The cameras are flashing bright and there are people screaming for our attention. I’m frozen in place. The flashing lights are triggering an old memory of my father shocking me during torture training. I can feel my throat starting to close. As if Max can sense the panic, he signals for his brothers to shield us from the chaos.
“Breathe.” Max coos. The gentleness in his tone is what pulls me out of the drowning panic, and I look up at him. Our eyes lock for a moment and I realize we are completely covered by the other three. Dean is the one closest to me, ensuring that I am completely blocked from view. “Breathe, Harpy. I know what PTSD is when I see it. We will talk about this later.” He speaks. “But for right now, you just need to breathe. Focus on the mission and get your head in the game.” His voice is sterner now, making me feel less vulnerable than I did just moments ago.
I nod, “Okay, I’m fine.” I say, more so to convince myself than him.
“Great, now pull it together. We have a job to do.” He grips my chin and gives me a single nod with a tight-lipped smile.
I take a deep breath and nod back; I pat on Dean’s shoulder to get him to disperse with the other two. I can do this, I know I can. My father is dead. I killed him, and he can’t hurt me anymore. I was his destruction, and he will never touch me again.
I step out of the bubble they had created for me, arm in arm with Max. With my new found confidence I square back my shoulders and lift my chin, giving each camera lens a bright smile. I play into the dating role and give Max some doe eyes in a few photos. That’ll hold over the paparazzi for the time being.
We finally made it into the museum. My heels click gently on the marble floor, and you can hear the hum of “Black Magic Woman'' by VCTRYS playing in the background. Almost at once I notice Jax standing at the bar with two other men I don’t recognize. My body goes on alert immediately. Before we get too far Brandon pulls behind a pillar from any watching eyes.
“This is an earpiece; you shouldn’t be able to see it because, well, it is going to goinyour ear.” He says as he grabs my left ear lobe.
“In? Ow!” I yelp when a sharp stab goes through my ear lobe. “What the hell, did you just pierce my fucking ear?” I smack his shoulder.
“Yes,” he only shrugs as he inspects his damage. “There isn’t any blood, your ear is just a little red. You’re good to go.” He smiles when he lands a light smack on my ass cheek. He saunters off with a wink.
Bastard.
I roll my eyes and make my way back towards Max when a low voice comes through the ear piece. “Testing, this is Dean. Can you hear us?” His voice makes me jump a little, but I correct myself quickly.
“Yes, do I just talk or?” I whisper, as I glance over to where Dean and Teddy are standing.
“There is a mic in the necklace. It'll record everything live so we can hear what you can hear. We are just in your ear so we can warn you if needed,” he explains.
“We can all talk to you, little devil.” Teddy’s voice comes through the earpiece, and I blush. So much movement has happened since what transpired in the back of the limo, and I haven’t had a chance to fully grasp the mess I just created.
“Remember, I told you to work on that poker face, Princess,” chimes Brandon, “How are we going to get this job done when you have fuck-me-eyes all night?”
I turn to growl at him, but he is no longer in sight. However, I can feel his eyes on me, they always are. Always watching, always learning, always observing. I should’ve known he could get off watching what Teddy and I did.
Now is not the time to relive what happened in the limo, focus you slut!
I link my arm back into Max’s as we make our way through the museum. He is unnervingly charming. Every woman we pass by is ogling at him, as if they could just melt for him. I can’t help but roll my eyes when a grown woman giggles over him barely even glancing at her.
“Jealousy looks good on you, Princess.” I hear Brandon whisper in a voice so low it sends shivers down my spine. But I try to ignore the tingles lighting on fire under my skin.
Okay, so getting off did not solve this problem.
Max chuckles and leans in to whisper to me, “Ignore them for now, Harpy. They can entertain you at home if your cunt is so needy.”
I freeze and blink up at him. I swear I can feel my jaw drop so hard there is a crater in this floor. His filthy words awaken a pulse between my thighs that I can’t ignore. I tighten my legs around each other, stopping our advancing towards the showroom. “You cannot say things like that.” I grumble.
“Why is that?” He furrows his brows.
“Because I need to focus, and this is all very distracting.” I admit, pride be damned.
He only chuckles and tugs on my arm to continue our walking. We say brief hellos to another couple and Max brings us to a table with our names on them. He takes a seat but stops me before I do.
“Darling, can you grab me a whiskey from the bar please?” He asks.
I almost get offended when I realize why he is steering me away from him and towards the bar.Jax. I start to walk towards the bar when Jax’s eyes land on my body. He takes his time roaming from my heels, up the length of my legs and of course he just stops at my breasts, never meeting my eyes.
I don’t say anything to him, I only lean into the bar to call out an order to the bartender.
“I don’t know you.” Jax says, and I finally turn my head his way.
