Page 85 of Speak No Claim

And that was very special to me.

Chapter

Twenty-Six

Hennessy: Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

He was the first to break the silence. “I kept everything she left behind. Most of it is in a storage unit. Though this”—he gestured to the greenhouse—“was the only thing we kept of hers on the property. My father got rid of everything else. And quite frankly, he probably would’ve gotten rid of this had he remembered it existed. I don’t even think Deja remembers this place… She was so young.”

“How long has it been here?”

He shrugged. “Forever. It was passed down from the Devereaux wives, but someone else always took care of them. My mother was different. She was the first to take on this place. You should’ve seen it before she got her hands on it. Everything was dead, rotting, even the building.” He looked all around. “Until she brought it back to life.”

“And you kept it for her?”

He softly smiled, placing his hands on the pocket of his hoodie. “I’ve tried.”

Again, there was nothing but silence all around us. You could hear a pin drop.

Then out of nowhere, he ordered, “You need to stop trying to figure me out. You won’t like what you find.”

My eyebrows pinched together.

“Don’t confuse my kindness for an invitation, Hennessy.”

Confused, I questioned, “An invitation to what?”

“To get too close to me.”

“You’re the one who brought me here.”

“I know.”

“Then stop making it so easy to want to get to know you. We’re friends, Onyx.”

“Friends, huh?”

I was about to reply, but the air was immediately knocked out of me from the impact of his mouth on mine. It was almost like he was trying to prove something to me.

He didn’t falter, parting his lips, beckoning me to follow, and I did. His hands were on the sides of my face, pushing me back until I felt the wood where the belladonna flowers lay.

Ignoring the sting I knew he felt from his back, he lifted me onto the edge. The belladonna was now inches away from us. With his hands on me, it was the scariest, most liberating feeling I’d ever felt. Like I was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down, ready to jump. Not caring if there would be land or water beneath me.

My mind scrambled with thoughts and emotions I couldn’t control, label, or even understand. It was one giant clusterfuck of weeks of wanting to know the truth of all of this history between our families, the Graves Academy, and the Brotherhood. On top of the emotions we were triggering inside each other.

He kissed me deeper, harder, and with more determination. I had never been kissed like that before. The desire burned off him. My chest rose and fell faster and faster with every slip of his tongue in my mouth. With each deep breath I inhaled, and each caress of his fingers along my face, a groan escaped his mouth, and a moan vibrated out of mine.

With each second we spent just kissing, I felt a little more like his. I wasn’t imagining it. There in his mother’s haven, we found refuge the same way she did.

His body hovered over mine, our lips never leaving one another’s. They continued to move together as if they were meant for each other. He kissed me one last time, letting his lips linger for just a few seconds. I instantly felt the loss of his mouth when he set his forehead on mine.

No one could find us here. We didn’t have to hide.

He pushed the hair away from my face. I wanted to stay lost in his eyes, savoring the way he was looking at me, pulling every sentiment from my body as if it belonged to him.

“You’re poisoning me, Hennessy. You’re just too beautiful not to touch.”

That was another thing about Onyx Deveraux. He wanted to see the truths that most people tried to ignore. I struggled like hell to let go of my resolve that I had been holding on to since I moved here. To bring down the wall I’d built so high, so thick with everyone, especially him.