All The King's Men - On HOLD

Guilty Pleasures

When she entered their midst, more than one of the horny little bastards checked her out, their too eager gazes traveling up and down her lithe figure.

I narrowed my eyes.

She reached Catelyn, and the girl grabbed her into an exuberant hug, causing Faeryn to yelp in surprise and then giggle as she hugged her back. When she pulled away, Faeryn bit her lip, clearly trying to decide what she was going to say. Catelyn didn't notice Faeryn's internal struggle and interrupted her thoughts, gushing, "Faeryn, this is Jac!"

Faeryn let out another laugh and replied, "Yes, I know."

Jac grinned and proceeded to introduce her to the group, naming each of the young men. Some I recognized, but others I didn't, which meant they didn't live here and must've been invited by one of their friends. Each of them smiled at her in turn. However, one in particular, Jac referred to him as Chai, held out his hand. Faeryn briefly appeared surprised, but readily accepted. Rather than shake it, Chai startled her by twisting her wrist and kissing the back of her hand, his lips lingering on her flesh way the fuck too long, as he stared up at her intensely.

"Oh!" a small gasp escaped her throat at his unexpected maneuver, and then she recovered with a warm smile. "Thank you."

He purred smoothly, "Certainly. No offense to Jac's lovely date, but the most beautiful girl in the room deserves nothing less."

Faeryn inhaled sharply at his complement. However the jackass got that part right. She truly was the most exquisite creature here. A low growl reverberated from my chest, and I downed the second, and third, shots the bartender had silently placed in front of me.

Catelyn giggled, "No offense taken."

Faeryn turned her attention back to Catelyn, but the vermin, Chai repositioned himself in the crowd to be right next to her, and captured her attention again. "Tell me, Faeryn, what do you enjoy?"

That was a hell of an open-ended sentence, and I didn't miss his inflection on the word 'enjoy'. I ground my teeth together. She replied easily, "Currently, I am mainly focused on my studies."

He nodded and asked, "What are you studying?"

I snorted when she dumbed down her response, giving him just a vague idea. I knew why she did it. Her mind was unparalleled. None of the little cretins could match or even compare to it. I had no idea why she even bothered to waste her time communicating with them.

He nodded as if he completely understood every word of her response, which, even with the basic description she gave him, I doubted he did, and then leaned in toward her to ask in a conspiratorial whisper, "That sounds like a lot of work. Surely you have time for a little play in there as well? Any guilty pleasures you would like to confess?"

Faeryn giggled and seemed to be enjoying his attention a little bit too much for my taste, preening and playfully teasing him back. My hand clenched into a fist when her voice dropped and she replied suggestively, "I enjoy several things, although I must admit, I don't feel guilty about any of them."

His eyes lit up and the little bastard actually had to adjust himself.

Oh, fuck no.

I had had enough of watching this bullshit, and wasn't going to endure another second of it. I pushed off of the bar and strode to Faeryn. When I reached her side, the gentlemen who knew me all stood straighter and eyed me warily, exactly as they should. However the few in the group who were not familiar with me, Chai included, didn't pay any attention until I interrupted. I ignored him completely and said to Faeryn, "If you are done with your conversation, we still have much to discuss."

I really wasn't concerned whether or not she felt she was done, and maybe should have made that explicitly clear, because her eyes flashed angrily and she stubbornly hissed, "No, I am not finished."

Crimson seeped into my irises. I didn't try to hide the razor edge in my voice as I said, "Let me clarify, I wasn't really asking...let's go."

She dug in her heels, fury passing over her features.

Abruptly, Chai interjected, "Look man, she isn't going anywhere with you. You need to back the hell off."

Obviously, he wanted to die.

And I was happy to grant him his wish.

There were loud gasps by everyone who knew me, and Jac tried to warn him, grabbing his arm and hissing, "Dude, you do not want to do that!"

Chai looked at him in confusion and shook his arm free, still determined to make his point with me. I didn't know what kind of threat he thought he was, but I would eat him up and spit him back out before he even saw me coming.

My lips curled in wicked anticipation. However, before I could start to kill him slowly and painfully, Reuben was right in my face. He gripped my shoulders and growled, "The child doesn't know any better! He was just trying to protect her, exactly as you would want someone to do if you were not around!"

Chai finally realized this was no ordinary confrontation. His head snapped to Jac silently asking him what was happening. Jac hissed under his breath, only one word of explanation, "Gwion!"

Utter horror crept into Chai's expression.

I smirked wider.

He might not have recognized me, but he sure as fuck knew who I was. I gave him a little nod to let him know I wasn't close to being done with him yet, and ordered, "Reuben, get the fuck out of my way."

Tension ran through Reuben. He hesitated for a moment longer, and then hissed pointedly before he stepped back, "Not here!"

I actually didn't care where I killed him, and slunk lower, my muscles coiling to strike. I licked my lips, thoroughly enjoying the abject terror on his face.

Abruptly, Faeryn shocked the hell out of me when she thrust herself into my chest. She gripped both sides of my face with her delicate hands, trying to focus my attention down on her, and pleaded, "Please! Do not do this! I will go with you...Just please let him walk away!"

My hands clenched into fists as I looked from her and back to him. See saw me wavering and continued urgently, "I swear you will never see him again! Please!"

I stared at my soon-to-be target, and shook my head, letting Faeryn know my answer was no, I was not going to let him walk away. However she wasn't ready to give up either. With fierce determination, she wound her arms around my neck, eliminating every last bit of space between us, and stood on her tiptoes, so that I would look down at her. When she had me securely locked in her gaze, her voice lowered and she whispered persuasively. "Gwion...please do this for me."

Having her body pressed against mine was distracting the hell out of me. It didn't help when she got up on her tip-toes because that just caused her to rub herself against me. My body seemed to relax of its own accord and I couldn't help coiling my arms tightly around her back.

Fucking hell.

I was going to give in to her!

I growled in frustration, looked at the cretin and hissed, "Go!"

He didn't hesitate and was out the door in a flash. He had better hope I never saw him again, because I wouldn't stop the next time.

Reuben looked at me in shock, but he knew better than to say anything. Faeryn's fingers curled tightly into my hair as she murmured, "Thank you."

I couldn't help bringing my head down to her and inhaled along her neck deeply. She shivered in response.

Fuck, I wanted her.

But I needed to get a grip.

I forced myself to step back, and placed my hand against the small of her back as I led her out of the room.