by E. M. Moore
“But he barely took you around Clary either. How come?” His thumb traces over my nipple. I can’t talk. I can’t think about anything else, but then he stops. “Dakota?”
I let out a breath. “He said it was safer for us if I stayed home.”
His thumb continues to move until my nipple strains against my shirt. At the same time, he moves his other hand up my body. “He used to get you everything, didn’t he? Clothes. Food. You never went with him?” His other hand reaches my opposite breast.
“Everything,” I say, my panties dampening.
“What about school?”
“What about it?” I ask, moving into his touch. As long as I keep answering his questions, he keeps going.
“Did he want you to go?”
He pinches my right nipple, and I let out a small cry I can’t hold back. Stone switches his grip on my tit, stroking my nipple. “He always threatened to homeschool me, but he never did. It was the one thing I could keep for myself.”
“And you went despite everyone treating you like trash?”
“It never mattered,” I say. I’ve completely lost the plot. Was this me trying to show Stone I had some control over him? I think that’s what it was supposed to be, but it’s so exactly the opposite that it’s frightening. He’s absolutely in control, working me over.
He wets his lips. “Do you know some women can come just from nipple play?”
I shake my head. “Not me.”
“Is that so?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I need clit stimulation.”
His jaw ticks. “Is that how Lucas got you off in the classroom?” I freeze, and Stone smirks. “We tell each other everything. We’re like brothers.”
“Must be nice,” I say, pretending like that doesn’t bother me. I guess it shouldn’t. I’m not trying to hide what happened with Lucas. I wouldn’t try to hide this either. Whatever this is. I tell myself that this is wrong on so many levels. I don’t even like Stone. He’s my fucking stepbrother. Lack of socializing must’ve made me insane because that just makes me wetter.
I blame books.
Stone doesn’t respond to my taunt. “So, you already know what you like, huh? I bet I could find something different.” He pinches both of my nipples, and I grind my jaw together to keep from crying out again. “How many guys have you been with?”
“Stone,” I say in warning, realizing we’re taking this entirely too far.
He drops his hands to my hips and arches into me as he drags me over his erection. “How many?”
“One,” I say, my core throbbing now. “Multiple times but just one.”
“What did Daddy think of that?”
I scoff. “My dad would’ve murdered the guy. We were in the mountains on an excursion. We snuck out of our tents.”
“Mmm, naughty. Did he make you come?”
I nodded, knowing it wasn’t really him. I’m pretty sure I blew that guy’s mind when we were together. Yes, it was like an exploration of how everything fits, but I’d been pleasuring myself for years before he showed up. I knew what I liked. I didn’t just let him have control. If I had, I never would’ve orgasmed. Instead, I rode him, and it was only a miracle that had me coming before him. Both of us were virgins, and he came so quickly the first time it was almost laughable. I was prepared for that though. I showed him right where to touch me, so that when I finally climbed on, I was already headed in that direction, all I needed was a little push, and he only needed two pumps more.
“Now you’re making me jealous,” Stone says, groaning as he moves me over his cock again.
It feels too good. Too tempting. “Things like that aren’t supposed to make my stepbrother jealous.”
He growls, sending a vibration through me. He takes my hand and places it on his cock. “Would a stepbrother be this fucking hard? Would a stepbrother want to tear your clothes off and fuck you until you screamed his name? Would a stepbrother fuck you so good you’d keep coming back?”
I squeeze his dick in answer, and he grunts, thrusting into my hand.
“Fuck,” he says, doing it again and again. He’s about to lose control when he rolls me off him. Instead of following like I expect, he gets up. He runs his hands through his hair. “Game over,” he grinds out.
He walks away, his shorts straining. I smirk at him retreating. He can use words like “game”, but I know that’s not what that was. It was far from it.
I lie back on the half-moon seat, sucking in air, my body electric. Usually, I’d sneak my hands under the hem of my waistband and rub my clit until I come, but that seems like a tragedy right now. It’s not like having his or Lucas’s hands on me. It would be a letdown, so I don’t even bother. I stare up at the sky, watching the stars until my body thrums lower. I’m still wired tight, but I don’t feel like I’m going to die if I don’t come anymore.
When Stone doesn’t show back up, I toss my father’s papers back into the plastic container and retreat to my room. The guys bought me a new book bag, so I transfer my school things over while looking through the assignments I need to do before tomorrow. There’s a short one, so I decide to settle down and finish that one to keep my mind off how huge Stone Jacobs’ cock is.
Because of course the biggest dick around has to have the biggest dick. It’s only natural.
27
The assignment takes me longer than I thought. By the time I’m done, I get ready for bed and lie down, slipping under the comfortable sheets. I gaze into the open closet. I put away all the clothes they purchased for me earlier. Here, in this room, I feel normal.
Normal’s such a boring word. Or at least I used to think it was. But, in reality, it’s nice to be normal. To not have to worry about little things. Like, if I interrupt my father while he’s studying his papers, is he going to get pissed at me? The man would be at his desk all day, foregoing food just as long as he got more time reading the same shit over and over again. I never knew what was going to set him off. I never knew where our food was going to come from when the cupboards ran dry. Reminding him, sometimes, sent him into a spiral.
He always had more important things to focus on.
I should be exhausted since yesterday was such a clusterfuck, but I can’t get my mind to wind down. It’s Stone’s fault, playing that game with me. I cringe at some of the things I told him, wondering if I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
I still don’t trust Stone fully. I don’t know much about him other than he’s an asshole and that he’s supposed to be my family’s natural enemy. The thing is, he didn’t feel that way today. Not at all. With a few swipes of his credit card, he’d given me more things than my father ever had...or could. Physical shit isn’t everything, but there’s a truth they don’t tell you. It makes things so much fucking easier.
My mind keeps spiraling, so I get up, throwing the sheets off me. The thin pajamas I brought from home suddenly don’t seem as cool as they once did. I want to karate chop myself in the throat. What happens when all of this is over? When we don’t find the treasure and Stone and his friends dump me, all I’ll have is a few clothes, some shoes, and a...longing for that brief moment in my life when I felt like a princess.
Yep. There it is. That’s why I can’t think straight. Whenever this ends, I’m going to be dropped right back at Saint Clary’s—or worse, just Clary’s—with only memories of being a part of something.
I grind my jaw as I turn left down the hall. My evil brain is telling me these awful things, but the truth is, haven’t these past couple of days only given me the incentive to go out there and want to have more? These guys have opened up a whole different world to me. A world where there is no struggle. No people calling me names.
Just because this life is easier, that doesn’t mean I have to think badly of my father and the way he brought me up. It tells me I can live differently, just like I always wanted.
I find myself outside of Lucas’s room. I only vaguely remember Stone telling me where each of their rooms were when he brought
me here the first day. I haven’t been in any of theirs, but I’m hoping he’s here now. He, out of all of them, gets it. He won’t judge me for the thoughts bouncing around inside my brain.
The shades are down in his room already, so I don’t know if he’s asleep or if he’s in there at all, but I knock anyway, my heart in my throat. “Yeah?” he calls out.
“It’s Dakota,” I say.
Within three seconds, he’s pulling the door open, and then we just stare at one another for a moment. His hair is wild around his head. The lights are on in his room, so I know he wasn’t sleeping. His room is a mirror of mine. There’s barely anything in it, just the few simple yet tasteful pieces of furniture that match my own. A towel lies on the ground at our feet, and steam billows from the bathroom. He kicks the towel to the side. “Are you okay?”
Embarrassment creeps up my cheeks. I’ve literally never had anyone to talk to except for my dad and Dickie, and neither one of them were big on talking about feelings. I poured my feelings into the souls of books and they spoke back to me. I found the same thoughts and emotions I had murmured in words and phrases. It didn’t matter that the characters weren’t real. It let me know that I wasn’t some freak like I’d been told all of my life.
“Hey,” Lucas says, stepping closer.
My lips buzz, remembering his kiss. It was straight out of a fairy tale or chapter twelve of a romance novel. I’d never been so thoroughly kissed in all my life, but I knew what it was when I felt it because of the books I’d read. Those kinds of kisses don’t come but once in a lifetime, but now that I’m standing right in front of him, I’m freezing up. I don’t know what to say. Or what to do. I’m still in a cell of my own making.
Or was that my father’s making? It’s so hard to tell sometimes.
Lucas grabs my hand and leads me to the bed. The movement shakes my thoughts up, and I realized I’ve come to him in the middle of the night but haven’t said shit. My social skills are definitely lacking. “So, today was...weird.”
“Just weird?”
I take a deep breath, picking at a spot on his sheet while he puts a pillow behind his back, so he’s propped up against the headboard. “Exciting and scary and humiliating,” I say, finishing my thoughts. If I’m going to talk to him, I may as well go all out.
Lucas frowns. “The last thing you should feel is humiliated, but I can’t fault you for it. I remember how I felt when I first met Stone and his father. I didn’t have anything either and everything they did for me seemed like something I needed to pay back. It was a long time before I accepted the fact that gifts among friends are just that: Gifts. There’s no payback necessary. No one’s holding it over your head, wishing you would pay up already.”
“I’m hardly friends with Stone,” I say, a sudden longing hitting me in the chest. The picture Lucas paints for me is so tempting.
“No, you’re more than that,” Lucas says. When I give him a funny look, he sighs. “You’re tied together by this treasure. Now you’re tied together by what’s going on. You guys couldn’t escape the trajectory of your lives if you tried. Stone knows it, too. He always has.”
That reminds me of something Lance Jacobs said. He told Stone to fuck me to get me out of his system. I peek up at Lucas. “Do Stone and his father get along?’
A crease forms between Lucas’s brows. He runs his hands through his hair, looking away briefly. “That’s a tough question, and I don’t think I can answer it. Only Stone knows exactly how he feels about his father. I wouldn’t want to put words in his mouth.” He gives me a look like he’s not trying to avoid my question, and I get that. “So, what is it that’s bothering you?”
“I don’t know,” I say, lying down on the foot of his bed. “Anything and everything. I’m just overwhelmed, I guess. Everything is just so— I’m just not used to it,” I say begrudgingly. “I’m not used to having people around. I’m not used to having new things. Hell, I’m not even used to being outside Clary.” I groan at the ceiling. “It all just sounds so pathetic.”
Lucas crawls forward, caging me to the bed. My heart immediately reacts, thumping against my ribs. He speaks, his lips so close to mine. “Don’t do that to yourself. Nothing that’s happened is your fault. Nothing.”
“It’s hard not to see the differences.” I tell him, scared to even breathe for fear of breaking whatever this is.
He frowns down at me. “You’re looking at it wrong, Wild Girl. Think about all the similarities.”
I screw up my face as I try to think. “Hmm. We’re all human.”
The corner of his mouth tips up. “There’s that, but there are others, too. We’ve all become intoxicated by the same thing.” He lets his words hang in the air before he says, “The treasure.”
I chuckle while the tightness in my throat eases. For a second, I thought he was going to say me.
“I also happen to know that you and I are both amazing kissers. That you and Wyatt both wear your hearts on your sleeves, and that you and Stone might be more alike than you think.”
“Mmm,” I say, pretending to think about what he’s said. “Why don’t we go back to the part where you said we’re both amazing kissers.”
“You agree with me then?” he asks, posing his body over mine so we line up perfectly.
“Wholeheartedly,” I say before I tip my head up and capture his lips with mine. Before, he dominated, taking complete control. This time, it’s my turn. I slide my hand behind his neck, pulling him down over me, nipping at his lower lip. My fingers tangle in his hair as I deepen the kiss, but Lucas doesn’t let me stay in the driver’s seat for long.
“I told you you were ours, Wild Girl. And now I’m going to prove it.”
I’m so lost in his kiss that his words barely register before he kisses a line down my throat, tugging the neck of my shirt down to place bruising kisses across my collar bone.
My body immediately responds. It’s why I came here anyway, knowing that my time with Lucas would lead to this. I’m not ashamed of what my body wants. I never have been.
His hands creep up my sides before they flirt with my bra. I suck in a breath, hoping I can maneuver getting the damn thing off before he looks at it. My father picked this piece of clothing out just like he picked everything I wore, and this is about as dumpy as you can get.
He palms my breasts as he lowers his head, kissing a trail up my abdomen where he’s pulled my shirt up with his wandering hands. He keeps moving up and up until he’s so dangerously close to my bra line that nerves kick in.
“Wait,” I say.
Lucas immediately pulls away, taking his hands away from my breasts. “What?” he asks. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No, it’s...” My cheeks heat.
“Don’t tell me you’re shy,” he says teasingly. “I know you’re not, Wild Girl. Do I need to bring up what happened in Mythology?”
“It’s not that, it’s—” I swallow. I might as well just tell him because I’ve already made a big deal about it. “It’s my bra,” I say finally.
He gets it right away. Locking gazes with me, he makes sure he has my full attention before saying, “I don’t care what you wear, Dakota. I never did.” He grips the hem of my shirt in his hands. “Can I?”
I nod, my throat growing thick. He lifts my shirt and keeps going. I lean up, holding my hands over my head as he slips it off.
I know it’s the ugliest bra he’s probably ever seen. There’s no lace. There’s no color. It’s just white, and an off white at that with years of staining and some of it not even mine.
“I don’t care what you’re wearing,” he says, moving the cup of my bra down so he can caress my nipple underneath. He does the same to the other until he closes his hot mouth over it. I buck underneath him, and he groans. “Jesus, Dakota.” He reaches behind my back, unclasping the hooks until he pulls the bra up and off, throwing it to the floor. “Is this what you wanted to happen when you came in here?”
“Yes,” I breathe.
“Stone got you hot earlier. He told me,” Lucas says, flicking his tongue over my nipple.
I swallow. I guess Stone was right when they said they told each other everything. “Actually, I think it was the book I was reading.”
“Liar,” he growls. “You don’t have any books here.”
Damn. I’m caught. I lift his chin to meet my gaze. “Even if he started it, it’s going to be your name I scream.”
His wild eyes turn molten before me. “I’m going to hold you to that, Wild Girl.”
He kisses his way down my body until he gets to the hem of my sleep shorts. He hooks his fingers around the elastic band and yanks them down, panties and all. He discards them and doesn’t leave me time to think. He pins my knees to the bed, kneeling between my legs.
I’ve fantasized about this before while touching myself. I’ve imagined what the flat side of a tongue would feel like, lapping at me. His gaze meets mine before his tongue darts out, rolling over my clit. My hips come off the bed along with a low moan that emanates right from my core.
He keeps my gaze, flattening his tongue as he laps at me. His eyes are hooded as he yanks my hips against him. I cry out, unable to help myself as Lucas loses himself in pleasuring me.
My heart ricochets inside my chest. My breaths come in short pants as I watch him work.
He pulls away. “Mmm,” he mumbles, licking his lips, and there’s something so erotic about seeing him taste my juices on him. He lifts his hooded gaze. “Tell me that you’re ours.” I thrust my hips up and reach my hands into his hair, but he pulls back, giving me a devilish grin. “You already know it, Wild Girl. Just say it. Say you’re ours. I’ll make it worthwhile. You already know I will.”
I let my head fall back down to the bed. Lucas’s breath coats my pussy, teasing the pleasure he’s already gifted me with and promising me even more if I just obey.
He plays his hands up and down my thighs. “You taste so good, Dakota. Are you going to deny me another taste?”
I squirm on the bed. It’s stupid to hold this back. I’m already lost to them even though I don’t want to admit it to myself. “I’m yours,” I say, tipping my hips up again. “Just tongue fuck me, please.”