I glance at the time. Vera should be back sooner or later to freshen up for dinner and going out. She's always begging me to go out to a club. Well now, I'm actually in the mood to. I need something to take my mind off Axe.
I grab my phone and shoot her a text, telling her where to meet me. There's a club just a couple of blocks up the road that she's been wanting to go to, and for once I'm going to go ahead without her and wait for her. I know she'll show up when she gets my text.
I need loud music and dancing and lots and lots of alcohol. I spend the next hour taking a shower, blow drying my hair into silky waves, putting on more makeup than I ever wear, and then dressing myself in the skimpiest, sluttiest outfit I can find.
I stand in front of the mirror, surveying my handiwork.
I think my outfit will definitely be Vera-approved.
So what if I'm not completely comfortable in it? Maybe it's time for me to jump outside my comfort zone.
I'm wearing one of Vera's shortest miniskirts and a top that dips down in the front to show a generous amount of what little cleavage I have. The back of the top is almost completely open to expose nearly all of my back. I should probably pin my hair up to better show off the back of the top, but I leave my hair loose to cover it. Not only is my hair so long that it's heavy and gives me a neckache if I have it up for very long, but the soft brush of my hair against my bare back has me feeling sensual and beautiful for once.
Against my better judgment, I throw on a pair of sky-high heels that I know my feet will be aching in, but they really show off my legs, so what the hell?
I look down at my phone to see that Vera hasn't texted me back yet. I blink when I see thirty missed calls and a crap ton of texts all from a number I don't know, though.
When I read the text messages, it's clear that they're all from Axe.
How the hell did he get my number? I never gave it to him.
I snort, wondering why I'm surprised. Of course he has my number. He's been stalking me, and he's completely unapologetic about it. He didn't even try to deny it when I accused him. Plus, he's made it clear that he doesn't think the normal rules of society apply to him.
I flick my phone screen off without replying to him or even reading all the messages before I put it in my clutch along with my ID, some cash, and my debit and credit cards.
I smear some vanilla lip balm over my lips before I throw the tube in my purse for good measure.
I pull my phone back out and shoot Vera another text telling her where I'll be, knowing that she'll come join me later, before I head out the door determined to forget all about Axe Black and all his bullshit.
* * *
Axe
I grip my phone so tightly in my fist I'm surprised I don't crush it. Sophie isn't answering me.
I made a quick stop at my hotel room to clean up and wash all the sand and salt off my body, assuming that Sophie was doing the same when she was nowhere to be found. I had to assume she made it back to her hotel room before I could get to her. A look at the tracking app on her phone confirmed my suspicions enough for me to relax, knowing where she was.
Still, I continue to text her every few minutes after I'm fully dressed. I manage to hold myself back from charging into her hotel room for about an hour, but then I finally can't take it anymore.
I go stalking to her hotel and toward her room, and then I stop mid-stride, my eyes widening as I see her emerge from the hotel room alone.
I let out an incredulous laugh when I see what she's wearing. Over my dead body.
"This—" She jumps and whirls around when she hears my voice, every muscle in her body tensing. I ignore the way her reaction causes a tight pain to flare in my chest. The last thing I want is for Sophie to be scared of me, but there are more pressing matters to deal with right now. "This is not happening," I tell her frankly with a frown as I walk over to her, my eyes roving up and down her delectable little body that's blatantly on display for everyone to see.
She lifts that stubborn little chin of hers and crosses her arms over her chest. "I don't know what you're talking about." She tosses her head like a spirited little filly.
I step close to her and lean down until my lips are only a hair's breadth from hers. I want to make sure she's looking right into my eyes when I tell her this so she knows how deadly serious I am. "Let me spell it out for you, sweetheart." I hear her sharp intake of breath as my own breath fans over her lips. My eyes dip down to her lips for a fraction of a section before I move them back up to recapture her eyes.
"You're not going out dressed like that."
Her eyes flicker at the challenge. "You're not my father," she retorts.
"And you better thank your lucky stars for that because if I were, I'd bend you over right now and tear your ass up just for attempting to go out of the house in that."
She gasps, and her face flames, but I also see the way she clenches her thighs together. My cock surges to life at the thought that she might like me reddening her little ass. I imagine how pink her pale flesh would be and how I would stroke it afterward to soothe the sting away.
Fuuuck.