“Why would I agree to that?”
War kissed her again before Bastion could answer. He did it thoroughly, taking his time and leaving her breathless for more.
Her hands had ended up clinging to War’s big shoulders instead of the iron bar.
Bastion’s fingers slipped around her hips to tease her labia through her wet panties. She moaned as War watched her possessively, licking his lips.
“Yes or no, Kitten?” Bastion asked. He fingered her clit and then pulled his hand away.
“Not fair,” Tess whined.
“I promise you will get to climax... when we’re ready to let you,” Bastion said. He nibbled on her ear after making that dark promise.
“And no fingering yourself in the shower!” War stipulated.
Tess gave him a dirty look. “Or what? It’s not my fault if you all make me feel so hot.”
“I’ll come into the shower and spank you good, Tess-girl.”
“We don’t have time,” Bastion reminded him. “Although I fully approve of you giving our girl the punishment she craves.”
“You guys are so perverted,” Tess accused with a groan. She wiggled her hips against Bastion’s hard evidence of arousal. “I thought War was the sweet one?”
“I’m the sweetest devil you’ll ever meet,” War said.
“Kiss Luce to seal the deal,” Bastion ordered.
She did.
This kiss was more possessive than all of the rest. War took her lips hard, a good distraction when Bastion got off of her body so that he could kneel between her legs. Her mouth parted to War’s thrusting tongue as he demanded entry.
Bastion licked between her legs. He pulled the wet material of her panties aside and did it again, a hot stripe that elicited a moan.
War swallowed the sound.
Her panties were ripped off.
Bastion must have done something to the sides of her panties when he had been over her because all it took was one sharp tug and they snapped. Before she could puzzle it out, he put the vibrating dildo against her pussy lips.
It was smaller than she had expected but it packed a wallop.
War wouldn’t let her free to tell them she was going to orgasm.
She had never had a vibrator and the sensation was shockingly good, especially paired with Bastion’s tongue licking alongside the toy. Her clit could only take so much!
“That was fast, Kitten,” Bastion teased.
The toy was pushed into her vagina with two of his long fingers that she soaked with the evidence of her climax.
War pulled back from their kiss. “That’s one. How many multiples do you think you can handle?”
She was so screwed and they had the remote to keep reminding her all during the party.
14
Kade
A Dab of Comeuppance
His eyes had been hungrier than his stomach.
They got that saying wrong. Tess would agree with him if she was changed and down here to listen to his grumbled misgivings.
What the saying really should be is that your stomach overruled your head. It was all his brain’s fault for not stopping him from attending an innocent sounding tea-party.
Spot of tea? Dab of jam on your scone? It was supposed to be all so civilized.
The napkins here weren’t for wiping crumbs from your lips. They were for stanching the blood.
No wonder Bastion was ready to run. Bet the bastard was packing his bags right this moment. Tess would help. Bastion wouldn’t even have to do any of the heavy lifting with War up there to assist.
They probably had enough time left over for a nooner.
“Will you stop grinding your teeth?” Keir grumbled beside him. They were both irritated. Keir was better at pretending otherwise. “It’s worse than the clink of spoons on porcelain around here for annoyance.”
“I’m still hungry.”
“You didn’t finish anything.”
“Good thing,” Kade said, glancing down at the plate in front of him. Everything had one bite. His napkin was full of un-chewed, rejected samples. “How can anything that looks so good taste that bad?”
“I think that’s fair warning. Don’t expect better of the other guests. Pretty outsides and poisoned tongues,” Keir replied.
Wasn’t that the truth?
None of the girls were interested in Kade. The school stories had made the rounds, even to the upper crust that normally Keir and Kade didn’t rub shoulders with unless their father got invited to a party by a client.
Hobnobbing. Networking sounded better but was less honest. The super rich didn’t like to discuss money so openly, especially at what was intended as an entertainment function.
Of course, few of them could afford to rebuff a good lawyer. Money didn’t buy results. Hard work and brains were actually good for something. Dad excelled at employing both.
The ladies still didn’t like to mingle with the help.
“Is this seat taken?”
Kade looked up at a pretty little thing in a blue dress. It reminded him of the iced cakes he had spat out. She simpered at him. Kade hadn’t even known what simpering was until that moment.
It involved that constipated smile Bastion had accused Tess of once that didn’t reach this girl’s heavily made-up eyes. The thick lashes of her blues swept up and down like she had gotten something in them, but there wasn’t a tear from actual discomfort.
If she kept it up, she might create a nice breeze for him.
The big greenhouse structure they were holding the party in was stifling.
Whoever thought a garden party was appropriate when there had been snow on the ground a couple weeks ago?
“We are waiting for our friends, but they haven’t come down yet,” Keir admitted when Kade glared at the simperer.
She took a seat. Waving her hands at a servant hovering nearby, she had fresh tea and saucer brought over to her. Wherever her last drink had been, must be abandoned.
“Is Sebastian your friend?”
“Yes. We go to school together,” Keir answered.
Kade sipped his tea. It was cold. He didn’t bother waving for a servant. The one that had brought the girl sitting with them tea, had quickly taken off. None of the other servants had gotten close after Marla sent one of them to pass on the word.
Marla had even told them to serve themselves when they followed her into the greenhouse. Like it was a privilege.
Bastion’s stepmom had made it clear before she thought Kade and Keir were beneath her stepson. They were his ‘school’ friends only.
The girl seemed to pick up on Kade’s cold front. She sipped her own tea so that she didn’t have to fake smile. Her pinkie was turned up, nail polish slightly chipped.
Interesting.
Kade leaned forward on the table, purposefully skewing manners to throw the girl off. She choked a little on her tea, sputtering.
Keir offered her his napkin. “Are you okay?”
“I thought those were only for blood?” Kade asked his brother, staring at the girl.
She looked suitably taken aback. “From the roses?” she guessed.
Kade smiled. Keir hissed at him to ‘shut up’ as he dabbed at the girl’s lips, leaning across the table in a further, gross violation of manners.
“What’s a rose without thorns?” Kade replied, kicking Keir under the table.
“A carnation,” the girl answered, showing quicker wit than Kade had expected.
“What’s your name?” Kade asked.
“Julia.”
The girl, that didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the party, clicked into the puzzle. Chipped nail, not as put together as the rest of the hot-house roses...?
This was the chick Bastion had been talking to over the phone the night War hauled Tess out of Daniels. The rehab girl.
War had been pissed about it and shared the sordid little tale while they all argued about who to blame for letting Tess go to Daniels in the first place. None of them hadn�
�t been paying enough attention.
Keir sighed. Kade knew his brother was going to be nice. Tess would expect them to treat Julia with more respect than Bastion had done.
They were turning over a new leaf. Reverting back to the nice guys they had been raised. She’d lectured all of them on the flight back.
Their Mom never would never have stood for them treating girls shamelessly.
“Julia is a pretty name. I’m Keir. This is my twin, Kade.”
“Look, if Marla sent you over here as a rebound, I have to advise against it,” Keir said, cutting through the crap.
It had been politely worded. He hadn’t cussed once.
“I wasn’t invited. I crashed this tea-party as soon as I heard Sebastian was home,” Julia admitted.
She popped a bitten iced-cake into her mouth off of Kade’s plate.
Kade didn’t blink an eye.
“Revenge?” he asked. “Pretty bold of you to admit it to us.”
Julia simpered again. She was good at that. It was fake as hell and that only made it funnier.
Kade smiled.
Julia dropped her simper.
“Marla doesn’t want a scene. She can’t kick me out and the servants aren’t suppose to come near you two. Either that or you did something juicy to scare them all off before I came.”
“Maybe a little of both,” Keir said, trying to keep the upper hand.
“We will show you exactly what they’re afraid of if you hurt our girl, Tess,” Kade threatened.
“Tess? She’s that girl Sebastian got into a fight about?”
“Yes. She’s dating all of us,” Kade said.
Julia grabbed for her cup again. Her reaction was swallowed with a good amount of tea.
Fair enough. He would have been surprised if someone told him that a few weeks ago, too.
“I’m more mad at Marla than Sebastian,” Julia admitted as she put her cup down.
“Still your problem. He’s our friend,” Kade retorted.
“If you don’t make it our problem, I’ll tell Tess you were flirting with me,” Julia threatened back.
Keir was the first to break their nice act. He just didn’t make it obvious that Julia had moved herself from innocent girl to another backstabbing society doll they were going to let burn with the rest of the heartless wannabes to the Wilkinson throne.
“Julia, thank you for presenting the perfect solution to our problem. Please start flirting.”
Kade kept a straight face while Julia’s simpering look flopped at his brother’s invitation. It didn’t matter if Julia played the floozy with them. Tess was supposedly War’s girl tonight. This was all a masquerade.
“Did you want to flirt with one of us or both?” Kade asked.
“N-none,” Julia stuttered out.
Somebody was falling apart rather quickly. It was disappointing.
Kade thought about how Tess had stood up to her father. She had faced a gun without batting one eyelash.
He was stopped from needling Julia further. Bastion made his entrance, drawing everyone's attention.
Tess was on his arm, looking like the real guest of honour. Marla had gotten her a decent dress, although he doubted that Tess’s favourite colour was pink. The high heels she was wearing made her legs go on forever.
She wobbled forward another step. That was when Kade realize she was really walking on stilts with stilettos so high even an expert would need support at the sides to keep upright.
Marla hadn’t been so nice after all.
Fine by him. Tess would be more likely to understand when they made a scene to help Bastion out. Marla had started it first.
“She looks like a baby flamingo. How cute,” Julia cooed.
Kade and Keir ignored her. They both stood up.
War saw them first. Bastion hadn’t even noticed Julia yet. His eyes were on Marla and they looked ice cold.
No warm greetings then between stepson and stepmother.
What had gone on upstairs?
Bastion had made up his mind about leaving home when they had discussed it together during the flight back after Tess had fallen asleep. The timing hadn’t been as certain.
Did Tess know yet?
Kade was going to get a chance to find out soon. She was headed to his side of the table.
“Hi, Bluebell,” Tess greeted.
She looked as unbalanced on the stilettos just standing as she had walking in them. He quickly offered her a hand and his own seat.
“Hello, Pumpkin. The dress really brings out your blushes. No more poker for you tonight!” he teased her.
“Trouble always cheats anyway,” Tess teased his brother.
Pet names for both of them. The way Tess said them sounded possessive. It was as if she wanted to call them something that no one else had in order to stake her claim.
Name it and it’s yours.
Everyone took a seat. War and Bastion walked to the far end of the circular table for their chairs. That was when Bastion finally noticed Julia.
Bastion looked away from her, deliberately.
Kade took a sip of his very cold tea to hide his smirk. Tess was watching now.
“Poker might enliven this party,” Julia said.
Center of attention.
Kade turned his gaze back to Julia to catch another simpering look. It was no longer amusing. Julia sitting beside them had been enough to provoke Tess into displaying some mild jealousy.
Kade wasn’t going to play that game with Tess before she knew it was all fake.
“Why are you here, Julia?” Bastion snapped out.
He waved away a servant. They weren’t planning to stay long enough to eat, apparently.
Bastion would know exactly how bad the refreshments were at his stepmother’s parties. He probably was saving Tess the experience of finding out for herself the distasteful truth.
“It’s a party,” Julia said.
“She’s here to get revenge on Bastion for turning her down at the last party his stepmom held,” Kade said.
“You were on the phone at the time, indirectly. Remember Daniels?” Keir prompted Tess.
“Oh, that Julia?” War asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tess replied.
She looked con-fuddled. Not upset yet, but teetering on it as she eyed Julia. Tess scraped her chair closer toward Bastion.
War coughed politely. It was better than laughing.
Tess was a jealous kitty. Kade better keep explaining.
Bastion got to it first.
“Julia, remember I said you only got one good deed out of me? I warned you to get dry at rehab and stay out of Marla’s games with me if you didn’t want to get hurt.”
“Bossy, that’s not nice!” Tess protested.
She looked over to Julia. At the same time she leaned over and grabbed one of Bastion’s hands, bringing the hand over the table where she could clasp it openly. Her grip looked firm.
“Julia, I’m sorry that he was rude to you at the party. He was worried about me. He tends to do hasty things when he’s feeling emotional. He’s a bit high-strung,” Tess explained.
Coughing fits went around the table.
Tess side-eyed them all before continuing.
“How can my fiancé make it up to you?”
Julia’s jaw dropped.
Kade had to check that none of the rest of them suffered from jaw laxity, too. War was smiling. Keir had been leaning back on his chair, but now straightened up. Bastion looked at Tess with a tight smile.
What in the hell had happened upstairs?
Kade looked at Tess’s hand, suddenly realizing—
She was wearing a simple gold band on her ring finger. No sparkle. None needed. They were all blindsided by her announcement.
“Your fiancé propositioned me at that party! He was going to fuck me!”
Julia screeched it. All ears were on them suddenly. Or more like, now everyone could eavesdrop openly since they were makin
g a loud scene.
“No. He misled you. It was wrong.”
Tess kept her reply short and polite. She didn’t apologize for Bastion again. No doubts regarding his fidelity passed her lips, either. Her small hand squeezed his and she hung on during Julia’s accusation without once letting go.
Not even when Julia stood up and tossed her tea cup at Bastion, getting some of the liquid on Tess due to her proximity.
Bastion remained seated. Their joined hands didn’t allow otherwise. It was a careful demonstration of control. Which of them was exerting it was clear only to them.
“Get her out of here!” Marla yelled, marching over to their table with a servant following.
She met Bastion’s eyes and halted. Julia stomped pass, brushing off the servant that tried to help her on her way.
Marla brought a hand up to fix a stray hair from her up-do. She looked every one of her spoiled years. Eyes too tight from surgical lifts and a mouth that didn’t even know how to frown properly anymore. Empathy was a foreign emotion. Rings flashed on her fingers that were too numerous to mean more than a flashy way to show off her money.
Bling was a perfect name for it.
It sounded as useless a decoration as the motherly concern Marla was trying to muster.
“Are you hurt?”
That had been Tess, not Bastion’s stepmother.
“The teacup was nearly empty,” Bastion answered. “Perhaps Julia’s dried up finally?”
War smothered another laugh, this time using his hand. He was trying to be unobtrusive.
Kade kept his expression blank of humour. He and Keir had seen glimmers of a nicer girl before Julia let her humiliated anger get a hold of her. Tess’s own father had drank from what she had revealed to them.
Tess had flinched at Bastion’s comment. Kade didn’t think Bastion had noticed.
“Leave off, Bastard,” Keir said, proving he too had caught Tess’s reaction. “Julia seemed nice enough before you came down.”
“You are embarrassing me!” Marla whisper-hissed at them. “Send your uncouth friends home and go upstairs to change again.”
“Let me up,” Tess muttered.
Only those seated around the table heard her.
Finally, War decided the better part of valour was to reclaim his girl from her current fiancé.
Duplicity (Victory Lap Book 2) Page 27