AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Two days have passed since my mom’s confession, and I’m still reeling as I finish getting ready for the New Year’s Eve party that I’m being forced to go to.
I haven’t uttered a word to the guys about what Mom told me when I was there the other day, because I have no idea how to explain the actual fucking psychopathic move my mom has pulled. There is no other way to describe what she’s done.
I hear someone call my name, but it’s like I’m under water.
"Briar?"
I look in the mirror and find Asher staring at me from my doorway.
"We’re leaving in a minute, are you ready to go?"
I nod, unable to find any words.
He frowns in response, but closes the door as he leaves. I know that they all think something is wrong, not speaking to them for two days will do that, but every time I go to speak, I worry I’ll blurt out what my mom told me, and I just… I can’t.
The night passes in a blur, I barely even remember the drive to the McMansion, let alone the party. I have no idea who gave me the drink in my hand as I sip it—it’s like I’m numb.
If I could be angry, I’d want to kill my mom for putting me in this position, but once again, she’s just made me numb.
I blink, and when my lids lift, I find an angry Travis staring down at me.
"T—" I start, but he shakes his head and grips my bicep, pulling me away from the room we’re in. I can’t focus on where he’s taking me, but the music fades from my ears, the space filled with nothing but a blissful silence.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he hisses. "You’ve been weird for days. Is this something I need to be worried about? Is it Crawford? Something else?"
I shake my head, looking around and realizing we’re in the hall near our rooms.
Weird.
"It’s nothing," I utter, my words so soft that if it weren’t for the silence, I don’t know that they’d be audible.
"Do not lie to me, Briar," he hisses.
"I—" I start, but close my mouth. I realize I don’t want to lie to him, but I don’t know how to tell him the truth. He must read it in my eyes because his darken.
"Travis—" He stops my words by pushing me against the wall and pressing his body flush with mine.
"No more lies, Briar. Lies are like poison, and you’re the only poison I need in my life. My very own beautiful nightmare." He pauses, but nothing falls from my lips. I can barely compute what it is he’s saying. "We both know exactly why we shouldn’t do this, but all I’ve done is watch you since the moment I knew I couldn’t call you mine, and it’s driven me insane. Seeing you with them so freely. Watching you hurt as you break. I can’t stand by anymore. Iwon’tstand by anymore."
My breath hitches at his words as my brain finally starts to pick up speed for the first time in days.
A small part of me wants to ask what’s changed with him, but the rest of me is telling that bitch to shut her stupid damn mouth, so when he presses his lips against mine, I welcome the good kind of quiet that descends over my mind.
Kissing him again feels as good as it did the first time. He is right, I want him even though I know I shouldn’t, but how can this be wrong?
One hand fists my hair as his hardness presses against me. "This isn’t going to be soft and slow, Briar. Nothing about me is soft or slow. Nod if you understand."
I nod slightly. The sting from where his hand grips my hair feels like a torturous kind of bliss.
"Good girl," he murmurs against my lips before capturing them again, his tongue invading my mouth, the taste of him and mint overwhelming me as I wrap my hands in the material of his shirt. "Turn."
The one word pulls me to reality and I blink at him, his blue eyes staring at me. The storm in them matches the one in my heart, and I follow his command without thought. Turning with his hand still in my hair, I await his next instruction.
"Hands on the wall." As if on autopilot, my arms reach up and I press my palms flat on the cold, smooth surface. He uses the hand in my hair to tilt me forward, and his groan as he slips his other hand up my skirt and into my panties leaves me wanting, my breaths turning to pants.
"Fuck this," he growls before pulling me upright and dragging me down the hall into his room. "Undress, now."
I am so fucking turned on at this side of him that I tear out of my skirt, leather harness, and t-shirt faster than I ever thought possible, standing before him in just my underwear.
