by Kira Graham
Besides, I’m at work and I have an excuse.
“That’s it,” I sigh, grinning happily because things are so on track.
I didn’t get into the argument I was intending when I told Cameron I know he was in the house. I blame that on my vagina, by the way. That asshole doesn’t understand the upper hand when she’s getting her ass pleasured. I don’t blame her all that much, though. Sex with Cameron is the best and I intend to have a lot more sex with Cameron for a very long time. A lifetime, to be exact, since we’re married and all.
“That blows. Where’s the flowers and jewelry and romantic dinner?” Gia asks, sounding so disappointed I laugh and shake my head.
“I don’t need or want that kind of thing, Gia. All that I need is for him to love me and to say so. Love is love, not a competition,” I say, smiling when she pulls a face and gags.
“That’s disgusting.”
“No, it really isn’t.”
“It really is. But whatever,” she sighs, dropping her head into her hand on a wide yawn. “So, that’s it then? You and Cameron love one another and you’re going to ride off into the sunset with him and live happily ever after?”
“Give me a break,” I grunt, pulling a face of my own because that doesn’t sound appealing at all. “I don’t need romance or gifts. I don’t even wear the bracelet he got me. All I need is him.”
I don’t even like sunsets anyway. Besides, that isn’t us. We’re the couple who compete like crazy and drive one another nuts, and I like it that way. I’m guaranteed an exciting life filled with constant laughter and excitement thanks to Cameron’s extremely competitive spirit, and that suits me just fine. And to think, none of this would have happened if I hadn’t walked into his building to find a mangy cat.
“Oh, barf,” Gia groans, going over to the coffee machine and making herself another. “That love stuff is disgusting. I can’t believe you fell for it.”
The bakery is filled with the smell of baking cakes, and I have a tray of pastries ready to bake as I yawn and sip my coffee, trying to wake up fully before seven hits.
“Oh, please. Like I don’t know that you’re in love with Connor!” I snort, watching her blush before she sneers at me from her place in front of the machine. “Don’t bother denying it, either. You forget, Gia Sugar, I know you.”
“I do not love Connor. Is he hot? Hell, yes—but the man’s flaky. He falls in love at the drop of a hat, and he falls out of love just as fast. He’s been in love at least three times since we met, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
“So, he’s all heart,” I say, shaking my head when she sneers again.
“More like all dick. That’s his problem, you know. He falls in love overtime when he fucks. Well, no, thank you. I don’t need that in my life. I really don’t need him saying some shit to me and then changing his mind as soon as the sex gets stale.”
Oh, shit, I think, my heart hurting for her because I can see it. She’s into him. I can’t blame her for fighting it, though, and I certainly don’t disagree. One of the things I love most about Cam is that he’s not a wishy-washy guy. He knows what he wants when he sees it, and he goes after it with the purpose of keeping it. He’s keeping me, and I know, deep down, despite all my earlier misgivings, that I can trust him. Is that easy? Hell, no. It’s hard as hell, and I still have moments of doubt and fear about where this is going. What I do know is that wherever it goes, I’m going to love it, and no matter what happens, Cameron will never hurt me. It also doesn’t hurt that we’re technically married—though to be honest, I’m not ready to face that yet or talk to him about it.
And neither is he. He’s probably telling himself and everyone else it’s because he’s afraid of how I’ll react, but since I know Cameron, I know that’s bullshit. He needs time to get used to this and not feel like he’s trapped, and if not mentioning the marriage will do that, then so be it. Of course, I’m going to milk the hell out of it when he finally does grow a pair and confess that to me, but for now it’s okay.
I’m good with pretending to date for now. In fact, I sort of like it.
“Okay. So, Connor’s a little… untrustworthy in the love department. Can you blame the man? He got married, had a kid, and then his wife divorced him and left him for another woman.”
“Oh, boohoo. Lei couldn’t help how she felt. Besides, it’s not like he love loved her. They’re more friends than anything else, and even Lei said it. Personally, I don’t think Connor even knows what real love feels like. But I don’t want to talk about that anymore. You know the hunt is going to start soon, don’t you?” she asks, grinning when I groan because I’m sort of afraid of that now.
Dad’s been really quiet about it, and to be honest, I’m a little tired. I haven’t felt well for days, I’m sleeping like shit lately, and unless I’m with Cam, I have this weirdly unsettled feeling in my gut.
“It’s probably gas,” Gia snorts, laughing when I look down to see my hand and groan.
“Come on. This is going to be great. The last epic battle before this thing resets.”
“You think? Paul could win this round,” I point out, trying to keep a straight face until Gia blinks, and then we both burst out laughing.
“Oh, my God—that was classic! That is never going to happen. He’s such an idiot,” Gia laughs, clutching at her stomach while I hiccup and grin.
“It was worth a try. Poor fellah,” I sigh, hopping off my stool when the oven dings.
It takes me a minute to get the cakes out of the oven, and then I shove in the pastry tray and start to unload the rack while Gia refills my cup.
“So, Kat’s seeing someone,” Gia remarks after a long silence during which I’ve mixed up some dough for sweet buns and glazed the now cooled Danishes that I made earlier.
“No shit?” I ask, a little shocked because Kat doesn’t usually date.
With her stepdad out of work and still recovering from an injury that damaged his right hand, Kat tends to stay close to home unless she’s with me. It’s something I’ve been worried about for a while, but I have no place to say anything, since it’s her life. Besides, her little sister Cayla is so cute, and I know Kat sees her as her own kid ever since her mom started suffering with depression.
“No shit. Some guy she met at the bar while she was working a double.”
“That’s why she keeps giving Peter the cold shoulder?” I ask, frowning because this is news and usually Kat tells me everything.
We’re best friends. We talk about it all. Well, except that one time I had my period and woke up in the middle of the night to change. I still don’t know how I was so sleepy that I didn’t realize I hadn’t removed the plug, and I really don’t know how I got another up there without damaging my vag. What I do know is that I won’t ever tell anyone that. Ever. I have some pride.
“Yeah… I don’t think so. The guy’s a bit intense,” Gia murmurs, grimacing when I gape at her.
“What?”
“He’s too into her. Come on—you don’t see it? It’s like smothering or something,” she huffs, to which I frown because I don’t agree.
“Pete’s sweet. He’s also really rich and funny and giving. Kat would be lucky to have a man like him in her life,” I say softly, yawning again and shaking my head because I feel woozy.
“Me too,” Gia moans, her own eyes blinking rapidly while mine close before I shake myself awake.
“Gia…” I grunt, falling to the side and crashing into the counter with my hip, the pain causing me to cry out before I right myself and try to stay standing.
“Lu… what…?” Gia moans, her voice sounding far away and strangely distorted as I blink over and over again to dispel the weird dizziness.
My stomach roils as I fall onto the stool to my left, and I have a moment of blank panic when I blink myself awake, my head tilting because it feels ten pounds too heavy for my neck.
“Ohmowenela,” Gia groans, her arms sliding out from under her so that she slides ov
er the counter and collapses face-first into the stainless-steel top, her head rolling on her arm.
I can see her eyes, her face, but it’s so blurry, and then I realize I’m slowly sinking down too, my body giving up the fight. I don’t know what’s happening, and I start to panic against the feeling of faintness that overtakes me. Sleep. I need to sleep, I think, swallowing when bile races up my throat and my stomach heaves.
“G…” I whisper, my lips numbing out.
She doesn’t answer me, and I start to panic because I know something is very wrong here. Rolling my head, even though it feels like it’s a hundred pounds, I manage to get myself into a position to see Gia, and I’m relieved as hell when I see her phone on the table as she slurs into it.
“Con… nor. Somethi… ng… wrong,” she says, the sound of her gagging making my own throat shiver as bile bubbles up. “He.. lp.”
Help… I try to say as well before my eyes shut against my will and everything goes dark.
***
Cameron
My foot smashes down on the gas and I lay on the horn as I cut through traffic, narrowly missing a cab and cursing when someone tries to veer into my lane, swerving out when I keep going. I nearly clip more than one car as I make an illegal left turn, but none of that matters as I drive, trying to ignore Connor’s yelling and the fact that I feel like something is very wrong.
“Gia! Gia, dammit!” he yells his face pale in the early-morning light.
When I woke up this morning I was really out of it for a moment and disoriented by my surroundings until I remembered where I was. Then I heard moaning, and when I turned to Lu to wake her up, I realized it was after five and she’d left. She’d left me there to hear her parents screwing, which in and of itself was nasty, but also so mean-spirited because there is never going to be a time when I don’t remember that kind of grossness. I’d just left the house, intending to stop by her bakery to cuss her out and remind her of our “we’re a team” pact when Connor shot out of the front door yelling into his phone.
“Goddammit, Cam, drive faster!” he yells, his fist clenching around his phone as I make another right and then floor it, coming to a teeth-chattering stop in front of Sugar Buns.
The car is barely in park before I fall out of it and then race for the bakery, ripping at the door only to find it locked.
“It’s locked!” I growl, my first instinct to kick the glass in before Con grabs me and drags me away, steering me to the alley on the side and to the door there.
This door isn’t locked, and I frown. I’ve been here in the early mornings with Lu before, and she never leaves this door unlocked because, even as arrogant as she is about her capabilities to protect herself, Lu isn’t a fool. She takes these kinds of things seriously.
“Shit,” Connor grunts, rushing in ahead of me only to come to a stop and stand gaping when I bump into him.
My heart is going a mile a minute, my chest tight, my ears ringing with panic, and then I’m gaping too when I see Lu and Gia slumped over the counter where Lu works. My first instinct is to lose it and rush to her to make sure she is okay, but I can’t move as laughter bubbles up in my throat, the sight before me so unlikely, I’m frozen in shock.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Kat says, her hand frozen in midair above Lu’s cheek, the black sharpie telling a story that is so undeniable I can’t think of anything to say for a good minute while the three of us are locked into a stare.
Connor is the first to speak, and he does so through a burst of laughter that is soon followed by my own and then gets louder when Kat sucks her lips in and grimaces, giving us a guilty smile filled with trepidation.
“Sooo, this… happened,” she says slowly, lowering her hand with the marker to the table while she sighs and drops her head.
“Kat… what are you doing?” I ask, fighting more laughter because this is so unexpected I can barely think straight.
Hell, I can’t even say it’s unexpected because it’s the kind of thing I just never would have thought possible. Impossible. Yeah, that’s the right word I was looking for as I stare at Lu’s face and take in the absolutely horrible, perfectly rendered and incredibly detailed cock Kat has drawn on her cheek. It’s got length, girth, and a set of balls so perfectly lifelike that I squint my eyes to take it all in fully. There’s even little creases drawn onto the sack, for the love of God, and I think I see pubes too, something she must have done with… yep, there’s a thinner Sharpie on the table beside Gia’s head.
“I… shoot! No one was supposed to be here,” she sighs, her mouth curving into a frown when Connor snorts and walks closer to stare down at Gia.
Unlike Lu, her cheek is full of tiny little cocks, at least fifteen from the looks of it, but no less detailed for the size.
“That is clear,” I laugh, not sure if I’m okay with this because Lu is out cold on the table and drooling so much that all I can think is she’s been drugged.
Which is the only real thought I can have because Lu doesn’t sleep at this time of the morning. I should know. The woman wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning, unless I’ve fucked her into a coma near dawn. It’s one of the hazards of dating a baker that I kinda resent because, to be honest, I love sleep. I love sleeping in on the weekends, and on the rare occasion, if the office is a little slow, I even sleep in on a weekday and go in later.
“I guess you caught me,” she sighs, looking anywhere but at me while she slowly, but very obviously, eyes the door out front. “Please don’t tell them it was me!” she yells, the words busting out with a panic that I would laugh at if I wasn’t so surprised.
Little Kat, the quiet one that Lu always describes as a coward, not only drugged Lu and Gia; she had the balls to come in here and… well, draw balls on their faces. And is that…
“Oh, shit,” I laugh, walking over to stand beside Lu and get a closer look at her tattooed cheek. “Kat, babe, she is going to kill you when she finds out,” I chuckle, my eyes watering at the sight of a small cock drawn right at the corner of her eyelid.
“Dammit. Please don’t tell them it was me! I’ve been planning this for weeks,” she whines, pouting when I sigh and shake my head, the sound regretful.
“Babe, seriously, I can’t not tell her,” I groan.
Not after last night’s speech and the promises we made to each other. We’re a team. We’re unbreakable, and I owe her my loyalty.
“But this way she’ll think it was someone in her family, and that will leave her so busy plotting their demise that she won’t notice when I steal her kitten! Oh, please?” Kat whines, pouting. “I’ve been planning this for so long, and this way you can start afresh with the games.”
Well, now… that sounds reasonable, I think, the thought of losing that cat without actually getting rid of it so appealing I actually consider it. Not that I don’t like Jaja of course. Just that I freaking hate him. I don’t mind Luke, much, but that cat is evil, he makes poor Lu’s allergies act up, and, besides, with the cat gone, we’re free to win this round together and faster since Cole declared that we’d need two wins as a team to make up for half ownership of the cat.
Since I wasn’t going to just give him to Lu—because that would be losing—and since Gia will have a fit once she finds out she lost her bet…
I glance at Connor, who shrugs and then grins good-naturedly, whistling softly before he leaves the back to go look in the display case.
“You have a deal.”
Chapter 22
Louisiana
I can’t believe that damn cat just ran away. I just can’t believe it!
“This smells fishy,” Gia snarls, pacing in front of the sofa while I lie back on the cushions and let Cam rub my feet.
“Oh, give it a rest,” I sigh, grinning when she lets out a muffled scream and throws her hands in the air.
“You want me to… Are you insane? That cat was my chance at a hundred grand, Lu. A hundred grand!” she snarls, whipping around to glare at Connor w
ho looks so innocent that I immediately don’t trust him.
Cameron himself is suspiciously overwrought about Jaja’s disappearance, and when he cried actual tears, I knew something was up. You don’t spend weeks having a small ball of fur attack you and bite you in places no cat should bite, and then cry about the disappearance of said cat as if you miss it. Cam’s a great guy, and I love him, but he’s no Oscar-worthy actor, and I know, I just know he knows what happened to Jaja and why Gia and I woke up in the back room of my bakery, disoriented and confused.
He won’t spill. The man is a liar, an out-and-out cheater, and I should kick him in the balls or torture him until he spills—but the strangest thing happened to me when I realized something was wrong about this scenario. It thrilled me. It’s a challenge. It’s him looking at me and daring me to figure it out on my own.
Since I’m awesome and a genius, I’ve accepted that challenge, and I look forward to finding out who the hell drugged me, drew a huge cock on my face, and then stole my cat. Hey, it also doesn’t hurt that Gia’s going nuts and that it’s killing her. Which is great. Plus, tomorrow Dad hands me the first clue of the hunt, a full day earlier than everyone else gets them. As far as I’m concerned, that’s everything I need.
I have a man who loves me enough to be a stinking cheater—of the good kind—and liar, and someone who dares me to win against all odds.
And that’s all I need.
For now.
At least, that’s good enough for me.
It’s Gia you have to worry about now, I think, watching her watch Connor, who grins and looks at her in a way I don’t think Gia understands. A way that has my smile blooming fully. A smile that promises something I hope to hell Gia is ready for because, oh, baby, he’s daring her.
And as I’ve discovered with my own O’Dare, daring is where it all begins.
“You tell me what the hell you did, Connor O’Dare. You tell me—or I swear to God I’m going to make your life a misery,” Gia screeches, her eyes rounding and her nostrils flaring when he smiles darkly and tilts his head.