by Nora Ash
But of course… if they had… controlling them both would be so easy, any plans to overthrow me were dead on the stalk. There was no way either of them would do anything that might harm the other.
“A girlfriend?” Louis’ ginger eyebrows shot up in amusement. “Not to my knowledge. But I’ll text Liam to swing by and tell you as well, if you’d like.”
I nodded and leaned back in the comfortable arm chair. Family ties were so much easier to put up with when you could control them. “Please do.”
“Hey, Dad.” Liam gave me a carefree nod as he walked in the door, then glanced at my right hand man. “Wesley.”
“Dad was saying how he wanted to check in to hear more about this girlfriend one of us apparently picked up,” Louis said from his position on the couch. “Seeing how Marcus’ bird turned out to be a bit of a safety risk.”
“Girlfriend?” Liam’s eyebrows shot up as he sat down next to his twin, an identical expression of bemusement spreading across his face. “You hiding something from me, brother?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Louis quipped.
“Sorry, Dad, no girlfriend. I’m afraid you’re gonna have to stick with Blaine’s kid, if you were hoping for an upcoming expansion to the Family.” Liam gave me a teasing smile—the little bastards knew I’d had to swallow my words about my grandson’s mother whoring around across the European continent when the kid came out looking like a fucking carbon copy of Blaine.
I narrowed my eyes at his lip, but didn’t bite. “Huh, well that is odd,” I said, motioning at Wesley. “From the pictures I’ve seen, it certainly looks like it—though I couldn’t say for sure who she belongs to.”
Wesley dropped the first photo on the coffee table in front of them. It was of a brunette girl’s naked back pressed up against a window. One of the twins had an arm wrapped around her and his head resting against her shoulder.
“Aw, that’s real nice, Dad. You got him spying on us shagging now? That’s not creepy at all. Are you planning on getting it framed, too?” Liam looked at me with a grimace.
“Since when did sliding your dick between a willing pair of thighs mean we had a girlfriend?” Louis asked, an eyebrow arched. “I reckon we’ve got close to a thousand at this point, then. Gonna be hella expensive in birthday presents.”
“And Christmas,” Liam agreed, shaking his head at me. “Honestly, don’t you have anything better for him to do? The other Families not causing enough trouble at the moment?”
Wesley dropped another photo on the table. This one you could see the girl’s face. She looked up at whichever twin accompanied her, the look of adoration plain as day. And he… even the flat photograph captured every ounce of love written so clearly across his features you had to be blind not to see it.
Wesley put another photo on the table—the two of them laughing and holding hands. And another. Kissing tenderly.
“I’m sure you can understand how I became a bit concerned that there might be just a tiny bit more to this girl than your usual tarts. These three pictures were taken over the span of a few days. As far as I’m aware, you don’t often keep seeing these ladies.” I smiled cooly at my sons, who’d both grown remarkably quiet as they stared at the pictures. “So? Is there something I need to know about? I would hate for either of you to do anything irrational, should our enemies come across her.”
“Nah, Dad,” Louis said, the same casual indifference in his voice as before. But I saw the half-second’s panicked look in his eyes when he first saw the second photo. “She’s nice and all, but nothing more than a quality lay. We swap, once in a while. Always do, with the good ones. That’s why there are multiple pictures.”
“Swap?” I asked, staring down Liam who—if I wasn’t mistaken—had a slightly ashier hue than before.
“We both fuck her,” Liam clarified, giving me a smirk. “You don’t let pussy like that just get out of your bed without offering your favorite brother a go, too. I’m sure you’d have done the same with Louisa, if your brothers were still alive. I’ve heard how she squeals more than once, and you know what they say about the loud ones.”
“Don’t be crass. She may not be your mother, but she still deserves your respect.”
Louis rolled his eyes and flicked the picture of him—or his brother—penetrating the young woman up against a window toward Wesley. “Oh, sure. We’re the ones who are crass. Seriously, Dad, you could just have fucking asked instead of having Wesley creep around outside her windows with a fucking camera. I may even have a video somewhere, if you really want a close-up of the action.”
I raised my hand when he demonstratively pulled out his phone before getting up from the chair. “Thanks, that won’t be necessary. We should get going.”
“You sure? It’s got her in face-down doggy. From what Jeremy said that one time he spied on you and Mum, that’s your favorite.”
I gave my obnoxious offspring a stern look before I turned toward their door. Wesley followed behind me like a faithful shadow, leaving the pictures behind as a silent reminder of the power I now wielded over them both.
He didn’t speak until we were in the car, pulling away from the twins’ flat.
“Do you want me to keep checking in on them when they go to her place?” he asked, eyes on the road. He was always vigilant, that one. Part of why I liked him more than my sons. He was reliable—faithful.
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary for the time being, Wesley.” I smiled thinly as I looked out the tinted window from the backseat at the Thames below their expensive high-rise. “That girl is more than just a fling. And now they know I know. They won’t be causing us any problems. If they do… well, now you know who to start cutting slices off to get them to fall back in line.”
17
Louis
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I rounded on my twin, anger at his idiocy quelling some of the nauseating fear that’d settled in my stomach since our father showed up. “Why would you paint a big fat target on your back by keeping on seeing that girl? If he didn’t buy the fib about us both screwing her, he’s got his hands firmly around your balls now. And I fucking doubt he bought it, if Wesley’s been spying on you. Do you even know how ridiculously in love you look when you’re around her?”
“How do you know what I look like around her?” Liam asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“Because I fucking followed you this morning, you dumb prick. You lied to me. To me! Did you think I wasn’t gonna look into what the fuck’s going on with you? How could you be so careless? How could you fall in love? You fucking saw what it did to Marcus!” I was aware I was shouting, but I didn’t care. Ever since our father had stepped through our front door, I’d imagined a thousand times over what my life would be like without Liam in it, and it felt good to finally release all the pent-up panic at him.
“Fuck, Louis! Don’t you think I know how dangerous it is? I was selfish, okay? I was selfish, and I put her in danger—”
“Fuck her!” I interrupted him. “I don’t give a shit about her—what I do care about is you not getting yourself bloody killed. Do you remember how fucking close Marcus was to dying? Fully-fucking-dying? Because he wanted to save his girl. And this Audrey bitch, she’s got no clue about our world, does she? Evelyn knew, she knew how to deal, and she still almost cost our brother his life!”
Anger ignited in my twin’s eyes and he pointed at me with so much vehemence it made me blink. He’d never looked at me like that before.
“Don’t you ever insult her again. This is not her doing.”
I threw my hands up. “No, it’s your fault! What the hell do you want me to do, start preparing my best man speech?”
Liam shook his head, the anger still evident on his face. “Just stay the fuck out of this, Louis. You don’t get it. You can’t.” And then he turned his back on me and walked toward his own bedroom. Leaving me alone in the living room with my anger.
“What’s so special
about her anyway?” I called after his retreating back.
He didn’t answer.
“Don’t fucking see her again, Liam!”
The sound of his bedroom door slamming was the only reply I got.
“Liam?” The brunette woman in the door looked up at me, her eyebrows meeting in a frown.
She was a pretty girl, I’d give my twin that, with her full lips and chocolate eyes, and her curvy figure was right up both Liam’s and my alley. But she wasn’t anything special—we’d both screwed hundreds of girls who’d be considered far more beautiful than her. What the fuck was it about her that had Liam so twisted up? He hadn’t spoken to me in the three days since our blow-up, and he’d been a right moody prick around our men as well.
“Hey, love.” I pushed my twin out of my mind, stepped through the doorway and, giving Audrey a trademark smirk, bent to kiss her. Thoroughly.
She breathed a small, startled gasp before our mouths connected, but when I brushed my tongue against the seam of her lips she opened them and allowed me to deepen the kiss.
Warm, sweet heat rushed into my lungs and pulsed through my body. Her lips were so soft against mine, they made my head spin and my cock rise to the occasion in record time. I groaned into her mouth with unexpected pleasure, the vague notion that I’d definitely found the reason for Liam’s obsession making its way to the forefront of my mind. Damn, she had me so fucking hot, I was more than ready to skip foreplay and get her on her hands and knees on the nearest bed. Or floor, for that matter.
And then, as if she’d been able to read my mind, she pulled away, raised her hand and smacked me across the face with enough strength to make my head turn.
“You absolute fucking prick!”
I rubbed my cheek, surprise mixing with the hot sting blooming out from my left cheek. When I turned back to look at her, there was absolute murder in her eyes.
“Wha—?”
“You think you can just dump me via fucking text, refuse to answer any of my attempts at getting a goddamn explanation—and then stroll up to my door three fucking days later and kiss me like… like it’s no big deal?” Her voice broke on the high pitch at the end and she shot a look out into the hallway, probably to see if her screeching had brought any of her neighbors’ attention down upon us.
As if summoned, a chain rattled on the door opposite Audrey’s flat, and an old lady peered out into the hallway, mouth pinched. “Miss Waits—”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Peterson,” Audrey interrupted her. I was surprised she could sound so apologetic, the way her teeth were clamped and her hands clenched into fists with her anger. “We’ll be quiet.”
Before the old bat could respond, Audrey’d shut the door behind us. She returned her focus on me, her eyes narrowed with anger.
Huh, seemed Liam had actually been smart enough to break things off with her. I briefly considered making my excuses and leaving, but… the way Liam had been acting, I didn’t have any confidence in his ability to stay away.
Which meant I needed to do what I’d come here for: screw her so many times Liam would wake the fuck up and realize she was no different than any of the other girls we’d shared before. And in the end, it’d be me and him again, and Audrey would be nothing but another bird who’d spread her thighs until we’d had our fill.
Just looked like I had a bit of charming to do before she’d let me into her bed.
“I’m sorry, love,” I said, reaching for her face. She smacked my hand away and gave me a glare that might have made my persistent erection shrivel up, had I truly been the one to bring down her fury. “That wasn’t how I meant it.”
“Not how you meant it?” she hissed, her tone incredulous. With shaking hands she fumbled her phone out of her sweatpants pocket and thrust it in my face. “Then what the hell is this?”
I took it, quickly swiping to her messages. I pressed Liam’s name, and saw several unanswered texts from her to him. Pleading with him to answer her. Asking him why. Telling him he promised.
An uncomfortable knot grew in my stomach as I scrolled up, and up. We’d both been with so many women, there’d been a few broken hearts along the way, even though we never made any promises. I’d been on the receiving end of angry texts a time or two, but I’d never really been too bothered. Because I knew I’d never promised a girl more than a bit of fun and some orgasms.
That wasn’t what Liam had done to Audrey. I didn’t know what he’d promised her, but just from the look on his face when I saw him with her, I knew it’d been more than he’d ever promised a girl before.
When I finally got to Liam’s text, the knot in my stomach didn’t ease up.
Audrey—I can’t see you again. I’m so sorry.
I looked up from the phone at her again, internally cringing. Not gonna lie, the urge to pack up and flee was pretty overwhelming, but I knew I couldn’t. For Liam’s sake.
“Look, I…” I rubbed the back of my neck with my phone-free hand. “I’m really, truly sorry.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry? God, Liam, you just pushed me out of your life with no warning, no explanation… and now you’re sorry? Why am I even listening to you? Get out!”
The small woman pointed at the closed front door, her eyes promising me all kinds of pain if I didn’t obey. But I wasn’t about to leave. I couldn’t. So I did the only thing I could think of—I grabbed her wrists in both hands so she couldn’t slap me again and forced my lips to hers.
“Mmph!” Her muffled squeal died when I pushed her up against the wall and deepened the kiss. My blood rushed through my body in a wave of heat as her sweet taste overwhelmed my senses once more. Her curves ground into me, from her thighs over her stomach and to her full breasts, and again I got the overwhelming urge to just spin her around, rip her pants off, and take her until the urge to fuck like a goddamn beast had been quelled.
Sharp pain in my lower lip snapped me out of it. I pulled back and stared down at the woman who’d just bitten me. We were both breathing heavily, and despite the still-angry glare she leveled at me, I saw something more in her gaze now. Desire. Yearning. She wanted it, too, even if she wanted an explanation for Liam’s text more. I gave her the first fib I could come up with.
“Audrey, I’m sorry. I got scared. I know I hurt you, and you didn’t deserve that. Please, just give me a chance to make it up to you.”
She was still glaring at me, but I could see uncertainty flicker in her chocolate gaze now. “Scared?”
“Scared,” I said, stroking her wrists with my thumbs. “I’ve never been in a relationship like this before. Or at all, really. I know I didn’t handle it well. I’m sorry.”
She stared at me for a moment longer, but then her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I knew I shouldn’t have taken you home to meet my parents. It was too much, too soon.”
Bloody right it was too much. I still couldn’t believe Liam had gone for that, but I grabbed onto her softened stance with both hands. Slower than before, and softer, I closed my mouth over hers again. She only hesitated for a moment this time, and then her soft lips moved against mine, the tip of her tongue brushing against my lower lip where she’d bitten me before.
When she melted against me, I released her wrists and grabbed her around the hips. She moaned softly into my mouth, and my cock gave an achy spasm in response.
Yeah, sex was so back on the table.
I reached down to push a hand into her pants and found her panties already damp with excitement. I stroked her lips through the clinging material until she bucked her hips out for more. Then I slipped my fingers underneath the hem of her knickers and finally touched her soft sex.
Audrey moaned into my mouth and reached up to undo my jacket. She managed to get it opened and shoved off my shoulders—forcing me to pull my hands from her panties—and then she went at my shirt, clawing more than she unbuttoned, but I didn’t care. When the ripped garment was finally off and her soft hands slid up my bare skin, I shivered under her touch, my cock pulsing with
need to have her stroke it instead. Then she dug her nails in and scratched.
“Shit.” I ripped my lips from hers, thinking I’d hurt her, but the absolute blaze of lust that met me when our eyes locked told an entirely different story.
“Fuck. Me.” She slid her arms around my torso and dug her nails into my back, pulling me close against her body. “Now.”
“So that’s how you want it?” The bite of her nails made my lips curl up in a smirk. Looked like the little prude wanted to get her anger at Liam’s abandonment out with a bit of hate-fucking. I was so down for that.
Not waiting for her reply, I grabbed her by the hips again and lifted her up, forcing her to spread her knees for me. She did, locking her ankles behind my lower back and sliding her arms around my neck for purchase.
I slammed her up against the wall, hard enough to make her grunt on impact, and then I was on her. I went for her throat, closing my lips and teeth around the creamy column of her neck and biting down, making her moan and pant as I bit, kissed, and licked at at her exposed skin. I rolled my hips between her thighs, rubbing my achingly hard, jeans-covered cock against her clothed pussy, reveling in her the heat and her small mewls when I got her in just the right spot.
“Liam… bedroom!” she panted, pulling at my hair to get my attention.
I grunted and tightened my grip around her midriff before I pushed off the wall and looked around for her bedroom. Thankfully, the bedroom door was slightly ajar, and I spotted an immaculately made bed through the crack. I carried her there in five long strides, threw her down on the bed, and kicked off my jeans and boxers.
Audrey rose up on her elbows so she could look at me, and her pink tongue peeked out to wet her lips as her eyes roamed hungrily over my form. Under less desperate circumstances, I would have let her look a little longer, but I didn’t have it in me this time. Every cell in my body screamed to taste her, fill her, take her, and I wasn’t going to wait any longer.