NICK: Eating fries. She won’t stop talking about her mom and dad getting back together.
I stared at the text on my cell, texts from my brother in the next room, and clenched my jaw.
Nick: But you should’ve seen her in the car, man. Eyes closed, head back, rubbing her goddamn pussy. I wanted to fucking come all over her goddamn milkshake. I wanted to climb into that car and—
“Sonofabitch,” I growled, then lifted my gaze and cast the cell onto the bed.
The faint sound of their muffled voices drifted through the wall. I clenched my fists as my cell went beep.
I wasn’t going to read them…wasn’t going to look. But I couldn’t stop thinking about her, the way that pink fucking mark on her cheek blushed when I’d cornered her in the kitchen. The way her breath had hitched when I’d told her what I’d do to her.
Christ, I wanted to do that to her.
Her mom and the lawyers had been in dad’s office all fucking day. They were there when I came back from the gym, and they’d stayed there ever since.
Beep.
Don’t look…
Don’t fucking look.
Beep.
“Fuck.” I reached over and grabbed it from the bed.
Nick: She just got a message from her mom. Apparently there’s a special dinner tonight. She’s talking about wearing a fucking dress, for Christ’s sake.
A special dinner?
Something savage moved through me. My mind raced, searching all the possible threads it could be. Maybe they were moving out? Maybe Nick had been right and this was just a friend helping out a friend…and our life would go back to normal.
Me hating dad.
Nick and Caleb running interference.
That was the only reason they stayed, because they didn’t trust I wouldn’t kill him after what he’d done…they were smart to stay. There was a lot of unspoken truths between us. The kind of shit that sticks…the kind of shit I wanted to ram down his fucking throat.
I’m just the fucking messenger. Lazarus Rossi’s last words to me still fucking haunted me.
The words he’d uttered before I threw him to the ground and beat the shit out of him. He’d had no fucking goons then, no, it had been just him and me.
Because he’d trusted me.
I winced at the words. He’d been my fucking friend…the guy I’d thought of as blood. Now we were fucking enemies…and it was all dad’s fault.
Beep.
I jerked my gaze to the cell.
Nick: She’s fucking excited, man. You should see her, she fucking hugged me, pressing those little tits against my chest.
My cock grew hard as I took in a deep breath, my rage and hunger fusing. It was good they were leaving…good they left this place and the fucking rage and stench of death behind.
Run, little mouse. Run as fast and as far as you can.
I didn’t know what’d happen if she didn’t. I licked my lips, imagining them in Nick’s room. She thought he was a friend, thought he was the ‘good guy’. But he wasn’t. He was just as fucking excited about having her here as I was. He just needed a little…push.
Nick: She’s going to shower and get ready. I wonder if she needs some company?
A twitch came in the corner of my cheek as I jerked my gaze to the wall separating our rooms.
He wouldn’t fucking dare.
Would he?
I grabbed my cell and punched out a reply. You fucking touch her first and I’ll kill you, and hit send.
She was mine, mine if her mom didn’t move the fuck out.
She lingered in my head as I pushed to stand up. I needed to go for a run, needed to somehow get clear of her. This hunger in me wasn’t right. I yanked on my sneakers and pulled on a shirt before heading out the door. I raced down the stairs, listening to my dad as he chuckled. I was halfway down when the study door opened and he stepped out.
Our gazes met and surprise lifted his brows. “Tobias.”
“I’m heading out for a run,” I muttered, catching sight of Elle Castlemaine as she smiled and reached out, placing her hand on his arm.
She saw me then, her eyes widened, and her hand slipped from my father’s arm as she forced a smile. I didn’t wait any longer, just turned my focus to the stairs and left them behind. My damn head was booming as I yanked open the front door and stormed out. By the time I hit the front of my car, I was striding out, making my way to the gate.
The way she fucking touched him…the way he’d fucking smiled.
He hadn’t smiled that way with mom. I punched in the code and slipped around the gate as it opened. Then I was gone, lengthening my strides and pushing into a run. I’d already been at the gym for three hours this morning, but still it wasn’t enough.
I couldn’t stop thinking about her, about her tight little tit under my hand and the way her nipple tightened when I’d pinched it. I pushed harder, forcing myself faster as the fantasy returned. It wasn’t my fingers that grazed her flesh.
I wanted my tongue there, too. My teeth, as well.
Pure…
The scent of vanilla drew deep with every breath. I focused on the road and the houses. I focused on the kids on the swings that I raced past and the sun as it dimmed in the sky. I focused on anything else and by the time I turned into my street once more and slowed at the gates, I was spent.
Hard, sawing breaths consumed me. My shirt was soaked and stuck against my skin. I punched the code into the gate box with trembling fingers and yanked my shirt over my head.
When I opened the front door, I could hear them. Music piped through the speakers in the house, something old and…happy.
“Another bottle of champagne,” Elle Castlemaine called as I strode toward the stairs.
From the corner of my eye, I caught it as my father chuckled and strode to the kitchen. He didn’t see me, not this time. But there was something different about him, something I didn’t like. He seemed too happy to be moving Elle Castlemaine and her daughter out. Far too fucking happy.
My mouth twitched with a snarl as I climbed the stairs and headed for the bathroom. The scent of vanilla hit me like a fist to my gut as I stepped in and closed the door. Jesus. I closed my eyes and reached out, bracing my hands against the vanity.
My body was trembling, but my mind was still hungry, ravenous with a cruel fucking need. I yanked my clothes off and tossed them into the hamper before stepping into the shower and hitting the taps. Heat ran down my neck and my shoulders. Under the blur of the water falling in my eyes, I saw her things, her damn shampoo and conditioner. I reached and picked up a pink bottle of her bodywash and cracked open the lid.
Ylang Ylang.
Fuck, that shit smelled nice, real nice. I squeezed some out, rubbed my hands together, and ran them over my body. I was already fucking hard, too goddamn hard. It didn’t matter how many times I jerked off to the smell of her panties and her perfume, I still craved more.
More of her body.
More of her fucking soul.
I washed and rinsed, using my own shampoo before I stepped out and grabbed a towel. A thud came from the other side of the door before it opened. Nick stepped in, wearing clean jeans and an open-collared white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. “Dad wants you downstairs, apparently there’s an important dinner.”
“Good for him, enjoy that dinner.”
“Tobe.”
“Fuck off, Nick.”
He scowled, those golden-brown eyes darkening. “What the fuck has gotten into you?”
I clenched my jaw and wound the towel around my waist before smacking my shoulder into him on my way out. “I dunno, what do you fucking think?”
He stilled for a second, then strode after me. “You’re seriously pissed about that?”
I twisted the door handle and stepped into my room. “Get out of my face, brother,” I snarled before closing the door in his face.
I half expected him to come after me. If he did, there was no way I’d look him in the eyes without laying one on his nose. Did he touch her? The thought rose. Did he pull her close when she hugged him? Did he smell her fucking hair and press his cock against her body?
“Come downstairs, we’re all down there,” Nick said from the other side of the door.
I just jerked a glare toward the sound and unwrapped the towel, listening as he walked away. Come down there…why, so I could see them get fucking drunk and look happy?
That room rose in my mind, the room that had had my mom’s machines in it. Machines he’d made us haul to the garage and store in the dark. I lifted my gaze to the door and the sound of their voices. Come down there?
To what, see how fucking happy they were?
To see Ryth in her pretty green dress?
A dress I wanted to tear from her body…
With a growl, I strode to the dresser and yanked open the drawer, pulling on boxers, jeans, and a t-shirt. I’d fucking come to their dinner and see what they had to say. I’d give my father and Elle an ultimatum, move the fuck out and leave us alone, or else.
They just didn’t know it. So it’d better be good fucking news.
Her daughter’s virginity was on the goddamn line.
