High Stakes (A Deal With The Devil)

CHAPTER SIX

Aiden

I haven’t been able to take my eyes from her. The way she lights up the room has me transfixed, the fact she doesn’t even realise it, adds to her appeal. She dances with a sexy edge, carefree and relaxed. And she laughs with her friends hard, making me long to be a part of their circle.

Despite her attempts to drag JP off to dance with her, he backs away, glancing up and me and giving his head a slight shake. I don’t want to come over all alpha, but I want her up here with me. Down there, she’s getting way too much attention from other men. And as predicted, the second JP walks away, she turns to a man who’s been trying to grab her attention for at least ten minutes. I ball my fists in anger the second she engages with him, laughing at something he says. He slides his hands to her waist, and she slips hers around his neck, they begin to sway to the music. He gently presses his nose to hers and I lose it, slamming my glass on the table behind me and heading for the stairs. She shouldn’t even be down there, not when she suspects men are after her.

JP blocks my path on the stairs, his face full of concern. “Where’s the fire?”

“She’s about to kiss someone,” I snap.

“What happened to playing it cool?” he asks with a grin.

“We’re moving to stage two of the plan,” I grit out, continuing down the stairs.

I hear him laughing, “What’s stage two, possessive, psycho, dickhead?”

The guy she’s dancing with sees me coming, and whether it’s my demeanor or the fact he recognises me, he steps back, letting her arms fall away from him. I slam against her, pulling her against my front, “Are you trying to piss me off?” I growl in her ear.

“Why would I be pissing you off, Aiden?” she asks innocently, and I’m not sure if she’s playing her own game .

I feel her backside pressing against me and I inhale sharply. “I warned you what would happen if you kept rubbing against me,” I whisper, grabbing her hand and dragging her towards the stairs.

As we get towards the VIP area, I begin to calm down. Having her where I know she’s safe, feels better and all thoughts of dragging her to my office and fucking her over my desk, fade away.

Bella

I’m sightly disappointed when his march slows down to a casual stroll over to the bar area. For a minute there, I thought he was going to drag me off to his office. I give my head a shake, what the hell am I thinking?

He gets us both a drink and we sit in his usual booth. After a few silent minutes, I clear my throat, bringing his attention to me. “Where did your two friends go?”

“They got what they wanted and moved on,” he says bluntly. “Mutually beneficial.”

His words confuse me. One minute he’s acting crazy jealous, and the next he’s making it very clear he’s not looking for anything. “Doesn’t that get boring?”

“Why would I get bored of women throwing themselves at me?” He looks smug and it annoys me .

“There’s no affection,” I state, shrugging. “No tenderness. Don’t you crave a connection?”

He eyes me like I’ve lost my mind and scoffs, “I’m not into that fairytale bullshit, Bella. My current situation suits me just fine.”

“Have you ever had a relationship?”

“I realised pretty quickly that relationships don’t work for me. First of all, I love sex way too much and relationships tend to be more about date nights and effort. Shit I don’t have time for. Secondly, I’m too fucked up. I get jealous and possessive, I get crazy.”

I want to point out what he just did by dragging me from that guy, seemed jealous and possessive. Instead, I analyse him. “Love sends you crazy and you hate to be out of control,” I surmise.

“I like an easy life. I have friends, male and female, and I have women I have sex with. The two are separate to keep feelings out of it. No one gets confused that way. You won’t see me hanging out with a woman I have sex with.”

I’ve officially been friend zoned. I don’t know why I feel disappointed when he’s admitted that he runs from everything that I run towards. “JP and Raff seem nice.”

He gives a boy like grin, and I realise they mean something to him. “They’ve known me my whole life. My mum said it felt like she had four kids instead of two. ”

“You have a brother or a sister?” I ask, unsure of why I sound so surprised.

His smile fades and he stares down at his drink, “I had a brother, he died.”

I instinctively reach for his hand and place mine over it. “I’m so sorry, that must be hard, especially when you were all so close.”

He takes a deep breath before knocking his drink back and signalling to the bar staff for more. I sense the subject is over and he confirms it when he asks, “So, how did you end up with Carl?”

“I met him in Costa, he asked me out. I thought it was love at first sight, but he turned out to be a dick. So, here I am.” I tell him the quick version to make me look less pathetic.

“Did he make a habit of hitting you?”

“Two times this bad,” I admit, fidgeting uncomfortably. I always feel stupid when people ask about it because I should have stood up to him. I should have left and never gone back. “We were always a fiery couple,” I add, like that explains it. “We would get into the worst fights and friends would have to separate us,” I give a sad laugh. “I’m addicted to drama, I swear. Anyway, the last time was about a month ago and I ended up in hospital. ”

“Was that time over you sleeping in a stranger’s bed too?” he asks in a teasing tone.

I shake my head, “Believe it or not, I don’t make a habit of that. No, it was because he wanted to have sex, and I refused . . . again.”

“How come?”

“Because . . .” I sigh, “He comes on too strong. The harder he pushes me, the more I step away.” I shudder. “And I don’t think I like him,” I admit and Aiden laughs.

“You don’t like the man you were in a relationship with?”

“I did, in the beginning, but as time passed, he did things that gave me the ick. But the thought of living back with dad full time made me try and at least make it work.”

The barman brings over a bottle of Sambuca and two shot glasses. Aiden opens it and pours us both a shot, sliding the nearest one to me. “I admire you. Not many women get to your age and are still virgins, it must takes some will power to hold out until twenty-three.”

“How do you know my age?” I ask, knocking the shot back and wincing at the taste.

“You told me,” he says, drinking his own. I narrow my eyes, I’m certain I didn’t. “Shall we head home?” he asks, pulling his phone out and swiping the screen and staring hard at whatever’s grabbed his attention .

I push to stand, “I’ll let Aria and Jack know,” I tell him, but he doesn’t look up, so I go off to find them.

When I get back to the booth, Aiden’s nowhere to be seen, but Raff is leaning against the table speaking into his phone. He doesn’t spot me as he spits, “You’re gonna fuck this up.” He disconnects and looks up. He forces a smile, “Sorry to disappoint, Bella, but Aiden had something he needed to sort out. He asked me to drop you off.”

I frown, wondering what could have popped up that required his immediate attention at this time of night. I smile, “It’s fine, Raff, I can make my own way back.” I head for the stairs.

“Actually,” he calls out and I slow down to look back at him, “He was very insistent I take you. Besides, I get paid for this sort of thing.”

I wonder if he means to drive for Aiden or drive his women around. It makes me shudder and I continue to the stairs. “I need the air to sober me up. Thanks though.”

Raff follows me, I know this because people are staring as I pass and that never happens when I’m alone, which means the six foot something giant is chasing me down.

Outside, he catches my arm, halting me. “Bella, make this easier on me will yah. Let me take you.”

“Call him” I say, and Raff looks taken back.

“What?” he asks .

“I don’t have his number, ring him and give me your phone.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

“Because he might fuck it up?” I ask, repeating his earlier words and arching a brow.

His expression confirms he was probably talking to Aiden, and maybe about me. Raff sighs and pulls out his mobile. Before he can press it to his ear, I snatch it and take a few steps away.

“Raff, this better be good,” snaps Aiden when he answers.

“If you’re going to ditch me then at least stick around to say goodbye, and for the record I don’t need chaperoning anywhere so please tell your bulldog to back the fuck off.” I hand the phone back to Raff who almost looks impressed, and then I stomp off.

I’m not sure where that outburst came from. I guess I’m disappointed. We were having a nice talk back there, and he’d shown he was jealous which means he might like me, even if he isn’t planning on crossing the friendship line. The fact he’d let me say goodbye to my friends because he’d decided to call it a night, pissed me off. I could have continued my night if I’d have known he was going to dump me on Raff .

I spot a quiet little bar, the kind with low lighting and a soul singer in the corner and decide to hide in there just in case Raff is on the warpath.

I order a glass of wine and take a seat at the back of the bar. Pulling out my phone, I spend some time catching up on my socials. I search Aiden’s name, and his profile pops up right as my phone rings out, causing me to almost throw it in fright. “Shit,” I mutter, cancelling the call. It was from a number I don’t recognise.

His social media profile is set to private, and the only picture that comes up, is the one of him and I in bed, the one Carl saw. The fact he set it to open, annoys me. Did he mean for Carl to see it? Or was he just trying to show off?

There are ten comments on the picture, and I open them up, scrolling through them. Most are from men telling him that he’s punching. I laugh to myself wondering what they see, because Aiden is definitely way too good for me in the looks department.

I stare at the last comment, it’s from a woman, Lauren Casey. I study the tiny profile picture, she’s pretty with long blonde hair and I just know by the way she’s dressed, she’s loaded. Her comment reads, I hope this isn’t your way of announcing you’re in a new relationship, plastering it across your socials like a teenager. Classy !

I smirk and notice there’s a response, so I click on it to see Aiden’s reply. Call me.

Did she call him? Is that why he rushed off tonight, to appease Lauren. Maybe she is one of the women that he has sex with, and if she is, it seems like she’s into him.

My phone lights up again with the same number that just called me. I answer, pressing it to my ear. “Where the fuck are you?” snaps Aiden.

I disconnect, wondering how he got my number.

Aiden

I run my hands through my hair in anger. How dare she hang up on me. Who the hell does she think she is?

I call Raff again, “Aid, I don’t get why you’re stressing, we know she isn’t in danger, no one paid her dad, remember?” he says, sounding annoyed. I know he’s talking sense, but I can’t explain the sudden need to know where she is, or what she’s doing. “Boss,” he adds, sounding hesitant. “I’m worried you’re going to that dark place again, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” I disconnect because anything I say right now will only confirm what he’s thinking.

I approach the front door and knock once, and Laurie opens it in nothing but her silk slip .

“Thought you’d never get here,” she mutters, opening the door wider for me to step inside. My heart sinks a little, this isn’t where I want to be right now.

I look around the hotel room, noticing she’s already ordered me a bottle of my favourite whiskey. She sits on the edge of the bed. “Who is she?”

I bite my tongue in annoyance, “Nobody important, Laurie.”

“You never post pictures of other women on socials,” she points out with a pout.

I roll my eyes as I crawl onto the bed, placing my hands either side of her. She lays back.

“Are we really going to waste time talking about unimportant shit, or are we gonna fuck?” She places her hands above her head, and I pull my tie off and use it to bind them. “And stop stalking me on socials, you’re married.” I nip the top of her breast, and she arches her back off the bed, smiling.

“Don’t post pictures of you in bed with other women. How would you feel if I posted pictures of me and other men?”

I crawl over her body until I’m sat over her chest and flick open my button, pulling out my cock. I lift her head, lining her mouth up with my erection. “It doesn’t bother me, and you shouldn’t care what I think, worry about what your husband thinks.”

When she opens her mouth to speak, I press forward, my cock filling her mouth and touching the back of her throat. She takes it all, her eyes watering as I fuck her mouth. It doesn’t take me long before I’m almost ready to release into her, all the build up with Bella has me in knots. I pull out and Laurie gasps for breath. “Fuck, what’s gotten into you Aiden?” she snaps.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like how I give it, Laurie,” I grin, tapping her backside so she’ll turn over. She does so without protest, sticking her arse up in the air. “It’s the reason you call, so I can use you, fuck you,” I push in to her tight pussy, “Do all the things that he doesn’t do, the things you don’t tell him you like in case he dumps your trashy arse.” I coat my cock in her juices and then line it with her puckered backside. I push forward and she lets out a deep, low moan.

“And does she let you do all this shit to her, Aiden?” she pants, looking back at me over her shoulder. I grip the back of her neck, forcing her head to look forward before I push her face into the pillows, holding her down whilst I fuck her hard and fast.

“You just concentrate on pleasing me, don’t worry about what anyone else does for me.”