The Proxy: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (The Thorns of Rosewood Book 2)

by Cassie James

  Soon, the kiss is escalating more than it really should with Jude and Brennan still somewhere nearby. His hands brush the sides of my breasts through my bikini, the friction sliding the material around until I’m showing far more cleavage in the front than would be considered polite.

  Tyler must realize it, because he pulls out of the kiss and looks down, pointedly getting an eyeful. There’s a soft splash that makes us both turn our heads.

  Brennan’s joining us. And I don’t just mean in the pool. His eyes are trained on mine as he walks through the water straight toward us. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I’m fucking floored when Tyler easily hands me off to him. I glance back, uncertain, but he nods.

  “It’s okay,” Brennan murmurs as he takes a turn kissing me. It’s far more gentle than it was with Tyler. He soothes my bruised lips with feather-light kisses until another hand is grabbing me. Jude. Brennan shoots him a glare over his shoulder, and my heart drops as I tense, waiting for the sweet moment to end.

  “Please,” Jude says quietly. Not exactly a word he normally says.

  It works like magic, and Brennan lets me go after one more quick kiss. Jude takes my hands in his and guides me toward the edge of the pool. I start to resist, not wanting him to make me get out, but he tugs harder. He’s not making me get out like I thought, though. He turns me so my back is to the pool wall, then puts a hand under my thigh and lifts. My eyes go wide as he mimics the same move he used to fuck me in his bathroom. He smirks.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Sh.” He raises an eyebrow, taunting me and the need for quiet. I bite my lip nervously, hovering between wanting to wait and see what he does or just putting a stop to this before it goes too far. The first option wins out when he runs his hand up the inside of my thigh.

  I peek over his shoulder, worried about Tyler and Brennan. They’re both staring. They don’t look mad. If anything, they look a little uncomfortable. Not in the why am I letting this happen way, but in a why am I enjoying this way. I’m still holding eye contact with both of them as Jude pulls my bikini bottoms to the side and sinks two fingers inside of me.

  Brennan lets out a low groan as Tyler’s hands disappear under the water. Oh my god, please let him be touching himself right now. There’s a fantasy I didn’t know I had until now.

  I turn my head to look at Jude again but he frowns at me. “Keep your eyes on them. I want them to see the moment you come undone.”

  “I don’t want anyone to get jealous,” I admit quietly, even as my hips jerk, trying to force him to increase his pace. I love the way he touches me, but I’m not so sure we should be doing this here, not like this.

  Jude snickers. “It’s not because I want them to be jealous. It’s because I want them to get the chance to be just as turned on by it as I’m going to be. This is what you wanted, Piper. So relax and enjoy the ride.” He curls his fingers inside of me as he adds, “And don’t you even fucking think about taking your eyes off of them again.”

  And I don’t. God, I fucking don’t. Even when Jude finger-fucks me through an explosive orgasm, I manage to keep my eyes on them. By then, they’re definitely both touching themselves. Why the fuck did any of them ever question this. This is fucking perfect. I have all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings inside of me as Jude’s hand finally leaves my bikini bottoms, my leg quivering as he lets go of it.

  Jude’s eyes are hooded as he finally lets me make eye contact with him. “How about we—”

  “Wait.” I put a hand on his chest. Something’s wrong.

  Light is streaming out over us in a way it wasn’t before. I jerk around and gape as I realize the light is on in an upstairs window. My parents’ bathroom. “Oh my god.” I was so caught up in what was going on that I stopped paying attention. The guys must not have noticed, either. Which means I have no fucking idea how long that light’s been on.

  “Get out,” I whisper-shout in a panic. “Now. Go. Go.”

  The guys all tune in immediately to what’s going on. Each of them pulls themselves up over the side of the pool easily. Jude turns back to help me up, but I wave him away. “Just go.”

  Getting caught in the pool is one thing. Getting caught in the pool in the middle of the night with three guys all sporting serious hard-ons? Yeah, no. There’s no coming back from something like that. The guys are all creeping around to redress in the shadows when a hand slams against the bathroom window with a loud bang. Mom. I let out a string of curses as she very obviously sees me. All I can do is hold my breath, hoping like hell she can’t see the guys.

  “Dammit, hide,” I tell them, not even bothering to whisper anymore.

  They scramble across the back patio, but end up diving into the bushes that line the fence on one side of the yard. The floodlights flare to life, and I’m cupping my hands around my eyes when the back door bursts open. My heart is slamming in my chest, and it takes every ounce of my willpower to not turn toward where the guys are hiding, lest my movement give Mom and Dad a clue that I’m not the only one here.

  Mom’s eyes are wild, and her chest’s heaving as she tumbles through the door, dressing gown fluttering behind her as she stomps in my direction. Dad stumbles out of the house behind her, no less disheveled than his furious wife, but he at least just seems worried, not so much on the verge of setting a fire hot enough to burn the world down.

  “Piper!” she screeches, loud enough to wake half the neighborhood. I blanch as she scurries toward the poolside. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I—” But she never actually gives me the chance to answer her.

  “Get the hell out of there, now!”

  And it’s positively idiotic, but undeniable anger chooses that moment to flare to life inside of me. “No!” Jackie jerks back as if I’d slapped her. “I’m not getting out! You don’t get to control me just because you think it will make up for an accident that took your real daughter. That wasn’t my fault and it didn’t have anything to do with me, so stop punishing me for it!”

  “Piper Leigh Hawthorne, get out of that goddamn pool before I—”

  “Dad!” I try, turning my attention to the man that’s so far been silent. He rubs Jackie’s arm, but I can see from his face that he’s trying to listen to me. Really listen. “It’s just a pool. And I would never have been sneaking around to get into it if she’d stop being such a tyrant!”

  “Piper.” His voice holds a warning I’m not quite ready to heed.

  “What the hell does she think she’s going to do? Keep me out of water the whole rest of my life?”

  “Piper, please.” I don’t know if it’s the pleading tone of his voice or the fact that I feel closer to him, better connected because he’s always sort of given me the space to be who I need to be, but I deflate in an instant. My eyes drop to the water, and my stomach is a mess of flurrying butterflies as I grab hold of the ladder on one side of the pool and hoist myself up.

  There’s an apology hanging on the tip of my tongue as I reach for my long tank top. But I look up, and even though that same worry is in Roman’s eyes, he’s not the one who commands my attention. No, Mom’s on me in an instant, not offering me the opportunity to pull my shirt on before her nails are digging into the soft flesh of my upper arm and dragging me around to face her.

  “Let go of me, please.” My words come out calmer than I expected, but that only seems to anger her more. She digs her nails in deeper and starts to drag me toward the house.

  “We’re going to Stan’s,” she growls out at me.

  I dig my heels in, head shaking frantically as I desperately search for Dad over my shoulders. His brows are furrowed, his eyes softening on mine as he releases a long, slow breath. He crosses the distance between us and lays a hand on Jackie’s shoulder. Her grip loosens, but not nearly enough for me to pull away.

  “Jackie, it’s the middle of the night. We can talk about things in the morning.”

  “No!” she roars at him, her grip tightening again. I scr
atch at her hand, desperately trying to peel her fingers away. Fuck this. Fuck whatever contract they signed with Stan. I need to get as far away from here as I can fucking go. They can’t reset me if they can’t plug me in. If only she would let the fuck go of me. She growls, “Stan owes me a daughter. He’ll fix this. It’ll be better.”

  My eyes plead with Dad but his shoulders are slumping now. He might feel sympathetic towards me, but he’s going to cave to her. I can already see it. She starts to yank me towards the garage. Not even bothering to take me back inside the house. She’s really got to be out of her mind if she’s not even interested in making me put real clothes on first.

  I look wildly around, eyes landing on the bushes. Tyler’s head carefully peers out from around the side of one, and our eyes lock for a short moment before Mom pulls me through the garage door. I hope the panic is clear in my eyes and that they heard what she said. Maybe no one can save me—but someone’s got to be willing to fucking try.