With one dessert on the second tier of the tray.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
He sighed as the silver tray separated our bodies.
“I thought I could talk to you tonight, but—”
I reached out for his hand, but he yanked it away.
“Don’t,” he said.
“Brody, we really need t—”
“Don’t speak.”
I swallowed hard. “Please, I have so much I want to say to you, and I just—”
“Silence,” he hissed.
Tears rushed my eyes. “Brody, please.”
“I can’t do this tonight. I can’t even look at you right now.”
“Does Gael know?”
He nodded slowly. “You’re lucky Declan doesn’t.”
So, my thoughts were spot-on. “Brody, you don’t have to talk. Just let me—”
He held up his hand. “Not right now. I—I can’t.”
A tear streaked my cheek. “Brody.”
“Stop!” he roared.
I winced at the boom of his voice before he straightened his back.
“You can take the room for tonight. I’m sleeping down the hall. You have free range of the penthouse—”
I walked around the silver tray. “Brody, I’m begging you. If you care about me at all—”
He snickered. “Care? You want to talk about caring, Abby? After betraying us? Betraying this family!?”
I tried to take his hand, but he stepped away from me again.
“Brody, I just need you to listen. Please. I’ve thought about this long and hard. I was going to tell you over lunch, but—”
“Goodnight, Abigail.”
I whimpered. “No, please. Abby. Or baby girl.”
“Goodnight, Miss Callaghan.”
I sniffled. “No, please, Brody.”
I followed him all the way to his bedroom. Begging with him. Pleading with him. Trying to find anyway to get him to listen to me. But when he shut the bedroom door in my face, I sank to my knees. I pressed my forehead against the door. I cried out for him to open up. And when he didn’t, my heart broke. Shattering into a million pieces.
Just like his heart had probably done earlier today.
“But I love you,” I whispered.
A shadow paused beyond the door. I looked down at the floor of the penthouse, holding my breath. Brody was standing there. At the door. All he had to do was open it. All he had to do was let me in, and I’d fix it. I’d do whatever it took to fix things between us.
Come on, Brody. Just open up.
Then, the shadow backtracked. With heavy footfalls that fell away from the door. Solidifying my lonely dinner, lonely night, and lonely morning.
While staying in a penthouse with the man I loved that probably wanted me dead.
16
Brody
I paced around my bedroom, trying to focus on the sound of my feet shuffling against the carpet. No way. There was no fucking way in hell she said those words. There was no way Abigail Callaghan was in love with me. That wasn’t what we were doing. She was bargaining for her life. Wanting me to go lenient on her. Trying to find a last-ditch way out of this shithole she had dug for herself.
You're just hearing things, Brody.
And even if she did say them, I couldn't believe them. Not coming from the likes of her. She betrayed me. Betrayed all of us. And now, I had the task of telling Declan exactly why our father’s only blood-related child should be banished from the family. Nope. Abigail was bargaining for her life. For her future.
What if she isn’t, though?
The thought stopped me in my tracks. I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. Wrong choice, though. Because the air was filled with her. Filled with her scent. Her allure. The sound of her breathless voice behind the door. The image of her on her knees. I heard her drop to them. I heard her begging. Begging and pleading with me, like the good girl she had become.
“No, she betrayed me,” I hissed.
And yet, my heart yearned for her.
“Fuck,” I breathed.
The animal inside me rattled within its cage. It had been bucking all night. Just waiting for me to open the door. To storm back into the bedroom we shared together for the past three weeks and take her as mine. Like I had done every fucking night after work. My body yearned for her. Yearned for the routine we had built together. My arms longed to wrap around her. My lips begged me of their own volition to cave and go explore her body. Taste her depths. Savor her curves.
You have to stay strong. This is what she wants.
I ran my hands through my hair. I turned my back towards the door. I had to think of something else. Anything else. Because the thought of Abby on her knees for me made me weak in my own. I raked my hands down my face, feeling the stubble growing against my skin. I licked my lips and stormed into the bathroom, trying to put more distance between the two of us.
But no matter how many barriers I shoved between me and her, it didn’t work.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed.
I paced around for hours. I tried sleeping but laying down only made me feel vulnerable. I should’ve let her go with Declan. I should’ve let her go back to the family brownstone. Why the fuck did I demand she come up here with me? Why the hell did I have to do this to myself? Was I really that much of a glutton for punishment?
No, you just want to punish her.
My head fell back. I drew in a deep breath. There were so many emotions running through my body and I didn’t know how to process them all. I had always been prized for my ability to emotionally remove myself from situations. Yet, from the time I first laid eyes on Abby, I’d been anything but emotionally removed. She tapped into a part of me I hated. A part of me I shoved down at every chance. She unleashed the beast from its cage and tamed me every single time I fell between her legs. She called to a part of my heart I killed off a long time ago. She drew from me a wealth of longing and sadness and aching romance that wasn’t becoming of a man in my position.
“Baby girl,” I whispered.
You’re losing it.
I felt like I was losing it. I felt like I was lost completely. I wanted to slaughter James Daly for what he’d done to Abby. Then, I wanted to punish her like the bad girl she had become. Yet, the idea of her becoming my bad girl in the first place throbbed my cock. Made it grow, leak, and pulse against the zipper of my pants.
“Shit,” I growled.
I tore out of the bathroom. I gazed at the clock on the bedside table. One in the morning. It was one in the fucking morning. I’d been pacing and lost within my thought processes for well over three hours now. I looked over at the silver tray in my room. A tray of stale, untouched food. And somehow, Abby’s scent soared over that food. Soared over that coffee. Soared over that dessert.
Why could I smell her so heavily?
I knew she was pacing. I heard her soft footfalls down the hallway. I knew she was awake. Just as restless as me. But I was too angry to go out there after her. I was scared I’d really, truly hurt her if I did. So, I relegated myself to my room.
Until her scent became too much.
“That fucking woman needs to take a shower,” I glowered.
You should go tell her that. Tell her to clean herself up like you asked of her hours ago.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go tell her. I’ll force her into that shower if I have to,” I murmured.
So, I reached for my bedroom door and ripped it open. Only to see Abigail standing on the other side. Looking up at me with big eyes, waiting for me to come to her.
Like the good little baby girl she was to me.
“What?” I asked hotly.
She blinked. “It’s technically tomorrow.”
I looked back at the clock on the bedside table and sighed. Two thirty in the morning.
“Yes, so it is,” I murmured.
“Whatever you need from me, I’ll give you. Just tell me, Brody. Tell me how I can make this better.”
<
br /> Well, fuck. “Get in here. Now.”
She quickly slipped beside me and I rolled the tray of food out the door. I wasn’t hungry. Not for that, anyway. I closed the bedroom door and locked it. Making sure this woman had nowhere to go. And as I slowly turned around to face her, I watched her clench her nightgown robe tight around her body.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I said.
Her eyes snapped up to mine. “What?”
“Right now. This second. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking of how much I love you, and how this is killing me inside. Not knowing how to make you smile at me again.”
She said it without hesitation. Without skipping a beat. And my heart surged to life again. My soul melted in the heat of the fire brewing in my gut.
“I don’t believe you,” I said.
“I’ll show you. As long as it takes.”
“Not after what you did. Not after what you tried to do to this family. To yourself. To me.”
She rushed toward me. “I’m sorry. Please. I was in such a different mindset when I talked to Liam at the—”
“You fucking did this at your father’s reception. Before his body was even cold. How the hell could you!?”
Her hands pressed against my chest. “Please, if you’ll just give me time to explain—”
I gripped her wrists. I swung her around. I pinned them above her head, shoving her against the wall. I couldn't take her touching me. Not now. Not ever. And as I growled at her, my eyes dancing between hers, she licked her lips.
“I love you, Brody,” she whispered.
My gaze danced down her body. It ran over her arms. Her face. Her neck. Her breasts. I felt myself weakening against her. With every pulse of the heat from her skin rushing through my palms. I took a step toward her, her curves softly pressing against me. And just as I leaned my face down to meet hers, something caught the corner of my eye.
A bruise against her arm.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
She gasped. “What?”
I jerked her arm out and slid the robe up her skin.
“This. Where did you get it?” I asked.
“I-I-I—Brody, it—”
I yanked her toward me. “You’re going to answer my question right now. Who hurt you? Who bruised you, Abigail!?”
And as a tear slid down her cheek, her lower lip started to quiver.
“You did,” she whispered.
I blinked. “What?”
“When you uh… grabbed me out of the—the car. Y—you—grabbed me too tight.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not,” she whispered.
“Then why the fuck didn't you tell me?”
She sniffled. “Because I didn’t want you to feel any worse than you did in that moment.”
I held her gaze as I slowly dropped her wrist. I stared at her, studying her. Trying to figure her out. This woman. A woman I had bruised. A woman I had hurt. Still proclaiming love for me. Still wanting to protect me from my own emotions. Was it possible? Could it be?
Does she really love me?
I picked her arm back up and slid the robe sleeve up her skin. My lips fell to the bruise. Kissing it. Over and over. Trying to smooth it away from her skin. Her shuddering breaths hit the side of my face. Her wet cheek pressed against my head as I slid my lips over her marred skin.
Every kiss, an apology for putting her in unnecessary pain. For marking her skin out of anger.
Something no woman deserved.
“Brody,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured.
“Brody, look at me.”
“Forgive me for hurting you.”
“Brody, please.”
I turned my face to view hers. “No woman deserves that kind of pain.”
“Then, kiss me to make it all better,” she whispered.
The heat of her words. The delicateness of her whisper. The pout of her lower lip. It was all too much for me. She was too much for me. And all at once, my lips fell against hers. I blanketed her back with my arms. I pulled her close to me, feeling her bow as I hunched over her. Her arms tightened around my neck, her pelvis pressing against mine. My cock throbbed. Its tip leaked. And as all rational thoughts fell away from my mind, I picked her up from her feet.
“You’re coming with me,” I growled.
I carried her into the bathroom. I used her back to close the door behind us. And as I set her down, I forced her to her knees. I fisted her hair as her hands made quick work of my belt. Of my pants. They fell to my knees before she wrapped her hand around my dick. And all at once, I pressed my cock through her wanton lips.
“Oh,” I groaned.
She gagged around my girth as I pushed all the way to the back of her throat.
“That’s it. Just like that,” I growled.
I slowly pumped my hips. Slicking my cock with her spit as she hollowed her cheeks out for me. I reached down with my free hand and cupped her cheek, making her look up at me. Making her open those gorgeous eyes of hers so I could look deep into her eyes. She looked incredible, with my cock swelling her lips. With her cheeks hollowed out, streaked with tears of apology.
“You’re beautiful, and I’m sorry,” I murmured.
She hummed around my dick as her eyes fell closed.
“But you’ve still done a great wrong. And it’s one I will punish you for tonight.”
I ripped her mouth away from my dick and pulled her upright. She scrambled to her feet before our lips crashed together, and I ripped her robe off her shoulders. I dragged the spaghetti straps of her nightgown down her arms. I pulled her over to the shower and reached inside, fiddling with the nozzles until hot water fell from the rainfall showerhead. I nibbled down her neck as I stripped myself the rest of the way. I wanted to feel her skin against my own.
Then, I gripped her neck and backed her into the walk-in shower.
Before turning her around and bending her forward.
“Brody!”
“You don’t cum until I say so. Got it?” I glowered.
“Bro—ah!”
“So fucking tight for me.”
The water battered against my skin. I gripped Abby’s hips and pushed my rock hard dick into her tight entrance. I snapped my hips against hers relentlessly, listening as she cried out. Water dripped over her curves for my viewing pleasure. I saw her nails digging into the shower walls. I didn’t give her a chance to adjust. I didn’t give her a chance to breathe. The animal within me wanted too much to wait for her. Too much to give her space.
“That’s it. Holy fuck, squeeze that dick.”
“I’m so close. Please, Brody.”
I cracked my hand against her ass. “Don’t you dare.”
“Please.”
I spanked her other ass cheek. “Your ass is going to regret it if you do.”
“Oh, no,” she whimpered.
And when her pussy tightened around me, I chuckled wryly.
“I’m going to have fun with you tonight, baby girl.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You just—feel so good.”
I ripped my cock from between her legs. “You won’t think that in a second.”
I panted as I spread her ass cheeks. I gazed at that puckered hole as my cock dripped with her juices. Abby gasped, leaning her head against the shower wall as hot water battered against her little rosebud. I traced my fingertip along the outer rim of her asshole. I smiled wildly as it jumped for me. This. I wanted this. The last virginal hole on her beautiful, wondrous body.
“Take a deep breath, baby girl.”
I pressed her to her knees and knelt between her legs. I lined my dripping cock up with her entrance and breached the first line of defense. She tightened around me, her body shaking as she whimpered and whispered.
“Brody. Ow, ow, ow—oh. Hold on. Ple—oh—I—shit—you—”
I spread her ass cheeks. I massaged the
m as I continued my slow entrance. Holy fuck, she was tight. Her asshole, gripping me. Her pussy, jumping for me. Her fists, balling up as curses fell from her lips.
“Such a dirty mouth from such a sweet girl,” I murmured.
“Oh, Brody, slowly,” she whimpered.
With every inch of me that slid in, her body trembled more. She panted for air. She sweated more than the water dripped against her skin. I slid my hand underneath her, parting her glorious pussy lips. With two more inches to go, her body had completely cut me off. And that simply wouldn't do. Not for me. Not for what I wanted.
So, I gently massaged her clit.
“Relax for me.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Breathe and relax.”
“It hurts,” she whimpered.
“Maybe now, you have an idea of how much you hurt me for your own nefarious pleasures.”
Slowly, I circled her clit. And with each stroke, her asshole unclenched. I slid another inch in before she closed me off, and I chuckled with delight. I’d get inside of her. I’d invade all of her. I’d fill that tight little hole with my cum before all was said and done tonight. When I set my sights on something, I got it. No matter what.
“Open up for me, baby girl. You know it’s the only way to go.”
I filled her pussy with my thumb and she practically collapsed. I crooked it against her walls, stroking as her asshole blossomed for me. Her ass swallowed the last of me down and I growled in success. And with my fingers filling her beautiful pussy, I pulled myself out.
Only to slam right back into her body.
“Brody!”
“That’s for betraying me,” I grunted.
“Brody, fuck!”
“That’s for putting me in a position to withhold shit from my brother.”
“Brody, please. Please. Holy fuck.”
“And the rest of this is for my heart. Because you’ve shattered it, baby girl.”
“I’m sorry,” she said through her sniffles.
I pounded against her ass cheeks. Watching then jiggle for my viewing pleasure. Her pussy pushed my thumb out and I collapsed on top of her. Rutting against her, as if I’d lost all sense of what I was doing. I bit into her shoulder. I marked her as my own. As my cock swelled, I felt her ass cheeks parting for me. Making way for my thickness as her sniffles turned to moans.
Brody: The Callaghan Mafia #2 Page 12