Sweet Reckoning

by Higgins, Wendy

  I realized then that I should probably stand in the presence of the Dukes, but when I lifted myself from the floor, the alcohol hit me full force. Holy Moses! My balance was completely gone, and I tumbled into the arm of the couch, which was absolutely hilarious, and I couldn’t hold back the laughter.

  “You don’t waste any time,” Pharzuph said to me.

  “There’s more, see?” I pointed to the open fridge. “I didn’t drink it all. Want some?” It couldn’t hurt to be nice. Patti would be so proud of me.

  “I’ll pass,” Pharzuph said, “but I think you should have another.” He smiled.

  I smiled back because, well, that was awfully kind of him, and I agreed that another sounded like a wonderful idea.

  I dropped to the floor in front of the mini fridge. I picked out two bottles, looking them over and finding the letters all sort of jumbled, so it took me a second to read them. I turned to the three men who were watching me. I wondered why Kaidan, my beautiful Kai, looked so friggin’ mad. I smiled up at them.

  “If you don’t need me for anything else, I’ll just be on my way,” Astaroth said.

  “Nothing more,” Pharzuph told him. “Maybe later. Thank you, Brother.”

  Astaroth left the room.

  “They need more tequila in these minibar fridge thingamajigs,” I said, settling on the gin.

  Pharzuph laughed and looked at Kaidan, who was now leaning against the entertainment center with his arms crossed.

  “I told you,” Kaidan said to his father. “She’s a lush. An idiot. I can’t believe you’d think there’d be a bond between us.”

  Pharzuph chuckled at his son’s anger, and his smile was handsome. “Eh, you can’t really blame me for wondering when you wouldn’t even bang the stewardess today. You’re usually all about the cougars.”

  “Eww!” I squealed. I wanted to claw those words from my ear canals.

  “See,” Kaidan said. “Completely immature.”

  I felt suddenly upset, though I couldn’t place why. I unscrewed the bottle of gin.

  “You’re trashed,” Kaidan said. “You don’t need any more.”

  “Oh, shut up.”

  He tried to swipe my drink, but I yanked it back and took a glug.

  “No touchie the drinkie. That’s bad, bad, bad.” I waggled a finger at him. “Why’re you being so grumpy, anyways? We’re in Vegas, baby!”

  I stood up, grabbing the top of the fridge when I almost fell. A laugh erupted from my throat and I felt hyper. I wanted to jump on the bed and run down the halls!

  “You are being obnoxious,” Kaidan said through clenched teeth. “It’s bad enough I have to babysit. I’m not holding your bloody hair if you puke.”

  He looked severely angry, which made me laugh again because I was pretty sure we were playing a game.

  My words dragged out when I tried to talk. “It’s funny to annoy you.” I poked a finger into his chest, which was yummily hard. I leaned into him, even though I was trying to stand straight. “You’re, like, sooo hot when you get mad.”

  “I’d watch it, if I were you,” Pharzuph purred into my ear from behind. I jumped because I’d forgotten that he was still here—the guy who made me feel gross. I felt his hands on my waist and his mouth at my ear. “He can get pretty rough when he’s upset.”

  Something inside me screamed that I was supposed to be careful and scared, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember why. I pulled away from Pharzuph’s embrace. Both of the guys were giving me menacing stares. I tipped back the rest of the gin and threw the empty bottle on the floor. These guys were getting annoying. I wanted to have fun.

  “Whur’s the music?” I spun, looking for a radio, and everything blurred.

  Pharzuph stepped close, grabbing my arms and getting in my face. “Where’s the sword?”

  For some reason an image of the sword in the stone came to mind.

  “I ain’t got a swoooord, crazy ass.” I laughed.

  “Don’t talk to him like that,” Kaidan warned, moving toward us.

  Pharzuph chuckled, but he didn’t look happy. “We’ll see, little girl.”

  “Yeah, we will!” I said, laughing gleefully and throwing myself onto the couch. I clutched my stomach as an onslaught of giggles overcame me. “What the heck are we even talkin’ ’bout? I thought we were gonna dance.” I rolled off the couch and crawled to the fridge. I needed another drink. And maybe I could make drinks for the guys since they weren’t happy.

  “I make the bestest drinks, guys. I’ll make you sooo happy.”

  “Not likely,” Kaidan mumbled.

  Pharzuph slapped him on the shoulder and jutted his chin toward me. “Yeah, good luck with that. And be careful. I wouldn’t put it past her to use your lust inclination as a distraction to escape. Don’t let her get the upper hand, you know what I’m saying?” He winked, and Kaidan nodded. “Don’t leave the room, and don’t let her out of your sight.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Pharzuph watched me again.

  I cracked open a beer, throwing the bottle top with amazing accuracy at Kaidan’s face, but he snatched it from the air before it hit him. I fell back onto the couch and kicked my legs in the air. Kaidan pressed his fingers to his forehead.

  “Aw, c’mon, Kaidan Rowe, hottie-boom-bottie. Let’s play.”

  Dang, I was funny.

  “I see what you mean now,” Pharzuph said to Kai, eyeing me with disgust. “It does seem ridiculous that we thought she was the one. Still. We need to find out what she knows.”

  Kaidan nodded. My head turned in slow motion as I watched Pharzuph leave. Kaidan raised his arms and shot both middle fingers up at the closed door. He then leaned back against the wooden entertainment center and shoved his hands through his hair before crossing his arms. He looked angry. And sexy.

  H-O-T-T.

  I wet my lips, feeling bold and single-minded when I realized we were alone. He slowly shook his head back and forth at me. I set my beer on the coffee table, stood, and walked to him, wishing good riddance to the last shred of my inhibitions. I was invincible. I could do anything I wanted. But what I chose to do was the most dangerous thing of all.

  UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

  HarperCollins Publishers

  ..................................................................

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  ALLIES

  I pressed my body against him.

  He took my shoulders and tried to push me away, gently, shaking his head, but my busy hands were insistent on touching.

  Nothing else in the world existed in that moment. Just us. Nothing else mattered. I wanted him. I loved him.

  “Don’t,” I said when he tried to grab my hands. He quickly covered my mouth with his hard hand and spoke lowly against my ear.

  “Shut. Up.” And even that was sexy.

  I wanted his hand on my mouth to be his lips. I stopped trying to push up against him, and concentrated on his hand. I pressed my lips against his palm, looking up at him as I did it. His breathing went ragged. I took one of his fingers and slowly kissed it. He stepped back and I ran my tongue slowly over his fingertip.

  “Ah, damn it,” he whispered. There was flickering in his fiery eyes, and he yanked his hand from mine.

  “Please,” I urged. I reached up and pulled my ponytail holder out, dropping it and letting my hair fall around me.

  “I will tie you up again if you don’t behave,” he warned.

  “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  In a flash he grabbed me, turning and crushing my back into the giant entertainment center’s doors, making a superb racket, kissing me hard and pressing his whole body against mine. I welcomed his forceful hands and hot mouth. We made our way to the couch, where he fell on me and kissed me with a passion that obliterated all thought. I was lying on a cloud of bliss, my head a boggle of contentment, my body in its element against him. He was all I needed.

  “We’re about to have comp
any,” he said, but he didn’t stop kissing me, kissing my neck, touching me everywhere.

  Company? But that didn’t mean we’d have to stop, did it? That would just be wrong.

  There was a long string of insistent knocking on our door, but Kaidan mumbled for whoever was out there to go away. His hands were up my shirt, vibrant against my skin, making me gasp and moan.

  “Oi!” shouted a familiar female voice. “Open the damn door.”

  “I’m busy.” Kaidan bit my bottom lip with a nip, and a shiver rippled through me.

  “The more the merrier,” Blake said. His voice didn’t sound completely right.

  We paused and looked at each other. They were trying to stop us.

  “Just ignore them,” I said. I grabbed his shirt and pulled it up, lifting myself up to kiss the skin on his chest.

  He moaned, and was kissing me again.

  “Don’t let that skank take advantage of you when you’re bored, son of Pharzuph.”

  Ginger! Anger stirred and I tried to sit up, but Kai pushed me back down. I yelled in the direction of the door, “Who you callin’ a skank, you—”

  Kai slapped a hand over my mouth and I struggled against him.

  And then it was Kopano’s temperate voice that spoke, seeming to clear Kaidan’s head for the second it would take to pry him away from me and bring him back to his senses.

  “Open up,” was all that Kopano had to say.

  Kaidan stood abruptly, shuddering as he took another look at me lying there, still wanting him. Then he went and leaned his forehead against the entertainment center for a long moment before going to the door. I couldn’t move.

  I heard the four guests pushing their way in and I felt furious at them for butting in. They looked upset with Kaidan—all of them were signing too fast for me, but I recognized caution and stupid.

  Whatever.

  I grabbed the beer from the coffee table and drank it all. Everyone was coming down into the living area. Their voices were excited, but when I turned to look, their faces were serious.

  Kaidan looked at the empty bottle in my hand and clenched his jaw.

  “Someone put on some music!” Marna said, stepping down into the lower suite where I sat.

  “Ezzactly!” I slurred. “I been trying to say that.”

  Marna pressed her lips together like she was trying not to laugh, but I didn’t know what was funny.

  Someone opened the curtains, giving us a superb view of the city. Loud music came on, and the sisters stood in front of the wall made entirely of glass, dancing for all of Vegas to see. They were very good at keeping up appearances, considering that from the right angle outside the hotel, any Duke would be able to see us clearly with his extended sight.

  “Come here.” Marna’s voice was seductive as she crooked her finger at me, and I went.

  I didn’t have to do too much, since Marna danced around me, rubbing against me, slinking all the way to the floor and back up effortlessly with her hands against the sides of my body. I put my hands under my hair and lifted it up, moving my hips to the beat. When I looked up at Kaidan standing at the railing with the other guys watching, I saw the fire still in his eyes.

  Ginger went to the banister, grabbed Blake’s hand, and pulled him down. She danced with him and it was, by far, the most sensual thing I’d ever seen. He kept looking like he wanted to kiss her, but she’d get within an inch of his mouth and cruelly turn, flipping her hair in his face. Marna came up behind Blake, and the twins danced with him in the middle. Their moves were so seamless that I swear they must have choreographed the dance. If these two sisters set their sights on a guy in a relationship, he didn’t stand much of a chance.

  Kaidan hit a button on the wall, and electronically controlled curtains began to move inward. The second they were closed, the dancing stopped, and the twins walked away, leaving Blake standing there with his arms held out at his sides, like “what’s up with that?”

  I laughed so hard I almost fell over. He came forward and stuck out his knuckles to me. I fumbled the first attempt, but was eventually able to bump his fist with mine.

  “Anyone want a drink?” I asked loudly over the music.

  “What have you got?” Blake asked.

  We opened the fridge and found that we were sadly running low on the adorable bottles of liquor. But there was plenty of beer and wine.

  “Here, Blake,” I said, “I know you want to party.” I tried to toss him a bottle of the beer, but it fell short and broke, fizzing all over onto the floor. Like everything else, it was riotous in my eyes and worthy of laughter. Blake shook his head and tsked from the side of his mouth.

  “I’ll get my own this time.” He reached over me and grabbed one out, twisting the top and flicking the cap at Kaidan, who kicked it aside. Kopano picked up the broken beer bottle and threw it away, then tossed a towel onto the spot.

  I looked around for Zania, but she wasn’t with them. I wanted to ask where she was, but something inexplicable kept me from speaking.

  Ginger took a miniature bottle of wine. She, Blake, and I lifted up our drinks to give a cheer, and before my mouth was full with the first gulp, the bottle was snatched from my hand. I swallowed and gasped.

  “Hey,” I shouted, “Give that—” Kaidan’s hand covered my mouth and he gave me a hard look. I wanted to throw a tantrum. Why was he being so mean? We were just trying to relax before . . . before what?

  Ginger snorted, way too amused by the tiff between Kaidan and me. Was she laughing at me? Rage for all the nasty things she’d ever said made me lunge forward, but strong arms yanked me from behind. Kaidan still held me tight around the waist, and I kicked out, wanting to fight her. My only satisfaction was the pure surprise on her face and the fact that she wasn’t laughing anymore.

  “Calm. Down,” Kai growled into my ear. I settled down, but was still breathing hard.

  Everyone stood there looking at us. Blake took Ginger’s arm and pulled her farther away from me. Kaidan kicked the fridge shut and did that throat-slashing motion to the others, pointing at me. He went up the steps to the bedroom level that overlooked the suite. He seemed distressed. Was he mad at me? We shouldn’t be fighting about . . . what were we fighting about? Why was I so angry?

  The music blared, scrambling my thoughts even worse. For a moment I felt lost and confused, and all I wanted was Kaidan. I went up the steps and stopped in front of him, leaning against the railing. He looked down at me, unsmiling. I rubbed my hands across his chest and down his arms. He froze and closed his eyes. Someone took my arm.

  Marna pulled me down into her lap on the bed and shook her head at me. What was that about? Why were her eyes so sad? She was a beautiful person. I wanted to tell her so. I opened my mouth to speak, but she quickly pinched my lips with two fingers.

  The serious look in her eyes scratched at my brain, trying to unearth something I needed to remember. Something was coming soon. Something big. A meeting. Those men weren’t very nice, and I was going to show them who was boss. Not me; I mean, of course I was not the boss, but the big guy was. The Big Guy. He could see me now, see what I’d done. I was a failure. I couldn’t control my emotions as the shame overcame me, so I buried my face in Marna’s shoulder. She rubbed my back. I could almost hear Patti’s voice telling me not to cry. Hush, baby, you’re all right.

  When I finished my quiet bout of tears, we lay back on the bed and I felt lost in a fluffy sea of down. It was soft and I was warm all over and I wanted everyone to feel this cozy. I saw now that the music was blaring from the television. As I watched the images without really seeing them, I zoned out. My mind went blank. And blank, much like calm, was good. I lay there warm and numb and thoughtless for who knew how long. Then everything was black.

  Sometime later I pushed my heavy eyes open, and the room started to spin. I sat up halfway and groaned. Wow, it was really spinning, round and round like a carnival ride. Ugh. I didn’t feel so good. I covered my mouth.

  “I think I�
�m going to take a shower,” Ginger said, looking pointedly at me.

  “Hells yeah!” Blake said. “Shower time.”

  Ginger pulled me up and put a finger sternly to my lips. Marna went to my other side to help me walk.

  It was quieter in the bathroom with no music, then one of them switched on a television up in the corner of the giant marble bathroom. Why was there a TV in the bathroom? I wasn’t able to ask. The spinning was turning to a rolling in my stomach.

  We three girls turned to see Blake standing there, too. Ginger scowled and lifted her stilettoed heel impressively high, placing it in the middle of his chest and kicking him out. He stood outside of the bathroom with a grin, and Ginger shut the door in his face. Marna kissed my cheek softly and touched a finger to my lips to remind me to stay quiet. She stripped me down to my underwear while Ginger turned on the shower water.

  I groaned, bending.

  They quickly helped me into the shower stall. It was just in time. I went down on my hands and knees, vomiting hot liquor and stomach acid, vile and sweet, and when that was all gone, I still heaved. The hot water stung my sensitive skin. My temples pounded, and my mouth was sour and dry. I wanted to tip my head back and catch some water, but I didn’t have the strength in my neck. My stomach was still churning. I heaved several more times and then started crying.

  I looked up enough to see Kaidan come in. The sisters shook their heads at him and tried to push him back, but he swept past them and opened the shower door. They watched him warily for a moment as he unbuttoned his shirt, taking it off and throwing it across the sink.

  Everything hurt. I moaned.

  Kaidan sat outside of the shower stall on the marble floor and put an arm around my body, pulling my back up against him and holding me. I clung to his arm in front of me, resting my head on it as my body shuddered under the stream of hot water.

  When most of the alcohol had burned from my body, and my mind was shifting back into the alertness of reality, I felt very naked and ashamed. I turned slightly and looked at Kaidan behind me. Our eyes met and he nodded. He pulled away and left the bathroom, wiping his soaked arm on the way out.