She sighed. “You absolute idiot.”
I glared at her. “She has a point, Lila! Tell me that some of this doesn’t ring true with you, too. She lied to us from the very beginning. You remember that first day we saw her. She was protesting on campus? She acted like she didn’t even know us when she’d probably been cleaning our toilets that very morning! It took months for me to find out who she really was!”
“You’re telling me you’re judging her because she didn’t come right out and say, ‘hey hunky dude I’m vibing with-slash being pushed around by, I’m one of your house’s two thousand maids?’”
As if to prove her point, there was a knock at the door and a young blonde maid entered, looking terrified, with a cleaning caddy on her arm and wheeling a vacuum.
“Not now, please,” I said, my voice only slightly harsh. “Come back later.”
She hesitated, but must have decided she’d rather face Janey’s ire than mine, because she quickly left. Ever since Brooklyn, I have been totally unable to ignore the help like I used to. It was mostly a curse, because now I was stuck recognizing how many people we really had picking up after us, waiting on us hand and foot. It made me uncomfortable in a way I’d never been before.
“Look, I hear what you’re saying,” Lila said, once the sound of the vacuum had disappeared down the hall. “I didn’t trust her at first either. But I think she has more than earned our trust by now.”
“Has she though? Did we ever really face all of the lies, the deceit? The shit with lax bro extraordinaire, Merritt?”
“You know that me and Margeaux set up the Merritt thing just to get you away from her,” she said.
“There was still something there, though.” I flicked my lighter again and the flame shot out higher, fed by the bits of gas I’d been letting into the air with every flick, singeing my knuckle. “Fuck!” I threw it to the ground.
“You’re making an amateur mistake, J,” Lila’s voice was soft. “You’re letting her get to you. What did we used to say to each other when we were little?”
“Mother doesn’t know best,” I said, smiling a little at the bittersweet memory. It had not taken us long to realize that there was something seriously wrong with our mother, that most of the things she said and did were not, in fact, in our best interests, but in her own. When she would say things like, “Carlisles do not cry,” or forbid a friendship because the relationship did not benefit her or the family, we had started saying that phrase like a mantra, a way for us to know we did not live in a normal home.
Lila placed her hand on my knee. “Mother doesn’t know best. We were right then and we’re right now. She does not know what’s best for you, she does not have your best interest at heart, and every time you forget that, you put yourself at risk of being sucked into the Carlisle second dimension.”
I stared down at my hands. Was she right?
Lila answered the question as if I had spoken it out loud. “Of course I’m right. No one knows better than me. Let me ask you this. When I set up that scene with Merritt to end your relationship with Brooklyn, why do you think I did that?”
“To keep me out of trouble?”
“Maybe. But also to keep us both toeing the party line, following that part of me that I still can’t kill that tells me that Mother knows best, that if we were just to do everything she says to do, the way she says to do it, we will be alright. Even being aware of her impact is not a cure-all to keep us safe from doing things she wants us to do.”
I stayed quiet, getting lost inside my head. And right on cue, Lila read me like an open book being displayed on a projector screen.
“She’s gotten in your head. Kick her out, Jude, before you ruin a really good thing.” Lila stood, smoothing her slacks, and walked to the door, where she turned and fixed me with a look. “I’ve never seen you so happy, so healthy, than this time with Brooklyn. She’s good for you, and I’m willing to back her up. I don’t think she’s playing you.”
After Lila left, the quiet emptiness of my room felt oppressive. There were still small traces of Brooklyn littered throughout, since we spent more time at my place than hers. Was that a sign of her taking advantage of the perks of being with a Carlisle? I sat up straight and grabbed my phone.
I was an idiot. Of course, it wasn’t. I was the one who always insisted on staying at my place because I hated her creaky twin bed, drafty room, and thin walls that leaked every sound possible from the street below. Just like I had to basically force her to let me pay for anything we bought out. The girl would barely let me buy her a drink, and we hadn’t gone out to any of the usual restaurants where Margeaux and I had had dates together. Just because Margeaux was part of “my set”, as the Carlisles liked to say, I hadn’t batted an eye at swiping the family black card for anything and everything?
12:15 PM
Come back. I miss you.
Brooklyn responded instantly and my heart stopped in my chest.
12:16 PM
I’ll be back for my shift at 5. See you then :-*
Another topic we hadn’t touched. I could hardly have my girlfriend scrubbing my toilet. And working for Janey, a woman I knew hated her. I drummed my fingers on the back of my phone. We’d have to do something about this.
2
Brooklyn
It had stung some to have Jude acting so prickly and wanting me gone. But arriving back at my rathole apartment was, weirdly, kind of nice.
I sat on the threadbare rug, leaning against my bed, dressed in my slouchiest clothes—since all this time with Jude, I’d been trying to stay at least semi-cute—with my hair flopped into a top heavy bun.
The truth was, all the richness and luxury of the Carlisle home still made me uncomfortable. Every time Lila or Jude set a cup down without a coaster, I cringed internally, knowing exactly how hard it was to get rings out of mahogany. When Jude kicked back on his white bedspread, shoes scuffing the end, I thought about all the times I’d leaned over that very blanket in the laundry room, scrubbing with all my strength to get those scuffs out, my eyes and fingers stinging from the bleach.
It was nice to have a bit of space from that. But, that didn’t mean I didn’t miss him already.
I pulled the tab on my Coke and drank, letting out a very un-girlfriendly belch and stared at the dingy walls of my apartment. Were these things I’d just have to get used to, or would they mean the end of us? For now, I was comfortable not knowing.
My phone buzzed with a text. I picked it up at once, shamefully hoping it was Jude. He’d been acting so weird this morning, and I was craving assurance from him. I smiled when I saw not only was it him, but he was asking me to come back.
Let him suffer some and miss you a little.
I grinned at the voice in my head. Maybe it would be good for him to do without me for a little while. After all, spending so much time with someone could make it easier and easier for someone to neglect the other’s presence. So, after shooting him a text back, I planned to do absolutely nothing until my shift at his house started later.
And we could hang tonight after he got done missing the hell out of me.
* * *
I pulled on jeans and a long-sleeve V-neck a few minutes before five o’clock. I no longer had my maid uniform, Jude having ripped it to pieces off my body in one particularly impassioned moment. But, I had a feeling the boss would let it slide this time. Maybe with the Congresswoman gone, hopefully for good, I could get a say in a new uniform for all the maids.
I pulled in a few minutes past five, steeling myself for Janey’s glare as I walked into the kitchen. Except she wasn’t there, and that struck me as odd. Janey had changed some since Congresswoman Carlisle had been arrested, but she was always on time. She knew she couldn’t get away with riding me so hard anymore, but her feelings still showed perfectly clearly when she looked at me. And it was strange for her not to be at her post. I shrugged and headed to grab my cleaning caddy - but it wasn’t there either. I furrowed my brow.
I turned to find Jude leaning in the doorframe, a smirk on his face. “Ms. James, a punishment may be in order for your lack of respect.” He stood and sauntered closer. “This tardiness is simply unacceptable.”
My veins flooded with heat at his voice, the look in his eyes. I played along, saying in my most sultry voice, “Oh, Mr. Carlisle, have I been naughty?”
“Very, very naughty.” With one hand, he pushed me so my back was against the wall, his broad shoulders blocking out the rest of the little cleaning closet, the air around us suddenly pulsating with heat.
I batted my eyelashes at him. “Isn’t there something I can do to make it up to you? I’ll do anything just to keep my job.”
With a low growl, he leaned in, hovering his lips over mine. “I think we can come up with something.”
We had only been separated for a few hours, but the lust and desperation inside of me made it seem like it had been days. I craved his touch. I needed him. Now.
His lips crashed against my own and I felt my knees trembling with weakness. His head tilted to the side, deepening the kiss as his hand slid to cup my jawline. My tongue sought out the comfort of his own. I slid my hands beneath his shirt, desperate to feel his six pack abs and hard pecs. And when his tongue flicked mine, the wicked tease set my heart beating double time.
With utter ease, he lifted me from the floor, settling me against him as my legs wrapped tightly around his waist. I could feel his hardness against my soft core, and it only increased my desperate need to be filled by him. A soft moan escaped my lips and he held me tighter, groaning in response. And when he pinned me back against the wall, my shirt came off almost in pieces.
“Damn it, you’re beautiful,” he groaned.
My skin flushed with need as his lips kissed down my neck. He gripped my waist and slid me up the wall with ease, raking his teeth along my pulse point. I felt my pussy growing hotter. I felt my panties getting wetter. And every time I bucked against him, I felt his cock growing harder. Desire rushed through my veins. My head fell back against the wall as I caved to his every kiss and whim.
And the dark necessities that rose up within my gut took even myself by surprise.
“Now,” I said, unable to wait any longer. “I need you now, Jude.”
He understood at once, dropping me only long enough for us both to slide quickly from our jeans. We tossed them in a heap on the floor and then I was back in his arms, kissing him with a passion that stopped my heart in my chest. I raked my hands through his hair. I climbed him like a tree until my naked center sat against his. With my legs wrapped around him and his hands pressed against the wall he sank me against, I felt his firmness teasing my wetness.
Until he pulled back and filled me in one swift motion.
“Oh, shit,” I hissed.
Closing my eyes at the delicious ecstasy of his hardness inside me. He thrust, sinking every inch of him within me as my back slid up the wall. He thrust again, hitting his mark with perfection, and every thrust thereafter struck up a chorus of electricity that surged throughout my body. A personal symphonic concert only for myself and him to partake in.
And I couldn’t get enough.
“Jude,” I whimpered.
“That’s it. Just like that, Red.”
His mouth settled against my neck, sucking and nipping, marking me as his own. My arms draped around his neck while my fingertips curled into the muscles undulating beneath the skin of his back. I couldn’t get enough of him. I lost the tempo of his rhythms as he unraveled me and pinned my wrists to the wall. And as our eyes met, his primal glare piercing straight into my soul, the sounds of wet skin slapping wet skin filled the space around us as I lost myself in his sounds.
In his smells.
In his movements.
“I’m so close. So close. Please, Jude. Don’t stop.”
He buried his face into the crook of my neck. “Mine. You’re mine, Brooklyn. Forever. You hear me.”
I came undone with that one word. Forever. Did he mean it? Was this really it for the both of us? The coil wound tightly in my gut finally snapped and I felt my walls milking his dick for all he had. His hips stuttered with every grip my body shivered with, and soon I felt his lips fall heavily against my own. Our lazy tongues caressed one another as his pulsing cock filled me to the brim. Filled me and marked me, until our entangled juices started seeping down my ass crack.
A rippling rush encompassed the two of us until Jude started sliding to the floor. Taking me with him as he wrapped his arms around me, his cock still sheathed in my warmth. Until finally, the two of us collapsed against one another as the wall that held all of our secrets effortlessly propped us up.
“Brooklyn…” he said softly. “The things you do to me.”
I fingered his thick black hair, smiling. With a groan, we separated and rolled off onto the ground before he crawled to me and kissed the mark his lips had left on the tender inside of my neck. We separated our underwear, our jeans, and pulled them on, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it.
If I had my way, we’d be naked twenty-four-seven with one another.
I kissed him once more, breathing in his scent enough to almost get me going once more. “I’ve got to get to work. Janey’s going to kill me.”
He grinned, pushing his hair back. “You won’t have to worry about her anymore,” he said. “Come on, follow me.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him, up toward the stairs to his room.
I laughed. “Jude! I can’t, really! I have to get to work!”
We stopped outside the door of his room and he turned mischievous eyes to me. “Open the door.”
“What-”
“Just open it.”
I rolled my eyes, but opened the door. And what I saw took my breath away.
His room had been transformed into a beautiful date night wonderland. The lights were low, with strings of fairy lights hanging from the ceiling, their light combining with tall white pillar candles scattered throughout to cast an ethereal golden glow. On the balcony, the table was set for two, candlesticks lit, and one red rose lying across the plate I assumed to be mine.
“Jude,” I breathed, taking a step inside. “It’s beautiful.”
At the center of the table were two silver domes alongside an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne.
He escorted me in, pulling out the seat at the table, kissing me on the cheek before he took his own seat across from me. A small Bluetooth speaker played Italian music. I had always loved his balcony for its view, which stretched across the Carlisle grounds, not another person in sight.
Well, as long as the gardeners weren’t working.
“I realized we haven’t been on a proper date,” he said, tugging at his collar. “And with the paparazzi not letting up, it didn’t feel like a good idea to go out to eat. So, I brought the restaurant to us.” With a flourish, he lifted one of the smaller domes, revealing a plate of seared tuna, delicately peppered, and a tureen of some sort of soup.
“This looks amazing.” My stomach growled so loudly even Jude heard, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything at all today. Jude served us both. My eyes rolled back at the taste of the creamy soup, the light sting of wasabi on the tuna.
“This is just the first course,” Jude said with a smile, watching me eat.
“You creep, eat your food too. Don’t just watch me,” I said, pointing my soup spoon at him.
He threw up his hands in mock surrender before he began to eat.
The main course was lobster tail and shrimp scampi, with a ramekin of thick butter sauce on the side to dip the lobster in. Jude poured us both glasses of champagne. I didn’t recognize the name, but could tell just from the label that it was expensive. The taste made it clear it was as well.
Jude lifted his glass to me, clearing his throat a bit self-consciously. “To you, Brooklyn. And to us.”
Such a tende
r display was rare for him, even after these past months together. My heart swelled as I touched my glass to his and drank.
“So I guess I’m not working today?” I said, after we had polished off the main course, not a stray piece of meat or dab of that butter sauce left behind.
“I wanted to talk to you about that.” He put down his fork and took my hand across the table. “Brooklyn, you can’t work here anymore.”
“What?”
“I can’t have my… girlfriend,” he stuttered over the word, “cleaning up after me. I just can’t.”
“Girlfriend?” I arched one eyebrow. “Is that what I am?”
He coughed. “Well, I mean. If you want, yeah. I thought-”
I glanced around us; at all the effort he’d put into the evening. “Is that what this is all about? You’re asking me to be your girlfriend? Making us official?” I had to tease him, he just looked so uncomfortable.
He shifted in his seat, and I stifled a laugh. “Yeah.”
I didn’t answer, too amused by how awkward this sexy, brooding bad boy was making this.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Brooklyn, will you be my girlfriend or not?” he snapped.
I smiled and rose from my seat, moving to his lap. With one hand on his cheek, I kissed him gently. “I’d love to be your girlfriend.”
“Made me work for it, didn’t you,” he grumbled.
I laughed. “The only things worth it are those worth working for,” I teased, kissing him once more. At the feel of his tongue, his rising desire beneath me, I pulled away. “But Jude, I need this job. It pays great, and I have to work.”
“Who says you have to work?” he murmured, leaning in to kiss me again.
“I do,” I said, growing impatient. “My landlord does, the utility companies do. The grocery store does.”
“I’ll pay your bills,” he said, still not opening his eyes, leaning in for another kiss.
VENGEFUL ROYALS | A DARK COLLEGE BULLY ROMANCE: HEIRS OF HAVOC Page 2
