Flexing my jaw, I run a hand through my hair, tension coursing through me. Everything in me wants to go to her and pull her into my lap without pause or thought, letting my sister know Kennedy is mine. “Fuck it.”
I slide the glass door back, both my sister and Kennedy’s attention on me as I walk toward them. I don’t have time to analyze my sister’s facial expression, because I go straight to Kennedy and pull her out of the chair, crashing my lips hard against hers.
It surprises me that she kisses me back instead of pushing me away, wrapping her arms around my neck as if to show Blaire we’re together.
“Damn, Colson,” my sister says the moment mine and Kennedy’s lips part. “I’ve never seen Dax kiss her like that.”
“Because he hasn’t,” I reply, cupping Kennedy’s face. “You told her?”
“She told me, doofus.” My sister sits up from her chair. “Not that she had to. You’re horrible at keeping this a secret. I caught you sneaking out of the house with your skateboard the other morning and I knew you didn’t sleep on the couch, because I got up early in the morning to pee. You most definitely was not on the couch at four a.m.”
“What about Dax?” I ask, wrapping my arms around Kennedy from behind. “You didn’t tell him?”
She shakes her head. “Hell no. That is not my place.” She stands and takes off her bikini cover-up thing. “I’m here to relax, swim, and have a good time. I don’t want to be in the middle of this.”
“I’ll tell him,” Kennedy spins around in my arms to face me once my sister jumps into the pool, “next week. I just want until then to enjoy a little more time together with no stress from the outside world. Once he finds out we’re together, I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, and that terrifies me.”
“I won’t let anything happen, Kennedy. I’ve wanted you too long. If I can hit on you with no shame while you’re with my brother, I sure as hell don’t give a shit now that you aren’t.” I tangle my hand into the back of her hair and press my lips against hers, showing her I’ll take care of her for as long as she’ll let me.
“Are you two going to get in the water or what?”
I grin and pick Kennedy up, wrapping her legs around my waist. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to do this.” Before she can react, I walk over to the edge of the pool with her in my arms and jump in.
She laughs and pushes my hair from my face once we come back up for air. “Your clothes.”
“There you go again.” I smile against her mouth and squeeze her ass in my hands, my dick growing hard. “Always wanting my clothes off. You sure you want that with my sister right over there? I could always take you to my old room where it all started.”
“Okay, I’m not even going to ask about that, because I’m not sure I want to know, but you two are disgusting!” Blaire yells, jumping onto a floatie. “Where are my headphones when I need them?”
Kennedy places her hands against my chest, pushing me back when I lean in to bite her neck. “Stop! Colson!” She laughs and yells, wiggling in my arms until she breaks free and swims away. “It’s probably best if you stay on that side of the pool.”
Smirking, I yank my wet shirt over my head and toss it to her. “Or maybe it’s best if my sister leaves the pool.”
“Oh my god, stop!” Blaire rolls over on the floatie so that she’s on her stomach. “I’m keeping my face covered just in case something nasty happens in my direct line of sight. I never had to worry about that shit when she was dat—”
“Don’t even fucking say it,” I warn, cutting her off. “It’s done. Finally. I don’t want to think about Dax with Kennedy, so just swim on your little floatie and fantasize about your boy-toys.”
“Speaking of boy-toys.” Kennedy swims toward me and wraps her arms and legs around my body. “Remember when I asked if you and Paxton were getting back together?” She laughs, combing her fingers through my wet hair. “Should I be asking if you’re going to date his cousin instead?”
“I’m not answering any questions when it comes to the Riley cousins, so you two go ahead and make out or whatever is that you do and I’ll get back to relaxing.”
“You don’t want to know what we do.”
“Too much info, little brother. Just keep it in your pants until you’re alone at least.”
“Think you can do that?” Kennedy whispers against my mouth. “It might be a while.”
“Hell no, but I’ll try.”
I don’t know how much time has passed, but my sister gets out of the pool to dry off. Kennedy is floating around on a floatie with her eyes closed, so just as she passes me, I grab her off, causing her to yell and freak out because she’s falling.
Blaire is standing by the pool drying off and laughing at us. It feels good to have her approval, although I didn’t think she’d be the problem anyway. “I’m going to take a quick shower before I head out. I’m guessing you two will be okay alone?”
“More than okay.” I back Kennedy against the pool and press my lips against hers, barely giving my sister time to make her escape.
“What are you doing?” Kennedy questions against my lips, moaning when I grind my hard dick between her legs. “We’re not having sex right here in the pool.”
“You sure about that?” I tease, loving the way her cheeks turn red. I slide my hand in between our bodies, running a finger inside her bikini line. “My sister is in the shower. There’s no one out here but the two of us.” I press harder against her. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve fantasized about fucking you in this pool?”
“No,” she whispers against my lips. “Tell me.”
“You really want to know?”
She nods.
“Every day that summer before I moved away.” I press my lips against her neck and then under her ear. “Imagining just the two of us in the darkness having a late-night swim, in the same position we’re in right now. There were only two problems standing in my way.”
She swallows, her gaze lowering to my lips when I run my tongue across them. “You belonged to my brother and I would’ve made you scream too loud. There’s no way we would’ve been able to hide what we were doing?”
“And now? We’d get caught in the dead of night but you want to try in the daytime and you don’t think we’ll get caught?” She laughs and flicks my nipple, thinking I’m joking about having sex right now.
“The difference now is that I don’t care who hears us, because you’re mine.” I capture her mouth with mine, showing her what it feels like to be mine. Her arms wrap tighter around me, her body moving against mine as if she’s desperate to have me.
“I don’t think so,” she says on a laugh, moving around me to swim toward the shallow end.
“Where are you going?” My dick jumps at the sight of her stepping out of the pool. Her ass in that little bikini has me aching to take her to my old room and fuck her where I should’ve years ago.
“To dry off before we end up naked in your dad’s pool.”
Liking the sound of that option way too much, I smirk and follow her out of the pool, loving that she can’t keep her eyes off my wet jeans clinging to my body. “I’d be more than happy to take you upstairs if you’d prefer to scream in there instead.” I come up behind her as she’s drying off and wrap my arms around her. “Keep bending over like that and I won’t hesitate to toss you over my shoulder and carry you there myself.”
“Is there ever a time you’re not thinking about sex? I’m seriously starting to think you were right about me not being able to keep up with you.”
I ignore the glass door opening and shutting, not caring that my sister has joined us outside again. She’ll have to get used to us eventually. “We can work on that.” I kiss her neck and get ready to turn her around when suddenly a hand grips my shoulder and I come face to face with Dax’s fist, it coming down hard against my jaw.
My muscles flex as the pain shoots through my face, but I stand tall, showing him I’m not backing dow
n. As much as I want to protect Kennedy from witnessing this shit, it’s been a long time coming.
“What the fuck!?” Kennedy screams in shock, her hands moving to cover her mouth as she watches Dax and I stand toe-to-toe, getting nose to nose. “Back off, Dax. We’re not together. It isn’t cool for you to just show up and start shit. Stop.”
Dax’s face is red with anger as he looks me over, ignoring Kennedy, and I can feel the hate rolling off him in waves, his need to get back at me outweighing any logic. “You fucked her,” he bites out, shoving me back a foot, before coming at me just to shove me again, “didn’t you? Not even a week after our breakup and you’re dating my ex? What if we were going to get back together like every other time? You’re a real fucking piece of work.”
“It’s not all on him!” Kennedy yells, attempting to put some space between us, but neither of us back down. “It’s as much my fault as it is his. It just happened. Take it out on me, not him. Please.”
Dax flexes his jaw from her words but keeps his attention on me. “Doesn’t change the fact that my brother is fucking my ex of eight years, now does it?” He shoves me for a third time, almost causing me to lose my footing. “Or that he fucked with you before we were broke up. He did this. Not you. If you weren’t blood, I’d kill you, Colson.”
“I’m getting real fucking close to losing my shit.” I come at him, pushing him with my chest and getting in his face again. “Stop acting like you didn’t know this was coming. I wanted her first, remember? You fucked me over long before I fucked you over. It’s done. It’s none of your goddamn business what she does now. You’re not the brother she’s with anymore.” I move in close, wanting to make sure he gets this loud and clear. “She’s mine now. This is the way it should have been all along.”
“Fuck you!” Dax stands up tall, flexing his muscles as if that’s going to intimidate me. I guess he’s scared to hit me now that I’m ready to fight. Still, I won’t hit ‘til he does. “She was my girl when you went after her. Someone we’ve known almost our entire lives, as if she was just some random girl I’d been sleeping with. That’s real fucked up, Colson. You don’t date someone for eight years if it’s not serious!”
“Dax.” Kennedy sounds desperate now. At this point, I’m sure she’s figured out that there’s no stopping this shit-show. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m a bitch for it, but I can’t take it back. I also can’t pretend anymore. Like I said before, it’s not all his fault. This shit started a long time ago in ways. I’ll take responsibility for my own actions. I could have said no. I’m the one that fell for him. We can talk about this alone. Let’s go inside.”
“Fuck that, Kennedy!” He turns his attention to her. “He’s my fucking brother, which is worse than my best friend. Me and him are flesh and blood, and you two thought it’d be okay to be together after all the shit we’ve been through. That’s bullshit, and it really fucking hurts. I went a week thinking you kept your word about Colson, just to find out that you slept at his house the other night. Do you get how that makes me look? It’s embarrassing, so fuck you too!”
“Calm the fuck down,” I growl out, pressing my finger to his forehead. “Don’t raise your voice at her again or I’ll stop caring who’s watching. She’s the only reason I’m holding back. Do you get me?”
He shoves my hand out of his face and laughs. “I get you all right, you piece of shit.” He loosens his tie, before ripping it off as if it’s suffocating him. “I get that you stole my girl. Does that make you fucking proud?”
“What part of I wanted her first and you knew it do you not get? She was with me every damn day near about. You knew I wanted more with her when the time was right.” I’m the one shoving him this time, pure rage taking over. “But like the asshole brother you’ve been my whole life, you took advantage of being older than me, of her being older than me. You cock-blocked me by going after her first because you knew I couldn’t, and that fucking hurt, so shut that shit up, Dax, because I haven’t done anything to you that you haven’t already done to me,” I say, pointing at my chest. “If you really wanna know the truth, then yeah, it makes me real fucking proud that I finally got the girl despite you standing in my way, and you better believe I’m going to treat her far better than you ever did! You’ve never deserved her. I know it, you know it, and she knows it.”
“You may have her now,” he grunts and steps in closer, “but don’t forget when she’s in your bed tonight, who was inside of her first. You can’t take that shit back. I’ll always be her first. You’ll never have that.”
“Dammit, guys! Just stop,” Kennedy cries out, taking a step back for safety. “We will leave. Break it up before things get out of control and one of you does something you’ll regret. Colson, let’s go!”
It’s too late. His words are looping on repeat in my head. I swing out, my fist connecting hard with his jaw. Fire burns through my body, nothing but hatred for my brother taking over as I elbow him in the face and then tackle him into the glass table, sending it crashing down to the cement. Not even the shattered glass surrounding us keeps me from wrapping my hand around his throat and squeezing until he’s blue in the face.
Struggling, he swings at me, getting one more hit to my jaw before my fist pounds repeatedly into his face, his blood covering my knuckles. I continue to swing, not able to stop until someone comes up behind me and my elbow accidentally connects to a face, sending whoever it is down to the ground.
My sister’s pained scream has me and Dax releasing the hold we have on each other. My adrenaline was pumping so high and fast that I hadn’t even noticed my sister came back outside, or that her and Kennedy have been yelling at us to stop until now—now that my sister’s nose is gushing with blood and I’m the asshole who made it happen.
“I told you two to stop!” Kennedy jumps down to help Blaire at the same time I reach out for her. “Blaire, are you okay? Let me see.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you. I didn’t know—”
“No! Don’t touch me.” Blaire slaps my hand away, looking between me and Dax before she pulls a piece of glass from her left palm and throws it down in anger. “Fuck you both. I’m so tired of you two fighting. You could’ve killed each other, yet it took me taking an elbow in the face to stop. Grow the fuck up. Kennedy is a grown woman and she’s made her choice. You two are like toddlers fighting over a toy. I’m sick of it.”
“It’s that asshole’s fault,” Dax says, running his arm over his bloodied face. “If he had just stayed the fuck away from Kennedy, none of this shit would’ve happened.” He stands to his feet, wiping the glass off his palm. “I’m done. Done with all of you. Have a nice fucking life, because I can promise I won’t be in it.”
“That’s fine with me. You haven’t been in mine in a while.” I growl after him. “But it’s not their fault. If you want to blame someone, take it out on me.”
“If I see you again and you’re with Kennedy, I’ll fuck you up no questions asked; I don’t care where it’s at. I will always want to kill you if I see the two of you together. That won’t ever change. There will never be working shit out for us. And if Blaire thinks that’s a possibility, then she’s just as delusional as the two of you. I’m out of here. Fuck all of you.”
I stand here, my chest quickly rising and falling as I run a bloodied hand through my hair, shame overwhelming me that I hurt my own sister because Dax and I are idiots. “I’m sorry, Blaire.” I reach out for her again and she slaps my hand, not wanting me to touch her. I don’t blame her after I hit her. “That never should’ve happened. You know I’d never hurt you. Things got out of hand.”
“No, it shouldn’t have.” Kennedy’s face is red, as if she’s fighting back tears. “I told you guys to stop. I begged you two to stop and look what happened.” She gestures toward Blaire’s bloody face. “I’m taking her inside to get cleaned up. I don’t know what else to do.” She sounds torn and looks hurt, as if whatever she’s thinking is killing her inside. “I think it�
��s time to do what should’ve been done long ago. We jumped into this too soon, knowing there’d be problems. It was a mistake.”
“No. Don’t fucking say it, Kennedy,” I beg, my chest hurting when she shakes her head and takes a step back as I reach for her. “Don’t ask me to walk away, because I can’t fucking do it. You know this already. We can figure this shit out together.”
“You really think that after what just happened?” she whispers, holding Blaire’s shirt to her nose. “This—your own sister getting hurt because of you both—can’t happen again. Or one of you almost killing each other. He couldn’t fucking breathe, Colson. His face was covered in blood and you just kept swinging and couldn’t stop. What if Blaire hadn’t gotten hurt? What then?” She pauses to swallow, and I know this is just as hard for her as it is for me. “Please walk away from this, because I’m not strong enough to do it myself.”
I grab my sister’s face to look at it. “Let me see it. I’ll take you inside and fix you up. I’m sorry, Blaire.”
“Go, Colson.” Blaire is so upset she’s shaking. It’s not very often I see her this way. “I can’t look at either of you right now. I don’t want you near me. I just want to go and make sure it’s not broken. Please understand. Listen to Kennedy and go. It’s best right now. Clearly, you see that, right? Dax made it clear he’s not going to let the two of you be happy right now. This whole situation is a mess just like I knew it’d be, but I was trying to be supportive, and look what it did.”
My sister shakes her head in disappointment before walking away as if she can’t get away from me fast enough. That hurts, adding to the sting.
“Fuck!” I reach for Kennedy’s arm, but she backs up. “I’m sorry for being an asshole, but what do you expect from me? You heard the shit he said about you.”
“Just go,” she pushes out. “Please, just go. For me. I’m asking nicely. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
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