Woman humming around her fork every time she placed it into her pouty, sex-pot mouth.
It was a very unfortunate side effect that my cock had pulsed to the point of agony with each little mewl.
It was so bad I had to hide my raging erection under the table for an entire goddamn hour.
But when I found her taking care of my sister in my room? I guess that was when I cracked.
When something had fractured. Watching Brinley lift that fiery chin like she was protecting Elena from me. Protecting her secrets and her needs and whatever confessions Elena had given her.
Brinley fully invested in it in a beat. Barely knowing my sister and still so clearly willing to put up a fight for her.
I should have been pissed by the insubordination. People didn’t talk to me that way and get away with it.
But was I mad?
Nah.
I was fucking floored.
Maybe even inspired.
All while I was wholly terrified of letting that control go. Terrified that I might miss something again, which was why I basically kept my sister under lock and key.
Admittedly, snatching that new vibrator from the stash of condoms and toys that were kept in a storage cabinet in the club might have been a bad idea.
But after that dinner?
I thought she might have been hurting as badly as me.
See.
I wasn’t a total sadist.
Only a masochist, apparently.
Because I looked back at the house as I fumbled out into the night.
Gaze climbing for the second floor and landing on my bedroom window.
The curtains were drawn, so I couldn’t see anything but the glow from a dim light coming from within.
But it was the silhouette of the lush, gorgeous woman that appeared in the smaller bathroom window that captured me like I’d stepped directly into a grizzly trap.
Teeth clamping and breaking skin.
It was just a faint outline. Nothing that I could make out other than knowing she was there.
It shouldn’t matter. Shouldn’t count for anything. But there was something about seeing her that way that made me feel like I might be standing on something profound.
If I were looking for logic, I’d accept she was likely in there ranting and raving about what a jerk I was, which honestly was fully warranted since I’d acted like a total prick on my way out.
Trying to toss up more walls because I couldn’t allow her the power to get to me.
Couldn’t allow her to continue creeping under my skin and winding her way into the places I never allowed anyone to go.
It had been my only option. I had to force some barriers back between us before we collided in a catastrophic way.
I needed to make her hate me.
