Prey Drive by Jen Stevens
Chapter 39
the wolf
in the open feels like a sin. She’s self-conscious about being seen with me in public, and while one part of me wants to bend her over right in the middle of the sidewalk and show every other asshole around us who she belongs to, most of me is afraid that someone from The Order is going to find us together and use her as leverage against me.
I’m so close to the end. When this whole thing started, I didn’t give a damn if I lived or died, so long as Sienna’s murderers paid. Now, I stand to lose way more, and it’s leaving me on edge.
She thinks I’m insisting that she stay with me just because I want her all to myself. While that's entirely true, I also can’t stand the idea of her being so close and not having the ability to protect her from the monsters I know prowl these streets. Styx is like a safe haven. Off the radar for most of the useless, deadly people I’ve been hunting. I know that when she’s there, she’s nearly non-existent—exactly how I need her to be right now. I wouldn’t have even had her come to New York for this job, but Eliza stomped her feet and pitched a fit until I agreed, claiming it would be impossible for her to be trained remotely.
It takes her twenty-three minutes to grab her bags from her room while I wait in the hotel lobby like she insisted. I have no idea what the fuck she was doing up there in all that time, but I hope she at least had the sense to gather everything, because she won’t be returning.
“I was almost thinking you were trying to bail on me, little lamb,” I greet as she rolls her suitcase across the glossy lobby floor, a pillow tucked beneath her other arm.
“I wouldn’t dream of such a thing,” she snarks back as I reach out to take her backpack and the handle of her luggage.
“A pillow?” I tease, raising my brow at the dingy blue fabric case.
A soft pink blush spreads across her cheeks and I want to grab her up right here and make that blush spread all the way down her neck, the way I know it does after she’s orgasmed.
“Hotel pillows suck.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you aren’t staying at a hotel then, isn’t it?”
“I’m sure your pillows suck too.”
She’s grumpy. Even when I take her last bag and sling it over my shoulder, relieving her of all the weight, she scowls at me. We walk out the doors and back out into the musky city air.
“How far is your place? Is it a long walk?”
Lifting my arm to grab Sterling’s attention, I place my hand on her shoulder to guide her toward his town car.
“We’re not walking,” is all I say, handing her bags over to Sterling so he can toss them in his trunk.
“You have a driver.” It’s a statement. One she makes with zero emotion or fanfare. Apparently, she's unimpressed.
“Of course, I have a driver. Have you ever been stuck in New York City traffic?”
I open the back door and gesture for her to climb in first. Naturally, she hesitates, because who would she be if she didn’t question every fucking move I make to a frustrating degree?
“What’s the worst I can do, Stardust?”
There’s a lot worse that I could do to her, actually. In fact, I’m already planning some of it tonight as punishment for her insolence.
She pauses, sweeping her gaze across the sidewalk and all the buildings around us. I understand her hesitance, but there’s truly no room for it anymore. We’ve long surpassed this tentative stage—probably when I found her with her fingers rubbing her clit as she shoved her tit into my hand, although I doubt she remembers that.
Sterling rounds the vehicle, offering me a stiff nod before he falls into the driver’s seat and stares ahead, patiently waiting to get on with his task.
“Just get in,” I command more harshly, my patience thin.
Stardust huffs out a loud, frustrated growl, but she obeys. When I climb in behind her, I don’t miss the fact that she’s crammed her body against the opposite door, as far away from me as possible.
Good.I need space from her for a moment, too.
And once I’m finished with that, I’ll show her exactly what happens to irritating little girls like her.