The truth is, they were supposed to expose me to all the things that are out there in the world, but all they did was make me want to stay in the warm glow of their part of it. They were supposed to broaden my horizons, but all they made me realize is that I’m happiest when I’m with them.
I used to believe there was a Mr. Right out there for me, but now I feel like there are eight. The world is cruel to hold so many juicy carrots in front of me and then tear them away after only one bite.
I take a cab to the club, and to his credit, Daimon is waiting outside for me, looking slick and sexy. If this was a few weeks ago, and I’d never met Carl, Lex, Dex, Kase, Cole, Nash, Niall, and Noah, I’d be so excited. My heart would skitter, and my palms would sweat. I’d be hoping so much that he’d like me and that maybe the evening could lead to something more. But now, all I can think of is that he’s not them. He’s not the men I want.
I paint on a bright smile as he opens the cab door and holds out his hand to help me alight. There’s a wolfishness to the way he looks at me, as though he’s already imagining eating me all up. “You look stunning,” he says in his smooth voice, already leading me to the club’s entrance. The doorman doesn’t even blink before letting us in, and that tells me Daimon must come here a lot.
Inside, the bright flashing lights seem to signal danger rather than excitement. The intermittent darkness feels sinister rather than comforting, but I follow Daimon through the crowd to the bar and I let him buy me a cocktail.
I sip the drink while he talks about his business, worried that finishing it too fast will leave my senses dulled.
He’s not a boring man, but I’m bored because my heart is just not in it.
It doesn’t matter how much I try to force myself to smile.
The Ink Factor men have ruined me.
35
KASE
"Tell me that again," I hiss at Carl and Dex.
"He's taking Kyla out tonight. He asked, and she said yes," Carl says.
Dex scowls. "How the fuck has this happened? I mean, the game only ended a couple of days ago, and she's already looking for someone else."
Carl kicks the empty trash can, and it skitters noisily across the floor, thumping against the bare brick wall and rebounding. "I told you this thing was a bad idea from the start. What we needed was a great administrator, and we found one. Now there is a whole heap of shit piling up between us. She's not going to want to work here anymore. We're going to lose her."
"Sounds like you care more about her shuffling your piles of papers than you do about keeping her in our lives."
"That's not what I'm saying," Carl snorts. "I want her. I've never wanted a girl so bad. But I'm thinking about her too. We've messed this up for her. She quit her other job, and I can see it in her eyes. She's not comfortable working here anymore."
"She's comfortable enough to go out on a date with another man," Dex growls.
"A man that I don't trust," I say. "You know how he knows her? Because he watched me fuck her at the club."
"What the fuck?" Carl turns and stomps two paces away, as though he's afraid he's going to blow up and wants to minimize the fallout.
"He's a watcher," I say. "That means he's going to want her to fuck someone else before he fucks her…if he fucks her. She doesn't realize what she's letting herself in for."
"You serious?" Carl says, turning back to us in a flash.
"As a heart attack," I say. "We need to get down there. We need to make sure she's okay."
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe she wants that?" Dex says. "Wasn't the whole idea of the game to expose her to lots of different kinks so that she can be more confident sexually? Well we showed her, and maybe she's picked her favorite. Maybe she's gone on this date because she wants to relive the date that she had with you. Maybe she's picked her favorite kink."
"Or maybe she's the Kyla we know, who's innocently stumbled into a situation that she might regret or could even be dangerous. Are you willing to take that risk?"
"What right do we have to turn up to her date and disrupt it? We're not her boyfriends. We never told her that we have feelings for her. She is off out there living her best life. We don't have a right to act like possessive stalker ex-boyfriends. I'm not sure I want to," Dex says. "But on the other hand, if she's in danger…"