Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
I pray that Tyson will let me see them again. I’m suffocating at Blackout. I’m not sure if that’s Tyson’s plan or what, but if so, it’s working.
TYSON
A server sets another drink down for me when Ryat asks, “How are things going at Blackout?”
I look over toward the hallway that leads to the bathroom, wondering what’s taking my wife so long before I answer. “You guys see the girl all over the news who’s gone missing?”
He and Sin both nod, already knowing who I’m talking about. You can’t miss her. Her picture is everywhere.
“Had two detectives show up a couple of weeks ago looking for her. Said she was last seen at Blackout before she went missing.”
Sin raises both of his hands. “Wasn’t me.”
Ryat snorts at the fact that Sin had brought detectives to my club a while back for killing a man who was last seen at Blackout. And although I wasn’t happy with him about it at the time, it did end up working out for him in the long run.
“One was a Lord,” I inform them.
Sin frowns, his eyes glancing around before they land on mine. “The Lords gave you Blackout. Why would they send an officer that is also a Lord to investigate you? Plus, they know Blackout doesn’t cooperate with the cops.”
“Right? That doesn’t make sense,” Ryat adds.
I nod and growl. “The Lord used to date my wife.” I guess date really isn’t the correct word, but it’s more than what I’d like. Lords aren’t good at competition. We’re taught to win. Always be the best. And no matter why I ended up marrying Laikyn, she is my wife, and I will be her first for most, if not everything her body experiences.
“Oh.” Sin nods. “That makes a lot of sense.” He picks up his drink and takes a sip.
“Well, that also raises some new questions. You think he’s in on the missing girl?” Ryat wonders. “Trying to bring heat to Blackout?”
I shake my head. “I’m not sure he’d have the balls for that. Plus, he didn’t seem to know she was my wife until he was already there.” I didn’t like the way Collin looked at Lake, so I made sure to mention she was mine. The atmosphere immediately changed after that.
“Think her father sent him to give you a hard time?” Ryat goes on.
I shrug and answer honestly, “Not sure. I need to find out more about the girl.”
“I’ll make a call,” Ryat offers. “See what I can find out.”
I see my wife walking toward us with Blakely and Ellington. I figured she’d make some friends while we were here. She deserves to have a couple of people in her life other than me as long as they’re women I approve of.
Walking up to us, Ryat notices his wife. “Everything okay?” he asks her, his eyes dropping to her pregnant belly in her form-fitting black dress.
“Yeah.” She smiles, leaning in and kissing his lips.
Sin drapes his arm over his pregnant wife’s shoulders and pulls her chair closer to his when she sits down next to him. Blake and Elli aren’t that far apart. Pretty sure they’re due around the same time.
I look at Lake, and she’s avoiding me. Her back is ramrod straight, and she has a new glass of champagne in her hand. I’m about to ask her where she got it when my cell vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out to see it’s Colton. “I need to take this,” I say to Ryat, then slide my eyes to my wife. He nods, understanding that he will keep an eye on her for me.
“Hello?” I answer, stepping away and walking out the back sliding glass door to outside.
“Sorry to call you, boss, but we’ve got a problem I wanted to let you in on,” Colton rushes out.
“What is it?” I ask, turning to face the glass to look inside. My wife is already glaring at me while sipping on her champagne. I hold her stare, daring her to look away first. When she does, I smile to myself.
“The cop showed up.”
I groan. “What did he want?”
“Well, that’s the thing. He asked to speak with you. I said you were unavailable at the moment.”
“He knows I’m here.” The house of Lords throws a party for their seniors around this time every year. But not every single Lord attends. I know for a fact that Collin didn’t even get an invite. He’s nothing in our world. “Did he say what he wanted?”
“He said he wanted to see the cameras from the night the girl went missing.”
“Why the fuck would he think I’d show him that? I already told him she wasn’t there.”
“Not sure, but he was already inside the club when I spotted him, asking around.” I’m about to ask who all he spoke to when he adds, “He was trying to speak to Bethany when I escorted him out. She was too busy to pay him any time.”
Sighing, I run a hand over my hair. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know. You and the guys meet me at Blackout at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. We’ll review the cameras again and see if we can find anything.” I’ve already gone over them once and didn’t see anything off. The girl came in with three guys and left with one of them. But nothing made me question if her life was in danger with him.
“Sounds good.” He hangs up, and I pocket my phone.
THIRTY
LAIKYN
I sit in my chair, facing straight ahead. The longer I sit here, the angrier I get. At my brother, at myself. He was the only person that I thought I had left on my side. Now I have no one. But did it ever really matter? Not really. Not in the long run.
The bad taste in my mouth is finally gone. I think that’s because I picked up another drink on my way back from the bathroom. My husband is going to fuck me later, and although my body is begging for it, my mind is screaming fuck no.
I look over to see Ryat and Blakely talking. Her elbow is on the table, face in her hand. I can’t hear what he’s saying to her over the voices in the room, but she’s smiling at him. He reaches out and pushes her dark hair behind her ear before he leans in and kisses her. I watch shamelessly as she leans into him. Her hand drops from her face to run along his black button-up. Placing his forehead on hers, he breaks the kiss only to give her a soft one. It’s like he can’t get enough of her, and the way she pulls him into her says she feels the same way.
My eyes look over at Sin and Ellington. He’s got his hand on the side of her growing belly and he leans into her, saying something to her. By the way her face flushes, I’d say it was what he has planned for her tonight.
Looking away, I down another gulp of my champagne. I want that. A husband who wants to be with me. One who wants me to have his children and make his house a home. Give him a family. I don’t want to be married to someone who only wants to use me for some sick revenge. I’m not saying I’d have that if I were with Luke. But I’m just asking why it had to be one or the other?
I catch sight of my parents entering the room. My brother enters behind them, and his eyes meet mine. They look at me with disgust. I don’t get it. Would he rather me be raped and beaten than enjoy my husband? Yep. He made that very clear. But why?
It just shows how fucked up the Lords are.
I sit up straighter when I see a guy walk up behind them. It’s the guy from our hotel room suite. The one who came in place for that Gavin guy. He taps my brother’s shoulder, and he turns around, giving him the one-arm handshake hug. My parents turn around as well to greet him. Another man I remember as Gavin enters behind them, and they all start a conversation.
“I told you; you could have one drink.”
I gasp, spinning around at the sound of the voice in my ear to see Tyson sitting back beside me. His eyes go from mine to the champagne flute in my hand.
I lift it to my mouth and gulp it down. Once it’s gone, I suck in a deep breath and put my lips as close to his as I can without touching them. He doesn’t bother to pull away. A part of me hopes my brother is watching. Yeah, I’m his whore, motherfucker. “You can punish me later for it, sir.” My words are as sarcastic as I can make them. But they sounded more breathless than anything.
Even though I’m mad at him, my pussy still throbs and my nipples ache. They beg to be touched. My underwear is soaked. At least he let me wear them tonight. I’d hate to have a wet spot on my dress.
He reaches up, his fingers gently running across my cheek as he pushes the hair behind my ear, and it makes goose bumps rise across my heated skin. “Be careful what you wish for, little darling.”
* * *
The party was pretty tame for the Lords if you ask me. There was no ritual or sacrifice made. No bloodshed of any kind. Just the Lords gathering around to slap each other on the back to congratulate each other on something that every other man has the ability to do-graduate from college. The Lords don’t even go to their classes. They don’t have to. They’re rewarded because of their title and title alone.
I never did speak to my parents, thankfully. They steered clear of us. We told everyone at our table goodbye, and I promised to keep in contact with Blakely and Ellington.
“Want to tell me what you’re so pissed about?” Tyson asks me, straightening his suit jacket as he sits next to me in the back of the limo.