by A. A. Davies
How did we move on from that? How were we meant to get past what we’d done?
My stomach rolled, only this time it wasn’t from seeing Storm, but from the prospect of sitting opposite him later today. Mom had finally had enough of me ignoring her and instructed me to have a shower and to get dressed then I’d be given some answers. Answers I wasn’t sure I wanted if I was honest.
I worked on automatic as I did what she’d said, and before I knew it, I was in her car, a baggy T-shirt and a pair of jeans covering my body, my wet hair causing a damp patch on my shoulder. I didn’t care though. I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, not after the words they’d spoken and the bomb they’d dropped.
“You’re going to be okay, Sage, I promise,” Mom said, using her comforting tone, but it did nothing to settle the way the nerves were exploding throughout my body as we pulled into the lot of the café near the bridge that separated the two sides of town.
I spotted Storm’s car right away and my hands started to shake. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t sit across a table from him, knowing we’d done what we’d done all while he was my brother. My brother.
My breath caught in my throat so I grabbed my neck, trying to let it free, but all I could think about were the nights I’d spent at Storm’s, our body’s pressed against each other’s, our lips fused together as one.
Fuck.
What had we done?
“Sage,” Mom’s voice broke through and I whipped my head around, seeing her face next to me in the open passenger door. “Come on, sweetie. It’ll be okay.”
I opened my mouth, about to confess to everything me and Storm had done, but I couldn’t find the words. Maybe we should keep it secret. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt, right? After all, that was what they’d done to us.
My legs felt like they were going to give way any second as we entered the café. My skin crawled with uneasiness as Mom pulled me toward the back, but as soon as I saw Storm’s face, it all washed away.
He was there. Waiting for us.
But he wouldn’t look at me, not even when I sat opposite him, our body’s so close yet so far apart.
“Lauren,” Storm’s dad greeted. “Sage.”
I didn’t turn to face him because the only attention I wanted was from Storm.
“Patrick,” Mom replied. “Storm.” At the sound of his name, his head snapped up, but still he wouldn’t look at me. He didn’t say a single word to my mom, and after a couple of minutes silence, Mom continued, “I think you both deserve some answers.”
Storm snorted. “You think?” He leaned back, acting like none of this was bothering him, but I saw the tension in his shoulders and the tensing of his jaw. He was pissed.
“Watch your mouth, son,” Patrick warned, but his tone was softer, as if he was tired of this conversation already. “We did what was best for both of you.” Patrick’s gaze met mine. “When Lauren and I split, I wanted to take both of you.” My brows raised as he spoke directly to me. “She knew she couldn’t afford the both of you, not with that little hospital job she had.” His gaze veered over to my mom. “I’m guessing you still work there.”
“She does,” I answered for my mom, feeling my hackles rise.
“Right.” Patrick nodded and took a sip of his black coffee. “Anyway. When she refused me taking both of you, we came up with an agreement.” Patrick glanced at Storm, and although my brain screamed at me to look at him too, I couldn’t, not while I was trying to sort through what he was saying. “I took Storm, and Lauren took Sage.”
I blinked, trying to come to terms with the way he was talking. He was acting as if this was a business deal that had gone bad, and I wondered if he acted like this with Storm too? Was that what Storm meant about him not being a dad to him for a long time?
Storm and I had been seeing each other for nearly two months, and not once had I seen his dad at their house when I was there. In fact, he barely spoke about him.
“So, you thought the best idea was to take a parent away from each of us?” Storm asked, his voice carefully calm, but I knew it was all a front.
“Yes,” Mom answered. “We thought it would be the best thing for you both, and—”
“It wasn’t,” I cut her off, standing and causing the table to wobble at my movement. My eyes welled up, my throat closing. “I had an entire family out there and had no idea.”
“Sage.” Mom’s hand wrapped around my wrist. “Please understand—”
“No.” I ground my teeth together, trying to get myself under control, but I couldn’t. Something had snapped. Maybe it was because Storm was sitting opposite me, or the way Patrick spoke so matter of fact, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t sit here and listen to what else they said to justify it. “You fucked up.” I narrowed my eyes at Mom and Patrick. “You both fucked up really bad.”
“Is this how you raised our daughter?” Patrick asked, one brow raised as he turned to face my mom. “Maybe I should have taken them both after all.”
“How dare you,” Mom whisper shouted. “You know I didn’t want to do it, but yet again, you threw your money around, threatening me with—” I drowned them both out, not caring what they had to say.
Nothing would make better what they’d done.
Nothing would alter what Storm and I had done.
I closed my eyes and gripped onto the edge of the table, trying to just…breathe. But it was too much. Everything was too much. And then a hand grasped my thigh. I snapped my eyes open, my gaze clashing with the blue orbs I’d gotten lost in over and over again.
Everything had changed.
“Sage,” Storm whispered, his hand clenching on my thigh, but it broke me. Shattered me into a tiny thousand pieces that would never be able to be put back together again.
I shook my head, feeling the tears finally break through and stream down my cheeks. “I can’t,” I choked out, stepping away from the table. My heartbreak was clear for them all to see, and I had no idea how to fix it, so I did the only thing I thought would help.
I ran. Ran away from them. Ran away from Storm. Ran away from the reality of the situation.
Who Mattered Most
Storm
My cell rang from my bedroom, but I didn’t move a single inch as I stared at my dad standing in the doorway to the guesthouse. He was escaping the turmoil he’d left behind, not giving a shit about the hurt and anger he’d caused.
“I’ll be back in ten days,” he said, his tone even, as if what had happened this morning hadn’t affected him. And maybe it hadn’t. Maybe he really didn’t give a flying fuck.
“Whatever,” I sneered. “Just leave already.”
He stood there, his gaze trying to pierce through me, but he hadn’t been able to achieve anything with that look since I was a little kid. He’d shown me his true colors over the years, and today had been no different.
Half of his face was illuminated by the lights in the guest house while the other half was covered in darkness from the night. There were two sides of him, I’d learned that a long time ago.
He puffed out a breath, swiped his hand over his face, then left, just like he always did when somebody needed him most. I watched him walk back into the house, and not even a minute later, the roar of his car sped down the driveway, leaving behind the shitstorm he’d created.
“Fuck!” I shouted, clenching my fists at my sides. I didn’t want to be here; I didn’t want to be anywhere but with her.
Goddamn it.
I ground my teeth together, trying to push her to the back of my mind, but all I could remember was the utter devastation on her face this morning. The way she’d looked at me like she’d lost absolutely everything in one fell swoop.
And maybe she had. Maybe that was it for us, because we couldn’t continue, not now we knew the truth. Right?
My cell rang out again, so I barged into my bedroom and snapped it up, not looking at the caller ID before I barked out, “What?”
“
Erm…Storm?” a female voice asked.
“Yeah.” I stared at myself in the mirror, seeing the anger so clearly written over my entire body.
“It’s Thalia.” There was a pause and then, “Sage’s best friend.” I spun around, not able to look at myself any longer. “I think…erm…Sage is drunk and—”
“Where are you?” I ground out, already running out of the guest house and toward the main house. Sage needed me, and my instinct was to go to her. To save her.
“We’re at a party on our side of town but she’s really upset, and I don’t know what to do.” Her voice moved away from the cell as she shouted, “No, Sage! Get down from there.”
My stomach dropped, my need to get to her taking over. “Text me the address.” I hung up, threw myself into my car, and waited for the message to appear. As soon as the text flashed on my screen, I spun out of the driveway, determined to get to the person who mattered most to me.
A Mountain Between Us
Sage
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and I groaned at the feeling. I needed water, STAT, and lots of it. My head thumped to the beat of an invisible drum, and as I opened my eyes and sunlight blasted through my retinas, I groaned.
“Oh god.” I slapped my hand over my eyes, trying to un-see the light that had tried to blind me.
I rolled over, pulling the covers with me, but it took me a few seconds to realize the light in my bedroom didn’t come through my window like that. As soon as recognition slammed into me, my body snapped up into a sitting position, my hands grasping the covers at my chest even though I knew I was still fully clothed.
I blinked over and over again, trying to get the sleepiness out of my eyes as I took everything in. I may not have been in my bedroom, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know where I was. And as soon as I recognized the colors of the walls and the signed basketball sitting on the dresser, my heart hammered for an entirely different reason.
“Storm,” I whispered.
I didn’t expect an answer, so when he asked, “Yeah,” from behind me, I jumped out of my skin.
I whipped my head around, my gaze landing on him as I backed up on the bed to the edge. He wasn’t next to me though, but instead sitting on the chair in the corner, his eyes rounded with dark circles.
“What…” I swallowed and backed up even more, getting out of his bed. The last time I’d been in there we’d been naked and—I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that, not right then. “What am I doing here?”
He pushed to the edge of his seat and rested his forearms on his thighs. “You got drunk last night.” He paused, his piercing gaze not moving off of me. “Thalia called for me to come and get you.”
I nodded, remembering the amount I’d drank at the party. When I’d left the café yesterday, I’d walked for hours then finally ended up at Thalia’s. I hadn’t told her what had gone on or that my entire world had been shattered. She’d taken one look at my face and declared the only solution was to drown my sorrows.
“So, you brought me back here?” I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to comfort myself.
“Yeah.” Storm blew out a breath then pushed his hand through his hair. “Go shower and then we can talk properly.”
Emotion bubbled up into my throat. It was just him and I here, no one else around. There was a mountain between us, yet I still felt closer to him than ever. I’d thought everything had changed, but had it?
“It hurts to look at you,” I confessed, feeling the tears threatening to fall.
Storm nodded, as if he understood, and he was probably the only other person in the world who ever would. He stood, his shoulders pulled back, his strength alluring and begging me to go to him.
“I can’t do this.” I stepped back, knowing the en suite door was right behind me. “I can’t be around you, not when I feel like this.”
“When you feel like what?” Storm asked, his voice soft but demanding.
“I can’t,” I choked out, taking another step back and feeling the cool tile of the bathroom floor on the soles of my feet. “This is wrong.”
“What’s wrong?” His voice was deeper now. “Tell me, Sage.” He moved around the bed, coming closer. “Tell me.”
I opened my mouth, my throat closing up, but I managed to rasp out, “I’m in love with you,” a second before I closed the bathroom door, shutting him off from my confession.
My Everything
Storm
I stared at the door for what felt like hours as I heard the shower turn on, but it didn’t mask the sound of her sobs.
I’m in love with you.
Her words echoed over and over again in my head, getting louder and louder each time. She hadn’t said that she loves me, no, she said she was in love with me. She’d told me how she felt, even after all that we’d found out.
Just because someone told you something, didn’t mean it automatically changed the way you felt. And that was exactly what was happening. Our parents had told us who we were to each other—who we were meant to be. But that didn’t mean that was what we were.
We may have been brother and sister, but I didn’t see her like that, I’d never see her like that.
My foot moved before my brain registered what I was doing, but as I took another, then another, I knew what I was doing was the right thing. Maybe not to anyone else, maybe not legally, but inside my heart, I knew the truth.
Sage was it for me. She’d been it since the moment I’d laid eyes on her, and nothing or nobody would stand in our way.
My palm grasped the door handle and I slowly turned it, stepped inside, then closed and locked the door behind me. I was separating us from the outside world because they didn’t understand, they’d never understand.
Sage froze in the shower, the water thrashing down on her naked body, but I didn’t hesitate. She needed to know how I felt too. She needed to see that she wasn’t the only one with the feelings she had.
I pulled my T-shirt over my head and slipped my shorts off my hips, then opened the shower door. I reached for her immediately, not able to take another second of not touching her. My arm wrapped around her waist, my hand on the side of her neck, as I whispered, “I’m in love with you too.” Her eyes closed, her body relaxing in my hold as soon as she took my words in.
“This is wrong,” she murmured, but there was no conviction behind it. “We shouldn’t do this, Storm.”
I pressed my forehead to hers and held tighter as I lifted her. Her legs wrapped around my waist automatically, her body knowing exactly what it wanted.
“I don’t care about right or wrong,” I told her as I leaned her back to the tiled wall. My lips were so close to hers, a temptation I’d never be able to resist. “All I care about is you.” Her hand grasped the side of my face, her fingers reaching into my now wet hair. “Tell me, Sage.” I pressed my cock to her entrance but didn’t thrust forward. “Tell me you want this, and it’ll be me and you against the world.”
Her breath fanned over my lips, her gaze focused fully on me as she said, “I want this. I want you. More than anything.” That was all I needed to push inside her and show her exactly what she meant to me. Everything. She was everything to me. “Me and you,” she choked out.
“Me and you,” I repeated, silently promising her that I’d never give up on us.
About A. A. Davies
A. A. Davies is the darker, alter ego of Abigail Davies.
Abigail Davies grew up with a passion for words, storytelling, maths, and anything pink. Dreaming up characters—quite literally—and talking to them out loud is a daily occurrence for her. She finds it fascinating how a whole world can be built with words alone, and how everyone reads and interprets a story differently.
Now following her dreams of writing, Abigail has found the passion that she always knew was there.
More Books by A. A. Davies
Verboten (Inferno World Novella)
Coquette (Carnaval des Ténèbres Series)
&n
bsp; Easton Family Saga (Abigail Davies)
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Kenji
Yolanda Olson
Blurb
Snow Montgomery walked into my life one day and everything changed.
From the moment that I first saw her, I knew I would never want anyone else.
And when our eyes met and I saw the look of hope in hers, I couldn’t help but realize that she felt the same.
Months have been spent beneath the roof of my house.
I provide for her as best as I can because I want to be the man she needs more than the one she deserves.
I teach her discipline and reward her when she’s been good. Food, water, the constant knowledge of knowing she’ll always have shelter over her head is what I can do best for now.
Always.
A word that holds more meaning to me now than it ever has.
It’s what she promised me.
It’s what I have to look forward to with Snow.
And I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.
Always.
Chapter One
“Quit being such a pussy and hold still,” I tease my client with a playful eye roll.
Virulence and Vanity Body Arts seems to be the place where college girls come and test their pain threshold. The traditional butterfly usually does the trick but this tiny brunette that I’m working on can barely stand the pain of the outline.
I’ve never heard more whimpers and whines from someone in my life. She’s even cried a couple of times.
Today is going to suck.
“I don’t know if I can finish,” she manages to squeak out and I sit back and sigh. I let my foot off the pedal, then set the gun down on the sterile, metal tray.