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“No, your sex club antics are safe,” he grumbled out. “Though I still don’t get why you even need to go to that place. You could have any man on his knees with a flick of your wrist.” I knew what he wasn’t saying: you could have me on my knees with a flick of your wrist.
“That’s not the point.”
“I know telling you not to go there again will fall on deaf ears, as will this other part, but I’m going to say it, anyway.” Zander’s arm clamped down on his side, holding my hand hostage—not that I could pull away and walk that well on my own, with how my body was still so sore. “If you have to go there again, I want to go with you. You’re not supposed to go anywhere in this city without me. I don’t care what time it is, I don’t care where it is. I turned in my papers, so I can go inside the club with you.”
That came as news to me. I whipped my head around, staring at him, my mouth falling open. He turned in the application? The application which involved getting tested and providing a copy of said results to prove he was clean?
Having Zander go into the Playground with me was not something I wanted, definitely not something I ever imagined happening, but then again, I could say the same thing about getting shot. Cypress was definitely out to get me; maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Zander joined me.
Or maybe it would be really, really bad, for a whole host of other reasons. If he went into the club with me, would he want to hook up with a stranger in front of me? Would he get mad if I found the dragon guy again and had sex with him? Could either of us handle the jealousy that would surely take over?
Would he join me and the dragon man and make it a threesome?
Oh, boy. I shouldn’t be thinking of any of that right now, because it would be a while before my body was ready for that kind of activity.
After a few stops at other floors and picking up some other people, the elevator made it to the ground floor. Zander and I walked through the main lobby of the hospital, turning to head toward what must be the parking lot, where his vehicle was.
“I assumed you’d want to argue with me on that,” Zander said, referencing what he’d told me before the elevator had begun to pick up other people. The sex club talk had died the moment other people entered the picture for obvious reasons, and now that we were once again walking side by side—albeit slowly—we were as alone as we could be in this hospital.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do,” I admitted. “And maybe I will, later. Right now, I just want to get the hell out of here.”
Zander finally noticed something was missing. “Your gloves?”
“I left them in the club.”
He let out a sigh, and he didn’t say anything else for a while. We emerged out of the hospital, and he led me to where his car was parked. He opened the passenger door for me, helped me in, and then he shut it and went around to the driver’s side. It was only when we were both in the car, the key in the ignition, that he asked, “What the hell were you even doing there that night?”
How could I say it without sounding completely overdramatic and ridiculous? “Everything was just… it was a lot.” I didn’t need to go over what happened between Zander and me, because that definitely contributed to it, so instead I focused on something else. “My father told me he wanted you to go after Piper, and after seeing her all over you—”
“You got jealous.”
I glared at him as he drove us away from the hospital. “I did not.”
“You did. You totally got jealous. For once, I’m not the jealous one.” He found that amusing, and he chuckled to himself, pointedly ignoring my glaring. “You know, it’s okay to be jealous. I am a very attractive man who all the ladies just love.”
“You’re lucky you’re driving, otherwise I’d smack you,” I growled out.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take so much enjoyment out of this—but it is nice to know you care enough to be jealous, even if you won’t admit it.” As if sensing I was about to scold him again, he added, “It doesn’t matter now, does it? After you were shot, that plan went to hell. I’m now glued to your side… or wherever you want me.”
I didn’t say anything, mostly because I was still internally struggling at the whole jealousy bit.
“Besides, we both know I don’t want to go after Piper.”
“Then why didn’t you push her off when she was crawling all over you?”
Zander frowned. “I didn’t want to step on any toes. In case you forgot, we were there because Shay wanted you. And I was surrounded by her other boyfriends and Piper, so I was a little outnumbered.”
“And if Piper would’ve dragged you to a room and tried to tear off your clothes? Would you have just gone with that, too?”
“No,” he said, throwing a glance my way as he made a right turn. “I told you, I don’t want Piper. How many times do I have to say it, Giselle? There’s only one girl in the whole fucking world I want, and she’s you.”
I let out a frustrated noise. “You work for my father. This would never work between us.”
“I work for Miguel, yes, but… but my loyalty is to you.” His hands tightened on the wheel, knuckles turning white. “I know that now. I’m sorry I didn’t realize that sooner. Working for Miguel means nothing if doing so means I lose you.” And then he said something I couldn’t have anticipated: “I’d choose you over your father any day.”
A lump formed in my throat, and I couldn’t say anything. What was there to say after something like that? Maybe it was all a lie, maybe Zander only said that to make me fall for him, but damn it, I wanted to believe him. I wanted to close my eyes, let his earnest words sink in, and believe him.
Kind of silly considering who we both were, right?
