Page 33 of Good Girls Beg

"Even while I was in class?" I asked.

"Especially then," he said. "Who were you thinking about?"

"Who says I was thinking about anyone?" I shot him a look. Presumptuous much?

"You were walking around all day without any panties and you weren't a little bit turned on?" he asked.

“I was. Of course I was. That doesn't mean I was thinking of anyone in particular," I said. Fade didn’t have a monopoly on ego.

"I don't believe you." He stepped off the curb into the parking lot, and over to my car.

"Why not?" I unlocked the door, and opened it, wincing at the squeak it made.

"I know you remember what we nearly did outside Vertical as much as I do," he said.

I turned toward him and tapped my key against my lip. "Vertical. Vertical… Oh, right. You mean the nightclub?"

I gave him a sarcastic smile he responded to with a smirk. "I remember the place. Wait, that was you?" I pointed my key at him.

His jaw worked like he was beginning to get agitated. "You know it was. You knew as soon as you saw me on that Zoom call. I know you recognized my mask. I recognized your hair." Of course he did. My curls stood out anywhere. That answered that question.

"There was a lot of masks there that night." I spoke slowly, as if trying to sort through my memories. "You expect me to remember a particular one?"

"Just the one worn by the guy you were about to fuck," he said, bordering on a growl, if a growl was well-contained.

I managed to keep my expression as innocent as possible. "Who says you were the only one that night?" After all, he’d walked away. I might have hooked up with the guy in the taco mask, for all he knew. Or the man in the devil mask, who watched me walk past. He’d seemed interested.

Oak slammed the palm of his hand against the side of my car, making it rock.

"I know I was. I saw you arrive and watched you leave. All night I watched you."

I forced myself not to flinch or jump at his reaction.

"You sound like a stalker,” I told him. I stepped past him and slid into my car. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure there are laws against that."

"I wasn't stalking, I was watching what's mine." Before I could say another word, he closed the door behind me and stepped back. Probably hoping I didn't run over his foot as I was leaving.

I wanted to be annoyed with him. I almost wanted to back onto his foot and stop for an hour or two.

Mostly, though? I was turned on as hell.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I asked myself as I steered out of the parking lot and headed towards my new home.

I didn't have an answer for that, but I didn't hate it.

Resisting these men might be more difficult than I thought.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

HEL

"Of course she followed the rules," I said to Oak before ending the phone call.

Teddie’s fierce determination to stick up for herself was one of the things that made her appealing. She wasn't about to take shit from any of us, contract or no contract. From the moment I proposed it, I knew she'd test every boundary, but in the end she’d stay within them. She wouldn't admit it herself yet, but when it came down to it, she wanted this as much as we did.

Each rule was carefully chosen. Designed just for her. Nothing on that long list was a thing she didn't want to do, deep down. All we were doing was helping bring out that side of her. Giving her what she needed to spread her wings. By the time we were done with her, she wouldn't recognize herself. She'd love the woman she would become. And if she didn't? I'd keep working on her until she did. We had a whole fucking lifetime.

As if she knew I was thinking of her, the back door opened and closed. Footsteps headed up the stairs. They weren't heavy enough to be Fade or Oak, and I knew Shannon was in the kitchen.