Accidental Abduction (Masked Men of Sage Springs #1)

Chapter Eight

Charley

By the time I’d turned in my tips, the building was a madhouse. There were people spilling down the side hallway where the bathrooms were located, already half drunk and out to cause some mischief. And I was about to join them.

I should have seen her coming from a mile away, but when the bite of someone’s nails cut into my forearm, I jerked in their direction, ready to forget I was technically off the clock and kick their ass out of the bar.

“What the fuck are you supposed to be?” she yelled, stepping forward and crowding me against the wall.

I knew there was the possibility of seeing her tonight, but I hadn’t thought she’d actually show up. Reid had given me as many details as Hudson had confessed to him, but one thing had been clear. Viv dumped Hudson, but gave him the old, “I want to stay friends” line to keep him on the hook.

Her eyes looked freaky, with her face covered in white face paint, large diamonds adorning her cheeks in metallic paint. She clearly hadn’t gotten the memo that this was a masked costume party, but I wouldn’t have recognized her immediately if it weren’t for her piercing blue eyes. They were icy like her soul, and one of the only things that kept me from looking too much like her.

“Why does it matter what I am?” I asked, taking in the rest of her plastered-on costume.

She was wearing a red leather jacket, a tight white t-shirt splattered with fake blood, and tiny, glittery shorts that looked more like a bikini bottom with a leather belt at the top. Torn fishnet stockings disappeared into her hot pink boots, and a spiked dog collar completed the look.

“Because right now you look like the Wish version of my costume, and I want to know why you’d even dress up like this, knowing I was coming to the party with Hudson as my date in a coordinating one.”

“Hudson is planning on wearing some sparkly panties like yours?” I laughed, enjoying the way her lips curled. It was so easy to get her riled up. She may have frightened Hazel, but she didn’t intimidate me. “You sure he has the legs to pull that off?”

“No, you idiot. He’s coming as the Joker. I dropped off the costume at his house earlier and texted him to meet me here. But I haven’t heard from him all day. You must have seen his costume, and decided to come up with whatever this is to try to look like you were coming to the party with him.”

While the idea of doing something to fuck with her was appealing, I’d had this costume planned for a while. Since Harley’s misunderstood character was a kindred spirit, I’d wanted to honor that part of myself. But I didn’t want to look like an actual clown to do it. Unlike some people. And the thought of carrying around a bat all night was appealing.

“As far as I know, he hasn’t been home for the past few nights.”

She growled, and my eyes widened as she pushed her hand into the middle of my chest. “And where the fuck has he been?”

“Why do you even care? I thought you broke up with him. Shouldn’t you be at the party in town at the martini bar trying to catch a sugar daddy?”

“Stay the fuck away from him,” she hissed, poking me with her fake nails on each word.

I didn’t understand why she thought I was such a threat to her. Hudson had known me twice as long as her, and he’d chosen her. He clearly still saw me as his baby sister’s best friend, and I’d come to terms with it. Maybe having a bit of distance would help me resolve my crush .

“Go home, Viv. No one wants you here. I think you’ve made your point that you can slum it, but we both know you’re just a vapid bitch.”

“Excuse me?”

Lifting the hot pink bat that was part of my costume, I pushed her back with my knee and smacked it against my palm. I was done letting her bully me, in her attempt to get the scoop on Hudson. She’d lost that privilege. They weren’t together anymore, and I didn’t let anyone talk to me like this.

“Go home, Viv. I’m not sure how that’s a hard concept to grasp.”

“Or what?” she shrieked, pushing her talons into my shoulder again.

“Or I’m gonna shove this bat up your…” I growled, but a body shoved in between us, pushing Viv further out into the hallway as I flattened against the wall.

Reid’s familiar back tattoos calmed me down briefly, but I still wasn’t ready to let her just walk all over everyone.

“Calm down, Killer,” he teased, flashing me a smile through the open mask of his motorcycle helmet. “I’ll get her out of here. You go have fun.”

“But…” I wanted to be the one to kick her ass out the door.

“Seriously, go. You know Hudson wouldn’t want you to make a scene.”

“Where is he?” Viv shrieked, fighting against Reid’s outstretched hand while he attempted to block her from getting close to me.

“None of your fucking business,” he growled, turning back in her direction. He reached behind himself, pushing me toward the direction of the bar, and urged her in the opposite direction. “You lost the right to know that.”

He disliked her nearly as much as I did, so I knew he’d make her leave or get her to calm down enough to behave herself.

Swinging the bat in my hand, I took a deep breath and re-centered myself. I wasn’t here to deal with Viv. I had a mission of my own for tonight.

There was something thrilling about walking through a dark room full of strangers while wearing a mask.

Every single person in this room was playing a part tonight.

I hadn’t decided what mine would be yet.

Adrenaline for the unknown thrummed through my veins as I scanned the room, watching the other anonymous partygoers drop into their chosen roles for the night.

The giggling sorority girls dressed as sexy woodland creatures crowded around a high-top table, batting their fake eyelashes at a table of college baseball players nearby. They went with the super original ploy and wore their uniforms as costumes.

The more alt crowd was dressed in various macabre costumes of witches and ghouls, meant to warn people away from them doing their own type of mating dance.

I looked over and saw my very angelic best friend—who was not acting very angelic—flirting with a man dressed as a devil at one of the tables bordering the dance floor. As I continued to scan the room, my eyes stopped on a shirtless man wearing a motorcycle helmet as he watched her from over his conquest-for-the-night’s head. Reid had gotten rid of Viv faster than I’d expected. And was clearly planning to act as Haz’s protector for the night.

My plan with Hazel had been to stick together for the night, but as her hand covered the man’s standing across from her, I had a feeling I’d be the third wheel in their conversation. I’d excused myself as soon as I’d left my bat at the table—still disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to use it to wipe the sneer off Vivienne’s face.

My costume was inspired by who I liked to think of as my alter ego. She was strong, unapologetic, sexy and independent. Even if she was a bit unhinged. Tonight, I wanted to function outside the constraints that life had put upon me.

I wanted to be wild .

I wanted to be sensual.

I wanted to forget who I couldn’t have and let someone else make me feel desirable. Reckless.

I wanted to get fucked by one of these masked men.

The question was, which one?

Letting my eyes track the people surrounding me, I headed toward the apex of the crowd, my body heating as the bodies thickened near the dance floor, the music vibrating through my limbs.

Stretching my hands above my head, I let the beat flow through me, swaying my hips as couples gyrated around me. Sexual energy pulsed in the air, flowing freely as I closed my eyes and just let the feeling of anticipation build.

“Not paying attention to your surroundings when you look this tempting is dangerous,” a low voice growled near my ear as a large hand traced the exposed skin of my side and settled on my stomach, pulling until my back settled against a warm body. Inhaling, I knew who was touching me, and I leaned my head back into his strong chest, tucking my face against his neck.

“Touching a woman without her consent when she’s wearing boots with a three-inch heel is dangerous,” I replied, enjoying the way his fingers flexed, digging into my skin.

“Such a fierce little creature.” His voice was raspy, and if I hadn’t spent hours surrounded by him, I would have had trouble placing it. But I knew that voice, and I knew that scent, and I knew that I had to be hallucinating because there was no way Hudson knew he was touching me.

“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

As the music changed, a seductive beat flowed through the bar—charging the air with sexual tension—and Hudson stepped even closer, shoving a strong thigh between my legs, erasing any space between us as he started to move.

Closing my eyes again, I raised my arms again, letting the rhythm of the song carry me. His strong hands gripped my waist, anchoring me to him as his hips followed my movements, swaying and grinding until I was breathless. I always sensed the hidden sexual attraction between the two of us, but I never anticipated how it would truly feel to have his hands on me. Gripping my stomach, tracing up my sides, his fingers interlocking with mine before he spun me around to face him.

“Look at me.”

That low raspy voice would be the death of me, my eyelids reluctantly fluttering open to connect with the deep brown of his, the dimness of the room doing nothing to conceal the heat of his gaze.

His eyes locked with mine through the ominous slits in his mask, and a thrill ran up my spine. He was looking at me like he wanted to devour me. Like I’d fantasized about him looking at me countless times while I lay upstairs in my bed, my hands between my legs and my eyes tightly closed.

“Fucking sinful,” he groaned, leaning forward. If he wasn’t wearing that ridiculous mask, I had no doubt his full lips would’ve been tracing the skin on my jaw. “Such a naughty fucking girl looking like this. You wanted to tempt me to do bad things, didn’t you?”

His hands grasped my ass, pulling me forward into him, my pulse spiking as I felt his hard cock through his jeans. Never once in my life had I expected that I would be capable of making Hudson Rivera this hard, but now I craved it.

I wanted to feel it...

stroke it...

lick it...

suck it...

choke on it...

rub it against my cheek...

But more than anything, I wanted to see it. See the physical proof that he might find me as attractive as I found him. That he might want me a fraction of how much I’d wanted him for years. The yearning that’d been barely concealed for all these years rushed through me, manifesting in this primal need to mark him .

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I skimmed my palms underneath the back of his hoodie, digging my nails into his overheated flesh, relishing the groan that vibrated against my neck.

“Be careful, not sure you’ll like what happens when you provoke me.”

But I would. Even though this interaction was completely unexpected, and I had a feeling he thought I was someone else, I wanted to make him snap.

Scraping the nails I’d painted bright pink earlier against the center of his back, I gasped when his fingers dug into my shorts, gripping me—almost painfully, but pushing me toward so much pleasure—as he moaned against my shoulder. The plastic of his mask scratched my cheek, and I had no idea how he wasn’t burning up in his costume, but a plan was formulating to get him out of it. As soon as possible.

“Take me somewhere quieter,” I demanded, flattening my lips against the scratchy material of the black hood holding his mask in place. “Please.”

“Since when are you in charge?” he chuckled, loosening his hold and grasping my hand. “But since you asked so nicely...”

Stumbling to catch up with him, I clutched his fingers tightly as he led me through the crowd toward the back hallway. It was the opposite side of the building from where Viv had confronted me, and hopefully she was long gone.

This side was the same back hallway that I had caught couples nearly fucking in countless times, annoyed that people couldn’t wait until they got somewhere more private. But now I understood their desperation. As we passed the back staircase that led up to my apartment, my fingers twitched as I debated dragging him into my bed instead of following whatever plans he had for me.

But I didn’t want to second guess what was happening. Because this might be the only time I was the sole focus of Hudson’s desire. I didn’t want to lead tonight. I wanted to follow. I wanted him to chase. I wanted to feel like I was the center of his attention. The thing he couldn’t resist. He’d started this, not me, and knowing it’d piss off the bitch who thought she still had control over him just added to the excitement.

Suddenly, he stopped, pulling me into the alcove of his closed office door, and grasping my other hand, stretching them above my head and pinning my wrists to the wall with a single hand.

“Cute shirt, naughty girl,” he rasped, his gaze tracing across the words emblazoned across the cotton. I’d opted for a short-sleeved raglan T-shirt with pink sleeves and a tight pair of cut-off shorts.

“Mommy’s. Little. Devil.” The words were low and drawn out in this deeper voice he’d adapted, the pitch making the hairs on the back of my neck stand. “I thought your shirt was supposed to say Daddy’s Little Monster ?”

I shrugged as much as I could with my arms pinned above my head. The excitement of this unexpected role play had me wanting to play along, and I pitched my voice lower, trying to make it sound sultrier. “Don’t have a Daddy to be a monster for. You throwing your hat in the ring for the part?”

“You’d like that. Wouldn’t you? Trying to act out for me. But maybe I’m the monster you should be looking out for.”

“You don’t scare me, Hu...” My words cut off with a gasp as I almost said his name. “You don’t have it in you.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The grip on my wrists tightened briefly before he released me, stepping back. But before I could move, his palms were gripping my hips and spinning me toward the hallway, his large palm gripping the back of my neck between my swaying pigtails. Leading me to the back door that led to the alley where he stored his bike, Hudson reached around me to open it.

The temperature had dropped since I’d gotten home from class earlier, the crisp late fall air biting into the exposed skin my tiny costume didn’t cover. I shivered and his fingers tightened, sending a rush of adrenaline through my system. I wanted to say it was the cold that had my nipples standing at attention, but it was the commanding way he marched me to the edge of the parking lot, halting where the gravel ended and the darkened woods at the edge of town loomed beyond.

A gasp escaped me, my breath condensing in a mist as it floated toward the trees. I trembled as he eased the grip on the back of my neck, his rough palm tracing forward to grip my throat.

“Not so tough now, are you?”

Without the chaotic noise of the dance floor inside to mask it, the ominous tone I’d never heard from him made goosebumps race up my arms. Whatever game he was playing, I was fully into it.

“Fuck you.”

His grip tightened, and with anyone else, I would have been nervous to put myself into a vulnerable position like this, but when a deep hum—almost a growl—built in his throat, I knew playing along was the right move.

“Mmm. Maybe later, if you’re good. Now I want you to do something for me. Are you listening?”

“Mmhmm,” I hummed, anticipation coursing through me.

“Run, little devil. Run.”

The mouth uttering the words was familiar, but the tone was not. Hudson’s typically subdued voice was strong and assertive. There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in his command, and my eyes widened as he stepped away from me, beginning to count.

“10…9…8…”