Club 22 (Hades Book 3)

by Tate James

  Thankfully, that's what our meetings were set to handle. It was safe to say the distraction of Cass's toy in my ass the entire time was less than ideal for my concentration. Yet by the time we all walked out of the boardroom, we'd reached a satisfactory result.

  Timber would open per our original schedule, and it would be done with the full support of the Cloudcroft mayor.

  "So," Zed murmured as the mayor and her aids disappeared into the elevators, "about that lunch date."

  I gave a soft laugh. "I'm actually starved."

  Zed's gaze was pure filth. "Same."

  "I've got you sorted, boss," Hannah offered, standing up from behind her desk and giving me a wide smile. "When your meeting ran so late, I called in an order with Zampati's down the road. They should be delivering your lunch in a couple of minutes. I got you the honey mustard chicken breast with wild rice, and, Zed, I ordered you the shrimp linguine. I hope that's okay?"

  Zed looked irritated as hell, but my stomach was rumbling, so I gave Hannah a grateful smile. "That sounds perfect, thank you." I made my way back to my office with Zed following along. So was Hannah.

  "Sir, I wanted to talk to you about those 7th Circle staff members that I was looking into?" She waited until I was seated—carefully—then sat down in one of my visitor chairs opposite.

  Zed shot me a meaningful glare, silently begging me to get rid of Hannah so he could fuck me stupid before lunch arrived. But it was just entertaining me, so I ignored him. Besides, the butt plug was kind of comfortable now that I was used to it.

  "Yes, I remember," I replied to Hannah. "What about them? I'm guessing they got poached by another venue."

  Hannah frowned, her perfect black brows tight. "Not... that I can tell. One of them, yes, that was Jack Hugeman. He thought we had no shifts for him and needed to pay bills, so he took a job at Swinging Dick's." She cringed at that, and so did I. "I hope I didn't overstep, but I told him he would need a full health work-up if he wanted to return to Copper Wolf venues."

  "Agreed." I nodded. "What about the other two?"

  Hannah puffed out a breath. "They've been reported missing by their families. No one has seen or heard from them in weeks."

  I stiffened, my lips pursed. "Remind me of their names?"

  "Monica Carrie and Kelsey Gregson. They worked under the aliases Michela and Katherine. Both have been, er, sex workers for 7th Circle pretty much since you opened. Always punctual, popular with repeat clients, good employees." She gave a small shrug, the concern clear on her face. "There are open missing-persons cases for both of them."

  Giving her a small nod of understanding, I drew a deep breath as I processed that information. First Maryanne got murdered, then these two girls went missing? It had to be Chase.

  "Thanks for letting me know, Hannah. Keep me posted for any developments." I shifted my gaze to Zed, who looked like he'd just been hit with a stun gun. "Anything you want to ask, Zed?"

  He gave a tight shake of his head, and Hannah politely excused herself, saying she'd bring our lunch in when it arrived.

  After she closed the door softly, I narrowed my gaze at Zed. "What?"

  He glanced at the door, then exhaled heavily as he came over to sit in the chair Hannah had just vacated. "Monica and Kelsey... they were both..." He waved his hand and winced. I didn't really need any more of an explanation as my mood soured.

  "You were fucking them both. Right." My words were clipped and angry, and Zed groaned.

  "Not recently, but yeah, in the past I spent some time with both of them. They're pretty girls and..." He scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. "Chase is deliberately targeting women I’ve slept with."

  "No shit," I muttered. I grabbed a pen and notebook out of my drawer and pushed it across the desk to him. "I suggest you make a list of every girl you've been with. They're all in danger."

  Zed looked way too uncomfortable with that suggestion, but his protest was cut off by a knock at my office door.

  "Come in," I snapped, expecting Hannah to have returned with our lunch. It was our lunch, but it was Gen who brought it in with a bright smile. "Oh, hey, Gen. I didn't expect you today."

  She placed the bags of food on my desk, then dragged a chair over to sit beside Zed. "I know; I didn't mean to drop by unannounced. I was at Zampati's getting my own lunch order and saw yours waiting for the courier. Figured I'd bring it up myself and check how the meeting with Leah went."

  Leah Harris was the Mayor of Cloudcroft and a personal connection of Gen's. It was thanks to her that we'd been able to iron out the mess with Timber, so I really did owe her thanks for that. I was just in a shitty mood about Zed's promiscuity coming back to bite us all in the ass, and the coy glances Gen permanently seemed to be shooting him set my nerves on edge.

  "Thanks, Gen," Zed started to say, clearly about to dismiss her. "We were just—"

  "Finishing up," I cut him off, giving Gen a smile. "You're welcome to stay for lunch; we can discuss strategy for the Copper Wolf vodka distillery expansion." Zed shot me a hard glare, but I just nodded to the notepad. "You have a list to write, Zayden. Get to work; I don't want to be here late tonight."

  He scowled but reluctantly picked up the notebook as Gen started unpacking our food. Hannah had also ordered a range of sides and desserts to go with our mains, so there was enough food to keep us fed all afternoon. Much to Zed's annoyance, Gen and I found plenty of things to discuss, so she ended up not leaving until we were all ready to head home at the end of the day.

  41

  As badly as Zed wanted to clear the air between us, fate was working against him. Both our phones were going nuts before we even got into his car, and we spent most of the drive home fielding calls about a million and one work-related matters. Then, just as we parked in the garage, he got a call from our foreman at Timber to say there had been an electrical fire in the new kitchen area.

  "Go check it out," I told him with a sigh. "I'll get up to speed on the new security system."

  Before I could head inside, Zed grabbed me around the waist and pinned me to the side of his car, kissing me hard. "I know you're pissed at me," he whispered, sounding pained.

  "I'm not pissed," I retorted, giving a slight shrug.

  Zed sigh in exasperation. "Fine, then you're irritated at me. But I can't change my past, Dare. And all those girls? They're in the past. I've only ever loved one woman, and that's you. Never forget that."

  My heart softened at the sincerity in his eyes, and I tilted my head to kiss him softly. "I know. Go sort out Timber, and we can hit that rain check when you're back."

  "Count on it," he replied, kissing me once more, then getting back into his car.

  As he reversed back out of the garage, I made my way inside and found Dallas standing in the foyer with a laptop balanced on his arm. He was tapping the keyboard one-handed, his eyes on a wall panel where he was doing... something, but he looked up when I got closer.

  "Boss, hi," he said with a tight smile. "Almost done. Sorry, we ran overtime."

  I checked the clock on the wall and noticed it was a solid hour later than I'd told him to be finished by. Not that it really mattered, but I hadn't wanted Seph to notice the increased security.

  "Don't worry about it," I told him. "Have Rex's guys gone?"

  Dallas nodded. "Yeah, they left before Seph and Lucas got home. I figured you wouldn't want them hanging around your sister."

  I flashed him an appreciative smile. "You figured right."

  His eyes returned to what he was doing. "I told Seph we were just running routine maintenance checks. She seemed none the wiser."

  "Sounds like her. Thanks, Dallas."

  He nodded again, then tapped a few more keys on his laptop until the wall unit beeped five times and flashed green. "All done," he announced with a triumphant grin. "Want me to run you through it all?"

  I accepted, and Dallas followed me to the kitchen so I could drop my bag and remove my weapons. He spent about fifteen minutes talking me
through the new security system: motion detectors, cameras, spotlights, even heat sensors and gas particle detection units. I'd thought Zed's home was a fortress before? Not even close. Now it was a fortress. Seph would be lucky to sneeze without an alarm going off somewhere.

  When Dallas was done, I showed him out, then armed our new alarm system as he'd shown me. I just needed to remember to disarm it before Zed got back, seeing as he didn't have the code.

  "We all secure?" Lucas asked as I returned to the den, where he'd been studying on the couch. He'd listened to bits of what Dallas had been telling me, but I could tell his head was in his books. That was perfectly fine by me; it was nothing I couldn't show him when he needed to know.

  I nodded, shifting some of his textbooks to the coffee table so I could sit beside him. Then I squirmed as the plug shifted in my ass.

  "Yup, all done," I replied, wetting my lips. "Where's the brat?"

  Grinning, Lucas capped the pen he'd been using and set his work aside. "In her room," he replied, snaking an arm around my waist.

  "Hmm," I hummed, glancing up to the ceiling like my X-ray vision could tell me if she was likely to come down any time soon. "And Cass?"

  Lucas shrugged. "No clue. Haven't seen him since I got home. Either he's gone out—sneaky cat—or he's hiding somewhere to avoid Dallas seeing him alive." He shrugged, then pulled me into his lap, making me squirm again. "So for now, it's just us."

  "Just us, huh?" I repeated, draping my arms around his neck. He was still in his Shadow Prep uniform, the tie tugged loose and his top button open. "I can't decide if I'm turned on by this uniform or totally creeped out," I admitted, pulling the tie undone and tossing it aside.

  Lucas nodded in understanding. "I should take it off, just to be safe."

  Giving him a soft laugh, I unbuttoned his SP-monogrammed shirt and pushed it off his gorgeous shoulders. "Oh, much better," I murmured teasingly. "Wait. I'm interrupting, and you have exams coming up." I scrambled out of his lap in an attempt to be responsible, but Lucas caught me with his hands on my hips before I could make it far.

  "I think I can take a study break, Hayden," he told me with a small laugh. He was still seated, and he tipped his head right back to hold my gaze. "Promise. It'll actually make me study better because I won't be distracted by my raging hard-on."

  I pursed my lips, trying not to smile at his charming bullshit. Damn it, I couldn't say no to Lucas. Fucking Lucas. "What kind of mood was Seph in when she went to her room?" I asked.

  He took that as the permission it was, his long fingers skating around to the back of my pencil skirt to drag the zipper down. "Terrible one," he replied, wrinkling his nose. "She got in some argument with a girl at school, and I wasn't super sympathetic about it on the way home. She slammed the door pretty hard." My skirt dropped to the carpet at my feet, and my blouse joined it a moment later.

  A small part of my mind told me I needed to go and talk to my sister, find out what had upset her at school. But a bigger part rubbed its hands together in glee because if she was in a shitty mood, she was unlikely to come down until dinnertime. So I made no move to stop Lucas as he stripped my bra and panties away, leaving me standing totally naked in front of him.

  "You're so damn beautiful, Hayden," he whispered, his voice hoarse as he ran his hands over my skin. His huge hands cupped my breasts, his fingers tugging at my nipples and making my back arch in response. He wet his lips at that, his eyes hungry as he continued touching my skin. When he reached my ass, he grabbed a firm handful of my butt cheeks, and I jerked.

  His gaze shot back to my face, curious, and I just grinned. I wasn't going to tell him; he could just find out for himself. Which he did a moment later when he stroked his fingers down the length of my pussy and brushed the hard base of the butt plug.

  "Babe, what..." He tilted his head to the side, curious, as his fingers explored.

  I huffed a short laugh. "Cass," I said by way of explanation.

  Lucas gave an understanding nod, then an impish grin. "Am I going to get in trouble here?"

  I got the feeling he didn't give a shit if he did get in trouble. He definitely wasn't planning on stopping, at any rate.

  "No." I shrugged and rocked my hips as he left the plug alone and sank two fingers into my pussy instead. "Or I don't think so. He just said not to take it out, not that I couldn't fuck you with it in."

  Lucas dragged his lower lip through his teeth, his gaze thoughtful as he slowly teased me with his hand, making me shudder and rock against his palm. "Well," he murmured after a long pause. "Color me intrigued."

  I grinned, fucking loving how Lucas had gone from virgin to one hundred in no time at all. He was all about new experiences, and I loved that about him.

  "Well good," I replied. "But you have to let me do something first."

  Reluctantly, I pushed his hand away before he could make me come too damn quick and sank to my knees in front of the couch where he sat. My eyes locked on his, I unbuckled his belt and trousers and freed his monster erection. My hand wrapped around it as he hissed a breath and leaned back to give me better access. He knew damn well what I wanted and was more than willing to facilitate.

  Leaning in, I teased the tip of my tongue around his crown, still holding his gaze as I did and quietly getting off on the way his expression shifted. I stroked his shaft firmly, my fingertips not even meeting around his girth, then I closed my lips around his velvet-smooth head, sucking gently.

  "Oh shit," Lucas cursed on a hard exhale as I took him deeper. "Hayden... babe..." he groaned as my hand moved in time with my mouth, making up for the distance I couldn't fit down my throat. I was getting better, though. Practice makes perfect and all that.

  Lucas's hands went to my hair, his fingers pressing the back of my head as his hips jerked, forcing his dick deeper and lighting me up with intense arousal. There was just something about feeling like I was totally choking on cock that made my pussy flood.

  After a couple of minutes, though, he pulled me up and gave me a desperate stare. "Babe, I need to feel that sweet pussy," he confessed, his voice rough.

  Smirking my satisfaction and driving him wild, I climbed into his lap, balancing myself with my hands on his shoulders as he fisted his cock and lined up with my opening. Just as he started to sink into my warmth, the toy in my ass started vibrating, and I jolted like I'd just been electrocuted.

  "What the fuck?" Lucas exclaimed as I stiffened and gasped.

  "Cass!" I shouted, both enraged and goddamn tipping close to the edge of orgasm.

  His dark chuckle echoed through the room, and I craned my neck to find him lurking in the shadows near the kitchen, the little toy remote in his hand. Lucas groaned a curse and gently bit my breast that was temptingly close to his mouth already.

  "What'd I tell you about our game, Red?" Cass asked, sauntering closer with a smug tilt to his lips.

  I rolled my eyes. "I told Lucas he couldn't take it out. What'd I do wrong?"

  Cass shrugged. "Nothing. Just checking you remembered."

  Seething at the interruption, I narrowed my eyes at him. "Well then, in that case..." I reached down to reposition Lucas's cock and sank onto him an inch. "Lucas and I were in the middle of something."

  Cass's expression was so often unreadable, but not then. Nope, that one was all surprise as I held his gaze defiantly while spreading my knees wider and taking Lucas deeper into my cunt.

  "Oh wow," Lucas murmured with a short chuckle, his hands tight on my waist. He could clearly feel the difference with the plug in my ass, just like I could. It was a tight fit, but not uncomfortable. Just... tight. Lucas lost his control a second later and held my hips firm as he bucked his own, slamming the rest of his cock into me and making me cry out.

  For a brief moment, I totally forgot Cass was still standing there, then I felt a second pair of hands on my body, cupping my breasts as Lucas held my hips. A second mouth on my skin, kissing my shoulder as Lucas sucked my nipple. Fuck, yes.

&nb
sp; Then I felt pressure on my ass as Cass tugged on the toy, and I leaned into Lucas harder. "Cass," I moaned as he played with the fucking thing, pulling it halfway out, then pushing it back in. Fucking me with it, even as Lucas's hips moved beneath me, his thrusts shallow.

  "Hush, Red," Cass grunted, pulling the toy out completely, then squeezing more lube in its place. "I'd say it's a damn good thing you're letting me claim this ass first." His thick, hot tip pressed against my hole, and Lucas stilled beneath me.

  "Oh yeah?" I shot back, breathless as fuck while he ever so slowly pushed inside. His dick was so much bigger than the plug I'd been wearing all day, but I knew how to take it. "Why's that?"

  Cass gave a rough laugh, pushing in further and making me gasp. "By the looks of things, Gumdrop would have put you in the fucking hospital."

  A burst of laughter escaped me at that, and Cass took the opportunity to push home.

  "Holy fuck," I breathed, feeling both of them fully seated within me. It wasn't my first time... but it was for damn sure the first time I'd enjoyed having two dicks inside me at once. And make no mistake, I was thoroughly enjoying it. "Yes... shit, Saint..."

  He hummed a contented sound, his hands skating up my body until he reached my face. With a strong hand on my jaw, he turned my face until he could kiss me roughly, then released me with a wink. "I've got you, Angel. You good down there, Gumdrop?"

  "Fucking excellent," Lucas breathed, his hands finding my breasts once more and his teeth teasing my aching nipple.

  Cass dropped his hand from my jaw to my throat, then kept it there as he started to move. He went slow at first, and Lucas followed suit. But gradually, carefully, they both picked up the pace. The harder Cass fucked my ass, the more his grip on my throat tightened. I was only just holding off on my orgasm, determined to drag this session out, but Cass wasn't letting me call the shots.