Vicious: A Dark Bully Reverse Harem Romance (Beautiful Tyrants Book 3)

by Vanessa Winters

  A husband who could not be my father.

  “Well, sorry to take up your time,” Rob said as he stood up to leave. “Thanks for coming out to meet with us.”

  He laid money down on the table to pay for Mr. James’s coffee and breakfast and then we left the diner and headed back to the car, leaving Mr. James with more food than his already engorged body could possibly need.

  When we got in the car and Rob started to drive away, I tried to think about what we would do when we got back home. Maybe I would pot some more plants in the greenhouse or do some apartment hunting online with the guys while they looked for their new places. I tried to think about anything other than the one thing that I didn’t want to even entertain in my head. But it didn’t work. We were not even out of the street that the diner was on, when I burst into tears.

  “Whoa hey,” Rob said as he looked over and saw me sobbing uncontrollably in the passenger seat of the car. “It’s okay, we don’t really know anything for sure yet.”

  “That’s the problem,” I said as I wiped my face with my sleeve. “How am I ever going to be able to tell Michael about this without having any actual answers. I can’t keep it from him forever, no matter how ridiculous it seems. I promised that I wouldn’t hide things from him, and I intend to keep that promise. But I just know that he’s going to freak out when he hears about this.”

  Rob pulled the car over into an empty alleyway between two buildings and turned off the engine.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him.

  “I’m stopping to talk to you,” he said. “I can’t keep driving when you’re this upset. Lisette, do you really still think that Adam’s theory about this is ridiculous?”

  He saw the shocked look on my face as my mouth dropped open and I stared at him.

  “I’m not saying that I believe Adam, I’m just saying that it might not be as ridiculous as you keep saying it is. And I don’t think that you think it is either. I think you’re just trying to keep yourself from panicking.”

  “It’s too late for that,” I said.

  I knew that Rob could see the despair in my eyes. I didn’t know what to think but the thought of Michael and I possibly being brother and sister, was more than I could bear.

  “Are you telling me that you think it’s possible that the two of you are related?” he asked me.

  I tried to hold in my tears in order to answer him without sounding like a blubbering idiot.

  “I think that I don’t know what to think,” I said, doing an awful job at not choking on my cries. “I think that we haven’t found any answers to either prove or disprove anything, and that there are now three unexplainable coincidences. I just don’t know what to think or do.”

  “I’m sorry, Lisette,” Rob said. “I know this must be difficult for you to even think about.”

  “Difficult? It’s so much worse than difficult. Rob, I feel like I’m being ripped apart.”

  I launched into more sobbing and Rob reached across the seat to pull me toward himself and hold me. I put my face against his shoulder as he rubbed my back and held me tightly.

  “It’ll be okay,” he said.

  “How?” I mumbled against his shirt. “Tell me how we are going to end this and make sure that it’s okay.”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I just know that you’re strong and that somehow you’ll find a way to get through it. You always do.”

  I lifted my head up at his remark and our faces were so close that they touched.

  “I don’t feel strong right now,” I said. When I opened my lips to let the words out, I could feel his breath against my mouth.

  “Neither do I,” he said.

  Before either of us could stop it, a sudden rush of heat came over us both. Rob and I had never really had enough time together, not even close to as much time together as I had with Michael and Adam. Maybe that was part of the reason that I couldn’t resist him now, or maybe it was because I was too upset over the possibility that everything I wanted in my life was wrapped up in one person that I now might not be able to have, or maybe it was just simply the fact that he thought I was strong when I felt so weak.

  Neither of us were strong right this moment.

  Neither of us were strong enough to stop the emotions that poured forth between us. Rob didn’t hesitate to put his mouth on mine.

  And then mine was the first tongue to push against the other.

  We both knew we shouldn’t be doing it, but we did it anyway.

  The soft push of our lips together and the encircling movement of our tongues, made it impossible to stop once the line had already been crossed, and the agreement broken. Technically I wasn’t involved in the agreement, but that didn’t make it any less wrong for me.

  My agreement was much more binding because my agreement with Michael was an unspoken one.

  Nevertheless, the electricity surging between us brought me back into his arms. Rob pulled me over toward his seat and lifted me onto his lap as if I were nothing but a feather, and I adored the way his hands gripped my hips as I straddled him. The car was cramped but I didn’t care. All we needed was enough space for our bodies to be together. And the closer the car brought us, the more my heart soared for him.

  Damn it, how in the world was I going to live without my boys?

  My thighs straddled either side of his hips and as I kissed him, my hands reached down to undo his pants. His cock was already engorged against his zipper, and my panties started growing damp at the warm feel of him when I finally wrapped my fingers around his girth. While Rob ran his hands up beneath my shirt, I stroked him softly. Deftly. Sliding his precum up and down his length as he readied himself for me. I felt him quickly pull my pants down around my knees. The furious heat between us grew as our teeth clattered with our kisses. And while I hadn’t had time to find an actual outfit for our little escapade, I found that my worn-out leggings worked well in our favor.

  Since they were so quick and easy to slide down.

  There was a brief moment where we could have stopped and not gone through with it, but neither of us wanted that. And so, with a swift movement, and with Rob’s hands guiding my hips; I sat down onto him and moaned as he pushed into my body. We moved together and I thought of nothing. I only thought of how good this felt and how much I needed to release myself and everything that was cluttering my mind, giving all the free reign to my body to take control and shut my brain off for a little while. I think that Rob knew I needed it too. He moved so slowly and intentionally inside of me that it was skillfully tantalizing. And when the climactic moment came, it was in a perfect unison that caused us both to tremble in pleasurable shockwaves that teased at our bodies even more. For a minute or two afterward, I stayed on Rob’s lap and laid against his chest with my head on his shoulder and his head resting against the top of my forehead. We breathed and sighed, and he ran his hands through my messy ponytail, which now looked like the most exquisite example of sexed-up hair that had ever existed. When I lifted my head, and then lifted my body back over to my seat, we both quietly put ourselves back together. Before he started to drive again, Rob reached over to hold my hand.

  “We can’t tell them about this,” I said. “If we did, all it would do ishurt them both.”

  “I know,” he said. “And I agree. But I’m worried about you.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  I figured that he meant that he was worried about the situation with Michael and how upset I was. But instead, he meant something entirely different.

  “I’m worried about the fact that you seem to be keeping so many secrets right now. I’m worried that it’s going to start to eat away at you.”

  I was worried about that too, but there really wasn’t much of a choice. I would make sure that this was the last secret that I kept from Michael. And I knew that Rob wouldn’t tell it either. We held hands the rest of the ride back and it was nice. When we pulled up to the cabin, I started to get nervous.

  “What are
the chances that Adam didn’t say anything?” I asked.

  “Honestly? Probably slim to none,” Rob said. “But Lisette, just like I said before. We don’t know anything for sure yet. And you’re right; even though there is a considerable number of unexplainable coincidences that are rightfully unsettling, it is still much more likely that they are just coincidences than it is that you Michael actually have the same father. It would have been a huge undertaking for someone to hide that for all the years of your childhood and well into your adulthood—for both of you.”

  That made me feel a little bit better. I still had a feeling that the whole thing would amount to absolutely nothing and then I would end up feeling foolish for even having worried about it; not unlike when I was worried that I was pregnant. Even if Adam hadn’t told Michael anything yet, I would tell him and then Michael and I would be able to have a level-headed and rational discussion about it, which would probably end in both of us realizing how absurd this whole thing was and having another night of making love outside beneath the stars.

  “I wonder what kind of story Adam concocted as an excuse for where we were,” I said after Rob and I had gotten out of the car.

  “No idea, but knowing Adam, I’m sure it was something elaborate,” he said. “We should probably just go along with whatever it is so that we don’t need to fess up to lying about more things that we have to.”

  I nodded my head in agreement. I knew exactly what he was referring to.

  Just before we got to the door, Rob turned around in front of me and faced me before I could reach for the door handle.

  “Do you think we’ll ever do that again?” he asked. “The part in the car.”

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “What do you think?”

  “I think that I want to,” he said.

  Then he turned back around and moved out of the way so that I could open the door. As soon as I walked in, I was met with a look on Michael’s face that I didn’t want to see—pain.

  25

  Very quickly after Rob and I stepped foot into the cabin, all hell broke loose.

  “Adam, what did you do?” I asked as I walked in and saw him sitting at the kitchen table.

  “I told Michael the truth,” he said.

  “How could you have told him the truth, when we don’t even know exactly what the truth is?” Rob asked.

  “Whose side are you on?” Adam shouted at him.

  “I’m not on anyone’s side,” Rob answered. “I just don’t feel the need to cause more chaos for no reason. Lisette has already been through enough for god sake, she doesn’t need to be put through more.”

  Rob glanced over at me for a moment, and when he did, I got the immediate feeling that both Adam and Michael picked up on something about the way that Rob looked at me.

  This was all getting ready to implode.

  “Michael, please,” I said as I walked over to him and reached to place my hand up against his chest.

  He backed away from me and I looked at him helplessly.

  “Don’t be upset with me,” I said. “I was hoping to figure this out before it turned into anything.”

  “I’m not upset with you, Lisette, although I should be. I would have every right to be since you yet again tried to hide something from me so that you could go off and try to solve it on your own.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “And I’m sorry. I won’t ever do—”

  “That’s not what I’m upset about,” he said. “I just can’t be around you right now.”

  Michael turned and walked quickly out the back door as I ran after him.

  “Michael, wait!” I called before stepping out the door behind him.

  I felt a hand grab my arm and hold me in place.

  “Let him go,” Adam said.

  I wrenched my hand away from him and glared at his dark eyes.

  “Haven’t you caused enough trouble for one day?” I hissed at him. “Why did you tell him? I told you to wait.”

  “I told him because he deserved to know,” Adam said. “And to be quite honest, as much as the guy sometimes drives me crazy, I’m getting a bit tired of you putting me in the position where I have to be the one to tell him the truth about things. Michael is right; he should be upset with you, and you’re lucky that he’s not.”

  “Well he sure seems pretty upset to me,” I said as my face contorted in worry. “Why else would he back away from me and not talk to me about this.”

  “Adam is right,” Rob said from behind him. “Michael isn’t upset at you, I can tell. It’s just too difficult for him to be around you right now.”

  “Why?” I shouted in sheer frustration.

  “Because he thinks the two of you might be brother and sister.”

  “So, what now? He’s just going to ignore me and pretend that I don’t exist until he feels better about things and can talk to me?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” Adam said. “Lisette, you need to give him time. He loves you, but not in the way that a brother loves a sister. He wants you. If it ends up that you two are related, then you’ll never be able to be with each other again.”

  “Don’t you think that I understand that?” I cried. “I am every bit as upset about this as he is, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to shut Michael out. That just makes things even worse.”

  “Just give him some time with this one,” Rob said as he took my hand and pulled me back inside the cabin. “He’ll come around eventually.”

  Adam eyed our hands and the way that Rob had threaded his fingers between mine. He looked suspiciously at the both of us and I felt as if he could see right through to what had happened between us in the car before we got here. I knew, of course, that he couldn’t, so I pulled my hand back from Rob and then acted as if it was no big deal.

  “So what did you two find out from that man that you went to go and meet?” he asked. He was trying to get a read of our reactions and find out what else happened, besides our dealings with Mr. James.

  “Absolutely nothing,” Rob answered. “Turns out the guy had never actually laid eyes on Michael’s dad. All of their interactions had been via phone or email. The trip was completely useless.”

  “I disagree,” Adam said.

  For a second, I thought that he was going to call us out and accuse us of getting intimate with each other and breaking the agreement that the guys had; the one that Adam had been chastised for not following. It would make Rob seem like a hypocrite, and it would damage the now-fragile trust between me and Michael even more.

  “I think it was a very useful trip,” Adam continued. “Because it gave me a chance to talk with Michael alone and now the truth is out in plain sight for all of us to see.”

  “Again, I will tell you that we don’t even know what the truth is,” Rob said.

  “Yes we do,” Adam argued. “The truth is that both Lisette and Michael have at least a small reason to think that they might be siblings. That is where the truth lies right now.”

  There wasn’t any way to argue that because Adam was right. Even if neither one of us admitted it out loud, both Michael and I were worried that we might be brother and sister, and that small dose of worry was enough to fortify the simple truth that we both thought it was a possibility; no matter how small.

  That night, Michael didn’t come to bed, so I left the bedroom to go and look for him. Adam and Rob both protested from their comfy spots on the bed and told me that I needed to leave Michael alone. I was sick of hearing them say that and I didn’t care if he wanted to be left alone or not. When I walked out into the living room, I saw Michael laying on the couch in front of a cold and empty hearth. There was no fire, no blanket, only a half-empty bottle of whiskey on the floor beside the couch.

  “Aren’t you coming to bed?” I asked him as I timidly went to go sit beside him.

  He didn’t scoot his hips over to make space for me to sit with him, so I just remained standing by the couch next to him instead.

  “No,”
he said.

  “Why not?”

  “Do you really need to ask me that?” he answered.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Because you may possibly be my sister,” Michael said, and he looked up with such a pained expression that I felt like my heart was being ripped out.

  His eyes filled with tears and he looked every bit as miserable as I felt. “I can’t be around you Lisette, I’m sorry. I know you want to pretend like everything is okay until we figure this out, but it’s not. Every time I see you, I want you. Every time I’m near you, I want to touch you and kiss you. My thoughts are consumed with making love to you, and when I watch you move, I want to be inside your body so badly that I can’t stand it. The thought of never being able to have you again is killing me. Just being around you right now is making me feel like I would rather die than be unable to touch you. And if I were to come and lay down in that bed right now, I don’t know what I would do.”

  “Why do you think that you are the only one going through this?” I asked him as I started to cry. “I feel each and every one of those things that you just described too. But I can’t bear the thought of not having you around me. I don’t want you to sleep out here on the couch, in the cold, alone. I want you to come in and lay down with me; whether it is as lovers, or siblings, or whatever we end up being to each other. I feel like this is killing me too, but not having you near me at all is a million times worse than all of it put together. Please come to bed, Michael.”

  “You don’t understand,” he said as he sat up on the couch and shook his head. “I am tortured by you. And if I come put my body up against yours in that bed, I may very well not care that you could be my sister. I may not care that the other two guys are in that bed with us. I may not care about anything other than having you in order to drown out the sinking feeling, the aching pit in my stomach that haunts and torments me with the idea that everything I want, I cannot have.”

  “Fine,” I said, trying to be as stubborn-headed as he was being.

  I understood his angst and anguish because I was feeling it too. But he was making it worse; this was making it worse. “If you won’t come in the bedroom to sleep, then I will sleep out here with you. I won’t let you make this harder for us both.”