Violence (Antihero Inferno Book 3)

by Lily White

  My body remembers just how wicked they are.

  My panties slide down my legs next, a set of teeth marking the back of my thigh as something deep inside me clenches in memory of what comes next.

  I’m no longer a woman trapped in a life I don’t want.

  Because only they can free me.

  For this moment, at least, I’m the girl who wants to be bad, who comes alive to be wrong, who is driven wild and reckless by the two beautiful men who taught her what it’s like to live how she wants.

  If I can ever thank the twins for anything in life, it’s for giving me the chance to be myself, if for only a little while.

  Ezra’s hands reach down to grip my thighs and pull me up, my legs wrapping around his waist as he takes my full weight easily.

  Damon steps up to stand behind me, and I’m tangled within a cage of pure heat, his fingers sliding between my legs to play my body until it’s trembling.

  My bare breasts are crushed against Ezra’s chest, the fabric of his shirt driving me crazy. Dark laughter is a soft vibration over his lips that he drags to my ear

  “Just let it happen, killer. You remember how this goes.”

  God, how I remember, my body shaking in Ezra’s arms as Damon’s fingers tease my pussy, the tips rolling light circles over my clit to intentionally make my hips buck for more.

  Ezra growls as my legs tighten around him, his teeth nipping at the lobe of my ear before he speaks on an exhalation of hot breath.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Worry douses me at the honesty of those words, at how my heart shouts back that I’ve missed him, too.

  God, how I’ve missed him.

  Like a piece of me has been gone for far too long.

  He’s kissing me again when Damon’s fingers slide inside me, two stretching to three, the pads running along my inner walls until he’s hit the spot I need. His mouth continues pressing kisses down the line of my neck, over my shoulder where his teeth gently bite my skin.

  Moans and whimpers climb up my throat, Ezra practically swallowing every one.

  When I fight against the orgasm that’s slowly building, it’s like Ezra knows, his mind so in tune with mine, even after all the time we’ve been apart.

  With one hand, he grabs my face, forcing my jaw open wider so that he can lead this kiss how he wants it, so he can make me give into the orgasm Damon’s hand is teasing out of me.

  Ezra breaks the kiss and presses his forehead to mine, his amber stare capturing my eyes with pure fire rolling behind it.

  “Keep your eyes open, Em. Let me see you.”

  I shake my head, or at least try to, but he only grins and holds my face in place, refusing to let me hide.

  That’s when the first orgasm erupts, the violence of it so strong that my entire body shakes, moans falling over my lips as waves of pleasure roll through me.

  Ezra holds my stare the entire time, sparks bursting behind his beautiful eyes.

  “There she is,” he whispers roughly. “You come just as sweetly as I remember.”

  The last tremors assault my body as he bites my bottom lip playfully before speaking against my mouth.

  “Let’s see if you still taste as good.”

  Damon steps away just as Ezra turns to lay my body down over the surface of a desk.

  I’m about to complain again about where we are when he leans over me and palms my breast, his mouth going to my ear.

  “Be a good girl, and show Damon how much you’ve missed him.”

  He slides down my body and grabs the inside of my thighs to push my legs apart, his mouth covering my pussy, hot tongue diving inside me, just as Damon comes around to my head and shoves the leather chair away.

  My head falls back, my chest arching up as Ezra holds my hips in place.

  Damon’s hands slide over my shoulders and farther down to take possessive hold of my breasts. He squeezes the tips hard enough to send an electric spark straight down to where Ezra’s lips close over and suck my swollen clit.

  “Fuck...”

  I can barely breathe through the brutal assault of them. They’re everywhere all at once, a coordinated attack that leaves me writhing and begging, helpless to move away or slow them down.

  And they know what they’re doing. They discovered what drives me wild in high school and are exploiting that carnal knowledge now.

  “How are you doing, Red?” Damon chuckles as another moan crawls up my throat, my cheeks undoubtedly red from the blood pumping through my veins. “Do you like your present?”

  I nod my head, gritting my teeth as Ezra’s tongue laps at my pussy, and he slides his fingers inside me.

  Tsking, Damon smiles against my cheek.

  “Ah, now, that won’t do. I need those pretty lips parted so I get my hello kiss.”

  His fingers fist my hair before wrapping the length around his hand, pulling my head farther back as he squeezes my jaw to force it open and kisses me upside down.

  Damon’s not giving me the chance to kiss him back as his tongue dives into my mouth with the same rhythm as Ezra’s, these men devouring me from both sides until I’m no longer a body, but only sensation, a frenetic vibration of need exploding out until I’m floating. A tense, tight desperation stretched so damn far apart that when I snap back together, it’ll be painful.

  The second orgasm hits more violently than the first, and I’m practically screaming into Damon’s mouth as Ezra’s hands grip my thighs hard enough to bruise, my legs held apart as my body arches.

  My arms stretch out so I can run my hands through Damon’s hair and hold on without worry that I’m hurting him.

  Like me, these boys have an affinity for pain.

  The pleasure is so powerful it hurts, so intense that all I know at the moment is the places where they touch me and the wet heat of their tongues.

  I don’t exist any longer.

  I’m just a feeling.

  An explosion.

  A pulsing throb that ebbs and flows in crashing, chaotic waves.

  “Yeah, Red, just like that,” Damon murmurs against my mouth, his voice deep and rough and reverent. “Fuck, you are so fucking beautiful.”

  He kisses me again, slow and seductive, both of their mouths teasing the last tremors out of me as my eyes clench shut and my body calms down.

  I feel sweat bead at my temples and along my hairline, feel air sweep across my heated skin from the air conditioning in the room.

  Once the sound of rushing blood stops rolling inside my head like thunder, I open my eyes and laugh softly at Damon’s glimmering eyes staring down at me, at the line of his crooked grin.

  “Feel better?”

  More laughter bubbles over my lips at how quickly we all fell right back into this.

  I nod my head, wishing like hell I had more time with them.

  Unfortunately, we’ve run out, that fact made apparent when the door to the room slams open and a familiar voice calls out

  “Oh, shit! Fuck. I didn’t see anything. My dad’s office? Are you fucking crazy?”

  I push up on my elbows and glance over Ezra’s shoulder to see Ivy standing at the door, her hand covering her eyes as she turns around.

  “Seriously, I saw nothing. And what I did see I’ll scrub away with brain bleach, but you need to get downstairs, Emily. As in right the fuck now.”

  “Get out,” Ezra growls.

  Ivy huffs out a breath.

  “I’ll stand outside the door, but we need to go, and all of you need to get the hell out of this room. Now.”

  She closes the door, and I push myself into a fully seated position, my eyes locking with Ezra’s when he turns to look at me.

  It hurts how quickly my hearts drops into my stomach, how viciously reality comes crashing back.

  “It was fun while it lasted, I guess.”

  He doesn’t answer. Instead he grabs me by the back of my neck and pulls me forward for a long, slow kiss that destroys me all over again.

  I can t
aste myself on his lips, on his tongue, my pulse pounding in my throat as his mouth moves against mine.

  Refusing to let me go, he presses his forehead to mine, stealing all of my vision like usual.

  “This doesn’t have to be the only time.”

  Damn him.

  I knew he would do this.

  “We said just once.”

  His lips stretch into a mischievous grin. “I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve said just once.”

  “Ezra...”

  Pressing his thumb against my lips, he refuses to let me finish the thought. Amber eyes search mine for what feels like forever, but really is only seconds.

  “You never called me back.”

  I attempt to answer, and he presses his thumb tighter.

  “I needed you. We,” he specifies to include Damon, “needed you.”

  Pausing, he lets the truth sink in before hitting me with the final blow, a smirk on his lips while doing it.

  “You broke your promise, killer. Even when we kept ours.”

  Ezra could have stabbed a knife through my chest, and it would have hurt less, his reminder cutting just as deep as he’d intended.

  Winking once before letting me go, he pushes to his feet and steps back, that amber stare holding me prisoner while Damon hands me my dress.

  A knock on the door breaks the tense silence.

  “Emily?”

  “I’m coming,” I call out, finally blinking to break Ezra’s stare and letting my hair fall forward so it will shield my face to keep him from trapping me again.

  The violence inside him right now is calling to me. The fire.

  Sliding off the desk onto my feet, I hurry to pull my dress on, my hands fumbling with the zipper because I’m in such a hurry to go.

  “Let me help.”

  Damon, the eternal sweetheart. He’s a man with a temper easily triggered, but has a heart of pure gold.

  Unlike his brother who continues staring at me with accusing eyes, a hundred promises swirling and colliding together into the singular message that I was the person to break them.

  Damon barely has my dress in place when I make a mad rush to the door.

  Unfortunately, I don’t reach it before Ezra grabs my arm and tugs my back against his chest.

  Dipping his head down, he speaks against my ear.

  “Next time I call, you should answer. Or have you forgotten I’m back in town?”

  Breath leaks out of me, shallow and slow.

  “You haven’t called since you’ve been back.” Turning my head just enough that I can see him in my peripheral vision, I add, “Not once.”

  His lips curl at that. “Because you never answer.”

  As soon as his fingers release their hold on my arm, I rush forward again to let myself out of the office and into the hall.

  Ivy cocks a brow at me and shakes her head.

  “It’s like you wanted to get caught. My father’s office? What the hell were you thinking?”

  I wasn’t.

  Which has always been the problem with my friendship with the twins. I forget how they knock me off balance and threaten me.

  “Sorry. They dragged me there, but I-“

  Ivy touches my shoulder as we reach the stairs while ignoring the curious glances of the few people around us.

  “It’s fine. But you need to straighten your dress and finger comb your hair. You look like you just got fucked.”

  There’s humor in her voice, but I can’t laugh with her. I’m too busy worrying about why we’re rushing downstairs.

  Not only because of the man I’ll be standing next to for our parents’ bullshit spectacle, but also because of the two I left behind.

  Rushing down the stairs, I remind myself over and over why what I did was stupid. Those whispers do nothing to ease the addiction, though.

  They do nothing to soothe the pain in my heart.

  Ezra wasn’t wrong to call me out for not following through with a promise I’d made to him ten years ago, but then it was the reason they needed me that made it necessary for me to let them go.

  I had no choice but to break my word, if for no other reason than to cling on to my sanity.

  We’re outside, and Ivy is still tugging my clothes into place, her worried blue eyes catching mine as we approach the pavilion.

  Taking our places, I stand facing her as she wipes at my smeared lipstick, a sigh leaking out of her because she’s put me together again as best as she can.

  As soon as Mason steps up beside me, every muscle in my body tenses.

  I make the mistake of looking at him to find only bitter contempt in his glacial blue stare.

  So low that nobody but I can hear him, he comments, “I see it didn’t take long for you to slip into old habits.”

  “Fuck off,” I answer, not in the mood for his shit.

  He grins at that, his arm wrapping with mine as we give the audience time for photos. As soon as that’s done, we step away from each other.

  “Can I expect to bail them out of jail again because of you?”

  My fake smile wavers, but I refuse to let Mason see it. “I won’t be seeing them again.”

  “Sure you won’t. Do me a favor and try not to cause problems. They’re just now recovering from the rest of the crap they’ve been through.”

  The words are still whispering over his lips as my eyes cut to the house to watch Ezra and Damon walking out into the backyard.

  “And what crap was that?”

  I can’t stop staring as the twins take their place in the line spreading out on Mason’s side, the Inferno in place in support of him.

  Mason blows out a breath, his attitude softening.

  “We still don’t know. They wouldn’t tell any of us. Even after it stopped. I was hoping they might tell you.”

  There is the problem that has plagued us from the beginning. The twins never told me either. I couldn’t be there for them when I didn’t know how to fix what was happening. Regardless of how much they may have needed me.

  It’s one of the reasons why I broke my promise.

  And why I couldn’t continue loving them while allowing them to shred my heart in the process.

  It’s rare, but every once in a while, Mason and I find common ground. Sadly, it usually revolves around being left in the dark.

  “They never told me either.”

  His glacial blue stare slides my direction, honest concern behind it. “If they do-“

  “I’ll let you know.”

  He nods his head in the closest thing to a truce we’ll ever find.

  I’m still staring at the twins when Mason’s father steps out of the crowd with mine and they approach to announce our engagement.

  Knowing what they are about to say drops my heart into my feet and makes it difficult to catch my breath.

  Still, I face the crowd and remember to smile, even when I have nothing to smile about.

  All the water has slipped through my hands, it seems, and the time I had to be myself is finally running out.

  Ezra

  “I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate the engagement of my son, Mason Strom, to the beautiful and talented Emily Donahue.”

  A spark of anger rolls down my spine at what I’m watching. It’s not like we’re surprised to be standing here tonight. This sham of an engagement has always been a backdrop to Emily’s life, a shadow that’s hovered over her since she was born.

  It made her weak in the eyes of everybody who knew her growing up.

  Docile.

  Timid.

  Hell, even I made the mistake of believing she could be crushed beneath one cruel word or the weight of any bullshit problem.

  I learned quickly just how much of an error in judgment it was to believe Emily weak.

  Beneath that dark red hair and snow-pale skin, behind a pair of turquoise eyes that glimmer like a sun-kissed sea, lies a fiery temper that rivals what Damon and I are known for.

  The tric
k is learning how to tease it out of her. Being sly enough to tear down her walls, and strong enough to stand in the scorching heat of her fire once she shows you who she is.

  What very few people know is that Emily Donahue is a queen.

  One who isn’t broken by obligation.

  A woman who shakes off the whispers and opinions of those around her.

  A wild spirit who stands tall regardless of the crap life throws at her, a beauty who dances within chaos when she thinks that nobody can see her.

  She was strong enough to hold my leash in high school, even when I didn’t believe I had one, even when she didn’t know it was in her hand from the second she showed me who she really was.

  I bet she believes it took her six weeks to develop the close bond she once had with Damon and me, when the sad truth is that it only took her a few seconds.

  One flash of honesty.

  One peek at the violence that exists within her.

  And we were hooked.

  At the first flicker of her flame, I was dropped to my knees, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It doesn’t make me weak to feel that way about her. It simply means I know when I’ve met my match.

  It just pisses me off that she’s too fucking stubborn to accept it.

  Even now, she stands with her shoulders back and spine ramrod straight, her chin tipped up and her fake smile in place.

  She’s facing a nightmare and stares out at it with open defiance.

  Not defiance that she won’t go through with what is expected of her, but defiance that she won’t let it break her.

  Meanwhile, my hands are clenching into fists, and the violence inside me is gnashing its teeth.

  Locking my stare on her father, I have to hold myself back from rushing forward to snap his neck, from dragging his lifeless body to lay at her feet as proof her chains are gone.

  This fucking engagement.

  Nobody understands it.

  We just know Mason and Emily’s families will do anything to ensure the marriage happens.

  As to why… Yeah, your guess is as good as mine on that bullshit. None of us can figure it out. Not that we haven’t tried.

  Still, Emily stands like the queen she is, while I fight to contain the beast.

  It feels like I’ve held my breath the entire time the announcement was made, my muscles locked in place even after it’s over and we’re all free to leave.