by C. M. Owens
Drex talks about meeting at the club next week, while I try to figure things out. Is he sending everyone away?
Finally, he tugs me toward his bike, and I follow without protest. The second I’m behind him with my helmet on, my legs firmly clamped against him, and my arms around his tight middle, the beast beneath us roars to life.
Chapter 23
EVE
When he said we were going home, I of course assumed he meant the warehouse. Instead, we’re at Drex’s house. For the first time. And it’s nothing like I was expecting.
It’s not a huge house, but it’s bigger than I thought it’d be. Much bigger. And there’s a damn pool. Which in Texas, that’s not too surprising, but often times the droughts restrict water supplies, so I’ve never figured out how that works.
We’re isolated here. In fact, I only noticed a few houses within a few miles during the drive here. It’s nowhere near the warehouse. It actually took us close to an hour to get here. I don’t even know where here is exactly.
The inside is all modern, sleek, industrial, and pristine. I mean, you can’t tell a bachelor lives here, because it’s that spotless.
A massive TV is mounted on one wall, with an array of neatly assorted gaming systems. Several pieces of black leather furniture decorate the living space.
The kitchen is a gourmet kitchen. I don’t picture Drex as the cooking type, but he’s in there right now, cooking something for my growling guts. And it smells so damn good.
He’s also distracted. He’s spent most of the time we’ve been here on his phone after the brief tour. There are two bedrooms, but he said I’d be in his. Which means I’ll be able to sleep. Sadly, I don’t feel safe without him. Yet he seems to think I’m a tough girl.
His presence gives me false bravado, because somehow, I know he’s got my back.
He did something weird with some machine the second we got here. He flicked it on, but it never made a noise or did anything. But he said he didn’t want to take chances of bugs in the house. Apparently it has something that jams those sorts of devices.
I feel like I’m living in an entirely different world.
Drex walks into the living room with a frown on his face.
“You need to call your mom and let her know you’re good. She’s been at the police station looking for you.”
My stomach sinks and my heart plummets. Shit.
“Okay,” I say hoarsely, pulling out the phone he gave me a while back. I’ve never even used it before.
I chance a glance at him to see he’s studying me.
“Why don’t you want to talk to her? You know by now I don’t want to hurt her? Why would I?”
There’s a hint of an accusatory tone in there, as to say, “What are you hiding?” He doesn’t understand.
Instead of answering the unspoken question, I take a deep breath and steel myself for the call.
She answers on the second ring with a confused, “Hello?”
“Hey, Mom. It’s me. Sorry, I had to get a new number because—”
“Damn it! I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Eve!” she shrieks, emotion choking her words. “Do you have any idea how terrified I’ve been? Where the hell are you?”
I have to pull the phone back because of her volume, and I wince as Drex arches an eyebrow. I don’t know if he’s amused, confused, or just intrigued.
Mom is so loud, that I decide to go ahead and put it on speaker. Drex is going to ask what all she said as soon as I’m done anyway. Or one of his guys is listening to the call as I speak. It’s not like I have privacy.
“I’m with a friend. I told you I was leaving town for a while. I’ve been—”
“Get home. Now! You have a family. Your two brothers are worried to death about you. Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through? How selfish can you possibly be, Eve?”
Drex’s jaw tenses, and my lip trembles. Somehow, I manage to keep the sting of her words from affecting my voice.
“I can’t come home right now. I love you, and tell the twins I love them. But I got a job. I can’t just come back. I’m trying to make some money.”
She curses, which is highly unusual for her. “Eve, I have plenty of money. Apparently your father had a friend hold back money for him. He found me the day you took off, and I paid the bills. I guess your father wasn’t the asshole I thought he was after all. There was enough left over that I was able to quit one of my jobs. But I still need you to help with the twins.”
My father becomes the hero and I become the villain in this moment. I feel it. Benny told her dad had left her money. While I’m really the one paying the debt.
“I can’t come home, Mom. I told you. I have a job—”
“I can’t believe you’re being this way. I have a job, too, Eve. The twins need both of us. I can’t do this on my own. Find a place to work around here. Stop thinking about yourself and remember we’re a team.”
A tear creeps out, and Drex comes over. He stops short, running a hand through the longer strands of hair on top of his head. Then he turns around and stalks back to the kitchen.
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
I sound like a broken record.
“Unbelievable. Fine. Do whatever. I never thought I’d see the day where you stopped caring about your family and only worried about yourself. Here I was thinking your father was the selfish one.”
I saw that coming, yet even knowing she was going to go there doesn’t stop the punch to the gut I feel. She has no idea what I’ve done for my family.
I just hang up. There’s nothing left to say. And she doesn’t call back to try and talk me into coming home or apologize for assuming the worst in me.
Drex comes back out of the kitchen with two plates in his hand, but my appetite has vanished. He sits down beside me, putting the food on the coffee table in front of us, while I quietly digest my mother’s disgust.
He watches me as I pick at the food, nibbling small bites.
“I take it she had a low opinion of your father?” he asks, treating it as though it’s casual conversation.
“Not anymore.” I give him a forced smile, and he grunts while taking another bite of food.
“What’d your dad do?” he asks, still sounding casual, as if this isn’t a touchy subject.
Lying isn’t an option. Not that I want to lie. Not answering him is also not an option.
“He killed himself,” I mumble.
Drex doesn’t act surprised, meaning he already knew about this.
“And that’s why she hates him?” He pauses a beat. “Or why she did hate him, rather,” he amends.
I nod, hoping he doesn’t want me to elaborate.
“How close were you to him?”
A bitter laugh escapes me before I can stop it, but it dies in my throat when tears threaten to emerge.
“I was daddy’s girl when I was younger. But the older I got, the less he wanted me around. He grew distant… from all of us. Especially the last few years. He was barely home.”
He puts his fork down, and he studies his plate for a long minute, as though he’s trying to find a way to ask a difficult question.
“Did you know he worked for us at one time?”
My entire body tenses, then suddenly, without warning, a burst of laughter comes out of me. It’s hysterical, crazy laughter that is taking the place of the tears that I don’t want to fall.
Drex cocks an eyebrow at me as I completely lose my dignity, unable to stop laughing. Finally, I see the seriousness in his expression, and my laughter halts abruptly, almost painfully.
“You can’t be serious.” I shake my head, actually feeling a lot better now that I’ve had my weird, cathartic release. “My father was a straight-laced, stick-up-his-ass accountant. He wasn’t a biker. He drove a Fiat.” He just stares, so I repeat the last part for emphasis. “A Fiat.”
He snorts derisively, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. “Never said he was a biker. And he did indeed drive th
at small little car everywhere. But he was our accountant for a while.”
My skin prickles as a weird chill settles in my bones. My brow furrows in confusion, and I desperately try to grab ahold of any memory that might give me an answer as to if Drex is lying or not.
But why would he lie?
“No,” I say softly, shaking my head absently while still mulling over dusty memories.
“Any idea how he kept his family a secret? That one is baffling me. We checked him out thoroughly before taking him on, and he lived in a one-bedroom apartment downtown. No family. No history of family in his file. Nothing.”
The memory of my dad and mother separating briefly after the accident that took my sister’s life floods back to me. Even after he came back home, he often stayed somewhere else, growing more distant.
My dad was a tech genius, so faking a background check would be child’s play if he wanted to keep us hidden. But… No. Not possible. Can’t be true.
“It’s true,” Drex says, worrying me that I said that aloud. “He cooked our books and handled the shady shit I won’t explain, so he wasn’t as straight-laced as you thought.”
My veins run cold, and a new brand of betrayal singes me. How could we not have known?
“My dad… was he bullied into working for you?”
He gives me a look that borders on insulted, but it fades quickly. “No. We don’t force people to work for us. That just invites trouble. Someone in a situation like that would turn to the feds the first chance they got. Your dad came to us. But I had no clue Benny knew him.”
I sit back to gather my thoughts, but I give up on processing my feelings.
“Benny has known me for most of my life. Well, he knew me at a glance. I never really talked to him. I rarely saw him, but the few occasions I did, he never let on like he knew my dad outside of my relationship with Ben.”
Drex picks at a piece of his food as his eyes drop.
“What kind of relationship was that?” The hard edge to his tone is subtle, but I still notice it.
Is he jealous right now?
When his jaw tics, proving he’s growing impatient with my hesitation to answer, I bite back a grin. He’s freaking jealous. Of Ben.
Ben would die to have this ego stroke right now.
“It was… a good one?” I say, but it sounds like a question. When his knuckles turn white from the grip he has on his fork, I decide to put him out of his misery.
“Ben was my best friend. At one time, I thought I loved him. And I did. Just not the way I thought I did. Or wanted to. We were more curious than anything when… well, when we were together. We lasted for two years before we decided we were better as friends than a couple. That was almost a year ago.”
He looks up at me, still seeming pissed. I can’t help but poke the bear a bit.
“I can’t believe you’re jealous right now.”
Surprise flickers across his face for a fleeting second, but then it’s replaced with that cocky look he wears so well. He loses interest in strangling the fork, letting it clank to the plate, then grabs my legs and jerks me, forcing me to fall on my back as he shifts to be in between my thighs.
He stays sitting up, slowly running his hands down my bare legs, teasing the edges of my shorts with his fingers.
“Jealous?” he asks, but I’m too busy panting for air to answer him.
How he makes the world vanish and distract me from all my problems, I don’t know.
He smirks as he pulls my hand up to his lips, and I’m fairly sure I moan in response when he sucks a finger into his mouth. I know that no intelligible sound emerges when his other hand starts messing with my button.
“I’m not jealous of Ben,” he says seriously, shifting so that his body is more aligned with mine.
In one swift move, he’s lifting me onto his lap, grabbing a handful of jean-clad ass roughly, forcing me tight against him.
“Okay,” I say breathlessly.
He grins while standing, keeping me straddling his waist, but then he lowers my feet to the ground with an abruptness that immediately has me feeling bereft. I start to ask him why he’s stopping, but he turns me around, pushing me toward the window of the living room until I’m forced to put my hands up reflexively to stop myself from crashing into it.
My hands hit the warm glass, just as Drex’s hot breath finds my neck. I suck in a painful shot of air just as he pushes my shorts down. They drop to my ankles, and I step out of them, even though he keeps my movements restricted with his hold.
My shirt is torn off me, and my bra is tossed aside. He does all this with one hand as though it’s the easiest task in the world. I stare out at the backyard, looking over the pool, trying to catch my breath, just as he grabs the lacy underwear and jerks them down to my thighs.
A whimper escapes me, and I feel him grin as his teeth graze a spot of flesh between my neck and shoulder.
“Could Ben have you whimpering before he even really touched you?” His voice is challenging, as if daring me to tell him a lie.
But I don’t lie.
“No,” I whisper.
His hands run up my sides, moving up until he’s cupping my breasts, and he takes my nipples, squeezing them both. My knees try to buckle, but he drops one hand to my waist, anchoring me to the spot.
“Could Ben cause your knees to give out?” His husky whisper is barely heard over my own loud breaths.
The more he talks, the wetter I get, and he notices, especially when his hand curves around and cups me. My back arches reflexively as I try to grind against him, needing that friction.
“Did it feel like this when Ben touched you?” he asks, smirking against my neck as he pushes one thick digit inside me. But it’s not enough, and he knows it.
“Drex,” I whisper, making it sound like a plea.
“What, baby?” I ignore the fact that he sounds amused while he fucks me with his finger.
“Please,” I whisper again.
His hands move away from me, and I immediately feel the loss. But I don’t turn around because I hear the rustle of clothes being pulled off, telling me he’s about to fulfill my plea.
Hot skin finds my back, and I shiver despite his warm touch. His hands move to my hips, tugging me back, and my head falls to the side when he speaks against my ear.
“Did Ben ever make you beg for it?”
My breath catches in my throat as his finger skates over my clit, leaving it throbbing even more and desperate for touch.
“No,” I finally manage to squeak out, and he shifts behind me, adjusting his height so that he has the right angle.
He pushes my panties down a little more, restricting how far I can open my legs.
It’s erotic torture, because I want to spread them so much wider.
He bends me, pushing me down to an almost ninety-degree angle, but I keep my hands against the glass to brace myself.
The tip of his cock grazes my entrance, as he echoes, “No.” He pushes in hard, surprising me, but holds me to keep me from slamming into the glass, as he buries himself deep inside me. “The answer is no, because he never fucking owned you the way I do.”
He starts moving, setting almost a punishing rhythm, and my hands cling to the surface of the glass the best they can. One of his hands stays on my waist, keeping me anchored to him as he slaps into me from behind. His other hand curls around my hair, using it to tug my head back and force me to look at him through the reflection in the glass as he fucks me raw.
It’s primal, it’s hot, and it’s dirty. There’s no finesse. No romance. But it’s so damn good.
His intense blue eyes hold my gaze, daring me to look away. But I don’t. There’s something exciting about the stare down, something different. Even though his motions are brutal, his eyes aren’t.
The lace of my panties bites into the flesh of my thighs, reminding me I can’t spread my legs any farther. It locks me like this, keeping me right where Drex wants me, and I’m happy to relinquish that s
mall bit of power.
Something silent passes between us, though I’m not sure what. But his expression changes, and his rhythm slows just barely. My breaths come out quicker when he rubs that spot deep inside me, a spot Ben sure as hell never activated.
It’s almost painful because it feels so damn good. Drex’s hips continue to drive into me, and the pressure continues to build in response.
Erotic pain shoots from my toes to my thighs, before I suddenly explode. That’s what it feels like: an explosion.
My eyes are forced shut as painful pleasure wracks my body, stealing my breath, destroying my ability to stand, and rocking me to the core. My head spins as I barely manage to stay conscious, and my stomach contracts just as the walls inside me quiver, feeling way too sensitive, just like the rest of my flesh.
It’s the most viciously incredible orgasm I’ve ever felt, and it seems to set Drex off too, because his guttural groan resonates in my ears. I’m almost incoherent, unable to sense time around me as he picks me up, carrying me back to the couch.
He chuckles low in his throat as I struggle to open my eyes. Holy fucking shit. What did he do to me?
He drops to the couch, bringing me down on top of him, and I pant for air, sounding like a damn dog right now as he strokes my back. His motions are tender, exactly the opposite from the window/wall sex we just had.
I think he kisses my forehead, but I’m too overwhelmed by sensation to be sure.
“That was… um… yeah,” I mumble, giving up on finding words.
He laughs lightly before his fingers start strumming through my hair. I’m not sure how long we lie this way, but it has to be at least a couple of hours, because the sun is slowly starting to fade from sight. We’re both going to need showers now, but it’s worth it.
I could stay like this all night, but I know he probably has more in mind.
“Can I ask you some questions?”
He doesn’t respond immediately, but he doesn’t tense either. Finally, he says, “Sure.”
“What happened to your mother?”
I don’t know if she ran off or if she’s dead, because he’s never spoken about her.
