Anguished (Crimson Elite Book 2)

by T. L Smith

  “I’m not one of these girls.” My eyes scan this place again before they come back to him. I don’t want to be watched by other people in my most personal moment. His hand touches my face, not the one that was in me that one’s still touching my thigh.

  “You would never be, and if you don’t want me we don’t have too.”

  Heart meet Echo.

  Your perfect ten.

  But if you fall for him, I swear I will tear you out with my bare hands.

  “Can you do it with my clothes on?”

  “Challenge accepted.” His hand skirts up my skirt and reaches me. He pushes a finger inside and touches my clit after pulling my panties to one side, rubbing it gently before his lips come back to touch mine.

  My hands reach for his trousers so I can feel him through them, rubbing him as I bite his lip while he pushes himself on me. Undoing his zipper, his cock comes free and I know I want it. No matter where we are, I want it. Echo releases me and I feel his loss straight away. He lifts me so my back hits the glass, I’m thankful he doesn’t pull my skirt up as I wrap my legs around him.

  “Red…” I kiss him again, I don’t want to talk. Why must we talk? “Tomorrow, too?” He pauses waiting for an answer.

  “Yes, now shut up and fuck me.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  And he does, against the wall, pulling my hair and biting my neck more than likely leaving another mark.

  The problem is that I’m not worried about those marks anymore, it’s the one on my heart that troubles me the most.

  He’s leaving an impression.

  And he’s a ten…

  This was doomed from the beginning.

  12

  Echo

  She has me in a daze, not even Selena could put me in a daze. Her. Red. She stupefies me, but more than that I enjoy it. I look down at the invitation that’s still sitting on my desk, the one that asks me to attend their wedding—my brother and ex-lover. It’s too sparkly, too pristine, too white, and too pure for them. I’m sure he’s had a hand in making them. Reaching for my cell, I call my brother. I’m surprised when he answers considering I almost killed him last time I saw him.

  “Echo,” he says my name with amusement and a whole load of disdain.

  “I want to bring a date.”

  He doesn’t speak at first as I wait for him to tell me, no. Let’s face it, I was only invited out of spite he never really intended nor wanted me to come.

  “A date?”

  “Yes, Mike, a date. Do you even know what that is without stealing someone’s girlfriend?”

  “Yes, you can bring a date, Echo…” He pauses. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

  I shake my head. Honestly, I want to tear into him. “You only get to see two people, who are meant to love you but also destroyed you, get married once I guess. I also want to be there to witness when it all comes crashing down.”

  “You’re an ass you know that, right?”

  “I know.” I hang up on him. Then I call my Red. She doesn’t answer, so I send her a picture instead. Knowing full well I’ll see her tonight. Because I made her tell me she would.

  I pull the door open before she even reaches it, her heels click on the pavement as her eyes find mine. I want to have her every which way and then some more, but first I have to ask her to come with me. Going to that wedding by myself was never my intention. But if Storm is standing next to me I know I’ll be thinking of every which way I can fuck her, she’s the perfect distraction.

  “Prompt, I like it…”

  Her brown eyes find mine at my words, her lip quirks up as she brushes past me into the house. A bottle of champagne is ready on the counter, she looks to it then back to me not making a move to touch it at all.

  “Why the foreplay? That isn’t something we need.” She’s talking about me not ravishing her the minute she entered my place, and seeing the kitchen counter with a bottle of champagne ready for her.

  “I need to ask you something…”

  Her eyes go wide, she reaches for her coat and pulls it open revealing red lacy lingerie underneath. “How about another time when I don’t need you…” she reaches between her legs and her hand touches her pussy, “… here,” she says in the most sexed up fucking voice ever.

  “If you agree to be my date.”

  Those brown eyes which were full of lust a moment ago have now vanished. Her hand leaves her beautiful pussy as she pulls the coat around to cover herself. “You want to talk about a date, and not fuck?”

  I shake my head while walking around and reaching for the bottle of champagne pouring her a glass. “I plan to drink this from your tits soon, but before I do, I need you to agree to be my date.”

  “But not a real date? Right?” Her nervousness makes me smile.

  “No. Just pretend you’re infatuated by me, and I’ll do the same. That’s all I ask.”

  “Then you’ll fuck me?”

  Stepping back around to her, my hands pull open her coat as my fingers touch her nipple through her lace and pinch it. “You doubt my need for you?”

  Storm moans and it’s like music to my ears.

  “When is this fake date?” she manages to ask.

  “Next weekend. It’s a wedding.”

  She goes to speak but my mouth covers hers as I pull her to me. Her mouth opens and she kisses me back, just for a second before I feel her push on my shoulders, her mouth leaving mine. The air I was breathing is all for her, now it’s not.

  “A wedding.” Her voice rises in pitch as her eyes bulge, she turns away then back to me.

  Reaching for her again to try to calm her, my hands touch her softly, gripping her hip to still her.

  “Whose wedding, Echo?” She uses my real name—she never calls me that.

  “Does it matter?” My hand digs into hips tighter.

  Storm’s eyes flick to my hand still on her hip then back to me. A slight head nod is all I get before she speaks. “It does matter. Whose wedding?”

  “My brother’s.”

  She breathes a sigh of relief I watch her visibly relax. “You aren’t close to him, is that right?”

  I smirk at her words, her hands come back to me the tension she was holding now gone.

  “What makes you say that?”

  She shrugs, its soft, sexy. And everything that is her. My lips make their way to her neck, leaving soft kisses in its trail.

  “Tracey said her brother is like your brother, that you’re all family.” Her breathing is thick now as she pushes herself closer to me. My cock hard is straining in my pants at the feel of her so near to me.

  “She’s right, my family is my work. But I have to go.”

  She nods her head as I go back to continue kissing her neck. The coat drops from her shoulders and crumples on the floor as her hands pull my shirt off my arms and it falls to the floor also. She doesn’t waste any time before she pulls at my trousers, moaning as she pushes my head away with her neck then bites my lips as I come up in front of her. The minute they are off, I reach for her around her sweet fucking ass. Picking her up, so she’s in my arms, and carry her back to the counter where I planned to have her anyway.

  “Blondie…” She pulls my head back, and just before she says another word both our heads turn toward the door when there’s a loud bang. Then again. I ignore it going back to her. Whoever it is will go away when they realize I’m not answering. But before my lips reach hers, the knock comes again making her head turn and my lips reach her jawline instead.

  She goes to sit up, pushing me with her. “You should get it,” she whispers trying to get down.

  I pin her to the counter trapping her in with my hands. “No, they’ll leave.” The smile is beautiful as it touches her eyes.

  “Maybe they will.” Her movement is slow, but what follows next is not.

  “Echo…”

  Storm pauses, then pushes me away from her, jumps from the bench, and reaches for her coat pulling it on straight away.

/>   “I can hear you in there, Echo.”

  “Red…”

  She shakes her head. “Who’s that?” She looks to the door.

  Fuck! I know exactly who’s behind it. My ex.

  “Selena.”

  She shoves her hair out of her eyes, her cheeks visibly flushed. I watch as she attempts to walk to the front door, the same one Selena’s standing at. My hand reaches for hers and pulls her back, her eyes go wide in surprise.

  “It would be best if you left out the back.”

  Storm’s hand pull free and they cross her chest. She stands a little taller when she speaks and her tone is sharp. “You want to sneak me out the back?” She’s making it sound worse than it is. Her hands don’t leave from her chest as she watches me.

  “Yes, not because I’m ashamed.” Her eyes bulge. “No. Because I know she will never shut up.”

  She turns and walks straight to the door, pulling it open before I can, and does not look back as she walks out. Shutting the door and reaching for my trousers, I pull them up before I take a deep breath then yank the front door open.

  Selena stands there, her hand lifting to run through her hair as she pushes it out of the way. “Your guest has left then I take it?”

  I hate that. I hate that she knows what I just did. Walking inside, I leave her at the door hating myself for what I’ve done. Selena should have been the one I made leave, not Storm.

  “What do you want, Selena?” Not looking her way is my best bet right now because despite what this woman has done to me, she will always remain my first love. And she damn well knows it.

  “Mike called, said you want to come now. And you want to bring a date?” She’s asking me straight up, but I choose to not answer by shrugging my shoulders. I shouldn’t be answering to her anymore, the only person I felt needed to know is my brother and I’ve already spoken with him. “I hope it isn’t the trash you just had in here.”

  My spine stiffens at her words. If she only knew. Storm has more class than she has in her pinkie toe.

  “Echo…”

  I turn fast, we both do. Selena’s standing on the opposite side of the counter, the very same one I just had Storm on, who’s now standing at my front door with her jacket slightly open. There’s not enough to reveal what she has underneath, but there’s enough to tease me knowing what is under there. Storm’s brown eyes land on Selena. She doesn’t straighten her posture like Selena does, in fact, she doesn’t even seem threatened by her. Where Selena, on the other hand, has her hands crossed over her chest and is watching her with intent.

  “I forgot my cell.”

  I look at the counter and see it sitting there.

  Picking it up I walk to her, but before I reach her, Selena does. “And you are?”

  She has no right. No, fucking right. And I’m about to tell her that until Storm does it for me.

  “Oh, me? I’m the one fucking Echo here. And from what he says, he’s never had it better.” Storm reaches up kisses my cheek then walks off to her car. I watch her with a smile I didn’t even know I was wearing until she’s gone.

  “She looks like a hooker. You hire people now for sex?”

  I want to laugh at her because if I wanted to do that, I’d just go to work. Plenty there for me to choose from.

  “You need to leave.”

  She shakes her head. “Don’t bring a date to my wedding, that wouldn’t be right.”

  The laughter that leaves me starts from the bottom of my belly. It really does. Who the fuck does she think she is?

  “You’re laughing, but I’m serious, Echo.”

  I manage to stand and wipe the tears away from my eyes. “Oh, you have some nerve. You mean to the wedding of my brother, who’s marrying my whore of an ex?”

  Her mouth falls open as she lifts her palm slamming it across my face. “You deserved that, you asshole.” She turns and walks to my door, her hand gripping the handle as she gets to it. “Don’t bring her Echo, just don’t.”

  “You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore, Selena. You lost that right.”

  She slams the door after she walks out.

  13

  Storm

  I’m not really sure how I’m meant to feel right now. Jaded? Impassive? Blasé? Fucked if I know. I’ve managed to avoid him for the rest of the weekend, and now it’s a new week, and I’m still feeling the aftereffects of being shafted. That’s what this is—I was shafted for a woman, who he claims he isn’t with. He told me he was single, that’s the whole reason I agreed to our thing, whatever that is. Plus, he’s perfection, with his cock, his tongue, his hands…

  “Storm.” My toe kicks my desk, and I yelp out loudly. Tracey starts to giggle as she walks in. “I knew you were lost in thought, I just couldn’t resist.” Reaching down, I rub my toe before I slide my heels back on my feet. I like to kick them off when I’m at my desk, wearing heels all day isn’t that great on the feet. But they sure as shit look pretty. “How’s you and lover boy going? Falcon said, he hasn’t been his mopey self since he’s been seeing you?”

  I sit up straighter in my chair and try to not let her words affect me. “He was mopey?”

  She nods her head. “Yep, his ex did a number on him badly. He was with her for years.” She hands me the information I’m not sure I really want to know, because it makes me feel somehow more invested. That’s the last thing I want to be.

  “I think I may have met her…” I say, then change the subject. “Your brother’s interesting.”

  She laughs loudly. “You could say that, he’s a whore.”

  “Sex sure is fun, can’t blame him,” I answer truthfully. If it’s with the right person that is.

  “Oh, I know, I mean we both get it from somewhere, he just doesn’t know how to shut up.” I nod my head at her words unsure of what to say. My mind has been so stuck on Echo and what I should do—walk away, tell him it’s over—I have no idea. I mean he did keep me out of whatever was about to happen, that was part of the plan, right? Our only interest in each other was sex. So, I shouldn’t be hurt, but he had just asked me to go to his brother’s wedding, so I was confused. Very much so.

  “How well do you know him?” I ask cutting her off from what she’s about to say.

  “Echo?” she asks. I nod my head. “Better than most I would guess. We all went to the same school. We grew up together. Even if the boys are very secretive they weren’t mean to me.” She stops as I look at my cell which is beeping with a message from him. “Are you having feelings for him, Storm?” I look up and shake my head.

  “I don’t. No. What we have is just fun, it’s how I want it to stay.”

  “You aren’t committed to each other? So, he could call you right now, call it off with what you have and go back to his ex, and you’d be okay with that?” I cringe at her words and the way that woman looked at me like I was a lower class than her. I’m not.

  “I’d be fine. I mean I would miss the sex. But what we have is nothing emotional.”

  “Good to know, Red.” I look up, my heart missing a beat as Echo stands at my door. I kick my desk again this time but thankful my heels are on as I stand.

  Tracey walks past him touching his shoulder as she goes. “Don’t be an ass.” She winks at me then closes the door, leaving us both in my office staring at each other unsure of what to say or do. His eyes leave me for a second before they come back.

  “I see you’ve been getting my messages.” I look at my cell on my desk. “It’s not broken then?” His hands are in his pockets, his mouth is in a thin line. What does he have to be unhappy about?

  “I was working out what to reply to you.” It’s the truth.

  “You don’t want to see me anymore?” he asks stepping closer. I smell him. And I know when he’s near me I won’t tell him no. I can do this. I can fuck and have a fling relationship with no emotions. Lies. So, I keep telling myself.

  “I do.”

  His hand touches my arm, his fingers trace inside my wrist b
efore he clasps it with his. “So you’ll come with me, won’t you?”

  “I won’t be your hidden secret. The one who has to run out the back door when your ex comes over.”

  “Noted.” Echo nods his head then his lips touch mine as his hand grips my arm. If he could take my breath away with each touch of his lips, he would do just that. Just as our lips touch a knock on the door is heard and I pull away, but I can’t go far because he still has hold of me. My heart rate doesn’t slow and my lips feel like something’s missing. The knock comes again.

  “Should you get that… or they can wait?”

  My words are lost, but I manage to walk to the door in answer pulling it open carefully. I see Vicki standing there. Her eyes scan me, from my lips to my eyes then past my shoulder as she straightens her posture.

  “Vicki,” I manage to finally say.

  She doesn’t look back to me when she answers, “Your two o’clock is in the conference room. We are waiting for you.”

  “She’ll be right there, Vicki.”

  “She will be?” Vicki asks finally looking to me.

  I nod my head to her and shut the door before she can say anything else. Turning around my back hits the door as I assess him. His beautiful blond hair swoops flawlessly like he ran the perfect brush through and sprayed it to keep it there when I know full well he didn’t. He’s lucky like that to have the most incredible hair. His trousers are dark blue matching his blue tie which is paired with his white shirt. He always looks like he’s ready for business.

  “I’ll give you the rest of the week, but the wedding is this weekend.”

  “You still want me to go with you?” I ask him.

  He takes one step closer my hands stay on the door behind me knowing I don’t have time and have to leave. I can’t be late. I’m never late. It’s how I got where I am today.

  “Only you. But a word of warning, you will be meeting my parents.”

  “I need to go.” Just as I turn to pull the door open with sweaty hands, it gets pushed closed and his body heat is directly behind me now.