by Caitlyn Dare
Temper Him
Rebels at Sterling Prep #6
Caitlyn Dare
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
Extended Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Caitlyn Dare
Copyright © 2020 by Caitlyn Dare
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter One
Kennedy
My body trembles as I sit here, watching Conner sleep. He looks so peaceful, so innocent. I trace the profile of his face, imprinting this moment and one of the best nights of my life to memory.
Conner loved me again and again, showing me just how good it could be between us.
But this is it.
I know I can’t stay a second longer, even though I never want to leave.
Forcing myself to stand, I glance at Conner one last time. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, silent tears trickling down my cheeks.
Backing away slowly, I tiptoe across the room and drop the handwritten note onto the nightstand. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but when you love someone, you make sacrifices for them.
You protect them.
And there isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do for the boy sleeping soundly in that bed.
Conner Jagger isn’t only my best friend, he’s my everything. My small slice of heaven in a world full of darkness and pain.
My hands tremble as I open the door and slip into the hall. It’s late, the middle of the night, so I don’t meet any other guests as I make my way downstairs. Every step away from our room is like another shot to my heart, and I know by the time I make it out onto the sidewalk, there will be nothing left.
I scan the reception, hoping to avoid a scene with the night worker. Thankfully, it’s empty and I hurry past the desk. But I pause at the last second.
Maybe I don’t have to do this.
Maybe if I just tell Conner what’s happening, he and his brothers and James can figure out a different way.
No.
I owe them this.
They’ve been nothing but good to me since I arrived in the Bay.
I won’t be the reason their lives are thrown into chaos again.
Drying my eyes with the back of my sleeve, I take a shuddering breath.
I can do this.
It’s nothing I haven’t endured already before.
Conner saved me, but now it’s my turn to save him and his family.
As I step outside and let the darkness swallow me, I tell myself I’m okay with that.
“Kennedy, thank fuck.” Warren stalks toward me, pulling my shivering body into his arms. I go rigid, silently willing my heart to calm down.
His touch is like ice, freezing me from the inside out, but I force myself to stay still, to accept his offer of comfort.
Not that his arms ever made me feel safe.
“I’ve missed you, baby. I’ve missed you so fucking much.” He holds me at arm’s length, his eyes moving over my face and down my body.
Something flashes in his eyes and I wonder if he can smell Conner on me, but then his expression morphs into one of relief. “Jagger?” He spits the word.
“Sleeping.”
“You did good, baby. So good.” He curves his hand around my neck and kisses my forehead. “Let’s get you home, shall we?”
Home.
The word is like a knife to the stomach. But I try to make my face say otherwise as I muster the best smile I can. “I’d like that.”
Warren doesn’t let me go, guiding me to his beat-up Chevy. The streets of Colton are quiet, no one around to witness my escape.
Not that it matters.
When Conner wakes up and sees my note, everything will change.
Pain coils around my heart, and I smother a whimper. Warren glances down at me but I pretend not to notice, keeping my eyes on the sidewalk.
“In you go, baby.” He opens the door and coaxes me inside. The second the door closes, the air leaves my lungs and everything grows small around me. The urge to run saturates my veins.
I can’t do this.
I can’t go back there...
But I have to.
This is bigger than just me now.
Tears threaten to fall again, but I blink them away, desperately trying to get a rein on my emotions before Warren climbs into the car.
His door opens and he folds his big body inside. Letting out a steady breath, he turns to me, a wolfish grin tugging at his lips. “Back where she belongs,” he murmurs, roughly grabbing my hand pulling me along the bench to him. “These last few weeks have been... shit, Ken, you really scared me there for a second.”
“Y-you left me.” I force out the words.
“I know.” He exhales again, banging his fist gently against the steering wheel. “But it’s okay now. I’m here, and you’re safe. And I’m never letting you go again.”
Warren stares down at me, his expression one of dark promise. For a second, I think he’s going to kiss me; to my relief, he doesn’t.
He fires up the engine and the car rumbles to life. “Ready?” he asks me, and I nod.
Even though I’m silently screaming “No.”
The ride back to Sterling Heights feels like forever. Warren keeps my hand in a death grip, refusing to let me go. He’s quiet, stewing on whatever thoughts are running through his mind.
The air in the car is thick, and I find it hard to breathe. Or maybe that’s just fear as we get closer and closer to the Heights.
“You know my old man has been real worried about you too, baby.”
I freeze at the mention of Warren’s dad.
“Got himself into a right state about it.” He squeezes my hand so tight I have no choice but to meet his gaze.
“He did?” I play dumb.
“Yeah. Had one too many and got into a fight with a door, stupid fucking idiot.” Something in his tone tells me he doesn’t believe a word of it, and my stomach clenches in fear for Conner.
“Is he okay?”
“He’ll live.” Something flashes in his eyes.
“Warren, the road.” I need him to stop looking at me. I can’t breathe with his evil, soulless gaze trained on my face, searching for my sins.
“Relax, baby,” he chuckles. “I know this place like the back of my hand.” Warren lets the car swerve a couple of times, laughing as my hands grip the dashboard to steady myself.
He’s crazy.
/>
Completely and utterly certifiable.
I steel my spine, pressing my lips together. My heart beats wildly against my chest, making me a little light-headed.
It’s still the middle of the night. Conner won’t wake up for at least another four hours. He won’t know I’m gone.
“Baby, what is it?” Warren’s thumb jams against the soft flesh of my cheek.
“I’m just tired,” I lie.
It’s something I’ll need to be good at if I’m going to stand any chance of surviving this.
As Warren navigates the familiar streets of the Heights, I try to assimilate all my memories of the last few weeks and lock them away tightly in the recess of my mind where he’ll never be able to corrupt them.
By the time the car crawls down the road winding through the trailer park, I feel better.
Stronger.
I feel ready to endure this nightmare.
So long as I’m here and Warren is mollified, Conner is safe. His family is safe.
It’s enough.
It has to be.
There’s no sign of Mitch, Warren’s dad, as we enter the trailer. It reeks of sweat and liquor, the smell almost overpowering as I fight the urge to retch.
“Come on, baby.” Warren drags me toward his bedroom, and it takes everything I have not to tear out of his grip and run.
I can do this.
All I have to do is separate my mind and body.
Warren’s room is tidy, a damn sight different to the rest of the trailer. He wastes no time dragging his hoodie and t-shirt off his body, revealing his muscular arms and broad shoulders. His stomach is shredded, tanned taut skin pulled over his long torso.
He grins. “I’ve missed you, baby.”
Bile rushes up my throat, but I swallow it down.
Oh God. This is happening.
This is really happening.
Memories of the last time we were together assault my mind. Angry words and clenched fists.
“Hey, Ken, what is it?” He crosses the small room to me. “What’s wrong?” He cups my face almost tenderly. But Warren doesn’t know how to be soft. It’s all a game, an act, his messed-up brain tricking him into playing a role.
“I told you, I’m just tired.” The lie sours on my tongue as I try to meet his stare.
“You’re safe now, baby. I’m not going to let anything hurt you again. I promise. Come on, let’s go to bed.”
My eyes flutter closed of their own volition. When I force them open again, he’s still watching me, still staring at me like I’m the thing he both loves most in the world... and hates.
But Warren doesn’t know how to love.
I learned that the hard way.
He starts undressing me, meticulously stripping the clothes from my body as I stand there, rooted to the spot.
“So fucking beautiful.” His fingers brush the curve of my breasts, lingering. I glance down to find him staring at the little cluster of bite marks.
Fuck.
My blood turns to ice.
“I can—"
“I’ll never let him hurt you again, baby. Never.”
Warren scoops me up in his arms and carries me to his bed, pulling back the covers and laying me down. His touch is all gentle and wrong. At least when he’s hurting me, I know where I stand.
My body begins to tremble again as he climbs in beside me and pulls me into his arms.
“Baby, you’re shaking.”
“I-I’m cold.”
“Come here, I’ve got you.” He rolls me over, tucking me against his chest. His arms tighten around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder. His body plastered against mine has me biting my cheek. I can feel him hard and ready at my back.
Oh God... this is really happening.
“Fuck, I’ve missed this.” He says the words so softly it would be easy to believe them—if he hadn’t destroyed my soul time and time again.
We lie there in heavy silence. For a second, I think Warren has fallen asleep. But then his fingers begin to brush my stomach.
Fear grips me in a chokehold as I silently pray that he won’t try and take it any further.
I’m not ready.
Not now, not tonight.
Not when Conner was inside me, loving me, less than a few hours ago.
Tears roll down my cheeks and this time, I let them. He can’t see me, and I can’t hold them in any longer.
Warren presses a kiss to my shoulder. “Baby?” he whispers, but I don’t answer.
Hopefully, he’ll think I’ve fallen asleep.
Hopefully, he’ll give me time to readjust to being back.
“Ken?”
I hold my breath, willing him to stop. His hand slides down to my navel and I want to claw my skin off at his touch. He glides lower, covering my pussy with his hand. “I’ll never let him touch you again, baby,” he murmurs, and I can’t figure out if he’s talking to me or himself.
“You’re mine, Kennedy. Mine. And I’ll never let you out of my sight again.”
Chapter Two
Conner
The note flutters from my fingers as disbelief washes through me.
No.
I'm dreaming. I have to be.
My fists curl, my nails digging into my palms, but the pain shooting up my arms tell me what I don't want to accept.
I'm awake, and this is real.
"NOOO." The roar that rips from my lips doesn't sound like my voice as it echoes around the empty room.
Reaching out, I wrap my fingers around the first thing I can. I pull at the lamp on the nightstand so hard that the cable rips from the back seconds before it shatters against the opposite wall, the ceramic base falling to the floor into jagged shards, just like my fucking life.
It does fuck all to help the crater of darkness that's opened up inside me. The nightstand is next, followed by every piece of furniture in the room that's not nailed down.
My chest heaves and my breaths race past my lips as I continue to rain havoc down on the room.
I don't stop until there’s a knock at the door.
"Sir, is everything okay?"
I ignore them. Instead, I reach for my boxers and sweatpants and pull them up my legs.
Blood drips from my knuckles from where they collided with the wall, but I don't feel the pain. All I can feel is my heart ripping in two.
After last night, how could she just walk away like that? How could she...
"Warren," I breathe, realization slamming into me.
There's no way she'd have walked away from me. Not while we're here. She wouldn't.
I fall down on the edge of the bed, surrounded by destruction as all my concerns from yesterday come rushing back.
She was so distant, so... not herself.
This was why. She knew she was going to do this.
My fists curl once more.
I'm going to kill that motherfucker. Blood roars in my ears so loud that I don't hear the hotel room door open or people rush inside.
"Sir. Sir. Sir..." It's not until someone waves in front of my face that I realize there are people standing before me.
Two security guards and a sheepish looking hotel worker stare down at me as if I'm about to explode any second.
"We need you to come with us, sir."
The two massive guys take an arm each and I'm practically dragged out of the room and toward the elevator.
"You can let go, you know," I seethe, ripping my arms out of their hold.
They're both silent behind me as we descend through the hotel, heading for wherever the fuck they're taking me.
The elevator doors open and I'm pushed out.
"What the fuck?" I look up the second the voice hits my ears to find Cole and Hadley staring at me with their chins dropped. "What the fuck have you done?" Cole asks, stepping forward and releasing Hadley.
"Let's go," one of the security guards bark. "Officers will be here shortly."
"Officers? Conner?"
"Ju
st leave it," I growl at him, allowing the guards to pull me down the hall.
"Cole, do something," Hadley shrieks before his footsteps follow us.
I fall down into a chair in an office and immediately drop my head into my hands.
"Call off the police. We'll cover the cost of whatever he's done." Cole says more, but I tune him out, preferring to drown in my own misery.
The door eventually closes before I feel Cole’s stare turn on me.
"Talk."
"Fuck you," I bark.
"Nah, you're good. I'm kinda worn out from last night, if I'm honest. Thought you would be too after a night with your girl."
My teeth grind as his attempts to get me talking begin to work.
"Shut up, Cole."
"No can do, motherfucker. I need to know why James is going to have to dig you out of this shit."
"She's gone, all right?" I shout, standing with such force that the chair clatters to the floor behind me. "She's fucking gone."
I look up at Cole as the color drains from his face.
"Gone? Gone where?"
"Back to him," I seethe.
"Fuck off, no she hasn't. You're jumping to conclusions."
"Am I? She left a fucking note. She's gone."
"A note telling you she was going back to that fucker?" Confusion clouds his eyes.
I think back to the words on that piece of paper and my stomach turns over. "Basically."
His shoulders tense and his lips press into a thin line. "Well, let's go and fucking get her back."
"I..." I trail off, the realization slamming into me that going back might be what she wants.