Black Thorns: A Dark New Adult Romance (Thorns Duet Book 2)

“Focus.”

Aspen’s no-nonsense tone drags me back to the present.

We’re representing the firm at a charity event being thrown by my grandparents in their mansion.

Nate is a no-show, and unlike other events where he comes late, he’ll probably pull a dick move and skip this one. Grandma will clutch her pearls and Grandpa will make a hundred excuses as to why his ‘hotshot’ son hates him.

Of course, no one knows all the strings they pulled to try to stop him from starting Weaver & Shaw. To this day, they still have hopes that my uncle and I will carry on the family legacy and go into politics.

But while Nate avoids Mr. and Mrs. Weaver, Aspen and I think differently. Since they’re using my and Nate’s success as a chance to brag anyway, we should milk them for our own sake, regardless of our personal relationship.

Just earlier, my grandparents made a show of introducing me to their friends and other party members, but they’d curse me if we were all alone.

Not that I care.

I’m only showing my face here so Aspen can get what she wants—connections—and I can get what I want—judge files. If it were up to me, I’d be chasing my little prey.

My Naomi.

What happened last night wasn’t supposed to go down like that. I did plan to claim her and take all she had to offer. When I saw her standing in front of my apartment, my mind whirled with a thousand scenarios and all of them included fucking her until she couldn’t move.

But I didn’t count on her reaction.

I didn’t think she’d be so into it, that it’d touch something inside me.

No idea what that something is, but it was there with every moan from her throat, every wrestle, and every claw. Even with the way she tried to touch me.

She wanted to fucking touch me.

That’s what triggered it all for me. The moment she reached out a hand for me, I wanted to slam her against the wall and ask her why the fuck she thought she had the right to touch me.

I needed to punish her for making me want her, but I ended up losing myself in her.

My beast found the perfect prey in her and there was no stopping or holding back.

There was no logic.

There was only me and her. As if no time had passed since the last time I touched her.

As if I’d just been inside her yesterday.

But that’s the thing. Time has passed and that can’t simply be written the fuck off.

I can’t pick up the pieces when she never gave them back.

In the beginning, I thought I’d feel triumph at making her a cheater and ruining her picturesque fucking marriage. I thought the mere act of destroying a part of her carefully built life would make me feel victorious.

It didn’t.

Or maybe it did for a while, until she changed clothes and went back to her husband.

The fact that he could’ve fucked her after I did, that he tasted her lips and pounded into her cunt like I did has been blackening my vision all day.

I contemplated going to Akira and painting her as a cheater. I wanted to see the look on his stoic face when he realized the wife he had on his arm and whispered things to while she laughed had my dick inside her.

The only thing that stopped me is the unpredictability Akira Mori is known for.

From what Knox and Daniel told me, he has secret webs to criminal organizations, namely the Yakuza, and he doesn’t hesitate to chop off the heads of whoever opposes him.

Coupling that with how Naomi wants me to stay away from him, I’m sure he’s no normal businessman.

He doesn’t scare me, but the fact that he could hurt Naomi does.

Fuck.

That’s why I didn’t barge in front of him and yank Naomi to my side.

I shouldn’t care whether she’s safe or not after what she did to me, but fuck, I do.

In a twisted, fucked-up way, I want to be the only one who hurts her. Not that fucker Akira or anyone else.

And for that, I need another way to make her pay other than involving him.

Aspen digs her nails into my arm and paints a bright smile on her face as she leans in to whisper in hissed words, “Did you leave your brains somewhere today?”

Probably on the wood floor of my apartment.

“Relax.” I whisk two glasses of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter and give her one. “If we pretend we’re having fun on our own, the others will flock to us.”

She flips her fiery hair over her bare shoulder, showcasing her golden dress. “Let me guess. Nate taught you that?”

“Nope. The senator himself did.” I lift my glass in Grandpa’s direction and smile.

He’s in the midst of his high-profile friends and has no choice but to lift his glass back and give me his political bullshit smile.

“There.” I focus back on Aspen. “That will give us the attention you’re here for. You don’t have to try so hard at these types of events, Aspen. It’s not the courthouse.”

“Yeah, sure thing, rich boy.”

“Watch and learn.”

Sure enough, some of Grandpa’s associates start toward us. I plaster on a smile and pull her hand in mine. “It’s showtime. Give it your all.”

“You, too.” She jabs me.

“I don’t need to. I’m the senator’s grandson.”

She laughs as a few businessmen join us. We put on our show, talking about nonsensical things that only serve to help us play the social game.

Being the Weaver’s good grandson isn’t exactly what I’d rather be doing, but it’s better than being lost in my own mind loop.

Aspen gives the performance of the century, laughing and flirting, even when she’s grabbing my arm.

“Why do you do that?” I ask when we leave the group of people we were with. “We both know you’re not interested in relationships.”

She fixes my already impeccable collar, running her red-painted nails down the lapel of my jacket. “Maybe I’m interested in baiting. Men covet what’s not theirs, call it a primitive type of characteristic. Seeing me on your arm is a sure way to pique their interest.”

I pause at her words.

Is that what this is all about with Naomi? The fact that she belongs to someone else?

“How would they differentiate between genuine interest and a need to conquer?”

“Simple. They can’t. At least not until it’s over.”

“The flirting or the fucking?”

“Neither. They wouldn’t know it’s genuine interest until whatever I have with you is over. They’ll most likely lose interest if they find out I’m single and theirs for the taking. That’s why I always come to these things escorted.”

“So I’m your victim of the night?”

“You could say that.” She tips her head in the opposite direction. “Isn’t that Asher?”

I smile when my eyes meet my childhood friend. He’s in a sharp suit like mine, but his body has become way leaner than mine, probably because he quit football three years before me.

“Well, if it isn’t Carson & Carson.” I approach him with Aspen in tow and he smiles as we greet each other in a bro hug.

I move in to kiss his wife, Reina, on the cheek, but he pushes me back with a calm yet firm hand on my chest.

“Back off if you don’t want a brawl tonight,” he whispers so only I can hear.

I laugh. “I see some things never change.”

“And never will.” He gives me a warning stare as he pulls Reina to his side by an arm around her waist.

“You’re lucky Owen isn’t here. He’d be demanding things from Rei.” I waggle my brows.

“Not if he wants to keep his football career, he wouldn’t.” Asher draws circles on Reina’s side with his finger.

She rolls her eyes. “You’re over the top, Ash.”

“But you already knew that, prom queen.” He kisses her forehead.

“Do I need to go?” I taunt. “Get you a key to a room, maybe?”

Asher gives me his signature blank look while Reina laughs. Then her smile turns mechanical when she directs it at Aspen.

I can tell she’s measuring her up and probably weighing her in that critical way she used to be famous for in the past. “And…you are?”

“Aspen Le Blanc.” She offers her hand. “Senior partner at Weaver & Shaw.”

Reina seems impressed, but her lips twist as she struggles to keep up her façade. “Aren’t you too young to be a partner?”

“So is Sebastian, but because of his gender, no one asks him that.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.” Reina sighs. “I’m just…surprised is all.”

“Don’t be. We’re unicorns, but we exist.” Aspen smiles at Asher. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Carson?”

Asher makes an absentminded sound, but doesn’t confirm or deny.

“I’ll be right back,” Aspen leans in to whisper, then kisses my cheek. “I’ll go steal their clients. Stall for me or I’ll be naughty when I come back.”

Great. Now she’s taking what Reina said as a serious offense. And since she noticed Reina was bothered by our closeness, she’s taking advantage of it.

“Who the hell is she?” Reina hisses as soon as Aspen disappears.

“I should be asking you why the fuck you were out to insult her.”

While Reina and I aren’t that close, we have Asher in common, and that makes us see each other more than either of us prefer.

“She seems annoying.”

“You don’t even know her, Reina.”

“He’s right.” Asher strokes her arm. “You were aggressive to a woman you just met.”

“Unnecessarily so,” I shoot back.

“She had a reason,” Asher tells me without breaking eye contact with his wife. “Didn’t you, prom queen?”

Only he would be patient enough to read behind her apparent bitchiness and actually discern why she’s acting the way she is.

Reina sighs. “She annoys me because she seems to have eyes for you, and I don’t like seeing you with anyone but Naomi.”

My jaw clenches. “But it’s okay to see Naomi fucking married?”

“I didn’t know that until she came back, and only through her photos in social columns. We don’t exactly keep in touch, except for a random text she sent from a number I couldn’t reach afterward.”

I narrow my eyes. “She sent you a text?”

“It was about two years ago. I think she was drunk. She said she didn’t think she’d miss her bitchy captain and then she begged me not to tell you because you guys are complicated.”

I should feel something other than bitter rage, but that’s the only emotion crowding in my veins and ripping into my bones.

Reina softens her tone. “And to answer your question, yes, it feels weird to see her with anyone else, too. I know it’s irrational, but I can’t digest the idea of you two being with different people.”

Asher strokes her hand as if in approval. Ever since they got back together, he always makes sure he’s touching her in some way. “That’s your opinion, but it’s not theirs, prom queen.”

“I know that. But I can’t help it.”

Fuck this.

Just when I’m attempting to get my mind off her, she comes back in uninvited.

Reina’s eyes widen as she stares behind me. I think Aspen has returned, but Reina’s lips move in a barely audible murmur, “Naomi.”

My body bursts back to life and it takes everything in me not to turn around and face her.

I don’t have to, though.

Naomi comes into view on the arm of her fucking husband and they appear to be headed our way. Her silver and black dress molds against her slim curves and hugs her perky breasts. A small amount of cleavage is visible, but there’s no trace of the hickeys I left the last time I saw her.

I made sure they were all over her tits so she must’ve used something to conceal them.

Naomi smiles at Reina and Asher, but subtly ignores me when she addresses them, “Hey, you two. It’s been a long time.”

“That’s an understatement!” Reina pulls her in for a hug, and that breaks Akira’s hold on her arm. Temporarily.

He greets Asher in his seemingly welcoming but actually stoic nature, then focuses on me. His dark eyes gleam as a slight smirk tips his lips. “We meet again, Weaver.”

“Seems Brooklyn is a lot smaller than one would think.”

“Indeed.” His smirk deepens. “Maybe even tiny for some people.”

“Could be.”

Once Naomi straightens, he pulls her back to his side and a red mist covers my eyes. The need to break his fucking arm pulses through me.

It’s even worse than my violent tendencies. I learned to control those, but now I’m on the verge of reaching out and poking his fucking eyes out.

“My Naomi didn’t tell me you were the senator’s grandson. That’s impressive.”

My Naomi.

Again.

The fire flaming inside me turns hotter and brighter. I take a deep breath to maintain my façade and stop my lips from snarling.

“He’s the senator, not me,” I say in a calm voice I don’t recognize. “Naomi and I weren’t that close, so she doesn’t know everything about me.”

Her eyes meet mine for the first time since she joined our circle. It’s brief and barely noticeable, but it’s enough to spill her deepest, darkest secrets.

The ones she’s probably been hiding since she left my apartment last night.

Lust.

Pure, raw lust.

Even when she’s on her husband’s arm, her fuck-me eyes are directed toward me, not him.

Her cry for the beast is only meant for me, not Akira or any other fucking man.

Only me.

She breaks eye contact, focusing on Reina instead. But it’s useless. Her cheeks have already turned a deep shade of pink and her throat bobs with a thick swallow.

Naomi just gave me a signal for more.

Not that I needed it.

Because sooner or later, she’ll pay for what she’s done.

I don’t give a fuck if she’s married or not.

That doesn’t change the fact that she’s fucking mine.