Happenstance Cover coming soon (The Order of Ravens and Wolves Book 3)

by T. L Hodel

  We stood there for what felt like forever, in the luxury of Parker’s house. I’d never felt more out of place with him staring down at me, while I attempted to ignore the intense sparks wisping through the air. The steady rise and fall of his chest rang out. Deep, echoing breaths, that enhanced the blood pulsing in my ears. My fingers twitched, palm aching to reach out and feel the power behind his firm muscles once more. Thankfully, my voice came back before that happened.

  “I agreed to your easy way,” I pointed out, though right now, it seemed more like a quicker way to damn myself than a temporary solution. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “No.”

  I was barely hanging on, and didn’t have anything left to give. “What more do you want from me, Parker?”

  “I want it all, Angel.” He caressed me with his eyes, slowly dipping his gaze down. Over the swell of my breasts, along the curves of my hip, and back up. “In my bed, sleeping in my arms, bouncing off my cock.”

  Without laying so much as a finger on me, Parker made my entire body shiver. One look, and every fiber of my being wanted to purr and stretch against him, like a cat in heat. When his arm lifted and he splayed his palm across my belly, I jumped. I don’t know if it was instinct, fear, or something else, but whatever it was held power over me. Parker Whitley was a fantasy I never should’ve indulged in. The kryptonite to my Superman, and sooner or later, he’d weaken me.

  He was the perfect flower in a clutch of daisies.

  “Have you felt it move yet?” Parker’s gaze dropped down to my stomach, and the hand he had laid across it.

  All I could do was shake my head in response. The way he was staring at me, with this revered adoration, had me completely stunned. Parker didn’t just want this baby, he already loved it. I was too afraid of who had put this child in me, that I couldn’t even bring myself to touch my stomach, and he was ready to give everything he had for it. What kind of person did that make me?

  I swallowed and guiltily whispered, “I almost got rid of it.”

  The appointment was made. I was at the clinic, sitting on the exam table, dressed in one of their gowns, and I left. I still don’t know what made me walk out. Maybe it was the hurt and anger I expected to see when Parker’s gaze snapped up to mine. But that’s not what I got. All I saw when I looked into his eyes, was compassion.

  “It’s okay, baby, you were probably scared.” He tipped his head and grazed the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “But you don’t have to be scared anymore. You’re mine now. I got you.”

  “I’m not yours,” I snarled, shoving him back.

  Admittedly my reaction might’ve been a little overkill, but I didn’t like what he was saying, or how it made me feel. All tingly and terrified at the same time.

  Within a second, the energy in the room shifted. Parker flattened his hard body against mine, and glared down at me with darkness in his eyes.

  “Lie to yourself all you want, Angel, but you’re mine.”

  This time, when my body twitched, it wasn’t because of some tempting desire. It was because of the coldness of his stare. A dark, violent glint, just like Preston.

  “You remember what that feels like, to be mine, don’t you, Angel?” his voice grated his chosen pet name, making it sound anything but divine. And then, just like that, it was gone, and something else filled his eyes. “The way your tight little pussy stretched around my cock, and how hard you screamed my name into that pillow.”

  I clenched my thighs together. How could I forget? That night was all I thought about for weeks. It was the comfort I used when my crazy mind thought something horrible had happened.

  “Because I do,” he growled, sliding his tongue up my neck. “I jerk myself to your hot little cunt every night.”

  Oh my god.

  In an effort to regain control, I said, “I’m not sleeping with you, Parker.”

  “Sorry, baby,” he chuckled and backed off a bit. “That’s part of the deal. I get to fuck you whenever I want. Like I said, you’re mine.”

  My hands tightly balled at my sides. So that’s what he wanted. A whore. Parker made me feel cheap and used once before. Never again. He took a memory I should’ve cherished for the rest of my life, and ruined it by throwing money at me the next morning.

  “Are you going to pay me this time, too?”

  Bastard had the gall to roll his eyes.

  “I should’ve fucking known you’d bring that shit up.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Should I give you my rates beforehand?” I lifted up on my tip toes and got right in his face, “Or do you just want to pay me based on my performance again?”

  “I know you don’t believe me, but I did that for your benefit.”

  “Let me guess, you thought I could use some new shoes?” I’d get some shoes alright. Stilettos I could stab him with.

  He blew out a puff of frustrated air. “Jesus Christ, Lana. I was trying to protect you.”

  I stopped and eyed him. Protect me? Well, I’d give him points for originality. That was not the excuse I was expecting.

  “You’re right,” I said, “I don’t believe you.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You’re mine now. You always were.”

  Sure I was. “Uh huh?”

  “I mean it, Lana. You’re mine to protect, mine to take care of.” His fingers speared in my hair and he yanked my head back, forcing me to meet his gaze, “And mine to fuck.”

  I almost laughed. Seriously? He wanted to go there right now?

  “No.”

  “No?” Parker’s brow arched. “You sure about that, Angel?”

  Parker Whitley wasn’t god. “Absolutely.”

  “Alright,” he shrugged, “Guess we better get up to the meeting then.”

  The pit in my stomach churned as I watched him walk towards the stairs. Preston was up there. I knew it. I could feel him judging me, waiting for me to fuck us, so he could carry through with his threat.

  “Wait,” I called out, stopping Parker.

  He looked over his shoulder and cocked a brow my way. Micha’s words replayed in the back of my head. ‘You really want to give up that life line?’

  “Fine,” I grumbled, crossing my arms. “I agree.”

  “Come again?”

  “You heard me.” Asshole.

  “Be very clear, Lana,” Parker’s voice carried through the air, each word growing in intensity as he stalked slowly across the room. “What exactly are you agreeing to?”

  I looked for somewhere else to go. A place where I could avoid his closeness, because I needed to keep my wits about me. I eyed one of the chairs in the corner. There was a small space behind it, and a chair was a good barrier. Might be a possible means of escape?

  “I don’t hear an answer, Angel.”

  My glare snapped back to Parker as I snarled, “I agree to your terms.”

  The smirk on his face made me seriously rethink the chair. Parker wasn’t a small guy, dick. He could easily move a couch, let alone a chair. I’d probably just end trapping myself in a tighter more confined space.

  “You agree to sleeping in my bed?”

  I huffed out a sigh. “Yes.”

  “Laying in my arms?” He tipped his head, causing a lock of his sandy hair to flop over his forehead.

  “Yes,” I hissed in response.

  Why couldn’t I have gotten knocked up by someone like Brandon? He didn’t have that stupid, sexy smoulder.

  He stopped in front of me and reached out to scoop a lock of my hair in his fingers. I stood motionless as he leaned forward and inhaled deeply. The groan he released after had me squeezing my thighs together.

  “Bouncing on my cock?”

  I didn’t trust my body to say what I wanted it to, which was mainly where he could shove said appendage. So, instead, I just bit my lip and nodded.

  My knees trembled as I stood there waiting with bated breath for him to say something. I agreed to his stupid stipulations, that should be the end of it, right?


  Wrong.

  Parker dropped his hand, letting my hair slip out of his fingers. “Why should I believe you?”

  “What choice do you have?” I challenged back.

  That was a mistake.

  “Oh Angel,” he snickered and stepped in, forcing me back against the bar, “In this situation, I have all the choices. For instance, I could walk up those stairs and start custody proceedings right now…”

  I tried to shy away from his breath warming my skin, but there was nowhere to go. “Or?”

  “Or, you could give me a reason to believe you.”

  “What?”

  Seriously, ‘give me a reason to believe you?’ What kind of crap was that? How do you make someone believe you? It’s not like they have a cream for that. How cool would that be though? Excuse me sir, just let me pull out my instant trust cream. That definitely would’ve come in handy a couple times with Nan. I’d package it in pinky sparkly containers so no guys would dare use it. Well, except for Logan. I don’t think the sparkles would detour him any. Not that that prick needed miracle trust cream. He already had a miracle trust smile.

  Parker’s voice pulled me out of my daydream. “So, what’s it going to be, Angel?”

  “Huh?”

  “Are you going to give me a reason to believe you?”

  Oh, right, that.

  There had to be a way to make him believe me. I just had to figure out what it was. Preston was the obvious choice. Telling Parker about his brother’s visit would probably do it, but something told me Preston wouldn’t be too happy if I said anything. And I’d take an unsure Parker, over a pissed off Preston any day.

  “What do you want me to do, Parker?” I blew out a frustrated sigh and slapped my hands down on my thighs. “It’s not like I have miracle trust cream.”

  Brought to you by Crawford Corp.

  “Oh, for fuck sakes,” he grumbled, “Were you always this naive?”

  “Well, excuse me, Mr. High and Mighty.” I didn’t ask to be here, that was all him. And now he wanted to play games. Screw him. “Maybe if you didn’t beat around the bush, the rest of us peasants wouldn’t have to–”

  His mouth crashed down on mine, swallowing the rest of my words. I was too stunned to pull away. At least, that’s what I told myself. It was easier than facing the truth, which my body was more than happy to portray for me.

  Parker’s mouth moved against mine, easily coaxing my lips to part. The instant his tongue touched mine, the lies I told myself fell away. I couldn’t stop myself from melting into his arms, as I rose up on my toes, seeking more. He growled and slammed me back against the bar. The wood digging into my tailbone didn’t even bother me. As long as he kept kissing me, I didn’t care what he did.

  And then, he was gone.

  I blinked my eyes open, clearing the hazy fog that was clouding my mind, and found myself staring up into Parker’s sparkling gaze. A very satisfied, pleased with himself, look was written across his stupid face.

  “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

  Son of a bitch. I just fell for his shit again, didn’t I?

  “Screw you, Parker! You can’t just toy with people’s emotions.”

  Tears started to drip down my face at an uncontrollable rate. I tried to suck them back in, but I couldn’t. They kept coming in waves of crushing despair.

  “Great, now I’m crying. See what you did.” I cried out, slapping him in the chest. “You made me cry!”

  Honestly, I didn’t know why I was crying. I just was. Big, fat, ugly tears of I don’t know what kept rolling down my skin. I was definitely losing my mind. First, thinking Sean would ever do something like that, and now I was balling my eyes out because Parker had kissed me. They should lock me up. That was kind of what I expected Parker to say. After all, what kind of girl loses her shit because a guy kissed her?

  A crazy one, that’s who.

  Parker didn’t say a single thing. He simply wrapped his arms around me and held me close while I sobbed into his chest. Instead of calling me crazy, or telling me to stop my incessant crying, he kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair until whatever insane fit I was going through had passed.

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, wiping the tears off my face while shrugging out of his embrace. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  I was so embarrassed, I couldn’t even look at him.

  “You’re pregnant,” Parker said, pulling me back into his arms. “Emotional outbursts are normal. Your hormones are going crazy.”

  “How would you know?” Did I miss the part where he had a uterus?

  “Research, baby,” he explained. “If I’m gonna take care of you, I have to know what I’m doing.”

  I snorted. Yeah, sure, take care of me.

  “You going to pay me to stop crying too?”

  “Fuck sakes.” His head flopped back with a loud groan. “I told you, I had reasons for doing that.”

  I pushed myself away from his chest and snarled, “What possible reason could you have to treat someone like a whore?”

  “Parker,” a woman’s voice wafted down the stairs, “There’s an old black woman standing in our driveway.”

  “You’re about to find out,” he muttered.

  Chapter 11

  Parker

  Preston once told me, the more you suffer, the more it shows you really care. Of course, it was right after he killed my dog, so it was more of a ‘deal with it’ than some rare piece of insightful advice. But as I led Lana up those stairs, that’s all I could think about. My mother’s views pissed a lot of people off. That wasn’t why I hated my mother. Honestly, I could care less what other people thought, my friends included. The girl I was leading through my house however… I looked down at Lana and wished my mother would be able to keep her mouth shut for once in her damn life.

  The first voice I heard wasn’t my mothers’.

  “Where is my granddaughter?” Lana’s Nan did not sound happy. Then again, she was in a room with my mother. “I know you did something to her.”

  “If you people took better care of your offspring, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.”

  I rolled my eyes at my mother’s response, though when it came to her, I supposed that was tactful.

  “Are you saying this is my Lana’s fault?”

  “Well, it certainly isn’t Parker’s. My boy would never go near your granddaughter. She must’ve seduced him. I know how you people are.”

  Sorry to burst your bubble, Mom, but I’ve been dreaming about this girl for years. The only reason I stayed away was because of you.

  I remember the first day my dick got hard. It was after football practice, and Lana came skipping out in her uniform. Every time she jumped up, I got a glimpse of her white and pink striped panties. I’m not sure which was worse, the how to avoid pitching a tent speech from my dad? Or the jerk off lesson from my brother?

  “My Lana is innocent in all this. You leave her alone.”

  Gotta say, I kind of liked Lana’s Nan. There wasn’t much to her. Fuck sakes, the woman made Harper look tall, but she had big brass fucking balls. This wasn’t the first time she’d taken on the great Lillianna Whitley.

  “Parker is the innocent one here.” I didn’t have to be in the room to see the scowl on my mother’s face. I could even picture her hand waving through the air. “At least he was, until your offspring sunk her claws into him.”

  I watched Lana’s throat move with a heavy swallow. Though I really wanted to see her throat move like that for a completely different reason, she needed me right now. I grabbed her hand, entwining my fingers in hers, and gave her a reassuring smile.

  You’re not alone, baby. I got you.

  “Actually, Mother,” I said, pulling Lana in the room and cutting my mother off before she could spew more shit, “I seduced her.”

  The look on her face was priceless. A deep embedded scowl that didn’t match the proper attire of her black pencil skirt and blouse.


  “Are you saying you wanted to have relations with this…” her lip curled as she rolled her eyes over my girl, “This girl?”

  My dad slapped his hand down on the table, warning my mother. But he wasn’t who I was staring at as I pulled Lana further into the kitchen. My brother was the one I stared at. More specifically, the letter opener in his hand. One word, and all my problems would be solved. Preston would lunge across the room and shove that thing so deep in our mother’s throat, she wouldn’t have time to think about what happened. So, why didn’t I?

  “Just so you know, Mother, I wanted to fuck this girl. Dreamt about her pussy for so long, my balls ached when she walked in a room.”

  My little angel didn’t like my bluntness. She twitched at my side, and tried to pull her hand out of my grasp.

  Sorry, baby, you’re not going anywhere.

  “I still want to fuck this girl.” Now that I’d finally told my mother how I felt, I couldn’t stop. That, and her expression was the most satisfying thing I’d ever seen. Besides my girl screaming my name, that is. “I’ll put twelve more babies in her, if she’ll let me.”

  Pretty sure Lana’s Nan was two seconds away from stabbing me with the first sharp instrument she could find, but I didn’t care. Hell, I was getting off on the silent conflict. Because like it or not…

  “Lana’s mine.” I wrapped my arm around Lana’s shoulder, and pulled her in as close as I could. “If you don’t like it, you can leave.”

  And by you, I meant both of them.

  Neither one said a word. We stood there staring at each other. My mother’s venomous glare trained on Lana, while her Nan’s was trained on me. Everyone else in the room remained tensely quiet. Well, except for my brother and I. We didn’t give a shit how this turned out. The result would be the same regardless. Lana already agreed to my terms. I couldn’t help but smirk just a bit at the angry glint in Greta Crawford’s brown eyes.

  The heaviness in the air lifted a little when my mother spun around and sauntered away.

  “By the way, Mother,” I called out, making her pause before she could leave, “I also suck dick.”