QUIVER, BOOK SIX (A DARK ROMANCE)

by Laura Avery

  QUIVER

  A DARK ROMANCE

  BOOK SIX

  BY LAURA AVERY

  Copyright 2018 Laura Avery, all rights reserved.

  No part of this work may be reproduced without written consent of the author. This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Quiver is a dark romance and is intended for mature audiences only. It’s extremely possessive and crude. Please don’t read if strong sexual situations, language, violence, and bullying offends you. All individuals portrayed in this work of fiction are eighteen years of age or older.

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  Chapter One

  “She’s not yours.”

  EMERY

  Things were starting to grow more out of control by the second.

  I looked at the dozens of photos spread out in front of me on the Lucas brother’s dining room table. Jackson and his brothers had marched me over to their house from my dorm, where they proceeded to place a huge stack of photos in front of me and then promptly demanded that I pick out whoever the heck their mystery foster brother was who was torturing all of us.

  The whole scene was ironic. We had something in common now, something that bound all of us together. Even if none of us wanted it that way. Our common enemy had made us the most unlikely allies.

  I picked up another photo, studying it for a few seconds before shoving it to the other side of the table with the others I had already counted out as definite nos. I sighed heavily. This was taking forever. “Jeez, how many foster brothers did you guys have?”

  Judging from the three dirty looks I got in response it was the wrong thing to ask. I quickly looked back down at the photos again before sneaking a look in Jackson’s direction. He was so wound up, his body so tense. All I wanted to do was relax him, make him feel like everything was going to be okay. I still had so many questions, so many things I didn’t understand about him, about us. Was there even an us?

  I felt like every time I started to get some answers something else would go wrong for us. We had so many things working against us. Charlotte, Liam, both of our families, crazy ex-foster brothers… and Jackson himself. How could I fight all those people all by myself? Jackson was his own worst enemy, even if he did feel something for me he shut it out just as fast as he let it slip in. Morgan’s words kept creeping into my head.

  He’s too damaged.

  It would take years to break him.

  Speaking of Morgan. “Where’s Morgan?” I snapped my head up; suddenly realizing I hadn’t seen her since I got back from visiting Charlotte. I shot forward in my seat; I had been so caught up in Jackson and my own drama that I had completely forgotten about being a good best friend. “What have you done with her?” I accused.

  Liam rolled his deep blue eyes. “Can we try to focus on what’s important here?” He shot Jackson a look that clearly said, ‘control your bitch’ but Jackson just shrugged, barely acting like he noticed.

  “Where is she?” I asked more firmly.

  “Relax,” Pierce said, moving Liam to the side and pushing out the chair across from me. “She’s fine. She’s sleeping upstairs.” He said it casually as if no deeper meaning was hanging behind it but the look on his face and his narrowed eyes told me something different. He was annoyed with me for implying he would have let anything bad happen to her.

  I kept my eyes on him for a few more seconds before slowly sitting back down. I made a mental note to ask Morgan what the hell the deal was with her and Pierce once and for all. The last thing I wanted was more damn secrets and sneaking around in my life.

  “Can you just try to concentrate?” Liam snapped, throwing his fist down on the table in front of us. “This is kind of fucking important in case you haven’t noticed.” He pushed the cup of coffee that was in front of him to the side and sent the hot liquid flying all over the perfect carpet.

  I tried not to jump at the outburst, knowing someone like Liam would get off on getting a rise out of me. It wasn’t like with Jackson, I didn’t feel any sense of safety or hotness when I was around him. If there was one person more ruthless than our secret torturer, I was pretty sure it was Liam.

  “I’m trying,” I said, trying to sound firm.

  “Well, try fucking harder,” he snapped, moving across the room in record speed until he was only a few feet away from me. “Do you want this freak to do something else to us before we fucking catch him?”

  I shook my head.

  “You probably do,” Liam said between clenched teeth. “You must be getting a really big kick out of this, watching someone else put us in our place. At least he’s using the truth to bring us down though, right?” He kicked the bottom of my chair and sent it flying a few inches backward.

  My heart started beating rapidly, putting me on edge.

  “Liam,” Pierce warned.

  I glanced at Jackson but he remained still, studying his older brother.

  “I guess that makes him better than you, huh Emery?” He moved even closer to me. “You had to bring us down using fucking lies. At least this asshole has the respect for himself to use the facts.” He cracked his knuckles back and forth. “Who are we kidding? We can’t trust you; you’re probably fucking working with him. Just like you worked with Charlotte.”

  Suddenly, a surge of emotions I had never felt before came over my body. The flash of getting the life choked out of me while I struggled against a pair of evil eyes I had never seen before replayed itself over and over in my mind. I could take a lot, I think I had proved that but not when it came to this.

  Liam accusing me of working with someone who had wrapped his arms around me so tight that I couldn’t breathe and then promised to kill me while he looked me dead in the eyes wasn’t something I felt like I could ignore. Even if I wanted to, my mind wouldn’t let me. The vision was in there, me being trapped and torn apart by something so evil.

  And Liam thought I was a part of it, an accomplice to it.

  “Fuck you!” I snapped, standing up from my place at the table. “You think you know everything but you really know nothing!” I closed the distance between the two of us, startled and overwhelmed by the sense of bravery that had suddenly taken over my bones. “I hate you!”

  Pierce sat up straight.

  Jackson snarled.

  And Liam?

  Liam lunged.

  His body was on top of mine within seconds but was being yanked off even faster, before he had any chance to do any damage. Jackson had him by the throat, refusing to let him get any closer. “Back the fuck off,” he warned, his eyes starting to turn a deep red.

  Liam tried to get past him. “She’s disrespectful!”

  “I hate you!” I hollered at him, still worked up.

  Pierce was in front of me within seconds, pushing me backward and out of the room. “Easy, Emery, relax.” He was stronger than I gave him credit for, able to pick me up almost as effortlessly as Jackson.

  “Enough,” Jackson spat, shoving his hands harder against his big brother's chest. “It’s not your place to push her, to try and control her, she’s not yours,” he said the words firmly, trying to get his point across.

  He glowered down at his brother with dark eyes, taking his words in for all they were and turning them over in his mind. For a split second, I could have sworn I saw something like looked like longing there, and I wondered if Charlotte had popped into his mind, but then it was gone and he was shaking his head. “One of us has to fucking control her,” Liam snapped back.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  “You know what it means,” Liam said
coldly.

  Jackson got even closer, pressing his body up against Liam’s. “You don’t touch her, not now, not ever. Do you understand me?” He looked like he was made of steel. “The rules we have set in place are there for a reason.”

  Liam huffed. “I’m not Emery, you don’t get to control me, asshole.”

  Jackson’s knuckles tightened at the side of his body. “I guess I’ll have to remember that when Charlotte comes around then.” He titled his head to the side, studying his big brother’s dark features. “You know, that the rules don’t apply anymore.”

  My heart stopped in my chest.

  What the hell did he mean by that?

  Was he going to touch her?

  The last thing I saw before Pierce pushed me out the side door onto the patio was Liam lunging for the back of Jackson’s head. I tried to move around Pierce, desperate to get back inside, but he blocked me easily.

  “Get out of my way, Pierce!” I shoved into him again.

  He grabbed me by the elbows and held me in place, shaking his head. “That’s none of your business, Emery, it’s between them and you need to let them handle it like men.”

  Was he joking right now? It had everything to do with me!

  “They’re only fighting because of me,” I pointed out.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” He gestured to the back of the house with his head. “A lot of that shit goes way back.” He stuck his hands in his pockets, looking bored and as if watching me was the least challenging task he had ever been assigned. “Now why don’t you sit down and wait for your master like a good girl?”

  Annoyance immediately came over me and I tried to lunge past him again.

  He held me back using only one hand this time. “God, Emery, would you calm the fuck down? You’re being almost as bad as…” he trailed off, not finishing his sentence but he didn’t have to, I knew he was talking about Morgan. The look on his face was impossible to read, just like both of his brothers when they were feeling things too intense to talk about.

  “Let me go, Pierce,” I tried to sound brave.

  “What the hell do you think you’re going to do, anyway? Bust in there and get between two men twice your size with serious rage issues?” He released my arm and leaned back on the railing of the deck, folding his large arms over one another and training his pretty blues onto mine. “Not the smartest idea, Emery, especially since both of them have a major chip on their shoulder thanks to you.”

  I gaped at him but one look told me he wasn’t saying it to offend me. He was just stating the facts as he saw them. I couldn’t exactly tell him he was wrong. I had turned Liam’s world upside down by unknowingly lying under oath about who he was and what he had done. The truth was that I didn’t know Liam, not really, I only knew the person I had perceived him to be from the outside.

  As far as the chip Jackson had for me…

  Well, I didn’t even know what the hell Jackson and me were anymore.

  “What about your shoulder?” I whispered.

  The annoyed and cocky grin released from his face and an expression I couldn’t quite read replaced it. I was expecting some kind of cruel or snide remark in return, just like I would have gotten from Jackson or Liam, but I was slowly starting to realize Pierce wasn’t as cut and dry as I once thought.

  “Undetermined,” he said casually.

  I frowned. “What?”

  “My shoulder isn’t sure how it feels about you yet,” he said, shooting me a lazy half smile. “I mean, I thought I knew. It was so black and white, you ruined Liam and I knew that shit wasn’t true. It was infuriating watching Charlotte and you in that courtroom when I had seen them together so many times, when I knew how obsessed with him she was. It was kind of easy to hate you before…” he trailed off, getting a faraway look in his eye again.

  “Before what?” I pressed, hanging on his every word.

  It was so rare that I got Jackson to open up about anything. Any information that I could get out of Pierce was something I was going to savor. I didn’t understand how the three of them could live this way, so closed off and secretive. It must get so lonely, it sounded so unbearable.

  “Before I saw your face the other night,” he sighed, refocusing on me again. “You looked torn apart, completely gutted when I said that thing about Charlotte.” He bit down so hard on his lip I thought he might draw blood. “I’ve seen the light go out in enough people’s eyes to know when they want to be a part of something or not. You really believed what Charlotte told you, so I guess, in a way, it kind of makes you one of us, right?”

  His words hit me hard and before I fully realized what was happening I felt torn up and miserable all over again. Getting the shit fucked out of me by Jackson and being attacked by some creepy stalker had been a good distraction from all the other shit going on but it was still real, Pierce’s statement only reminded me of it. I looked away, hoping he wouldn’t notice, but it was too late.

  “Fuck,” he mumbled. “I hate when girls cry.”

  It was startling not having him snap at me for once and when he reached forward a few seconds later and pulled me into his chest, I almost screamed out in shock. He felt good around, not in a sexual way, but almost in a big brother kind of way. Not that I ever had a big brother but if I did, maybe it would have felt like this. Like he would keep you safe even if you were a pain in his ass.

  “He’s more screwed up then you know,” he whispered.

  I closed my eyes. “Who?”

  “You know who.” He ruffled my hair like a pet.

  I did know but how could Jackson be even worse off than I was aware? Everything I had learned about him so far seemed like something you would only see playing out on a movie screen. Only it wasn’t, it was his life. I didn’t know how much worse it could get for him. I mean, how much could one-person handle? No wonder he was so screwed up.

  I wanted to know more but didn’t want to push. Doing so might send Pierce into a shell again. It was one thing when it was offered up to me. It was another when I went fishing on things I could use to break his brother’s heart open so that I could steal it once and for all.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” I wasn't sure if I said it for him or me.

  “It’s easy to say that when you don’t know everything.”

  I wished, just once, someone could talk to me without further confusing me.

  “I feel lost,” I mumbled.

  Pierce sighed above me. “Wish I could tell you it goes away.”

  The chill in my spine told me it didn’t.

  Chapter Two

  “Do you want to fuck him?”

  JACKSON

  What the fuck was this?

  The last thing I wanted to see after throwing one of my brothers across the room for lunging at Emery was to walk outside and catch her in the arms of my other brother. How disrespectful could she be?

  I let the door slam shut behind me roughly.

  Emery jumped away from Pierce. At least she had the decency to look guilty. Unlike Pierce, who just gave me a shit-eating grin like the asshole he was. I took a step toward him, just looking for an excuse to get into another fight. I was all pumped on aggression and I wasn’t ready to come down yet. “My bad, am I interrupting something?”

  “No!” Emery took a step toward me.

  “Maybe,” Pierce chuckled.

  “Pierce!” Emery squealed.

  “Watch it,” I hissed at my little brother. “I’m on edge.”

  “Whatever.” He studied me for a second before shaking his head and heading back toward the house. “If you’re this hyped up I can only imagine how bad Liam is right now.”

  I waited until he was back in the house before glaring at Emery. “What the fuck was that, lamb?” I moved closer to her, wrapping my arm around her hips and yanking her toward me. “You got a thing for my brother now? Because no matter what you might hear, I don’t fucking share girls with my brothers,” I paused and then bit down on her bottom lip, sucking it hard
before leaning back again. “Well, I don’t share my lamb with them anyway.”

  “Nothing happened,” she whispered, shaking under me. “I think he just felt bad for me or something, you know? Since I’m so pathetic.” She ran her tongue over her bottom lip slowly.

  I moaned and had the urge to reach out and bite it again. Her lips were puffy and red, I loved taking the bottom one between my teeth and turning it over again and again. Her lips were mine just like every other part of her. They weren’t the only lips I owned on her either.

  My hand drifted downward at the thought.

  “Don’t call yourself pathetic,” I ordered.

  “Why not?” she questioned. “You do.”

  “I didn’t ask you what the fuck I call you, did I?” It was one thing for me to call her pathetic, it was another for her to go around saying it. “I don’t want you saying it.” I found her pussy lips under her leggings, cupping her center. “Do you want to fuck my brother, Emery?”

  Her eyes grew wide. “What? No!”

  “If I ever catch another man with his hands on you again, Emery, I swear to God it will be the last fucking thing they ever do.” I ran my fingers up and down her slit. “This is mine, you’re mine.”

  She closed her eyes and moaned slightly into me. I loved the way she had snapped inside, acting so tough, yet as soon as I sunk my grasp into her again she was like mush in my hands. Completely soft all over again, ready to do anything and everything that I said like a good girl.

  “Say it,” I inhaled her scent all over me, eating it up.

  She drifted into me for a second, letting my touch take over her skin as I waited in anticipation. I loved making her say the words, loved making her admit what I had always known. It was like a fucking drug, the more I heard it, the more I craved it. The thought of Emery belonging to someone else had always rubbed me the wrong way, made a anger that I hadn’t felt since I was younger creep back into my skin.

  It was why I had chased away any guys who dared to look at her, why I had become obsessed with her in the only way I knew how. I knew I wasn’t capable of love; it was always so much easier to hate her. I was always aware that if I had one taste of her, I would destroy her, hence why I had never allowed myself to go there. Once she screwed Liam over, though, I knew her fate was sealed.