Consumed (39 page)

“Are you okay?” He demands urgently and I nod my head.

Seth paces in front of me. He can’t breathe. He doesn’t want me to know it, but I can tell. His chest is moving shallowly and his face is strained, almost desperate. He scoops up an ornament of a Greek God and throws it against the wall in the living room. I jump as the porcelain shatters into hundreds of pieces and he turns back to me, his eyes burning darkly though narrowed slights.

“Go to bed.” He orders.

I take a step back. “But you’re not—”

“Fuck! I said go to bed!” He snaps, running his finger impatiently through his hair.

His eyes are dark, the darkest I’ve ever seen them and my heart cracks painfully in my chest. He’s mad at me... I slowly turn away from him, heading up the clear, glass stairs to my left. My heels click against them, echoing around the quiet hotel room. When I get into the room, I drop onto the bed, pressing my face into the purple satin pillow. How did tonight get so shitty? I know I should have stayed here in the hotel room. I was going to, but Seth insisted I keep him company. Look how that turned out.

Somewhere between crying, listening to Seth smash things and yell at people on the phone I feel asleep. When I open my eyes, it's still dark, but the lounge room light is filtering through the cracks. I slide off the bed and wobble unsteadily in my heels. I grasp the door handle and open it slowly. Hopefully Seth has calmed down and wants my company. Like earlier, my heels click and clack down the staircase. I can’t see Seth anywhere and I can’t hear him either. At the bottom of the stairs, there’s a scattered pile of porcelain. I turn up the short hallway and open the cleaning cupboard in search of a dustpan and brush. Glass in your feet is not a good time. I crouch down and sweep as much of the glass into the pan as I can. The floor being a lush, white carpet doesn’t make it any easier.

“You don’t have to clean up after me.” His calm voice startles me, but I don’t turn around to look at him in fear of him sending me away again.

“I want to.” I reply, running my fingers carefully over the soft carpet.

I’m sure I got most of the big pieces of glass. I let go of a calm, controlled breath and I have no choice but to turn around. Slowly, I straighten myself and turn around. My gaze falls over Seth’s perfect, topless appearance. His expression is unreadable and he swishes a glass in his hand. The ice clinks against the glass filling the uncomfortable silence. I walk past him and into the oversized kitchen. I pull open the drawer under the sink and tip the shards of porcelain into the bin.

Seth sits the now empty glass on the breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen. I look at him and close the drawer. He still has dry blood on his face and I want to tend to him, to fix the wound on his brow. I step forward once, letting him know I want to come to him. He nods his head and I practically run to him. I wrap my arms around his neck, burying my face into his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” I say. Oh, God. I think I'm going to cry again.

“Hey,” he takes my arms from his neck, forcing me to look up at his face. "This isn't your fault. You didn't do anything. This is all me. Only me. Do you understand?"

I’m not nodding my head. If I hadn’t freaked out and practically sprinted from the stripper that kissed me, I wouldn’t have given Don a chance to grab me. Seth wraps his fingers around my wrist and I follow him up the stairs to our bedroom, only he doesn’t stop there. He pulls me along behind him all the way to the bathroom.

He flicks the light on, bringing the dark room to life. Seth’s hands wrap around my waist and he lifts me to sit me on the bathroom counter. I watch his face and he doesn’t talk while his hands rub my ankles and slip my shoes off. He pulls me from the bench and hooks his fingers under the hem of my pants, pushing them to the floor. My heartbeat speeds up, like it always does when he touches me. He turns me around and tugs on my shirt, pulling it up over my head. My bra is the last piece of fabric to fall from my body and when I turn back around to face him, his eyes drink me in, unable to hide the flash of desire in his eyes. Then they narrow in on my abdomen and I notice his body tense and his jaw clench. I glance down. It’s my hip. There’s a dark shadow forming where Don grabbed me and where I fell.

“It’s not as bad as yours.” I mumble weakly.

He breathes, running a hand over his face. “Is that from his hand?”

I shrug. “A bit, I suppose. Most of it is from when I fell after he pushed me.”

His voice raises a few decibels. “He pushed you?”

I nod as he rakes his hands through his hair. With a shake of his head grabs me, pulling me right into him. “I’m so fucking sorry, Olivia.”

“It’s not your fault.”

He lets me go. I know he doesn’t want to hear that it isn’t his fault. I can see it on his face, he truly believes it is. I step back while he drops his own pants and steps into the shower. He leaves the door open for me to join him and turns the water on. The roar of the shower echoes off of the tiles and the air quickly becomes heavy and hot, filling my lungs with steam. I step in and close the door behind me. Seth’s eyes greedily take in my body, making my breasts feel heavy and swollen. My nipples already ache for his mouth to engulf them and to distract myself I reach for body wash and squirt it into my hands. I turn away from him and work a rich lather over my stomach, rubbing slowly over the bruise on my hip.

Soon, Seth’s hands are gliding over my skin, too, carefully avoiding my sore hip. He kisses my shoulder and my body begins to hum. Teasingly, his hands skirt around my breast making my nipples harden to maximum point and begin to tingle in painful anticipation. Finally, his hands slide up over my breasts, cupping them with the perfect amount of pressure. I feel like I’m in danger of melting and my breath hitches as his thumbs rub over my peaked nipples. I let my head lean back to relax against his chest.

“Will Darryl and your team be okay?”

His hands knead my breasts. “Yeah, they’ll be okay.”

I turn my head. “And you?”

He presses his lips to my cheek. “I’m okay now.”

I turn around, pressing the front of my body against his.

“I need you—all of you.” I demand, crushing my lips to his.

He tastes bitter-sweet, like bourbon and my heart clenches. If he’s had alcohol, he must be in a really bad place. Seth doesn’t hesitate and there’s no teasing in the way his hands rub me all over. He walks me backwards and I gasp as my back presses against the cool tiles. I ignore the way my hip aches as he sandwiches me against the wall with his body. His hand runs down the length of my side and he hitches my leg around his hip. His mouth kisses my neck and his fingers slide firmly between my legs, sending a tidal wave of arousal through me. It’s been so long since we’ve had sex and I want it now—fight or no fight. My body goes into overdrive and my nerves are hyper aware of him. His hot touch is like an electric bolt coursing through my body.

“Seth.” His name is a breathy sound of anticipation.

He moans, smoothing a fingertip over my clit. He gives the tiny bundle of nerves a few circles and then dips a finger into my warmth. I gasp loudly, digging my fingertips into his shoulders as he strokes me carefully from the inside. I arch against him, my eyes feeling heavy.

“So sexy.” He mutters, catching my lip between his teeth.

“More.” I gasp, thrusting my hips against him. I’m so wound up, so tightly coiled and I need him to relieve me. Only, he takes his fingers from me. Disappointment fills me and I groan in annoyance.

“Have I ever told you that you’re impatient?” He chuckles in my ear.

I smile and nod. “I can’t help myself around you.”

He reaches his hand down between us, rubbing himself over my entrance and catching me off guard. My hips press closer to him and it’s like I have no control over my body, it does what it wants. He pushes inside me with a sharp intake of air, sending my pulse skittering all over the place. I wrap both my arms around his neck and his hands grab my ass, lifting me onto him and filling me completely. I lock my ankles behind him as I wrap my legs around his waist. The cold sensations of the tiles feel deliciously erotic against the warm sensations inside of me. Seth pulls out until only his head is left inside and then he thrusts all the way in, forcing me to cry out. He thrust shallowly and quickly a few times before pulling almost all of the way again and then thrusts back in with a decadent groan. I squeeze him as tightly as I can as an orgasm coils in my stomach like a cobra. It has been so long since he’s been inside of me and my body is reveling in the sensations.

“Oh,
fuck
...” He growls against my flesh. “I’m not going to last long, baby.”

His voice pushes me closer and closer to the edge. “Harder.” I manage to breathe out. “Faster.”

He presses me harder against the wall and sets a faster, harder pace. My arms tighten around his neck. I clench my thighs around him, tilting my pelvis. My breasts bounce as he rocks into me. I’m surprised when my orgasm tears out of me unsuspectingly and I can’t keep the cries from tearing out of my mouth along with it. Seth’s biceps clench as he grips my hips and holds me still as he jerks unevenly inside of me, finding his own release. He holds me against the wall for a little while longer, resting his forehead against mine. My hands caress his neck and his shoulders. He closes his eyes, enjoying the attention. I slide off of him just as a knock sounds on the door and Seth shields my body with his. “Come in.”

My cheeks burn red. If people are here… then they would’ve heard me.

“Seth, when you’re ready.” Darryl’s voice rings throughout the bathroom, sounding strained and tired.

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

Darryl closes the door and I bury my face in my hands, more embarrassed than I have ever been in my entire life. “I can’t go out there.”

He pulls my hands away from my face and I drop my gaze to the floor.

“Did you enjoy yourself?”

His hands cup my face, tilting my face towards his. “Did you enjoy yourself?” He asks again, emphasizing the question.

“Yes.”

He grins, playfully. “Then that’s all that matters.”

I can feel delight radiating from him in waves as my cheeks grow darker.

We towel off quickly and enter the bedroom to get dressed. Seth throws me a pair of black drawstring pants.

“I have clothes.” I laugh, clipping a bra into place.

“Trust me.” He says, pulling his own pair of grey drawstring pants up, concealing his delicious nakedness. “They’re really comfortable.”

I throw on a white tank top and slip into Seth’s pants. I have to tie it really tightly so it fits, but he isn’t wrong. The fabric on the inside is beyond soft, almost fluffy.

“Wow, they are comfortable!”

He smiles and my heart melts. He’s so handsome and it shocks me every time I see his face. How’d I get so lucky? Seth’s pinky finger hooks around mine and he leads me down the stairs. There’s a cleaner, vacuuming the last of the glass at the bottom of the stairs. She gives us a pissed off nod and rolls her vacuum out the door, leaving Seth and I alone with his team.

“I see you went ahead and redecorated the room.” Darryl states, leaning against the railing at the bottom of the steps.

“I may have lost control.” Seth replies like it’s no big deal.

“In more ways than one, I see.”

Seth pulls me along behind him over to the long white couches. He draws me into his lap, wrapping both his arms around my waist. If I wasn’t embarrassed enough, I actually feel like vomiting now. Seth plants soft kisses on the back of my shoulder. No doubt he’s trying to ease my nerves. Unfortunately, everyone’s eyes are on us... there is no easing my nerves.

“Four.” Jackson announces, holding half a bottle of bourbon in the air. Seth drank all that? “The bourbon makes it a total of four times tonight that you couldn’t control yourself. Four.” Jackson is pissed off. His green eyes are narrowed in on Seth and I don’t like being in between them. I really can’t handle another fight tonight.

“What the fuck, Seth?” Darryl demands.

“Don’t act like fucking saints. I didn’t have to go out tonight, but you dubbed me designated driver, remember?”

Jackson exhales.

“And if you didn’t pay for that stripper to give Olivia a lap dance Don wouldn’t have gotten all horny and possessive. I don’t regret punching that motherfucker in the face and I’d do it again right now.”

Silence. Nobody said a word to contest Seth.

“Anyway,” He continues. “How’d it all go down? Am I out of the tournament or not?”

I can hear the bitter disappointment in his voice and I drop my gaze to Seth’s hands around my waist.

“No.”

My head snaps to Darryl and Seth squeezes me in reaction to his words.

“Don refuses to claim that it happened even though his team is desperately pushing for him to reconsider, but he won’t budge. He must really hate you.”

Seth shrugs. “What about Polaris? They’ll have video proof.”

“It may be classy, but it’s still a strip joint run by pimps that’ll keep their mouth shut for money. The tapes are gone.”

“That’s it?” I ask, eagerly. “Everything is over?”

“No.” Darryl’s brown eyes flick to his hands and then back to my face. “I can’t let you come backstage anymore. It’s too risky with Don lurking around.”