Distraction: An underground kings novel by Aurora Rose Reynolds

kiss.
    Stumbling back, I sit on the edge of the tub and lower my face into my hands. I have no idea if that’s a real memory or just something my subconscious made up.
    Reaching over, I start up the shower and get in to stand under the running water. Making quick work I wash my hair and body then get out and wrap my hair in a towel. Going into my room, I put back on the clothes I arrived in, since everything else is at Sven’s house, and head for the living room, thankful that I left the couch.
    Grabbing a Diet Coke, one of the only things in the fridge, I wander into the living room and take a seat on my couch, setting my Coke on the floor. Holding my phone in my hand, I try to decide what to do. I press my hand to my forehead and replay the events from last night in my head. After I got to the club, Teo escorted me straight to the office, where I stayed until around one. Instead of leaving and going home, I decided to sit at the bar and talk to Eva, since we didn’t have a chance to chat earlier. I remember she asked me if I wanted a drink, but like always, I chose cranberry juice, since I knew I had to drive. After she poured me a glass, we chatted between customers. After that,
    Nothing
    My mind is blank.
    Pressing the button on my cell phone, the screen lights up and I see there are twenty-seven phone calls and ten text messages from Sven. I don’t read any of the messages as I type quickly.
    SVEN: I’m okay. I just need the night to think.
    I press send then sit back on the couch, close my eyes, and before I know it, I’m asleep.
    “I’m never letting you go.”
    Waking suddenly, I pant looking around in the darkness then squeeze my eyes closed, trying to calm my breathing and rid my mind of the image of Sven above me, his muscles tight as he fills me. Opening my eyes again, it’s pitch black, and my neck hurts from the awkward angle it’s bent at. I hold my phone away from my face and press the button, seeing it’s after midnight.
    Groaning, I sit up and rest my head in my hands for a moment while I go over all the variables for the conversation that will happen between Sven and I. Worst-case scenario, I lose Sven forever. Best-case, we pretend like nothing ever happened. Neither of those scenarios makes me feel good, but I need to understand what happened last night, and judging by Sven’s reaction to me not remembering, he needs to know too.
    Knowing Sven is probably at the club and I have a couple hours to figure out what to say to him when I see him, I pull the pepper spray out of my bag and make my way to my car. Taking the long way home I pull into the driveway at a little after one. Not recognizing the car parked in the driveway it takes me a second to remember Sven has friends in town. Feeling embarrassment hit me, I shut off my engine, and stare at the house until I finally build up the courage to get out and head inside. I don’t even register the sound of the car door slamming behind me. The only thing I’m thinking about when I open the front door is the smell of a woman’s perfume as I step into the house.
    “It took you long enough.”
    Turning on the foyer light, my heart falls into my stomach as a woman wearing nothing but a pair of shear panties and heels walks around the corner out of the living room. My blood starts to pump so fast and so loud that I can’t even hear what she’s saying as she gets closer. But I know she’s speaking to me as I watch her lips move and a snarl form on her pouty mouth.
    “What the fuck are you doing here?” Sven roars from behind me, and I swing my head around to look at him and stumble back, caught off-guard by the anger in his voice and the look in his eyes.
    “I—”
    “Get out now,” he thunders, and I follow his eyes to the woman standing naked in the entryway of the house. Her arms cross over her chest and she looks at Sven then me and back again.
    “Whatever.” She turns on her heels and heads back into the living room, grabbing a coat