That was intense. Not the woman I had my way with—she was nothing. But Liesel’s eyes on me—being able to feel her from across the room, I’ve never felt anything like it.
And I’m not sure I can win if we don’t break the connection now.
I try knocking on several doors, but I get no answer. Either she’s not in these rooms, or she’s not opening the door to me.
I get to the end of the hallway, and I know before I knock that this is her room.
Gently, I let my knuckles tap against the door and hopefully rattle her.
There is a hiss of breath coming from the other side, as if she just got burned. I know the feeling, baby.
A minute later, Liesel opens the door.
She tugs on her dress, trying to straighten it out. Her cheeks are pink beneath the glittery mask, her eyes wild.
I glance past her, almost expecting a man to be in the room. There is no one else.
I take a deep breath and then smirk.
“What are you doing here?” she asks.
“I turned you on so much that you couldn’t even wait ten minutes for your next partner to get you off. You had to do it yourself?”
Her cheeks turn a bright shade of red, but he
r eyes tighten to slits trying to break through my skin with her gaze.
“No.”
I grab her hand and lift it to my nose. “Liar, I can smell your cum on your fingers.”
She yanks her hand away. “Just trying to satisfy myself since I know no man here will. It helps me keep a level head during play.”
“You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
She doesn’t answer my question. “I guess asking you if you’re married is a moot point. If you are, it’s only on paper. No man would touch a woman like that if he were in love or even getting regular sex at home.”
“I guess Waylon is just a man you can use for power. Why stay with him when you can just whore yourself out for money?”
She slaps me.
I could have stopped her, but I like her all worked up and angry. It will make it harder for her to win if she can only concentrate on me and nothing else.
“Quit now, Langston. You and all of your friends need to use your safe word and get out of here. This isn’t a good place to be. Tonight is nothing. Tomorrow…” she lets her voice drop as she brushes past me.
I let her because our time is up; we both need to get back to the top deck if we are going to be on time. Something about the way she spoke has me on edge. It’s more than her just wanting to win the money to get back on equal footing. There is something I’m missing.
Liesel has definitely attended these games before. Did she win? What the hell happened to her? Why does she look like she’s seen a ghost? And why does it feel like she’d be here even if I hadn’t stolen all her money?
I jog after her and make it to the top deck just as Mr. Reyes starts up the next round.
“Ms. White, Mr. Kane, and Mr. Young. You three will form the first group.”
Liesel, Zeke, and a man who looks twenty all stand together to the left of Mr. Reyes.
He continues to draw names. Apparently, we are forming groups of three this time. I must have missed the first set of instructions.
“Mrs. Kane, Mr. Pearce, and Mr. Lloyd will be the next group.”