Music: 'Stockholm Syndrome' by One Direction.

Chapter 14 – Long Island Iced Tea

Raine

Abruptly, Cage stood to his feet and walked across the room to her. They spoke too softly for me to hear their words, but her body language said it all.  Her hands balled into fists, and if glares were daggers, he would be more than dead right now.

I sat silently. Kieran and Talia both looked uncomfortable. At one point, I even saw Talia cringe. It was obvious they could hear them perfectly.

Without warning, Cage took the woman by the arm and they both walked out the door.

I was stunned.

I couldn't believe that he left me here, without even a backward glance. I had no claim over him and no right to be upset – particularly when I planned to escape as soon as possible – but I couldn't help the disappointment and jealously that flooded through me.

My expression must have given away my internal struggle, because Talia suddenly joined me on the couch and took my hand. She murmured softly, "It's not what it looks like."

I met her eyes. "Really? Because it looks a lot like a lover's quarrel."

She cringed again.

I was right. Shit.

It never occurred to me that he might have an ongoing serious relationship. Most of the women I had seen were not particularly pleased to see me, but this one was clearly different. There had obviously been much more between the two of them.

Talia tried to explain, "He was the most eligible bachelor. Some of them will take a little bit more time to understand he is no longer available."

Her words were meant to comfort, but all I heard was the plural pronoun. How many women felt they had a claim on him? I leveled my gaze at her again. "Some of them? How many exactly would that be?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in anxiety. She opened her mouth to reply and then gave up, closing it again. Kieran jumped to his feet, looked pointedly at Talia, and interjected, "I am sure when Cage returns, he can explain it better. Why don't we show you around the library?"

I appreciated his attempt at diversion. I didn't want to think about it anymore. And I doubted Cage was going to be able to tell me anything I didn't already witness for myself.

As I followed them around the library, Kieran explained many of the historical artifacts. I listened without hearing much, except for my internal clock ticking off the minutes and still no sign of Cage.

When we came upon a wall with several coat of arms and family crests, I stopped and studied one of them carefully. For some reason, it looked very familiar to me. Where had I seen that before? I struggled to pull the memory to the forefront of my brain. And then I remembered. It was the same tattoo that I had seen on Armand!

Kieran said, "It is the crest of Armand Vânătorul otherwise known as—"

"Armand the Slayer," I breathed, not needing Kieran to translate the word.  What history did the King have that he would be known as Armand the Slayer?  A shudder went down my spine.  I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

Kieran confirmed, "None have been more victorious or fierce in battle than him. Thankfully, the wars are less frequent now, and it has been many years since anyone had the courage to attack him."

"You have wars?"

His eyes glazed over, remembering the past. "Far too much blood has been shed."

We continued to walk and talk. Thirty more minutes passed and still no sign of Cage. I couldn't take pretending anymore and told them I was tired as I excused myself. Both looked at me with concern but let me go. As I made my way back the way we came, I must not have been paying enough attention because I suddenly smacked right into the hard chest of a male vampire. He looked down at me in surprise.

I rushed to apologize, "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going."

He grinned. "No worries, no harm done. Would you like a drink?" He held his cup out to me.

I look at it warily. I wasn't sure what he had in the cup, but he was a vampire, so odds were high that it was blood. He recognized my look of hesitation and assured me, "It's alcohol. Come on, let's go to the kitchen and I will get you some."

After the last couple of days, a stiff drink suddenly sounded like a little piece of Heaven.  When we reached the kitchen, he nodded toward the counter. "May I?"

"Sure."

He lifted me so that I was perched on the counter top. I swung my dangling legs and watched as he found a red Solo cup. He opened a cabinet filled with every liquor known to man.

"Wow," I breathed. This was definitely where I needed to be at the moment.

He grinned. "Pick your poison."

I decided not to half-ass it. "A long island iced tea, please."

"A woman after my own heart," he laughed as he pulled out several bottles of liquor. He poured tequila, gin, whiskey, rum and vodka into the cup almost to the top and then add a smidge of Coke. He found a little stirrer straw, dropped it into the drink and handed it to me.

I accepted it gratefully and took a long pull through the straw, drinking nearly a third of the liquid.

His eyes widened. "You don't play, do you?"

I closed my eyes, took another long drink and sighed, "Not today."

"I'm Teodor, but you can call me Teo." He jumped up to sit on the counter across from me. "You're new here?"

I was a little shocked that he didn't know who I was, but at the same time, it was extremely refreshing to be anonymous...to be nobody. "Raine and yes, you could say that." I brought the drink back to my lips.

He raised an eyebrow and cautioned, "You might want to take that a little slower."

"Uh huh," I replied noncommittally. That was the exact opposite of what I planned to do. I drank again, feeling the warmth of the alcohol in my throat as I finished it. I held out the now empty cup. "I'd like another."

Teo studied me for a minute, and then jumped down to prepare the drink.  When he was done, he left the five bottles of liquor on the counter this time, instead of returning them to the cabinet. He was getting to know me quite well. I fully intended to drink until I just didn't give a shit anymore. Yeah, not the wisest coping mechanism, but hell, I had almost been killed by hunters, stabbed and then kidnapped by a vampire for Heaven's sake! Who, by the way, was too damn sexy, and way the hell too skilled with his fingers.  I let out a low growl. I deserved to do whatever I wanted to unwind. Images of Cage touching that ginger bitch flooded my mind, and I drank more than half of the next drink.

Teo didn't comment on my over-eager alcohol consumption. Instead, he speculated, "It isn't often to find humans in this area. Are you staying with someone?"

I ignored his question and asked abruptly, "Do I smell?"

He spit out the drink he had just brought to his lips. "I'm sorry?"

"I do, don't I? It's okay, you can tell me," I insisted a bit petulantly. Maybe Cage would have stayed if I smelled better.  My thoughts were a touch twitchy and random, now that I had a good buzz going.

Teo allowed hesitantly, "You do have a...unique scent."

The alcohol had pretty much suffocated any tact I might have had and I prattled on, "Do you like it?"

"Very much," his voice lowered. 

Well, that made one vampire. Once again, my cup was empty and I held it out, only partially slurring, "Another, please."

He slid off the counter and took it, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Fuck yes," I breathed. I no longer felt at all bothered by the fact that Cage had left me to go be with another woman.

He quickly accommodated my request.

"Thank you," I purred as he handed it to me.

"So, where are you from?" he inquired.

My eyes lit up as I bubbled, "New York."

He chuckled at my expression of glee and encouraged, "Tell me about it."

"All of the concrete and steel is surprisingly beautiful. It's another world really. Even the sidewalks seem to live and breathe the lives of the people that pass over them every day."

"It sounds like another world," he agreed easily.

I swung my feet onto the counter, set my half-empty cup to the side and stretched out on my back. I wasn't entirely comfortable, so I bent my knees and crossed one leg over the other, swinging it in the air.  

And then I remembered that I was wearing a short dress.

I quickly pulled the fabric over my bottom, tucked it into the bend in my knee and mumbled, "Shit, did I flash you my ass? Sorry about that."

He chuckled and again his voice lowered. "Don't be. I don't mind."

My hair was splayed out on the counter, and I let my head fall to the side to face him, giggling again.  He grinned, his eyes dancing mischievously as he questioned, "So, how did you end up here?"

"Oh, that's easy. Three hunters broke into my chalet and tried to kill me," I chattered.

"What?"

Suddenly, a loud growl reverberated from the kitchen door, "What the fuck?"

Teo jumped to his feet and acknowledged Cage, "Your Highness!"

My head fell toward the noise, my eyes roaming through the air to find Cage glaring. I ignored his bad attitude and continued to answer Teo's question, "Yes, here is my knight in shining armor now."

Cage's expression was livid as he demanded, "Why the fuck are you sprawled out on the kitchen counter?" He snatched up my cup and sniffed it. His eyes darted to the liquor bottles and back to me. "And what the fuck are you drinking?"

"You were busy," I reminded him. "I ran into Teo, quite literally I might add. And he was gracious enough to want to spend time with me and offered me a drink." My head fell back toward Teo who looked oddly uncomfortable now. I winked at him in an effort to get him to relax. Surprisingly, it didn't work. Instead he cringed and appeared like he wanted to bolt from the room.

Cage saw me wink and snapped his head toward Teo, his eyes bleeding crimson.

"I had no idea she was with you, Your Highness, I swear it!"

Cage looked back at me and growled, "Did it even occur to you to mention to him, that you were declared to me?"

Fury rushed through me. I sat up, the alcohol causing me to sway unsteadily as I spat, "Is that what you were doing for the last two hours with the redheaded bitch? Declaring yourself?"

Teo's eyes were huge as he understood, and breathed, "Oh fuck."

Cage's hands clenched into fists. He turned to Teo. There was no mistaking his deadly tone. "Get the fuck out."

I never even saw Teo take a step, he just seemed to disappear.

Cage glared at me again. "Let's go."

I jumped down from the counter, forgetting I was alcohol-impaired and stumbled forward. Before I could hit the ground, Cage caught me and held me to his chest again as he strode angrily back to his suite.  He dropped me on the bed, a little ungracefully I might add, before turning to pace the room, still furious. I watched him as I undid the laces on the boots and slipped them off of my feet.

He spun to face me and hissed, "Do you even realize that if he had touched you, he would be dead right now?"

I inhaled sharply and snapped, "I didn't do anything wrong! We were talking!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes on the ceiling, before looking back at me. Disbelief colored his tone, "Do you really think all he wanted to do with you was talk?"

I looked at him in confusion. That's all we had done. Talk. I nodded my head. "Yes."

His features softened as he murmured, "I forget your innocence sometimes." He sat on the bed next to me and cupped my face with his hands. "And to answer your earlier question, yes, that is exactly what I was doing...declaring to her that I am all yours."

I bit my lip. "For two hours?"

He gently removed my lip from my teeth and replied softly, "Yes. I owed it to her to listen to everything she had to say. I thought if she got it all out, then it would be done permanently, because I sure as hell, am not going to indulge her with the conversation again."

I searched his eyes and my doubts faded away. I knew he spoke the truth, I believed he told the little strumpet that he belonged to me. But conflict settled in.  He wanted me for the wrong reasons, a sense of duty and loyalty, to keep me safe. And he had already made it clear that he would keep me here even if I wanted to leave, so reasoning with him wasn't an option. I was going to have to slip away from his grasp...but every fiber in my body rejected the idea of leaving him.

I wanted this dream, this fantasy.  I struggled to remain level-headed, to keep reality clear in my mind.  But when his thumb brushed across my bottom lip slowly, purposefully, a heat so strong flashed through my body, only his touch could extinguish it. A shudder ran down my spine and left me trembling. Somewhere deep in my core, an ache was beginning to grow and swell with need.

His nostrils flared and a storm passed through his eyes. He stared at my lips hungrily.  Time stopped and the world faded away, as he slowly leaned down. When his lips finally touched mine, fire shot through my belly, shocking me with its intensity. Sure, I had kissed guys before, some even a little heatedly. But it had not been like this, no, never like this. This scorching flame threatened to consume every part of me. And I wanted it to.

He took his time, driving me crazy and teasing my senses, with soft, lingering kisses. A nibble here. A nibble there. When his tongue drew a line along the seam of my lips, I gasped. He deepened the kiss, his tongue delving in to taste me, causing an explosion of flutters in my belly. 

His touch became more forceful, wanting more, demanding more. His mouth dropped down to my neck and collarbone. His tongue darted out with shocking skill, coaxing my body to thrum with pleasure. I pressed forward, eager, and climbed onto his lap, straddling him.

One of his hands wound into my hair while his other arm coiled around the small of my back. He pulled my hips tightly against him. I whined loudly when I felt his hard member between my thighs, and acted on instinct, I needed more friction and ground my hips down into him, causing him to hiss.

"Cage, I want you to touch me," I whispered in a frenzied haze of desire.

He groaned, "Dulce Tigru, you have no idea how much I want to touch you. But I can't do that when you are drunk. I need you to ask me when you are sober."

Yeah, that answer wasn't going to work for me. I tightened my grip in his hair to keep him where I wanted him. And then ran the tip of my tongue along his bottom lip before catching it forcefully between my teeth. I pulled gently and then released only long enough to purr, "I'm not that drunk."

He groaned again, but still made no move to touch me.

Determined to get what I wanted, I reached down and peeled the dress off over my head, leaving me in only my bra, panties and stockings. I then lifted so that I was on my knees, giving me room to wind my hand down between my legs until I grasped the hard bulge in his pants. I whined in excitement when I felt him in my hand, "Please..." I stroked him aggressively and begged against his lips, "Please...make me come."

"Fuuuck Tigru," he hissed and lifted me off of his lap, so that he could get on his knees with me.  I eagerly reached to undo his pants. He stopped me and chuckled softly, "Tigru, you are nowhere near ready for that."

I whined loudly in frustration, my need becoming painful. His hand came up to grip the back of my neck as he growled, "Oh don't worry, Dulce, I am going to make you come."

Electricity flickered up and down my spine at his words. My chest heaved with anticipation. Suddenly, his free hand slid forcefully inside the front of my panties. He cupped me , his fingers twitching and teasing my opening as he demanded huskily, "Is this what you want?"

I cried out, my hips pushing forward. "Yes!!!"

He slid two fingers inside and groaned, "Fuck, you are wet for me."

I gasped loudly and rocked my hips into his hand.

His hand against my neck and the other one inside of me kept me locked in place. His movement was slow and teasing. "Take off your bra. I want to see you," he demanded.

I eagerly reached behind my back, unhooked the closure, and slipped it off. He bent down and captured one of my breasts in his mouth, his tongue flickering relentlessly causing heat to explode in my lower abdomen.

I clutched the back of his neck and gasped, "Cage!!"

He chuckled again as his momentum increased, his thumb rubbing hard against my clit. I mewled like a sexed up kitten.

I was out of my mind, no longer able to think around the excruciating pleasurable assault of his ministrations to my body. Suddenly, I felt my body tense. Cage purred, "Look at me...I want to watch you come."

I stared at him with wide eyes, unable to look away as he kept me locked in his burning gaze. He kept me right at the edge. I panted, my breathing unable to catch up to my racing heart.

He smiled wickedly and demanded, "Come for me."

That was it.

I cried out as pleasure crashed over me in wave after wave. When it was over, he extracted his hand, careful not to touch my now overly sensitive clit. He kissed me softly. "You are fucking beautiful when you come."

Like before, he brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean. "Fuck, you taste amazing."

My legs trembled, no longer able to support my weight. I was exhausted and collapsed down onto the bed, curling my body around the nearest pillow. He kissed me lightly on my forehead and slid off of the bed.

"I'll be back in a minute," he murmured and then walked to the bathroom.

I heard him turn on the shower. I tried to stay awake while I waited for him, but my eyelids seemed to close repeatedly of their own accord. Finally, I couldn't fight it anymore and I drifted off to sleep.

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I have more dedications to do, but don't do them on the 'sexy' chapters. It feels weird...lol