Brightly Burning Bridges: A Bully Romance (Kings of Capital)

by Ivy Wild

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Friday it is. Like I said, I just need some time to look into things to tell you if it’s feasible.”

  Skyler looked between us. Tears were glistening in her eyes but, at the moment, I seriously didn’t care. She had a shit ton of explaining to do and it was going to happen the moment we were out of earshot of fucking Vartan and my driver.

  Trust fucking no one.

  “If there’s nothing else?” I asked casually. Vartan pressed his lips together. I could tell he thought this situation was entirely too easy. And he was right. Too bad he was too much of an idiot not to see what was going to happen.

  I shuffled a mostly frozen from shock Skyler down the stairs and into the car waiting outside, barked at the driver to take us back to Georgetown and stewed in silence at the absolute fuckery that was my life.

  By the time we made it back to her apartment, Skyler’s eyes were mostly dry. Instead of crying, she shivered and curled into herself, just like she used to do in high school. I hated it now as much as I hated it then. No, I hated it more.

  We rode the elevator in silence and I held my anger in check the entire ride up. The bell chimed and I broke the moment we stepped into her apartment.

  “What the fuck, Skyler?” I roared at her.

  Her lavender eyes went large and it seemed to shake her out of her personal pity party.

  “Did you know we were walking into a fucking ambush? You were fucking engaged to Vartan? When the fuck were you going to tell me this?” I knew I was screaming and I knew my overuse of the word “fuck” was cringeworthy, but I just didn’t have the brain power for creative swearing at the moment.

  “I didn’t know,” she said in that small voice of hers. She took a few steps away from me, putting the kitchen island between me and her.

  I gripped the side of the quartz countertop and seethed. “You didn’t know? How could you not know you were engaged to a person I absolutely loath? How could you not know he was my half-brother? He fucking told you and you didn’t think to tell me?”

  “Stop yelling at me!” she screamed back. “I can’t think straight when you’re yelling at me!”

  A dark chuckle left my lips. “Oh, we are so past that, Skyler. You deserve to be yelled at. Because this shit is ass backwards and I need some fucking answers right. The fuck. Now.”

  Her timid nature broke and the girl I knew existed beneath her quiet façade finally came out to play.

  “I didn’t tell you because you never fucking tried to contact me for TEN FUCKING YEARS after you lit my bridge on fire and watched it burn like a maniac, Silas! Do you know what I’ve been through this past decade for you? No, you have no clue! Because Vartan was right. You can only see what affects you! You don’t think about anybody else.”

  I strode over to her and she backed into the corner of the kitchen. I could see the hint of fear in her eyes, but I didn’t care. My hand came up to grip her chin and I lifted it so she was staring directly at me.

  “Why did you agree to marry him?” The question was a mere whisper but full of intense, jealous rage.

  She looked at me defiantly. “You wouldn’t care anyways.”

  My fingers increased the pressure on her chin and her eyes widened. “You see,” I breathed out. “That’s where you’re wrong. I do care. A lot. Because I told you, the moment you broke that fucking vase, you were mine.”

  “You should have claimed me when you had the chance,” she spat back.

  My teeth clenched as my anger reached its peak. “Did you fuck him?”

  “Fuck you, Silas,” she hissed.

  “Answer the question, Skyler,” I said in a menacing tone.

  Her eyes flashed with something I couldn’t catch. “Yes.”

  My mask broke and it broke clean down the middle. Jealousy, rage, lust, love, all of it poured out of me, each thing tumbling over the other, driven by the pressure they were under for my entire life at being held at bay.

  I moved forward and captured Skyler’s lips. Her hands came up to my chest, but she didn’t stop me. No, her fingers fisted into my dress shirt and she ended up pulling me flush against her body.

  The thought of Vartan touching her—the thought of her letting him—had me pulling her lower lip into my mouth and biting down on it hard. She gasped and pushed back against me and I scowled at her.

  “You weren’t for him,” I seethed.

  “Then erase him out of my memory, Silas,” she breathed back, her lower lip puffy and swollen. “You say I belong to you, then show me.”

  * * *

  I don’t know why I told Silas I’d slept with Vartan. We hadn’t even kissed, let alone had sex. But there was something deep inside of me that wanted to experience Silas at his rawest. After what he’d said, I wanted him to give me every part of him, in case he never wanted to speak to me again.

  His hand fisted around my neck and he leaned in to whisper against my ear. His breath was hot and his voice was low and I shivered as his other hand worked my skirt over my thighs. “I am going to fuck this tight pussy so hard you won’t ever think about taking another man’s dick into your body again.”

  I gasped at his crude words and he bit down on my earlobe.

  “I told you before, once I take you, you will be mine.”

  “Just fuck me already, Silas.”

  “Dirty slut,” he said as his fingers finally reached the apex of my thighs. I gasped, half at his words and half at the feeling of his fingers against my folds. “By the time I slip my cock inside of you, you’ll be begging for your release.”

  “Try me,” I bit back, goading him.

  He chuckled darkly against my skin, his lips ghosting over my neck and I threw my head back at the sensations. His hand stayed behind my neck, grasping me tightly, not letting me go anywhere. “I intend to,” he whispered before I felt his mouth begin to suck on my neck harshly.

  I moaned as his teeth scraped against me. He wasn’t being gentle. He wasn’t being sensual. This was going to be a fast, hard fuck against the counter.

  His lips were on my neck and his fingers were against my folds and for the first time in my life, I felt as beautiful as the girl in the gold dress. When all this was over, I wanted my lipstick on his body and I wanted him to smell like my perfume.

  His fingers pulled back the lace of my panties, exposing my sex and he groaned. “You’re so fucking wet for me already, hm? Been dreaming of my cock all this time, Sky? Is that it?”

  “You wish,” I moaned before his lips came back up to mine, capturing them in a searing kiss. His fingers danced against my lower lips, teasing my entrance as his tongue pushed into my mouth. The sensations he was building in me felt incredible and for a moment, I thought he might be right, I might actually beg for my release if he didn’t hurry up.

  He pushed his body flush against mine and I could feel his erection clear through his trousers. He wanted me. There was no faking his desire.

  He was kissing me.

  Hard for me.

  Feeling me.

  His other hand moved up my body to push my top up, exposing my breasts to him. His thumb danced across my nipples and his lips were hot against my ear. “Tell me Sky, did he make you come?”

  I gasped again at the crudeness of his words. One of his fingers dipped inside me the slightest amount, rimming my entrance before pulling back out, making me moan for more.

  “Tell me.” His voice was insistent.

  “Yes,” I breathed out. All logic had fled my mind as I started pushing Silas further and further toward his breaking point.

  He growled in my ear and I could tell he was angry at my answer. “You dirty fucking whore, I bet you liked it too, didn’t you?”

  His fingers were pinching my nipple now and his thumb danced over my clit deliciously, making me so close, yet so far away from what I needed.

  “I loved it,” I groaned.

  “You’re a liar,” he hissed and my breath hitched in my throat at his words. He pulled me do
wn off the counter and flipped me around. He pulled my top off my body, throwing it across the room and pushed me down onto the counter. My breasts pressed against the cold stone and I gasped as I tried to push back up, but his grip was firm on my back.

  My skirt was pushed up and he leaned down and whispered against my ear. “Lay there and take it like the filthy girl you are,” he said and I moaned, my body shivering and betraying just how wet his words made me.

  “You know how I know you’re a liar?” he asked as his fingers ghosted over my slit, tugging at my lace panties.

  I couldn’t answer. All I could do was shake my head and try and concentrate on breathing.

  “Because I know when he was fucking you, you were dreaming it was me. I saw it in your eyes when I fucked that girl in high school against the wall. You wanted it to be you, Sky. Mine was the only cock you wanted.”

  His fingers tugged and my panties split. My slit was on display for him now and I could feel my desire for him dripping down my thighs.

  “It’s not true,” I lied. “I’ve always hated you.”

  His hand landed with a smack across one ass-cheek and I gasped, half in pain half in pleasure.

  “Even as you hated me, you loved me, Sky.” The pressure was too much and my hand reached down to try and thumb my clit, but he brushed it away. “Is that what you did, hm? Finger yourself as you fantasized about me after he left you high and dry?”

  “The only one who’s left me high and dry is you, Si,” I managed to breathe out.

  I was so wet for him. I wanted him. All of him. Even as I hated him.

  “You’re anything but dry right now, Skyler.” He said the words and his fingers plunged into my core and I damn near screamed. It felt so good, so full, so right. He pulsed inside of me, in and out, thumbing my clit and driving me to a high that left me gasping for breath.

  “You can’t hide it, Skyler. All this time he was fucking you and you wanted it to be me. I’m the only man who can make you come. Admit it.”

  He was right. He was so fucking right and I didn’t know how he knew it. Silas was the only one I wanted, but more than that, I didn’t want to let him win. He’d won over me my entire life. I knew he wouldn’t respect someone who would just lay down for him. He wanted an equal. Someone to stand up to him and push back.

  “You’re wrong,” I said, pushing back up and turning around.

  “I’m not,” he said with a growl, pushing me against the counter and pressing his lips to mine. His hands moved against my breasts before his fingers trailed over my collarbone and across my jaw. He pulled back, tugging at my lower lip before releasing it with a snap. His fingers, the ones that had just been inside of me, pushed into my mouth and my eyes widened as I tasted myself on him.

  “That’s it,” he said, his eyes dark and menacing. “I want you to taste how fucking wet you are for me.” His other hand cupped my sex and he smirked. “I can feel your need for me dripping out of this pussy, coming all over your thighs.” I groaned as I continued to work my tongue around his fingers. “That’s right. Swirl that tongue of yours around my finger just like you imagined swirling it around my cock all these years.”

  I reached down and started to wrestle with his belt buckle. As soon as I got it unlatched and moved to free him from his trousers, he pulled back and laughed, removing his fingers from my mouth with a pop. “I told you, I want you begging for my cock, Skyler.”

  I swallowed thickly, panting heavily, trying desperately to reclaim the breath I’d lost.

  He just stood there, looking completely calm.

  “Silas,” I moaned, moving my fingers down to move against my own folds. I spread my legs for him and began to work myself, goading him to take over.

  “Say it, Skyler.”

  I pursed my lips and shook my head.

  “Then finish your show alone,” he said, but he couldn’t fake that he wanted me too. His hand was moving over his trousers, stroking himself through the material.

  “Why do you need me to say it?” I asked, throwing my head back as I began to dip my fingers into my pussy, my fingers gliding easily at how soaking wet I was. Watching him watching me was apparently a turn on, even if I wanted his cock inside me.

  “Because I need to hear you say it, Skyler. I need to hear you say you’re mine. I won’t take you any other way. I can’t take you any other way. I need you to choose to be mine, do you understand me?”

  My eyes opened at how raw his words were. They grated against me, shocking me back to the present. He was admitting how he felt.

  Silas didn’t just want to take me.

  He wanted me to choose to be his.

  He wanted to be my right decision in all of this.

  I never felt higher than I did at that moment. His confession, however unaware of it he might have been, was something I’d needed to hear him admit since that day we stood on opposite sides of the brook, an inferno separating us.

  He wanted me.

  But he needed to be wanted, too.

  It’s why it crushed him when I said I was moving away.

  When I ran.

  When I never contacted him.

  I’d let that bridge burn and collapse and the entire time I thought our feelings for one another were dead and buried beneath it.

  I’d been so wrong.

  Nothing was dead.

  Everything was just trapped.

  Waiting to be freed.

  And he was leaving that up to me.

  He was letting me decide if I wanted him in my life.

  If I needed him in my life.

  And the truth of the matter was, I did want him. But more than that, I needed him.

  I never stopped loving him. It was stupid and illogical and foolish and all of the things a good mother warns their daughter against. But it didn’t make it any less true.

  Sometimes, you find a person in this life that makes you better. A person who makes you smile and lifts you up when you’re down. This is a good person.

  But sometimes, you find a person in this life that makes you mad.

  A person who raises your blood pressure to cardiac arrest levels.

  A person who makes you want to pick fights and drive off bridges.

  They’re the type of person that tells you to stop being a pussy when you’re down.

  And the type of person that has you creatively cursing into your pillow.

  This is a bad person.

  But this person also makes you feel.

  More than that, they make you feel alive.

  Silas was my bad person.

  I lived my life tucked against whitewashed walls, trying to fade into the background. I so desperately wanted to be seen, but hated when I was noticed. I lived my life afraid of letting my true colors show because my outsides lacked any and more than anything, I felt like I needed to meet people’s expectations.

  But Silas had no expectations for me.

  He wanted my true colors.

  He wanted me to slather the walls, windows and lockers with buckets of paint.

  I thought he was being mean all those years ago, but maybe he was trying to tell me something. Maybe he was just trying to give me a canvas to paint on.

  Silas was my bad person.

  Because he made me feel like life was worth living.

  I looked at him. Really looked at him. His dark brown eyes rimmed with desire and lust and need. All of it for me.

  I smiled.

  “Yes, Silas. I’m yours. I always have been.”

  I had so much more to say to him. A decade worth of emotions and feelings that wanted to flow out of me now that I’d opened the flood gates. But he didn’t give me the chance.

  He moved forward and his body pressed against mine. His edges were so hot and his center was ice cold—just the way I liked it.

  His lips captured mine as his hands fumbled with his trousers, pushing them down just enough to free his cock. My hand was pushed aside roughly and he thrust up into me in one fi
rm movement.

  I’d already thumbed my clit to the point of orgasm and him pushing inside of me had me careening over that edge. I screamed his name as my walls pulsed around his cock. His body snapped into mine firmly, drawing out each pulse of pleasure.

  He was too far gone himself to last much longer. This coupling had been a decade in the making and both of us were seriously strung out. His arms wrapped around me, crushing me into a firm hug as he released himself inside of me. “You’re mine and I love you,” tumbled out of his lips and I started to cry.

  It’s all I’d ever wanted to hear him say.

  My fingers plunged in and out of her tight cunt as I pressed her into the cold countertop. I knew I wasn’t being particularly gentle with her, but I was so fucking angry at the idea that she had fucked Vartan.

  And Trevor.

  And any fucking guy.

  Her pussy was for me and as my fingers moved in and out of it, I knew this was true. From the first time I’d been inside of her, I knew it the moment I felt her heat.

  She was made for me and me alone and she should have known that.

  “You can’t hide it, Skyler. All this time he was fucking you and you wanted it to be me. I’m the only man who can make you come. Admit it,” I said. I wanted, no needed, to hear her say it.

  She pushed my hand away and turned around, her lavender eyes sparkling brightly even against the light of the room. “You’re wrong,” she said breathlessly.

  Jealousy flared in my gut and I moved forward, pressing her against the counter. My fingers wrapped around her neck as I met her gaze. “I’m not,” I said before slamming my lips down on hers. If she wasn’t going to admit it, I would make her feel it.

  My hands moved against her body, feeling her pulse, her curves, her life as it beat for me. I pushed my fingers into her mouth and her eyes widened as she began to taste the evidence of her deception.

  “That’s it,” I said. “I want you to taste how fucking wet you are for me.” I cupped her sex and moved in close, my breath hovering against her skin. “I can feel your need for me dripping out of this pussy, coming all over your thighs.”