Zed cleared his throat and pushed back from the table. "I'm just going to..." He picked up the empty plates and carried them back to the kitchen as he muttered, "…not be here for this part."
"Shit," I breathed, giving Lucas a sheepish look. "I'm sorry. You're entirely right; I should have asked what you wanted to do."
His frown softened slightly. "Come here, Hayden." He indicated for me to come around the table to where he sat, and I did as instructed. When I got within reach, he pulled me into his lap and cupped my face between his hands. "I get it. You do shit without asking anyone's permission because that's what you've always done."
I bit the edge of my lip, embarrassed. The fact that he was right didn't make me any less of an asshole for totally ignoring his opinion or permission.
"It's fine," he told me, holding my gaze with a hard look. "But next time you go making decisions that directly impact me, I expect you to at least mention it. Clear?"
I nodded as much as possible with his hands on my face. "I am sorry. This whole... caring for other people thing, it's new to me. It's always just been me and Zed. And Seph."
Lucas arched a brow. "I bet you do shit without consulting her too, huh?"
I groaned because he knew he was right. I never once asked Seph if she was okay with all the safety measures I put in place around her. But how could I? She had no idea where the danger lay, so how could she effectively protect herself? Again, that was on me for not informing her, but it was a choice I was sticking firm on.
Lucas pulled my face to his, kissing me softly. "I love you, Hayden," he whispered, "but I'm not one of your Wolves. Treat me like an equal, or we're going to have problems."
This time when he kissed me, it was forceful and dominating, his fingers digging into my skin a whole lot harder than usual—like my Gumdrop was finding his alpha-ness. Shit. Just what I needed, another big-dicked, alpha asshole.
His hands left my face, shifting my position in his lap to straddle his waist, and his cock swelled underneath me. I quickly amended that mental commentary to huge-dicked, alpha asshole. Apparently, I had a type.
My hips rolled, grinding into him with need, and he bit my lip as if warning me that he was in control this time, not me. Shit, that was hot.
He slipped a hand under the waistband of my sweatpants and found my slick cunt in an instant. A small cry left my lips as he slid his fingers inside, fucking me with his hand as I writhed in his lap. His mouth held mine captive, though, his tongue controlling our kiss in a way that set my whole body alight.
His skillful fingers worked me into a frenzy until I was shaking and panting, then he withdrew. I groaned in protest—I was so fucking close—but he just grasped my waist and lifted me out of his lap.
"Sorry, babe," he told me with a heated stare, "consider that your punishment for treating me as anything less than your equal." He stood up, not even remotely trying to hide how hard he was. Then he brought his fingers to his lips and licked them, one at a time, while holding my gaze.
"Lucas—" I breathed, shocked and beyond turned on by him testing limits with me.
He ran his tongue over his kiss-swollen lower lip and gave me a solid eye-fucking. "I'll finish you off later." And with that, he left the room.
I stared after him, my lips ajar in stunned disbelief and my pussy throbbing in protest. Then I became aware of Zed watching, and my gaze flicked across to him as I wondered how much he'd seen.
He gave nothing away, though, just looked me over in a hungry way before snapping back to business-Zed. "We should probably head over to Anarchy," he told me, his voice touched with a rough edge. "The marketing team wants to discuss the next main-event fight."
I swallowed heavily and nodded. It was all I was capable of. Silently, I made my way back upstairs to the bedroom I'd claimed as my own and transformed myself into Hades, boss bitch. But internally, I was a mess of butterflies. How in the hell had all three of my love interests suddenly grown balls big enough to rival my own?
18
The meetings at Anarchy ran smoothly, which was a nice change. The marketing team had put together their top choices for the next matchups, based not only on the contestants’ fighting abilities but also their marketability. They, like my Timberwolves, had sensed there was trouble brewing and had stepped up to work on Copper Wolf’s success. I appreciated the hell out of that, so gave them full approval to run with their matchups.
Lucas was at Sunshine Estate getting his mom ready to move home, and we'd left one of our trusted Timberwolves with him for security while Zed and I handled work. So no one was around to buffer the conversation when the marketing team left and Zed pinned me with a hot stare.
"So, little Gumdrop wants to be an equal, huh?" Zed all but purred that question with an amused smile pulling at his lips. We were on the low, velvet couches of the Fun Zone VIP bar, where we always held Anarchy meetings, but we were all alone.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course you were eavesdropping."
He shrugged, unapologetic. "It's my house."
I blew out a long breath, propping the ball of my high-heeled shoe on the edge of the low table as I glared at him. "He's not wrong. I'm so used to just doing things without asking anyone's permission."
Zed was directly opposite me, his arm draped along the back of the couch and his expression guarded. "Because that's your job. That's what gets shit done and keeps people alive. Lucas needs to understand that... And as much as he might want to be an equal—"
"I know," I cut him off. "But he's learning. It won't be long before he's giving you a run for your money." I meant it as a casual taunt over Zed's marksmanship and Lucas's seemingly natural talent with guns. But the second it left my lips, my mouth went dry.
Zed just snorted a laugh and shook his head, seeming to let me off the hook. This time. He stood up and extended a hand to me, which I took. Then he pulled me a whole hell of a lot closer than I’d anticipated, his face dipping down until his lips brushed my ear.
"No matter how ballsy the Gumdrop gets, he'll never be a real threat. Nothing can ever match what we have, Dare. You damn well know it." He punctuated that statement with a scorching kiss to my neck. Then he stepped away again as Alexi came striding up the stairs with a deep frown on his brow.
"Boss," my head of security greeted, then gave a nod to Zed as well. "I've got Gen downstairs to see you, but you didn't mention having another meeting?" He asked it like a question, his expression worried. Then his gaze flicked down to where Zed still held my hand captive, and Alexi's brow tightened.
"Gen's fine," I told him, ignoring the testosterone rolling off them both all of a sudden. "Send her up. And can you also get us some water?"
Alexi jerked a nod and stalked back downstairs to do as I’d asked. Zed just turned to me with a small smirk on his lips and a knowing look in his eye.
"Feeling thirsty all of a sudden, huh?"
I rolled my eyes and tugged my hand free of his. "Shut up, asshole." But I said it with a smile and didn't protest when he sat down beside me as Gen joined us.