DirtyInterludes (10 page)

His hot breath glided across her cheek. “Damn, you’re so
hot.”

He caught her mouth again, kissing her with such ferocious
need, it stole all thought. His kiss mimicked every thrust of his finger. In
and out, in and out. He suckled her tongue, then broke off to nip at her lip,
commanding her to open her eyes. She stared into his starkly drawn face, his
nostrils flaring with need. The scent of sex and sweat filled the air. He eased
his fingers out, slowly. Torturing her as he circled the entrance of her
vagina, dipping his fingers inside but not enough to satisfy the need in her.

He grinned wickedly, even as his eyes blazed with lust. He
wanted her. Desperately. Bridget moaned, rocking into his touch, inviting him
to delve inside.

“Please.”

He shoved two fingers into her sopping pussy until his
knuckles pressed against her sensitive lips. His expert touch slid along the
bundle of nerves deep inside and she cried out. Ruthlessly, he pistoned into
her, pushing her higher and higher. Inexplicable white-hot need thrummed
inside. It surged in a wave and exploded over her in a crescendo of intense
rapture. Nerves coiled and exploded in fireworks of bliss. Her body bowed and
Max grunted as she screamed.

Panting, she opened her eyes to find Max’s intense gaze
searing into her. His hands remained in her underwear, his fingers still in her
pussy. Max kissed her then, a soft, sensual kiss. A gentle seduction. An
exploration that melted her heart. His free hand cupped her nape as he fused
their mouths together and swept his tongue along hers. Mating. Loving.

He broke from her and kissed her cheeks and eyelids. “You’re
so beautiful.”

Bridget merely smiled. The buzz kept her from thinking too
much to reply. Gliding her hands along his broad shoulders, she skimmed his
back, pulling him closer. The move pushed his fingers inside her and she
whimpered as fresh arousal hummed to life.

Need pulled his lips downward, a harsh frown on his brow.
“Look…there is something I should tell you.”

Bridget mewled, kissing his neck, wanting him to fill her
up. “Less talk, more action.”

He groaned and pulled away from her enough to work at the
buttons on her skirt. He pulled it down along with her underwear and paused.
His face was in line with her pussy and he groaned. He placed an open-mouthed
kiss on her clit and Bridget trembled at the intense pleasure that surged
through her. He licked her lips, every swipe sending waves of luscious bliss
through her. She held him to her and her head tipped back as he plunged his
tongue into her wet pussy. Relishing each swipe, she opened for him, letting
the sexual elation feed the growing need.

A ringing pierced her fog of desire and Max paused. The
ringing stopped, but then started again. He hesitated then exhaled and pulled
away from her. Her pussy clenched and she trembled as she struggled to pull her
composure together. Max snatched up the phone and grimaced. Answering, he
pressed the cell to his ear.

“What?” He paused, his features stiffening. “Who?” He raked
a hand through his hair and nodded. “All right.”

He turned away from her and pressed a fist against the
counter. Whatever he’d heard wasn’t good news. “What the hell, man? How much? I
know…damn it, I know.” His head dipped, shoulders slumped. “All right. I’ll be
there.”

He hung up and when he faced her, she knew something had changed.
His lips were white with strain and he wouldn’t look her in the face. “I have
to go.”

“Now?”

He waved a hand at her without even looking, as if he
couldn’t stand the sight of her standing exposed before him. “Yeah. You better
get dressed.”

Bridget pulled up her skirt and tried to fix the damage he’d
done to her blouse. Half the buttons were missing. “Is something wrong?”

He rubbed the back of his head and his smile lacked any real
happiness. “It’s nothing.”

Bridget gathered her vibrator and allowed him to guide her
to the door. She hesitated at the threshold. “Can I see you again?”

Code for,
When can we do this again
?

His lips thinned. “No.”

Hurt punched her in the chest. “But—”

“I don’t know what I was thinking. Look, I don’t… It’s not…
There is too much going on with me right now. I have to think.”

He shut the door in her face and Bridget clutched the
vibrator closer to her chest. She’d been dismissed after he’d given her an
unbelievable orgasm. She didn’t know what hurt more. The rejection of her friendship
or the rejection of her body.

* * * * *

Max stood in the police station, his heart thumping as he
waited for the officer. Around him the buzz of conversation droned on and some
woman carried on about a complaint she’d put in and the inefficiency of the
police force. Frankly he didn’t want to be here. The last time he was here he
had to place a restraining order on Katrina. It’d made him sick to his stomach
that it had come to that point. And now here he was, but for another reason
entirely.

He raked a hand through his hair and blew out a cleansing
breath. His thoughts wandered to Bridget and the way she felt in his hands. A
shiver rocked his frame. He’d almost had her. If it wasn’t for the phone call
he wouldn’t have been able to pull back. Teeth ground together. Was he doing
the right thing by trying to have a relationship with her?

He was saved from answering as the door swung open and Bryce
wandered out with a grim officer behind him. Max’s heart froze, followed by a
blast of hot rage. Bryce’s face was swollen, one eye shut, his bottom lip
split. Bryce grinned stupidly at him and his anger skyrocketed again. Fire
burned in his gut and he swallowed the words that threated to burst from his
mouth.

“What the hell, Bryce?”

The officer shifted. “You might want to take your friend
home to sober up.”

“What happened?”

Bryce wobbled on his feet and Max automatically reached for
him. “That guy’ll know to watch his damn mouth.”

Max wanted to shake some sense into Bryce. Blood thundered
in his eardrums and if he wasn’t in a public area, he didn’t know what he’d do.
“Come on.”

He ambled away, keeping his steps short to allow Bryce time
to follow. With every foot crossed the anger inside bubbled and burned. His
hand clenched and unclenched in an effort to keep everything under wraps. This
is what he was called away for. God damn it. He should’ve known.

The car chirruped and he glared at Bryce over the roof. “Get
in.”

Bryce’s one functional eye narrowed. “You’re mad at me.”

No shit.
“Get in the car.”

Bryce opened his mouth, but Max shook his head.

“If you speak again I’m going to lose it. Get in the fucking
car.”

Bryce ducked into the vehicle and Max started the car, his
foot on the accelerator as it roared to life. He pulled out of the parking spot
with more speed than required, the tires shrieking as he turned the corner out
onto the road. He throttled the crap out of his vehicle, swerving through
traffic in an attempt to expel the frustration burning in him.

“You couldn’t last, could you?” he snarled.

Bryce rocked back a bit in his seat. “What?”

Max shot him a quelling stare. “Don’t fucking lie to me, I
can see it on your face. You’re using again.”

Bryce’s lips thinned. “So what? It’s my life.”

“Your life that you’re fucking up.”

Bryce laughed, a sound that bordered between unhinged and
miserable. “My life is already fucked up.”

Shock iced over the burning rage. “What’s that supposed to
mean?”

Bryce leaned forward, an intense gleam in his all-too-bright
eyes. “You ever felt that?”

“Felt what?”

“That first rush? That moment where the world ceased to
exist and it was just you and the drug? There’s nothing like it.”

Max’s grip tightened on his wheel, lest he reach over and
pop Bryce in the mouth. “Is that the reason you used? To chase a cloud? That
shit is going to kill you.”

Bryce grinned lazily. “At least I’ll go with a smile on my
face.”

Max swerved into the parking lot outside Bryce’s apartment
block. “You know what, Bryce? You need help.”

Bryce glowered. “You don’t know the shit I’ve been through.”

“I don’t care what you’ve been through! You had a choice and
you chose drugs.”

“What’s wrong with that anyway?”

Max stared at him in baffled outrage. “What’s wrong with it?
You’re addicted and it’s taking over your life. Look at you. You’re wasting
away.”

Bryce scratched his arm and nudged one shoulder upward. “You
say that now. Sitting on your high horse, trying to save people from things
they just don’t want to be saved from.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Bryce glowered. “You wanted to get Venus off. I heard about
your amended contract.”

Something shriveled inside him. “What did you hear?”

Bryce eyed him with a level of gleeful malice that made Max
recoil inwardly. “Vane is going to use you like a piece of meat. He has it all
planned.”

Icy fear churned his stomach and prickled over his face.
“What has he planned?”

Bryce laughed. “Ever done it with a guy before?”

Everything stilled inside him. “What?”

Bryce lowered his head then looked out the window. “You’re
going to know exactly how I feel. And when you do, I’m not going to begrudge
you when you chase the dragon.”

The silence in the car stifled him and he couldn’t look at
his friend. “Get out.”

Bryce’s bleary gaze snapped toward him. “What?”

“I said, get the fuck out,” he snarled through stiff lips.

A lost look entered Bryce’s eyes before it winked out.
“Fine.”

He barely shut the door before Max floored the accelerator.
He ignored whatever Bryce said through the window and sped away. He wanted to
deny the words that echoed through his head and how callously Bryce delivered
them. He knew something bad was coming his way but he didn’t expect that. Not
that. Nausea rolled through him. He’d been loosely scheduled for a shoot three
days from now but no information about the shoot had been given. It wasn’t too
unusual, but still…

He pulled into his drive and stared blindly at the wall of
his garage. When he’d made the decision to change his contract, he never really
thought of the consequences of his actions. Would he turn to drugs just as
Bryce did? His mind rebelled, but his common sense pointed out the rates of
drug abuse in the industry. Wiping a clammy hand over his forehead, he left his
car and entered his house. The silence inside yawned with vicious emotions.
Undefined but disturbing.

He couldn’t shake that whisper of malevolence in the back of
his head. The one that promised he’d know the pain he’d seen in his friend’s
eyes. He needed to drown it out. At the fridge, he pulled out a beer and
snapped it open. He powered through it like a man dying of thirst, then grabbed
another. Stomach roiling, he pressed a hand over it and grimaced. Whether it
was from the beer or recent revelations, he didn’t know or care.

He eased himself down onto the lounge. Chugging back a few
healthy gulps he waited for the buzz to hit him. Dipping his head back, he
cursed at the self-recrimination tumbling through his head. He didn’t want to
think. His friendship with Bryce was disintegrating over one act of kindness.
No good deed went unpunished. He huffed a sound of disgust at the often-invoked
phrase. Now he knew the depths of it. After witnessing a side of Bryce he’d
never seen before, Max feared he might lose more than he bargained for.

He finished off the last of his beer and eased back, the
buzz expanding to a haze, and eventually his eyelids drooped.

A knock at the door brought his head up and he blinked
through the darkness. Geez, he’d fallen asleep. Rubbing the back of his head he
tried to shake the vestiges of sleep. The knocking persisted.

“Max, it’s me,” Bryce said through the door.

Shit. He dropped his head back and hoped Bryce would leave
him in peace. He wasn’t ready to see him. The knocking continued.

“I know you’re there. I can see your car.”

Damn. Max stood, switched on the light and loped to the
door.

Bryce stared at him, his eyes still slightly glazed. Again
reminded of his friend’s failure to keep a promise, Max stiffened against the
disgust that threatened to curl his lips. “What do you want?”

Bryce shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans,
rocking on his feet. “Can I come in?”

Max sighed but waved him in. They stood in the entrance,
both silent, the tension so tight it vibrated between them. Uncomfortable, Max
returned to the lounge, flicking on the television. Bryce sat on the
one-seater. Max tried to follow the news but could feel his friend’s attention
on him.

He looked at Bryce, frozen by the intense stare that seemed
to stab right into his heart. “What?”

“I know what you’re going through. It’s hard to face these
things and I can help.”

Confusion tumbled through his head, the haze of sleep and
booze still clinging to his thoughts.

Bryce leaned forward. “I don’t want you to think badly of
yourself.”

“What are you talking about?”

Bryce blinked. “Your next shoot. I know I handled it badly
before, but—”

“Shit.” His stomach churned but he wasn’t sure if it was
from drinking or the thought of… He searched for the remote and turned up the
volume.

Bryce glanced at the television, then at him. “It’s just a
job, okay? We’re still the same guys. You and I.”

Max threw the remote onto the coffee table. “What do you
want me to say, Bryce? That I’m cool you all but laughed in my face about
what’s coming my way? That I wanted to do this shit so I could feel all
powerful or mighty or some shit like that for protecting a girl who had
no
clue
about what this industry entails? I’m done, all right? I’m not talking
about this with you.”