The Secrets We Hide: The Four - book 2

by Steele, Becca

  He gave a dark chuckle, grabbing tissues from the box on the table and using them to clean us both up. The outline of his hard cock looked almost obscene, trapped in his tight trousers, and I sat up, reaching out and running my hand up and down his length. “What’s it gonna be, Caiden? Hand? Mouth? Pussy? Ass?”

  His eyes flashed, and he bared his teeth at me. “I’m in the mood to mark what’s mine. Window. Hands on the glass.”

  I climbed off the table, my legs still shaking, and stood in front of the window, placing my palms flat on the cool glass. He came up behind me, and I heard his trousers unzipping, and then his cock was pressed against my ass.

  “You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen in my life.” For a moment he let his emotions show in his voice, as he dropped soft licks and kisses all down my neck and along my collarbone, his hands sliding up under my tight dress to caress my breasts, then back down, one circling my clit while the other came up to lightly grip my throat. Then his grip tightened and his finger moved faster, and he bit and sucked at my skin, marking my neck.

  “Fuck, yes.” He licked across the broken skin. “I want to leave another right…” He dropped to his knees and spun me around, and I fell back against the window using it for support. “…here.” He left his mark on my inner thigh, then licked over it, soothing it, before getting to his feet and spinning me back around and bending me over, then thrusting inside me without warning. I cried out as he fucked me, barely any time before he was coming. As I felt him empty himself inside of me, his fingers worked my clit, playing my body like an instrument he was the master of, bringing me over the edge with an orgasm that left me shaking and breathless. Again.

  “Hi,” he said, turning me back around and kissing me for the first time since I’d seen him. Just one, soft, hello kiss, but it gave me butterflies.

  “Hi back. At the risk of ruining the moment, I really need to clean up since you came inside me, and that stuff doesn’t stay in place.”

  “You mean my cum? Nice.” I heard the laughter in his voice as he grabbed a handful of tissues, passing them to me, before he let out a groan. “These paintball bruises fucking hurt. Worth it, though.” He straightened up, stretching. “Come on. Let’s get back to your room and clean up. We’ll use the back staircase; we can avoid most of the guests that way.”

  I looked around the room, finally becoming aware of my surroundings. “What is this room, anyway?”

  “Cassius’ dad’s office,” he said casually, as if it was no big deal.

  “What? Are you serious? B-b-but,” I spluttered. “That means you ate me on his fucking desk! And look at his window!” I groaned, seeing the smeary handprints, glitter, and other marks I really didn’t want to think about marring the crystal-clear glass. I didn’t dare to look at the desk.

  “Don’t worry about it. He won’t be using it until the day after tomorrow, when work starts up again. The cleaners will have been in here way before then.”

  “Are you positive?” I tugged my dress back into place, then crouched down and swiped my underwear from the floor.

  “I’m sure.” He was completely unconcerned, taking my hand and leading me to the door without a care in the world. “Let’s go.”

  “How did you know the pin code, anyway?” I wondered aloud.

  Closing the door behind us, he reset the pin pad before leading me down a mostly empty corridor, through a door, and down a set of narrow stairs to the floor below. “He’s had the same code for as long as I can remember. Me and Cass used to sneak into his office as teenagers to watch porn—it was the only computer without parental blocks.”

  “Ugh. I wish I hadn’t asked.”

  Back in my room, once we’d both sorted ourselves out and were ready to rejoin the party again, he pulled me to him, gently gripping my face in his hands.

  “I don’t know what came over me, earlier.”

  “I do. Me. I came over you.” I smirked at him, and he rolled his eyes, kissing the tip of my nose.

  “Think you’re funny, do ya? No, what I meant is, I saw you, and you were all fucking beautiful and I dunno, I couldn’t think. I needed to have you. To mark you as mine.”

  “Well, you did that.” Moving my hair out of the way, I indicated the love bite on my neck. He kissed it softly, then drew back to look at me, his expression uncertain.

  I hurried to reassure him. “Hey, you didn’t see me complaining, did you? I love that people know I’m yours, Cade. I know we have to be discreet in front of a lot of the people here, and I just hope no one saw us together before we went into Cass’ dad’s office, but just seeing that mark—people will know that I’m taken.”

  His expression cleared. “Good. I want them to know you belong to me. You’re mine.” Tipping my chin up, he rubbed his thumb over my pulse point, then dropped a hard, possessive kiss on my lips.

  I locked my arms around his waist. “I know. I hate that we can’t be together in the open. I honestly don’t think many people would be bothered; after all, a lot of our uni friends know. I think. But we just have to be patient till this deal goes through, especially here, with some of the key players at the party.”

  He sighed, pulling me closer to him and kissing my head. “You’re right. And we’d better get back, before people get suspicious wondering where we’ve disappeared to.”

  With that, we made our way back to the upper floor to rejoin the others.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Back in the midst of the party, no one seemed to have noticed our absence, or if they had, they didn’t mention it. Caiden left me with Kinslee and Lena, but not before brushing my hair back off my shoulder so my love bite was on show. I rolled my eyes, but like I’d told him back in the bedroom, I loved that he’d marked me as his. I chatted, danced, and drank, having fun, constantly finding my gaze drawn to Caiden’s. I couldn’t stop smiling like a lunatic, and neither could he.

  “Come on, stop eye fucking your boyfriend, and let’s get more drinks.” Lena tugged on my arm gently, and I followed her from the room, leaving Kinslee dancing with Cassius—apparently she was protecting him from a “psycho clinger” who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  We found Estella Drummond, Lena’s mother, in the kitchen, and Lena made a beeline for her. “Mum? We need more champagne.”

  She turned to face us, a gracious smile on her face. Lena and Cassius both took after their dad, looks-wise—Estella was short, curvy, and dark-haired while Lena and Cassius were both tall and blond. “There’s plenty more in the cellar. Help yourselves, but don’t drink too much, please, Lena.”

  “Alright,” Lena muttered with an eye roll, and added, “Thanks, Mum,” at my nudge.

  We turned to leave the kitchen, almost running into someone coming in the door. He looked so much like an older version of Joseph Hyde that I stopped dead, a gasp falling from my lips.

  He looked down at me, and a strange, indecipherable expression stole over his face, before it was wiped away and he strode past me without another look.

  “Was that Joseph Hyde’s dad?” I asked Lena in a low voice, as we headed in what I assumed was the direction of the cellar.

  “Yeah. It’s a weird one. You’d expect to see the Hydes and Granvilles at general events, since they are part of the Alstone elite, after all. But for some reason, my parents always invite them to their New Year’s party, too. They don’t like to leave anyone out. And between you and me, my mum thinks their whole rivalry is silly.”

  “How did the rivalry start, anyway?” I followed Lena into the small lift at the end of the hallway, and she pressed a button marked -3. The lift began to descend with a shudder.

  “No one can really remember. It was generations back, now. I think to begin with it was to do with the land ownership, and it all went to shit from there. Now they’re business rivals; although Alstone Holdings is so big and powerful now, the Hyde/Granville family can’t really hope to compete. And since my family, along with the Lowry and Cavendish family, run the business, and pretty m
uch run this town, they kind of hate us.”

  The lift doors opened into a cavernous cellar, with shelves full to the brim of bottles of wine and barrels stacked all along one wall.

  “Huh. Money does strange things to people, doesn’t it?” I mused. “And by the way, this cellar is insane! Are we actually inside the cliff?” I ran my hand down the rough rock surface of the wall, the stone cold under my palm.

  She shrugged. “It does, and yes we are. But without the money, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

  I hummed non-committally. Sure, this house was literally like something out of a movie, and the Drummonds were clearly beyond rich, but was all the hassle worth it? I couldn’t answer that. I’d never been in that position to judge either way.

  Lena interrupted my thoughts by directing me down an aisle, tall shelves either side of us, and began piling bottles into my arms. “We may as well take a load up with us. They won’t last long, with the amount of people drinking.”

  “Uh… Lena? These are kind of heavy,” I warned her, when my arms were aching and I genuinely didn’t think I could hold any more without sending them all crashing to the ground.

  “Oh, sorry.” She placed the bottle she’d been about to dump on me back on the shelf and indicated for me to follow her back out to the lift, her own arms full. I silently prayed that I wouldn’t trip in my heels.

  Back upstairs, somehow with all the bottles intact, Cassius and Weston came to our rescue, taking the bottles and setting them out. Cassius reserved one of the bottles, a huge grin on his face.

  “Watch this,” he said to me, heading back into the room where most of our university friends were gathered. He stalked over to the gas fireplace, pulling the samurai sword that hung on the wall down from its holder thing.

  “What the fuck is he doing with a samurai sword?” I muttered to West, as he placed the champagne bottle on top of the polished white stone mantelpiece and stuck two fingers in his mouth, sending a piercing whistle into the room to get everyone’s attention.

  “It’s a katana,” Weston informed me.

  “Whatever it’s called, what’s he—”

  Cassius stood at the front of the room, and with one smooth motion, sliced the top off the bottle with the sword. “Cheers!” he shouted, and cheers echoed through the room as everyone congratulated him on his skills. I smiled to myself, stepping back to the side of the room as he threw me a cheeky wink, a wide, satisfied grin on his face.

  “Hi.” The voice in my ear sent a shiver through me, and I turned my head to look into Caiden’s stormy eyes, his body heat warming me as he slid his arm around my waist. Butterflies raced through me as he pulled me further back into the shadows, against the wall, and dropped his head to lick across my love bite. A soft whimper slipped from my mouth, and I gripped onto his arm, his muscles flexing under my fingers. Fuck. How and when had I fallen so hard for him? Tonight seemed to have solidified my feelings, and all I wanted to do was tell him how I felt, but I held off. If I pushed him, if I tried to make demands of him too soon, he would close up, I knew it. He had to be the one to admit his feelings first.

  “Having fun?” I tried to act casually, but I think the tremor in my voice gave me away.

  “I am now.” He nipped my ear, then licked at the shell, and all I wanted to do was leave the crowds behind and be alone with him, preferably naked. “Are you gonna kiss me at midnight?”

  “Yes.” There was no way I was going to miss that. I’d never actually had a New Year’s kiss before, believe it or not.

  “Good. I’ll come and find you later.” He released me after kissing me just below my ear, flashing me a quick grin. “Stay out of trouble.” Then he was gone, swallowed up by the crowd, and a shiver went down my spine.

  Not the good kind of shiver. I turned my head, my senses on high alert, and saw Joseph Hyde watching me with a dark, almost malevolent look on his face. I glared straight back at him, daring him to try anything, knowing that the Four would have my back. He dropped his gaze, bringing the half-empty bottle of Patrón he held to his lips and taking a swig, but I could feel the hostility rolling off him.

  Choosing to ignore him, I joined Kinslee on the makeshift dance floor. We were then joined by Cassius and Weston and amused ourselves trying to outdo each other with crazy made-up dance moves. By the time I remembered Joseph again, he was gone.

  * * *

  “Damn, that was it.” Kinslee shook the empty champagne bottle, tapping the bottom, as if more would magically appear.

  “I’ll find Lena and see if we can grab some more.” I caught a flash of pink hair in the crowds and threaded my way through the masses to Lena. “We’re running low on champagne. It’s getting close to midnight, so I’m thinking we probably won’t need much more.”

  She nodded and scanned the room. “Okay. This side looks like it still has plenty, so we’ll just grab another three or four bottles.”

  I followed her into the hallway and back down towards the lift.

  “Can you wait a minute? I want to use the loo first.”

  “I’ll go on down and get the bottles, if you want,” I offered. “I’m pretty sure I can carry them myself, anyway.”

  “Are you sure?” She looked torn.

  “Course. Meet you back up here in a few minutes.” I gave her a reassuring grin, which she returned with a grateful smile, and waved her off, before pressing the button to call the lift.

  Lost in thought, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings as I entered the cellar.

  If I had, I might have noticed the sound of someone breathing, a shoe scuffing the floor, the presence of another person in the cellar with me.

  Strong arms came around my back, pinning me, and a hand clamped over my mouth.

  I panicked, thrashing around, trying to throw my attacker off. I was dragged backwards, then suddenly released, and I stumbled, falling into the rough stone wall and scraping all down my arm.

  That fucking hurt.

  Spinning around, reacting on pure instinct, I lashed out at my attacker, raking my painted nails down his face.

  “You little bitch,” he hissed, holding the side of his face and glaring at me.

  “Joseph?” I clapped my hand over my mouth. Then rage overtook the shock as I realised what he’d just done. “What the fuck are you playing at?”

  He took a threatening step towards me, then another, pinning me against the wall. Alcohol fumes assaulted my face as he brought his mouth to my ear, his speech slurred. “I’m here with a warning. You came here and fucked things up for a lot of people, Winter Huntington.”

  My heart was beating wildly. No one knew I was here, other than Lena, and she wouldn’t be expecting me back straight away. He was too strong for me to fight off.

  “What do you mean, fucked things up?” My only option was to keep him talking and hope Lena came to find me when I didn’t appear with the champagne.

  “Our lives were just getting back to normal when you showed up. Thanks to Cavendish’s interest in you”—he spat the word “interest,” and I almost gagged as I got a face full of tequila breath—“and you poking your nose where it doesn’t belong, we’ve been forced to intervene.”

  “What?” My head was spinning. “Who’s ‘we’? Intervene with what? And by who?”

  He ignored my questions. “I’m telling you this for your own good. Stay. The fuck. Away. From Cavendish. Keep your head down, work hard like a good little student, then when you’ve graduated, get the fuck away from Alstone.”

  “Oh, and you’re threatening me, someone who’s weaker than you, because you’re too scared to say this to Caiden, are you?” I was a little bit scared, but I was mostly angry. And getting angrier by the second, as he held me pinned in place, his grip tight and bruising, his veneer of civility shattered.

  “Shut up,” he hissed in my face, clamping his hand over my mouth. Not tightly enough; I managed to sink my teeth into his flesh, and he yanked his hand back with a screech.

  “Yo
u fucking bitch.” His hand came out, and with a crack, he slapped me across the face, hard.

  Tears streamed down my cheeks, the whole side of my face stinging from the slap.

  “Shit.” He looked horrified at what he’d just done.

  Too late for regrets. How fucking dare he?

  “Fuck you,” I spat, my words turning into a sob, the tears clouding my vision, my cheek on fire, throbbing. “How—”

  He suddenly let out the most inhuman scream, and then he was ripped away from me.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Ever heard the saying the red mist descended? I’d been in a fuckload of fights before, but until I saw Joseph Hyde raise his hand to my girl, I’d never experienced it—that all-consuming rage that blinded me to everything else except the need to make him fucking pay.

  “I’m gonna fucking kill you!” I roared, yanking him backwards, my arm around his neck in a stranglehold, knocking him to the floor and punching him with all my strength. My fists pounded him over and over as he tried to throw me off, hitting me weakly. His drunken blows connected with the bruises I already had from paintballing, but I barely noticed the pain.

  Arms pulled me back, lifting me off Hyde, and I gradually became aware of Cassius and Zayde both talking at me, holding me back.

  “Caiden!” I blinked, my unfocused gaze sharpening as Cass got all up in my face, blocking my view of Hyde. “Caiden!” he repeated, his voice urgent. “Winter needs you.”

  My head snapped round as everything came back into focus, and the sound of her soft, choked sobs assaulted my ears, sending a rush of pain searing through me. I took a step forward, needing to punish the one who caused her hurt, the rage building in my veins once again.

  “No. Go to her. I’ll deal with him.” Zayde’s voice was like deadly, freezing ice. Cassius dragged me over to Winter, before running to the lift where Lena was about to enter the cellar. He pushed her back into the lift before she could see anything, slamming his hand on the button to take them back up.