all rushing back. He reached the bedroom and entered it on fire. “Sasha—”
“Julian, hi!” Sasha’s eyelids were at half-mast, and her smile was sloppy. But oh well.
Julian crossed to the bed, cupped her cheek, and kissed her deeply. She tasted deliciously of his favorite wine, and he loved the feel of his mouth on hers, his tongue probing. Sasha kissed him back, reached up for him, and pulled him on top of her, parting her legs in her skirt. Julian couldn’t believe it was finally going to happen. He fleetingly thought he wanted to film this scene, but he didn’t want to stop.
Julian pulled up her skirt, feeling the strength of her slender thighs as she lifted her hips to meet him. She moaned deep in her throat, which spurred him on. He undid his belt buckle, but suddenly a cell phone started ringing, with a techno ringtone he didn’t recognize.
“Oh, hold on, that’s Luiz.” Sasha rolled out from underneath Julian, who propped himself up, his belt dangling and his mouth hanging open.
“Sasha, wait, who’s Luiz?”
“A guy I wanted to see, so I left him a message with your address—”
“What guy?”
“Um, my Latin lover?” Sasha started to take the call, but Julian grabbed the phone from her hand and pressed END.
“You invited another man to my house?”
“Yes, and he’s fucking awesome.” Sasha lost focus, and a sexy grin spread across her face, but Julian realized it was for Luiz, not him. Outrage flared in his chest.
“Who is this guy?”
“He’s this gorgeous Brazilian, he was my first. He deflowered me.” Sasha giggled, but Julian gritted his teeth, flashing back on that night in the woods, when he’d thought Sasha wanted to play Spin the Bottle with him, but she’d invited Kyle. It was happening all over again. She was choosing another man instead of him, right in front of him. She had done that his whole life, and he had watched from the window. He felt blind, raging fury.
Sasha’s giggle fizzled. “Please give me my phone.”
“No.” Julian kept her phone at bay, but it started ringing again. He jumped up, holding the phone in the air while the awful ringtone stopped. Sasha lunged for the phone but wasn’t steady enough. She almost fell off the bed, but Julian caught her, held her close, and set her back on the pillows. It was then that he saw the truth. Sasha was too unstable not to blab about Kyle. After all the love he’d offered her, she would ruin him.
“Julian, please?” Sasha held out her hand for the phone.
“I’m sorry, I don’t want you to talk to that guy. You know how I feel about you. You always have.”
“Julian, you don’t own me. You can’t own me.”
Yes, I can. “I know, I’m sorry.” Julian picked up the wine bottle and poured himself a glass, then refilled hers and handed it to her. “Take a sip. Let’s toast to being old friends.”
“Old friends.”
“Old-friend zone.” Julian sat on the bed, with difficulty, since he was still hard. Or maybe the thought of what he was going to do made him hard. He knew he was a freak, with the cameras in the room. All he had to do was flip a switch hidden beside the headboard, and they’d be on film. The bedroom was wired for audio, too. Julian was still a voyeur, but he wouldn’t film what was going to happen to Sasha.
“Sorry.” Sasha made a pouty face, then sipped her wine.
“What are these anyway?” Julian picked up the pill bottle and read the label. “Xanax. Can I have one?”
“Sure, take two.”
“Will you join me?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Suit yourself.” Julian opened up the pill bottle and took out two, but palmed them and only pretended to put them in his mouth. “Here’s to us.”
“To us.” Sasha drank some wine, but Julian sipped his wine, let his hand fall, and dropped his pills out of view.
“What else do you have?” Julian scanned the labels on the pill bottles. “Ativan? Ambien?”
“Ativan for anxiety and Ambien for when I fly. But you can’t mix Ambien with Xanax. They’re both antidepressants.”
“Right, everybody knows that.” Julian picked up the bottle of Ativan. “Can I have one?”
“Go for it, I’ll join you this time.”
“Right, totally.” Julian opened the bottle of Ativan, turning his back to Sasha, and blocking her view with his body. Quickly he took an Ativan from the bottle, swapped it for the Ambien, and pretended to take a pill, turning toward her. “Here’s yours,” he said, dropping the