Page 21

“Fuck!” I yell as I slam the laptop shut. “Nothing. Not a fucking thing.”

“Luther, it was always a long shot. We don’t even know if Eve is her real name.” Kole pours us another drink. “Let alone a surname.”

I down mine in one then stand up, bracing my hands behind my head. “I searched every person with links to the League. Everyone we had on file. Eve’s face didn’t crop up once. I put her description into the database, too, in case there was a link to some skanky F.H.B. dealer. Nothing. Tried the witch register for this state and the next. Nothing. It’s like she didn’t exist before she met Ragnor.”

“Luther,” Kole says again, “you’ve only got access to the local databases. The Bureau has way more files. Locked down files. Plus, the register is voluntary. Do you think someone like Eve would—”

“Fuck!” I yell again. My heart is pounding, my head too. Like I’ve got a hangover already.

As Kole grows silent and stares into his drink, I stride to the bathroom and slam the door behind me. It rattles the barely-there pieces of mirror on the wall. I stare at them, breathing hard, my face reflected in the fractured glass.

I close my eyes. Of course, I wasn’t going to find Eve on the police database. Or any other database. Even if I had, what good would it have done?

But I needed to feel like I was doing something. I couldn’t sit around all day, while Sam and Tanner went off to find Kayla and Mack did whatever the fuck he needed to do so urgently, waiting.

Behind me, the door opens then closes again. “All we do is wait,” I mutter. “Since she disappeared, all we’ve done is wait. I can’t wait any longer, Kole. It’s killing me. If she’s gone—forever—I need to know so I can…”

Kole puts his hands on my arms. They’re large and warm, and fit snuggly round my biceps. “So you can what?”

“I can’t be here if she’s not.” My voice is barely a whisper. “The vision your mother put in our heads felt real. Like it really was me. I remember all of it. I remember losing her. I can’t take it a second time.”

“You haven’t lost her.” Kole’s grip tightens. He’s a little taller than me. In the shards of mirror left on the wall, I can see him watching my face.

“You know how that happened?” I gesture to the glass.

Kole doesn’t reply.

“It was when I first fucked her. She found me in here jerking off into her panties, and we…” I trail off. I was trying to laugh at myself, but it hasn’t worked. Visions of Nova flash through my head, and I screw my eyes shut again. “I feel the way I did then. I want her so much I can hardly think straight. Except, back then all I needed to do was open my mouth and tell her how I felt. Now, there’s nothing I can do to bring her back quicker and nothing I can do to ease this fucking ache in my chest.”

Kole’s hair is hanging loosely over his shoulders. It brushes against my neck as he leans closer. “Show me what you were doing when she found you.”

I blink at his reflection. He doesn’t repeat himself, just stares me down.

My skin prickles with heat.

He plays this game with Tanner. I’ve heard them in the mansion more times than I’ve admitted. But Kole and I? We’ve fucked twice. Both times were angry, and confused, and full of pent-up tension that needed to be released. We’ve never done this.

A shudder runs down my arms. My fingers twitch. The pressure of Kole’s hands on me doesn’t change. He’s stock still, waiting.

Still holding his gaze, I release a gravelly sigh and flick open my jeans. I push them roughly over my hips and pull out my cock. It’s soft but thick in my hand. Guilt trickles through me. I close my eyes but, as I’m about to take my hand away, Kole’s fingers land on my throat. They stretch up to hold my chin, cupping my jaw tightly. “Open your eyes,” he commands.

Something about his tone of voice makes every muscle in my body sigh with relief. He’s taking control. I don’t need to think. All I need to do is follow what he tells me.

“Show me,” Kole repeats, tightening his grip just enough to release a small groan from my lips.

Leaning forward, I brace one hand on the sink, so I don’t have to look at myself, then move the other up and down my shaft. My palm slides roughly over my piercings, and the tugging sensation is the cue my dick needs. It swells in my grasp. As it hardens, and pulses of arousal vibrate in my balls, I collect the bead of pre-cum from its tip.

“In your mouth,” Kole says.

I hesitate and look up. No one has ever spoken to me like this before.

“Taste yourself,” he tells me.

As I obey him, he watches closely. When my finger enters my mouth, he hums darkly and licks his lower lip.

“Keep going,” he says, pulling off his shirt so I catch glimpses of his inked torso in the broken mirror. There’s the sound of a belt snapping open, then pants dropping to the floor. I glance over my shoulder to see Kole’s erection quivering behind my ass.

I’ve never truly looked at his cock before and, even though he hasn’t told me to, I turn around. Kole’s eyes narrow questioningly. For a moment, I think he’s going to tell me to turn away, but he doesn’t; he steps closer and braces a hand on my shoulder.