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He chuckled, the sound grading against my already frayed nerves. No doubt like he planned.
“Can’t have you running off and making up wild stories now, can I?”
Wild stories, my ass. Whoever said “the truth shall set you free” didn’t know what in the hell they were talking about. There would be no freedom from this, not even when our arrangement ended.
My sister picked that moment to stick her head around the doorway, her bright and innocent smile falling. Shit. Why was she here? She was supposed to be at cheerleading practice. I couldn’t have her poking her nose where it didn’t belong, or she’d ruin everything.
His breath tickled against my ear, and I nearly threw up. “You better tell her to run along before she witnesses your shame.”
Oh, god, no. He wouldn’t. Would he? Why was I even debating? Yes, he would.
Cherry’s eyes flicked back and forth between me and the man who stood behind me. The loathsome being who didn’t deserve the handsome face god had given him. Such evil shouldn’t wear a pretty mask; it should be paraded around in all its fucked-up glory. That way, you couldn’t say that you weren’t warned.
“Are you feeling all right, Brandy? Your cheeks are a little flushed.”
“Yeah,” I said in an amazingly calm tone despite the tightening in my chest affecting my ability to breathe. “Just a little frustrated with a math problem. He’ll help me get it sorted out and I’ll catch up with you at home.”
She scrunched up her nose but dutifully disappeared from sight. If she knew about my little memory trick, she’d realize right away that I was lying. He was the reason I’d kept my abilities hidden. If our mother ever caught on to the fact that I wasn’t your average run-of-the-mill nerd, she’d push for me to be tested. Then I’d wind up graduating years ahead of my sister, leaving her at his mercy, which was a total joke because he had none.
Turning around, I faced the man I was still years from escaping. He cocked his head to the side, the cruel sneer I hated so much transforming his face. How he could have the entire town fooled was still a mystery to me. Then again, they never saw this side of him.
“How bad it must sting to have to pay for the sins of your mother while your sister holds you back.”
There was nothing I could say that would make a difference in my suffering, so I kept quiet. He got off on mind games, and I’d never give him the satisfaction of knowing anything he ever said bothered me. Aside from the implied threat to my sister. There was no helping my reaction where she was concerned.
“I suppose since you have nothing to say, then we’ll get started. Spoiler alert! This is going to hurt. A lot.”
Normally, I had the patience of a saint, but my detour along the Mexican border to pick up my tail was like the fly I’d hit with the swatter twice and still refused to die. Thoughts of all the things I wanted to be doing to Brandy’s luscious body tormenting me the entire way.
Her golden hair would look like a halo as it fanned across my pillow, her lips parted. She’d arch her back with the force of my thrusts and my teeth would graze the nipples she so generously offered. Then came the best part, the part I couldn’t wait for. Hearing her scream as I watched her fall apart on my cock.
Fuck. I could come just from the mental picture in my head alone, but that wouldn’t hold me over for long. My cock wanted to be buried to the hilt in her sweet pussy, and nothing else would do. Trust me. I’d tried. Not even a jerk and go along the way had helped to take the edge off. She was the thirst I couldn’t seem to quench, which didn’t make any sense to me since I hadn’t even fucked her yet.
But I was about to. The garage door slowly rolled up, and I had the urge to punch the stupid thing, which I suppressed. Barely.
I took the stairs two at time and swung the door open to find Ryder, not Pops, sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee in his hand. What the hell was this? The twilight zone.
Unlike Pops, though, Ryder’s dark eyes weren’t haunted as they met mine. “How did it go?”
Fuck me. I didn’t have time for someCare Bearlet’s be friends type of bullshit. Pops had obviously not given Ryder the memo that at this hour my pretend to give a shit meter was nonexistent.
“Marek won’t shoot him, if that’s what you’re asking.” He patted the barstool beside him, which I ignored in favor of getting straight to the point. “You should be in bed with your wife not waiting up to ambush me.”
The fucker smirked. “I was earlier.”
Now he was asking for it. Not that he was bragging, Ryder wasn’t the type to kiss and tell, but he’d obviously gotten his dick wet. And I still hadn’t.
“Go back upstairs to your wife,” I said, passing him.
“Can I ask you a question?” His voice came out strange. Half-choked, half-strained.
I turned around and leaned against the bar as I studied him. What was his deal? He’d always been able to sleep like a baby. Now here he was, asking me questions at 4 a.m., when I had other places I’d much rather be. But respect, in my case, was the bitch of all bitches. It was what kept me rooted in place.
“Only if you’re prepared to hear an answer that you might not like.”
“That’s why I’m asking you, not one of the other guys.” He sighed. “Do you think Stella was the only reason Switch left?”
He should have asked Beast; he was much better with this type of shit. Come to think of it, why didn’t he? Beast always had a story with a moral that he made to fit into whatever dilemma you had. That, along with his sense of humor, was why he was Ryder’s sounding board. Yet Ryder had asked me, the man incapable of empathy or compassion.
