Pulling away, Kace ran his hands through his hair and actually looked distressed. It was rather shocking. I never thought I would see Kace crawling through one of my windows one day, let alone showing me one ounce of emotion.

“I need closure, Lo. I just need to drop this and move on, so I needed to know how you truly felt.” He paused for a second and shook his head. “You know, for a little bit, I thought that maybe I had a chance from the way you looked at me, but the moment you saw Jett, actually met him, I knew it was all over, but I still hung on.”

“I’m sorry,” I all but whispered.

“Don’t be. Your heart wants what it wants. It’s not the first time I’ve lost something in my life.”

“I want you to be happy, Kace. Maybe you will find what I have with Jett with someone else. Maybe Pepper?”

Kace laughed softly and shook his head. “That would never happen. We’re just good at fucking, which Jett caught us at, by the way.”

“Seriously?” I asked, while pushing Kace’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” he replied, while pulling on the back of his neck and looking over at me. “It was right after you left; he wasn’t happy.”

The smirk on Kace’s face mended the pieces of my heart that had fallen apart. Was this what it felt like to be Kace’s friend? To have a normal conversation with the man without it escalating? I liked it; I liked it a lot.

“Look at us joking and being friends,” I teased.

“Never friends,” he smirked at me.

“Always friends.” I pinched his side, making him grab my hand and give my pinchers the death grip.

“Do that again, and Rex will be barging in here from the noise that comes out of your mouth when I start tickling the shit out of you.”

A tickling war with Kace? Yeah, I wouldn’t pass up that opportunity. My heart belonged to Jett, but I had a vagina, and she knew what a little touching spree would be like with Kace.

“So, how’s the club? Does anyone miss me?”

“They do,” he reassured me. “We’re not allowed to contact you, actually, but it’s not very often I pay attention to the rules.”

“Hence, you boning Pepper.”

“Watch it,” he warned, but with a smirk, making it hard for me to take him seriously. “Lyla is a Jett Girl.”

“What?” I asked, as I felt my eyes pop out of their sockets. “Lyla, my roommate? My friend Lyla?”

“Yeah, she’s filling in for you right now, keeping the members happy, and swears she can help bring you back.”

“She’s high,” I joked. “I bet she is one hot piece of ass up on the stage. She would put me to shame if I was next to her.”

“She’s pretty damn gorgeous,” Kace admitted, as he looked away from me.

Oh, my God!

“You like her! Oh, my God, Kace, you like her! You like Lyla!”

“Squeal one more time…pretty sure the neighbors didn’t hear you.”

“Eeep! I’m sorry, but you and Lyla. Oh, my God, you would make the most gorgeous babies. Jesus, I’m kind of getting a lady boner over the thought of you two together.”

“Cool it,” Kace said, getting tense on me once again. “I just said she was gorgeous.”

“No, you said pretty damn gorgeous and then had this look in your eyes, like you wished she was pumping up and down on your shaft right now.”

“This is why we’re not friends.”

“Have you talked to her?”

“Of course I’ve talked to her; I’m not a mute.”

“Oh, really? Because I’m pretty sure you don’t ever talk when I’m around.”

“That’s because I want to see what kind of insane shit comes out of your mouth. You never cease to amaze me.”

“I aim to please,” I smiled. “Seriously, though. Are you going to ask her out?”

He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe. She has a mouth kind of like yours. You should have seen her when she walked into Jett’s office and told him how things were going to be if she was a Jett Girl. Jett didn’t even have a chance to get a word in. I kind of wanted to fuck her right after that.”

I sat there with my mouth open, hanging to the floor. I was shocked, not just because Kace was telling me about his feelings for Lyla, but because he was able to speak more than a few sentences. Maybe the man did need closure, because right now, I felt lighter, happier to just be talking with Kace, not fighting, not trying to dodge the sexual tension between us.

“This makes me so happy,” I giggled with joy, making Kace roll his eyes.

“Jesus, this is why I don’t tell you things, because you do this girly shit.”

“I’m sorry, should I pretend I have a dick and jerk off to the information?”

“Is that what you think guys do? Jerk off when they tell each other shit?”

“How else would you celebrate? Dick high fives?”

“Normally, we don’t just whip our dicks out when we’re around each other. Pretty much keep those wrapped up.”

“That’s boring. Guys have that whole vision of girls hitting each other with pillows in their underwear at slumber parties. Well, in my mind, when you’re all together, you hang out with your wangs out and just jostle them around when talking. You know, like, ‘Hey, man, great game today,’ jostle, jostle,” I said, while pretending to jostle my own pretend dick.

Kace gave me a questioning look and then shook his head. “There is something so beyond wrong with you.”

“So, I take that as a no?”

“No,” he said, while blowing out a loud breath. “So, has he been treating you well?” Kace asked, while taking in the surroundings of Rex’s room.

“Sure. He hasn’t really done anything bad to me. He’s kind of moody, and even though he says he wants me, he wants us to be together, I know he’s lying, because when he’s at his club, he goes and fucks some girl in the back.”

“And you’re mad about that?”

“Well, I mean, I don’t want to sleep with Rex, obviously, but it does something to a girl’s ego when a guy goes off with another woman when she’s supposed to be having a fake relationship with him. You know? I mean, how rude.”

“Don’t you have bigger things to worry about than who Rex is having sex with? Maybe like what the hell you’re doing here in the first place? What are you trying to accomplish?”

Sitting back on the bed and resting against the headboard, I said, “Diego told me about some illegal business Rex and Leo might be conducting, and I knew if I could get some evidence, figure out what they were doing, I would be able to bury them and live my life with Jett. I’m sick of hiding. I’m sick of not having a relationship with the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

Kace cringed for a second and then asked, “Are they doing illegal stuff?”

“Oh, my God, yes. So, it’s like a sex club, but worse. The girls are crazy fem-bots that walk around with their heads down, waiting to be plucked away by one of the members to be fucked in the back room. I haven’t really seen what goes on back there, but I know the girls are getting paid for sex. It’s consensual, believe me, I’ve asked them, but it’s paid for. I just don’t know how to pin him for it.”

“Can you record it?”

“That would be the easiest solution, but I’m not allowed to bring in any kind of phone or electronic device. I’m surprised I’m allowed to wear clothes in there. You should see it, Kace. The girls are naked all the time. I know who has a mole where and what cup size each of the girls are. I mean, who wants to be naked all the time, in front of people, and with other girls? The shit going on over there is so fucked up. And, get this, the bartender, his name is Blane, and apparently…”

“Blane Wilson?” Kace asked, cutting me off.

“Uh, I don’t know his last name. He has blond hair, and he’s a beefcake.”

“Blane Wilson,” Kace said, shaking his head.

“Do you know him?”

“Yes, he went to school with us. He hung out with the wrong people at school and ended up getting into drug trafficking.”

“Holy shit, seriously?”

“Yes, he’s not from here though. He grew up in Australia and moved here to be with his uncle when he was young. Technically, he shouldn’t be in the states, but if he goes back to Australia, there are men there waiting to kill him.”