Grand Lies (The Promise Duet Book 1)

by JC Hawke

  “Later.” She looks up at me. “I promise when I’m sober,” she says, pulling at my arms and stepping from my hold. She grabs the hand of the girl who is still standing staring at us, and then they skirt off through the crowded dance floor.

  Leaving me alone and with a raging hard-on.

  Nina

  I slam the door to the cubicle, spinning to face the girls. “I’m so getting laid tonight. Is that okay, or does it make me a slut? I hardly know the guy.” I cringe, running my palms down over my dress.

  “Are you kidding? You’d be a fucking idiot not to.” Lucy laughs as she sits to pee.

  “Nina, you have to sleep with this man. I’m hot for it just watching the two of you,” Megan says, handing Luce the loo roll.

  “Girls, he’s intense. I don’t think I could sleep with him and then just walk away. You saw how I was after last week, and I wouldn’t say he’s the type to settle down anytime soon.”

  “Then you make sure you shag his brains out!” Megan cheers, switching spots with Lucy so she can pee.

  “Shag? Megs, nobody fucking says that.” I laugh.

  A hand raps on the cubicle door. “Hurry up in there!”

  “Fuck off,” we all say in unison.

  “Just don’t kiss him. That always works for me.” Lucy shrugs. “Keep it impersonal.”

  “Ugh, don’t. I think I could come from his kiss alone. Kissing is an absolute must.”

  “No,” she scolds. “No kissing. You can do this. You’re a strong independent woman, and you will take all the orgasms you can get from this man and then leave the motherfucker wanting more. You will not kiss him, got it?”

  “I’ll try?” I smile.

  “You got this, girl,” Megan says, standing then straightening out her dress.

  We leave the toilets and head straight for the bar. “Three vodka cranberries, please,” I say, holding up three fingers in case he doesn’t hear me over the music.

  The barman frowns, looking between the three of us. “Just a moment, please.” He backs away, giving me another once-over before whispering something to the suit at the end of the bar.

  He returns a few seconds later. “I’m sorry, darling, I can’t serve you,” he cringes.

  “What! Why? I have ID,” I say, riffling through my clutch.

  “It’s not that. We’ve been told to no longer serve you this evening.” He shrugs apologetically, moving on to serve the next person in the queue.

  What the hell?

  I turn to the girls to find them both as surprised as I am. We aren’t even drunk. I look past the girls towards the railings where Mason stood earlier. He is sitting in one of the tall wingback chairs, his eyes fixed firmly on me, and I just know.

  I start towards him, not stopping until I’m directly in front of him. I ignore the other men sitting around the table, my focus solely on Mason. I take his glass, the golden liquid sloshing onto my hand as I rip it from his grasp.

  I tip my head back and down it in one.

  He smiles as I struggle to keep my eyes from watering. “That’s your last one,” he says, pulling me down and onto his lap.

  “Pixie, it’s good to see you again.”

  I turn to see Elliot sitting to our right. He nods his head at me in greeting.

  “Why do you call me Pixie?” I frown. “Is it my ears?” I run my fingers over the tops of them consciously.

  Elliot and Mason look at each other before throwing their heads back, laughing. Confused, I look to Charlie, who’s sat on the bench seat opposite us with the other man I saw earlier.

  “Ignore them,” Charlie mutters, shaking his head.

  “No, Nina, it’s not your ears,” Mase whispers, his lip tipping up on one side as he tries to control his laugh.

  Lucy and Megan arrive at the table, setting down a tray of shots. “Nina, care to introduce us to your new friends.” Lucy winks at Elliot knowingly.

  “Actually, we have already met. I drove you home Friday night, but I don’t expect you to remember,” Mason teases.

  “Of course, I remember.” She fakes a smile. “Tequila?” she offers to the group, passing around the tray.

  “Ladies, this is Lance,” Charlie announces, introducing the man to his right. He looks like he’s just come from work in his immaculate three-piece suit. He has dark hair cut short all over and a perfectly groomed beard coating his chiselled jaw. Dark ink peeks out from his collar and cuffs. The rugged look is definitely working for him.

  “This is Megan and Lucy.” He gestures to the girls.

  “And you must be Nina?” he presumes, looking towards me.

  “I’m her.” I smile, leaning forward to shake his hand. His grip is solid, his large palm wrapped tightly around mine. Alright, asshole. I pull my hand away with a frown.

  “It’s lovely to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “Oh, really?” I say, still trying to get a gauge on him. “Mase hasn’t mentioned you before.”

  “That’s because you spend most of the time running from me,” Mason says, nuzzling into my neck.

  I lean back slightly to look down at him, appreciating how edible he looks tonight. He is wearing a black shirt that fits him like a glove, drawing attention to his solid shoulders. His hair is styled in a perfect mess, making me want to run my fingers through it.

  His eyes crease at the corners as he looks at me just as intently, the most beautiful smile taking over his face as he realises we are both staring. He squeezes my hip, looking up at me tenderly and making my stomach dip.

  I turn to find our friends deep in conversation. All but Charlie. He sits watching the two of us. His brows are drawn in as he sits deep in thought. He smiles when we lock eyes, and it’s a warm, genuine smile that brings a grin to my face.

  “Charlie seems like a gentle soul,” I whisper to Mase.

  “He hasn’t always been that way,” he says quickly, without thought. “He’s a ruthless lawyer by day.”

  “Really? A lawyer! He doesn’t seem like he has it in him.”

  “What?! You should see him in action. You wouldn’t be saying that then.” He smirks.

  “He seems too nice.” I shrug.

  “What about me? What do you think I do?” he asks.

  “Other than following me around the city, causing me more issues than pleasure?” I roll my eyes. “I’d say… maybe a car salesman.”

  His lip twitches in amusement. “Ah, you got me. How did you know?”

  “Bad haircut. Cheap suit.”

  He laughs as his hand glides up my thigh, inching higher and higher until he brushes the lace of my underwear, then leisurely returning to my shin. “Maybe I should quit and focus more of my time on your pleasure.”

  “I don’t know… I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble with the boss.” I smile.

  “Nina, come on, we are dancing!” Megan grabs my hand, pulling me from Mase’s lap.

  I turn back to him and catch him rearranging himself in his jeans. I want more time with him. He seems different tonight, more relaxed, softer than I have seen him before. If he asked me to, I’d leave with him right now.

  “Okay, you giant horn bag. No gazing deeply into his eyes either. Let’s get you a drink,” Megan says, dragging me downstairs with Luce not far behind.

  We stumble up the steps, what feels like hours later, Lucy crawling up in slow motion with her heels in her hand. The girls have been buying my drinks all night, but to keep it hidden I have been downing them on the spot—even though we would spot either Mase or Charlie watching us from above every so often. It’s like I am seventeen again, sneaking into nightclubs, trying to get served.

  We’re laughing our way to where the boys are seated with not a care in the world when Lucy stops short in front of us, throwing her hand out to stop me from walking any farther, her heels slapping against my chest.

  “Ahh, Luce, your shoes,” I whine, rubbing at the spot.

  “Who are they?” she asks.

  I glance
over at the boys. They all sit in the same seats only now, three women decorate the area—beautiful, long-legged, perfectly groomed women.

  A blonde sits on the arm of Mason’s chair, another on Elliot’s lap, and the third is currently rubbing Lance through his suit pants. It’s clear to me that they are hanging off the girls every word, Mase included. His arm is thrown around the blonde’s back, disappearing at the other side of the chair. I imagine his hand running up and down her leg, sending a rush of adrenaline coursing through me as I approach them.

  Elliot spots me first, looking over at Mason with wide eyes, and it’s at that moment I know I should leave.

  I grasp Megan’s arm just as she says, “Well, haven’t you boys been busy.”

  I probably shouldn’t have drunk so much, and I have to fight the urge to pick up their ice bucket and dump it over Mason’s head, planting my feet to the floor. Embarrassing myself is the last thing I want to do.

  “Nina.” Mason stands, stepping up to me so he is all I can see. “Are you ready to go?” he asks, pulling at his collar as he squirms under my glare.

  “Not with you.”

  His eyes spark with a challenge as he turns to the women at his back. Their eyes travel the length of me, Mason and the girls, judgement in their stares.

  “You’ll leave with me,” Mason tells me, sensing the animosity.

  “You’re delusional.” I shoulder past him, opting to sit on the bench seat next to Charlie. He is the only one who hadn’t been showing any interest in anything going on around him. I look to the woman who had been sitting with Mase. She is watching him as he watches me. Her gaze follows his, our eyes connecting.

  She is beyond beautiful, and that only makes me even angrier. I don’t belong here, with these people. She openly glares at me, her lip curling up into a disgusted snarl.

  Well, that’s not so pretty, is it.

  “She isn’t worth your time,” Charlie speaks into my ear.

  “Has Mase slept with that girl?” I ask, unsure if I even want to know the answer.

  “I don’t know. I won’t lie to you, Nina. Chances are he has, but he wouldn’t have left with her tonight, that much I’m sure of.” He looks down at me with a knowing smile. “I think you know that too.”

  “Do I?” I question sarcastically, crossing my arms.

  “You wouldn’t be sitting here if you thought otherwise.”

  I ponder what Charlie has said. It’s true, I wouldn’t be sitting here if I truly believed Mason would have left with her. But I can’t help think that the only reason is that he’d already secured me as a solid fuck for the night.

  Little miss perfect wasn’t needed.

  I seek out Mase. He is leaning against the railing, looking down at his phone with his feet crossed at the ankles.

  I don’t notice the blonde approach me, and it’s Charlie’s elbow inserting itself into my ribs that has me snapping out of my angry stupor.

  “Do you have a problem?” the blonde spits out.

  Lucy and Megan appear out of nowhere, planting themselves behind me.

  “No, I don’t, but I think you might.” I swipe a finger along the end of my nose, gesturing to the remnants of white powder on the underside of hers. Charlie chuckles beside me.

  “Fuck you, you ugly little bitch!”

  I shake my head and smile, her words not penetrating my skin. I lean into Charlie, plucking his drink from his hand and take a sip, needing the liquid courage to deal with the delight before me as she continues.

  “God, which one are you fucking? I’d have guessed Mase for sure. Although you seem a bit cheap for him, I suppose you’d suit Sullivan’s budget out of the lot.”

  Arms come around me before I can make a move to hit her, and I would have. With no thought or feeling, I would have hit the bitch. Her implication that I could be bought has rage burning through me. I have no idea who has hold of me, but my legs flail as I try to get free.

  “Don’t fight me!” Mason growls into my ear as he pulls me through the club in a stronghold, my arms locked at my sides.

  “Put me down!” I shout, clawing at his arms.

  A door is held open for him as we enter a room at the back of the club. He leans his back against the hardwood once it’s shut, my breathing and the muffled thud of the music now the only sound. He lowers my feet tentatively to the floor but doesn’t release my arms.

  “Nina, calm down,” he whispers into my ear, his breathing calm and the opposite of mine.

  “No, that little cokehead bitch thinks she can judge me!”

  “I already had security on the way to tell them to leave when you reacted,” he tells me. “Calm down, please.”

  “You didn’t hear what she said, Mason,” I rage.

  “I didn’t need to. I saw how her words affected you,” he says softly. “You should know, the only woman I have any interest in fucking, is you. You’ve become the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about at night.”

  His words are so unexpected they have my heart hammering in my chest for an entirely different reason. I stop resisting his hold, my head dropping back to his shoulder as I sigh, processing his words.

  I turn my head into his neck, his earthy scent calming me instantly.

  “There she is,” he whispers, planting a soft kiss on my jaw.

  And that’s all I get before he spins me. He drops me to my feet then pushes me back against the door, sinking onto his knees in front of me. His hands bunch the material at my waist, pulling it up and exposing my lower body to his hungry gaze.

  Leaning in, he rests his head against my stomach, placing soft kisses around my navel.

  “You’re fucking beautiful, Nina,” he rasps, hooking his fingers into the top of my underwear, slowly dragging them down my legs.

  Our eyes meet as he feathers his hand from my waist down to the back of my knee, lifting my left leg and placing it over his shoulder. I shudder, swallowing thickly as I stand bared to him in the most intimate way.

  He licks his lips as he looks at me there, and sensing what comes next, my hands fall to his head in a pathetic effort to stop him. Once he does this, I know we cross the line. I won’t come back from it. He’s already under my skin, my feelings for him being so much more than I’ll allow myself to admit.

  He pauses, his warm breath puffing out against me as his eyes lift, losing himself in mine momentarily. “I know,” he states as if sensing my thoughts.

  His hand comes between us, spreading my lips open wide. He doesn’t give me a chance to think, to allow my body to adjust to the rush of cold air against my wetness. His mouth comes down on me, and the warmth of his smooth tongue tracing the slick flesh between my legs has me pulling his head in deeper. He gently nips at my clit before flattening his tongue and licking up the length of my sex, sucking the little bud of nerves back into his mouth when he reaches the top.

  My hands push his hair back from his face so I can watch him, and a growl vibrates through his chest as I disturb him. A knot forms in my stomach as my body begins to burn from his talented mouth. A kiss, nibble, lick, followed by long deep sucks against my slit. I throw my head back, knowing I’ll come too fast and end this perfection if I continue to watch him. It’s why I’m so unprepared when his first finger enters me.

  I moan, grinding my hips down to meet his hand as he fills me. He removes his finger, and I whimper at the loss until he starts spreading my wetness through my folds and up over my clit. A jolt of pleasure courses through me.

  “I’m so close,” I breathe out, my fingers clenching tight in his hair. “Mase,” I beg.

  Three thick fingers harshly stretch me open, my stomach coiling tight when Mason groans against me.

  “You have no idea what you do to me,” he admits, his body trembling as I struggle to take him fully. He takes his time, working his fingers to find the spot he’s been looking for then rubbing against it relentlessly.

  The first tremor racks through my body and my
cries must slash at the last of his control. I watch in pure, unmeasurable desire as he begins pumping his hand into me whilst sucking my wet flesh almost violently between his lips.

  “Mase,” I gasp.

  My body starts to shake as the most intense orgasm I’ve ever experienced rushes through me. I pinch my eyes closed as I try to control my limbs because at this moment in time they don’t feel like my own—I feel so deeply sated, my body giving everything to this man.

  As I come down from my blissful high, I peek down at the man who kneels at my feet.

  His jaw hangs slack, lips shining from my arousal as he asks, “Can I take you home now, Pixie?”

  8

  Nina

  He called me Pixie. Until now, I’ve presumed Elliot made it up as a joke, but the way Mason says it, as if still testing the word on his tongue. It leaves me assuming it’s for another reason.

  Are they making fun of me?

  My hands flatten on his shoulders as he gently lowers my leg to the ground. Tremors still rack through my body, causing me to stagger on my feet as I try to gain control of my limbs. When he told me to stop drinking, I felt collared. The thought of doing something for him because he told me to only made me want to do the opposite. Now I’m unsteady on my feet and wishing I’d listened.

  The light tap of his finger on my ankle has me snapping out of my postorgasmic daze. I lift each foot so he can slide my underwear back into place, then smooth the material of my dress down over my hips myself. I lean back lazily against the door, watching him, wondering if he is even real.

  His hair is a mess from my fingers—just like I wanted it. But what’s better than his just fucked hair is the satisfied smile that’s plastered across his face and that smile; it makes me feel fucking powerful.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask.

  He steps into me again, pulling my chin between his thumb and finger. “I’m thinking I should’ve done that on our first night together. I didn’t realise how easy it is to tame you.”