When we’re satiated, he pulls out slowly, and my pussy feels wetter than ever before.
I don’t think I’ve ever been fucked this good.
Especially not by the one person who’s supposed to be my number one goddamn enemy.
Guess I’m really screwed.
* * *
Brandon
I kiss her a final time, our lips lingering on each other as if they don’t wanna let go. Neither do I, but I know she’ll start the fight again soon. She can’t help it. It’s in her blood, coursing through her veins … the need for justice. And I’m the one who keeps her from that goal.
If only she’d run away with me when I asked her to after the bonfire. If she’d come with me, none of this would’ve happened. The farmhouse wouldn’t have burned down, and my papa would still be alive … and so would her brothers.
I swallow and exhale. “Dixie …”
“Shh …” She puts a finger on my lips. “Don’t talk. It’ll ruin everything.”
I smile. She’s right. It does. It always has.
But I can’t help but want to know the answers to the questions burning in my mind. The what-ifs.
She obviously likes me. A little too much if you ask her.
She hates it—I can tell from the look in her eyes—but she can’t stop herself from wanting me anymore either.
It’s how it’s supposed to be, how it always should’ve been.
We were both denying what was right in front of us the entire time.
Even when we were younger, she kept on trying to pull away from me. Like a moth to a flame, she keeps burning her wings when she’s close to me. Maybe that’s why she broke up with me. I hold her back from achieving what she really wants. Complete freedom from everyone around her.
But then why did she cling to this farm? Or to her dad, even knowing he hates everything alive?
He doesn’t deserve her presence. She should’ve been with me from the start.
“Why didn’t you come with me?” I blurt out.
I can’t help myself. I have to know.
Her face darkens, her lips drawing together as she deciphers my words. “You mean after the bonfire? I couldn’t …”
“Yeah, you said that,” I say, zipping up again. “But you were just scared, weren’t you?”
“No. You still don’t understand, do you?” She scoffs, shaking her head. “You were unstoppable. People were looking for you. Of course, you wanted to leave.” She unwraps her arms from around my neck. “But I needed to stay with my dad. My brothers … my family. They needed me.” She pulls up her panties and dresses herself again.
“They didn’t deserve you, and you know it,” I hiss.
She lowers her head, looking at me from underneath her eye lashes. “Family before anything else, remember?” She blinks a couple of times. “I knew there was no stopping you, and I didn’t want you to feel torn. Like you had to stay because of me. So … I broke up with you.”
Wow.
Is she saying she did it for me?
I thought she wanted me gone because her dad hated me.
All this time, I believed something I told myself.
“I didn’t want to, but I had to,” she says. “There was no other way it could end.”
“Yes, it could’ve,” I say. “You could’ve come with me.” When she tries to interrupt me, I quickly add, “I would’ve been your family.”
Her lips part, but no sound comes out. The silence is overwhelming, but her eyes speak volumes. She’s almost on the verge of tears.
I know I have no right to say these things.
I hurt her more than any other man on this planet.
But I want her to know that I felt more for her than any other man did too. That I cared about her more than her dad ever did. Maybe I still do. It’s hard to tear the hatred from my heart after carrying it for so long. I still don’t know what the truth is … Except that I’m falling for her again.
Slowly. But inevitably.
I grab a strand of her hair and tuck it behind her ears. “I’m sorry, Dixie Burrell. That I made you suffer like that. For being a piece of garbage who doesn’t deserve to live.”
A tear rolls down her cheeks, and she snorts herself into laughter. “That’s true.”
Suddenly, the door bursts open, and the spell is broken … by none other than her dad.
Click, click.
It’s the barrel of a shotgun aimed at my head.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Brandon
“Get the fuck away from my fucking daughter!” Mr. Burrell yells as I turn around to face the barrel of his shotgun while he locks and loads.
I hold up my hands, but I wanna protect Dixie too, so I have no intention of moving away from her. I’m not sure he’d let her live because I’m sure he definitely saw us kiss.
“Son of a bitch,” her dad mutters. He’s definitely getting ready to shoot.
“Dad, no!” Dixie suddenly jumps off the table and runs toward him.
Right then, he shoots.
In the blink of an eye, Dixie’s pushed the barrel up.
The bullet penetrates the roof, and rubble falls to the floor. I feel as if I narrowly escaped death there. My eyes widen as Dixie grabs her dad’s gun and fights him over it.
Is she trying to save me?
“Dad, stop it!” she says.
“No, that motherfucker needs to die,” Mr. Burrell growls. “Get out of my fucking way, Dixie.”
“No, stop, please,” she says. “He’s different. I’m different.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass. That redskin killed my boys. He’s gonna pay for that.” He shoves her away, aiming his gun at me once again.
I duck for cover and roll away right before he shoots the workbench we were just banging on.
Fuck, things are getting heated.
“DAD!” Dixie screams.
I reach for my gun and get up on my feet, aiming it straight at his head.
We’re at an impasse. I don’t flinch and neither does he. Both of us are staking our lives. Neither of us is willing to give in.
Should I shoot to kill? End his misery once and for all?
Dixie’s eyes lure me in, forcing me to look at the pain inside her soul. The wound is too deep, still too fresh. I’m responsible for the death of her other family members. I can’t kill her last one too. It wouldn’t be right.
I suck in a breath, but my throat feels clamped.
If I don’t act now, this could be the end.
That man has always hated my guts, but his hatred turned to a death wish the moment he saw me kill his sons.
There’s no way he’s going to let me outta here alive.
So I unlock the safety of my gun.
“Don’t do this, Brandon,” Dixie says through gritted teeth. Then she turns to face her dad and says, “Dad, stop this shit. You’re better than this.”
“I don’t give a damn what you think. That motherfucker is not laying a hand on any of my children again.” He shoots the floor in front of my feet. It’s a threat, but I’m not budging. “Think I’m gonna stop and let you go? Tough luck, buddy. You’re not gettin’ outta here. Not on two legs yer not.”
“If you try, I’ll kill you,” I say.
It’s not a threat.
If I have to choose between my life and his, I choose mine.
“STOP!” Dixie screams, stomping her feet. Her body shakes violently as she stands between us. “For once, can’t you both stop the fuckin’ violence? No one needs to die.”
“Yeah, he does,” her dad spits. “Did ya fuckin’ forget he killed your brothers?”
“I didn’t forget, Dad,” she says. “I hate what he did as much as you do.” With tears in her eyes, she looks at me, the pain in her voice too real. “But I can’t let you kill him either.”
My knees buckle. I feel weak. Incapable of keeping my gun pointed at the man I’ve hated for so long just for denying me what I wanted the most.
“Br
andon? What are you doing?” Her eyes widen when she looks at me giving up. “Get up.”
But I won’t. She was mine all along, all this time. Even through all the suffering, through all the turmoil. Every crushing inch of agony I laid onto her. She took it all and still holds her head high, knowing she can’t let me die. After all this, she still needs me. Just as much as I need her.
But none of this was about me.
It was about her all along.
And when I decided to fall for Dixie Burrell once more, I knew I signed my own death warrant.
I sink to my knees and wait for the barrel of his gun to release me from my anguish.
“Get up, Brandon,” Dixie commands, still holding strong between us. “Get up!”
“Fuck that. Let him have it. It’s what he wants, can’t you see?” her dad interjects with a vicious smile on his face. “He came here to die.”
“No, that’s not at all what this is about,” she yells back.
“What the fuck were you doing with him anyway, huh?” her dad barks.
“That’s none of your goddamn business, Dad,” she snaps back. “Leave us the fuck alone in here.”
“That motherfucker dared to step onto my property. I’m gonna kill him.”
“Dad, no, he’ll kill you before you get the chance,” she says, trying to push him away, but he won’t budge.
Instead, he laughs, shoving her aside again. “I don’t think so. He can’t. Look at him. He can’t even keep his gun steady.” Her eyes follow his, and with them, she begs me not to listen to him. But it’s already too late for that.
He snorts. “You made him weak.”
She knows. I can see it in her eyes.
It’s exactly what she was aiming for when I first took her from my uncle’s hotel.
She got her wish, but she doesn’t seem happy with it now.
Her father laughs again. “He can’t fucking kill anyone like that …”
He’s right. I can’t. Not because I don’t want to, but because I know there’s no other way.
If I kill him, she’ll never forgive me.
If I run, he’ll shoot my legs and then kill me. It’d be one bloody mess that she’d have to witness. She’d feel guilty, and I don’t want her to feel the way I felt all these years.
Only one option left … and that’s to be put out in silence.
“Look away, Dixie,” I say with a stern voice.
“No! Stop this!” she pleads, looking at both of us.
But nothing will stop her dad from exacting the revenge he’s wanted for so long. I know because I’ve lived with that same feeling for decades. And now it comes back to bite me in the ass.
So I close my eyes and await my fate.
However, the door suddenly bursts open again.
“Well, lucky me.”
It’s my uncle.
And he immediately shoots Dixie’s father.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Dixie
I scream as my dad hits the floor, blood seeping from his wound.
“Dad!” I cry out, and I immediately cover the wound with a piece of my shirt which I tear off. He’s gasping for air. His lung is punctured. He probably won’t make it out alive.
Fuck. I can’t lose my dad too. Even though he acted like a fucking idiot, he’s still my fucking dad.
Brandon’s uncle casually flips his gun in his hand, and says, “Good fucking riddance, I’d say.” He chuckles. My blood begins to boil.
“You fucking murderer,” I spit.
“Not my first, not my last,” his uncle says flippantly. Then he focuses his attention on Brandon. “Brandon, my boy … do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to find you here?”
“What the f—” Brandon immediately gets to his feet and points his gun at him.
But so does his uncle.
“Now, now, boy,” Josiah says. “No need to get all violent on me. We’re family, remember?”
“You just fucking shot her dad!” Brandon yells back. “Are you insane?”
“You were about to do the same, no?” his uncle asks, raising a brow. “Oh no … you were on your knees. Did you actually give up there?” He laughs out loud. “And you call yourself a Locklear. Your dad would be so fucking proud.”
“Shut up,” Brandon hisses.
Josiah’s trying to get him to lash out and do something stupid, but he won’t fall for it. He can’t. Right?
“You know, I’m so glad I got Matteo’s phones hacked so I could track where all those idiots were going,” Josiah says. “That motherfucker was pretty useless when it came to finding you. Forced me to go look for you two myself.”
Idiots. Motherfucker. That’s what he thinks of his own men. What a fucking animal. Brandon’s eyes widen as if it’s the first time his uncle doesn’t pretend to give a shit about them. The first time he’s shown his true colors.
“Really, Brandon? This is how you repay me for all those years? When I took you under my wing and nurtured you?”
“I said shut up,” Brandon barks back.
“Oh, no, no, no …” Josiah shakes his finger. “You’re not in a position to act all holier than thou. You were supposed to bring her back to me. Not take her with you to one of your filthy ass motels or wherever the fuck you all went.”
“We were hiding from you,” I hiss back at him.
“Shut up, little girl,” he says. “Or I’ll blow a hole in your face.”
“Don’t talk to her. Your beef’s with me,” Brandon says, trying to revert his attention.
His uncle narrows his eyes. “Why, Brandon? Tell me why you felt the need to betray me.”
“Because you’re a sick son of a bitch, that’s why,” I say.
I can’t help interfering. That asshole did the unforgivable, so I should kill him myself.
Suddenly, Josiah shoots the ground mere inches away from my feet. “Don’t test my patience, girl. You don’t want me to hurt you now, do you?” He cracks his knuckles without letting go of the gun. “And I do enjoy hurting girls like you … a lot.”
I cringe and swallow my tongue for a second. I know I’m in a bind. But I can’t fucking give in. Not to the man who ruined my family’s business and the man who has now killed my dad too.
“You … you’ll pay for this,” I say through gritted teeth. Rage fills my veins. I don’t think I’ve ever been angrier than I am right now. Not even at Brandon.
“You think?” His uncle laughs. “Because if I remember correctly, you’re the one who blew up my goddamn hotel.” He marches toward me and grabs me by the throat, lifting me up from the floor. I close my eyes.
Can’t. Fucking. Breathe.
“LET. HER. GO.”
BANG!
I drop to the floor. I inhale out loud and clutch my throat, glad I’m still alive.
There’s a gunshot wound in his uncle’s shoulder, and Brandon’s gun is smoking.
“Brandon …” Josiah tsks. He doesn’t even seem to feel the pain. “I expected better from you.”
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Brandon responds.
I’ve never seen him this protective over me before. It’s as if he really cares about me and my life.
“Did you forget what she did to us, Brandon?” Josiah replies. “That girl destroyed my fucking casino. She should be hanged and have a fucking stake driven up her goddamn pussy!” he yells, his voice so loud it breaks.
A shiver runs up and down my spine. If that’s what he was planning on doing to me, I’m sure as hell glad Brandon got to me first.
“Did to you, you mean,” Brandon says, carefully coming toward me, one step at a time.
Josiah frowns while he moves away. “Excuse me?”
Both of them still have their guns aimed at each other. “That hotel means nothing to me.”
“How can you say that, Brandon? You know how important it is to me.”
Brandon’s finally reached me, and he towers over me, protecting me while I huddle over my dad. �
��To you, yeah,” he spits back to his uncle. “And that’s all you care about.”
“What? No, of course not,” Josiah says, laughing. “You’re my fucking nephew. Of course, I care about you.”
“So that’s why you sent your boys after me? Have them fucking shoot at us?” Brandon snaps. “You’re a fucking liar, and you know it.”
“I was only getting back what belongs to me,” Josiah says, eyeing me. “After all, she ruined my hotel, so it’s up to me to punish her. Not you. Now hand her over.”
He beckons Brandon, but Brandon doesn’t even flinch. “Over my dead body.”
A wicked smile forms on Josiah’s lips. “Why do you even care what happens to her? You two hate each other, no?”
Hate is such a strong word. I don’t know what I feel for Brandon right now, but I know for sure I could stab Josiah’s eyes out right now if I had the chance.
“What’s this? You two having feelings for each other now?” He laughs maniacally. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
“Shut up,” Brandon says.
“This is rich.” His uncle can barely keep it together. “You two? After all the shit you pulled?” He cocks his head. “You do know he killed your brothers, right?”
“Don’t you fucking talk about them,” I spit back, tears rolling down my cheeks.
He has no fucking right to even mention them.
Brandon exhales. “We.”
We?
What does he mean?
“I didn’t do anything,” Josiah says.
“Stop lying,” Brandon hisses. “You drove me there with those men I didn’t even know. Those men killed her brothers.”
“You wanted them dead,” his uncle says, snorting.
So it’s true. He was there.
The muscles in Brandon’s face twitch. “I said I wanted them punished! I never intended to kill them. You forced me to be a part of something I didn’t want to do!”
“You’re an ungrateful son of a bitch, you know that?” Josiah spits on the floor. “All this time, I took care of you, helping you when you were at your lowest.” He sighs. “C’mon, Brandon. Just hand the girl over to me. You have nothing to lose.”
Branded Page 23
