Clipped Wings (39 page)

Fuck.

“Hey, Trina.” I disentangled myself from her.

“Hayden! How are you? You look gorgeous,” she tittered.

I had a vague memory of what she’d sounded like when she’d come. It wasn’t pleasant. Her hands were like annoying little birds, flapping around my face and my chest.

“I have someone I need to talk to. I’ll catch you later.” I stepped around her and headed for a very irritated Tenley.

“Friend of yours?” she asked and took a sip of her wine.

“We used to hang out.”

“Is that a euphemism?” There was a bite in her tone I’d never heard before. It made me nervous.

“It wasn’t meant to be.” Though in this case it was. I moved on to a less detrimental topic. “Sorry I’m late. Chris stuck me with a closer who needed a break every five minutes, even after I gave him a pussyball.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Pussyball?”

I smiled and leaned in close so my lips were at her ear. “Say it again, but whisper this time, and just the ‘pussy’ part.”

She poked me. I grabbed her finger and bit it right above the first knuckle, dragging my tongue over the pad. “Please?”

That did it. Her glower disappeared and she parted her lips. Her palm flattened on my chest, and she rose up on tiptoes. I bent to accommodate her, until my ear was at her mouth.

“No,” she whispered in a voice that sounded like sex.

“I’ll eat yours later if you do,” I whispered back, bargaining.

“Hayden!” she exclaimed loudly and glanced around the room.

“Later then.” I’d get her to say “pussy” again, in the privacy of her bedroom. Then I could make good on my promise. Right now there were eyes on us. More specifically, her. I didn’t like it.

“Who put you in this?” I asked. Her dress was practically backless, most of the outline on display.

“Lisa.”

“Where is she? I need to have a chat with her.”

“Why?”

“Because.” I touched the marks I’d left on her neck. I could barely make them out anymore. “You look entirely too fuckable.”

She adopted a sugary smile. “It seems we both have that problem tonight. I need more wine.”

She tipped her head back and downed what was left in her glass. With a flip of her ponytail, she spun around and strutted to the makeshift bar. Tonight would either be very good or very, very bad. Tenley was already half in the bag, judging from the fluidity of her movements and her willingness to chug white wine.

I remained by her side, introducing her to former and current clients, but only the ones I hadn’t engaged in illicit activities with. Tenley gravitated to the rooms where the crowd was less dense. She was inquisitive and engaging. She didn’t gawk or grow uncomfortable around the guy with the fucked-up neck tattoo depicting a very realistic open wound, or the chick with more steel in her face than an android. I hovered over her protectively when people checked out her ink. She accepted compliments with humble grace, defaulting to me when they praised the artwork. I’d never been so proud of an outline in my entire career.

The party started to get a little more raucous as the evening wore on. Around midnight, Sarah waltzed in the door in her nine-inch stilettos. Tenley was ecstatic to see her. Sarah and Lisa petitioned to steal Tenley from me to do whatever the hell chicks do together at parties. I wasn’t keen on the idea. If Sarah and Lisa took her, I couldn’t monitor her alcohol consumption. Or ensure my post-fucks wouldn’t approach her.

Lisa patted me on the arm. “Don’t worry, Hayden, we’ll take care of her.”

“I’ll come find you in a bit,” Tenley said and kissed my cheek.

I pulled her up tight against me, unconcerned with the audience. “Don’t talk to strangers,” I murmured.

And then, because I couldn’t help myself and I was a territorial asshole with issues, I parted my lips and sucked on her neck. Hard. I released the skin and smiled down at my handiwork. Then I looked around to check if anyone noticed. Lisa seemed like she was trying not to laugh. Sarah clearly thought I was insane. Tenley was pissed. Superpissed.

She ran her hand over the purple-pink mark. “Why would you do that?” she asked, loud enough that several conversations close by came to a halt.

“Uh . . .” I couldn’t answer the question without sounding like a complete dipshit.

“I haven’t been able to wear my hair up for two weeks, Hayden.” Her hands flailed and wine sloshed over the edge of her glass. “Now I have to walk around with a hickey for the rest of the night.”

Tenley was irate. Her cheeks were deep pink, her eyes burning. I had a feeling the hickey wasn’t really the problem and that later, when we were alone and she was sober, I was going to get it. Most of the time I liked it when she got feisty. Unfortunately, this might be one of those occasions when the feistiness could end in a fight if I wasn’t careful. The potential for hot sex in the aftermath might not be so bad, though.

“Do you think this is funny?”

Shit. I must have been smiling.

She tugged me forward by my shirt. Her lips parted and her tongue swept over my neck. Then her teeth pressed down and she sucked so hard it hurt. When she was done repaying me for my transgression, her teeth scraped over the sensitive skin and she nipped me. I rubbed the spot, half expecting to feel blood, but my fingers came away clean.

“Maybe that’ll keep the bitches at bay.” She turned away, stomping through the crowd.

Sarah shot me a look that would neuter a weaker man. Lisa smiled sweetly. “I love you, Hayden, I really do, but you have a lot to learn. I hope you enjoy the couch tonight, or the solitude of your own bed.”

“You think she’s that mad?” Tenley’s ponytail swished angrily as she headed for the sliding doors that led to the backyard.

“You just gave her a giant hickey because you can’t stand the thought of anyone looking at her but you. Yes. She is that mad.”

“Shit.”

“I’ll go talk to her. In the meantime, find Jamie and stay out of trouble.”

“Okay.” Lisa turned to leave, but I caught her arm. “Wait. Make sure you steer clear of Trina and Erin and Destiny and that other one . . . Cl—” Christ. I was such a fuckwit. I couldn’t even remember the name of the woman I had sex with less than two years ago. “Charity?”

Lisa gave me a pained look. “You told me you were going to talk to Tenley before the party.”

“There wasn’t a good time.”

“There’s never going to be a good time.”

“I know that. I didn’t want to ruin things. Can we talk about this later? I need you to find her and take care of her. She’s drunk and angry and Sarah’s with her. None of those things are good for me.”

“Fine. But don’t think for a second we aren’t going to talk about this.”

I pulled her into a brief hug. “I’m sorry I’m always screwing shit up.”

She seemed surprised by the affection. “Your intentions are always good, it’s your execution that’s lacking. I’ll see what I can do.”

Lisa disappeared outside. I had a strong urge to follow, but then I’d look like a whipped loser. Which I was. Instead I headed to the basement, where Chris was playing pool. At the built-in bar was an array of drinks and snacks, including cupcakes. They were definitely Tenley’s creations. Black-and-white wrappers in varying designs housed a variety of flavors, icing piled high, little hearts and skulls sprinkled on top. I took one, unwrapped it, and shoved the entire thing in my mouth.

“She made six dozen–you don’t need to inhale them,” Jamie said. He approached the bar, dropped ice cubes in a plastic glass, and poured me a scotch. “You look like you need this.”

“Hey bro, I haven’t seen you all night,” Chris said as he racked the balls. “You want to play?”

“Sure.” I didn’t have anything better to do.

“Whoa H, Tenley having a hard time waiting to get home?” Chris asked.

When I gave him a blank look, he pointed to the side of my neck.

“Oh that.” I hadn’t bothered to look at it. It was sensitive to touch, so it must have been pretty bad. “No, that was payback for being an asshole.”

“You? An asshole? That’s hard to believe,” Jamie snickered.

“I guess it could have been worse?” Chris offered.

“It probably will be later.”

The upcoming conversation with Tenley was one I didn’t want to have. I’d put it off for too long and now, like always, it was biting me in the ass. Almost an hour later Tenley still hadn’t come looking for me. Irritable after losing three games, I went upstairs to find her. I trolled the rooms and ended up running into Damen.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked, checking for his entourage of wannabe tattooists and thugs in training.

“I was invited.”

“By who?” Jamie would never welcome him into his house, and Lisa steered clear of Damen at all costs. “Has Lisa seen you?”

“Not yet,” he said, apathetic. His eyes drifted to my neck. “Sienna’s here somewhere, although from the look of things you might have already found her.”

Shit. The situation was going from bad to worse. I needed to find Tenley and get her home before those two ran into each other.

I turned away from Damen, looked over the room, and came up empty. Maybe the girls had gone upstairs. The hall was roped off past the bathroom. I ducked under the rope and tried all the doors, but they were locked. Stepping into the bathroom, I closed myself in to muffle the pounding music and called Tenley. Voice mail kicked in, so I hung up and sent a text instead. I was about to go back downstairs and do another sweep of the house when the door flew open.

Sienna. She was wearing a black-corset-looking thing that didn’t begin to cover enough skin. Her massive cleavage was pushed up and in, her nipples hazardously close to showing. The sequined black miniskirt she paired it with was so short that I’d catch an eyeful if she bent over.

“Trina! Guess who I found?”

Trina appeared behind her, blocking the doorway. Her eyes lit up with the same salacious intent.

“Trina tells me you’ve been occupied all night, but it looks like you aren’t anymore.”

Trina didn’t say a word as she came up behind Sienna. Her eyes stayed on me as she licked a path from Sienna’s neck to her ear. Sienna moaned. She sounded like a porn star.

I’d seen more than enough. “Well, it looks like you girls have got a handle on things. If you don’t mind, I’m going to head back to the party.” Even I was impressed with how blasé I sounded. I was practically shitting my pants. I’d texted Tenley my location. This was not the kind of scene I wanted her walking in on.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Sienna’s seductive pout disappeared. She pushed away from Trina and wrapped herself around me, hooking one of her legs around mine, the sharp end of her stiletto biting into the back of my knee. Her other leg came between mine, and she gyrated her hips against my black pants. That would leave a mark.

“Don’t you want to fuck?” she whined.

“I’m good, thanks.”

Thank Christ my dick had the decency not to get hard. I might hate her, but I didn’t always have control over how my body wanted to react to two chicks making out in 3-D. Fortunately the connection between it and my brain must have been intact, processing the who, and not just the what.

“Get off me.” I caught her hand before it could move lower.

Trina stood off to the side, watching the altercation with perverse fascination.

“Make me,” Sienna purred.

So we were back to this again. “Your desperation is pathetic.” Disinclined to feed into her BS, I gathered up her other wrist as she tried to hold on to my neck. How I managed to find myself in such fucked-up situations was beyond me.

“Hayden?” Tenley pulled my attention away from the overprocessed harpy still stuck to my leg.

Tenley stood in the hall, just outside the bathroom. The color drained from her face. She blinked, eyes brimming.

“Shit. Tenley, I can explain.”

I shoved Sienna away. She stumbled back and hit the vanity, causing the soap dispenser to fall into the sink with a loud crack.

Icy distaste replaced the devastation on Tenley’s face. She turned and ran, skidding down the hall. I went to follow, afraid she’d slip or worse, but Sienna got in front of me.

“Just let her go, Hayden. She’ll never understand you. She’ll never be enough.”

A surge of violent hostility tore through me. I willed my hands to stay at my sides and not wrap around her throat.

“Get the fuck out of my way,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Why? So you can chase after her and hear things you already know are true? She can’t handle you, you have to know that. You can’t be faithful to her. You’ll get bored.”

Her words sparked an epiphany. I suddenly realized why I had always gone back to Sienna. On some level I had believed the shit she spewed. Her manipulation had kept me bound to my own self-loathing tendencies. Until Tenley, I hadn’t known what it felt like to be with someone who understood the pain beneath my ink. I did now.

“I need you to listen to me,” I seethed, quiet and controlled. “I hate you. Do you get that? You ruin my life every time you come back into it.”

She paled and staggered back, like I’d slapped her. I advanced on her and Trina seized my arm, but I shook her off.

“I. Hate. You. I hate what you do to me. I hate you more than the fucking psycho who shot my parents. Do you understand?”

“Hayden, stop.” Trina touched my shoulder.

I wheeled on her. “Don’t fucking touch me!”

She backed away, hands up in surrender. When I turned to Sienna, I saw my reflection in the mirror, eyes wild, jaw tight, a malignant sneer distorting my face. There was only panic in Sienna’s gaze.

“I asked you a question. Do you understand?”

Her head bobbed up and down.

“Stay the fuck away from me and what’s mine,” I barked.

I stormed down the hallway, hell-bent on finding Tenley so I could once again try to fix what I’d broken.