Bastards and Scapegoats

by Coralee June

  “I love you, son,” Jack whispered before giving me a lingering look, his mouth hooked to the side, as if he didn’t know what more to say. “Let’s chat later, Vera.”

  Hamilton huffed and wrapped his arm around me protectively. Jack eyed the possessive move, cocking his head to the side with scrutiny. “Bye,” Hamilton gritted.

  I watched Jack’s back as he walked away, noting the defeated slump of his posture. Then, I slowly shrugged out of Hamilton’s grip—or at least, I tried to. He held me tight against his hard body, his lips hovering over my ear. “You blocked me, Petal,” he whispered. “I’ve been trying to text you all sorts of naughty things.”

  “I told you to leave me alone,” I gritted before stomping on his foot. Hamilton let out a guttural groan the moment my stiletto jammed the top of his dress shoes. He let go of me to bite his fist, and I started walking away, grabbing a flute of champagne from a nearby tray as I went. It wasn’t long before Hamilton caught up to me, though. I felt his hungry presence at my back, like a wolf stalking his prey.

  I didn’t turn around to greet him; instead, my eyes turned to the front of the room where Mom was standing with Joseph and greeting some of the guests. She’d given me a polite hello earlier, but the two of them were now too busy schmoozing other important people to really pay attention to me. Taking a sip of my drink, I watched them. Joseph had a bright smile. His chest was puffed out proudly as he shook a diplomat’s hand. Mom stood dutifully by his side, her hair tied up in an elegant updo and her gold evening gown brushing the ground. I eyed her stomach, thinking about the baby. Would I really know my younger sibling?

  “Is that why you blocked me?” Hamilton asked. His presence at my back sent a shiver up my spine. “Are you trying to please your mom? I suppose I can understand that. If Joseph had his way, he’d send me to hell for half a chance at never seeing me again. Although, he’s had a room booked at the devil’s hotel since he was born.”

  “What does it even matter?” I asked in a low voice while spinning on my heel to face him. “I said I was done. Why are you here?”

  Hamilton grinned and grabbed a champagne flute. With his dark eyes on me, he downed it whole. Once his glass was empty, he slammed it down on a nearby table and wiped his plush lips with the back of his hand. “Free booze and a pretty girl.”

  My brows raised. “That’s why you’re spending time with family you obviously hate?” I asked incredulously.

  “Do I need more of a reason?” he asked before invading my personal space. Hamilton was constantly invading my personal space.

  I glanced over my shoulder at my mother. I was expecting her to be giggling over something Joseph said, but no, she was glaring at me. Her posture was stiff, and the angry rise and fall of her chest made me duck in shame. Beside her, Joseph kept his expression void of emotion, but he was aggressively adjusting his cufflinks. “Please leave me alone,” I whispered. I didn’t want any trouble. I didn’t want to make things more difficult for my mother.

  “I can’t even talk to you? That’s not fair. I have a job for you that I wanted to discuss,” Hamilton pouted.

  “What?” A job?

  “I’m leaving for the rig tomorrow. They called me back early. Jess officially moved in with Infinity, and I need someone to watch Little Mama while I’m gone. I was wondering—”

  No way. I was going to get to dog sit! “Yes. Absolutely yes. Can I come get her tonight? Do you need anything for her? I should get her a bed for my apartment. A kennel? Dog treats. Toys. A leash.”

  Hamilton grinned. “Whoa. Hold up. I have all of those things. I can bring it over tomorrow, but you’re going to have to unblock me. I need to be able to FaceTime Little Mama at least once a day.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “This feels like a trick.”

  “I’m just using every advantage I have. Blame it on my Beauregard blood,” Hamilton replied before reaching out and running his index finger down my arm. I shivered at his touch. I knew if I looked down that my chest would be flushed. Fuck, this was not the time or the place.

  “Fine. I’ll watch her. But this”—I gestured between us to emphasize my point—“can’t happen.”

  “Sure, it can,” Hamilton whispered. “What are you afraid of?” I looked back at my mother. She was whispering to Joseph, her eyes locked on me.

  “Why does Joseph hate you so much?” I asked.

  A bit of the playfulness in Hamilton’s expression faded. “I’ve given Joseph plenty of reasons to hate me over the years. Hating someone doesn’t make you right and them wrong, it’s just an outlet for hurt. There’s a lot of hurt in our family, Vera. I’m sure you’ll learn all about it soon enough. Does that scare you?”

  “A little,” I admitted. Hamilton wrapped his large hand around my wrist. The push and pull between us was exhausting.

  “Come with me,” he whispered before pulling me through the crowd and away from the interrogative eyes of my mother, though I could feel her hard stare on my back.

  We exited the ballroom through a side door, then started traveling down a long dark hallway toward another part of the venue. Towering glass windows lined the walls we walked past, and I could see lush gardens outside. It really was a beautiful place. If Joseph wasn’t determined to get married at his family home to feel closer to his mother, I bet Mom would have loved to tie the knot here.

  “Come on,” Hamilton whispered before pulling me into a small storage room.

  “What are we doing?” I asked as he slammed the door shut.

  “This,” Hamilton groaned before cupping my cheeks and slamming his lips to mine.

  We collided so beautifully. It was an intense embrace between my body and his. His tongue searched my mouth with white-hot fever. I moaned against his lips, clawing at his back like this wasn’t wrong. Like we weren’t forbidden. Like this didn’t have the power to ruin everything.

  Heat traveled up my spine, and my nipples hardened into tight peaks, pressing against the thin fabric of my black dress. My body felt like a carton of fireworks, his fingers like the strike of a match against my skin. He found the helpful slit in my dress, and he roamed his hands over my heated thighs, teasing me, pleasing me, making me pant with need. “Are you going to let me taste you, Petal?” he asked. He ran his thumb along my panties, and I moaned before sinking my teeth into his bottom lip. I felt wild and wanton.

  I reached for the zipper at my ribcage and slid the barrier between us down. Hamilton shoved the straps of my dress off my rounded shoulders and shoved the expensive material to the ground. My free breasts pressed against his chest, and he palmed my peaks with his warm hand. I arched my back, pushing him closer. Harder.

  “If I wasn’t so fucking desperate for you to ride my face, I’d make you drop to your knees and put my dick in that perfectly pouty mouth of yours, gorgeous.” His voice fractured as he pulled away. He ran his thumb along my bottom lip, his hooded eyes heavy with arousal. He then licked my neck. My chest. My nipples. My stomach.

  Straightening, he pulled me over to the wall and pressed me against it. A loud thud filled the room from the impact of my body against the solid surface, followed by heavy breathing.

  Looking like a god in his perfect suit, he dropped to his knees and gently lifted my leg, my foot still studded with my expensive stilettos. He eased my thigh onto his shoulder, then stared at the thin black thong I was wearing. “I have a thing for panties,” Hamilton said with a wicked grin. “I want you to come while wearing them, so then I can take home a little souvenir that smells like your needy cunt.”

  I felt dumbfounded. Too stunned by lust and need to say anything. “Perv,” I finally groaned.

  “You love it,” Hamilton said before leaning forward and inhaling me. Deeply inhaling. “Tell me I can have your panties when we’re done, Petal,” he whispered.

  “You can have whatever you want. Just touch me, Hamilton,” I pleaded. But instead of teasing the bundle of nerves at my core, he simply breathed me in again. It was like h
e wanted to fill his lungs with my arousal. Then, without warning, his tongue landed on the drenched fabric, and he started tasting me. Pleasure bloomed from my core. It was raw and hard and nasty passion.

  “So fucking good. Just like I imagined,” Hamilton murmured before pinching the thin fabric covering me and shoving it to the side. “Look at those glistening pussy lips. So hot. So pink. So needy for my tongue.”

  “P-please,” I choked out.

  “You want me to make you feel good, Petal?” he asked. “Tell me you want to be ruined, and I’ll let you cover my chin with your come.”

  His words were too much. That was the root of it all, wasn’t it? “Ruin me, Hamilton.”

  With a dark chuckle, he dove for my clit, wrapping his lips around it, and sucked. My trembling legs nearly collapsed beneath me, and he had to reach up with his free hand and press me against the wall at my stomach. I threaded my own hands through his dark, thick hair and tossed my head back as he alternated between sucking on my needy nub and circling his tongue around it.

  I climbed that peak of pleasure. He ate me out like a starving man. It was everything I’d ever imagined and more. “Fuck, Hamilton,” I cried out as my body tensed from the impending orgasm. He swept his firm tongue over my clit one more time, and my entire body shook from the force of pleasure rocking through me. He rode each wave of my bliss with his mouth taking it in, smiling in triumph as I grinded against his face.

  It was one of those rolling orgasms that never seemed to end. On and on. Time stopped. And little aftershocks rocked through me until I was spent. I probably would have collapsed if he wasn’t holding me up. “You’re a fucking dream, Petal. You have to be,” Hamilton murmured.

  I calmed my breath. “I think you’re the only guy that can make me angry and horny at the same time. I thought I told you this couldn’t happen, hmm?” Hamilton eased my leg down and stood up, his filthy mouth still shiny from my pleasure.

  “You did say you wanted to be ruined, Petal,” he whispered.

  “Stop calling me that.”

  A fresh wave of shame slammed into me. What the fuck was I doing? Was I seriously so starved for sex that I let him…

  Oh fuck. This was bad. This was so bad. We shouldn’t be here. What if someone saw us walking together? I probably looked thoroughly fucked, and it was only a matter of time before someone noticed that Hamilton and I snuck away. “I’m so fucked. This was a bad idea.”

  I shoved him to the side and went to grab my dress from the floor, trying to avoid looking at the impressive hard-on tenting the front of his dress pants. I didn’t owe him anything. This was a mistake. “Vera?” Hamilton called the moment I picked up the wrinkled fabric off the floor.

  “What?” I snapped, suddenly feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, and just plain over all of this.

  “You’re forgetting something.”

  I stepped into my dress and looked him up and down. “I don’t owe you an orgasm.”

  “No,” Hamilton began while stalking over to me. His hands reached out to help me put the straps of my dress back in place. “I’m talking about your panties. A deal is a deal.”

  I huffed. “I don’t remember agreeing to anything.”

  “I think it’s fair compensation for a job well done. I’m about to be on a rig with fourteen other men for two weeks. It’s the least you can do.”

  I rolled my eyes. Hamilton smirked. The room was dark, but a small light illuminated his hungry face. One impulse was all it took, and I was boldly reaching under the skirt of my dress and rolling the drenched panties down my still trembling thighs. “So obedient,” he teased when I slapped it in his palm. “Pleasure doing business with you, Vera.”

  The pleasure was all mine.

  11

  As I walked back through the ballroom with my blushing skin and messy hair, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone guessed what we had done. I was still buzzing from the pleasure Hamilton coaxed from my body. Every step teased me. Every press of my legs together sent an aftershock of need through my body. “Stop fidgeting, you look suspicious,” Hamilton whispered with a satisfied grin. He looked way too proud of himself as he licked his lips and followed after me.

  Many people were already sitting down, prepared to enjoy their overpriced meals as they gossiped. I’d completely lost my appetite.

  “I am suspicious,” I hissed. “Stop following me.” I didn’t actually want Hamilton to stop following me. Aside from my mother, he was the only familiar face here. But it was for the best. We’d taken things too far. This was exactly the situation I was trying to avoid. If word got out that I was lusting after Joseph’s younger brother, it would be a media shit storm. It was taboo and wrong.

  “Who else am I going to talk to? This party is stuffy. Want to leave? I’ve got a couple of steaks marinating at my house. I’ll even break the rules and give you a glass of wine. You really need a fake ID.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and kept walking toward the buffet table. I needed a drink. I needed to go home and wash Hamilton off of my skin.

  “You look hot all flustered like that,” Hamilton whispered. “It’s kind of cute how your cheeks turn red. Are you thinking about it, Vera? Are you thinking about how I still have your taste on my tongue?”

  “Stop talking,” I pleaded. “It’s like you want to be caught.”

  “What’s the worst that could happen? I mean honestly.”

  “People could talk,” I forced out. “It could make my mother look bad.”

  “I didn’t realize you cared what people thought about you. It’s a shame. Life is so much more fun when you let go of all the expectations the rest of the world puts on you.”

  I stared at Hamilton, at his shiny lips, his wild eyes and his ruffled hair. “You don’t care what people think of you?”

  “No. I care about having fun, feeling good, and doing whatever the fuck I want to do. Life is too short to live by someone else’s rules, Vera.”

  “I feel like I’ve got a flashing neon sign over my head telling everyone what we just did,” I huffed out while fixing the strap of my dress.

  “It’s kind of hot. Would you be into people watching us sometime?”

  I blushed and avoided looking at him. “This was bad. Really bad.”

  “I thought by the way you screamed my name, it was fucking good, Vera,” Hamilton replied in a low voice. “So fucking good that I’m going to be stroking myself to thoughts of you coming in my mouth. You’re so sweet.”

  I let out a slow breath. “Why me? I’m sure you could have anyone.”

  “Why are you so quick to doubt why someone would want you, hmm?” I thought about his question for a moment. Why was it so difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea of being wanted? Just before I could reply, my mother’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

  “Vera, baby, where did you disappear to? You missed the toasts.”

  I snapped my attention to my mother and let out a shaky exhale. “I was just taking a walk. I needed some fresh air. You know how crowds make me anxious,” I replied.

  She peered at me, and Hamilton being the asshole he was, slung his arm over my shoulders. “Hello again, Lilah. How are you? Congratulations on the move. You’re going to love DC. It’s a great place to raise kids, too.”

  My mother glared at Hamilton. The open hostility was unexpected and out of the ordinary. What did Joseph tell her that was so bad? “I’m very proud of my husband,” she said in a pleasant tone that felt forced. “He’s worked hard to follow in Jack’s footsteps. He’s got that Beauregard ambition.”

  “That’s such a picky gene. I hear it skips younger siblings,” Hamilton replied with a wicked smirk.

  “Well, what a coincidence. I heard the very same thing. In fact, I’ve heard lots of things recently,” Mom snapped.

  “I’m sure only ninety-nine percent of them are true. Did my brother tell you about the time I bought him strippers for his thirtieth birthday? What a wild time that was,�
� Hamilton replied while cocking his head to the side and looking my mom up and down.

  Mom frowned and rolled her eyes. “Vera, let’s go stand with Joseph. This is a party celebrating his accomplishments, and you haven’t even spoken to him. It looks bad.”

  I ground my teeth together. If she was worried about appearances, then she was going to be pissed when she heard I let Hamilton eat me out in a storage closet. “Of course.” I didn’t want to go stand with Joseph. I didn’t even want to be at this stupid party, and for the first time in my life, I wanted to get the hell away from my mother. She was like a complete stranger to me.

  Hamilton cleared his throat before speaking directly to me. “I’ll stop by tomorrow, then.”

  Mom’s eyebrows raised. “Tomorrow? What’s tomorrow?”

  “I’m leaving for the oil rig. They asked me to come early, and I needed a dog sitter. Vera so graciously volunteered.” Hamilton squeezed me tighter to his side. I forgot he was still holding me close. I shrugged out of his grasp.

  “I see,” Mom replied while tilting her chin up. “And you’ll be gone for how long?”

  “Two weeks. But I’ll be back. I always come back,” Hamilton promised. There was something ominous about the way he emphasized always.

  I looked between them and decided that this was too dramatic for my tastes. “Come on. Let’s go see Joseph,” I told my mother before grabbing her slender arm and pulling her toward her husband at the head table in the front of the room.