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I do as I was told, paying special attention to my clit once I’ve spread my arousal. It doesn’t take long to reach the summit. I was more than halfway there from tasting him.
My heavy, half-slit eyes hold his as I begin to quake around him, my whimpers filling the room while my vision is spotted and freckled with the rhapsodies of my unraveling.
He doesn’t miss a beat, hissing, “That’s my good fucking girl,” as he slams into me and empties his cum into my throat, his thighs trembling through his release. “Fucking hell, I love you so much.”
While my lips are still wrapped around him, he admires the view—thumb dusting over my cheekbone and his gaze holding so much love and admiration that it surpasses even his declarations. Even in his silence, I feel understood and seen. Like, somehow, all of me, the wild and untethered and the polished and proper, can coexist within his unhinged vibrance.
To others, he may represent darkness, but he’ll always be the golden god who illuminated my dreary world.
We get cleaned up and dressed after that—Liam golden and sexy in his navy hoodie with his dirty-blond mop peeking out. Gage and Rex join us in the kitchen for breakfast. And as soon as the dishes are done, Liam spreads those books out on the table, pinning me with an it’s-time stare.
I get it, but my lungs shrivel inside my chest all the same.
Gage palms my head, clearly sensing my anxiety. “When we’re done, we’ll binge Queen Charlotte to celebrate.”
“I’d love that. But what about these guys?” I motion to Rex and Liam, the latter shaking his head at Gage.
“Showing your true colors, Big Guy,” Liam goads, but then he turns a serious stare on me. “Rex and I aren’t invited?”
Gage puffs his chest out with a haughty smirk.
“You’re not uninvited,” I backpedal. “It’s just kind of our thing, and I can’t picture you enjoying it very much.”
Rex coughs out a laugh. “Right. Whereas Gage here is obviously a period drama fan.”
Gage shrugs, scrunching up his neck tattoos as he makes his way to the other side of the table beside Rex. “It gets pretty hot, man. You’re missing out.”
“That’s true.” I laugh, plopping into a chair. “Let’s do it.”
“Great. Incentive to get through this, Ace.” Liam redirects as he passes me a cup of coffee, sweetened perfectly with the hazelnut creamer I like.
I love that he knows how I take my coffee. I just wish I were sipping it in front of a better view.
Scanning all the titles, I let out a sigh. “Well, it’s clear Ben was pointing me toward a conspiracy. I feel kind of stupid that I missed it.”
Liam slides into the chair next to me. “He gave you a stack of books when you were sixteen. Everyone on the planet would’ve missed the deeper meaning.”
Gage bobs his head, lifting his Black Rifle sipper into the air. “You fucking kept them. And remembered when it mattered. That’s something.”
Rex is quiet for a beat, mulling it all over. “Ben was always trying to mentor you. This wouldn’t have stood out, Cee. But maybe something inside will. Have you ever gone through them?”
“Not much,” I admit. “There’s a bookmark in one of them. I’m not sure why I never used it. I guess I wanted everything to stay the way he’d left it to me.” A lump lodges in my throat. “This was the last gift he gave me, so I kind of hated touching it.”
Liam sweeps my hair behind my shoulder and kisses my temple. “Let’s start with the bookmark then.”
It’s stuck inside The Da Vinci Code. I lift the pages where they’re separated, pulling the bookmark out to read it over.
“There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche
I’m not sure what to make of that right now. I thought it was just another life lesson my brother was bestowing upon me, but I’m guessing there’s more to it. Maybe something literal.
“That might make more sense later,” I muse.
Next to me, Liam flips through another book, examining the pages. Gage and Rex follow suit, so I set the bookmark aside and do the same.
“Here,” Liam says after a few minutes of careful scrutiny. “The page number is underlined.”
