When we get back to Spine Ridge, I check Rory for any marks and blemishes before I give her a bath, after which I put her back in Milo’s bed because she was already used to sleeping there, and she was tired as hell after what happened to her.
Milo’s room is awfully empty without him, though, and it’s a tough pill to swallow. It’ll take him a few days more to get back on his feet.
I pull out my phone and text him back after he sent a couple of frantic texts asking about her.
Me: We got her.
Milo: Thank fk.
Me: How r u?
Milo: Better. I just wanna know if Ro’s safe.
Me: She’s in one piece.
Milo: I was so gdamn worried they hurt her.
Me: No. Just scared.
Milo: Won’t they keep coming after her?
Me: We killed almost all those Bonesmen.
Milo: Almost?
I swallow away the lump in my throat. That guy who followed us outside definitely saw Lana. And while we were wearing masks, she pretended to be a server and couldn’t, so her identity got exposed the second she decided to fight back instead of run with my sister.
I don’t understand why she would risk her own life to help us.
Me: Don’t worry bout it. U just rest.
Milo: Don’t gimme a reason to come back early.
Me: If you don’t focus on gettin better first, I’m gonna kick your ass back into the clinic.
Milo: Oh, don’t fkn tempt me with a good time, or I might just do it.
I roll my eyes and grin.
Me: I’ll c u soon.
I put my phone back into my pocket and check on Ro to make sure she’s sleeping, then tell the other Phantoms to stay vigilant and keep watch to make sure the Bonesmen don’t come here.
Though I doubt they’d be able to enter the university grounds that easily.
Ever since Dean Rivera took over, the place has become locked down and tightly guarded.
I head upstairs, my blond hair sticking to my cheeks from a mixture of sweat and blood, but all the hardship was worth it because I got Ro back, and no amount of pain could ever stop me from finding my way back to her. Ro is all I have left, and as her big brother, I need to keep her safe.
When I head to my room, the steam emanating from the bathroom makes my brows twitch.
I walk inside and watch as Lana clutches her arms close to her naked body, rivulets of water mixing with blood as it slowly washes off her hair and back.
I swallow as my eyes glide over her smooth body and ass, every curve making my mouth water and my cock twitch.
I once thought I was all that stood between Ro and the cruel outside world, and I tried so hard to shield her from the tough reality of living without parents or money. Tried so hard to keep her out of harm’s way, and none of it worked because they still went after her.
But she…
She came to help me without prejudice, risking her own life to save a girl she barely even knew, a girl who was the sister of her enemy.
When push came to shove, there was no hesitation … she simply annihilated her enemies like it was child’s play to her. As though she was waiting for a chance to unleash her wrath.
And I am in so much goddamn awe of her that I’m drawn closer, like a moth fluttering to a flame, knowing full well it will burn like the brightest fire, but it won’t dissuade me.
All this time, I thought we were the ones destroying her, but it turns out reality was quite the opposite.
She … has ruined me.
Her ruthless brown eyes connect with mine in a flurry of emotions as she glances at me over her shoulder when I come to stand in front of her.
But no amount of rage could ever convince me to stay away.
Lana
“Do you always watch girls shower?” I jest as Nathan comes to stand behind me.
He’s looking at me like he’s never seen me before.
“No,” he says with a low voice. “Just you.”
The smile disappears off my face. I feel like I just got caught masturbating even though I wasn’t. But the way he’s looking at me … like he’s completely infatuated with me, makes me swallow. Hard.
“You’re in my room,” he says, putting one hand on the wall beside me.
“Sorry, I just wanted to shower to get all this blood off, and this was the first one I found.”
His eyes narrow. “You chose my room, and you’re not afraid?”
I look around the open room, the metallic wallpaper so crude and emotionless, while the man who lives here is filled with so many of them. I gaze at the furniture in his room—the long, black couch, the metal cage in the back, the bed with poles, the rigging and entrapment items used to keep someone in place, along with all the whips hanging from the wall.
I know whose room this is. I’ve known for a very long time.
But I’m not afraid of him.
“No—”
Suddenly, he grips my face with his one free hand and smashes his lips onto mine. And I’m too stunned to even react as his lips roam around mine, taking me in greedily, hungrily, like he’s never wanted anything more than me. Not even the water pouring down on him, drenching his black shirt and pants, stops him from claiming me.
Even though I’m covered in another man’s blood, and the kiss tastes like poison seeping straight into my veins, I still feel consumed. Hot water mixed with blood and sweat all roll down into my mouth, but when his salty tears blend in, my lips unlatch from his. His reddened eyes catch me off guard.
“Thank you,” he mutters.
“For what?”
“For saving my sister.” He holds my face like he never wants to let go. “For saving us.”
But then his knees cave in on him, and he sinks to the floor on hands and knees.
“What are you doing?”
“I treated you like shit,” he says, his voice gritty, confused. And it unfurls all kinds of emotions in my heart I didn’t know I had. “Bullied you, extorted you, fucked you like I didn’t care what you felt.”
Tears roll down his cheeks as he looks up at me, and I’m utterly shocked.
“And after all that, you still helped us when we needed it the most.” He leans over to press a kiss to my bloodied foot, and the simple gesture moves me. “I was wrong. So wrong to despise you,” he says, pressing more and more kisses against my ankles like he’s desperate to right his wrongs. “I owe you my fucking life.”
As the water pours onto my head, I stare down at him and his attempt to apologize for all his past behavior, and a part of me is almost ready to cry along with him. But the other part of me … it burns with rage.
And I grasp my knife from between the shampoo and shove him to the floor, knocking him down as I kneel on top of him and push the blade underneath his chin.
He looks up, unafraid, meeting my anger head-on.
“You tried to take everything from me,” I say through gritted teeth. “For her.”
His Adam’s apple rises and falls against the blade. “Do you want my life?”
My eyes widen, and I’m stunned. “What?”
He grasps my wrist and pushes the blade even farther into his neck. “Take it.”
I can’t even move as I try to fight his grip. “You want to die?”
“It’s what I deserve,” he says.
“I saved your fucking life!”
“Yes,” he replies, not even looking mad that I have a blade to his neck. “And now my life belongs to you.”
He pushes the blade even farther into his skin until his skin cracks and blood seeps out. And a part of me really wants to push through and make him pay for all the pain he caused me, end things once and for all so no one will ever find out about the pictures he took, and my killer secret stays hidden.
But he looks at me like I’ve beguiled him, and the sheer gaze of adoration suddenly makes it hard to breathe. I was here before not too long ago, and it feels as though history is repeating itself, but I can’t stop it either.
No matter how much I hated him for using me for his own devious plans and pleasure, I can’t bring myself to actually kill him.
“I deserve every inch of your wrath,” he says, his hand rising to touch my face, the caress so sweet I practically melt into his hand. “But if you let me … I will beg for your forgiveness every single day until eternity.”
His hand guides me closer until we’re separated by mere inches, and I can feel his warm breath on my skin. “All this time, I thought I didn’t want to share Milo with you … but I’m just so fucking jealous of the bond you two have … because I want you. I want you more than my own goddamn life.”
And fuck me, even with the blade perched right underneath his chin, my lips still land right back on his. The way he kisses me is nothing short of pure magic and delicious desperation all wrapped into a cruel package.
His hand snakes through my hair while I maintain a tight grip on the knife, afraid of what’ll happen when I let go. When I finally let myself long for these evil boys that have thrown themselves at my feet.
He groans into my mouth, his lips parting mine as his tongue drives inside and licks at the roof of my mouth while I’m desperate to put a stop to the madness that has become me.
But it’s too late. Too late to resist, too late to fight, too late to even flee from the inevitable fall.
So I give in and release the knife, letting it clatter to the stone floor as he kisses me with so much fire I can feel it burn in my soul.
When his lips unlatch from mine, we stare at each other for a moment. His eyes roam my face like he’s seeing me for who I am for the first time in his life.
“You …” His hand travels down my face, the tips of his fingers leaving an electrical current in their wake as they slowly make their way down my neck and chest, tickling my nipples until they peak, a devilish smirk appearing on his face. “You are a fucking goddess.”
A blush spreads on my cheeks. No one’s ever called me that.
Suddenly, his hands grip my ass, and he drags me over his hard, wet body until my pussy is right in front of his face.
“And I want nothing more than to devote myself to this fucking pussy.”
My lips part, but I can’t even say another word because his tongue drives into me with full fervor, leaving me fighting for a breath. He buries his tongue inside me and curls it, licking me from the inside out, and my knees start to quake from sheer need.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“Sit on my face,” he groans, lapping me up.
My jaw drops. “What?”
He slaps my ass. Hard.
And I’m forced down on top of him because of it.
“Did I stutter?” When I do what he says, he groans like a man succumbing to a long-ignored lust. “Sit and let me lose my breath on your pussy.”
His tongue circles around so good it makes me moan out loud, and I don’t even mind anymore. Hot water pours down on both of us, and the blood of my enemies still covers my body, but all I can think of is rolling my hips around his mouth and letting myself enjoy his sinful tongue.
Because good God, does he know how to use it.
Even though he must be having a hard time breathing, his tongue does not relent. And slowly, I begin to gyrate on top of him as his tongue bores into me.
“That’s it, my little slut, use me, fuck my tongue like a good girl,” he murmurs between licks and kisses, driving me insane.
I grip his hair and roll around on top of him, enjoying every inch of the wickedness that’s become us.
His thumb drives into my ass, and I don’t even mind as he starts moving back and forth, adding even more pleasure, bringing me to the brink of destruction.
“Let me taste you,” he murmurs, slapping my ass with his free hand. “Come for me. Come all over my face.”
And the mixture of pain, delicious licks, and his devilish voice pushes me into the pit of ecstasy. The orgasm is so good I moan his name loudly, “Nathan!”
His eyes open wide, and he suddenly stands with me still in his arms, carrying me back inside the shower, only to press me against the wall, and he smashes his lips onto mine with so much force I’m lost for words.
The kiss numbs every doubt I had in my mind; these boys have captured my soul and ruined me for anyone else.
“You called my name when you came…” he murmurs when his lips unlatch, and his piercing blue eyes bore into mine. “Does that mean you’ll forgive me?”
I bite my lip. “No, but I might if you work for it hard enough.”
A slow, dirty grin forms on his face. “Hard … I can do that.”
And he pushes up against me with his thighs, pushing my legs up so I can feel his shaft bouncing up and down, piercings tingling my skin. Grumbling sounds emanate from deep within his chest as he presses filthy kisses all over my neck, his tongue darting out to lick up the blood of our enemies.
“You taste like a heavenly package wrapped in sin,” he murmurs. “Sent straight from the gods into my lap.”
“Yet you were convinced you hated me because of my brother,” I mutter as his lips roam across my breasts.
He takes my nipple into his mouth and tugs at it when I speak, making me bite my lip. “Make no mistake, I still hate him with every fiber of my being.” He looks up at me from underneath his lashes as he zips down and pulls out his hard-on. “But the need I feel for you burns harder than that kind of hatred ever could.”
When he thrusts in deep, my mouth forms an o-shape, stars in my eyes.
And as we connect, I realize his thoughts mirror my own.
Nathan
I bury myself deep inside her and watch her face unravel, wishing I hadn’t been such a fucking fool. I was too blinded by rage to see what was right in front of me, to see the beauty in her violence and make it mine.
I wanted to. I wanted to so badly it made me hate her with every fiber of my being.
How was I attracted to the one girl who almost destroyed me?
The girl who carries the same name as the guy who ruined my life?
But Lana fucking Rivera has me fucking hooked, and I just can’t get enough.
Despite all the hatred I spewed at her, she persisted. Fought back and owned the darkness hiding within her soul, wielding it like a weapon to save my sister from a terrible fate.
And the second I saw her emerge when Kai and I pulled the table away, I finally realized the truth.
I need this woman.
I need her more than I need my fucking life and am willing to die for it.
I hover in front of her, still deep inside her, throbbing with need.
But I need to hear her say it.
“Please … forgive me,” I whisper, my lips aching for hers. “I won’t stop until you do.”
“Kiss me,” she murmurs, rivulets of water rolling down her face. “And maybe I will.”
I kiss her with everything I have to give, taking her mouth as though it always belonged to me, even though I’m not the only one to stake this claim. I’m more than willing to share as long as I can have this.
This mouth, this pussy, this goddamn divine body, and that killer brain of hers.
Mine.
I drive into her, whispering into her ear, “You’re mine, even if you hate me for making you, for wanting you so desperately neither of us can stop, but fuck me, you’re mine, Lana, and I will make it up to you, even if it costs me the rest of my fucking life.”
“Yes, fuck, yes,” she moans, and it’s all I need to hear to roar out loud and explode deep inside her.
Suddenly, the door closes, and I tilt my head to see Kai standing in the doorway, his arm hooked underneath Milo’s shoulder to help him stand.
“Milo,” I mutter.
And with my cock still inside her, their eyes widen in front of me.
“What are you doing with my girl?” Kai growls.
