for you to lay into me.”
