Claiming Her Beasts (Claiming Her Beasts #1) - Dia Cole Page 0,8

me.

“Ronnie said to give you this.” She offered me a cup of jungle juice.

I glanced over her shoulder.

Ronnie and Dexter were standing in the hallway. Ronnie motioned between me and the brunette while dry humping the air. Dexter gave him a sour look and stormed into the kitchen.

“When a beautiful woman offers you a drink, you take it,” the brunette admonished.

Amused at her boldness, I grabbed the red cup and took a sip. All I tasted was the sugary Kool-Aid, which was impressive because I knew Ronnie had dumped at least eight bottles of alcohol into the mix.

The brunette smiled, her teeth flashing white against her dark lipstick. “I’m Aubry.”

“I’m Reed.”

“I know.” She continued staring at me the way the band groupies did. Like they wanted to spray whip cream all over me and eat me for dessert.

“My friend Dexter is into you,” I said, motioning toward the kitchen with my free hand.

“But I'm into you.”

Shit.

“Whoa, those are some scars.”

I looked down, horrified to see that my shirt cuff had ridden up, exposing my wrist tattoos and the web of mangled flesh of my forearm. Cursing under my breath, I quickly yanked the fabric down.

“Don’t be self-conscious, I think your scars are cool. I have some of my own.” She rolled down the top of her black fingerless gloves, revealing horizontal scars lining her forearm from wrist to elbow. “I used to be a cutter. How did you get yours?”

I shifted uneasily. “A car accident.” Hoping she wouldn’t dig any deeper, I gulped down the rest of the jungle juice and pulled out a pack of cloves. “Mind if I smoke?”

It was kind of ridiculous to ask her permission since it technically was my house, but my mom had drummed politeness into me.

“Of course not. Can I bum one?”

“Sure.” As soon as I handed her a clove and lit it, she took a long drag.

“Damn, that’s good.”

I made a non-committal sound, enjoying the spiced cigarette. A hit from the bong in the kitchen would have been better, but Lee wasn’t a fan of pot, so I was trying to cut down.

Aubry took a drag of her clove and leaned back against the couch cushions.

I tried not to notice her ample cleavage, but it was kind of hard with her low-cut corset.

Lee had a few tops like that she wore for her shows. Sometimes she was so tired she didn’t bother changing, and I got a chance to see her in them.

My dick hardened as I remembered how incredible she’d looked wearing that black leather one. One day, when we were together, I’d ask her to wear that one for me… and only me.

Aubry let out a husky laugh and ran her hand over her chest. “Like what you see?”

With a start, I realized I was full on staring at her tits and my boner was obvious. Embarrassed, I choked on a mouthful of smoke.

Seeming amused at my coughing fit, Aubry smiled. “Ronnie said this was your place.”

“Yeah.” I was surprised he didn’t call it his place as often as he crashed here.

“He also said it was your birthday.”

I shrugged. Birthdays weren’t really a big deal. Not when Lee forgot most of them.

Aubry cocked her head to the side as if she was waiting for me to say more.

I noticed her irises were pale green.

Eyes like desert sage… That might be a good lyric in the song I was working on. I glanced around for the pad of paper I always kept handy.

Eyes like desert sage. Fill with rage…

Nah, that didn’t work. Eyes like desert sage. Imprisoning me in a cage… Hmm. It had potential.

Unable to find my pad and paper, I pulled out my phone and started texting myself.

Aubry pursed her lips. “Is there someone else you’d rather talk to?”

“Nah. I just thought of a line to a song.”

“Yeah?” Aubry leaned over to look at my screen. When she saw what I’d written, she grinned. “Is that about me?”

“Kind of.” I wished she’d go bother someone else. Dexter would probably give his left nut to be sitting this close to her. I opened my mouth to tell her so, but she pressed her lips against my ear.

“I’d like to imprison you in a cage.” She bit down.

“Ah!” I jerked away, my earlobe stinging. “Why did you do that?”

She gave me a smoldering look. “What fun is pleasure without pain?”

Shit. I was clearly out of my depth with this woman.

Laughing, Aubry blew a smoke ring around my head. Then, flicking the