Tarnished Crown (Gravestone Elite #2) by Caitlyn Dare (books like beach read TXT) 📕

"Fuck it. Lead the way."

She guides me through the kitchen so I can grab a very strong drink before we head toward the dining room which has been turned into tonight's dancefloor. I spot Mia and Cade immediately, right in the middle of the large crowd, and my stomach turns over when I take in their closeness and just how tightly he's gripping onto her ass.

If he so much as hurts a hair on her head, I'll fucking kill him.

As if she can feel my stare, Mia turns, but not before Brook presses herself up against me and latches her lips onto my neck. I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing, apart from the pain of watching my girl dance with another guy.

Ripping her eyes from mine, I see a similar agony in her depths as she watches Brook run her hands down my chest and around to my ass.

"If you'd have agreed to my offer last week,” she drawls, “then all of this might not have been necessary."

8

Mia

Cade grips my waist in a vise-like hold, grinding against my ass as I roll and pop my hips. I don’t want to be here, dancing intimately with him, but if I’m going to get the answers I need, I have to play the game.

“Fuck, Mia,” he rasps against the side of my neck, dragging his tongue along my salty skin. It’s a billion degrees in the house—that or it’s the liquor coursing through my veins. I almost accepted the pill Sasha tried to give me again, but I don’t want to resort to drugs. Not if I don’t have to.

“The things I want to do to you.” One of Cade’s hand splays on my stomach, brushing the sliver of skin on display thanks to the side panels cut out of the dress Sasha gave me to wear.

Bexley glares at me, but I don’t meet his eyes again. It’s too hard seeing him with Brook, remembering the two of them together.

Without warning, Cade spins me around and presses his head forcefully against mine. “Come upstairs with me,” he says, his voice cracking with lust.

“It’s your party,” I chuckle, playing up how drunk I am. “You can’t abandon your own party.”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want, baby. I’m Cade fucking Kingsley. These idiots would eat my shit if I told them to.”

My brows knit. “You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack.” He smirks. “There isn’t anything I couldn’t make these fuckers do.”

“That is… I don’t even know what to say.”

“That’s power, Mia. And power feels fucking great.” His pupils are blown, and it’s then I realize that Cade might not just be drunk.

He’s high too.

“What did you take?” I ask, surprised he’s letting his guard down.

“Just a little G. It helps me relax. But it gets me real horny.” He cups my ass again.

“Cade,” I hiss. “Not here.”

“So come upstairs with me. I’ve waited long enough.”

“Channing needs you in the den.” Sasha comes out of nowhere.

“I’m in the middle of something,” Cade growls.

She shrugs. “He said it was urgent.”

“Fuck, yeah, okay. But you…” he winds his hand into the hair at the nape of my neck and brings my face to his. “I want you in my bed tonight.”

When I don’t answer, his eyes narrow. “Watch her,” he barks at Sasha before releasing me and stalking out of the room.

“You good?”

“Oh yeah, peachy.” I flash her a dry smile before glancing over to where Bexley and Brook are still dancing.

“What the hell is he doing?”

“At a guess? Trying to make me jealous.” I let out a resigned sigh.

“Is it working?”

“What do you think?” I grimace.

“If it makes you feel any better, I caught some slut on her knees for Channing in the den.”

“No!”

She nods. “Fucker didn’t even act surprised to see me.”

“Maybe he wanted you to see…”

“Maybe. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to find the hottest guy I can tonight and take him up to my room and make him help me forget all about Channing asshole Rexford. But first,” she grabs my hand, “let’s dance.”

I follow her lead, and the two of us dance like we’re just two girls at a party.

Not two girls who are captive in a twisted game.

The music pumps through my body. Sasha snakes her body around mine, positioning me right in front of Bexley. Brook is vying for his attention, but he doesn’t take his eyes off me. Heat burns in his gaze as he watches my every move. It’s sweet torture having him watch me so brazenly, knowing that he wants me but can’t have me. Part of me enjoys that I’m teasing him, taunting him.

Brook notices that she no longer has his attention and storms off. Good riddance. Bexley sinks into the shadows, leaning up against the wall. But he doesn’t take his eyes off me as Sasha and I continue dancing together. I can feel him undressing me with his eyes, his intimate stare an imitation of his lips on my skin. Heat pools in my stomach, my core throbbing with need.

I want him.

I want him so freaking much.

Even after he betrayed me with Brook, I can’t help the way I feel.

But it’s impossible.

I force myself to turn away from him, and when I finally glance back over my shoulder, he’s gone.

Cade doesn’t resurface from the den. Sasha warned me not to go in there, but I can’t resist. I want to know what the guy who claims to want me so badly does when I’m not around.

I’m hardly surprised to find him fucking a girl while she sucks Ashton’s cock. They have her balanced over the back of a chair, her dress bunched around her hips as Cade pounds into her so hard it makes me wince.

“You shouldn’t snoop,” a voice from the shadow says. “You might not like what you find.” Channing steps out of the darkness and hisses under his breath when he peeks into the room. He moves around me and closes the door, forcing me to take a step