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Why so complicated
Won't you throw me a bone?
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HARRY
It had been a week since Bentley came over for our dinner turned makeout session and I hadn't seen her since.
There were also no races scheduled for this week because the Lions forfeit their matches for personal reasons involving the recent deaths that had graced their community, and there were no moves to race until the mourning period had ended. Detective Murphy had turned up dead, but it wasn't me that killed him.
Apparently, he had severe sleep apnea and suffocated in his sleep. He did me a favor by dying on his own because I had time to focus on the next and third to last name on the list that Luna had given me, Hiroto Watanabe. Hiroto is the head of the Lions' little brothel-esque speakeasy, where they funnel outside drugs and women into.
Well I might be an ass but I wasn't really into pimping out women so that was nice that I'd be taking down another head of operations. Luna didn't really give a shit about that side, she just wanted to make sure Watanabe, the only connection between drugs and the east side, was removed from the equation. She said he was costing her money and if the Lions had no provider they'd have to turn to her.
Since there were no races I didn't need to report as much, which made things easier because if I wasn't doing anything wrong, there'd be no harm brought to Emmy. I spoke to her last night about her finals, and everything and she seemed perfectly happy and relaxed. It was one of the only things keeping me sane. That and the fact I knew she was safe. I'd never tell Bentley how thankful I truly am for what she, Rumer and Zayn had done for my sister through Niall... it'd get to her pretty little head but I was ridiculously thankful for it. I wasn't worrying as much about Emma Leigh anymore and my whole body thanked me for it.
I knew I needed to talk to Bentley about my new theory as to what the fuck Luna was up to, but she had been hiding out for the past week.
Fuck that was insanity the other day. Everything happened too fast and it felt so natural to be like that with her it was almost hard to believe. I hadn't been able to get the way she rolled her hips into me off my mind or the way her mouth tasted like that mint gum and diet coke. The feeling of her soft lips against my own, my neck, the way she flicked her tongue over my ear.
Fuck, I had been hard ever since.
She was a brat, that I knew. She could deny it all she wants but the way she was talking back to me and letting me guide her for the majority of it served as enough proof. I couldn't help but talk dirty to her either... crossing the line completely when I asked her to beg. I should have known she wouldn't have done it, but the second she alluded to having her vibrator to please her better than I could, I took it as a challenge.
It also didn't hurt knowing I had made her so frustrated she needed to get herself off.
We were both touching ourselves that night because we were both too stubborn to give in. I came hard knowing she was only a few floors above me doing the same thing... The idea of her was intoxicating and I loved being drunk.
I knew she was probably at her shop, and I knew where it was, but I also liked the fact that she was hiding from me. It made me think I had sent her into a spiral like she had to me the week before.
My phone buzzes with a text from-
Who the fuck is this?
Dinner. Tonight. Your apartment at 7.
-B
Bentley Fuckin' Hale.
Sure. You bring the food, though. I'm in the mood for pasta.
Looks like someone finally caved. I never gave her my phone number, but after finding out Zayn was a pro at all things tech I would expect her to have him track it down.
My phone rings with a call from none other than Luna, however, and the smirk that was on my face is replaced by a scornful eye roll.
"Good afternoon Harry. Come pick me up from Oakland International, we have shit to do."
Well fuck me. Luna's back, and this is the first time in almost two whole weeks that I'll see her again.
"I'm on my way." I grit, grabbing my keys and locking my apartment before walking out to my car and driving off to the airport.
I shoot Bentley a text, telling her I'll probably be late considering Luna has made a surprise arrival about an hour before we'd be meeting at my apartment.
The drive isn't too long, and I arrive just in time to find Luna with a suitcase that she leaves at the curb, waiting for me to put it in my trunk.
"I'm not your bellman, Luna." I tell her from the comfort of the driver's seat, but she glares at me.
"Put my bags in the trunk before I take the car keys again."
I roll my eyes, getting up and carefully placing her colorful suitcase into the trunk of the car, closing it and making my way to the driver's seat. She's settled in, checking her phone while I get us moving.
"How's the city been? Missed the smog." She scoffs, looking at the skyline.
It was foggy for a day in late May, but it's Northern California... it's to be expected.
"Better before you arrived." I mutter. "Why were you gone for so long?"
"Business." She answers shortly. "We have to go to the east side... the bar on Holland Road."
I look at her quickly, brown eyes focused on her phone as she types away to someone.
"Isn't that Watanabe's bar?" I ask. "Plus, you're going to get killed on the East side."
"That's why we're being lowkey. Are you worried about my safety?" She teases.
"Nope. I hope you get shot honestly." I shrug, and I hear her scoff in offense. "But if Watanebe sees me how am I supposed to kill the motherfucker?"
"He works past midnight, plus you're only dropping me off. Stop asking questions." She snaps, and I keep driving, stopping at the red light when she decides to speak up again. "Have you seen Bentley lately? She's been weirdly quiet."
"I haven't seen Bentley, not since I destroyed her in the race the other day." I squeeze the wheel as the light turns green and move forward. Luna mentioning Bentley tenses me up, especially knowing I'd be seeing her soon.
Shit I needed to relax, driving tense was what caused accidents.
"Good job, by the way. You might have scared her back into that dirty garage." She laughs, and loosen my grip on the steering wheel, instantly relaxing when she keeps texting.
I turn onto the street with the bar and stop carefully, watching Luna put on sunglasses before getting out and walking into the bar with her head down.
I look at my watch, and it's already seven, so I rush back to the apartment. I climbed up the steps onto the first floor and pulled my keys out, only to see that my door was already unlocked, and there was none other than Bentley Hale sitting on my couch eating pasta out of one of my new bowls.
"Oh good, you're here." She says, putting another forkful of penne into her mouth. "I've been waiting for you."
"You need to stop breaking into my apartment, Bentley."
"Where's the fun in that?" She winks, and I roll my eyes.
"You're in a good mood, was hiding from me enough to mellow you out?" I ask, talking slow steps in her direction until I was sitting next to her on the couch. She leaned forward to pass me a container in the paper bag on my coffee table.
"I got you pesto... you seem like a pesto guy."
We did a lot of that... telling each other what we thought we seemed like. She thought I seemed like a bottom... that I couldn't live up to being called daddy... that I liked pesto. I had told her she seemed like a sore loser... so on and so forth.
"Plus, I wasn't hiding. I had work to do." She finishes, and I start eating my pesto.
"You were right about the pesto." I tell her.
We were being awfully civil tonight... it was weird. I liked it.
"I'm always right."
"Just like you're always in charge?" I tease, going to stand to grab my bottle of whiskey, and I watch her from the kitchen.
"Exactly." She smiles. "You're catching on quick."
"Fast learner." I pour myself a glass, two ice cubes from the tray in the freezer and a slow pour. "Want something to drink?"
"Do you have diet coke?" She asks, closing her pasta container and standing.
She's wearing a scarily short skirt, exposing her long and thin legs. Her sweater swallows her torso and her hair is clipped up into a low up-do. She's wearing some basketball sneakers and I can't stop myself from scanning over her body.
I clear my throat to answer. "Nope. Water or whiskey."
"I'm fine then." She sits at the seat on the opposite side of the counter, hands under her chin as she watches me sip on my whiskey.
She licks her lips and I feel heat flash through my body as I watch her run her thumb at the corner of her mouth before grabbing a piece of gum from her bag and chucking it in her mouth, chewing slowly.
"You called this dinner, what did you want?" I say, spooning another serving of the pasta into my mouth.
"You've been too quiet. Is Luna back?"
"Yes. She asked about you." I swallow another sip of whiskey, keeping my eyes on her fingers. Her nails are ridiculously soft and clean for a mechanic and they aren't painted. I noticed it the other day for the first time when she touched me and it was enlightening.
"is your sister okay? She hasn't realized the security?"
"She's fine." I say, desperate to change the subject. Emmy was private, and just because Bentley knew didn't mean I wanted to talk about Emmy with her. "I have a theory... about the whole reason for her being gone."
"Nice segway out of what I asked." She laughs. "Spit it out."
"It's simple, really. All those Lions dying... her being in international drug affairs..."
"You think Luna's behind the Lions dying?" She asks, and I don't look her in the eye. I'm not telling her that I'm a literal hitman... I'm the one taking them out for Luna. Plus Bentley had enough shit to blackmail me with already. "Harry?" She snaps, noticing I had gotten lost in my mind.
"It's the only thing that makes sense. I just don't know why she'd go through an international route." I shrug.
"I'll ask Rumer if he knows anything about his dad's whereabouts but they haven't spoken since he left so I doubt it." She looks at the ceiling trying to gather her thoughts before looking straight at me, our eyes meeting for what seems like the first time since we were dry humping each other on my floor.
"Keep your mouth shut about Rumer being here. I know he's off limits but Victor is... he's a monster."
"Rumer's a grown man, why the hell are you protecting him?" I ask, genuinely curious. Rumer seemed like a softie, I mean, at least every time we spoke he was kind. It was weird, the way he was related to fucking Luna Sade was offsetting enough but the way he was her polar opposite was almost unearthing.
"The same reason you protect Emmy. We protect the people we love, no matter what." She says seriously, and cracks her middle fingers. "Isn't that why you're here? Because you love your sister?"
Rumer had said Bentley was like his sister, and she was only proving that. I understood her... her yearning to protect. I didn't care about many things but Emmy was one thing I did care about, and Bentley clearly cared more for her friends than herself.
I was here because I loved Emmy, but I was also here because I didn't want to lose her love either. Luna blackmailed me into moving here by exposing what I did to Emmy... the idea of the reality of who I was being shown to Emmy who only saw me as the big brother who found a way to stay in her life was enough to crush me.
I was selfish, that's why I'm here.
I love my sister, that's why I've stayed.
"I'm here because it's what's best. Change the subject." I retort.
She stands up, walking around the counter until she is directly next to me, shoulder brushing mine as she hopped up on my counter and sat down, thighs pressing down against the cheap tile as she stared right at me. "Sure, throw my gum out and then we can talk about something I've had on my mind all week long."
Maybe I should have thought this through.
She places her gum in my open palm and I chuck it into the trash bag, turning around to look at her as she reaches for my forearm, spreading her legs until I'm standing between them. I cross my arms, itching to touch her but it won't be me giving in. I told her to beg last time and I wanted to hear the words out of her mouth. I want to kiss her and I know she wants to kiss me... but we're too stubborn and dominating for this shit.
"Enlighten me then, because I haven't thought about anything this week that would concern you." I reply, lying through my teeth to get a reaction out of her.
"You sure about that Harry?" She says, her right hand resting on my shoulder and pulling me close so our bodies were almost touching. Almost. "Because I've been thinking about something that concerns you."
She takes a deep breath, and I feel her exhale over me, spearmint brushing over my face. I take a deep breath this time too, reaching for my glass of whiskey and throwing the whole thing back, swigging it in my mouth before swallowing.
"I've been thinking about how your hands were here..." She whispers, her arms grabbing my calloused hands and placing them on her waist, moving them back to her ass all while keeping severe eye contact with me. "And how my mouth was here..." She leans into the crook of my neck, arms wrapping around my shoulder and right hand caressing my curls, playing with the licks of hair around my neck with her delicate fingers.
She presses an open mouthed kiss to the base of my neck, once again running her tongue in a stripe up to the curve of my ear. My breath shallows but thankfully not enough for her to hear how badly this was affecting me.
She really was in charge all the time and I hated it... but I loved it too.
I squeeze my hands around the flesh of her ass, her skirt running up a bit and allowing my fingers to graze her soft skin. I take a deep breath, gathering myself completely before I run my hands down her exposed thighs and I feel her clench a bit at the feathery feeling, her knees squeezing around my hips and pulling me closer until her ankles are wrapped around me.
"No escaping it this time, Styles... I'm going to kiss you now." She says, and before I could even respond, she grasps my jaw tightly and crashes her lips into mine, tongue gliding over my lower lip begging for me to open my mouth for her. I open it, but before she can bring it into my mouth I enter hers, biting down on her lower lips and pulling her closer, hearing her short breaths as I take over the heated kiss.
It was slow and heavy, rough around the edges but it felt like me... and it felt like her. It was us. I grabbed the flesh of her thigh tightly, digging my blunt nails into it until she whimpered at the feeling and returned the favor, tugging on my hair.
"Shit." She hisses after I release her lip from my teeth, grabbing the short sleeve of my shirt and raising it further to grab onto my raw skin and drag her nails on my arm, making me moan into her mouth.
I could still taste the whiskey on my tongue in combination with her minty flavor and it's enough to make my eyes roll. I move my head away from hers, disconnecting our lips from each other and moving down to her neck, running my tongue down until I latched my lips to her neck, nipping at it and groaning as I feel her hips circle against me, breath shaky and enough to make me groan out in satisfaction.
"I'll give you another shot, Harry." She says in a low voice, her breath uneven and hips grinding against me. She tugs my hair up and detaches me from leaving kisses on her neck, careful not to mark her up because as much as I wanted to fuck with her, it's give her an excuse to do the same to me.
"At what, Ben?" I whisper back, my throat dry from kissing her so feverishly.
"Make me come." She commands, and I laugh at her.
"This isn't going to work if one of us doesn't just admit defeat... two tops is fun until it isn't." I say, moving my lips around to her ear and teasing the outer shell with my tongue. "You've been losing a lot lately... what's another notch in the belt?"
"You want to make it a competition? I'll make it a competition." She says, leaning away from me until our eyes were level. My chest is still trying to catch up to the rest of me, I'm out of breath and hard as a rock right now and the way she's speaking and looking at me isn't helping.
"What do you propose."
"One race. You and me. Winner gets to take control for the night." She pops her lips and cocks her brow, palm moving from where it was to the hinge of my jaw, her thumb running light circles over it.
"You sure you're willing to give up control for one night?" I reply, and she forces a dry laugh.
"You're asking the wrong person that question... there's a mirror over there if you want to ask again." She teases, but I don't give her time to laugh before wrapping my arms around her waist and carrying her with me into the bathroom, pressing my crotch against the curve of her ass and watching her breathless response at my rapid movements.
I move my hand up to her throat, grasping it firmly and watching her eyes roll through the mirror. "Open your fucking eyes." I grit, and she does as told, seductive glaze over her eyes when she does.
"Are you sure you're willing to give up control for the night, Bentley?" I ask her, and she gulps before pressing herself against me, eliciting a hiss from me at the sensitivity.
"If you win... which you won't, you can have control for two nights."
Oh fuck.
"And if you win?" I ask.
"If I win, you're going to be my little sub for the night, and I get my key I stole back."
I turn her around quickly, eyes now looking at each other's and my hand no longer wrapped around her neck, but rather resting on her waist.
"What do you want keys to my apartment for?" I ask, genuinely interested.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out at the finish line."
"Deal." I say simply, and she smirks at me before making her way out of the bathroom and gathering her things, not saying a word before leaving me with a hard-on for what? The third time?
I guess I have a thing making deals with devils, too.
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AN:
HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ANYONE WHO'S ALREADY IN 2021!!!
this is the last update of the year but i will see you tomorrow, do not fret.
place your bets, who's winning the one-on-one race?????
see you soon,
happy new year,
ARABELLA.