Rock Hard

Chapter 10

Outside Mandalay Bay’s Events Center, Jessica tapped a security guard on the shoulder. “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find Sed Lionheart?”

The gigantic, bearded man turned to look at her, but didn’t answer her question.

“He’s the lead singer of Sinners. Sedric Lionheart,” she said, enunciating the syllables of his name slowly. “They’re playing here tonight.”

“Stay behind the barrier.” The security guard pushed his sunglasses further up his nose with an index finger.

“I need to give him something. It’s important.”

“Stay behind the barrier.”

“I am behind the barrier. Does he come out this way after the show?”

“Look, lady, I have no clue. My instructions were to make all the fans stay behind the barrier.”

“I’m not a fan. I’m a friend.”

“Sure.”

An attractive thirty-something woman appeared beside the security guard. She wore a well-tailored navy skirt suit and held a clipboard. With her hair twisted into a conservative knot, she looked more out of place than a professional wrestler in a ballet.

“Are you Jessica?” the woman asked.

Jessica’s brow furrowed. “How do you know my name?”

“I saw a picture of you once. I’m Myrna Evans, I mean, Sinclair. Myrna Sinclair. Brian’s… wife.” Her expression wavered between disbelief and elation as she dropped this bombshell.

Jessica’s eyes widened in surprise. “Brian’s wife? When did Brian get married?”

The woman checked her watch. The ginormous diamond on her left ring finger sparkled in the streetlights. “About five hours ago. So, why are you here? I’m pretty sure Sed doesn’t want to see you.”

Jessica got a mother hen-ish vibe from this Myrna woman. Sed’s protector? Why would Sed need protection? The jackass could take care of himself just fine.

“He gave me a big chunk of cash yesterday. I came to return it.”

“Why are you returning it?”

“I don’t want his money. He’s always doing this to me. Screwing up my life and then trying to fix everything. I don’t need him to fix everything. I can take care of myself, you know?” Jessica’s eyebrows shot up. When Myrna didn’t reply, her face fell. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Sed is a protector type personality,” Myrna said. “That’s who he is. He tries to fix everything for everyone.” She smiled. “He’s really sweet, actually.”

“I don’t think we’re talking about the same Sed. Sedric Lionheart. Tall guy. Broad shoulders. Blue eyes. Short black hair. Body befitting a Greek god. Sings. La la la la.”

Myrna chuckled. “You don’t think Sed is sweet?”

“No. He’s a pompous ass who can’t keep his nose out of people’s business.”

“Because if someone he cares about gets hurt, he feels personally responsible. It’s his way of showing he cares.”

The congregating crowd outside the barrier cheered unexpectedly. The members of the band Exodus End emerged from their tour bus and headed for the building. Amongst them, Jessica recognized Trey’s older brother, Dare Mills. She hadn’t seen Dare for ages. She doubted if he’d even remember who she was.

“It’s noisy out here,” Myrna shouted. “Do you want to go talk on the bus?” Myrna pointed to the black and silver tour bus parked behind her.

Jessica’s stomach plummeted to her feet at the idea of seeing Sed again. Of being trapped in the bus where she couldn’t easily flee. “How about I just give the money to you and you give it to him?” She reached into her purse.

“I think you should tell him why you don’t want it. I don’t think he understands you were insulted by his gift. It would be a good lesson for him.”

Jessica gaped at Myrna. How did this woman know Sed’s money insulted her?

“Yeah, I get it. Independent woman meets protector-type man and personalities clash. I bet your love affair is smoking hot, though.” Myrna laughed.

Jessica blushed. They had once had a smoking hot love affair. And it had never fizzled out. Just exploded.

“Charlie, can you help Jessica over the barrier?”

The security guard grabbed Jessica around the waist and hauled her over the metal barrier fence.

“I’m a mess.” Jessica rubbed her hands over her hair. She knew she looked like crap. It was fitting. She’d had a craptacular day. As if getting fired wasn’t bad enough, she hadn’t had enough money to pay for her rented room. Roy had deducted bouncer medical expenses from her wages, the jackass. Since there was no way in hell she’d ever use Sed’s money to pay her rent, she’d spent most of the day packing her belongings into her piece of shit Nissan Sentra. Apparently her landlord preferred to rent her room to someone with actual money. As for sleep… What was that? When she’d tried to catch a nap in her car, some bicycle cop had pounded on her window and lectured her on how quickly the temperature inside a car could rise to deadly levels. Like she was an idiot or something.

Why did she care how she looked anyway? She didn’t have anyone to impress and she was in a foul mood.

Jessica tucked her long, wavy hair behind her ears and followed Myrna to the tour bus.

“Jessica? Is that you?”

She paused and glanced up at Darren Mills, Exodus End’s lead guitarist. He was even better looking than his younger brother, Trey, if that was possible. They both had the same dreamy green eyes, but Dare had a stronger jaw that was covered with a sexy shadow of beard growth. Dare’s long black hair, straight and shiny, was the envy of shampoo models the world over.

Jessica smiled at him, blushing slightly. It was hard to be inconspicuous when people kept recognizing her. Her plan to drop the loot and get the hell out of Dodge was not going as anticipated. “Hey, Dare. Yeah, it’s me.”

“I thought you dumped Sed. Are you guys back together?”

Jessica shook her head vigorously. “No chance.”

“Yo, Dare, get a move on! We’re on in thirty minutes,” Exodus End’s drummer, Steve Aimes, called from the back door of the venue.

Dare tossed his head in acknowledgement and then glanced down at Jessica. “I’ve got to go get warmed up for our set,” he said. “It was good to see you.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you stopped to say hi. Break a leg,” she said, and punched him gently in the arm.

“Thanks.” He turned and jogged toward the venue.

Jessica glanced at Myrna, who was following Dare’s perfect leather-clad ass with her eyes. “You know him?”

“That’s Dare,” Jessica said. “Trey’s older brother.”

“So that’s Dare. Mmmmm. And I thought Trey was sexy.”

Jessica chuckled. “What about Brian? Weren’t you recently married to him?”

“He’ll have my undivided attention soon enough.” Myrna turned to enter the bus. “Besides, getting married didn’t make me blind.”

Jessica followed Myrna up the bus stairs and entered the main room behind the driver’s seat. For a moment, Jessica thought they were in the wrong bus. Sinners lived in a state of constant filth, but the interior of the bus was spotless without even the obligatory stack of dirty clothes to mar its cleanliness. Next to the wall that blocked the driver’s seat from view was a comfortable-looking leather sofa in soft beige. Across from the sofa were two matching captain’s chairs. A large-screen TV was anchored above the chairs with a video game console and stereo system situated nearby. Further in, a small kitchen filled one wall and on the opposite side stood a square dining table with booth seating. Close, but comfortable.

“What happened to this place?” Jessica asked.

Myrna continued to the small square table near the sleeping area, which consisted of two sets of curtained bunks stacked on either side of the corridor.

“Huh?” Myrna glanced over her shoulder.

“The bus. It’s clean.”

“Uh, one too many loogies between the toes and I made the guys clean it up. I couldn’t live in that disgusting mess.”

“Impressive.” Jessica couldn’t get the “guys” to do anything when she’d briefly toured with them over two years ago. And they’d been less famous then. Less full of themselves.

“Have a seat,” Myrna offered. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Thanks. That would be nice.” Jessica slid into the booth, her back facing the exit, and looked around the bus. On second glance, this wasn’t the same bus they’d had when she’d toured with them. This one was much nicer. It even had a pair of doors that led to other rooms near the back.

“What would you like?” Myrna asked.

“Aren’t my choices beer, beer, or beer? Sinners’ only food group.” Jessica chuckled.

“No alcohol on this bus,” Myrna said. “If you want a beer, you’ll have to brave the other bus, which we’ve monikered the pigsty bus. The roadies keep to that one mostly. We have bottled water. Juice: orange, apple, cranberry or grape. And Trey’s new addiction, black cherry Kool-Aid.”

“Water is fine.”

Myrna retrieved two bottles of water from the fridge and sat across the table from Jessica in the booth. Jessica took a long drink.

“Brian told me you were going to law school,” Myrna said.

Jessica’s eyes widened. Why would that even come up in conversation? “Yeah, that’s right.”

“So why are you working as a stripper?”

Was this woman direct or what? Sheesh! No wonder the guys obeyed her commands. She probably intimidated the hell out of them.

“I’m pretty sure that’s none of your business.”

Myrna shrugged. “I suppose not.” She chuckled. “I guess Sed was right about you.”

Jessica’s brow furrowed. “What did Sed say about me?” She knew she shouldn’t care, but her heart could scarcely beat in her constricted chest.

Myrna shook her head nonchalantly and took a drink of her water. “Nothing.”

“I needed the money is all. Why did Sed say I was dancing?”

“You needed money.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway. Because of that cocky idiot, I got fired.”

“Sorry to hear that. Are you looking for another job?”

“I dunno. I couldn’t afford to pay my rent, so I got evicted. I’ll probably just go to my mother’s. You know, I’ve had a very crappy twenty-four hours. It all started the second Sed touched me.” Jessica hesitated. She’d forgotten that Myrna seemed to actually like Sed. “Sorry to unload on you. You don’t even know me.”

Myrna smiled kindly. “I don’t mind. You know, I’ve been thinking of hiring an assistant to help me with my research project.”

“Your research project?”

“That’s why I’m touring with Sinners. I’m doing psychology research on their groupies. I’m trying to determine what it is about rock stars that makes certain women promiscuous.”

Did she really need to do formal research to figure that out?

“I wondered why you were walking around looking like one of my law professors.”

Myrna chuckled. “Actually, I dress like this because I know it turns Brian on. Don’t tell him I told you that.” Myrna winked at her. “Anyway, are you interested in the job?”

“Me?”

“I’m offering a job. You need a job. Makes sense to me. I assume you’re an intelligent person if you’re going to law school. How are your grades?”

“Almost straight A’s.” Except that failing term paper in Ellington’s class. But now was not the time to start hyperventilating over a bad grade. Something wasn’t right here. Jessica didn’t even know this woman and she just offers her a job out of the blue? “What’s the catch?”

“No catch. The stipend will be ten thousand dollars if you see the project to its end.”

Jessica’s jaw dropped. “Ten thousand dollars? How long is this project?”

“About two more months. A lot of the burden of data collection and entry will be put on you. I couldn’t keep up before, and now I seem to be a newlywed.” She grinned. “How did that happen?”

Jessica chuckled. “Congratulations, by the way. Brian is a prize catch.”

“Thanks. I think so.” Myrna smiled dreamily, radiating happiness.

Jessica had had that once. Stupid Sed and his ridiculous ultimatums.

“So what do you say?” Myrna asked.

“Can I get an advance so I can find a new apartment?”

“You’ll be touring with the band, Jessica. You don’t need an apartment.”

Her bubble of relief and happiness ruptured.

“I can’t tour with the band. Sed—”

“What about Sed?”

Why did Jessica feel like this woman was manipulating her and planning her demise? “We can’t get along.”

“This is a professional relationship, Jessica, not a personal one. Besides, you’ll be working for me. You can ignore Sed entirely.”

Jessica didn’t think it was humanly possible to ignore Sed. Sed was… Sed was… well, Sed. She sighed aloud. “I…”

“Do you have a better option?”

Jessica shook her head. “I’m really grateful for this offer, Myrna. I just don’t think I can be around Sed for two months.”

“Why not? Do you still care about him?” Myrna asked.

“No!” Jessica said, a little too fast and a lot too loud.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“No problem. I gratefully accept the job. Thank you, Myrna. You saved my life.” Or potentially ruined it.

“Awesome. I hope you can start tonight. I’m leaving on my honeymoon in about…” She checked her watch. “…ten minutes.”

Well, what did Jessica have to lose? Except her sanity and already pulverized self-respect. “Um, okay. Sounds good. Just show me what to do.”

Myrna was explaining how to enter her huge backlog of data into a spreadsheet when the crowd outside the bus erupted in cheers. Jessica’s heart raced. The members of Sinners were probably headed this way right now. How would Sed react to her joining his band on tour? How would she stand being so close to him for two months? Living quarters on a tour bus were… intimate.

Brian climbed the stairs and entered the bus. He didn’t even notice Jessica. He went straight to Myrna, drew her against his sweaty body, and kissed her hungrily. “Are you ready to go?”

“Everything’s packed,” she murmured. “I just need to explain a few more things to my new assistant before we head out.”

“Assistant?” Brian’s eyes, surrounded by purple bruises and a thick rim of black eyeliner, settled on Jessica. “Jessica?” he said breathlessly. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

His hostility surprised her. Brian was such a nice guy. She wondered why he was so pissed to see her.

“Hey, Brian,” she said, offering a single wave. “Long time no see.”

“Sed’s on his way. You’d better leave before he sees you.”

Myrna ran a hand up Brian’s sweat-drenched T-shirt. “She’s staying for a couple of months. I just hired her as my assistant.”

Brian looked down at her incredulously. “You did what? Are you insane?”

Myrna smiled and shook her head. “Trust me, m’kay?” she murmured, dropping a kiss at the corner of his mouth. “Besides, with an assistant’s help, I’ll have more time for us.” Her hand clenched, gripping his T-shirt at the waist.

He stared at her as if in total awe. “God, yes, you definitely need an assistant. I love you.”

“I love you,” Myrna returned.

Jessica averted her gaze. So much mushiness was sickening to watch.

“Did you reserve a nice suite?” Brian’s fingers clutched the fabric of Myrna’s suit jacket as if trying to control the urge to rip it from her body.

“Uh-huh. At the Venetian. One with a jet tub.”

His breath caught. “Nice. Mmm, I love you. Did I tell you that today?”

“Only a million times.” She smiled. “Please, continue.”

He kissed her again. “I love you,” he murmured against her lips, before drawing away.

“Five minutes and I’ll be ready to leave,” she said. “I promise to hurry. I can’t wait to get you alone.”

“I’ll go wash off my stage makeup.”

“Leave it for now,” Myrna murmured. “I want to love both of you tonight. I’ll start with the rock star and work my way to that regular guy hiding under that makeup somewhere.”

He grinned. “I’m glad you didn’t see our show tonight, then. We sucked. Sed couldn’t hit his high notes. Jace’s hand is so swollen he can barely play. Trey kept having to sit down with dizzy spells. I couldn’t concentrate because all I could think about was you. At least Eric kept the beat.” He scratched his head behind his ear. “Well, most of the time.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Myrna said.

“Yeah, it was pretty bad, but I honestly don’t care at the moment. Hurry. I need to devour you.”

“Me first.” Myrna kissed him and then turned her attention to the computer again. She was decidedly distracted as she explained the rest of the data entry to Jessica. Luckily, entering the data wasn’t difficult. Just time consuming.

“Just work on this for the next couple of days,” Myrna said. “We’ll be back on Monday to hit the road again and you can help me with the groupie interviews.”

Groupie interviews? Now that did not sound like fun, but she’d be an idiot to turn down this job. “Okay. I can handle this. Do you want me to work on anything else?”

“Probably, but I can’t form a coherent thought right now. It will wait a couple of days.”

There was a commotion outside the bus. Several sets of feet marched up the front steps. The chorus of feminine giggles could only mean one thing. Jessica reached for a stack of Myrna’s raw data so she could look as busy as possible when Sed turned up. She would do her damnedest to ignore him.

“Will you two get out of here?” Sed said to Brian and Myrna. “The bedroom is mine tonight.”

Speak of the devil.

Jessica couldn’t stop her body from tensing involuntarily, but she didn’t take her eyes off her work.

“Sed, don’t chase off my new assistant while I’m gone. I need her,” Myrna said.

“New assist—”

Jessica glanced up at Sed and smiled her impersonal smile. “Hello.” Could he see that her hands were shaking as they hovered over the laptop’s keyboard?

Sed gaped at her. Her gaze traced the beads of sweat running down the side of his face. Oh God. Eyegasm. Why did he have to be so fucking attractive, anyway? The bastard.

“What?” Sed sputtered, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

Brian fled the bus, but Myrna didn’t abandon Jessica. She grabbed Sed’s arm to gain his attention. “Your little stunt got her fired.”

He slowly dragged his gaze from Jessica to Myrna, who was almost a foot shorter than he was, but somehow standing as his equal.

“What?” he said again.

“She needed a job and a place to stay, so I hired her to help me with my research. You will not harass her.”

Sed scowled. “Why would I harass her? I don’t give a shit about her.” He glanced at Jessica and then Myrna again. “You hired her? What do you mean you hired her?”

“Sed,” one of the three women who’d followed him on the bus complained. “Are we going to party, or what?”

“Yeah, shut up,” he bellowed at the attractive strawberry blonde. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

The woman didn’t even bat an eyelash at his rudeness. Jessica bit her lip to keep from scolding him. It wasn’t her business. Sed was free to do whatever he wanted with this woman. Correction. These women. Three of them. The heat of anger rose up Jessica’s throat. Why did his trio of willing flesh irk her so much?

Myrna said calmly, “She is my employee, Sed. I expect you to treat her with the same respect you treat me.”

“Myrna, are you coming?” Brian yelled from outside the bus.

“I’ve got to go.” Myrna planted a chaste kiss on one of Sed’s cheeks and patted the opposite one. “Behave. Do you hear me?”

“Whatever,” he said. “This is bullshit, Myrna. You should have consulted—”

“Pretend I don’t exist,” Jessica said. “I’ll do the same for you.”

Jessica went back to her data entry, trying to ignore the girl who had plastered herself to Sed’s back and ran her hand up and down over his crotch. Jessica couldn’t help but notice the growing bulge in his pants. She crossed her legs. No, not because she knew what that bulge could do to her. The bench-seat just wasn’t very comfortable. Uh, yeah…

“Sounds like a plan,” Sed said gruffly. He took the young woman’s hand from his crotch and tugged her toward one of the doors at the back of the bus. The bedroom, Jessica presumed. “Follow me, ladies,” he said to the other two girls. The door opened and closed behind the four of them.

Jessica suppressed the urge to punch something. She hadn’t slept with anyone since they’d broken up. She wondered how many hours he’d waited before fucking one of his groupies. Or three of them.

God, she wanted to break something. Preferably his face.

Eric stomped up the bus stairs. “Where’s Sed? Did he start without me?”

Jessica glanced up from the blurry computer screen. “How the fuck should I know?” she growled, her face aching from the tension in her expression.

Eric gaped at her. “Jessica?”

“Yeah, guilty.”

Her mood had gone from foul to horrendous. The copious giggling coming from the bedroom did not improve her disposition.

Eric slid into the booth across from her and whispered, “Does Sed know you’re here?”

“Uh, yeah. He had to pass here to take his little sluts back there.” She pointed at the offensive bedroom door.

“My God, Sed, you’re absolutely perfect,” a muffled voice came through the door.

“Can you always hear everything that goes on in that bedroom?” Jessica asked.

“Pretty much,” Eric said. “You think Sed and his groupies are loud, wait until Brian and Myrna get back from their honeymoon. She makes this sound in the back her throat. It’s like… gah, instant boner.”

“I’m moving to the pigsty bus,” Jessica said, rising from the bench. She closed the laptop and scooped the stack of papers on top.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Eric said. “The place is toxic to sensible females.”

“Is Jace over there, by any chance? A friend of mine wanted me to give him a message.”

Eric scowled, an uncharacteristic look of guilt on his ruggedly handsome face. “Not sure where Jace went off to.”

Sed’s deep groan carried through the door. “Suck it harder,” he demanded. “Yeah, harder. Harder. That’s better.”

Jessica rushed down the hall and threw open the bedroom door. It banged against the wall. Sed stood just inside the doorway entirely naked, save the cherry-red condom on his cock. His three girls were in various states of undress. One was on her knees in front of him, sucking his shaft down her throat. A second knelt behind him flicking her tongue over God-only-knew-what. The third girl ran her hands up and down the hard muscles of his chest and abdomen as if she was inspecting The Statue of David for flaws.

Sed gazed at Jessica through half-closed eyes, a sardonic smile on his handsome face. “Can I help you?”

With an angry growl, Jessica grabbed the girl sucking Sed’s cock by the hair and yanked her down to the floor. Sed’s yelp of pain seemed well deserved. And the girl? Jessica wanted to kill her. “Get away from him, you fucking slut,” Jessica spat.

Jessica narrowly avoided a kick to the head and tossed the screaming young woman into the hall by her hair.

“Cat fight,” Eric announced excitedly, nudging the ejected female further down the hall.

Jessica spun around, prepared to fight off the next Sed-fondler, but he had taken each spare girl by an arm and escorted them from the room. The young women looked confused as he pushed them out into the hall. Eric caught them against his body.

“Awww, Sed,” Eric said. “I wanted to watch them pull each other’s hair.”

Sed closed the door in Eric’s face, shutting himself and Jessica in the bedroom.

Alone.

Together.

Jessica swallowed hard and glanced up at him, startled by his nearness. How had she ended up here? She’d been on her way to leave the bus and then…

He continued to watch her, waiting for her to say something.

“I hate you,” was the best she could come up with.

“I hate you more.”

“It is not possible to hate anyone as much as I hate you.” She tried to open the door, but he lifted a hand against the frame and held it closed.

“If you hate me, why are you fighting off my entertainment for the evening?”

Good question.

“Because.” She couldn’t drag her gaze from his bright blue eyes. Why was he looking at her like that? Like he actually gave a shit what she had to say. It had never mattered to him in the past.

“Because?”

“Because I… hate you,” she whispered.

His sardonic grin returned. “I can see that.” He lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers. His feather-light kiss lasted less than a second but her heart thundered in her chest. Her knees went weak. The entire core of her body tensed with need. His tongue brushed her upper lip as he drew away.

He stared down at her for her reaction.

Oh my…

She snapped back to her senses. How dare he kiss her? She shoved him, her hands pressing against the warm flesh of his naked chest.

Big mistake. His skin burned hers with awareness.

She had to get out here, before… Before she…

When she reached for the doorknob, he grabbed her wrist.

“I wish I’d never met you,” he said.

“Well, I wish you’d never been born!”

He drew her body against his and covered her mouth with a searing kiss.

Oh my, my, my…

She groaned. Her bones turned to jelly. His large hands splayed over her back to keep her from sinking to the floor as he laid her senses to waste. This man. She really did hate him. That’s why it was so maddening to want him so completely. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get him out from under her skin.

His fingers unhooked her bra through her thin T-shirt. Hands sliding up her sides, he broke his kiss long enough to strip both garments from her body in one smooth motion. She made a sound of protest in the back of her throat, but it was lost in his mouth as he lowered his head and kissed her senseless again.

He tugged her closer so that her naked breasts pressed against his chest. His erection brushed against her lower belly, just above the waistband of her low-cut jeans. She tensed and then melted against him. Her arms moved around his hard body to draw him closer, her hands sliding up his smooth back.

He gasped into her mouth. She knew his back was one of his erogenous zones. When her fingers reached his shoulders, she drew her fingernails downward, raking them over his skin. He shuddered violently and tore his mouth from hers. He stared down at her, seeking her willingness. If she didn’t want this to happen, she knew this would be her last chance to say no. This man was a beast in bed. Once he got going, she’d have no opportunity to—

He grabbed her around the waist, turned and tossed her on the bed. Before she could reorient herself, he’d unfastened her pants and had stripped them, her panties, and sandals from her body all at once.

“Sed?”

He grabbed her thighs and spread her legs wide. She didn’t resist. She didn’t want him to make love to her. She wanted him to fuck her, and he was of the same mind.

She reached down, took his thick cock in one hand and directed it to her wet, eager body.

He made a sound of primal longing, which drove straight through her, and then slid deeper with one penetrating thrust.

Sed. Oh, Sed.

He filled her as only he could.

Slowly withdrew.

Oh my…

Thrust hard and deep.

Oh my…

Rotated his hips.

Oh my…God!

Her back arched off the bed and she moved up onto her elbows to keep herself in that glorious position. He held her bent legs up and wide open with his forearms. His feet on the floor, he leaned his weight into her to force himself deeper. He rotated his hips again, grinding against her. Jessica’s head fell back and she cried out.

“Yeah,” he gasped and slowly pulled back. “You want me, don’t you?”

He had no idea.

She shuddered and spread her legs further. Wanting him deeper. Deeper. Please. Inside. Oh… Sed. Fill me. I’m so empty without you.

He shifted his arms to hold her position. He thrust into her again and ground his pubic bone into her throbbing clit. Withdrew. Ground into her. Withdrew. Ground into her. God, yes, Sed. Take me deep. Her vocalizations grew louder with each thrust as he drove her closer and closer to orgasm.

“Sed. Sed!”

His breath hitched in his throat with each thrust, causing goose bumps to rise over every inch of her body.

“Jessica,” he whispered.

She lifted her head to look at him. He was watching her. Their eyes met and he ducked his head, but not before she saw the pain in his gaze. Before she could contemplate what it meant, his gyrating thrusts sent her over the edge. She screamed, her body tensing as ripples of pleasure coursed through her.

As she trembled in the aftermath, Sed moved her further up the mattress and joined her on the bed. He drew her legs closer together now and switched from deep, gyrating thrusts to hard, fast strokes.

She lifted a hand to caress his face. He captured her wrist and pinned it to the bed near her head.

He didn’t want her to touch him? Fine. She could tell he just wanted to blow his load as quickly as possible. He’d probably throw her out in the hallway with his groupie sluts when he finished with her. Hell, he hadn’t even respected her enough to change into a new condom before thrusting into her body. He was still wearing the same one that little whore had sucked in her disgusting mouth.

Jessica swallowed the lump in her throat and rocked her hips side to side to bring Sed to his peak quickly. She knew how to make him come. She hadn’t forgotten all the tricks she’d mastered to satisfy him. To make him hers. She squeezed him inside her, tighter, tighter, tighter, and then relaxed, before repeating her clenching and releasing.

He gasped, his thrusts faster but not as deep. “Jessica,” he whispered. “Oh, Jessica. Yes, baby. Squeeze me. I need it. Ungh.”

She loved to watch him let go. To witness that moment when he lost all control and spent himself inside her, his face contorted in ecstasy. But this time, as he shuddered against her and cried out in triumph, she kept her eyes tightly closed. She didn’t want to lose herself to him again. Hated how he made her feel—weak, needy, dependent. She hated everything about him, except the way he pleasured her body.

When his tremors stilled, he collapsed on top of her, cocooning her in his arms. He pressed a kiss to her temple, but she didn’t want his feigned tenderness. The jerk! She squirmed to get away. He lifted his head to look down at her.

“You can get off me now,” she said between clenched teeth.

A muscle above his left eye twitched. He pulled out and rolled off her, settling beside her on his side. He kissed her shoulder and rested a hand on her naked belly, releasing a sigh of contentment. She brushed his hand aside, rolled off the bed, and reached for her clothes.

She drew her panties up her thighs. “I’m glad we got that out of our systems.”

He rolled onto his back and covered his eyes with his forearm. “Yeah.”

She dressed quickly, not bothering with her bra or sandals. She needed to get away. Quickly. She couldn’t let him see how wounded she was. Not when she knew how indifferent he felt. How many dozens of women had he fucked the same way he’d just fucked her? She didn’t want to know.

She left the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her. She burst into the tiny bathroom and locked herself inside. Caught off guard by the wrenching pain in her chest, she sucked a raged breath into her lungs.

Sed meant nothing to her. Nothing. She was over him. And she hated him. She hated him so much. She pounded the flimsy wall with her fist. Hated him… hated…

She bit her lip, trying to stop its trembling. No good. She lowered her face into her hands and let the tears fall, struggling to keep her sobs as quiet as possible.

He had never experienced this kind of hurt. Just once she’d like to take him down a notch. Make him suffer, like she suffered. Make him pay for his callous disregard for other people’s feelings. And it wasn’t just her. How many other women had he used and discarded?

“Payback is a motherfucker,” she murmured under her breath, tears dripping from her chin. “Let’s see how you like being used, Playboy.”