by Beck, J. L.
Releasing her hand, I lean in and press a kiss to her cheek and then turn and walk out of the room. Every fiber in my body is trying to stay with her, but I know I can’t. I need to go, and I need to find a way to take her with me next time. I know the guys said they would help me, but would they really? And if they do, what will they expect from me in return?
The walk down to the bus stop is short, but it’s dark and cold outside now. My thin sweater doesn’t give me much protection from the cold. I get my phone out of my jeans pocket just to be reminded about the fact that it’s dead. It died right after the nurse called me, and since my charger got fried in the fire, I have no way to charge it. Putting the useless device back, I wrap my arms around myself and keep walking.
With every step I take, the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Paranoid, I look around, waiting for someone to jump out of thin air and attack me, but no one does. I try and shake the thoughts away, but I can’t. It feels like someone’s eyes are on me, watching my every move. When I reach the bus stop, I shove my hands into the pockets of my sweater and wait impatiently for the bus to show.
I’m looking at the ground, trying to push the image of Grams strapped to that bed out of my mind, when out of nowhere, a hand comes and covers my mouth. In a millisecond, I’m hauled back against a firm chest, the manly smell of soap and pine fills my nostrils as I suck in air through my nose. Before I even have time to panic, he starts talking.
“We told you what would happen if you left,” Easton’s sinister voice coats my skin in darkness. He sounds angry, more than angry even. He sounds… calm, and if I’ve learned anything, calm is far worse than crazy. I try and speak against his hand, but the words come out muffled.
“Shut up. I don’t want to hear it. We thought we could trust you, and you took that trust and shattered it.” Easton’s clipped tone is a warning, and I close my mouth, praying for the best while knowing deep down nothing good is going to happen as he walks backward and toward an alleyway.
When he stops, he releases me and opens the door to the blacked-out SUV. He doesn’t so much as say a word as he shoves me inside, not so gently. Cam turns in his seat and the look he’s giving me, makes me feel so disappointed in myself.
“Grams’ nurse called and—” I start but instantly shut up when Easton’s hand comes out of nowhere and wraps around my throat. He pulls me across the bench seat, until my face is inches from his own. The feral look in his eyes tells me he wouldn’t have a problem strangling me right now. He’s killed once before, what’s stopping him from killing you now?
“I don’t care who called you or what they wanted. When we tell you to do something, you fucking do it.” He spits the words at me, squeezing a little tighter, making it harder for me to breathe. Anger pours out of him like an infected wound, and I shiver at the coldness of his words. I wheeze as he stares at me, and I stare back at him, not wanting to give up and show weakness. I made a choice, and now I’ll take the consequences.
“Let her go, you’re hurting her…” Cam orders from the front seat. The softness of his voice slices right through me. They’re like night and day, good and bad, but I’m not fooled by it, their end goal is still the same. Keep me silent at all costs.
With a snarl, he releases me and directs his attention to Cam. I sag against the seat, sucking air into my lungs. I’ve never felt so much anger being directed at me in my life.
“She’s your responsibility now. I don’t want to fucking deal with her anymore.”
For some reason, what he says hits me right in the heart. It almost feels like he’s breaking up with me, which is ridiculous since we were never together in the first place. I don’t even know what we are. I’m just a piece of meat to them, hanging from the top of the cage. Eventually, they’ll jump high enough to reach me and rip me to shreds.
It doesn’t matter that they offered to care for Grams and me. They aren’t doing it because they care. They’re doing it so they can fuck me, and I might be naive, but I’m not stupid enough to believe that they care one more ounce about me outside of that.
“Fine,” Cam responds and starts the SUV. We drive in complete silence, Easton ignoring me, putting more and more distance between us as the miles pass.
When we reach the house, I’m shaking, and not just because I’m cold. I’m angry and hurt. Angry with both of them for treating me this way and hurt by the way Easton dismisses me. It’s like he decided to be done with me, and that’s it. He is throwing me away like a piece of garbage. I should be glad that he’s losing interest in me. I should be… that’s what my brain is telling me at least, but my stupid heart is getting in the way.
My heart hurts. I feel abandoned and alone, two feelings I know all too well. When I lost my parents, that’s all I could feel. I fought many years to be somewhat happy again, to push those feelings down, but today all of them are resurfacing, and I’m not sure if I can find my way back to happiness again.
Easton gets out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him with such force I worry about him breaking something. Cameron gets out as well, opening my door next.
I scurry outside and into the house with Cameron following close behind.
“Are you hungry?”
“No,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around my middle a little tighter.
“Let’s go take a shower then,” he suggests, and I nod my head slightly. He leads me to his bathroom and starts stripping my clothes off, before turning on the water and getting naked himself.
Like everything in this house, the shower is modern, sleek, and expensive looking. There is plenty of room for multiple people, and it even has two showerheads. When the water turns hot enough for it to steam, I step under the spray and let it caress my worn-out body, and my aching muscles.
There is a slight burn between my legs, and I remember what we did just a few hours ago.
“Are you sore?” Cam asks, stepping into the shower.
“A little. It’s not bad…” The ache in my chest about what Easton said and how I saw Grams today is much worse. The image of her tied to the bed pops into my mind again, intensifying the pain.
“You look like you’re about to cry.”
“They tied her to a bed… they gave her drugs and tied her to a bed,” I sob, unable to hold my emotions back any longer. Overcome with pain and anger, I seek comfort in the only place I know I can. In Cam’s arms. Stepping into him, I bury my face into his chest and snake my arms around his torso.
I think he’s going to push me away, but instead, he pulls me closer as I sob against his skin. It’s embarrassing and ugly, but I’m like a dam that can’t hold any more water. We stand there like that for a while, and he just holds me while I cry in his arms. When I finally compose myself, I stand up straight and wipe the wet strands of hair sticking to my forehead away.
“Don’t worry about Grams, I’ll take care of that tomorrow. That won’t happen again. Now… let me wash you,” Cam says his voice soft as he reaches for the soap and a washcloth.
“Okay,” I agree, and watch as he soaps the cloth and starts to run it over my body. I can’t remember the last time someone took care of me like this. I forgot how nice it felt being cared for, even if this is a one-time deal, I’ll gladly take it.
He runs the soapy cloth over my entire body, paying special attention to the tender folds between my legs. When he is done, he washes my hair before rinsing us both off. By the time he’s finished, I feel a hundred times better.
“I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth,” he warns as we are stepping out of the shower. His handsome features turn deadly, and I know whatever he has to ask me is important.
“Okay.” He grabs a towel from the rack, which I realize is heated when he wraps me in the fluffy cotton.
“Did you tell anybody about that night?” I’m taken aback by his question but answer right away.
“What? No! No, I told you I wouldn’t, and I won’t.” Why would he think that? “I just went to see Gra
ms, I swear. I haven’t told a single person.”
He looks at me for a moment, studying me like he is searching my eyes for a lie, but there is nothing there. “I believe you,” he finally says, his eyes softening, “now we just need to make Easton believe you too.”
16
Easton
I give myself twenty-four hours to calm down because if I don’t, I’ll end up doing something horrible. I’m so enraged with Stella that I all but shoved her into Cameron’s arms. Why didn’t she just listen to us? Why did she have to go and ruin our fragile bond of trust? I’m stupid, so fucking stupid. I don’t know why I’m letting this girl get my emotions tied into a knot. I don’t know why I feel so disappointed when I should’ve expected or seen this coming.
Actually, I do know why, because my stupid fucking heart is getting involved no matter how much I tell that sucker to shut up. I’m getting attached to her, seeing her as a person, and not the fucking thing we need to keep in line to protect ourselves. That’s over with now, I’m not letting my feelings get in the way again.
I look up from my phone when I hear a knock on my bedroom door. If that’s her, I swear to god, I will lose my fucking mind. A second later, Cameron walks in, and my temper settles a little when I find the blonde-haired siren isn’t with him.
Cam doesn’t skip a beat as he enters the room, “Look, I know you said you weren’t going to watch her, but can you keep an eye on her for like two hours. I have to go make up a test I missed this morning when I took Stella to the doctor.”
“Doctor?” I was wondering where they left for this morning.
“Yeah, got her on birth control. Thought you would appreciate that,” Cam smiles. “She is on the shot, so we don’t have to keep up with her taking the pill.”
“Yeah,” I grunt, but internally I am excited like a kid on Christmas morning. I didn’t pull out like I meant to the other day, but I know I can’t keep doing that.
“I also need to go talk to my dad,” Cameron explains, “there have been more people coming to the station looking for James. I don’t understand how such a cocksucker has people who care about him.”
Part of me wants to tell him, no, and the other part knows that I owe it to him to just watch her pain in the ass. He’s going to talk to his dad about James, and since someone has to watch her, to keep her from running away or opening her mouth, I guess that lucky person gets to be me.
After a long moment of silence, I say, “Yeah, whatever. I’ll watch her, but she better keep her fucking mouth shut.” Hearing her voice grates on my every nerve. I want to beg her to keep talking, but also wrap my hand around her throat and shut her up. It’s a conundrum I can’t explain. The darkness inside of me calls to the goodness in her.
“Perfect. Now, I’m going to warn you, E, if I come home and she’s hurt, I’m going to be pissed.” Hurt?
“You’re growing a heart for a girl that doesn’t want you. She doesn’t want either of us, Cam, and she’s using your feelings against you, to make you believe that she does. We still don’t know if she is the one who told someone.”
Cam rolls his eyes, “It wasn’t her who talked, and how I feel about her doesn’t matter. I’m asking you not to hurt her.” There’s a slight plea to his voice, and that only makes me angrier. Stella has weaseled her way under his skin. I’ll have to severe that connection today.
“I won’t hurt her…” I trail off. Badly.
“Don’t lie to me,” Cam responds, his voice deadpanned, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I’m not lying. I won’t hurt her, so long as she keeps her mouth shut and leaves me alone.” Cam seems frustrated, but he doesn’t say anything else, and before he slips out of the room, I ask, “When are you leaving?”
“Now,” he answers, his tone clipped. A short time later, I hear him pulling out of the driveway, so I jump out of bed and leave the room to make sure Stella isn’t up to anything she shouldn’t be. I check Cam’s room first, which is empty before walking out into the living room. As soon as I enter the room, I see her sitting there on the sectional, staring out the window. I have half a second before she notices me, but that half-second of staring at her is enough to make my heart beat out of my chest.
Our gazes collide, and angry fire ripples through my veins. I hate how she makes me feel. I hate that she has this power over me. Breaking the moment between us, I turn around and walk into the kitchen. Heading for the cabinet, I pull out a glass and place it on the counter, before moving toward the fridge.
“Cam said not to talk to you, but…”
“Obviously, you have a hard time listening,” I growl. Her voice does something to me. It awakens the beast, it makes me crave her, it makes me want to possess and mark every inch of her flesh. Like she’s mine.
Her bare feet pad against the floor, and I can hear her moving behind me. She should know never to corner a monster. Never to try and reason with the unreasonable.
“I didn’t mean to disobey. I just wanted to see…” The sound of nails on a chalkboard fills my ears, and I grab the glass I placed on the counter and smash it on the floor, wanting to make the noise disappear, wanting to make her shut up.
“I don’t care what your excuse was. You broke our fucking trust,” I yell, my throat throbbing as the words push from it.
Stella’s angelic face turns stoic, and I can see the fear trickling into her features like a leak in the ceiling. Drip by slow drip. I’m vibrating with anger, trying to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do next when she drops down to her knees and starts to pick up the broken pieces of glass.
What the fuck?
“What are you doing?”
Looking up at me through thick lashes, she says, “Picking up the broken glass.”
I don’t know why but I snap and tug her up off the floor by her arm. She gasps and then winces as the pieces of glass in her hand fall back to the floor, shattering into even tinier pieces. Grabbing her by the hips, I place her ass on the edge of the counter. I’m not gentle as I do so either, and I know she’ll probably have bruises where I’ve touched her, but I can’t bother to be gentle with her, not when I want to shake her, rip out her perfectly, sweet heart.
In this position, we’re eye level with each other, and as she looks at me with both fear and desire in her eyes, I grapple with my need to either destroy or claim her. She’s ruined me, claimed a part of me that I’ve never given to anyone else, and she’s done so without even knowing it. As I look down her body, ready to rip her clothes off and ravage her, my eyes catch on something red. Blood. Her finger is bleeding and all because she tried to make herself the heroine by picking up the broken pieces of glass.
“It’s just a tiny cut,” she murmurs, her gaze dropping down to her hand. I grab onto the finger and bring it to my lips. The blood beads against the tip of her finger, it’s a tiny cut, much smaller than the one she’s inflicted upon me with her betrayal.
“Yesterday, you destroyed my trust in you. Today, you find a way to earn it back.”
“I didn’t mean to…” She starts but I cut her off by wrapping my other hand around her throat. If the darkness in my eyes doesn’t shut her up, that certainly will. I rub her finger over my bottom lip. The warmth of her blood on my skin teases the beast that lingers just beneath the surface. Our gazes collide, we’re fire and gasoline, and as soon as we touch, we’ll blow up the entire fucking world.
Letting my tongue dart out over my bottom lip, I lick the coppery tang away. The taste of her blood excites me, and my barely-there resolve shatters. In a second, I have her over my shoulder as I walk us toward my bedroom.
Once over the threshold, I toss her down on the bed and start ripping her clothes off.
“Make me forgive you… prove to me that I can trust you.”
“What do you want from me?” she croaks, and there’s a fragileness to her voice that I’m drawn too.
“Everything,” I snarl, “your body, your heart, your dreams, and your fears. Everything yo
u hold dear… I want it. I want every single piece of you.” I slide my palm down her chest, and cup her by one breast. She shivers but doesn’t flinch away from me. I smile like the devil before I pinch the nipple of that same breast, watching as her face morphs with pleasure.
“Easton…” She says my name like it’s a prayer, and I’m her maker, but I’m no god. I’m the devil, a ruthless, selfish bastard, and right now, all I want to do is consume her.
Stripping out of my own clothes, I pounce on her, spreading her thighs so I can feast my eyes on her pink pussy. She’s dripping with arousal, and I’m ready to explode, so I flip her onto her stomach and watch as she slowly moves onto her hands and knees.
“I’m going to fuck you now. Fuck you so hard you’ll feel me for days, and then I’m going to come inside of you. You want that?”
“Yes,” she says breathlessly.
“But, there’s a catch… you don’t get to come, you have to earn that from me. You have to make me want to give you a release.” Disappointment flickers in her eyes as she looks at me over her shoulder.
She’s trusting me, but we all know she shouldn’t. I’m the most unstable person out of the three of us, but I guess we’ll find out if Cameron made a mistake leaving me alone with this little bird or not.
With bruising force, I take her by the hips and guide my cock to her center. I grit my teeth as I slam balls deep inside of her, relishing in the pleasure that zings down my cock and into my veins. I’ve never had such perfect pussy in my life.
Like a sex-crazed siren, Stella arches her head back and lets out a soft feminine moan. I try and ignore the sound, but it’s like a beacon of light in my complete dark mind, and I want to let myself be touched by her. I want to know what it’s like to be possessed, to be wanted. Blocking out the thought before it can take root, I pull out and slam back in. My thrust is so hard, Stella loses her balance and falls onto her face.
She twists, so her face isn’t completely buried in the mattress and pushes her ass out, driving my cock deeper into her precious pussy. Black spots appear in my vision as I fuck her with a ferociousness that borders the mentally insane. I want to embed myself beneath her skin, to feel her heartbeat within my own. If this is what love feels like, then I want to experience it again and again until my very last breath.