by M. Sinclair
Something I desperately needed to explore.
My kiss was more nervous and almost experimental in comparison to my kisses with the others, but luckily, it seemed to be all I needed to do. I let out a soft moan as Dermot rolled onto his back and tugged me up to straddle him, his large hands sliding down my waist to grab my ass and lock me into place. I unashamedly rolled my hips against him as he gripped the back of my head and set an intoxicating pace.
I felt like I was drowning in him. Like he was drowning me in lust. My skin prickled with heat, and everything seemed to go dizzy with just his touch. I wanted more, and my fingers gripped his shirt in frustration, wanting it off, wanting to feel more of him. Touch more of him.
“Dahlia…” he groaned, pulling back slightly. I flushed, searching his gaze for any sign of regret. I mean, heck, I had never even told him I liked him… and I had no idea how he felt about me.
“Sorry,” I winced slightly. “I should have asked. I mean… I don’t even know how you feel and you probably think I am absolutely insane after everything today—”
“It’s not the kiss I’m worried about, and rest assured, baby girl, I very much feel the same.” His heated response had me shivering as his gaze softened. “I just don’t want you to jump into anything that you aren’t sure about. You fucking terrified me earlier, Dahlia.”
I loved my name on his lips, especially with his accent.
“I’m sorry.” I rested my head against his chest, burying my nose on his throat. “I wanted so badly to handle this on my own. I was ashamed it was still going on. I felt like it was stupid to begin with, and it just got worse, and I didn’t want to bother anyone with it…”
Now I was, for sure.
“Didn’t you tell Stratton that it wasn’t weak to ask for help?” Dermot demanded softly as I froze in realization. I pulled back and let out a small exhale, then nodded.
“You’re right,” I whispered and then groaned. “I feel so stupid.”
“You are anything but stupid,” he promised.
“Dahlia?” Sterling’s voice rang out from the bedroom door. I turned my head and offered him a hesitant smile. I could see exhaustion edging his expression, and his hair was stuck up in random places, making me know he had been running his fingers through it.
I crawled down the bed as Dermot cursed, his fingers grazing my ass as I shot him a small, narrowed gaze that didn’t hide my slight amusement, before Sterling wrapped me up. I threw my arms around him and breathed in his scent, loving when he pressed his forehead against my own.
“You okay, sugar?”
“Better,” I admitted as his nose brushed mine gently.
“I’m going to grab you some food, baby girl.” Dermot stood, kissing the side of my head, and I watched him leave. Sterling chuckled softly as I looked back at him in confusion.
“What?” I asked curiously.
“Nothing, sugar,” he hummed and then cupped my face, his eyes darting across my expression. “You know how much I love you, right, Dahlia? I mean, fuck, I should have made it more clear over the years, but you are everything to my brother and me. Absolutely everything.”
My cheeks tinted red. “I have always loved you, Sterling. I… actually think we may have all been dating this entire time. I’m not sure how I didn’t realize that.”
Sterling’s gaze lit up. “Yeah? Caught onto that? I’m glad everyone else saw it that way as well—we needed all those fuckers to stay away from you.”
“Which ‘fuckers’?” I tried to not smile at the jealousy in his tone.
He leaned forward, nipping my bottom lip before his heated words pressed between us. “You know exactly who I am talking about. All the fuckers that wanted to take you away from us.”
Huh?
“I have no idea who you are talking about,” I answered honestly. He tossed me back onto the bed and crawled over me, pushing a piece of my fallen hair back before kissing me in a forceful press of the lips.
“Good, that means they didn’t mean shit to you.”
I went to say something, but all of a sudden Lincoln was there, leaning over the bed and examining my face with interest, concern, and heat. I frowned at the dip of his brow, lifting my hand up to gently smooth it away as his twin ran his lips against my collarbone, making me shiver.
“How are you?” His voice was rough as Sterling offered him a concerned look.
“I’m better,” I mumbled and looked at how dark his eyes were. “Are you okay, Lincoln?”
He made a small noise in the back of his throat before he shrugged and leaned forward, pressing a soft, almost delicate kiss to my lips. I let out a soft hum, not feeling odd at all being between the two of them, pinned to the bed by one as the other kissed me. When he pulled back, I saw the darkness there, lingering.
Yeah, something was very much wrong here.
“We should go down to the office,” Sterling said, pulling back as Lincoln helped me up. “I know Yates and King want to talk. Are you okay to do that, sugar?”
“Yeah,” I whispered as Lincoln wrapped an arm around me, his energy almost clingy. I mean, I absolutely loved it, but I also worried about him. I had never seen him like this before. As we left the room, I wondered briefly if my parents had been informed yet, and I found myself hoping that wasn’t the case.
I wouldn’t know, because my phone was gone, and honestly, if I never got it back… I would be relieved. I was starting to truly hate technology.
Everything spun for a minute, my eyes watering as I tried to keep hold of my emotions. I could feel the anxiety right under the surface, and this small haze of numbness was my normal instinct to protect myself and make the boys feel better. I knew that. I also knew that tonight, sleeping, I would feel much more alone.
Unless I didn’t have to sleep alone.
“Where is Stratton?” I asked softly, my eyes moving towards his house as we made our way down the stairs.
“Outside,” Lincoln muttered, “on the porch. Do you want to go grab him?”
Nodding, I made my way down, hearing voices from the kitchen near my father’s office. Instead of following the twins that way, I pushed through the front door and instantly was surrounded by the scent of smoke. It wasn’t a bad smell, but I was unsurprised to find Stratton’s tense back facing me from where he was sitting on the stairs. I saw him freeze upon hearing me, flicking his cigarette towards the stone pathway before turning slowly to look up at me.
I swallowed at the shadows in his gaze, and instead of saying anything, I sat down next to him, burying my head against his shoulder. He let out a tight breath before he kissed my fingers, gripping my hand hard.
“Angel, I don’t know what to do to help fix this.”
His voice was raw and tired, and I moved onto his lap, his arms wrapping around me fully. “A hug?” I suggested. “I could use one.”
It was honest and simple.
And he gave me one—in fact, his grip was almost suffocating as I felt him squeeze me. I knew he was upset. I also knew he probably wanted to be a broody asshole about this, but tonight he was just Stratton Lee. Giving me a hug. An amazing hug. I tried to not let the guilt hit me for being the reason they felt this way.
“We should go inside.” He finally stood, keeping me in my arms. “I want you to eat something.”
“Okay,” I whispered, not arguing with him. I knew we needed to talk about all of that… but not right now. For now, we would just deal with the biggest elephant in the room.
As we made our way through my dark house, I inhaled a delicious scent from the kitchen as Dermot offered me a small smile and nodded towards my father’s office. I knew King and Yates would be in there, and oddly, I found myself a bit nervous.
Stepping into the dark wood space, I instantly met Kingston’s gaze when he snapped around. He had been looking out the window, but in the blink of an eye, in a move that I swear was unnatural, he was across the room and pressing me back against the bookshelf on the wall near the door. I le
t out a soft worried sound as he seared our lips together, hard, not allowing me to speak or breathe.
When he pulled back, his eyes were dangerous and dark, his voice almost venomous. “Whoever fucking did this to you, Dahlia, is going to fucking die.”
Oh.
My breathing went a bit fast as I nodded, unable to deny him that, even in theory. Would he really kill someone for me? That was much too flattering. I cupped his jaw and leaned forward, kissing him once more as he let out a deep groan before turning away sharply and walking back towards the window.
My eyes flickered over to Yates, who was watching from where he stood near the desk.
Oh man, this was so not the Yates I was used to. First of all, the way he was watching me was… different than before. Way more different than usual. His eyes were a charcoal gray, and his face was expressionless as I swallowed, feeling a bit nervous. He motioned for me, with a curl of his finger, to come over to him, and I did so slowly.
Usually it felt like King was in charge, but right now he seemed completely in his own, violent world, and Yates was cool, calm, and almost clinical. It scared the hell out of me. I shook slightly as I reached him, his fingers curling around my waist while tugging me forward so I was standing between his legs.
“Yates,” I whispered softly.
His finger brushed my lips as he shook his head and spoke quietly. “I don’t care what it is, bunny. I don’t care how the hell it happened. You don’t keep shit from me. Do you understand? Never again. Promise me.”
“I promise,” I mumbled, my cheeks flushing.
He searched my expression before nodding and kissing my hand gently, causing me to shiver. “You are, singularly, the most important thing to me. Do you understand that? If anything ever happened to you, I would lose my mind, Dahlia,” he declared, his voice rough.
Oh, man.
“Yates, I—”
The door opened again as Dermot brought food in for me, my eyes lighting up on the bowl of what appeared to be pasta. Yates gently pulled me down on his lap as everyone, including Stratton, spread out through the room, leaving me to my pasta as I ate it slowly, feeling a bit self-conscious, but not enough to not eat.
“Princess.” King paced slightly as I put a fork up to my lips, taking a bite while watching him cautiously. “Do you have any idea of who could be behind this?”
“I have a guess.”
Every single one of their gazes sharpened as I nibbled my lip.
“Who?”
I looked to Yates and answered, “Abby Brooks.”
Silence filled the space as the boys exchanged a look that had my spine chilling.
“What?”
“There is something we need to talk about,” King said, his voice tired.
Why did I have a feeling this was going to be bad?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Yates Carter
Dahlia’s gaze filled with confusion and caution. My eyes ran over the way she bit down on her plush bottom lip, making me consider leaning forward to nip the injured skin. I wanted to punish her for keeping shit from me.
It was probably the healthiest option of how to handle my frustration with her. My frustration with her attempting to keep shit from me. I knew everything about Dahlia Aldridge. Things that she would absolutely never want me to know. It didn’t stop my stalkerish tendencies—in fact, in some ways, it only encouraged them. The woman was a beautiful puzzle, and I planned on collecting every single piece.
It was the only way that I could keep someone as complicated and perfect as Dahlia. On my own, without all the knowledge I had about her, I was far too fucked up to keep her happy. I knew that about myself. I was a complete asshole. I had very few redeemable qualities, but I had made it my fucking mission from day one to keep Dahlia safe, and I didn’t care how skilled I had to become at everything, from computer coding to hiding fucking bodies, to do it.
I was fucking furious someone dared to hurt her like this.
Unlike normal, my rage was ice cold, and I somewhat felt like King and I had switched positions. He was extremely worked up, and I knew seeing her pale and sick-looking in bed had done a number on him. I just felt cold. A cold fury that was completely centered around fixing this.
Later. I could let myself get worked up over it later, but someone had to have their shit together right now. My eyes ran over Dahlia’s frame perched in my lap, knowing that she would help me get over it ten times fucking faster than I would by beating the shit out of someone. I wondered how she would react if I told her that.
I was concerned that my emotions were going to make way for something far more dangerous than usual. I didn’t want to scare my little bunny, her form curled up against me, as I considered all the ways I wanted to sink my teeth into her and devour her. My fingers brushed against her back as she trembled slightly. I’d seen the caution in her gaze when I’d first called her over, feeling the shift in my temperament, no doubt, and I didn’t blame her one bit. I would never hurt her, but I honestly wasn’t positive what I would do to anyone else at this point.
“What do we need to talk about?” she asked, her voice a bit shaky.
I had felt like something was wrong all day. I hadn’t slept because of it, and instead had spent most of the morning burying myself in work and hoping for the best. Unfortunately, the FBI files had distracted me enough that the portion of my attention that was usually dedicated to all things Dahlia had faltered for all of an hour or so. It was enough that when I began to receive alerts about her popping up in search engines and being mentioned on social media, I had felt my heart freeze over.
Then I had realized exactly what was going on, and all I could think about was getting that shit taken down as fast as possible. I had prayed she wouldn’t see it, but I also hadn’t assumed we would be that lucky. We hadn’t been, and I was starting to realize that unless I was constantly tuned in to Dahlia, something bad could happen at any given moment.
It was an instinctual feeling and probably why I monitored her to such an insane extent. More so than even King knew. For one, I had a camera in her bedroom. It was fucking wrong, and usually I didn’t use it… well, that wasn’t completely true. Sometimes I watched her sleep to assure myself that she was safe. I also had monitors on all the doors and windows of her room. I knew all the houses had robust security, but it felt better knowing that I had my own.
Although, I did also have access to all of the cameras within her house. Sometimes I would find myself just watching her sashay through the halls, in a bikini, looking absolutely happy and at peace. It was probably why I got jack shit done when I was supposed to be working.
I had a tracker in her purse.
Unfortunately, I was thinking I needed a better option, because she didn’t use it nearly as much I would have assumed.
I had tried to put a tracker on her phone, as well as attempting to share her location with me, but whenever I was around, she kept her phone hidden. Probably because she knew I would do anything to break into it and confirm what I had already known. That Dahlia was fucking hiding something.
But now she had admitted it, and while I was pissed, I was far more interested in how she would react about what we had hidden from her. My fingers gently wrapped around the back of her neck as King offered me a look, and I tried to communicate that he was the one that needed to fucking handle this. I felt bad, because I could fucking tell he was close to losing his shit.
“This past year, we were contacted by the FBI about a possible drug issue within Camellia,” King explained quietly, Stratton’s frame shifting in slight surprise. I had tried to keep him in the loop as much as possible, but I had always been partly aware of his situation, and while I respected that he was doing what needed to be done, we needed his help now. So he would need to catch up quickly.
Dahlia set her fork down and frowned. “The FBI?”
King nodded, watching her expression, and I nearly sighed, realizing he was going to be far more delicate with t
his than we had time for. I turned her chin slightly and began explaining.
“We have been collecting information on people in this stupid fucking town for years now,” I leveled easily. “They knew that and contacted us regarding who we thought could possibly be responsible for the opioid issue.”
Her mouth popped open slightly as she nodded. “Okay… I have so many questions.”
“Later,” I assured her, smiling slightly, knowing that ‘later’ would be right after this and I’d better get comfortable because Dahlia wouldn’t get off my lap until she had all her questions answered. Something I was perfectly content with—in fact, I somewhat preferred it. Maybe I would even bargain with her while she ate.
I continued, “This morning, we received a list of possible suspects and one of them on there was Robert Brooks.”
“Oh, wow.” Her eyes went wide in understanding.
“So do we think they are somehow involved? I mean, I was serious about thinking she’s the one bullying me—there are a bunch of different reasons, but part of it is that she was really pissed when I told her to leave us alone before the holidays. The other part is that she wants you guys.” Her scowl was adorable as her nose twitched. “But to be involved in a drug trade? That’s insane.”
“They think their father is somehow working for Dixon Glenn, who escaped federal prison a while back,” Kingston leveled.
“So what do they want you guys to do?” She looked between all of us.
“Nothing yet, but the fact that Abby has targeted you only makes me more concerned,” Lincoln voiced finally, both of the twins seeming to be a million miles away. I knew what had happened today had really fucked them up.
“Okay, so what Max was saying earlier is making a bit more sense—”
“What did Max say?” I turned her head gently, my anger jumping at the concept of her being in the same vicinity as that fucking asshole.