Rain frowns, seeming distracted as she searches the crowd like she’s looking for something.
“No,” she calls back. “I want to be here. This is my future husband’s club. It seems perfect for the occasion.”
Perfectly chaotic if you ask me.
People writhe together in places not meant for dancing, blocking the paths for walking, and Rain leads us up to the booth no one else is allowed to sit in besides the Sterlings.
Speaking of Sterlings… Shit.
Kode is sitting at the booth with Maverick and Corbin, and he looks like he’s ready to pull me into his lap right now. My heart thuds in my ears as he appraises me with a slow, and steady, heated gaze, scrolling his eyes up and down my legs, and slowly raking his eyes over me like a predator sizing up his prey.
“Looks like we’ve got party crashers,” Rain says with a shrug, and I glare at her.
She did this shit on purpose.
“You can sit by me,” Kode says, grinning as he slides over to make room for me. Ash and Rain climb in on the other side, both of them grinning like they plotted this whole damn thing.
The spot beside Kode is the only spot available in the curved booth now. Maverick and Corbin are smiling like cats who ate canaries, and I roll my eyes while dropping in beside Kode.
The second his arm goes around my shoulders, I start fighting the urge to melt against him.
“Love those shorts, baby,” he says against my ear. It’s then I smell the alcohol on his breath. Too much liquor makes his hands glue themselves to me. Possibly any girl. I guess I’ll find out tonight.
“You’re drunk,” Rain notes, looking pleased for some bizarre reason. Kode’s hands have already started pawing at me, but I’m not fighting him.
He won’t stop, and everyone will get mad if I fight him and he doesn’t stop. I don’t want them pissed at him or saying anything negative toward him. It’ll only piss me off.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself to justify this.
“He’s been drunk all week. Last night was the first time he’s been sober,” Maverick says, sounding somewhat like he’s tattling.
“You’ve been drunk all week?” I ask, turning to meet his smile.
He tugs me to be flush against him, nuzzling my face with his as he leans over.
“I miss you too much when I’m sober,” he confesses, making my heart clench.
Drunk people tell the truth all the time, right? Isn’t alcohol like a truth serum? Or is that just some myth that I’m trying to convince myself to believe.
Kode’s arm slides around my waist, and one hand moves to my ass as he tries to tug me onto his lap. I resist, and he pouts before moving his lips to my neck and starting a trail of searing kisses that have me practically convulsing.
His touch… It’s my Achilles heel.
“Tria, if he’s too much, just ask for help,” Maverick says, though he’s grinning.
Rain’s smirk says it all. I remember him once being like this with her, but not nearly to this extent. She said the only time he ever kissed her was that time at Dane’s party—the night when all hell broke loose. But she said that Kode is like an animal around me when he’s been drinking. Right now, he’s proving that.
She’s right across from him, but even drunk off his ass, he’s completely focused on me. It’s a small victory, but one that still has me questioning my already fragile resolve.
“I love you,” he says against my neck, and another piece of that resolve breaks away.
The table makes conversation, and Corbin pulls Rain out of the booth as Maverick grabs Ash. They abandon us and make their way onto the dance floor as Kode continues his oral assault on my sensitized skin.
“You taste so damn good,” he says when he reaches the swells of my breasts. Dale walks toward us, but his grin crawls up when he sees Kode practically devouring me, and he turns and walks away.
“Why’d you go to see my father,” I ask, my voice cracking.
He leans back, tilting his head. “How’d you know I did?”