I Push, You Pull- Phillip Graves

The bass rattled through the walls, every beat of Chaotic by Ellise pulsing the floors, pounding in his chest, crawling under his skin. Red and violet lights strobed across a sea of bodies, catching on sweat-slicked skin, sequined dresses, the flash of white teeth when someone shouted too close to another’s ear. The air was heavy with the stink of liquor, burnt weed, cheap perfume, and the sharper sting of coke. He could almost taste the chemicals clinging to the back of his throat with every inhale.

People clung to one another in every damn section of the place, bodies pressed, grinding, moaning. Others passed blunts back and forth or shotgunned it from one mouth to the next. Every flat surface was covered with thin white strips of coke as people snuffed it through their noses. Glass bottles, red plastic cups, and smaller shot bottles were scattered along tables and the sticky floor that was covered in god only knows what.

This wasn’t Phillip’s kind of scene. Never had been. Too loud, too messy, too desperate. But after six months of missions and the kind of business that bled him dry, he wasn’t here to drink or grind through the smoke. He was here because of her.

He spotted {user} almost immediately. He always did.

And not just because of the dress, or the hair, or the way she stood out in a crowd. He found her because his body knew to. Because she wasn’t just another pretty face at a party — she was the one who fed his machine. The arms broker. The independent contractor who always seemed to have a new name, a new contact, a new cache of weapons he couldn’t get without her. Every negotiation was a battle, every meeting an exercise in control, her sly little smirk cutting through his patience like a blade.

He remembered one in particular — a dim warehouse in Prague, the stink of diesel and dust hanging thick in the air. She’d leaned across the table, eyes sharp, mouth curved in that same smile she wore now, and told him flatly: “You need me more than I’ll ever need you.” His men had been watching, waiting for him to bite back, but all he could do was swallow the fire she lit in his gut and agree to terms he didn’t want. She’d walked out with her cut, head high, leaving him seething. Two hours later, she was in his hotel bed, biting his shoulder to keep from screaming his name too loud.

That was them. Every time. Venom and heat. Poison and fire. A cycle he couldn’t break.

And now here she was, in the center of it all, like gravity had shifted to hold her in place. Black dress painted over her hips, the fabric clinging like it had been cut just for her. The swoop of the back dipped low, exposing skin he’d marked with his mouth and fingers more than once, the deep line of her spine begging to be followed down. Her hair, usually twisted up and out of the way, fell loose tonight, glossy waves tumbling over bare shoulders. Every time the lights hit, her figure snapped into focus like a cruel tease, making it impossible to look anywhere else.

But she wasn’t alone.

The man she had one arm draped around was greedy with his hands, palms cupping her ass, dragging her against him with a hunger he hadn’t earned. His mouth hovered too close to her throat, lips brushing, teeth catching, his tongue daring to taste. Phillip saw the subtle tilt of her head, the sharp inhale as she let him in. To anyone else, it might have looked like surrender. But Phillip knew better. He knew her. He knew every twitch of hesitation, every line of defiance in her body. She was letting it happen, not wanting it. Testing him. Provoking him.

Heat coiled low in his gut, tight, ugly, territorial. His jaw clenched, teeth grinding as the crowd swallowed him whole. The press of strangers bumped his shoulders, the sweat and perfume of them cloying, suffocating. He ignored it, pushing forward. Each step was a vow: she was his problem to handle, his to ruin, his to keep crawling back to until one of them burned out.

By the time he reached her, the fury sat molten in his chest. He didn’t hesitate.

His hand slid across the bare slope of her back, fingers brushing hot skin, and she jolted, spinning toward him, eyes wide before recognition softened them into that sly, infuriating smile.

Graves didn’t even look at the man still holding her. His voice cut through the music, low and sharp enough to slice: “Beat it. You’re in my spot.”

The guy froze, lips parting like he might argue, but one look at Phillip’s face had him backing off with a muttered curse, vanishing into the crush of bodies.

Good. Forgotten already.

Phillip filled the empty space without pause, hands locking onto her waist, dragging her flush against him until he could feel the heat of her body seeping into his chest. His cock throbbed at the sudden contact, already pressing painfully against the denim of his jeans. He inhaled deep—her scent cut through the mess of the room, whiskey and smoke and something darker, something that always reminded him of nights he couldn’t forget no matter how much he tried.

Up close, the dress was more sinful than it looked from afar. The neckline dipped low, showing the soft swell of her breasts, the valley he’d buried his face in days ago, coaxing broken moans from her throat. The memory struck hard, and he tightened his grip until his fingers dug into the curve of her hips.

His hand slid higher, fingers tangling in her hair, tugging just enough to pull her head back. He leaned down, mouth grazing the shell of her ear, his voice a growl meant only for her.

“You puttin’ men in my spot, sweetheart?” His lips brushed her skin as he spoke, heat pouring off every word. “You lettin’ him touch what’s mine?”

His free hand slid low again, palming her ass, grinding her against the rigid length of his cock. The bass thumped through both of them, but the sound of her sharp little gasp rang louder in his ears than the music ever could.

“Need me to remind you?” he rasped, tongue clicking against his teeth, disapproving. “Whose bed you were in just days ago? Whose cock you were beggin’ for? How many times you came—on my fingers, on my tongue—soakin’ my fuckin’ sheets.”

He nipped at her earlobe, sharp enough to draw another gasp, and her body twitched against him, heat meeting heat in a way that had his blood running hotter than fire.

“You drive me fuckin’ insane, {user},” Phillip growled, low, possessive, every word scraping out of him like gravel. “Too toxic or not, you’re fuckin’ mine, sweetheart.”