“That was fast,” I round the corner and run smack into Dominic. His eyes widen as he grips my wrist, shaking the knife out of my hand a split second before impact. I sputter as he glares down at me while ripping his earbuds out.
“What the fuck?!”
“I’m s-s-sorry, I thought you were Sean and you heard me.”
“Obviously, I fucking didn’t.” I gawk as he glances around the kitchen. “What are you doing?”
“Obviously, I’m cooking,” I snap. “You don’t have to be so rude.”
My anger amuses him. “I like my steak rare.”
“That’s Tyler’s steak.”
“Mine now,” he reaches behind me and pops a cherry tomato in his mouth.
“I’m not cooking a damn thing for you.”
He yanks me to him, and I lose a little bit of breath as he eyes my mouth. “My house, my rules. You cook for one of us. You cook for all of us.”
“Also, Sean’s house, my hands, and my fucking prerogative.”
His smile is cruel. “You like playing house?”
“I’m not playing house. I’m cooking for my—”
“Boyfriend? Cute. You think Sean’s your boyfriend?” He sets me loose, and I pick up the knife between us, tempted to use it as I backtrack. “I didn’t say that. I didn’t say he was my boyfriend.”
“You didn’t have to. Word to the unwise, careful about getting attached, sweetheart.”
“Yeah, what do you know?” I snap, slapping the knife on the counter behind me.
He smirks, opening the fridge and grabbing a water bottle. He downs it as my eyes glide over him. His thick onyx tresses are askew, his bare chest covered in a sheen of sweat, droplets trickling down his eight-pack dispersing into a faint happy trail. I dart my eyes away but feel his gaze weighing heavily on me. “He fucks you in the woods, doesn’t he?” My eyes snap to his, but I clamp my mouth closed. “Let me guess. He took you to a pretty waterfall.”
I feel slapped. Worse than that, I feel…played. But I rise to the occasion.
“Actually, no. He fucked me in his Nova first.”
His answering chuckle is infuriating. “Oh yeah, a backseat Betty?”
“What are you, jealous? I don’t see any girl around here clamoring to cook for you. There’s probably not a dumb enough woman alive.”
He steps toward me, placing the drained bottle on the counter behind me, crowding me to the point I’m forced to lift my chin. “Such nasty, hateful words from a filthy, cum-coated mouth.”
I rear back, and in a second flat, he’s controlling the hand meant to slap him to cover the bulge in his shorts. “Careful, violence makes me hard.” He tilts his head and his eyes flare, the sight of them like the glint of a knife. “I’m a psychiatrist’s wet dream.”
I struggle against him as he runs my hand along his dick, which is very, very hard. It also makes it almost impossible not to estimate the size of it. That sick rationalization makes my stomach turn.
“Too bad for them, I’m not weak.”
“I’m not weak.”
Though drenched in sweat, his clean scent invades me. “Do you come when he fucks you against the trees?”
I look past his shoulder, praying for Sean to appear and come up empty.
“Eyes on me, Pup,” he spits with disgust.
“Let me go.”
“I already have, but you’re doing a good job.” It’s then I realize my fingers are running along his dick of their own accord. I jerk my hand away, and his dark chuckle fills the room.
“Why are you acting this way? I’ve done nothing to you.”
“Maybe I just don’t like you.”
“Well then, maybe I just won’t give a fuck.”
He leans in and grips my chin, hard. “But you do.”
I rip my face out of his hold just as the door slams. I’m shaking from head to toe when Sean rounds the corner. One look at my face wipes his greeting smile away.
“Your girl just rubbed on my dick,” Dominic says as if reporting the weather while he snags a beer from Sean’s bag, twists off the cap and flicks it toward the sink. My jaw goes slack and Dominic shrugs, “She likes watching me sleep, too. Thought you should know.”
I shake my head furiously, tears threatening as I look over to Sean. “That’s not true, Sean, that’s not true.”
Setting his bag down, Sean curses and holds up a finger muting my defense before following Dominic up the stairs. Perplexed, I stand in the kitchen while my carefully planned apology dinner goes up in flames.
I’M ALREADY OUT OF THE house and halfway to my car when Sean catches up to me.
“Cecelia.”
“He’s the fucking devil,” I’m feeling guilty, humiliated, and furious.
“Trust me. He’s not.”
I open my car door and Sean slams it. “Don’t let him fuck us up.”
“I didn’t touch his dick.” I’m lying. I’m lying to him. “I did, but not that way.” Sean’s mouth quirks as I groan in frustration. “Not in a sexual way. He…I did see him naked. This morning. He had his door wide open and he was lying there. Naked. And I saw him.”
Sean’s lips twist up further into a smile. “That bastard would work naked if he could. He’s a nudist. Don’t worry about it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. Is that why you’ve been jumpy today? You thought I’d be pissed?”
“Well, I didn’t know…” I shake my head. “It’s a weird position to be in.”
“Dominic is a master of flipping a situation. It’s nothing new.” He watches me carefully. “Did you like what you saw?”
“W-what?” I gape at him.
“There’s no other way to ask that question, Cecelia.”
He’s not backing down and he can read me, so it’s pointless to lie. I don’t want to lie to Sean.
“He’s attractive, but—”
“The blow job this morning?” He lifts both brows and his smile goes a mile wide. “That was either guilt, or you were hot, or both.”
“Can we talk about how your roommate is the Son of Satan for a second?”
“Deflecting,” he laughs. “Interesting.”
“Shut up. He’s attractive, and he knows it. He’s also several other choice adjectives.”
Sean grips the back of my neck and pulls us nose to nose. “I’m fucking crazy about you. You know that, right? Last night was incredible.”
I return his grin. “Feeling’s mutual. I just didn’t know how to tell you without—”
“It’s okay to look, Cecelia,” he drawls. “And I rather enjoyed that guilty blowjob.”
“I really, really don’t like him.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He releases me. “He lives here, so get in there and finish cooking or he wins.”
“Are you crazy? I’m not going back in there. He twisted my words—”
“You need to stand your ground with him and do it early, or he’ll walk all over you.” It’s an unapologetic order and his tone is borderline militant, much like last night. I deflate a little.
“Sean, how did he know we went to the waterfall?”
Sean’s eyes deaden and he stares on at me blankly. “So, you’re going to let him win.”
“Are you going to answer me?”
His silence is answer enough. I try and read into the look in his eyes, but he’s not backing down. He’s not going to apologize for someone else’s actions. And he damn sure doesn’t want me to play victim. As pissed as I’m getting, he’s absolutely right. If I leave and let everything Dominic says and does get in the way of Sean and me, he will win.
Tossing my shoulders back, I make my way through the cars and head back inside.
“Get ‘em, baby,” I hear Sean chuckle behind me.
Dominic glares at his well-done steak as I bite into a mouthful of salad, not bothering to hide my smile at all.
His eyes meet mine and he lets out a low whistle. Brandy, Sean’s spitz bounds down the stairs as Dominic
tosses the whole steak over his shoulder.
“She can’t chew that, asshole,” Sean objects, picking up the steak and tossing it on the counter, using his silverware to slice it up without a cutting board.
Animal.
“Then maybe you should have gotten a real dog, not a fucking shower poof,” Dominic fires back.
I can’t help my giggle. I hadn’t expected such a lady dog when Sean introduced me to Brandy, and I gave him hell for it.
“At least she’s amusing,” Dominic sizes me up. “Do you do tricks too?” He stabs into his broccoli.
Sean gazes on at me expectantly and I briefly entertain throwing my plate at Dominic, but I decide not to waste a good steak.
And anyway, what in the actual fuck is going on? I look between them and see no sign of conspiracy, but why is Sean not defending me? Not even a little. I get that he wants me to stand my ground, but where’s the backup? Shouldn’t he at least say something? Using that anger, I turn to a freshly showered Dominic, his dark hair tousled on top of his head, his skin darker from his run. A smug smile on his beautiful bastard face.
“Look, Major Malfunction, I get that you have some sort of personality disorder, but can you, just until I finish my steak, try to play nice?”
Sean throws his head back. “Major Malfunction. Good one, baby.”
“Backseat Betty says you fucked her in your Nova,” Dominic supplies as my steak catches in my throat. I choke it down and grab my water, my eyes flying to Sean. This man will use everything I say against me, every word.
Sean glances toward me with a raised brow and I flit my hostile gaze to Dominic.
“So, you like twisting words, huh?”
“I like playing with simple-minded people,” Dominic sips his beer. “It’s a hobby.”
“Fuck yourself, Dominic, there’s a hobby.”
He tongues his upper lip as if contemplating and then shakes his head. “No, I’d much rather you finish that hand job you were giving me before your boyfriend walked in.” He turns to Sean. “By the way, I wouldn’t get to comfortable with her. She was really reluctant to call you her boyfriend earlier. Between that, her staring contest with junior, and the chub rub, I’m thinking she’s not the girl you should introduce to Mom.”
I slam my silverware down, glaring between them. “Okay, what’s the joke?” I fixate on Sean. “Are you not going to say anything to this asshole?”
“Trust me,” Sean sighs, “it doesn’t matter what I say.”
I surge to my feet. “Enjoy your dinner.”
“Oh, look, she has a breaking point.” Dominic tsks as I gather my purse, “How original.”
I head for the door; hearing Dominic speak up behind me. “I told you she doesn’t have it in her.”
“Give her some time.”
I’m beyond the bullshit and any attempt to understand their exchange when Tyler walks in just as I reach the door. “Hey, gir—”
“Hey, Tyler, I can’t…excuse me,” I push past him, tears threatening and slam the door behind me.
I’m fuming mad, standing at my driver’s door when I realize Tyler blocked me in. Intentional or not, he’s aware of it by now and not even he is going to make it easy on me. I stand in the heat for endless minutes before I hear the front door open and close. Sean appears and I dart my eyes away.
“You plannin’ on glaring at the front door all night, Pup?”
I look up at him to see he’s smiling which only infuriates me further. “You guys are assholes.”
He dips his chin. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” I round my car, tossing my purse on the hood. “Maybe? What is your game?”
“No games. I told you not to play into his shit and you did anyway.”
“He’s horrible. And what did he mean by, ‘I don’t have it in me?’”
“Exactly what he said. And you’re proving him right.”
“Why do I have to prove anything to him?”
“You don’t, but if you’re going to be taking up space that he’s sharing, you’ll have to figure it out.”
“Figure what out exactly?”
“How to get along.”
“With him?” I scoff. “Impossible.”
“Not impossible. Improbable.”
“Sean, cut the shit. Dominic is not going to cut me any slack, okay? That’s clear.”
“Then step up.”
“And what? Kick his ass?”
“Couldn’t hurt.” His playful tone has my hackles rising.
“This is funny to you?”
“Hysterical. Got to give you props though, you were holding your own for a minute back there.”
“So, this is a game.”
“No, it’s a test of wills, and I really do hope you win.”
“You did not just say that to me.”
“I did. And I’ll say it again. You can do this. I know you can. Don’t let him scare you away.”
“That’s it?”
He grips his biceps. “That’s it.”
“Another decision.”
He taps his nose.
“You said you wouldn’t turn into a dick. What do you call this?”
He sighs. “Then I guess I’m sorry to disappoint, but I promise I can do much, much worse.”
I can physically feel my heart start retreating. I can walk away now, and something inside thinks it would be wise. But this behavior contradicts the Sean I’ve gotten to know. I’m utterly torn as I stare at him.
“You guys are on some alternate planet.”
“It’s fun here,” he says softly, “but it’s a much better planet with you on it.”
I shake my head. “I have no idea what to think about you.”
“I’m in the same position with you. Makes things interesting, doesn’t it?”
I gape at him. “I thought we…”
“You thought what?”
My heart sinks. “God, I’m an idiot. This was a bad idea.” I move to grab my purse and he stops me, letting out a harsh breath.
“Cecelia, you’re letting shit that doesn’t need to happen, happen.”
“And you’re standing by and watching it, like, what the fuck, Sean?”
He grips my face, leans down, and kisses me. I break the kiss, pushing at him, and he chuckles.
“I want to leave. Tell Tyler to move his car.”
His eyes deaden. “Tell him yourself.”
“Fine!” I stomp through the front door and find Tyler and Dominic on the PlayStation in the living room.
Typical.
“Tyler, can you move your car?”
Tyler eyes Dominic. “After this game.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Chill, babe.”
Sean’s behind me now. I feel his warmth at my back as I stand there, hovering over the two of them huddled on the couch, helpless to my situation. I glance over my shoulder at Sean, who watches me intently as my anger builds and builds. Less than an hour ago, my day was perfect. Sean and I were fine, more than fine, and then Dominic took a Mack truck to all of it. The day, my carefully planned dinner and dessert.
Dessert.
Boiling over, I move to the kitchen and gather the carrot cake I had frosted earlier, Sean’s favorite, and walk back to where Dominic sits and smash it into the back of his head. He shoots up from the couch as I gather more ruined cake in my hand and slap it into the side of Sean’s smiling face.
“Didn’t want to leave you without serving dessert. You all can fuck right off.”
Dominic tosses his remote down, his vengeance filled eyes attempting to pin me as I drop the pan, snatch Tyler’s keys off the coffee table and make a break for the front door.
Sean and Tyler’s laughter echoes through the open door as I climb into Tyler’s truck, start it, and peel ass out of the driveway, leaving it running in the middle of the street. I run toward my car, where Sean stands waiting, shoving a fingerful of icing into his mouth.
“It’s good shit, baby.”
“Let me down, right now.”
“Hell no, we aren’t wasting this,” he walks me back into the house where Dominic hovers over the kitchen sink, peeling his shirt off. His arctic eyes challenge mine as Sean takes the stairs one by one in what seems like a deliberately slow ascent. Choice fingers lifted; I flash Dominic a spiteful smile until he disappears from sight.
Sean closes his bedroom door and sets me on my feet, spinning my back into the door and presses into me. He looks infuriatingly gorgeous with a half-decorated face as he moves in and I turn my head to dodge his kiss.
“Even better,” he smears the frosting onto my face and chuckles darkly a second before I hear the rip of a condom.
TIME OUT.
I’m calling it.
If a man seems too good to be true, he usually is a liar.
That’s the stance I took that night I left Sean sleeping in his bed.
I’ve spent four weeks trying to piece together the dazzling puzzle of Alfred Sean Roberts, and I’m no closer to figuring out what his true intentions with me are. He’s not harmless, that much I do know. I don’t know if Sean’s a good guy or a bad guy.
Maybe he’s both.
For two days after I left him without a goodbye, I ignored his texts, and for those two days he left me alone on the line at work. He’s been unapologetic.
When I don’t respond, he doesn’t grovel. It’s what I had expected, even though we’d had some amazing angry sex. But it wasn’t exactly make-up sex, at least for me. I’m still pissed he didn’t defend me. Though with Sean, I’ve come to expect the unexpected.
It would be easier for me if I understood why he let a man who he considers a brother treat me so shitty.
So for now, I’m fine with mad.
I decide to pull back no matter what. Honestly, getting feelings for someone so soon is dangerous for a girl like me.
Am I creating drama for the sake of it?
I believe Sean about a lot of his observations. One, in particular, is we’re programmed in a lot of ways. Of course we are, but another part of me knows that we can program or, better yet, taint ourselves in different ways.
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