AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your brother knew,” I say. “He knew, and he didn’t tell you.”
The pain of that knowledge sits like a lead weight in my gut. Brooks’s betrayal cuts deeper than any blade I own, somehow nicking every artery and causing me to bleed freely.
“I’m going to kill him,” Jackson rasps.
Orion shakes his head. “Brooks doesn’t know. I’m certain of it. He—”
“He drove past my house. He looked right at me, covered in my parents’ blood. He kept on driving.” I ball my hands into fists as the memory of that night threatens to drag me under, kicking and screaming. “He’s made sure that the two of you didn’t contact me all these years.”
Orion and Jackson exchange one of their annoying twin glances.
“There’s some stuff you don’t know,” Orion mumbles at his shoes. “We have to tell you something, but it’s hard to—”
His words cut off with a gasp. At first I don’t realize why, but then a pair of strong arms encircles me, and my back slams against the elevator wall.
Jackson.
Jackson’s hands tangle in my hair, tilting my head and bringing my lips to his.
He kisses me hungrily, viciously, as if his plan is to tear my pain away through the sheer force of his mouth. He’s doing a damn good job.
My brain screams at me that this is a bad idea, but my pussy has locked that bitch away because one taste of Jackson Bellua, and I am addicted.
His hand on the back of my neck squeezes, and he makes this low, growling noise in his throat as his tongue slates over mine. I’m not usually all in for possessive men, but when Jackson is doing things to my insides…
Okay, that’s a lie. I simp for growly, possessive guys, especially when they’re my childhood crushes all grown up, and they’re kissing me in an elevator like they need me to breathe.
He tastes like elderflower and sin. He tastes like childhood memories and dark, wanton desires that have been locked away for far too long. My body hums with a buzzing energy, like I’ve been plugged into an electric socket and lit up like a Christmas parade.
Jackson Bellua is kissing me.
Not just kissing. He’s devouring me. He’s dismantling all the walls I’ve carefully built up since the day they left me.
And I am letting him because he tastes so fucking good—
“Jackson.” Orion’s voice cuts through, laced with pain.
Immediately, Jackson pulls away. He can’t help the cheeky smile playing across his lips, but it’s wiped away when he turns to his brother and sees the torment in his eyes.
I sink into the corner, as far away as it’s possible to get from the two of them in this tin cube.
“Why did you do that?” Orion whispers, staring at the floor.
“Look at her.” Jackson gestures to me. “How can you not? How can you and Brooks stand to be around her without telling her what she means to us? To all of us? Well, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t care about her, that I haven’t thought about her every moment of every day, that I don’t wish the two of us could tear that hot little outfit off her right now and show her how much we’ve missed her.”
Well…fuck.
Orion makes a strangled noise.
Now,I’mthe one staring at my shoes so they can’t see the heat pooling in my cheeks.
I need something to…to diffuse the bomb that Jackson’s just set off.
I rub my fingers along my tingling lips and reluctantly draw Helena’s image from my pocket. “While you two have been busy discussing my private business, I found this photograph. You can see the groom’s love in his expression. This should have the emotional resonance I need to bring out the ghost.”
“Lily—”
“No.” I punch the emergency button again, and the elevator jerks to life. “This is how I want to do it. Now that I know this is a simple haunting, I need to banish this ghost and get out of here. I need to get back on the road to find my parents’ killers. This is how I want to do it. Alone. If you don’t want to participate in a séance—”
