The Alpha Men's Secret Club 3(19)

“Shamilar?” Rust said, frowning. “What are you doing here?”

“I was invited, just like you were,” Shamilar said pointedly.

“I thought you had gone to South America.”

“The job didn’t work out, and so I’m back.”

Shamilar?

Kate’s blood froze in her veins.





14



It was a name which had subconsciously haunted Kate. Shamilar was Rust’s ex-girlfriend who had gotten herself pregnant to try to trap Rust into a commitment. He had made her lose the baby because she wasn’t a tiger shifter.

Kate remembered what she had heard:

He was furious with her. Furious because she tried to trap him.

And now she was here again. Shamilar. Beautiful. Dusky-skinned. And slim.

Gawd, was she slim and beautiful! And now she was back.

Kate immediately felt unwieldy and fat compared to the model-like Shamilar. Rust must have sensed it – bless him – because he put his arm around Kate again as if to say: This is my girlfriend now. Or maybe she was reading too much in it, as always.

“Shamilar, this is Kate, my girlfriend. Kate, this is Shamilar.”

Girlfriend. Kate’s cheeks warmed. So he was making a public claim on her now. This was great, except that Kate suspected that being Rust’s girlfriend came with a whole lot of problems.

Shamilar raked Kate up and down, and Kate caught a fleeing look of disdain on her beautiful features.

I knew it. She doesn’t know what Rust sees in me.

“Hello,” Shamilar said, and the frostiness in her eyes matched the tone of her voice as she reluctantly held her hand out to Kate.

Kate took it. Shamilar’s hand was very warm. Honestly, the woman was quite a conundrum.

“Hello,” Kate said.

Shamilar immediately turned to Rust. “I heard what happened.”

“As have half of New York,” he quipped.

Shamilar darted Kate another frosty look. “I see you brought her with you. Is that so wise?”

“It’s really none of your business what I do or do not do, Shamilar. And Kate is right here. If you need to address her, you can speak directly to her.”

Kate’s spirits soared. Shamilar looked none too pleased.

“Now if you don’t mind, Kate and I have an engagement to go to. ” Rust touched Kate’s arm and made to lead her away.

“Rust, wait,” Shamilar said, and Kate could hear the brokenness in her voice. She still loves him, Kate realized. A pang flowered in her chest.

“I need to talk to you. Alone,” Shamilar continued.

Rust hesitated.

Kate swallowed the lump in her throat. But she knew that she couldn’t keep Rust from his past forever.

“It’s all right,” she said to Rust. “You go ahead and speak to her. I’ll be all right.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” Her heart sank, because part of her was hoping that he would say ‘No, I don’t need to talk to her. I’ll come with you’.

“OK,” he said. “Just mingle, if you want to. I won’t be more than ten minutes.”

That was already ten minutes too long. Still, Kate knew that she couldn’t pay the jealous, possessive girlfriend each time a woman made goggle eyes at Rust, and she suspected that was going to happen very often.

Rust left off to go with Shamilar. His cock was still erect, and Kate watched jealously as they went behind a cluster of bushes. Two phenomenally attractive people, both naked, going off together in the dark. How was her mind supposed to react?

The waiter who was eyeing her came closer. He only wore a loincloth and a large golden chain around his neck with hoops. Kate was reminded of how Carlo presented himself back in the restaurant – the event which triggered off everything else in a cosmic reaction.

“Would you like some champagne, Miss?” he asked solicitously.

“I would. Thank you.” She took a glass off his tray and gulped the golden liquid down.

“I wouldn’t worry so much about him, Miss. One can see he only has eyes for you.”

She wished she could feel that confident.

“Thank you for saying that.” She replaced the empty glass on his tray with another. She was going to be drunk at this rate.

“You are very beautiful, Miss, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

She did not want to thank him one more time, and so she nodded politely and moved away. Her eyes lingered on the spot where Rust and Shamilar had vanished. She pictured him and Shamilar fucking on the soft ground, and her heart wrenched.

“Hi,” said someone from behind her.

She swiveled. She had almost forgotten her own nakedness by now. The speaker was a young man, around her age or maybe slightly older than her. He was curly haired and blond, and he looked positively cherubic.