by Stella Rhys
“Play with yourself.”
Three words and he had me stroking my clit and gasping for breath. I had been on the verge a thousand times tonight but I knew now that I was seconds from exploding in pure ecstasy.
“I want to finish with your cock inside me, Liam.”
As soon as I said it, I heard his growl. It escaped his chest as he grabbed me, spinning me around, pinning me against the wall in mere seconds. He hoisted me up, wrapping my legs around his narrow hips. With one arm, he held me tight, his other hand reaching for his cock. His bicep flexed under his shirt, stretching his sleeve completely taut. I watched, still transfixed by it when I felt his thick, swollen tip push inside me. My jaw dropped.
“Liam – ”
With a grunt, he yanked me down to the base of his shaft.
“Oh God!” Half my moan was swallowed in a gasp. I dug my fingers into Liam’s hair, drawing handfuls that tightened with each brutal push inside me. He was in full control, his every movement urgent and aggressive.
“Look at me, Sasha,” he demanded. I did as I was told. Our faces barely an inch apart, I let his stare bore into me. His eyes glinted hungrily, our short, hot breaths mixing together in a storm as he pounded me without mercy. I knew he could feel me contracting around him because I caught a nanosecond of a vicious grin before he pressed his hot mouth over mine, prying my lips apart with his tongue. Fiercely, he kissed me, giving deep, lush strokes that made my skin ripple and my muscles tighten. Ready to explode, I tore my mouth away from his.
“Liam, I – ”
My mouth fell open, my orgasm interrupting my cry. Liam caught my jaw.
“Look at me when you come all over my cock.” His husky demand had me throbbing. The sounds that tore from my mouth echoed the walls as he held me tighter, ecstasy pulsing through my rigid body. Liam watched every second of my pure bliss. He soaked in my every tremor – in every twitch of my lip.
“You are fucking perfect, you know that?” he murmured as I came down slowly, panting hard. Soaked in satisfaction, I returned my weak gaze to my stepbrother. His dark hair was damp and tousled, his tanned skin flushed with all the more life and color as he continued his powerful stroke, yanking my hips down to meet his every thrust. I knew he was seconds from coming when I felt him grow inside me. It was my turn now – my turn to watch him as I gave him release. “Fuck, Sash,” Liam groaned as I held his face close. “Baby, I’m coming.”
“Come inside me, Liam,” I whispered hotly.
His forehead against mine, he did just that, growling with a ferocity that reverberated through my entire body. I gasped as I felt a second surge of pleasure. As if reading my mind, Liam threw his weight against my body, gritting his teeth through his own pleasure and pumping his hips into me again.
“Yes!” I breathed desperately, my fingers raking against him as I came again, my moans softer this time.
Liam groaned at the sound, finally relaxing against me. Our bodies were sweaty, sticky as he leaned into me. Our hearts pounding together, he kissed me softly. I kissed him back as I savored the feeling of our bodies still joined, his cock still thrumming inside me.
The words were on the edge of my tongue but only when he closed his eyes did I feel brave enough to say it. “I love you,” I murmured, barely above the sound of his shallow breaths. The few seconds of silence that passed felt like an eternity. But then a grin touched the smallest corner of Liam’s lips and through his exhaustion, he opened his eyes to gaze at me.
“I love you,” he whispered. “More than anything.”
Right there, I believed it.
Breathing steady, I reminded myself never to forget it.
Chapter Fifteen
I woke to my cell phone vibrating under my pillow. It buzzed against my head with ring after ring till I cursed under my breath and grabbed it, squinting groggily at the name, and then the time.
Pamela. 12:10PM.
Shit.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and answered the phone. “Hi, Mom.” There was a touch of silence. I heard my mother’s usual shuffling around the kitchen before her voice came in loudly, sounding confused.
“Sasha?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you answering?”
I sighed away from the phone. “Because you rang.”
“Don’t be smart with me, I didn’t call your phone. This is Liam’s phone.”
My eyes fluttered back open. Pulling the phone from my ear, I stared at the case-less iPhone that felt just like mine but apparently wasn’t. Then, with clearer eyes, I looked around the room to realize I was in Liam’s.
I’d never slept here before.
A quiet, little grin burst to my lips when I turned to see Liam asleep next to me, a half-naked Adonis with the white sheets rumpled just below the ultra-cut V of his hipbones. My gaze traveled slowly lower, tracing the outline of some rather impressive morning wood. Eyes drifting, I recalled last night. It wasn’t a dream. It was just perfect reality. I wanted so badly to revel in the memory but my mother’s voice was fading back into my ear.
“Sasha. Sasha. Sasha. Sasha Grace.”
“Mom. Sorry. I’m here.”
“Did you just wake up? What are you doing? Why are you picking up Liam’s phone?”
My eyes shut again as I considered the answers to those questions. Yes, I just woke up. What I’m currently doing is talking on the phone with you. I accidentally picked up Liam’s phone because I woke up next to him in bed. They were all answers I would never actually give her – the first two because my mother hated anything resembling sass and the last for, well, obvious reasons that were suddenly setting fire to my cheeks. Blinking up at the ceiling, I processed the fact that I was at this moment on the phone with my mother while sleeping naked in bed next to her husband’s son – who, of course, was pretty naked himself.
And hard as a rock.
“Can I call you back?”
“Who said I want you to call back? I wasn’t even calling you in the first place,” Mom said, annoyed. “Put Liam on the phone – can you do that please? Is he asleep? He usually wakes up at five. Is he sick? Why do you have his phone?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I can’t put Liam on the phone. Yes, he’s usually up and at the gym by this hour, but he had quite the workout last night. No, he’s not sick. He just worked every muscle on his body while fucking me against the wall outside his apartment. I have his phone because I just woke up next to him in his bed.
Yeah. Nothing I could actually say. Willing myself calm, I spoke over my mother, who was again droning my name on repeat so I’d give more timely answers. “He’s talking about something with A.J right now, Mom. Business stuff. I thought his phone was mine so I answered it. We both took off our cases so they look exactly – ”
“Alright, I don’t need every detail.”
God, help me. Sitting up, I stared ahead at the wall, suppressing irritation. “Is there anything I can answer for you, Mom.” I could barely manage an upward inflection to make my sentence sound like a question. As I expected, my mother heaved a sigh, as she generally did when she was forced to speak to me for longer than a minute.
“Thanksgiving is coming up,” she said.
“In a month. It’s not even Halloween yet, Mom.”
“We’re having everyone from my side come up here for dinner,” she ignored me, referring to her sprawling home in Hudson Valley with Liam’s father, Vic.
“Riley told me. I’ll be there.”
“I know. Everyone will be there. And I mean everyone. Your aunts, your cousins, their husbands and wives.”
She finished her sentence and didn’t go on. I paused, unsure of what my mother was trying to get at. “Okay,” I nodded, grasping at straws. “Did you want me to… cook something? I mean that’s a lot of people. I can make my stuffing. Or the sweet potato pie that Aunt Karen likes?”
“Do whatever you want. I’ve got enough food.”
I clenched my jaw. “Fine,
then should I let you get off the phone now? I can have Liam call you back when he’s awake.”
“Awake?” Oops. “I thought you said he was talking to – you know what, put him on the phone right now. Tell A.J it’s extremely important.”
“I can’t put him on the phone, Mom, and if it’s that important you can text him or tell me so I can relay the message once he’s free.”
“Fine,” my mother snapped. “Tell him to bring whomever it is he’s seeing right now. And to make sure she’s dressed right for the occasion. That’s all.”
I furrowed my brow. “That’s all?”
“Yes, Sasha. That is all.”
“That’s the emergency?”
“Oh, please. It’s not up to you to decide what I consider important. Everyone is bringing their husbands and wives. I want Liam to be included. Plain and simple.”
I paused, wondering if I dared to ask. Apparently, I did. “And what about me?”
“What about you?” She paused for effect. “From what I recall, you chose to end the only thing you had going for you.”
There it was. The dagger. There always was one when I spoke to my mother for more than a couple minutes. My heart sagged in my chest as I realized I hadn’t been imagining it. My mother had been ice cold to me since the whole Owen thing, but she’d gotten noticeably better while I was dating Ethan. She was nicer, asked questions about my life and a handful of times, laughed at my nervous jokes. But since breaking up with Ethan, she was back to her total distrust of me. It was as irrational as it was heartbreaking, but it was nothing I could ever change about her, and it made me want to scream.
“Sasha.” Her rigid voice was losing its patience. “Maybe you thought otherwise, but I’m not a fan of one-sided phone conversations. I’m going to hang up now.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat. Tears had sprung to my eyes but I stared dully through them as I steadied my voice for my mom. “Okay. I’ll give Liam your message.”
“Good.”
With that, she hung up, and I sat with my hands in my lap, my empty stare pointed at nothing. I felt so drained I kind of had to applaud my hands and teeth for having the energy to shake and chatter. Clearly, they had minds of their own because mine was numb. Barely six-thirty in the morning and I’d mentally shut down. It was my only option since the other was to revisit my worst memories – all the reasons why my mother, who’d surely once loved me, no longer wanted anything to do with me. If she weren’t so conscious of family judgment, I was sure she wouldn’t have even invited me to Thanksgiving.
“Sash.”
I flickered to life when I heard Liam say my name. His morning voice was low and scratchy and so goddamned sexy. The emerald green of his eyes was smiling out at me under his heavy lids and he looked so cute I had to grin and oblige as he reached for me, holding his arms out so I’d climb onto his broad chest. The second my skin touched the warmth of his body, I felt recalibrated. For the most part, at least.
“So. How are you this morning?” I could hear the smirk in Liam’s voice as he stroked through my hair and kissed the top of my head. Resting my chin between his pecs, I looked up at him and laughed.
“Pretty good. Probably because my muscles aren’t nearly as sore as yours are. Sorry about that, by the way.”
“I own a gym. I’m addicted to feeling sore. If pain is progress then pain is good.”
“Bit of a sicko, aren’t you?”
“Only in the gym.”
“Mm. Not at all at home, where you fuck your stepsister right in the hall for everyone to hear.”
“Sounds a lot dirtier when you phrase it like that.”
“Well, it’s exactly what happened.”
“Someone’s got an attitude today,” Liam laughed.
“Sorry. I just – ” I broke off, deciding to censor myself. “My mom called. On your phone. I accidentally answered it.”
“Ah.” Liam winced, running his hand over his face. “Thank you. And sorry. What did she say?” He hoisted himself up to lean back against the leather headboard, easily bringing me up with him. I gazed at my hands resting on his bare chest, my fingers dipping into the ridges of his muscle.
“She was calling to tell you that all the relatives are bringing their spouses and boyfriends and girlfriends. And that you should bring whomever you’re seeing and make sure she’s, um, dressed properly for the occasion.”
“I don’t foresee you wearing anything too crazy.”
“You know we’re not going as dates to our own family’s Thanksgiving.”
“I know. Should we bring decoys?”
“You certainly might want to start.” Liam was lukewarm toward my mother, but she adored him, so he got away with bringing the girls he did to dinner. Mom always liked that they were “pretty” and “physically fit” but that was just about it, since they were generally also loud and heavy drinkers with proud social opinions that she and Vic were likely to oppose. Still, Mom gave them all more of a chance than she’d ever consider giving me – no matter how many f-bombs they dropped or wine glasses they broke.
Liam snorted. “The whole point of bringing the girls I bring to dinner is so your mom will eventually stop asking me to bring girls to dinner.”
“I know. But she’s desperate for a grandkid and you’re her only hope since Riley’s child-free and I’m… whatever I am to her.”
Something in the air shifted as Liam tipped my chin up to face him. “What did she say?”
“Nothing,” I replied, though I knew there was no hiding from Liam. His jaw tightened.
“Sash, you need to tell her why you broke up with Ethan. He was a fucking abusive piece of shit.”
“I’ve told her things. She just says I’m being too sensitive or too picky. You know her.” I pursed my lips, wondering if I should say it. “You know she likes me best when I’m attached.”
A stone expression fell over Liam’s face. His muscles stiffened beneath me, his entire body rigid now. Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have brought it up.
“Sash, this is enough. We can’t keep sweeping it under the rug. It’s fucking bullshit.” His words were even as he spoke but I felt his heart beating faster by the second under the skin of my palms.
“Liam, I shouldn’t have brought it up. Let’s just change the – ”
“No. We’ve been changing the subject for years now and look what it’s done.” I straddled his shins as Liam sat up completely straight now, eyes blazing at me. “You don’t deserve to be treated this way. Day in and day out. It isn’t fucking right and you know it’s not. I know you do.”
“Yes.”
“Then what – are you really content to live like this, Sasha? With your mother resenting you forever for something that wasn’t your fault?”
“She was… nice to me the past few years,” I said lamely.
“Don’t defend her. She liked you because you were engaged to that worthless prick. She shouldn’t need to know you’re tied down to someone insane and controlling in order to like you. What she needs to do is face the fact that she’s been fucking wrong and delusional for ten years and she’s not ever going to do that if you don’t list every reason why.”
I stared blankly forward at Liam’s chest, listening to the chatter of my own teeth in my head. What he said was true. All true. But I wasn’t equipped to deal with any of it. I thought burying my demons was enough, or at least similar enough to facing them. But apparently not.
Swallowing, I tried to think of something to say to Liam, but my chest was clenching with the anxiety that hit every time I thought about this topic. “You’re right,” I conceded. Liam waited for me to go on but instead, I slipped quickly off his lap. “I should go make breakfast.”
I was out the door in seconds, but my legs were like jelly as I bee-lined through the living room, because I knew he was coming furiously after me.
“Sasha.” Liam’s voice was tight with anger. I could hear him hastily pulling sweats on as I grabbed my panties off th
e floor and yanked them on. I went for the kitchen, quick to grab the eggs out of the fridge and turn on the stove. “Stop it,” Liam growled. In a flash, he was behind me, turning off the fire and gathering my hands behind my back. “We’re going to talk about this now.”
I closed my eyes. “Please. I don’t want to.”
“You have to. We both do.” He spun me around to face him. “I want you to bury these skeletons, Sasha.”
“How?” I asked, my stare dead and calm despite the tears in my eyes. “You’re not going to change my mom. She’s not the type to be changed.”
“Then I won’t see her or my father again till she acknowledges what happened, and that it had nothing to do with you.”
“Don’t do this to me, Liam.”
“What?” He yanked me close when I pulled away. “What, Sasha? What am I doing?”
“Stirring up drama where there doesn’t need to be! Digging up all this dirt and filth that’s going to ruin everything again,” I argued, losing control of my voice. “It’s going to disturb basically ten years of peace for us, Liam, and you know that.”
“For fuck’s sake, this is what you call peace, Sasha? This isn’t peace. You survived what happened only to take on a whole new kind of abuse because you’re too afraid to tell your mom that she’s out of her fucking mind. Owen wasn’t the love of her life, he was a piece of human shit, and you weren’t some conniving homewrecker, you were a fifteen-year-old girl. Her daughter. Now I’ve kept my mouth shut with her all this time and I’ve played nice because you’ve asked me to but the truth is it takes every ounce of strength in my body to so much as look your mom in the fuckin’ eye when I see her,” Liam hissed. “I am this close to letting go of this act and humiliating her like she fucking deserves. I am so goddamned tempted to break down exactly what happened for her till she’s crying in the shame she’s deserved to feel for over a decade now. The only reason I don’t is because you love her for some absurd goddamned reason I can’t even – ”
