by A. A. Davies
Before she could say anything, I grabbed the thin material string she was using as underwear and snapped them with little effort. My cock wasn’t straining against my jeans, but it was because she hadn’t worked me up.
“Play with yourself.”
Her eyes fluttered closed and I watched from behind as the tips of her fingers made an appearance between her legs. She bit down on her bottom lip, and all I could think about was what Beth looked like when she did that. This woman standing in front of me was hot, but Beth…Beth was—
Fuck.
“Down on your knees,” I ordered the redhead, and twirled her back around to face me. She went down willingly and reached for my zipper. She should have been pulling down my jeans and letting my hard cock spring free, but all that appeared was a cock so soft it may as well have been a fuckin' marshmallow.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“It’s okay,” she mewled. “I got this.”
Her shiny lips moved closer to me and her tongue darted out to lick the head. I screwed my nose up at the sensation and closed my eyes. If I imagined she was someone else then maybe—
I reeled back, my eyes opening as I ground out, “Leave,” and pushed her away. Her back hit the toilet and she squealed, but I didn’t give a fuck. This wasn’t working, and it was all because of me and my fucked-up head. My mom had made sure I’d never be normal, and now it was more obvious than ever. What kind of mom decided to love her children in a way that they never should? A mom shouldn’t be making her sons touch her the way she did. It was all her goddam fault. Everything that was happening was because of her and the blood she’d damned me with.
I pulled up my jeans, impatient that the redhead was staring at me with wide eyes like she’d just seen the devil. She wasn’t moving fast enough, so I yanked open the door and stomped out of there. I didn’t waste anymore time at the bar, instead, I jumped on my bike and headed to the place where my mind and body needed to be: the darkened street where I could stare into a certain person’s window.
BETH
For a couple of hours each day after I got home from school I had the house to myself. Lately, it had felt like the only reprieve I had. I used to use those couple of hours to visit with Laney, but now she was gone, all I had were my own thoughts and my homework. Oh, and the housework.
Shell hadn’t lifted a finger in the house since the second week she’d moved in after she and Dad got married, but it wasn’t like I could tell her that she should do it. As far as I knew, she spent her days in the house flipping through magazines and doing fuck all.
Today I had half a day, and even though I could have used that time to go absolutely anywhere I wanted, I found myself walking up my path instead. The home that had always been my safe place wasn’t anymore, but it was the only place I had.
I pushed open the front door and headed into the kitchen, deciding that I’d make myself a snack and maybe hide away in my room to read a book. Thrillers were my favorite, and I loved the brain power I needed to be able to put together all the little clues and figure out what was going on.
I got to making a snack but paused when I heard a sound. I tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out what it was, but after a few seconds of not hearing anything else I turned back to my snack. Then it sounded out again, only this time, I knew exactly what it was.
My hands started to shake and my body started to sweat. I’d heard that moan all too much, but only ever when it was dark, never when the sun was shining outside. I backed away from the counter, glanced around, and stopped on the dining room door. It was coming from there, but...why was he in there? Why was he even home?
I didn’t want to find out what was happening, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. I’d waged a war with myself as to why my dad was doing what he was. Maybe he had no control? Maybe he thought it was normal? Part of me wondered if Shell wasn’t...satisfying him. But from the sounds coming from the next room, that wasn’t true at all.
Which meant he was doing what he was to me because he wanted to.
I’d been trying to make excuses for him, trying to make it okay in my head, but it wasn’t. None of it was.
I stepped closer to the door and pushed my fingertips against it to crack it only a few centimeters. I blinked at what I saw and shook my head, sure that my brain was playing tricks on me.
“You like that don’t you, Bethy?” His deep voice vibrated around the room and through the whooshing in my ears. He wasn’t talking to me though, he was talking to the woman tied to the dining table. The same table we ate at every night.
He gripped Shell’s hips and slammed inside her over and over again, pawing at her body like he owned it. He yanked at a leash he was holding and I realized in horror that it was attached to a collar around Shell’s neck.
I covered my mouth with my hand so I didn’t make a noise, and watched as Shell stared blankly back at him. Her eyes were glazed over, and only when Dad slapped his palm against her face did she respond, “Yes, Daddy. I like that, Daddy.”
I was going to be sick. I could feel my breakfast working its way back up. I wasn’t the only one who was sick though, because so were they, in the head.
Chapter Seven
BETH
Seventeen. It’d always been my lucky number. Whenever I would put a bet on something—which wasn’t often—that was the number I chose. The seventeenth day of each month was always my favorite and I counted down to it each and every time.
Today was the seventeenth too. The seventeenth time my dad came into my room and touched me in ways he shouldn’t have. It was the seventeenth time I hadn’t been able to stop him. It was the seventeenth time he’d shown me how much he loved me.
But seventeen was my lucky number, so as soon as he moved out of my room and I’d showered, I knew today was the day I had to take a chance. I only had a couple of months left until it was all over, and I could survive until then, but not tonight.
Not the seventeenth time.
I knew what would wait for me in the darkness. Something that I shouldn’t want, but I was willing to bet anything that I was safer out there than in here.
I pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and my sneakers, along with a navy-blue hoodie. The house was quiet, what you would expect for one in the morning. I just hoped that I hadn’t been too late. I’d left a little light on in my window, hoping he’d wonder what was going on and would stick around for a little longer to find out.
I creaked my bedroom door open and waited for any sounds, when nothing greeted me, I stepped into the hallway and tiptoed down it. The stairs were a feat in themselves, but I managed to make it to the front door without any noises, and just as I was about to turn the handle of the front door, a groan rang out from upstairs.
It was a groan I was way too used to at this point, and that was what had me yanking the door open and stepping outside. I tried to be as quiet as I could as I shut it behind me.
I pulled in a much-needed breath and darted down the path and over the road, straight into the darkness and toward Laney’s now empty house.
“Beth?” a rough voice asked, and for the first time since it was just me and him in that changing room, I felt like I could breathe again. Having him next to me at the family dinner last week hadn’t had the same effect because my dad had been on the other side of me the whole time.
“Uncle Jacob,” I breathed out, my voice carrying on the wind. I stared up at him, just able to make out half of his face. To some people he may have looked like a predator, but to me, in that moment, he was my savior. Someone who could take me away from this house if only for a few hours.
“What are you doing?” he asked, stepping forward. His brows furrowed as he stared down at me, his gaze flitting over my entire body and making me shiver. This one was different to how I felt when someone else touched me. This was a shiver that my body liked, whether it should or shouldn’t didn’t come into the equation.
“I…” I bit down on my bottom lip. Sh
ould I be doing this? I was about to cross a line, but I was fed up of staying on the other side. “I want to go for a ride,” I blurted out.
“You...want to go for a ride?” Uncle Jacob asked, his tone surprised.
“Yeah, on your bike. I just...I want to see what it’s like to have the wind whipping in your hair and not having a care in the world.”
Uncle Jacob was silent for a beat and then he inclined his head in a nod. He spun around and walked down the street, and I jogged to be able to stay at his side and keep up with his fast pace.
“So what do you care about?”
“Huh?” I looked up at him, my head craning right back. “What are you taking about?”
“You said you want to act as if you don’t have a care in the world.” He shrugged, and I couldn’t help but think it was so unlike him. He was trying to act as if he was carefree, but he wasn’t. He seemed to be measured with everything he did, at least, that was how I’d thought he was.
How well did I know him though? He was the brother of a man who had caused me so much pain in the last three weeks that I thought I would die from it. He’d touched me in a way he shouldn’t have, but I knew deep down in my heart and soul he was nothing like the man who had visited me earlier that night.
He’d never be like him, not to me at least.
“You know,” I said, my voice cracking as we turned a corner. “Just normal high school senior shit.”
“Hmmm,” he hummed. “How long you got left?”
“Couple of months.”
He halted in front of his bike that sat under a streetlight, and for the first time that night, I could see his whole face. His gaze was fixated to me, his mouth twisted in a way that told me he was thinking hard about something.
“You like school?”
I shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess. You know what eighteen-year-old guys can be like.”
Uncle Jacob’s eyes flashed and mine widened in return. I’d only seen that predatory look in his eyes once before, and it was when he was opposite the beast in the ring about to knock him out.
“Yeah,” he grunted, and shook his head. He reached for something in one of his saddle bags. “Here.”
I took the helmet from him, and realized a second later that he was attaching his own to his head. Which meant… “You bought me my own helmet?”
He didn’t respond, just threw his leg over his bike and turned the engine on. I didn’t wait for him to tell me what I had to do this time, instead, I jumped on behind him, wrapped my arms around his waist, and pressed the side of my face to his back.
I’d be safe with him, if only for a little while.
JACOB
I shouldn’t have taken her for a ride, but the sadness in her eyes and soft smile had my resolve cracking. Resisting temptation was for the weak, and I was not the weak. I was the strongest person I knew, and if that meant pushing down the way I felt to be there for Beth, that was what I’d do.
I’d kept it platonic the whole ride, trying my best to ignore the way her hands clutched to my abs, and the rock-hard erection I had. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to have her on my bike and not want to fuck her into next week.
We’d gained a new routine over the week following. Each night, she’d run out of her house and I’d take her somewhere new. Sometimes we’d just ride, other times we’d have a destination, but we never talked about deep shit.
She told me about her classes and the group of popular kids who liked to shout shit at her and tried to pull her pants down. I thought that was something only my generation did, but apparently not. It made the rage boil inside my veins at the thought of someone else touching her, which was the only reason I could come up with as to why I was doing what I was.
I turned the engine off, hooked my leg over the bike, and leaned my ass against the side of the seat. It’d only be a couple of minutes until the bell would ring and the high school kids would be darting out of the light-blue double doors.
And I’d be here, waiting.
I pushed my sunglasses up my nose and crossed my arms over my white T-shirt, fully aware that the sweat from the heat was making the fabric stick to my abs.
My helmet hung off my left handlebar with Beth’s on my right. I’d given in and bought it especially for her on the off chance that she’d need a ride again, and I hadn’t been wrong.
The bell rang out and seconds later a rush of kids ran out the doors. People stopped to stare, likely wondering what the hell I was doing here, and more importantly, who I was. I didn’t pay them any attention though because my gaze was fixated to the doors, waiting for Beth to appear.
The crowd thinned out but she still hadn’t appeared. Maybe there was another door she’d exited from?
“Dude, you should see what they’re doing to her,” a voice carried from a few feet away. “They’ve got her in the locker room this time. I swear, she asks for it.”
“Nah,” the other guy walking next to him said. “I think Beth is cool—”
I pushed up off the bike and grabbed the back of the guy’s T-shirt. “Did you say Beth?” I growled out.
“I…” His eyes widened, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he was currently crapping his pants. I would have if I was him too. I was a foot taller and a person wider than him, and I knew how to use my fists in ways he never would.
“Answer me!” I roared, trying to get my heart rate under control, but it was beating out of my chest.
“Yeah, man, Beth. They’ve got her in the locker room—”
“Where?” I asked, and let go of him.
“Down the hall, on the left.”
I took off, my protective instincts kicking in, and ran into the high school. I hadn’t been in one of these halls since I graduated fourteen years ago. I swung my head left and right, searching for the locker room the two dicks outside had been talking about, and finally found it. But it wasn’t the sign on the door that told me, it was the laughing coming from inside.
I halted and stared at the door, my breaths sawing in and out of my body at what I might find. I could dart in there and save the day, or I could stand out here and wait it out. I had no idea what to do because I’d never felt like this before.
My decision was made for me when the door started to open, so I leaned against the locker and raised my brow at the girl who exited. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening as she stared at me.
“Holy shit,” she whispered. Someone knocked into the back of her, but when they looked up, they appeared to be a carbon copy. What was it with girls who all wanted to look the same? My Beth wasn’t like—shit. Not my Beth.
“Can I help you?” the girl asked, moving out of the doorway. She was followed by the other girl and three guys. The guys pushed their shoulders back, but the natural body’s instinct had them keeping their mouths shut.
“I was just looking for someone,” I said, my deep voice bouncing off the walls.
“Oh,” the girl replied, pushing her hair behind her ear. She was trying to be coy, but I knew her kind way too well. “Maybe we know her? What’s her name?”
“Beth,” I ground out, knowing that her name would have these kids scared, but as I stared at each of them in turn, I gained no reaction.
The tallest of the guys shook his head and adjusted his letterman jacket. “I don’t know no Beth.”
Maybe I’d been wrong? Maybe I’d missed her walk out of the doors? Maybe—
The locker room door opened and I flicked my gaze over to it. A head of light-brown hair was covering half of her face, but I’d recognize her in a dark room any day.
“Did we say you could come out?” the smallest of the guys ground out at her. He stepped toward her, and every muscle in my body wanted to dart forward, but I had to wait it out. I had to let her see me, and so far, she hadn’t looked up. She was the same Beth she’d been at dinner, the complete opposite to the Beth she was when she was with me.
“I...I…”
“Get back in there and—”
“Stop.” I pushed up off the wall of lockers and stepped forward, only then did Beth look up. Her eyes widened and she stared at me like I was a ghost appearing out of nowhere. I was sure she was wondering if she was seeing things, but this innate need to let her know I was here for her wouldn’t leave me.
“OMG, look at her face!” The girls started giggling, and it took every ounce of strength not to push them out of the way so I could get to Beth.
“Baby girl.”
“Ja-Jacob?” She shook her head. “What are you doing here?”
I pulled up one side of my lips and winked. “I came to pick you up. Wanna go for another ride?”
The teenagers around us disappeared, and even though I could feel it down to my bones that they’d done something to hurt her, I knew better than anyone how to deal with it. I could throw my fists around, threaten the guys, and hope it solved whatever was going on. Or, I could simply ignore it and focus my attention on Beth and only Beth. Until later. Later would come, and they’d regret the day they touched what was mine.
“I…” Her lips slowly spread into a wide smile, the same smile I’d become accustomed to and craved to be pointed in my direction. “Yeah, let’s go for a ride.”
I stepped forward, pulled her toward me, and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Laters,” I said to the five teenagers, all staring at us in shock. I placed my lips against Beth’s temple and whispered, “You good?”
She stared up at me, blinked, and replied, “I am now that you’re here.”
Chapter Eight
BETH
The ride had turned into us getting food and staying out on the open road until the darkness engulfed us. I’d never in my wildest dreams expected Uncle Jacob to be standing in the halls of my high school after the jocks and cheerleaders had yet again stolen my clothes after gym class and made me search for them practically naked.