by Ivy Fox
“I didn’t know you were so keen on fashion,” I taunt when I see Trevor Manning rummaging through one of the clothes racks.
His sinister smile widens when he sees me, making me instantly square my shoulders so he can see he doesn’t intimidate me in the slightest.
“Nothing wrong with looking at pretty things from time to time,” he coos, breaching the gap between us.
I roll my eyes and try to pass him by, moving in the direction of my workstation, only to have the brute grab me by the wrist and stop me from getting any further.
“Let go.”
“What’s the rush?”
“No rush. I just don’t like scumbags touching me.”
“You Graysons are all alike. Always thinking you’re better than the rest of us.”
“Oh, we don’t think we’re better than everyone, just better than you.” I bat my eyelashes at him.
He snarls and presses up against me until my ass smacks up against a table.
My fight or flight should kick in, but I know words slash Trevor up way more than my nails will damage his pretty face.
“What’s wrong, Trevor? Feeling inadequate?”
“You admit it then? You really think you’re better than me, don’t you?”
“I just told you. I know I am.”
He grabs me by the chin, allowing the first trace of fear to take hold of me. My hands fall to the back of the table he’s leaning me against, and I try not to flinch when I feel his breath on my face. All those years of practicing Krav Maga slip from my memory with the way Trevor’s cock seems to harden against me with each revolting word that leaves his lips.
“One day, Elle, you and the rest of your family will get everything that’s coming to you.”
Once I feel a familiar object in my hand, I press the scissors under his jaw, his eyes widening in alarm.
“That might be so, but trust me when I say it won’t be you who does it.”
“I’d be careful if I were you.”
“Big words for a man whose throat is seconds away from being slashed.”
“You don’t have the guts.” He smirks.
“Then you don’t know Elle Grayson like I do,” a voice calls out from the entrance of the room. Chad has his arms crossed over his chest, staring Trevor down. “Try her and see if you don’t believe me. I bet a scar on that smug face of yours would be an improvement.”
Trevor steps away with a snarl, pointing a menacing finger at me.
“We’re not done.”
“Yes, you are,” Chad states evenly, but there is no mistaking the threat in his eyes.
Trevor heads out of the room, but not before Chad whispers something in his ear that has the big jerk turning all shades of red.
Isn’t it just sucky how an asshole like that could be more fearful of a boy who wouldn’t hurt a fly than of me with a blade on his throat?
Misogynist prick.
“Hey, are you okay, babe?” Chad whispers when he’s next to me, gently tracing the pad of his thumb over my jaw where Trevor’s fingers had dug in.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just Trevor being his usual dickish self.”
“I think you should report that fucker to Principal Green. He stepped over the line today.”
“It wouldn’t make much of a difference even if I did. His mom would make sure Principal Green sweeps this little incident under the rug. Especially now that there won’t be any interference from the great Judge Grayson.” My shoulders slump in defeat, Chad’s green eyes softening.
“Still no improvement, huh?”
“Nope.”
“Good thing Thanksgiving is next week. You getting out of the city will do you a world of good. A change of scenery will definitely help the twins out. My mom already made sure that Asher and Ollie wouldn’t bail on our trip to Aspen. She thinks it’s about time they reconnected.”
“And how is Ash? He hardly even speaks to any of us anymore,” I ask, walking to my workstation, Chad at my heels.
“Honestly, I’ve been living with your brother for a while now, and he hardly says a peep to me either. But don’t worry. My mom is there for him. She’ll be able to help him out with his anger issues.”
Hmm. To be a fly on the wall during that therapy session.
Maybe then, I’d discover why Asher has been acting out in the first place.
Why they all have.
“I thought you were in class?” I ask after a pregnant pause, trying to divert the conversation away from my tumultuous family life.
“Technically, I should be. But I thought ditching algebra for an hour to spend time with my girl was a better trade-off.”
“Is that so?” I smile, turning around so he doesn’t see how his sweet gesture has me blushing.
“Yeah. I figured you’d be here working on Holland’s dress for the fashion show, so I thought why not lend a hand?” he explains, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and planting his chin on my shoulder.
“You always were the ‘helping a damsel in distress’ kind of guy.”
“We both know you are no damsel, babe.” He laughs.
“Hey!” I slap his forearm teasingly, his smooth laugh in my ear warming up my insides. “Are you here to help or mock me?”
“Can’t I do both? You know how much I love it.”
“You are insufferable.”
“And yet you love me,” he continues to tease, placing a kiss on my cheek.
I offer him a thin smile and bow my head, pretending to work.
That’s the problem, though, isn’t it?
Since I was five years old, I have loved him with every fiber of my being, yet I am still unsure if he feels the same way about me.
Like Rome, I also have the capacity to know when someone’s lying to me.
When Chad calls me his girl, I know he’s telling me the truth.
When he kisses me, I believe that, too.
So why does my gut tell me that he is as much of a liar as everyone else in my life?
Chapter 30
Chad
“I’m telling your mom that when we return to New York, I’m moving back home,” Ash announces out of the blue, his fingers flicking the hot tub water.
“Do you think you’re ready?”
“I have to get myself ready. The people I love need me, and I can’t hide up at your place and continue to lick my wounds anymore. It’s time I make things right with them.”
“Is that what you think you were doing? Hiding?”
His accusing glare lifts from the water and onto me.
“Stop fishing for info, Chad. I know your mom hasn’t told you shit about what I’ve got going on in my clusterfuck of a life. Stop trying to get the deets from me just so you can play the white knight for my sister.”
“You’re right,” I admit, not one bit upset by his remark since it was on the money. “Elle is just worried about you.”
“Yeah, I know,” he mumbles, deflated, leaning his head back against the edge of the hot tub. “I’ll make it up to her, too. Guess I won’t be winning any best big brother awards any time soon, huh?”
“Elle loves you. She just wants things to go back to normal.”
“There is no normal for us. That ship sailed the minute we were born Graysons.”
A heavy pause lingers in the air with his ominous statement. I lift my gaze up to the cloudless night sky, praying on each burning star that Ash is wrong. Elle deserves normal. She deserves everything. Her last name shouldn’t stand in the way of her happiness. Nothing should.
“I saw you on the slopes today with Ollie. Looks like you’re making headway with him at least,” I say, at last, wanting to move away from thoughts of my Elle never getting her happy ending.
“He’s my twin. If anyone knows the pain that I’m feeling, it’s him. We just deal with grief differently.”
“Hmm.” I store that piece of information away, wondering if the twins�
� hardships have anything to do with their father lying comatose back at Liberty General.
“It’s late,” Asher says after a spell, getting up from the hot tub. “Promised your mom I’d get a session in tomorrow morning before we head off to the slopes.”
“Okay. Night.”
He gives me a curt nod before retreating back inside my parents’ Aspen villa. A quick glance at our home tells me it must be late since most of the lights are off. I turn around to grab my phone, but all my muscles complain from the sudden move. Forgoing checking what time it is, I lean back, close my eyes, and just let the jets of hot water soothe my aching limbs.
I blame Saint for my sore body.
For the past week, I’ve been teaching him how to ski, and before long, he was doing it like he was born with skis under his feet, challenging me to up my game on the slopes. I can still hear the way he laughed when he first beat me down Snowmass Mountain. The joyous sound will be forever engraved in my memory. He looked so free and happy that his black eyes lit with life. I’ve never wished I could stop the hands of time more than at that moment. Although Elle wasn’t happy that Saint was coming with us this year, I don’t regret him being here for a minute. Not if I get more of those glowing smiles and carefree laughs out of him.
My thoughts of Saint are interrupted by the sound of approaching steps, so I lazily open my lids to find the other half of my heart standing there.
“I thought I’d find you here,” Elle says with a smile, fiddling with the slim belt of her robe.
“And I thought you were already asleep.”
“I’m too restless to sleep,” she replies, opening her robe and revealing her barely clad body.
I clear my throat as her robe falls to her feet, the white bikini leaving nothing to the imagination. Her smooth olive-toned skin glistens under the moonlight as she takes her time getting into the hot tub.
“Good thing you just missed Asher. I don’t think he’d approve of what you’ve got on.”
“It’s not his approval I want anyway,” she teases, sliding in next to me.
I inwardly groan when her leg touches mine.
“This is nice,” Elle hums, nestling her head on my shoulder.
“It is, babe. This trip is exactly what we all needed. A break from all the shit that’s happening.”
I kiss her temple, entwining our hands together as far away from the bulge in my trunks as I can. I doubt Asher will come back, but it’s better safe than sorry.
“Maybe when we get back home, I’ll get lucky, and all my problems will no longer be there.”
“What do you mean?” I arch a brow.
“Isn’t it obvious? All he has to do is die,” she mumbles under her breath.
Fuck.
So that’s what she’s thinking about.
“Look at me, Elle. Even if the judge makes it, that doesn’t mean you have to let him dictate your life. You’ve stood up to him before. What’s a couple more years?”
“Not years. Just one more. Then I’ll officially be old enough to leave the manor and get as far away from his clutches as I can.”
“Leave?” I croak since it’s the first time I’m hearing her say this. “But what about your brothers?”
What about me?
“The twins will ditch the manor the minute they graduate. And Rome is only there because of me anyway. He could have left years ago, but he hasn’t. It isn’t fair to him. He deserves to live his own life without having to worry about his baby sister. They all do.”
“Where will you go?” I whisper, feeling like someone just slammed their fist into my chest and is now strangling my heart with their vicious grip.
“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “Maybe I’ll take a year off and just bum around Europe for a while. Spend a month in Paris, another in London or Venice. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
“A whole year, huh?” My throat tightens just saying those words. “I’m not sure I like that plan too much.”
“Why not?” she asks, sounding surprised.
“Are you seriously asking me that? I’d fucking go crazy without you. I can handle a month, two tops, but a year? It’s not like when you’re up in the Hamptons, which is a three-hour drive. Paris? London? That’s fucking far from New York, babe.”
“Then come with me.” She grins, getting up from her seat and sliding onto my lap.
“Huh?” I mumble, too aware of how her flimsy bikini bottom is touching my cock.
She licks her lips and leans close to my ear, biting the lobe.
“I said come with me,” she whispers huskily, rubbing her hot core on me. My hands grab her ass, white-knuckling her bikini bottoms.
“Babe, not that I’m complaining, but what the fuck are you doing?”
“Persuading you to come with me to Europe when we graduate.”
She continues to grind on top of me, making me bite my tongue.
“I think you like the way I’m persuading you. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” I rasp as she continues to ride my cock under the hot water.
Her breathing begins to turn shallow, and before I can stop myself, I have one hand at her hip to help her movements while my other finds the softness of her throat. Her eyes go half-mast, her tongue peeking out of her parted lips as we stare at each other. We don’t say a word as she keeps dry humping me into fucking oblivion.
“Are you close, Elle?”
“So close,” she whimpers, her nipples hard as diamonds poking out of her bikini top.
“Let me help.”
I lean in closer, my hot tongue trailing a line down her chest, my teeth pulling away her top to reveal one perfect breast. I bite down hard on her nipple before sucking it into my mouth, a loud wail leaving her lips.
I clasp my hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide.
“Shh. When you scream, I want to be the only one who hears it.”
Slowly, I pull her bikini top off, thankful it’s still dry. I bite my lip before telling Elle to open her mouth for me. Confused, she does as she’s told, my cock swelling harder at her obedience. When I gently shove her top in her mouth, I don’t miss the spark that inflames her golden eyes.
“Pull back your arms and grab the edge of the tub,” I command huskily, my voice revealing the urgent need burning inside me.
Again, she does as she’s told, trusting me unconditionally. I pull away just enough to grab her ankles.
“Do you trust me?” I ask, needing her to vocalize her submission.
She nods, rubbing her thighs together to relieve the ache.
But that’s my job.
I spread her legs apart and wrap them over my shoulders, gaining a shocked, muffled gasp from her. Her chest heaves in anticipation, the warm water flowing over her naked breasts making them look even more tantalizing from where I’m sitting. With my gaze fixed on hers, I slide her bikini bottoms to the side, revealing the prettiest pink pussy I’ve ever seen. Precum coats the crown of my cock, as I lean in and smell her arousal for me. I’m parched and famished all at once, desperate to taste her on my tongue and satiate my hunger. The minute my mouth latches onto her pussy, I’m a goner. Every bit of her tastes like sweet strawberry sherbet, making it excruciatingly difficult not to come undone.
Her body trembles in my grip as I lap at her core, the pad of my tongue teasing her clit every so often just to hear her faint sobs. My fingers dig into her thighs, squeezing my head between them as I taste heaven itself. She squirms relentlessly, unable to withstand all the sensations her body is being gloriously punished with.
I look up at her, and without my consent, I imagine Saint devouring her mouth, his hands playing with her tits as I devour her pussy. To my utter shame, the forbidden thought spurs me on, and I eat her out as if I want to burn the fantasy away, one lick at a time. Elle’s body begins to convulse, finding her peak, her suppressed cry loud to my ears. Reluctantly, I pull away, licking my lips. Ever so gently, I pl
ace her limp body in my lap, removing her gag from her mouth.
“That was…”
“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I cajole, placing a tender kiss on her lips, tightening my embrace.
“Are you… are you okay?” she asks shyly, feeling my hard steel mast beneath her ass.
“I’ll survive.” I chuckle playfully, kissing the tip of her nose.
She goes quiet for a moment, her finger running up and down my chest.
“Chad?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“I want you to be my first,” she confesses, my cock bobbing away at her words.
I groan inward, shifting in my seat so as not to poke her with it.
“I want that too. We have time. We don’t have to rush it.”
“Don’t you want to be with me?” she counters, sounding hurt by my reply.
“Of course, I do. But we can wait until things are less complicated.”
“Complicated?” she mimics back, unconvinced, tilting her head up from my chest to look me in the eye.
“You have a lot going on right now, babe. Having sex for the first time is a big decision for both of us. I don’t want us to take that type of a step when you’re at your most vulnerable. We’re together now. That’s all that matters.”
Her brows crease, revealing suspicions in regards to my lame-ass explanation.
“Hey, look at me, Elle,” I whisper lovingly, picking her chin back up with my index finger. “You’re my girl. Always and forever.”
The meek smile that crests her lips splits my heart in two.
Even if I don’t say the words, she knows me well enough to sense when I’m holding something back. And she’s right, I am.
There is no way she would understand that the reason why I haven’t made love to her yet is because I’m scared. Scared that while she’s promised her heart, body, and soul to me, I’ve subconsciously pledged mine to him, as well.
I was positive that, with time, I’d see things clearly and know exactly what to do, but I don’t. The only thing that the years have shown me is that my love for Elle is as fierce as what I feel for Saint. I’m stuck in an impossible situation with heartbreak written all over it. And once I make love to the girl who’s lived inside my heart for most of my life, I’ll have to say goodbye to the black-eyed boy who rules my every thought.