Loving War (2 page)

“Kode,” Tria sighs, seeming annoyed with my presence.

I try to act casual as a waitress brings me a fresh glass of whiskey. “Care to introduce me to your new friend?” I ask, motioning to the animal who is groping her ass now.

She flinches when he moves in behind her. She doesn’t want him touching her. So why isn’t she just slapping him away? Why the fuck is this eating me alive? I can’t stand to see his hands on her.

***

TRIA

The only reason I haven’t punched this guy in the nose for his brazen gropes is because Kode Sterling is seconds away from unleashing his wrath. Why else would he come over here?

“I got us a booth. This place is supposed to have phenomenal burgers,” Raya says, tugging Kade’s hand. “You guys sitting with us?”

She looks from me to Kode several times, and then she looks at the jerk who is sliding his hand around my waist. I roll my eyes, and Kade pulls Raya toward the booth, deciding not to wait on a response.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I grumble. That’s all I can take.

He doesn’t let go. Instead, he tugs me to him tighter. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispers, acting as though he completely missed what I just said.

“She said enough,” Kode says, keeping his tone strong and a little threatening. “It wasn’t an invitation for more.”

Oh boy. If he’s helping me out, then it’s only to execute some master plan of humiliation later.

Considering Kode is easily 6’3, and this guy is a mere 5’10 tops, he backs down from the sandy blonde with a fight in his eyes. At least Kode is scary to everyone—not just me.

“Thanks,” I mutter when the guy walks off.

“You shouldn’t be letting them hang all over you if you don’t want them expecting more,” he says through a bored tone, but his jaw clenches as if he’s pissed.

That makes no sense.

“I was trying to keep you from possibly humiliating me. It seemed best if I had a guy around. I should have picked someone a little soberer,” I mumble, frowning.

His right eyebrow raises questioningly, and then his panty-dropping smile comes up as he leans down to get right in my face. “You thought that douche could stop me from doing anything I want to you?”

Was that... seduction? Surely not. He’s not trying to seduce me. It’s Kode. This is a game.

I swallow hard, denying my body the right to shiver under his heated gaze. There’s no way he’s looking at me this way. He’s fucking with me. He probably knows I once had a crush, but that was years ago—before he tortured me to damn death and grew an unhealthy obsession for my sister.

“Let’s play,” he says, making me go on guard.

A warning? Kode Sterling doesn’t usually warn his victims of his impending attack, and I don’t feel like playing his games.

“I knew you were going to—”

“Pool,” he says while setting his glass down on the rim of the pool table, interrupting my would-be rant.

My mouth opens and closes a few times as he starts chalking one of the pool cues. What is going on?

“I’d rather not,” I say, backing up. I’m almost worried he’s going to jerk my dress up while I’m bent over the table, just so he can embarrass the hell out of me in front of everyone here. It would be like high school all over again when he pulled my skirt up in the hallway after an argument I had with Rain. People still make fun of my Hello Kitty underwear.

He smiles a little as his eyes meet mine.

“It’s not a trick, Tria. It’s just a game of pool.”

He has to be shit-face drunk right now to even think I’d fall for something like that.

“What’re you drinking?” he asks.

I glance down at the fourth glass of vodka I’ve had. I hit the strong stuff once I realized Kode was here.

“Vodka.”

He motions for a waitress and orders us two more glasses of our drinks before he walks over to me, making me falter for my footing. I wish he’d stop looking at me like that. Is this my punishment? What game is he playing?

“Hitting the good stuff, Tria?” he asks, but he doesn’t wait on my response before coming to stand behind me. He places a pool stick directly in front of my body before saying, “One game.”

I shiver when my body refuses to be as strong against him as my mind.

“I’ll even let you go first,” he adds, making it sound so much dirtier than necessary as his breath coats my ear with a teasing touch.

Damn him.

“Fine.” I take the stick away from him, and ignore his hard as hell length against my back before stepping away. “One game. And if you do anything to embarrass me, I’ll break this stick on your balls. Got it?”

Why am I doing this? Any sane girl who knows Kode as well as I do would run away before he can execute whatever terrible plan of torture he has in mind.

“Got it,” he says, grinning like he has already won.

I warily step to the other side of the table, and I do my best to focus on breaking the balls. I strike the white ball hard, but it slowly rolls right instead of into the triangle.

Crap.

“Here,” he says, walking around the table to come stand behind me again. Damn. Why is he so hard? “You’re doing it wrong. Let me show you.”

His body rests over mine as he leans against my back and wraps his arms around me to adjust my hold on the stick. “Like this,” he says against my ear, pressing harder against me. “And then one easy stroke with just the right amount of force will be perfect.”

I swallow hard. I really don’t like this game.

The waitress returns with a glass of vodka for me, and I almost run out of the intimate position we’re in before I guzzle it down. I should leave. But I can’t. My twisted mind keeps wanting him to play with me a little more.

I really need to get laid if I’m fantasizing what it would be like to be bent over a pool table by Kode Sterling.

Chapter 2

KODE

I’m about to explode. Every time I help her line up her next shot, I press my cock as hard against her as I possibly can. Surely she’s felt it by now. She has to be turned on. Doesn’t she?

I need a CAT scan.

Maverick and Corbin are still clueless about who I’m with. Apparently they don’t recognize her any better than I did, but they’re staying on the far side of the bar, completely engulfed by the women around them. I’ve ignored the curious looks from Raya and Kade. If I don’t find a way to fuck Tria and get this over with, I might commit myself to the asylum.

Surely if I fuck her, then I’ll be fine. It’ll be out of my system.

Tria was always pretty enough, but it was hard to see her as anything other than the enemy because of Rain. Now... I fucked up by not knowing it was her. Had I known right away it was her, then I wouldn’t have fallen into this nonsensical infatuation.

“Eight ball, corner pocket,” she says, bending over right in front of me.

I groan as her dress slides up just enough to make me want to slam into her from behind. I want to be buried inside her right now. I can’t do it. It’s Tria. She’s hotter than I’ve ever fucking noticed before, but it’s Tria, damn it.

“Never gonna happen,” I mutter, reminding myself this is off-limits.

“Watch me,” she says, thinking I was referring to her shot.

I step closer, my feet moving of their own accord, and I run my hand over her ass before I realize what I’m doing. I shouldn’t have had so much liquor. It makes me too hands-on.

She stiffens under my touch, and I give her ass a squeeze, feeling my dick almost try to detach after the extended amount of time it’s been fully erect. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever needed to fuck someone so badly in all my life.

My emotions and thoughts keep contradicting themselves, making it hard to decipher what the hell I’m actually going to do.

“I need to go,” she says, putting the pool stick down on the table without attempting her shot.

She staggers slightly, and I wrap my arms around her to steady her... Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

“You’re drunk,” I say, waving at the waitress to bring over my tab. “You can’t drive.”

“I have a hotel room,” she mumbles. “Across the street. I planned ahead.”

She had to mention a hotel. Damn. And what was she planning for?

“Don’t tell me you came here to get laid,” I almost growl.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t. I need to go. Mission
not
accomplished.”

Really? She’s not the least bit turned on by me? After all that?

“I’ll walk you.” I’m a little pissed that she was going to fuck some stranger but not me. At least she knows me.

I roll my eyes when the voice in my head starts sounding like an annoying bitch instead of a badass guy.

“I can walk myself,” she says, pushing away from me.

Fine. If she doesn’t even want me to walk her out, then who am I to argue? She’s a grown woman.

When she staggers all the way to the door, my jaw clenches. She’s not fit to cross a street alone. Some guy winks at a group of his buddies when he spots her, and he ducks out the door behind her, making his intentions clear.

Oh hell no.

I take quick strides, ignoring Maverick when he yells for me, and I burst through the doors to see the guy laughing as he steadies her.

“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” he says, chuckling. “Where’re you headed? I’ll help you.”

Like hell.

“I’ve got her,” I interrupt, knocking his hands off her as I wrap my arm around her waist.

“The fuck you do,” he snarls, acting like I’m stealing easy prey from his jaws.

“Kode,” Tria purrs, smiling as she pulls at my shirt. “Take me to my room.”

From the pool table to here, she’s finally making sense. Good.

The guy rolls his eyes, but he walks away, sulking. I start crossing the street with her safely tucked under my arm, but I’m staggering almost as badly as she is.

We both laugh when we take a diagonal route by mistake, and she clutches me tighter once we reach the sidewalk. I smirk when she takes off her heels and holds them in one hand.

“So much better,” she groans, and then she tugs at my jacket. “Come in with me.”

I smile as she tugs me harder. “I’ll walk you to your room.”

Her vixen’s grin only makes my already aching cock hurt that much more. But I can’t fuck her now. Not now that she’s this drunk. It’s as though walking outside made the alcohol catch up with her. Hate it when that shit happens.

We step into the elevator, and she presses the button for the fifth floor. I notice she doesn’t have a purse. It’s not like her dress has pockets. Where’s her key?

She staggers into me, and in my already drunken state, I stumble into the wall. “Mmm,” she says, making me laugh as she rubs up against me.

The doors open, and I start steering her off the elevator. “Which room?” I ask, trying not to act affected when she continues to tug at my shirt and backs against a door.

“This one.”

I tilt my head, ready to ask where her key is, when she reaches into her bra with her free hand. My eyes dart down—of course—and I get a peek at her erect nipples behind the lacy bra. That’s like putting a steak in front of a starving man.

I groan as I lose all my ability to hold back, and I lower my head while pushing her dress and bra down in unison to allow way for my mouth to close over the hard little nub.

She moans when she feels it, and she pulls me to her, tangling her fingers in my hair when she drops her shoes to the floor. That thin thread of sanity I had snaps, my morality collapses into a pile of rubble, and I lift her into the air before pressing her hard against the door.

I jerk the key out of her hand and blindly fumble with it, never moving my mouth away from her breast until the door opens. After I kick her shoes inside, we stumble into the room, and I lose my hold on her nipple, but her mouth is on mine before I can go for it again.

Her greedy tongue sweeps in and my knees try to buckle. I’ve been kissed by many girls, but this is more than a kiss. It’s as though Tria is unleashing years of pent-up desire on me, and imprinting herself on me with each hungry stroke of her tongue.

The door slowly shuts on its own as we start tearing the place apart. She actually rips my shirt off as her legs clamp around my waist, and I start unzipping the back of the dress that has been fucking with my head all night.

Everything around me becomes forgotten. The sounds echoing through the room are raw and desperate, both of us seeking all we can get from the other before the illusion is shattered and we have to return to reality.

“You’d better have a condom,” she says against my lips, making me smile.

If she’s sober enough to think about protection, then she’s sober enough for us to do this. God knows I can’t stop now.

“I’ve got plenty.”

Her kiss resumes—an almost violent and punishing kiss that has my eyes trying to roll back in my head. I hold her to me for a second longer before I put her down, quickly removing and discarding her dress.

Fuck me. Tria in lace isn’t something I was prepared for. A thong? I’m never going to last. Not after being hard for this long.

She reaches her hand in my pants, and delicate fingers take a firm grip on my cock, stroke it, and make me stumble again when my knees falter. Damn. She’s going to make me fuck up and come too early if she keeps this up.

I lift her to be on the dining table in her massive suite. Her girly panting makes me hurry my motions as I fumble for a condom. She gets to work pushing my pants down while I tear open the condom, and I roll her thong down, desperate to be buried inside her the way I’ve fantasized about being all night long.

I rip the pack open with my teeth, but she takes the condom from me and rolls it on like I’m taking too long. The slightest touch of her hands on my cock has me counting to ten, trying my damnedest not to embarrass myself.

The second it’s secure, she spreads her legs and jerks me to her. A low growl comes from my throat as I grip her to me, my eyes roll back as I sink in, and I almost come then and there when she moans in delight.

I was really hoping she wouldn’t feel this damn good. Fuck. It’s like a hot, wet, velvet heaven is encasing me, squeezing me like a gentle vice.

I start moving slowly, doing what I can to last long enough for her to find her release first, but it’s never going to happen. Not after the way she’s had me worked up all night.

“Kode,” she murmurs, pushing back.

Fuck. She’s changing her mind now? Damn it.

“Yeah?” I mutter, going down to kiss her neck, praying she doesn’t stop me just yet.

“We hate each other,” she says, tilting her head to give me a better angle, and I take advantage. I also push back inside her, making her breath catch when our bases meet and rub together.

“So?” I ask, knowing where she’s going with this, but praying I’m wrong.

“So fuck me like you hate me, already.”

Damn. If I didn’t hate her, I think that would have made me fall in love. That’s really not going to help me last long.

I pull out of her and flip her over, pressing her against the table, and I slam into her from behind before she has time to register my actions.

“So much better,” she moans as I ram into her again, and that’s all I can take.

Fucking three strokes later and I’ve humiliated myself by getting off so damn quickly.

“No,” she groans, pressing back on me, begging me to keep going.

“Five minutes is all I need, and then I’ll fuck you like I hate you all night,” I say against her ear, enjoying the chills that rise on her soft skin.

“You’d better.”