by K. Webster
Guilt floods through me that I’ve just asked my future husband if I can still have a boyfriend. But Duvan and I were both groomed for this marriage. Both pushed into something that wasn’t our plan.
“Are you going to open your other present?” he questions with a grin that now makes me happy.
I reach into the bag and pull out a terribly wrapped package. When I open it and notice it’s a DVD, I flit my gaze to him in question. “A movie?”
But when I flip it over, I notice it’s not just any movie. It’s THE movie. THE movie I used to always watch with my dad. THE link to my childhood and my past.
“How did you know?” I wobble out.
The cover is a blur but I know it’s The Breakfast Club. I’ve watched this movie a thousand times with Daddy. He’s defended Judd Nelson’s character John Bender countless times stating bad boys are cool, but would go on to affirm that I would never be allowed to date one.
I look up at one of the baddest boys I know.
Amusement is no longer coloring his features, though. He looks worried and nervous and unsure. On Saturday I would be old enough to date, and I’m not only dating a bad boy, I’m marrying one.
What would Daddy think of that?
“It was a guess,” he says softly. “Did I guess right?”
I can’t find the words and simply nod. “H-How?”
The smirk is back. “Let’s just say on the many times you tried to avoid us when we came to visit, you’d blare that godawful song by Simple Minds.”
“Don’t You (Forget About Me),” I say with a laugh. “And it’s the best song ever.”
“It didn’t take rocket science to think maybe just maybe you’d be into it.” He shrugs. “Plus, by the way you would always tease Vienna about being a modern day Molly Ringwald, I put two and two together. I’m older than you, you know. I’m familiar with that era. Most chicks your age don’t know shit about the eighties.”
I laugh. “I’m an old soul then. It really is the best, you know.”
He holds his hand out to me. “Want to watch it together and then I can make a better deduction afterward?”
With a burst of happiness surging through me, I climb off the bed and hurry over to the television. Ten minutes later, we’re settled on the couch, and I’m reciting the movie word for word. Just like old times. Just like when I had a home, when I was happy. When I risk a glance at Duvan, he’s simply staring at me.
I give him a thankful smile and curl up into his side, basking in the momentary peace that he’s provided us.
And I wonder, is happiness finally a possibility for me?
“I cannot believe we have Hannah’s kid, a kid she had with Mom’s psycho rapist, living in our house,” Calder says in astonishment as he pushes the grocery cart down the diaper aisle.
“She has a name, asswipe.”
He shrugs as he looks at the list Mom gave us. “Toni. Yep, got it. Named after he-who-shall-not-be-named,” he deadpans.
I whap him upside the head and snag some Pull-Ups off the shelf. Mom said Toni should be potty-trained by now and was on a mission to be the one to teach her. Her grandchild hasn’t even been here for two days, and she’s already in possessive grandma mode. Hell, Dad hasn’t even been home yet to meet my niece and she’s already a part of our household. He wasn’t pleased that Gabe showed up but he’s looking forward to seeing Toni.
“How’s it going with your girlfriend anyway? You made her your girlfriend, right? Or are you still pussyfooting around?” he asks over his shoulder as he pushes the cart.
“She’s my girlfriend,” I tell him with a growl.
“So you fucked her.”
I kick him in his ass and he laughs.
“What? You wouldn’t be getting all shitty unless you fucked her. Does she know she’s fucking the brother of the crazy ass woman who killed her mom?” This time, he takes off running with the cart so I don’t hurt him again.
When I catch him, I snap, “She doesn’t know. Nor will she ever find out.”
He turns and raises his hands up in defense. “Dude, I’m not going to tell her.”
“Have you told Vee?”
A flash of anger morphs his otherwise chill face into a scowl. “I’m not talking to Vee.”
“Why not?”
“She’s not fucking interested. I’m not going to chase her around when she’s wet for another guy.”
An old lady passing by gasps at my brother’s crude language.
“Whatever, man,” I grunt.
“Do Mom and Dad know you’re fucking Gabe’s daughter? Wait, does that like make her your niece since he’s fucking our sister?” He stops to scratch his head as if he’s trying to figure it out.
“Calder, shut the fuck up,” I grumble. “Of course they don’t know and don’t be disgusting.”
He shrugs. “Me? I’m not the one mixing bodily fluids within the family tree, bro,” he chuckles, clearly amusing himself.
I stop the cart and glare at him.
“Maybe you ought to come clean, man.”
“I can’t.”
“Why the hell not? I like Brie. She’s cool as shit. Not at all the type to not forgive you over something lame.”
But it’s not lame.
Our entire relationship was forged from lies.
“I just can’t, okay? She’s dealing with some heavy shit right now. I have to find a way to help her.”
He turns down the cereal aisle and starts tossing in random boxes of cereal. Mom and Dad gave up on trying to make my brother eat healthy long ago. If he weren’t a runner, he’d be a chunky fuck. Luckily, he has good genes and he isn’t opposed to exercise.
“Where are you taking her tonight?” he asks.
“Dinner and a movie. I even booked a hotel room.”
He snorts. “A way to a woman’s heart is not through her pussy, dumbass.”
The same old lady is coming down the aisle and utters that we need Jesus.
“I just want to spend some time with her alone and then I’ll figure out a way to keep her,” I tell him in exasperation.
He levels a hard glare at me. “You can’t keep her. She’s not a stray dog, Ren.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and exhale in frustration. “You know what I mean.”
“You should probably just back out before it’s too late.”
“But they’re going to marry her off into a criminal family!”
Calder stops to check out some chocolate covered granola bars. “And you want to get in the middle of that?” He doesn’t even look at me. “Is she in danger?”
I think back to the texts we exchanged earlier. Her future fiancé was cool with our arrangement to see each other and had taken her in. Something had gone down between her and Heath, but she wouldn’t say what—just that it was ugly. She said the guy, Duvan, was being nice and keeping her safe. I was jealous, but her safety and happiness overshadowed the twinge of green in my mind.
“Nah, she’s with Duvan.”
“Who the hell is Duvan?” he asks and stands back up. My brother isn’t as solid as I am, but he’s slightly taller than me.
“Her fiancé.”
Calder starts laughing so hard, people pass by the cereal aisle just so they can glare at us.
“What?” I snap.
He doubles over and holds his belly while I fume. “You know this whole ordeal is super fucked up, right?”
“Whatever. Let’s get out of here. Can’t fucking take you anywhere. I’m taking my girl out while you get to help babysit an equally fucked-up situation.”
His grumbled response lets me know I got him.
“Oh,” I say as I toss some animal crackers from an end cap into the cart, “Speaking of bodily fluids, I hope Mom goes into labor while I’m out with Brie and that you have to witness every horrifying second all by yourself.”
When he gags behind me, I let out a snort of laughter, thankful that I didn’t get Dad’s sensitive gag reflex.
She’s
been way too quiet.
Contemplative.
Somber.
“Are you having regrets? About having sex with me?” I blurt out as we pull out of the restaurant.
“What? No,” she says and grabs hold of my hand. “I’m sorry if I’m all over the place. Just been a long couple of days. Where are we going?”
I glance over to her and give her a wicked smile. “I’m taking you to a hotel so I can give you your real birthday present.” When I waggle my eyebrows at her, she giggles. The sound is sweet music to my ears.
“And here I thought my necklace was my real present.” She fingers the silver chain. It’s simple but pretty. A silver crown and the letter B. I’d debated between a G and a B. When she opened it and thanked me, I was overjoyed to know I chose well. Apparently Heath calls her Gabriella and she’s grown to loathe her own name.
The drive to the hotel isn’t long and when we pull into the parking lot, she climbs over the center console to straddle me. My dick immediately responds to having her so close. When I took her virginity, it was fucking bliss. I’m dying to be inside her again.
“I’m almost free,” she murmurs as her mouth crashes against mine. Her fingertips skitter over my shirt and up my chest sending ripples of anticipation pulsating through me. When she starts grinding against me, I lose it and grab her ass hard.
What I don’t expect is for her to cry out in excruciating pain.
“What the hell, Brie? Are you hurt?”
She whimpers and shakes her head. “It’s nothing.”
“The hell it ain’t!”
With a huff, she yanks at the door handle and climbs out. I scramble out after her.
She rounds the front of the car and lets out a weary sigh. “Ren, it’s nothing.”
My jaw clenches and I shake my head as I approach. “Don’t lie to me.”
But you’re lying to her…
Guilt softens her features, and she tugs at her bottom lip with her teeth. “It was Heath. The night we had sex, afterward...he was waiting up for me. He knew I’d been with you—knew your name and everything. Vee has been upset with me. I think she must have told him.”
I tangle my fingers in her sexy-as-fuck short hair and crash my lips to hers. My kiss spills all the secrets I can’t verbally say. God, I hope she understands. When we both pull away and are winded from our needy kiss, I lean my forehead against hers.
“What did that motherfucker do to you?”
She swallows and lifts her chin, meeting my gaze firmly. “He whipped my ass with a belt.”
I don’t think I have ever been spanked in my entire life. Hannah got Mom’s hand a few times when she’d do something really bad in public but never Calder or I. Dad never once spanked us. My mind has trouble comprehending how a grown ass man would spank an almost eighteen-year-old woman. “He hit you?”
Her brows furrow with anger. She turns around and lifts her dress. Out here in the parking lot, anyone can see but neither of us seem to care. I kneel behind her and tug her panties down slightly over the bottom of her cheeks. What I see causes me to explode with rage.
“THAT MOTHERFUCKER!”
Dark purple marks paint her flesh like some fucked-up piece of artwork. In some places, the bruises are actually scabbed over. He hurt her. He fucking hurt her.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I seethe. I’m not angry at her. I just wish I could have fucked him up for doing this to her.
“There’s nothing you could have done. The damage was already there. It doesn’t matter,” she assures me. “After Saturday, Duvan will look after me. I can have his protection and still see you. It won’t be as easy with me leaving the country, but we can Skype, and I’ll be back to visit.”
I freeze at her words. “Wait? You’re leaving?”
She nods slightly, her eyes not meeting mine. “Camilo says that we have to—”
“What about what you want, Brie?” I clutch her short hair and pull her to my chest. She lets out a sob, squeezing me tight.
“It’s going to work out,” she assures me. “I promise.”
“They’re smuggling you out of the country, away from me!”
She frowns. “I’ll get to go to college.” A twinkle in her eyes tells me she’s excited about that notion.
“You can go to college here with me,” I plead.
“I have to do this, Ren. You can’t protect me like Duvan can. It’s still you whom I want though. I’ve made this crystal clear to him. He’s fine with it. Things will just be weird for a bit.”
I’m still scowling when she reaches between us and grabs my dick. It springs to life at her simple touch.
“I thought I was getting my real birthday present,” she says coyly. She’s changing the subject and it’s working. “Please.”
The hotel is nice. I’d used the express kiosk to check us in before whisking my feisty princess up to our room. Once inside, she wasted no time pulling her slinky black dress from her body and showing off her sexy black bra and panties. My dick, which remained painfully hard, nearly ripped through my jeans to get to her.
“I wanted to go slow and make this special,” I growl as I tear through the buttons on my shirt. “But you’re just too fucking fine. I need inside of you now.”
She laughs and pulls the rest of her clothing away. In the bright hotel light, I can see every perfect inch of her svelte body. Brie has curves in all the right places and yet still maintains a toned physique. Her tits are on the small side, but they’ll fit perfectly in my mouth.
“Come here,” I demand in a low tone as I get completely naked.
She bounces into my arms, her legs wrapping around my hips immediately. I walk her over to the door and lean her back against it.
“I want to fuck you against this door. Any objections?” I raise a challenging brow at her.
Her fingers thread into my hair and she wriggles in my arms. “My only objection is that you’re taking too long.”
I position my cock against her and drive into her in one quick thrust. She cries out my name, ripping at my hair. “More, beautiful?”
“I want it all,” she murmurs, her head tilted back in pleasure.
My mouth finds her neck, and I suck on her olive-colored flesh as I pound into her. I massage her clit while I fuck her knowing that if I want us to come together, it’s going to have to be soon on her part. The last time I was inside of her, I came way too fast. She feels that damn good.
“Ren!”
I pinch the sensitive bundle of nerves, and she comes hard around my cock. Her body quivers in my arms like she’s a live wire. With a groan of pleasure, I release my hot seed inside of her. When we both stop spasming and jolting, I press a kiss to her swollen lips.
“I’m going to do this to you all night,” I vow and tug at her bottom lip with my teeth.
“I suppose this is a pretty good birthday present after all,” she teases.
I thrust into her again, even though I’m softening, and she lets out a moan. “Don’t act like it isn’t the best one you got.”
Her eyes darken but then she blinks away the look.
A pounding on the door makes her shriek. I slip out of her and lower her to her feet.
“Who is it?”
“Hotel manager.”
“Go hide under the blankets,” I say with a laugh as I jerk my pants on up over my still wet dick. Once she’s hidden in the bed and I’m dressed, I open the door.
The older woman’s eyes go wide when she flits her gaze to my chest for several long seconds. “Uh…” She shakes her head away and lifts up a clipboard. “Mr. McPherson? I’m sorry, but our computers went down on the kiosks and we’re having to manually retype everything in the old-fashioned way. I’ve already input the information I could pull from my laptop but payment information reserved online isn’t saved anywhere. I’ll just need you to verify your address and I need to get the card number from you again. Then I’ll be out of your hair. My apologies for the interruption.”
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She rattles off my address and phone number while I locate my card from my wallet. Once she has me sign the form, she leaves. I return my card to its place and toss the wallet onto the dresser.
“Now, where were we,” I say with a growl, my dick already hard for her again. I’ve barely got my pants unbuttoned when my gaze meets hers.
Her eyebrows are pinched together and her mouth is parted.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” I demand and reach for her.
She pins me with a serious stare. “What did she call you?”
Fuck.
I clench my jaw and shake my head at her. “Brie…”
“What did she call you?” Her tone is calm. Too calm.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I let out a breath. “Warren McPherson.”
“Do you have a sister?” she demands, her voice raising a couple of octaves. “More importantly, what is her name?”
I close my eyes. The name is on my lips but I can’t say it. I can’t cut her anymore. When I reopen my eyes, I implore her to listen.
Understanding washes over her like a bucket of icy water. She hisses at me—fucking hisses like a cat—and scrambles away from me as if I might be diseased.
“Her name is Hannah,” she utters, horror evident in her voice. “Your sister’s name is Hannah.”
As soon as the name rolls past her perfect, plump lips, I know I’ve majorly fucked up.
“Brie, listen—”
“No,” she says, her voice wobbly, as she dresses in record speed. “You lied to me.”
Fuck!
Running my fingers through my hair, I shake my head. “My name is Warren ‘Ren’ Loveland McPherson. That wasn’t a lie.”
“IT WASN’T THE FULL TRUTH EITHER!” she screeches, and digs through her purse.
I start for her, but she fucking hisses again.
“STAY AWAY FROM ME!”
“Brie, just listen to me—”
“You knew. You knew it was me all along. Why, Ren? Why?” Fat tears roll down her cheeks and the betrayal in her eyes makes me sick to my stomach.
“Let me explain.”
