Beyond Jealousy (3 page)

"You wouldn't have," Ace replied, mostly to distract her. "Ford's the man with the plan, and all that. Uses his big brains to get us in good with the illegal farms and communes that sell us grain. It keeps him on the road."

"Until he crashes his bike." A cloud of concern darkened Trix's eyes. "Lex said he walked back. Is that true?"

"Nine fucking miles." Ace fought a shudder at the thought of it. Bad enough to go down in a tangle of fire and steel, but to claw your way back to your feet and walk with a broken, splinted leg spiking agony through you with every step? "Doc was furious with him. Dallas, too. He did so much damage walking on it, the regen wouldn't take, and now he has to heal up the old-fashioned way."

"Goddamn stubborn O'Kane men." The gentle hand on his neck softened Trix's words. "You're all impossible."

"That's why you love us." He finished the outline of the O'Kane symbol and glanced up at Jade, who had fallen silent and was staring ahead, her gaze unfocused. "You still with us, Jade?"

"Yes." She hesitated before tilting her head. "I was just thinking... If he needs help while he's recovering, there's a girl--a refugee from Sector Two. I've been hoping to find her a job, something uncomplicated she can do while she gets her feet under her."

Ace could read between those innocuous words easily enough.
Something boring to do while she gets whoring out of her head.
And he was sympathetic as hell--the mind games they played in Two made his tenure in Eden look mild by comparison, and he'd needed a solid year before he'd been ready to mix money and sex again.

But sending some emotionally wounded waif to play nursemaid to
Ford
? Might as well find a lion and shove her head between its jaws. "Is she tough?"

"She trained at Orchid House."

Just that, as if it was the only answer anyone needed--and maybe it was. After all, Lex had been trained by the same people. "Well, couldn't hurt to run it by Lex and Dallas. If it matters to you, they'll figure something out." He tapped her wrist. "You're family now, girl."

"We can find her something to do," Trix said resolutely. "Everyone's so busy these days, we need all the help we can get."

"Tell me about it," Ace grumbled, because it was the honest fucking truth. They'd been working too hard since taking over Three. Good work, worth it, and they'd be rolling in the sweet rewards eventually. But it didn't make it any less work.

And it made the time to play so much more precious. Too bad Ace was losing his grip on that, too. Sex worked when everyone followed the rules and knew what to expect, and he couldn't hold up his end anymore. Not with Cruz and Rachel crashing in on him from opposite sides, screwing with his sense of balance.

Something had to give. Soon.

Trix's fingers stroked over his jaw, and he caught the edges of his name in that warm, husky voice of hers. "Huh?" he asked, looking up. "Did you ask me something?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I wouldn't want to interfere with your art." She leaned down and whispered something in Jade's ear.

Too low for him to hear, but Jade's lips curved upward and her gaze flicked over Ace with the sort of assessment he was used to dishing out.

Ace glared at Trix and returned to his work. "What sort of tales are you telling, Trixie?"

It was Jade who answered. "Oh, she just reminded me about a story Noelle told me. About the day she got her ink."

Noelle had started off as such a good, good girl who wanted to be so, so bad. Strapping her into his chair while Jas played with her and the pain got her hot and squirmy had been one of the better afternoons Ace'd had in his studio.

If he
didn't
flirt, Trix would know something more than Ford's accident had him spun. So he leered at Jade and nudged her leg with his knee. "Just say the word, pretty girl, and I'll strap you down. Trix isn't usually into pussy, but I bet she'd make an exception if you asked real pretty."

Jade laughed, the sort of low, throaty sound that usually set his blood pounding toward his dick. "It's a sweet offer, but pain isn't my vice. And I don't think I'm yours."

Trix's smile was a little sad, as if she'd noticed his heart wasn't in the teasing. "We're not wild enough for Ace these days, that's what I hear."

He glanced up to find Jade watching him, and for one moment those dark eyes could have belonged to Jared or Gia or Lex. All of them had training and instincts, and all of them could peel back a person's armor and see what it hid.

The sympathy in Jade's gaze ached, but she tempered it with another of those dirty-hot laughs. "I'd offer to prove you wrong, Trix, but if we start kissing, he's never going to finish my tattoo."

"Not in time for the party," Trix agreed.

"At least it would keep you from trying to be smartasses," he muttered, but he tossed Jade a wink before bending over her wrist again. Maybe he had been working too hard, if he didn't have the energy to work up a good, juicy fantasy about the two of them tangling tongues. A party would fix that. Lots of booze, lots of dancing, lots of people willing to fuck in dark corners--or well-lit ones.

Strong liquor and hard fucking cured most ills. Unconsciousness would cure the rest--for a while, anyway. It would have to do.

For now.

The night was alive with promise, a throbbing Rachel could feel in her blood, her bones.

It wasn't just the music or the booze. There was something in the air, amid the writhing bodies on the dance floor, something that zinged up her spine anew when she glanced at the couches lining the perimeter of Dallas's party room and caught sight of Ace and Cruz.

Watching her.

A smooth arm slid around her waist, and she caught a flash of wild brown hair before Noelle rested her chin on Rachel's shoulder. "Can I dance with you?"

"Better than dancing alone." And getting distracted by broody, untouchable men. "Where's Jas?"

"He and Mad had one last delivery to make." Noelle's fingertips brushed the skin bared by Rachel's dress, tracing along the leather straps in a teasingly light caress. "This is pretty. You look amazing."

"We're not the only ones who've noticed." Lex stepped up in front of her, and her casual words belied the fire in her dark eyes. The awareness.

Lex's loose, silky halter teased Rachel's exposed skin, and she closed her eyes as she leaned back into Noelle's embrace. She didn't want to think about Ace or Cruz--or Ace
and
Cruz. She wanted...

Her eyes snapped open, and she laid one hand over Noelle's.

Noelle stilled. "What is it?"

Rachel shook her head and turned in the woman's arms. Wanting and not having had somehow become normal, an unbreakable habit that seemed to define her life now. She wasn't the sum total of her experiences but her desires.

But she couldn't explain it to Noelle. If the words even existed, they wouldn't come, and Rachel was left staring at her in frustration.

It didn't matter. Lex pressed closer to her back with a warm laugh. "We've got this, don't we, baby girl?"

"Oh yeah." Noelle swayed closer, brushing her lips over Rachel's in the softest kiss. "Do you trust us?"

"You know I do." It was herself she didn't trust. How far she'd go if those last walls fell. If she'd beg. "But I--"

"Just watch them." Lex turned her head with a hand on her jaw.

She couldn't
not
. Ace and Cruz filled her vision the same way they filled her thoughts, edging out every damn thing until nothing else existed.

Cruz met her eyes, held them. There was a wild sort of hunger there, an intensity that had seemed closer to the surface lately. It only brightened as a soft touch brushed the edge of Rachel's bodice. The tiny straps holding it up gave way under someone's fingers--Noelle's or Lex's, she couldn't tear her gaze from Cruz's to be sure.

It was Noelle's tongue that swiped across her newly bared breast. Noelle's mouth that closed around her nipple.

Rachel bit her lip, but she couldn't stop her shiver of arousal, the way her skin tightened at the wet heat. And she didn't
want
to, because she was tired of being locked up, even when she let go.

"You can have anyone you want." Lex's voice vibrated against her ear, and her hand drifted from Rachel's hip to her bare upper thigh. "You don't need them."

"Mmm." Noelle licked a path to her opposite nipple and teased it with quick flicks of her tongue before smiling against Rachel's skin.

She could feel good if she wanted. And holy
shit
, she wanted. The whole room was fuzzy already, a jumble of aching lust and mounting pleasure. Cruz was still watching, his eyes on Rachel, and she could feel that resistance slipping, see it in the way he shifted his body, a restless reaction in a man usually so controlled.

Then she made the mistake of looking at Ace, and the lazy pleasure winding through her cooled. A frown played around the edges of his mouth, as if he didn't like what he was seeing, not even a little--

Noelle slid up Rachel's body and turned her face with a gentle hand on her cheek. "Ace has to make his choice," she murmured, stroking Rachel's lips. "He doesn't get to lock you away from pleasure because he's all tangled up. You're made for joy."

There was a smart answer to that, a defiant, strong one, but Rachel's head was spinning too hard for her to think of it. She'd assumed both men had the same problem--that opening their fragile new relationship to include her was risky, dangerous--but the truth was exhilarating, horrifying. Tragic.

Cruz wanted her, and Ace didn't
want
to want her.

She opened her mouth, and Noelle's thumb edged between her lips. Moaning her approval, Lex eased her hand higher, under Rachel's skirt and panties, between her thighs.

Hazy pleasure gave way to liquid desire, wet and hot and centered on Lex's fingers. Rachel arched, her answering moan muffled by the pressure of the pad of Noelle's thumb pressing down on her tongue.

"Her fingers feel good, don't they?" Noelle traced her tongue around Rachel's ear. "Sometimes Jas and Dallas pin me down so Lex can see how much I can take."

Lex was unabashed in her pursuit of sexual ecstasy. Sometimes, Rachel wished she could lick that abandon off of her, like sweat off her golden skin.

"Rachel?"

Speech was impossible, so Rachel tilted her mouth over Noelle's in a rough kiss. This was all that mattered anyway, not words but action. Intimacy.

"Naughty kitten." Dallas's voice rumbled over the three of them as Noelle's mouth vanished. Dallas had a hand twisted in her hair, and he was grinning at Lex. "You trying to get her in trouble with Jas, love?"

"If he wants her mouth for himself, he should come and get it," Lex shot back. "It's a lesson quite a few of the men around here could stand to fucking learn."

"Mmm." Dallas stroked the thumb of his free hand over Rachel's cheek. "Lex loves to put Noelle's tongue all over pretty people. No wonder she couldn't resist."

Dallas held Noelle's hair in a tight grip, as nonchalantly as he would have held a door for her, and a spark of jealousy arced through Rachel. Of course he'd assume she hadn't started it all. Everyone saw her as the shy good girl, and months of dancing at the Broken Circle hadn't changed that. Maybe nothing ever would.

She reached up and traced the cleavage bared by the plunging neckline of Noelle's gauzy white dress. "Maybe we're just killing time until Jasper gets back."

"I'm sure you are." He tugged on Noelle's hair, urging her toward the couch. "Why don't you come kill time all over me, if Lex can bear to take her fingers out of you for two seconds?"

"Doubtful," Lex growled, but she pulled her hand out of Rachel's panties with a whispered, enigmatic promise. "Soon, honey." Then she followed him.

The couch on the dais was Dallas's place of honor, the closest thing he had to a throne. From it, he would command everything--the music, the alcohol, even the more carnal revelries. Rachel could follow, insinuate herself into the midst of what would soon undoubtedly be a tangle of naked limbs.

She'd been invited. They wanted her there, wanted her happy and sated.

But they didn't
crave
her.

She shivered, pulled the top of her dress back into place, and turned for the door, only to find Cruz blocking her path.

He was wearing a tight white T-shirt that molded to his frame, emphasizing every muscle beneath the supple fabric, and faded jeans that did the same damn thing. Rachel stared at him, struggling for words. But the only ones that sprang to mind were the three she vaguely remembered whispering on the roof.

I miss you.

Her throat ached. She took a half step back to keep from reaching for him, cursed herself for her lack of control, and ducked past him in a rush.

The halls outside Dallas's rooms were dark, and she welcomed it. There was no one here to see her misery, no one with good intentions who would try to drag her back to the party, make her smile.

Two corners. One more, and she'd be home free.

"And here I figured you'd be riding Lex's tongue by now. Or maybe Noelle's. Probably both."

Oh God.
"Ace."

He was propped next to an open window, a cigarette dangling from his fingers and his face hidden by shadows. "Don't tell me Lex let you go easy."

"I wasn't in the mood." It was all too true lately. "If you hurry, I'm sure you can catch up."

He took a long drag and leaned forward to ash out the window, giving her a glimpse of a serious expression. "Maybe I'm not in the mood, either."

"I'll believe that when I see it." She took his cigarette--because she could, and because he'd taken so many things from her. "What do you care if I spend the night fucking my way through that whole room?"

"Do you really want to know?" he asked, his voice dry. "Or will you keep on not believing my answers?"

She'd trusted him with the truth once, but they'd been back and forth and up and down too many times now for words like
truth
to mean anything. "Honestly? I think you never say anything real to me unless I'm crying."