Cold and Broken (The Titans of Founder's Ridge Book 1)

by Nichole Greene

Something like approval flickers in her eyes.

  “What do you want to do?” She asks, suddenly stepping away from me.

  “Netflix?”

  “Sure.” She walks over to the side of the bed nervously.

  “This isn’t going to work.” I rub my jaw.

  “What?” She stops mid step.

  “Yeah,” I sigh sadly, “that’s my side of the bed.”

  “Oh,” she smiles wolfishly, “guess you might as well go then. This will never work.” She gestures back and forth between us.

  I flop down on the other side of the bed, happy that I was able to bring her out of her head. I could her nerves dancing behind her eyes. “I can compromise for you.” I’m propped on my side and she rolls to look at me.

  “I liked the quote you sent me this morning.” She smiles softly at me.

  “It wasn’t a quote. It’s just the truth.” I say. I told her this morning that for the first time in my life I don’t have to try for happy. When I’m with her it just happens naturally. She makes happy.

  She scoots closer to me, her eyes dipping to my lips. I meet her halfway and let her kiss me gently and sweetly. Her fingers skim over my jaw and she closes the distance between us. Her hand moves from my jaw and down my chest until her fingers find their way under my shirt. My abs jump under her gentle caresses.

  I grip her hip before running my hand down her thigh. I lift her leg over my hip and thrust my hard cock against her warm pussy. I bet she’s soaked through her panties already. I’m about to slide my finger under her shorts when her phone rings. I’m tempted to tell her to ignore it but hold myself back. She’s not mine yet, at least she hasn’t come to accept that she is.

  I look over my shoulder and see her swipe her finger along her screen and then pull open her nightstand drawer. She pulls out a circular case and pokes a pill through the foil.

  Fuck yes! She’s on birth control.

  “Birth control?” I ask even though it’s obvious.

  “Yeah, I’ve been on it since I was 14.” Her cheeks flame red. “Obviously not because I’m sexually active but for other reasons.”

  “It’s okay. Say no more. Claire is on birth control too for reasons unknown to me but I know she isn’t having sex either. At least she better not be.” I scowl, thinking about how I’m not close enough to protect her.

  Lilith runs her finger between my eyebrows. “Chill. She’s at an all girls boarding school. Unless she’s messing around with girls I’m sure she’s not seeing any action. Cute how fast you went into protective big brother mode though.”

  “I miss her.” It’s true. I really do. We never had the antagonistic sibling relationship so many of my peers have. “She’s only allowed to have her phone on weekends so we rarely get to talk anymore.”

  “She’s lucky to have you as a big brother.” Lilith presses her body against mine and all thoughts of my baby sister evaporate from my head.

  I kiss her and roll on top of her, loving the feel of her small body under mine. It feels so right that I can almost imagine holding her all night. I don’t recognize these urges, even when I fuck girls I don’t sleep with them. I don’t want to wake up beside anyone, have anyone curl themselves around me. But with Lilith it’s different. I can imagine it and I want it, bad.

  “Do you want me to stay here tonight? Just to sleep.” I clarify.

  She starts to open her mouth to say something but I interrupt her, seeing the wariness in her eyes. She still isn’t ready to let me in and it fucking stings. I can be patient though. “It’s okay, I get it. I’m not going to rush you into anything you aren’t comfortable with.” I kiss her forehead before I roll over and stand up. “At least let me tuck you in.”

  “Tuck me in?” She smirks. “The big, bad wolf is going to tuck me in?”

  “Yep,” I give her my cockiest smile, “since you won’t let me eat you out.” I pull the covers over her and tuck the sides in around her. When I look down at her face I see a look on it that’s hard to decipher.

  “No one’s ever tucked me in before,” she says in a small voice.

  “Really?” My brow furrows, even Victor used to tuck me in. “Your dad didn’t?”

  “Uh, no. His was of showing affection and taking care of me is to teach me how to kick ass. This sweet stuff isn’t our thing.” She gives a half smile, like she maybe wants it to be but also loves her dad and their relationship as is.

  “Full disclosure here, but sweet isn’t really my thing either. Cold. Aloof. Asshole. I can do. This,” I point back and forth between us, “is brand new territory.”

  “I think I like it,” she whispers.

  I lean down and give her a lingering kiss. “Me too,” I say as we break apart. “Sweet dreams, Lily.”

  * * *

  Ivy picked Lilith up for an early morning coffee date so I head over to Griff’s house to see how things actually went at school this week. According to Lilith everything was fine but she can be a bit oblivious and lets things go easily. Just another reason I’m ass over head crazy about her. Just about any other girl would have broken between the way I treated her and how she’s been treated at school. The sick part of me wonders how much more she can take. I’m not going to push her or hurt her ever again, but I do love watching her rise to the occasion time after time.

  I punch in the code to Griff’s estate gates. Gated estates within a gated community, I scoff at how pretentious we all are. I park my new baby in front of the main house so Mr. Potter can see it. He’s a car fanatic like I am so I now he’ll appreciate it. Their landscapers are already winterizing the back yard and getting the pool ready to drain. A few of them try to make eye contact with me but most know to scurry out of my way. I’ve always been a dick so when I curl my lip up a bit into a half smile they don’t know what the fuck to do. Probably start searching the skies for flying pigs or some shit.

  I walk into the pool house without knocking and go straight back to Griff’s room. He’s tying his tie while watching the morning show on his family’s news media network with a scowl on his face.

  “Sasha Irons is so fucking stupid that I lose brain cells watching her. We might as well be faux news now. She’s just there for middle age dudes to whack off to her legs and tits,” he grumbles slamming the remote down as he turns the tv off.

  “What? The season’s it nail polish color isn’t hard hitting enough for you?” I joke. “Who’s idea was it to lighten up the morning news show?”

  “Sara and the gang of marketing idiots.” He walks past me to the kitchen. “Coffee?”

  “Yeah.” I slide onto a stool at the counter.

  “How was New York?”

  “The usual. A glimpse into what my life is going to be. Forever.” I barely hold my shiver back. “I did convince Victor to sign the R and D team over to my leadership once I graduate college. I’m talking to MIT, Victor does not know about that.”

  “MIT would be better for you, especially if you want to dip into R and D.”

  “Yeah.” I take a sip of hot, black coffee. “How were things the past two days?”

  “She’s put up with a lot of verbal abuse from Margaux, Leighton, and Darcy. Mr. Jameson pushed some boundaries, too. Lilith was completely oblivious to it as usual.” Griff rolls his eyes at her naiveté. “Your girl can run though. She kept pace with me along your trails for almost an hour Tuesday.”

  “I wish she was my girl. Every time I am nice to her she gets this wary look on her face. She doesn’t trust me yet. It fucking sucks.” I brush invisible lint off my pants. “Maybe I just need to fuck her and then she’ll be out of my system.”

  Liar.

  There’s no getting her out of your system.

  Griff looks at me under raised brows, his face saying everything my internal voice just laughed about in my head. “Right. Saying things like that, no matter how untrue they are isn’t going to help her trust you.”

  “How do I do it? I’m used to a quick fuck and goodbye at the end of the nigh
t. I asked her if I could cuddle with her last night.” I scrub a hand over my face. “I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

  “Lev will cuddle with you.” He smirks at me. “He could hold you tight in his big, strong arms and make you forget all about Lilith.” He laughs and ducks when I chuck an apple at him.

  “Dickhead.”

  “Oh,” he grabs his phone, “before I forget. Did you know Lilith’s birthday is at the end of next week?”

  “Fuck. I had no idea.” That’s just like her, too, not to mention it.

  “I figured you wouldn’t know. Should we see if her dad is planning on doing something with her? Then we could make plans to surprise her.”

  “Yeah, I’ll text him. He’s intimidating as fuck, by the way.” I pull out my phone to send him a text. “Threatened to kill me if I hurt her. I believe him.”

  “He probably sees the way you look at her.”

  What?

  How do I look at her?

  “How’s that?”

  “Like you can see straight through her clothes to her soul. Like she’s the air you need to breathe. Like you want to steal her away from the world and do all sorts of depraved things to her body.”

  “Like sometimes like I want to crawl inside her mind and live there?”

  “Yep.”

  “Shitty poker face then, huh?”

  “For once, yes.”

  I sit there lost in thought for a minute, tapping my thumb on the edge of the marble counter. “We should go. I want to be in seminar before Jameson gets in.”

  18

  Lilith

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” I groan looking at the street of high end clothing stores. This is so out of my comfort zone.

  “Lil, we have to get you some more clothes. Fancier clothes.” Ivy looks me up and down, focusing on my ripped jeans and dingy chucks. “I’m not saying you need to be wearing Gucci and Chanel but those jeans are super unflattering and your chucks wouldn’t come clean in a bleach cycle.”

  “They probably won’t even let me in,” I grumble.

  “Then you can have your Pretty Woman moment and tell the bitches to fuck off,” she replies flippantly.

  “I don’t see Richard Gere anywhere.”

  “Lilith.” Ivy’s brown eyes bore into me. “It won’t even take that long.” She pulls me into a store with glass and chrome tables and fixtures. The clothes are mostly in whites, nudes, grays, and blacks. At least that much works for me.

  “Ivy, darling! How lovely to see you.” An older woman comes sweeping toward us. “How can I help you today?”

  “Hi Marie. I’m not actually here for myself today. This is my friend, Lilith. We need to pick out a few new things for her wardrobe.”

  “Hello.” I nod to the woman who’s started looking closely at my body. Surprisingly she isn’t looking at my clothes with judgment, just sizing me up.

  “Pleased to meet you, Lilith. That’s a beautiful name.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What are you two looking for?”

  “Lilith is turning 18 soon so we definitely need some party dress options. We’re also looking for some casual clothing for dates and weekends.” She winks at me when she mentions dates. “Size 6.”

  “Perfect! I’ll start pulling some things for the dressing room while you ladies look around.” Then she disappears into the back.

  “See! That wasn’t bad at all,” Ivy says encouragingly.

  I let her lead me over to a wall of tops and we pull a few things I like. I grab a few pairs of black jeans to try on. Ivy tosses a few dresses into the pile. When I get back to the fitting room I see a beautiful short dress covered in white iridescent sequins hanging on a hook waiting for me. I know that is what I’ll be trying on first. I undress and then pull the dress on.

  The fabric skims over my curves perfectly with thin spaghetti straps that meet in a cross over my back. I open the door to walk to the three way mirror and Ivy whistles.

  “Damn, Lil! You look amazing.” She lifts my arms. “Look at your side boob. Connor will die!”

  “I’m not dressing for him,” I scowl.

  “Well, apparently you’re turning into him. Look at that scowl.” She makes an exaggerated angry face. “What is the deal with you two? All week his hands are always on you and I have to say, you don’t seem too upset about it.” She raises a knowing eyebrow.

  “We are,” I pause to think about how to answer this carefully, “getting to know each other. We have spent every night this week together except when he was down in New York for business. We do schoolwork together, we work out together, we eat together when our dads are gone.”

  “I see.” Her eyes narrow as she follows me back to my fitting room. “Do you hook up?”

  “We don’t have sex.”

  “But you do other things?” She wiggles her eyebrows.

  “Perhaps.” I grin.

  “I knew it!” She pumps her fist in the air. “Levi owes me a grand.”

  I pop my head out of the room, flabbergasted. “You’ve been betting on my sex life?”

  “Yeah. I only took the bet because Connor has been so much less broody than usual lately. It’s weird and has to be because he’s getting regular action.”

  “What’s up with you and Levi since we’re on the subject of sex?” I ask through the door as I pull on a black sweater and gray jeans.

  “Nothing. Ewww, Lil. He’s my stepbrother.”

  “Stepbrother, it isn’t too far outside the lines of possibility.”

  “It is for me. He fucks new girls every week. I’m not interested in being the pussy du jour warming his bed,” she says heatedly.

  “Okay.” I drop it for now.

  I end up taking the white sequin dress, several sweaters, and a couple pairs of jeans. Ivy insists on dragging me into a shoe store and I end up with two pairs of boots and a pair of high heels that go with the dress. Then she drags me into some kind of fancy lingerie shop where I have a proper fitting and realize my cup size is actually bigger than I thought. I end up with a new bra and a few new pairs of lacy panties that were honestly way too expensive.

  “Where to now?” I set all my bags in the trunk of Ivy’s car.

  “Coffee and lunch? The coffee shop up the street makes great paninis.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  We order our drinks and sandwiches at the counter and I see their pumpkin spice lattes advertised. I can’t help but think of my conversation with Connor earlier in the week about how he likes PSLs. Ivy catches me smiling to myself.

  “What’s that look about?” She asks with a bemused expression on her face.

  “Okay, so Connor and I have been doing this whole get to know each other thing this week. Sometimes the questions we ask are deep and other times they are ridiculous. One thing I found out about Connor is that he likes PSLs. I called him a basic bitch and we had a whole funny conversation about it.”

  “He’s also sending me quotes every day about trust, relationships, or love. They’re either funny or touching.” I sigh. “It’s making it harder to keep him at a distance. All the sweet things he does when it’s just us. Then he’s such a domineering dickhead in front of everyone else. Sometimes the things he says or does at school just remind me completely of how he treated me when I first moved here.”

  “That’s the thing about the Titans, they can be cruel as fuck or charm your panties off. I wish I could offer you advice on whether or not to trust Connor now but I can’t. He’s a wild card and you never really know his motivations. I want him to be into you for real, and I do think he’s crazy attracted to you. I am shipping you guys hardcore but I want you to be smart. Keep making him earn that trust.” She takes a giant bite of her panini.

  “Yeah. Luckily for me every time I start to fall for his charms he does or says something that reminds me of what a dick he can be.” A scream rips from my mouth as burning hot liquid runs down my back.

  “What the fuc
k, Margaux!” Ivy screams racing over to me. I wince in pain as she pulls my drenched shirt away from my back. “Oh fuck, Lil we need to get to the hospital. Stay calm, I’m going to pull your shirt off okay?” I nod as tears stream down my face. “Jesus, fuck.” Ivy turns on Margaux after she takes my shirt off. “You better fucking run far, Margaux. That was deliberate.”

  My mind starts getting fuzzy and I can’t answer the questions from the manager who’s run over with a cool cloth. I’m barely aware of anything other than the pain as Ivy gets me up and we start the walk to her car which somehow is now parked right by the door. I don’t sit back in the seat, instead resting my face on the dashboard. The pain has ebbed down but I still can’t talk through it.

  “I’m taking you to the emergency room.” Ivy holds my hand. “Call Levi.” She directs her car’s bluetooth system.

  “Hey runt, what’s up?” Levi’s voice comes over the speakers.

  “Call Connor and tell him to get ahold of Lilith’s dad. I’m taking her to the emergency room right now.”

  “What? Hold on,” he mumbles something to someone in the back ground, “okay, you’re on speaker and I’m with the guys. What happened?”

  “Fucking Margaux dumped an entire cup of hot tea down Lilith’s back. It’s bad. I took her shirt off and the manager put cool, wet cloths over the burns but they were already blistering.” Ivy looks over at me with watery eyes. “She’s not okay guys.”

  “We’re on our way to you. Con’s already on the phone with her dad.” Levi says. “Hang in there, hood rat. We’ll be there for you soon.”

  * * *

  I’m laying facedown on a hospital bed when I hear three sets of feet stomping down the hall. A nurse tries to tell them they’re not allowed in my room and then I hear Levi’s voice as he starts flirting. Connor and Griff come into view. My back is covered in an antiseptic cream and some sort of sterile covering so I’m laying topless. I can’t bring myself to care enough to try to cover up though.

  “Hey,” Griff says softly. “How are you?”

  “They gave me some pain meds through my IV so I’m pretty good.” I mumble against the scratchy sheets.