Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) (20 page)

Lexy leaned over and noticed what appeared to be a button on the rim of the toilet and winced as she took a chance and pressed it. A bubble like substance pressed against her, the door slid closer and it stopped moving uncomfortably close to her knees.

A deep voice said, “Choose your desired temperature and place your hand on the wall.”

Alright, now we’re talking. There are instructions. Red would probably be hot, blue would probably be cold? What in the hell did yellow and green mean?
The voice kept repeating the command.
Quit pressuring me, damn it! Yellow or green. Yellow or green. She winced and placed her hand on green.

The voice announced, “You cannot choose the option for go until you have chosen your desired temperature.”

Well, Shit! If green meant go, did red mean stop? What if it meant hot? She could definitely do without a hot water doused Yoo-Hoo. So, blue or yellow?
Lexy pressed yellow for no other reason but she liked that color.
Nothing happened
… Then she remembered she had to press go. There was a spray of warmth down below followed by a warm breeze.
This might very well be the most awkward moment of her life.

She’d been sitting there for a while wondering what she was supposed to do when the booth spoke to her again, “Press stop when you are finished.” Lexy took a chance and pressed red. The booth spoke to her again and in a monotone voice it said, “Repeat.”

Lexy hissed, “Shit, no! Don’t repeat! Stop, I want to stop!”

The air stopped blowing and a voice spoke to her again and said, “Do you want to use the voice control as an option?”

“Yes?” she stated.

The voice stated, “What is your command?”

Lexy exhaled to calm herself down and firmly stated, “Stop!”

A gust of air sucked the bubble film into the toilet and politely said, “Have a productive evening.”

She leapt off of the toilet seat and shoved the door open, escaping just as the chamber filled with a lovely scented mist. Lexy closed the door quickly so she wasn’t doused with air freshener and muttered, “What in the hell was that shit?” She heard the sound of laughter coming from behind her and realized she wasn’t alone. Lexy spun around and Tiberius was standing there grinning from ear to ear.

He chuckled, “You just used that bathroom for the first time, didn’t you?”

She couldn’t help herself as her face cracked into an enormous grin as she answered, “What in the hell was that madness?”

Tiberius kept his distance, remaining where he was as he answered, “It is madness, isn’t it? It doesn’t need to be that complicated.”

Lexy smiled as she replied, “It definitely doesn’t.” They gazed into each other’s eyes for a second and then she smiled at him and said, “I should get back before someone comes looking for me.”

Her undeniably sexy nemesis blocked her escape and asserted, “That’s why I’m standing here. I came looking for you.”

“Tiberius,” she whispered his name as he took a step closer.

He grinned as he seductively replied, “Tell me there isn’t a part of you that wants me as much as I want you and I swear I won’t bother you for the rest of the evening.”

She grinned because he’d said, for the rest of the evening. That was the fine print in his little verbal contract. Lexy grinned as she maneuvered her way past him.

Tiberius hollered after her, “I knew you couldn’t say it.”

She strolled out of the sliding doors, into the hallway and directly into Grey.

He slowly shook his head, grinned at her and light heartedly teased, “You’re such a naughty fibber. You promised you’d behave.”

She’d promised no such thing.
Lexy wasn’t in the habit of making promises she had no intention of keeping. She smiled at her Handler and clarified, “I got stuck in the bathroom and it had nothing to do with him.”

Greydon winked, placed his arm around her in a brotherly fashion and said, “I was going to say something about that. Last time we were here, I ran in there, tossed my cookies in the toilet and tried to flush it with that little button. Well, you can guess what happened next.”

Lexy had a hilariously clear mental picture of how that went down. She started to giggle and then in a moment they were both howling at the thought of the slap stick comedy of drunken suffocation that must have followed that unknowing flush.

Much to her surprise Grey didn’t harp on the subject of Tiberius, he dropped the subject completely. They strolled hand in hand into the banquet hall; he towed her onto the dance floor where they danced together until she was breathless. The repetitive words were easy to pick up and the song had a dance music vibe. The whole group of Ankh began to sing along. Every once in a while she found herself looking at Kayn.
Maybe, she’d been seeing danger that wasn’t there?
She appeared to be having a good time but every once in a while Lexy caught her sneaking a quick glance at Kevin.
That was going to be a difficult habit to break.
Frost appeared to be doing his best to keep her occupied but she understood the feeling. It was difficult to let go of the fantasy of how things might have been. Her eyes locked with her dance partner as he grabbed her hand, spun her around and tugged her back towards him while comically singing any goofy words he wanted to the tune of the music in her ear. She laughed as the song changed and a slow one came on. Grey kept her there, captive in his arms with his body pressed against hers as they slowly swayed to the music. The seductive combination of his breath in her ear and the scent of his skin had always aroused her. Lexy closed her eyes and allowed her heart to envision the incredible night they could have together if she pushed him just a touch farther. He’d begun to caress her back as they moved together and her eyes met with Frost’s and she snapped out of it. The wine induced euphoria was beginning to mess with her that’s all this was. With perfect timing the song ended and a fast one started.

Grey pulled away, cupped her cheeks, planted a kiss on the tip of her nose and said, “One second.” He left her standing there.

Lexy was about to leave the dance floor when Kayn danced her way over to her and asked, “Have you seen that Patrick kid?”

She’d definitely seen him. He wasn’t difficult to miss
. Grey grabbed her from behind, kissed her neck and started to sway her back and forth. She laughed, “Stop it Grey! I can’t even think!” Lexy smiled, as she attempted to struggle out of Grey’s grasp while giving Kayn a hint, “Picture him without the extra weight and take another look around.”
Her sexuality confused friend from the banquet before their Testing was now the hottest guy in the room, next to Frost.

Grey released her, pouted and said, “I take offence to that.”

Lexy grinned as she turned to face her pouty Handler. She recreated his last move by cupping his cheeks with the palms of her hands as she stared deeply into his eyes and whispered, “You’ll always be the hottest guy in the room to me.”

She saw it register in Grey’s eyes as he placed his hands over hers and made sure she read his intentions loud and clear as he friend zoned her with his words, “We’re best friends, you have to say that.”

Lexy had to stop reaching in trying to retrieve his feelings. She’d become quite the hypocrite.
She grinned at him and sighed, “Go have some fun. I’m all good tonight. I promise.”

He kissed her on the cheek, smiled at her, messed up her hair and danced away from her, leaving her standing on the dance floor with no partner.

She scanned the room to see if Kayn had figured it out and saw Zach take a page out of the Grey handbook as he grabbed Kayn from behind, and startled her. Kayn laughed aloud as she spun around to face him. Kayn’s new Handler took her hand, twirled her around and whispered something in her ear. It made Lexy feel better to see Zach doing his job instead of leaving the fledgling Dragon to fend for herself. Just as she was about to make her way through the crowd towards the table Frost snagged her around the waist and teased, “If I have to stay out here dancing, so do you.”

The whole clan gathered as a group again and danced until they were so exhausted they became a little bit giddy and someone began to do joke dance moves. They did the lawn mower and the sprinkler. They began to make up new ones like the race car and the teacher. Kayn added the tiger lizard, and spider rat. Grey added Frost driving.
Frost didn’t find that one funny.
It turned into a giant game of dance charades. They kept making up new ones until they were all doubled over laughing. Lexy noticed Kayn; she was sneaking another peek at Kevin.

Another slow song came on and everyone began to partner up. Frost had disappeared so Grey grabbed Kayn. Lexy smiled and used this as the perfect opportunity to sneak back to the table. Lexy was almost in the clear when she felt someone’s gaze. She paused and her eyes were drawn towards Triad’s seating. Kevin’s eyes locked with hers.
He was seriously upset. Kayn wasn’t even dancing with Frost? Where was Frost?
She scanned the room and saw him in a deep conversation with Jenna. He had the same expression on his face.
Something was happening that she wasn’t a privy too. There was always some kind of clan drama.
Lexy made her way back to her seat. She picked up her goblet of wine and took a sip from it while watching the looks that were being exchanged between Jenna, Frost, and Markus.
What now?
It was then that she noticed the squished yellow flower on Kayn’s napkin and her heart solidified in her chest.
No… Not her.
Lexy calmly got up from the table, and made her way towards the hall that led to the washroom. She paused before she entered the hall and lingered there until she was able to catch the leader of Triad’s attention. She signalled for him to follow her and then started down the hallway towards the privacy of the washroom.
Kayn looked too much like Freja. From the moment she’d walked in to the banquet this one fact, kept slipping into her mind each time she’d noticed the King staring at Kayn. It was easy to read between the lines in this scenario. The King would want to spend the night with Kayn and the King was a violent beast of a man and she was using the term man loosely.
Lexy knew that no one in her clan would disobey the rules to stop it. This particular scenario hit a nerve with her because her first time had also not been by choice and all first times should be a choice. Tiberius had front row seats to the depravity of her childhood and clan Triad was known for their flexible interpretation of the rules.
How far would he be willing to go for what he desired? Now, that was the question.

The doors slid open and Tiberius entered the bathroom, Lexy walked directly into his embrace and whispered in his ear, “Help me stop this and I’ll do anything you want.”

He stiffened for a second and whispered his reply, “Let’s take this conversation somewhere private.”

She allowed him to guide her into one of the stalls, turned and said, “We don’t have time for this now.”

Tiberius closed the door behind them and questioned, “I want to trust you. Can I trust you? I need you to give me your word as a Dragon.”

She nodded and whispered her reply, “You can trust me. I give you my word.”

“Are you capable of keeping a secret from your clan…even your Handler?” Tiberius asked.

If she had to she could
. Lexy met his concerned expression with a steady gaze, “I gave you my word. You’ve seen inside of my mind. You know what that’s worth.”

Tiberius’s eyes softened as he whispered his response, “I’m guessing you’ve heard about the virgin sacrifice?”

He’d said the words that she’d been thinking aloud
. She nodded her reply and then added, “You know why I can’t let this happen.”

Tiberius’s expression softened as he replied, “We already have a plan to stop it. You need to understand, that if you’re a part of this and we’re caught, we’ll all be entombed?”

Lexy whispered, “You already have a plan?”

He touched her hair and explained, “Kevin came to me with several versions of his vision. At first I thought I could keep you out of it but there’s only one version of this plan that works and it includes you. I was going to tell you about this earlier but you took off before I had the opportunity to say anything. We’re going to need a member of the royal family on board in order to pull it off and you happen to have a personal relationship with one of them. If there’s a chance he’ll turn you in just forget I mentioned this.”

“No, he won’t turn me in,” she replied, with certainty. She’d never been able to explain her connection to Prince Amadeus or why he’d helped her with no gain on his behalf but she knew he would never hurt her. She was curious. Lexy looked into Tiberius’s eyes and asked, “I understand why Kevin’s doing this, but why would you?”

Emotion flickered in her enemy’s eyes as he responded, “I had a front row seat for what happened to you when you were a child when you shared your memories with me at the Summit. It’s taken you forty years to come through what happened to you on that farm. How could I claim to have feelings for you and then stand by and watch while someone you care about is violated?”

“You can’t love me” Lexy whispered.

Tiberius smiled and whispered, “I don’t.” He presumptuously leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. She was stunned that he’d just done it without her permission. Her lips were still tingling as he began his explanation, “I know you recall the drama that ensued after I erased my grandson’s memories. Well, an unfortunate side effect of my ability is that I get to know the people they know and feel their emotions. I was already going to do this before you tried to lure me into your web of debauchery by promising me naughty things you have no intention on following through with.”

He’d planned to do it anyway.
A wave of real emotion washed over her. Lexy’s lips remained parted. She could still feel the warmth of his against hers.
Her enemy was willing to chance the immortal equivalent of death for the right reasons.
She didn’t want to look into Tiberius’s eyes. He was acting like the man she’d had a brief opportunity to spend time with during the halftime of the Summit.
It confused things for her.