Jude slips away, but neither of us acknowledge him, too busy staring at each other. Her tits rise and fall against my chest. I want to feel them without anything between us while I fuck her until she screams.
Rowan’s chin lifts in defiance, but something inviting in her eyes hooks into my chest. “Is that what you like, big guy?” Her tone turns softer, lilting with suggestion as she rests her hands on my shoulders and presses closer. “Does it make your dick hard when you picture fighting with me?”
My hands find her hips and my head dips. The room bleeds away until all I can concentrate on is her. That enticing strip of skin between the bottom of her shirt and her jeans is warm under my thumbs.
“See,” Jude interjects slyly. “Gets him all riled up.”
“New venture idea,” Colton adds in a bright tone. “Let’s open an OnlyFans and film them hate fucking. We’ll make bank. I’m chubbing up just from watching this.”
“Shut up,” I growl at them without tearing my focus from her. “This isn’t why I brought you here.”
The playful glimmer in her eyes fades and hardens. “Technically, they brought me here.” She darts a look at my friends before leaning in, rising on tiptoes to murmur in my ear. “And I think you’re afraid. You pull back every time. All that big dick energy, and for what?”
My lip curls back from my teeth and my fingers dig into her. It would be so easy to shred my control and claim her as mine.
A seductive, amused sound bubbles out of her and she grips the material of my shirt, tugging in retaliation. She fucking likes this. There’s nothing demure about her. If we came together it would be a turbulent crash of lust.
“It’s time.” Levi’s interruption brings me back from the brink of snapping.
I’m dangerously close to the line as I do exactly what she accused me of—pulling away. At first I thought I could remain indifferent around her. She doesn’t matter. Shouldn’t matter to me. But she infuriates me and turns me on every time she parts those lush goddamn lips.
I don’t only want to fight and tame Rowan. I want to fucking consume her. Own every fucking inch of her, body and soul until the truth is burned into her.
Her eyes bore into mine as I step back, the triumph of being right written all over her face. She thinks she won. I blow out a breath and rake my fingers through my hair.
“Don’t let her wander.” I meet each of my brothers’ gazes. Before I walk away, I issue one last command for Rowan. “And you? Don’t take your eyes off me.”
“Go get ‘em, killer,” Jude calls.
I flip him off without turning back. The crowd parts for me automatically. When I reach the raised platform at the center of the room, I rip off my t-shirt. Tossing it aside, I leave the barbell piercing in my nipple. My boots come off next while my opponent—a big burly fuck covered in tattoos—climbs onto the platform.
A chorus of shouts and cheers sound from the rowdy spectators. They press in on all sides to get as close as possible to the promise of violence.
There are no rules here. Only bloodshed.
My mouth stretches into a sick grin and I crack my neck. The guy I’m fighting squares off, sizing me up. I can feel Rowan’s gaze on me from across the room and anticipation buzzes along my skin.
There’s no starting signal. We lunge for each other at the same time. I shift my stance and avoid the punch he throws. My elbow drives into his lower back, jabbing his kidney. The guy grunts and grabs my hair. Shouts fill the room as I get my leg around his knee and knock his balance off. While he’s distracted, I sink a fist into his gut and shove hard when he releases his grip on me.
Standing over him, I swipe the back of my hand over my mouth. I plan to stomp on him, but he rolls and springs to his feet with a surprising amount of spryness for a man of his size. The pattern repeats—circle, look for openings, collide with fists. We’re evenly matched, trading blows while the audience shouts their wild commentary.
The release I was seeking is heady. I filter all my rage at someone messing with us and all my frustrated desire for Rowan into the fight. In a quick move, I grab his arm and twist, using my leverage against him.
The snap of bone makes me laugh. He chokes on his cry of pain, bringing his broken wrist in close to guard it. His eyes are wild as he evades me. I’m toying with him because I thrive on this. The desperation. I love to see how someone breaks. What pushes them when they’re closed in.
Knowing Rowan is watching makes me much more heartless than usual. I’m actually invested in the outcome. I want to win tonight.
Grinning, I wave my opponent, baiting him. “Come on. Let’s go.”
She asked for monsters? I’ll show her one.
Fifteen
Rowan
The energy in the building is violent and chaotic. My heart pounds in my chest, skin tingling with rising adrenaline. Blood sprays in the makeshift ring when Wren throws a punch that catches the other fighter across the cheek. Watching his vicious attack against the other guy is turning me on.
Taking my eyes off Wren is impossible. I follow every flex of his muscles with a growing hunger. My nipples have tightened to hard buds and I’m unable to stop myself from shifting to rub my thighs together to alleviate the ache of want. Fuck, my imagination runs wild with desire. If he jumped from the ring and kissed me, I wouldn’t stop him, no matter how much I hate his controlling nature—I’d welcome it.
Wren is merciless against his opponent. Lethal. Hot as fuck with that pierced nipple.
Between the tense moment with me before he stepped in the ring and the depravity of his ruthless grace, my panties are so soaked I feel it when I move.
The tattoos I’ve only glimpsed before are on full display, rippling with each powerful movement of his body. The crow wearing a crown covers his shoulder blades, wings spread wide while it perches on a skull. A scroll with gothic lettering I can’t read from here wraps around the design. Thorny roses twisted with crowns and feathers creep down his forearms and onto the backs of his hands. On one arm, the black roses are engulfed in fire. On the other, white ones are spattered with blood.
My breath hitches when our eyes meet while he brutalizes his opponent. I clench my thighs together and lick my lips at the savage way he grins at me before hitting the guy again.
“Ooh, damn.” Colton winces. “He didn’t come to play tonight.”
“Is it always like this?” I ask. “He’s not going to kill him is he?”
Levi’s brooding voice answers from behind me where he leans against the wall. “He’s drawing it out. Playing with his food.”
“When he’s in a bad mood, it’s like this,” Colton says.
That still leaves my question unanswered. Do I want to know? Does it change anything if he’s capable of killing someone?
Who am I to judge when I’m capable of the same thing?
Feeling short of breath, I rip a hair tie from my wrist and scrape my hair into a ponytail. The cool air on the back of my neck doesn’t help the flush spreading across my whole body. God, I’m practically panting after the asshole in the ring who has been nothing but a dick to me.
Yet I can’t stop myself from baiting him. Something about his dark callousness calls to a part of me I keep locked deep inside. There’s no denying anymore that I want to ride his big dick despite how much he pisses me off.
“Here. You look like you might be thirsty.” Jude interrupts my horny on main mental spiral, returning from wherever he disappeared to and offers me a cool beer.
My face prickles at the teasing innuendo. I’m not just thirsty watching Wren, I’m parched in the middle of a desert. “Thanks.”
The corner of his mouth tugs up. I thumb the label, appreciating that he gave me an unopened one. He takes out a set of keys and pops the cap for me. I study him as he takes a pull from his own drink.
Colton and Levi I’m beginning to understand from spending so much time around them, but I don’t really know what his deal is. This is the longest I’ve been wi
th him since the night I snuck around outside the Crow’s Nest when they all hunted me in the maze. Jude doesn’t carry himself like the others. It’s in the way he watches people, as if he’s looking for his best in.
“What’s your deal?”
“My deal?” Jude picks at the label on his bottle and smirks. “Trying to figure me out?”
“I guess. Wren’s clearly the take charge or else guy. Levi’s the edgy one. Colton’s the jokester. But you I can’t really figure out.”
The curve of his mouth is enigmatic. “That’s the way I like it.”
“You’re the same age as Wren?” I guess since I haven’t seen him around campus at all.
Jude nods, glancing at Colton and Levi. “Lev and I are a little closer. We’re both twenty-two. Wren’s twenty-three. We were a year ahead of them in high school at Thorne Point Academy.”
“Private school.” My nose wrinkles. “Typical.”
“For them, maybe.” An unreadable look clouds his handsome golden brown eyes for a moment.
“But you went there with them.”
“Scholarship student.” His piercing gaze finds mine. “It’s a little different for us, isn’t it?”
I roll my lips between my teeth, understanding what he means. If I didn’t have my grants, I wouldn’t be at Thorne Point University.
“So you all know each other from when you were teenagers.”
“Yeah. They’ve known each other longer since their families run in the same social circles, but when we became friends in high school we stuck together.”
Jude is friendly as we continue to talk. He manages to effortlessly get more details about my life out of me than I learn about him. All he tells me about his family is his grandmother. His down to earth nature reminds me of Colton, but he allows flashes of the darkness lurking behind his charming smiles to creep through.
A feral yell from Wren snaps my attention back to the ring in time to see him deal the final blow. The huge guy he’s been fighting staggers, then collapses in a heap. The entire room erupts with a cacophony of cheers and yelling. Some look enraged that the guy they bet on lost while others have a contact high from being surrounded by the intense violence.
“And that’s our cue.” Colton takes my hand and nods to a door nearby. “The back way’s easier to get out.”
“We’re leaving? What about—?” I gesture to Wren standing victorious on the platform over his knocked out opponent, body glistening with sweat and blood that isn’t his, shoulders heaving with his ragged panting.
“He won’t be far behind. After a fight he needs a minute to himself.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Come on, I get to show you our own personal Bat Cave. It fucking rules. I’d move there permanently if I could get away with it.”
“What the hell?” I laugh and allow Colton to lead me through the back exit into the chilly night.
After being inside the humid room surrounded by sweaty people, a shiver runs down my spine. Levi and Jude are right behind us. We head for the blacked out Escalade Levi drove and Jude swings a leg over his bike.
As we pull away, I twist to peer at the firehouse, wondering about Wren’s headspace after a fight. The curious part of me that’s drawn to dangerous things wishes I could get up close and personal with him like that.
Colton wasn’t joking about the cave thing. Beneath the Crow’s Nest, they have a basement that’s badass and screams vigilante justice. I feel as if I’ve pulled back the top layer of the mysterious front they put on to get a look inside, but all I have are more questions about who the hell these guys are.
“So is this where you take all your kidnapping victims to lock them away and have your wicked way with them?” I ask as I explore the main room, skimming my fingertips over the black leather couches.
Levi grunts from the couch and flicks his lip ring with his tongue. “Again, you came willingly. Eagerly, even.”
Jude collapses next to him, combing his fingers through his shiny dark hair, offering me a sinister promise. “And now we’ll never let you leave.”
I spin to face him, ready to give him a piece of my mind. The expression on his face makes me relax. He’s only teasing me. It’s hard to tell what he means when he speaks so confidently that I’m baited into believing whatever comes out of his mouth.
Without the body heat from the crowd at the firehouse, I’m cold again. I pull my ponytail out and let my hair cascade around my shoulders.
“Let me show you my setup.” Colton almost bounces on his feet with excitement like a kid, leading me to the wall of computer monitors. He taps a few keys and pulls up security feeds showing different parts of the desolate hotel. He points to a view of the terrace outside where they chased me the night I snuck around. “Good times, right?”
I eye him skeptically. “Yeah, sure. Fan-fucking-tastic.”
“I’ve got the feed from that night recorded. Want to see?”
“Do I want to watch a bunch of cocky assholes herd me through their creepy hedge maze? Pass, dude.”
“Fair.” He takes me by the shoulders and shuffles me over, standing behind me. His fingers move quickly across his wireless keyboard. Encrypted computer code fills the screen. “And this is my baby.”
“What am I looking at?”
“My own network. They’re hackers like me. Well, beneath me. No one’s as good as I am. That’s why I’m their wicked king.” His laughter puffs over my cheek. “This is how we’re going to find your brother. I swear to you, we will.”
“Really?” I bite my lip as an unexpected wave of emotion hits me. “It seemed like you guys didn’t really care about me or Ethan.”
“Maybe not at first, but now? You’re in with us, baby.” He gives my shoulders an affectionate one-armed hug from behind.
“Does that mean I get a matching BFF tattoo?” Smirking, I turn to flick his neck where his crow is inked.
Wren has one on his back. Colton’s is an exact match. I’m betting Levi and Jude have the same art as well.
“Matching ink is sexy.” His mischievous green eyes become hooded as he cups my face, thumb brushing my cheek. “I like having you here. You’re really fun to be around.”
“You’re not so bad either. Still could do without the stalking.”
Colton is handsome, but I’m not attracted to him. Not in the same way being around Wren tugs at something deep and molten in my belly.
Still, I don’t pull away when he leans in, curiosity keeping me in place. If Jude or Levi pulled this, I’d shut it down immediately, but I don’t feel like he wants to pressure me, moving slowly as if he’s waiting for something. He likes testing limits. I’ve learned that much about him and feel like we have that in common.
Colton’s lips barely ghost against mine before he’s ripped away from me. A massive frame of muscle stands between us and I smell Wren’s crisp aftershave. I touch my mouth, amused by this whole thing.
“The fuck is going on?” Wren snaps. He’s freshly showered, the heat of it still clinging to his body. “I tell you to bring her back here and find you about to make out with her?”
“We didn’t even fully kiss before you shoved yourself into this like he stole your toy. It was hardly making out. More like an affectionate thing between friends.” I lean around Wren to meet Colton’s eyes. “That’s all we are—friends. And not the kind with benefits.”
He laughs wryly and ducks his head. “Yeah, babe. Got it. Won’t happen again.”
Wren releases a rough sound and whirls to me. He pins me to the wall next to the computer screens and my heartbeat skips with a flutter of excitement. This feeling is what was missing with Colton. The veins in Wren’s forearms are prominent and his jaw tics from how tight it’s clenched. I feel every hard inch of him when he presses into me from his pierced nipple to his cock.
Pulse speeding up, I lick my lips and squint at him. “You got something to say?”
“Leave, Colt. Everyone get the fuck out,” he barks, blue eyes locked on mine. “Now!”
>
I’m vaguely aware of Colton backing away with his hands raised in surrender, smothering his amusement. “Relax. Jude said you needed a push was all. If you’re ever open to some fun together, hit me up though. I’m definitely down for that party.”
At Wren’s possessive growl, he leaves. The room is empty except for us and Wren’s giant ego.
My teeth rake over my lip. “What’s wrong, don’t play well with others?” I must have a death wish to keep taunting him, but I can’t stop the words from spilling free. “It must suck to want what you won’t let yourself have.”
He takes my wrists and presses them to the wall on either side of me. “If it’s something I want, I’ll take it.”
“Yeah? I’m not stopping you.” There’s no space between us and the air is thick with tension. “Like I said, you’re all fucking talk. We’ve been here before. Is it going to be the same song and dance this time? I’m getting sick of the melody.”
His grip flexes, sending a thrill down my spine. Heat pulses between my legs, but if I squirm he’ll win this unspoken thing between us. Releasing one of my wrists, his large hand grasps my jaw to tip my head up, focus zeroed in on my mouth.
Fuck it, I’m doing what I want.
“Kiss me,” I order.
Wren groans and his mouth crashes over mine, hot and demanding as he devours me. The kiss is an all consuming tempest. It makes my heart race as we claw at each other.
He rips my leather jacket off, discarding it without care as he greedily roams his hands over my tight camisole, squeezing my breasts through the thin bra beneath. I shudder from the rush of cool air over my flushed skin. One strong arm winds around my waist to tug me closer against his firm body so there’s no escape from his seductive kiss. I wouldn’t want to—it’s too good.
When it ends, I’m already craving tasting his mouth a second time. My entire body is burning up and we’re both panting.
“Let me make one thing crystal clear to you,” he rasps in a gritty tone against my swollen lips. “You’re mine. This mouth?” The pad of his thumb traces my bottom lip. “Mine. You kiss no one else but me. Your body? Also mine. Every inch of you.” He leans back in, his words a fiery growl across my skin. “Fucking mine.”
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