by Laura Avery
QUIVER
A DARK ROMANCE
BOOK TWO
BY LAURA AVERY
Copyright 2018 Laura Avery, all rights reserved.
No part of this work may be reproduced without written consent of the author. This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Quiver is a dark romance and is intended for mature audiences only. It’s extremely possessive and crude. Please don’t read if strong sexual situations, language, violence, and bullying offends you. All individuals portrayed in this work of fiction are eighteen years of age or older.
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Chapter One
“Just like a good girl would.”
EMERY
Maybe I should have been surprised to see Jackson and Pierce storm into the café on campus the next morning with a fan club a mile long trailing behind but I wasn’t. No matter where they went, no matter what they did, they were treated like royalty.
The Lucas brothers had something magnetic about them. You could try like hell to run away from them, fight with every inch of you to feel like you didn’t have to prove yourself to them, cry a thousand tears for how fucked up they were… but you were still pulled toward them, unable to control your actions as soon as they stepped into your airspace. They were intoxicatingly beautiful.
Hell, I knew that better than anyone.
“Unbelievable,” Morgan complained from her spot in line next to me. “They’re here for less than 24 hours and they already have the entire campus wrapped around their fingers.” She picked up a thing of cereal and shoved it forcefully onto her tray.
“Just like high school,” I offered up helplessly.
“No,” she snapped. “Not just like high school, Emery. Fuck that. High school is over and you can actually do something about it now. You still have that cops card, right? He told you to call him if you needed anything. We can call your parents, we can…”
I looked down at the ground and started pushing the edge of my nail back and forth over my thumb. “It wouldn’t matter, none of it matters anymore.” Didn’t she understand by now? Jackson and his brothers would always win, no matter how close you thought you were to pulling ahead of them, it was just an illusion. They would always come first. The game was control and me? Well, I was the game piece that seemed to get off on how fucked up the whole situation was.
What the heck did that say about me?
“Emery,” Morgan said firmly, placing her arms on my shoulders and turning my body toward hers. “I want you to understand something. Jackson Lucas is never going to be that guy that you save, he’s not good, Emery, he’s bad. Anything that makes its way into that black heart of his will be too fucked up to stay long.”
I forced myself to look her in the eye when I lied. “I have no interest in saving him, Morgan.” I shook my head. “I’m not stupid, I know someone like him could never…” The words were on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t make myself finish them. I know someone like him could never love someone like me.
The thought alone was pathetic.
Especially because I didn’t want his love.
“Someone like him can never love, Emery. Period. Even trying to break a guy like that would take years. Fucking years of emotional support that he wouldn’t want or take so do yourself a favor and understand something right now.” She gestured to the other side of the room. “This situation isn’t going to get better, it’s only going to get bad and then worse and then fucking unbearable.”
I squirmed out of her grasp, not liking the way this conversation was making me feel. I knew she was right, Jackson hadn’t had a reason to make me miserable all those years but now that he was out to avenge his brother I could only imagine what he had in store for me.
A chill came over my spine and my body started to shake under me.
He was coming.
“Oh, fuck. I’ll deal with this.” Morgan glanced at the approaching brothers and stepped in front of me, crossing her arms over her chest. “Jackson, you piece of shit, what can I help you with today?”
Jackson stopped in front of us, his dark eyes traced on me. If he heard Morgan he made no acknowledgment of it, he was too busy looking me up and down like I was a piece of meat that had been left out too long and had turned rancid. “What the fuck are you wearing?”
I glanced down at my leggings and white sweater. “I-I…”
“You what?” he growled, growing impatient.
“She’s wearing fucking clothes,” Morgan spat at him.
“Ugh, you still don’t know when to shut the fuck up, do you, Morgan?” He nodded at Pierce and then gestured his perfect chin forward. “Get her the fuck out of my sight.”
Pierce made a big show of sighing before pushing forward and grabbing Morgan underneath her legs, throwing her over his shoulder. “I don’t know how I always end up having to deal with her dramatic ass.” He reached up and spanked her butt as he put empathies on the word ass. “I had to pop sleeping pills last night just to get your annoying ass screeching voice out of my head.”
Morgan pounded on his back as he carried her away. “You put me down! Right now! I’m going to kill you when I get down from her, Pierce. You hear me? KILL YOU!”
“Some things never change,” he grumbled as he headed for the exit.
Jackson closed the distance between us instantly, digging his nails into my arm. “Did I or did I not tell you last night to stop dressing like a fucking slut? Do I have to start laying your clothes out for you, lamb, is that it? Clearly, you can’t be fucking trusted.”
“I’m wearing a sweater!” I tried to twist away from him.
He tightened his grip. “Yeah, with a pair of tight ass leggings. Are you trying to give the whole campus a few of your ass? Of my ass. I don’t want anyone to ever see you in them again, do you understand me? I want you to fucking burn them.”
My body started to quiver underneath him even harder, I tried to control myself but it was no use, he had a way of putting fear into every part of my bones. I didn’t want to think about what would happen to me if I didn’t obey him; if I didn’t go along with whatever he said.
“Did you hear me?” he seethed into my ear.
“Y-yes,” I chocked out. “I’ll burn them.”
He moaned softly into my ear and pushed my back against the metal rack so that it dug into my skin. “That’s right, little lamb, that’s a good girl.” He pushed my hair behind my ear and nibbled hard on my neck. “You’re going to be a good girl, aren’t you, Emery? You’re going to obey and do what you’re told.”
My knees buckled a little and he caught me, grunting. “You better be an obedient little lamb, Emery, or I might think of other ways to make you listen.” His lips were hot and he dashed his tongue out, licking over the spot he had just bit a few times before he started to suck on it again. “Right now, I’m only concerned with making you pay for what you did to my family but if you make it hard for me, I might have to take my attention elsewhere.”
My legs started to tingle and ache thanks to the puzzle he was creating against my neck with his Sylvia. Juices were forming and my body was confused, vibrating at both the sensation and the fear. “Elsewhere?” I squeezed.
“Mm-hmm.” He sucked harder and then bit down roughly before he pulled away. “I might have to start taking out your poor choices and disobeying in other ways, like on the people you care about.” He lowered his voice and his evil eyes turned black. “I know where your parents are at all times, Emery. Know the password to their bank accounts, know how to get them alone whenever I want… and Morgan… well, I ove
rlook her little attitude problem, mostly because she’s insignificant to me, a little gnat that refuses to fly away but that can change….”
“No,” I shuttered, shaking even more. “Please! Leave them alone!”
“That’s up to you now isn’t it?” He licked my bottom lip. “Are you going to be a good girl and do what I tell you to the first time? Or are you going to be a pain in my ass?”
“Okay,” I said right away, growing desperate. “I’ll listen.”
“You have to say it.” He smiled evilly.
“I’ll be a good girl,” I shook the words out. “I’ll obey.”
“That’s good.” He moaned in satisfaction. “That’s really good. Now hold still like a good girl while I finish slobbering this hickey all over your neck.” And then he lunged forward, smashing his lips and tongue into my skin as he sucked and bit down on me fiercely.
I gasped loudly and clung my fingers into his shirt in an effort to keep myself from screaming out. I had never had anyone put their lips on me like that before; so hungry and savagely. He bit hard enough to break the skin and I yelped loudly before he smoothed the blow by kissing it better. He pulled back and tilted my head over, admiring his handy work before smirking. “Looks fucking perfect.”
I grabbed my hand and covered my neck in humiliation. “What did you do that for?” I looked around the large room and sure enough, tons of people were staring at us, including the crowd of people who had just been trailing behind Jackson and Pierce minutes before. I rubbed my hand back and forth over the tender spot on my neck. I could still feel the burn of his bite.
Jackson pushed my hand back and grabbed the hair tie off my wrist, roughly pulling my hair up onto the top of my head. “Because I was marking you as mine. Now every time you look in the mirror you’ll see me on you and you’ll know you belong to me. And if anyone dares to look at you, they’ll know it too.” He grabbed my chin and forced my eyes on his. “A constant reminder,” he paused. “Now say it.”
I closed my eyes. “I’m going to be a good girl.”
Jackson nodded in approval. “Good, then let’s get started.” He pulled away from me yet again and started across the café to the doors that led outside. He moved with grace and control, leaving a string of awed gazes and star-struck girls in his wake.
He didn’t have to say it for me to know I was to follow him.
Just like a good girl would.
Chapter Two
“Slutty lingerie.”
EMERY
“You want me to do what?” I gasped down at the thin red bra and panties in my hand. I had never seen undergarments so flimsy in my life. Did he really think I would be able to fit into these?
“I want you to put them on,” he told me again, slower this time.
“You’re joking.”
“Do I look like I’m joking, Emery?” He grabbed the edge of my sweater and pushed both of us back into the girl’s bathroom. “From now on I’ll be picking out what kind of undies you wear. You want to dress like a slut, that’s fine, but you’re going to do it the way I tell you to. I’ll take pleasure in knowing you’re wearing that piece of string underneath your clothes just for me, only for me.”
My body started to tremble again. “Jackson, I don’t…”
His phone rang and he sighed in annoyance when he looked at the screen. “Just get fucking dressed, Emery, I’ll be waiting outside. Don’t make me ask again.” He brought the phone to his ear and swung the door open aggressively. Whoever was calling, it clearly wasn’t a conversation he wanted to be having.
I pushed my hands against the sink and looked at myself in the mirror, trying to collect my thoughts. How the hell had I gotten myself into such a mess again? It was like I was in a haze every time Jackson was around me and I was only able to think straight when he gave me room to breathe again.
I traced the mark on my neck.
Why did I like the way it looked so much?
Jackson pounded on the back of the door and I shook my head, quickly stripping my clothes off and discarding my old bra and underwear in the wastebasket before I forced myself into the ones Jackson had given me. They were tight and left little to the imagination. The bra pushed my boobs practically into my chin and the thong was shoved tightly into my butt crack.
Jesus, he was sick.
Then why are you so turned on?
I pulled my sweater and leggings back on and exited the bathroom, not wanting to make him wait any longer than necessary. He leaned against the wall next to the door; his broad arms crossed over his chest as he traced his grey eyes over my body like he could see through my clothes and knew just what was hiding underneath.
“We all set?” he raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah.” I glanced to the side. “Do you…”
His jaw tingled in frustration. “What?”
“Do you want to see?”
Jackson chuckled. “Did I ask to see?” He pushed off the wall and took my arm in his grip, yanking my chest against his. “I bet you wish I had, huh? You’re just dying to show me how hot that body looks in that slutty lingerie, little lamb.”
My body trembled, as always and I sighed, more frustrated with myself than ever. “Why didn’t you come get me this morning?” The words flew out of my mouth without my permission, clearly bothering me more than I had let on. “You told me today was day one,” I continued, trying to save myself some embarrassment. “I thought that meant you would be there, monitoring me or whatever,” I mumbled.
Jackson released me. “Don’t be ridiculous, Emery, why would I come pick you up at your dorm?” He shook his head. “You wanted me to walk you to campus or some shit? I’m not your fucking boyfriend, that’s not what this is.”
“Thank God,” I grumbled.
“Keep telling yourself that and you might actually start to believe it.” He linked his arm through mine possessively and steered me back toward the café. “Come on, let’s go eat.”
“I’m not hungry, I was just keeping Morgan company,” I protested.
“Yeah, no fucking shit you weren’t hungry because you haven’t been eating.” He stopped and turned my body toward him. “You can wear all the fucking sweatshirts you want, lamb, I’m not your idiot parents or your ignorant girlfriends, I know you’ve lost weight and a fucking lot of it in the past few years.”
I opened my mouth to protest but I snapped it shut again, knowing better, especially because he was right. I had found eating of little importance over the past 24 months. Not because I didn’t want to I just wasn’t hungry much. Eating had started to feel hopeless just like so many other things in my life.
“Why haven’t you been eating?” he demanded.
I shot my head up, trying to read his eyes. For a second I could have sworn I heard something other than hatred in his tone. – Concern? – but one look into his dead eyes and I knew I had imagined it.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just haven’t been hungry.”
“Well, you better get hungry.” He started walking again. “That shit is going to change starting right now.” He shook his head. “I could kill those fucking parents of yours, not noticing that you’ve been wasting away to nothing before their very eyes.”
“I was good at hiding it.” I felt the need to defend them.
“Fuck that,” he spat out. “They should have fucking seen it.”
His body tensed against mine and just like so many other times I knew better than to argue. The last thing I wanted was to set his rage fraction off into the next level.
It had become the story of my life.
Still, I couldn’t help but notice a rage of my own building in my blood when I noticed an overwhelming amount of women lusting after Jackson as we made our way through the large room.
It made me want to leave a mark of my own on his skin.
And that was the most confusing story of all.
Chapter Three
“Your psycho friend.”
EMERY
&nb
sp; Jackson and Pierce walked into my American History class like it was completely normal for them to be there. As if the semester hadn’t started two weeks ago and we hadn’t already had four classes. And judging from my professor’s huge smile and wave in their direction, she knew all about it.
I rolled my eyes at their fakeness. If she only knew.
“Get up,” Jackson growled, approaching my desk and grabbing me by the arm to pull me up out of the chair and toward the back of the huge room. Three empty seats sat in the very last row; somehow everyone in the room knew not to sit in them.
God, it really was just like high school.
“Sit,” Jackson ordered, sticking me on the end and taking the seat next to me. Pierce happily placed the books I had left behind on the desk in front of me and ruffled my hair with a cocky smirk.
“You guys aren’t in this class!” I hissed from the side of my mouth.
“We’re in all your classes now,” Jackson announced.
“Of course, you are,” I grumbled.
“Do I sense some attitude, lamb?” He leaned over and whispered so only I could hear. “That’s not being a good girl now is it?” He pushed his palm into my knee.
“I definitely heard attitude,” Pierce offered up from the other side of him. “Of course, I’d rather listen to your bitching than that annoying ass friend of yours.” He held his arm up and thrust it over Jackson’s stomach and shoved it into my face. “That psycho bitch fucking scratched me when I set her down, scratched me she was a damn cat or something.”
“Not like you didn’t deserve it,” I said sarcastically, quoting his words back to him from last night. No wonder Jackson always pushed Morgan off onto his brother; he had finally made it clear just how insignificant she was to him. Not that I was surprised, most people were.
Myself included.
The thought made my stomach hurt.
Pierce ran his hands over his smooth chin. “Why do you only hang out with psychos, Emery, can’t you get any normal friends?” He voice was loud and a few people ahead of us laughed to themselves.