7th Circle (Hades Book 1) Read online

  The second his lips touched mine, I threw caution to the wind.

  I needed this. I needed a gorgeous, nameless man to make me feel more like the badass bitch I knew I was and make me totally forget the tattoo-covered, scarred drug dealer I'd thrown myself at earlier in the night.

  My lips parted, and I draped my arms around the beautiful guy's neck, pulling him to me as I kissed him back. I knew eyes were on us—on me—but I officially gave no more fucks. I needed this... and if word got back to Cass, then so much the better for it.

  It was about damn time I moved on from my stupid crush.

  2

  Whiskey warmed my veins, and the fact that I was so thoroughly smashing all my own rules made me dizzy with excitement. But still, I retained enough presence of mind not to fuck the beautiful stranger right there in front of the bar.

  Reluctantly, I released him and took one step away.

  "Feel like heading somewhere else?" I suggested with a grin. I'd made my point at 7th Circle, but now I wanted some anonymity.

  His blue-green eyes were glassy, and his lips held a blush from our kiss that only made me want to kiss him harder. "Where did you have in mind?"

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I held a finger up to indicate I needed to check who the call was from. A thrill rushed through me as I wondered if it was Cass. But that would mean he cared who I was sleeping with, and he'd made it abundantly clear he didn't.

  I wrinkled my nose when I saw the caller ID. "Sorry, I need to take this," I told the guy, whose name I hadn't even bothered to ask.

  Answering the call, I brought my phone to my ear. "What?" I snapped, irritated that I was being interrupted.

  A long-suffering sigh sounded down the phone at me. "You know what."

  "Save it," I replied, turning to the nearest security camera and staring directly at the lens. "We're heading over to Murphy's anyway." I'd turned away from my new friend to glare at the all-seeing eye, and he slipped his arms around my waist in a forward but totally welcome gesture.

  My employee on the other end of the phone was quiet for a long moment before replying. "You're being reckless. If this is about—"

  "It's not," I bit out, cutting him off. But fury burned through me with the knowledge that he'd overheard Cass rejecting me earlier. How fucking embarrassing. "I'm a grown-ass woman, Zed and right now I want to take this pretty man to Murphy's and probably let him fuck me against the wall of the accessible bathroom stall."

  The guy behind me jolted with shock, clearly having heard what I'd just said, then his grip on my hips tightened with enthusiasm.

  Zed let out another frustrated sigh, but I wasn't in the mood for a guilt trip. "Just fucking relax, Zed. Take a break and get Amanda to suck your dick or something."

  "Her name is Annika," he growled back at me, and I rolled my eyes. Whatever her name was, I hated her skanky ass. But I couldn't exactly tell Zed why, so I settled for passive-aggressive bullshit.

  The guy behind me swayed to the dance music, his hips moving against mine and his crotch grinding against my ass. Yeah, he had moves... moves I'd like to take somewhere a whole lot less public.

  "I've got to go," I told Zed, distracted as fuck by my new friend’s wandering hands. "Also, you canceled a meeting earlier. Reschedule it for tomorrow."

  A string of curses flooded down the phone at me. "I fucking knew that pretty boy groping you looked familiar—"

  I ended the call before he could go on and on at me about what a bad idea this was. I knew perfectly well that it was stupid. But I also had no intention of this thing becoming anything more than exactly what it was.

  So who fucking cared?

  "Come on," I told my new friend, linking my fingers with his to pull him through the crowd, just in case Zed decided to really rain on my parade and turn up in person.

  "Wait, we need to fix the bill," my friend protested, but I just shot him a grin over my shoulder.

  "It's fine," I told him. "They'll just add it to my tab."

  He gave a small frown but let me hurry him out of the bar. It was a converted warehouse on the outskirts of Shadow Grove, but it was popular enough that there were always taxis lurking outside to ferry drunken party-goers home.

  "That wasn't my point," he murmured when I all but shoved him into a waiting cab and jumped in beside him. "I was buying you a drink. Remember?"

  I smiled, amused by the whole lawful-good thing he had going on. Most guys I met wouldn't blink twice at getting free drinks from a chick who'd just openly announced she wanted to fuck them.

  "Yeah, but I wanted to get out of there," I replied, vague as fuck. I gave the driver our destination, then turned my attention back to pretty-boy. "What's your name?" I asked on a whim, then immediately gave myself a mental slap. So much for a nameless hook-up.

  The guy grinned. "I wondered if you were going to ask." He ran his thumb over his lower lip in a gesture that I couldn't help but follow with my eyes. Fucking hell, everything about him was mesmerizing me. "It's Lucas," he told me after a beat.

  "Lucas," I repeated, testing the name on my tongue. It suited him.

  "What's yours?" he asked me back, and I couldn't help the grin spreading over my face.

  "Hayden," I said, shocking myself. I didn't give anyone my real name. No one. So what the fuck had just possessed me to tell a random hook-up?

  He didn't even bat an eyelash, though. He really had no clue who I was, and it was totally adorable.

  "Hayden," he repeated like I'd done to his name. "Can I ask you a question?"

  "You just did," I replied, teasing. Where the hell that came from, I had no idea. I didn't tease. I barely even joked. What the fuck had gotten into me?

  Lucas gave me a smile. "I meant another question." When I nodded, he ran a hand through his hair, like a nervous gesture. Why would he be nervous, though? I'd made it pretty damn clear I was interested. "What you said on the phone to your friend..."

  About wanting to fuck you in the bathroom at Murphy's?

  The cab rolled to a stop outside the packed dive bar then, though, cutting short our conversation. I quickly handed over about three times the cab fare and pushed Lucas out before he could object to me paying. But seriously, he'd just admitted he was broke enough to consider a job at Swinging Dick's. I wasn't going to let him pay for anything.

  I linked our fingers together and led him straight past the huge line of people waiting to get in and up to the broad-shouldered bouncer guarding the door. Murphy's was a live music venue, grungy and dirty, but a favorite among visiting rockers. Whenever there was a big name playing, the queue stretched halfway down the block, and lots of those waiting wouldn’t even make it inside.

  “Ma’am,” the bouncer greeted me with a respectful nod as he unhooked the barrier rope for us to pass through.

  I didn’t respond. I wasn’t obliged to, and I had a reputation to maintain, whether Lucas knew it or not.

  "Are you some kind of big deal I'm supposed to know about?" my sexy companion joked as we made our way to the bar. The inside of Murphy's was packed way past the fire code capacity, and Lucas dropped his hands to my hips as I led the way.

  I gave him a hollow laugh and shook my head. "Nah," I lied, "just a regular."

  We ordered drinks, which no one charged for—I had an account—then made our way through the crowd to the dance floor. Music boomed all around us, and people needed to yell to be heard by one another. There was no real chance to chat and get to know each other, and that was exactly why I'd chosen this bar.

  Well... that and the fact that it was owned by the Reapers. If I fucked Lucas here, it would immediately get back to Cass—the head of the Shadow Grove Reapers.

  Yeah, I was a petty bitch. But he wanted to call me a child? I'd damn well act like it. If he truly had no interest in me as a woman, then he would have nothing to complain about.

  Lucas and I danced together until we were sweaty, panting, and crazy turned on. Eventually it got to the point that I was about
to explode right there on the dance floor—because holy shit, he had moves. When Zed managed to pull his head out of his ass, he needed to hire Lucas for 7th Circle. Talent like his was wasted at Dick's.

  "You weren't lying about being a dancer, huh?" I asked as we left the dance floor under the pretense of getting another drink. Neither of us headed toward the bar, though.

  Lucas gave me a smirk. "I think I'd do well if anyone gave me the opportunity."

  I couldn't agree more. I also couldn't wait to see what other moves he had. The moment we hit the side of the dance floor, I spun around to face him and linked my arms around his neck. I was drunk enough and definitely horny enough to throw caution firmly out the window.

  The way Lucas kissed me back, I'd say he agreed.

  He backed me against a wall that was covered in peeling band posters, and I groaned as his hands roamed my body. His hard length crushed against me, and I wanted nothing more than to climb him like a tree. There were way too many clothes between us. Way, way too many.

  "Bathrooms," I murmured as his lips left mine and trailed down my neck, sucking and biting at my pale skin. "Come on," I grabbed his hand and basically dragged him down the short corridor that led to the grungy bathrooms. The accessible stall was occupied, much to my irritation, but Lucas read my mind and dragged me around the corner into a supply closet instead.

  "Is this okay?" he asked me, looking around at the stacks of beer cases and cleaning supplies with a small frown, like he’d just realized where we were and what we were about to do and was having second thoughts.

  His back was against the door, so I reached past him and flipped the lock on the inside. Now no one could walk in and catch us, and as an added bonus, it didn't smell like shit.

  "It's fine by me," I told him, holding his gaze as I reached for the hem of my tank top and slowly raised it. "Is it okay with you?" I lifted the dark gray fabric over my breasts, revealing my sheer lace bra, and then took it off all together.

  Lucas's eyes flashed with heat as I dropped my shirt to the ground, and the next thing I knew, it was my back against the door while he kissed me like I was his oxygen.

  "Hayden," he breathed when I deftly unbuttoned his shirt and exposed his muscular chest. It was a shock, hearing my real name on his lips. But I also kind of liked it. "This is... I don't do this."

  I smiled as his face dipped back down, his lips kissing my neck as his hands cupped my breasts. "Do what?" I asked, breathless with desire as his shirt joined mine on the concrete floor. I smoothed my hands down all the hard ridges of his body and bit back a groan at how gorgeous he was.

  "Any of this," he replied, then rolled one of my nipples between his fingers and made me groan. Tremors of desire shot through me with every touch of his skin on mine, and I was growing impatient. I unbuttoned my own jeans and wiggled out of them, then kicked the stiff fabric aside, along with my high heels, which only increased the height difference between us. Lucas was going to have a hell of a sore neck in the morning if he kept leaning down to kiss me like that.

  I made quick work of his belt and his fly, then gasped as his hot flesh filled my palm. And I really mean filled it. He was huge. No wonder he'd decided to get into stripping and prostitution in order to make the money he so desperately seemed to need. The boy was blessed.

  "You mean you don't pick up random women in bars and fuck them in supply closets?" I teased, wrapping my hand around his shaft. I sucked in a short gasp when my fingertips didn't even touch. I was going to hurt in the morning. In only the best way.

  Lucas groaned, his hands stilling on my breasts as I gave him a few test strokes. "Uh, yeah. I've never..." He sucked in a sharp breath and rested his forehead against the door beside my head. I swirled my thumb over the tip of his huge cock, smearing the bead of pre-ejac around like lube. "Hayden, this is a first for me."

  I grinned, strangely pleased that he'd never picked up a chick for a random public fuck before. "Please, don't keep me waiting," I replied, my voice breathy and desperate, "Dancing with you out there damn near drove me out of my mind."

  Lucas grinned and hitched his hands under my thighs to lift me up and pin me with his hips. "Like this?"

  I nodded like a bobblehead, incapable of words for a second as his massive erection ground against my lace covered pussy. I didn't want him to put me back down, even to take my panties off, so I just reached between us and hitched them to the side.

  "Exactly like this," I replied in a moan as I grabbed his length and brought him to my core. It was reckless, exactly like Zed had accused me of being. It was also a bit fucking stupid not to use a condom. Not that I had any pregnancy fears—my IUD took care of that—but this guy could have anything. I could only hope that when he said this was a first for him, it also meant he hadn't picked up any diseases from an ex-girlfriend. Or boyfriend.

  Too late now.

  I let out a small scream as he pushed into me halfway, and he immediately withdrew with a concerned look on his face.

  "Are you okay?" he asked, legitimately worried, and I couldn't help but laugh.

  "No," I replied on a rough growl. "I won't be okay until you quit teasing and fucking fill me up." I grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him hard. My ankles crossed behind him, and I pulled him closer, begging for him to fuck me properly.

  He only hesitated a moment, then gave me exactly what I wanted. His next push was hard enough to fully seat him within me, and my cunt quivered with the beginning of an orgasm already. He was so, so much more than I was used to, and I had no doubt I'd be ruined for all other dicks after this one-night stand.

  "Oh my god," he groaned, pausing for a second with his cock fully inside me and my muscles clenching him like they never wanted to let go. "Hayden, holy shit. Wow." Whatever else he was going to say disappeared in a moan as his hips started to move, and I turned to jelly in his arms.

  He didn't need guidance, not after those first few instructions. Lucas seemed to read my body cues and deliver exactly what I wanted in exactly the right way, pounding me into the door hard enough to shake the shelves of liquor to my left.

  I came way too soon, faster than I’d ever come before from dick alone, and my climax seemed to push him over the edge as well. He let out a dismayed sort of groan as his cock thickened against my spasming walls, and his hot seed filled me in a couple of hard spurts.

  For a moment the only sound within the supply closet was our combined heavy breathing, and he held me there with his dick still buried inside me and his hands on my ass holding me up.

  "Hayden..." he whispered in a rough voice after he'd caught his breath. "That was... you're... I..." A panicked look crossed his face as his words all tripped over each other, and I grinned.

  Tugging on the back of his neck, I pulled his face back to mine for another long, lingering kiss, and his dick twitched inside me.

  "Lucas, that was incredible." I smoothed away the worried crease in his forehead with my thumb. Some of the tension seemed to ease from his face when I said that, and he gently set me back on my feet.

  Thankfully, we were in the supply closet, so I grabbed a roll of spare toilet paper to clean up a bit of the mess between my legs before pulling my jeans back on.

  "So, uh," he started to say as we both found our clothes once more. As much as I'd have happily gone on to round two—or three—with him, we'd already pushed things a bit far while in public. Not to say we couldn't continue this back at my apartment though. "I feel like a total idiot asking this, but... could I see you again?"

  I tilted my head to the side, considering him. There was that innocence again. "Do you have plans for the rest of the night?" I replied with a sly smile.

  His brows shot up. "Oh. Oh. I thought... Yeah, I mean, no. I mean I do now? I hope?" His hands went back to my waist, and his neck bent to meet me in another heated kiss. "This is actually turning out to be the best night of my life, I think."

  I laughed and swatted him playfully as I stuffed my feet back into
my heels. "Come on; my place isn't far."

  Again, what the fuck had come over me? I didn't bring guys back to my place. Not even Cass had been to my apartment. Apparently, my subconscious had decided that I was throwing all the rules out the window when it came to Lucas.

  I unlocked the closet door, and we exited together as Lucas checked a message on his phone.

  "Oh shit," he swore, and I paused to see what the problem was. He looked from his phone back to me. "I got a message from the manager of 7th Circle."

  My brows rose, but irritation at his timing curled through my chest. "What did he say?"

  "He wants me to come back for an interview," Lucas replied with a stunned smile. "But... he wants me there now. Like now. He asked me to be back there in half an hour, and he sent the message twenty minutes ago."

  I ground my teeth together and vividly imagined all the ways I wanted to kill Zed. I told him to reschedule but I sure as fuck didn’t mean tonight. "Well then, we’d better hurry."

  Lucas and I hurried out of Murphy's with our hands linked like teenage lovers, and I cut the taxi line, taking the first available. It was only a five-minute drive from Murphy's to 7th Circle, but I was seething that Zed had tried to cockblock me like that.

  Well, fucking joke was on him. Lucas was going to make it back for his bullshit interview, and I'd still managed to come harder and faster than in my entire life.

  Who said I couldn't have it all?

  The manager of 7th Circle—Zayden De Rosa—was personally waiting at the front of the club when our taxi pulled up, and I shot him a sharp glare behind Lucas's back.

  He just smiled pleasantly back at me, like the totally infuriating shithead he was.

  "Mr. De Rosa," Lucas greeted Zed, totally oblivious to the silent conversation between us. "Thank you so much for reconsidering." He held his hand out for Zed to shake, but my old friend just looked him up and down, then sighed.

  "Lucas, right?" he asked, like he didn't particularly care what his name was. "Come this way. We can talk in Hades’s office."