"Yes, sir," Zed replied with an edge of amusement. "I'll get Alexi and his guys on it and I'll call with an update when we know more."
"Good. Don't hold back." I ended the call with an internal scream of frustration, tossed my phone onto the counter, and pressed my forehead to the marble. Just over the course of my conversation with Zed, a blinding headache had built up behind my eyes, and I wanted nothing more than to hit something. Maybe I needed to drop down to KJ-fit, my local training gym, and beat the ever-loving crap out of some wannabe MMA fighters to burn off some steam.
The sound of my little sister's voice made me lift my head back up from the counter, though.
"...you sure?" she was asking. "It's really not that far out of my way, and my aunt Demi won't mind if I'm late for dinner."
"Yes, she will," I snapped, my irritation temporarily disabling my filter. "Besides, Lucas and I need to have a chat on the way home. Don't we?"
I kept my tone flat and hard. Seph would assume I wanted to threaten him into leaving her alone, and I was going to let her think that. Better she think he was scared off by her violent, borderline-sociopathic sister than suspect the truth behind his disinterest.
Then again, there's no way she would think he was unavailable because of me. Hell, even I barely believed it, and I was involved.
"Absolutely," Lucas agreed with an easy smile. "I'll see you in class on Monday, Seph."
She glared daggers at me, silently demanding I not scare him off, but I just stared back at her unblinking. "Ask Demi how her travel plans are going while you're there," I told her, a not-so-subtle push to leave.
Seph scowled. "You're not coming down to the parking level with me?"
"I need to change," I told her, lying as easily as I breathed. "I have to stop by Club 22 later to check on things."
She hesitated a moment longer, then gave a frustrated little sound and grabbed her keys from the hall table. The door slammed after her, but I didn't move from my stool until I was sure she must be in the elevator.
"So, you need to get changed?" Lucas murmured, stepping up behind me and trailing his fingertips ever so gently down my bare arms. It sent shivers chasing across my skin, and I swallowed the sigh that wanted to escape at his touch. "I can probably lend a hand with that. Or... with the undressing part, anyway." He brushed my hair away from one shoulder and dropped his lips to my neck.
I let out a low chuckle, hiding how turned on he was already getting me. "I'm not fucking you, Lucas. I just didn't want Seph getting her hopes up that you might kiss her in the car. This way you have a convincing reason to decline all her offers in the future. She's used to me chasing away her admirers."
He gripped the seat of my stool and spun me around, then placed his hands on the counter to either side of me.
"I'm not one of her admirers, though," he told me with a small grin. "I'm one of yours, Dare."
"Don't call me that," I told him with a frown. "Only Seph calls me that."
Lucas inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Fair enough. I prefer Hayden, anyway."
I rolled my eyes, not pushing the issue on that one. I liked the sound of my name in his mouth.
"I'm still not fucking you, Lucas." My voice lacked the hard edge of Hades, though. Hell, not even I believed me, so it was no great shock when he didn't immediately back away.
That was one of the major things that kept drawing me back to Lucas. He didn't let me push him around. He didn't let me push him away. He knew what he wanted, and he wasn't afraid to go balls to the wall in pursuing it.
In this case, what he wanted... was me.
"Because of my age?" he asked in a low murmur, his tone coaxing and seductive. "I never picked you as one for conforming to societal expectations, Hayden. Besides, I turn nineteen in a month. That'll make you only four years older."
I glared back at him, entranced by te gorgeous emerald depths of his eyes. "You're still in high school, Lucas."
He shrugged. "So? I bet you've dated older guys before. What difference does it make?"
Cass flashed across my mind, then I remembered how Chase had been three years older than me. We'd been officially engaged before I’d even turned fifteen—entirely due to our fathers’ manipulation, too. Or mine, at the very least.
So yeah, Lucas had a point. He wasn't a child; he'd made that all too clear. If he was old enough to go looking for a job in a whorehouse like Swinging Dick's, then who the fuck was I to split hairs?
"This isn't a game, Lucas. You can't even begin to imagine how dangerous it is being close to me. People would hurt you, use you, betray you... just to get to me. You don't need that shit in your life." It was a last-ditch effort because with every passing second I was less convinced that he was a bad idea.
"I'm willing to take that risk," he replied without even a moment's hesitation. He had no idea what he was neck deep in—that much was painfully clear.
"Seph likes you," I told him softly. "I can't hurt my sister. Not for anything."
He gave a slow headshake and a small smile. "But I don't like her. Not like that. No one can even come close to what I feel for you, not since the moment I laid eyes on you last weekend, Hayden."
Internal groan. Where did he learn those smooth moves? He was like a fictional character, for fuck’s sake.
"Just give me a chance," he pleaded, echoing what he'd said in my office earlier in the week. "Please, just give me one chance to convince you that this isn't a bad idea, that I could be exactly what you need in your life. Someone with no ulterior motive. Someone who sees the real you." He paused, wetting his lips as my heart pounded hard in my chest. "No one ever needs to know. I can be discrete, and I won't tell a soul."
Jesus Christ. Why did that turn me on so hard? Maybe it was just the way he leaned into me as he spoke, like we were being pulled together by a magnetic force.
"You want to be my dirty little secret, Lucas?" I couldn't fight the smile creeping over my lips as I said this.
He raised one brow in a facial shrug. "If that's what it takes? Yes. I want you, Hayden. In whatever way you're offering." He paused and grimaced. "Even if it is just to kill time until that big, scary tattooed fuck from the other night comes to his senses."
My brows shot up in surprise. I hadn't realized Lucas was paying attention to Cass while he was on stage. Or that he'd accurately guessed who it was that’d had me all tied up in knots this week.
I drew a deep breath, knowing I needed to send him home. Nothing good could come from me caving now. Demi's warning echoed through my mind about corrupting a genuinely nice, normal guy, and I started to shake my head.
Lucas wasn't giving up so easily, though. He leaned in, his lips capturing mine in a smolderingly hot kiss before I could come up with any more weak excuses why I should not give him a chance.
I kissed him back, letting him sweep me up in his arms and carry me halfway to my room before I managed to pry my lips free.
"Lucas, this is—"
"A fucking fantastic idea," he growled, finishing my statement the way he wanted it to end. "I'm not asking for forever, Hayden. Just a chance. You carry so much weight on your shoulders... Let me be an outlet for all that stress, beautiful. I could be your lighthouse if you let me."