Page 63 of Unleashed By Eden

“I know. There’s no way I’d ever think you’d put me at risk. I’m on birth control, and we’re regularly tested at Eden.”

The word Eden puts a small crack in the post-sex high.

I don’t give a fuck that she works there. What she does with her body is her choice. Full stop. What gets me is that she took that job because of me. Because of what I said that night on the couch.

The guilt eats at me.

I reach over to the table beside the couch and grab my smokes, tap one out, and flick the lighter. It takes three tries before the flame catches; my hand’s shaking again. The nicotine hits, finally mellowing me out.

Usually, by now, I’d have a quarter of a bottle of whiskey in me, riding out the comedown on a different poison. I made her a promise, though. No more hard stuff. Not on tour while I’m in this limbo.

Weird thing is, I don’t miss it right now.

Her pussy and a smoke are all I need.

“You nervous about tomorrow?” she asks.

She’s curled on her side, one arm folded under her head, hair falling across her collarbone, watching me.

I lift a shoulder. “No. What will be, will be. I can’t change it, so there’s no point spinning out about it.” I watch the smoke twist toward the ceiling.

“I’m coming with you.”

“Sure, assumed you were anyway.”

I take one last drag, then stub the cigarette out in the ashtray and give her ass a light smack. “Come on. Shower with me.”

She groans, but when I hold out my hand, she takes it and lets me pull her up.

“We should probably get back to the after-party,” she says.

“Nah, fuck that.”

I haul her in, kiss her slow and deep, then pull away to look her in the eye. “We’re not hanging out with anyone else,” I tell her. “We’re going back to the hotel. And I’m spending the night buried in some part of your body. Tonight, I’m not sharing you with anyone. You’re mine.”

Chapter eighteen

Violet

Three black SUVs with tinted windows roll into the alley behind the hotel, engines rumbling. These aren’t our usual cars. They’re heavier, more armor than transport.

Two guys in dark suits step out of the middle one. Broad shoulders, faces blank. The way they move flips the tiny hairs on my arms upright. One of them opens the back door and waits.

“Where’s your usual security?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the line-up.

Carter stands beside me, cigarette hanging between his fingers, smoke curling past his jaw. He takes a drag, then flicks it away. The ember skids across the asphalt and dies.

“Different crew today,” he says. “We’re flying low. Off the radar, remember?”

“Uh-huh.” I angle a look at the nearest suit. The guy has a neck thick enough to have its own postcode. “Where’d Liam find them, Mobs-R-Us?”

Carter glances down at me, mouth twitching. “Something like that.”

He rests a hand on the small of my back and steers me toward the open SUV.

“Sure this is a good idea?” I murmur, climbing in.

“Relax.” Carter slides in beside me, thigh brushing mine. “It’s fine. I know them through Dameon. They helped him out with a situation a while ago.”