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I slip back into my wet clothing and hurry out the door. I can hear Cooper and Ethan talking in Ethan’s room just across the hallway. Their voices are low but heated. I don’t stick around to attempt to listen in. I’ve been thoroughly humiliated and I’m done. It’s not only that Ethan showed up and demanded we not have sex, it’s that Cooper went along with it. He just left me here. He didn’t tell me to wait for him, he didn’t even mutter an apology.
How does Ethan have so much power here?
Tears gather in my eyes as I race downstairs, strip off my clothes, and jump into the shower. The hot water feels nice, but it isn’t enough to wash away my frustration.
Frustration with the King Brothers . . . and sexual frustration. I’ve never been big on self-pleasure but right now I can’t help it. I slide my hand down and begin to move my fingers. A jolt of pleasure rockets through my body, awakening me. I close my eyes and imagine I’m with Cooper, that Ethan never interrupted us. He’s worshiping my body. He’s helping me feel good. I continue this way until I reach my climax, gasping into the water.
Then I drop my hand, defeated. Because while it felt nice, it wasn’t what I wanted. Sure, I know my first time will hurt and I don’t expect it to be perfect, but I’m also certain that Cooper would’ve made sure I had an amazing orgasm, something better than what I can do to myself.
But there’s nothing I can do about it now, so I dry myself off, slip into my pajamas, and head upstairs for a quick dinner. I would skip it, but I can’t get rid of the gnawing hunger without food. I’m quiet as I heat up the chicken marsala Camilla left for me. When I eat it, I can hardly taste it, my mind busy wondering what’s going on with the twins.
Ethan thinks he owns me.
It doesn’t matter what I have to say about it or even what Coop has to say, Ethan has sided with his father on this one. I am here for him and not for Cooper and that’s just the way it is. But it still doesn’t make sense.
And it’s complete bullshit.
Ethan rejected me. Cooper wanted me.
The end.
With a little too much vigor, I clean up my plate and march upstairs. I’m going to chew them out, to demand an apology.
But they’re not here.
Their bedrooms are empty. The whole house is quiet. And Ethan’s Range Rover? It doesn’t take long to figure out it’s missing from the garage.
They left together.
Ethan wasn’t the only one who rejected me. And as stupid as it makes me feel, I can’t help but cry myself to sleep. Of course, I sleep like shit. And of course, the next morning when Cooper brings a random girl down for morning coffee, I feel even worse.
Cooper doesn’t look at me.
Oh, but Ethan does. His eyes are constantly on me. Hot. Punishing.
And sometimes regretful.
Whatever I do, I won’t let them see me cry, so I make myself appear calm and collected and completely unaffected. I thank Camilla for breakfast, clean up after myself, and get back to work.
It doesn’t matter. The King brothers have shown their true colors. Cooper is a fuckboy and Ethan is a sadistic control freak and I don’t need them. They’re nothing to me. Absolutely nothing.
But if they’re nothing, then why am I so hurt?
Fifteen
“Are you guys really icing me out?” I find them three days later walking back up from the beach, surfboards under their arms and water beaded on their bodies. It’s ridiculous to be jealous of water but I am. I kind of hate myself for it but I hate Cooper even more, because he doesn’t even look at me.
I stomp right up to him. “Are you serious? More silent treatment?”
He continues walking, brushing past me like I didn’t just ask him a question. White-hot anger prickles over my entire body.
“It’s one thing to humiliate me, to almost fuck me and then bring a different girl home instead. I can deal with all that, it’s whatever. But for you to go on and ignore me as if nothing happened and I’m not even here? As if you didn’t have me naked in your bed? That’s fucking wrong, Cooper. I thought we were friends.”
He flinches, letting out a low confession. “I promised I wasn’t using you but that was a lie. So I ended it. Just let it go, Arden.” He says this as he’s walking away from me. The man doesn’t even slow. I watch him go, so seemingly unbothered. It’s like I’m not even here, like I don’t matter at all.
He was using me?
Well, fuck him.
