Damaged Like Us (Like Us Series Book 1)

by Krista Ritchie

  I blink slowly like my world is starting to spin, and I’m gripping hard to hang on.

  My dad’s jaw sharpens with each passing beat. New uncomfortable tension vacuums the air from the cabin. I sense the shift again.

  I sense the unease.

  I crack my knuckles, my back achingly straight. “How much do you guys not believe us?” Pressure packs on my chest. “You’re not just asking these questions for publicists. You’re asking for yourselves, aren’t you?”

  Jane’s hand returns to mine, and our fingers intertwine. They’re all watching with suspicion.

  It knives my ribcage.

  “Before we make a decision, we need to hear your side of things,” my dad tells me.

  I disentangle my fingers from Jane. Not able to sit any longer, I stand as tall as my dad. Glowering. “You honestly believe I could be having sex with Jane?”

  “I don’t know what to think, Moffy.” His eyes flash hot. “It’s incest, for Christ’s sake. That’s not something you’d come to me and talk about!”

  “I’m your son.” I motion angrily at him. “You know me. You know me better than most people ever will. How could you even think…” My words stick to the back of my raw throat. He doesn’t even look sympathetic.

  He’s still on guard like I’m straight up lying to his face.

  I want to scream at the top of my goddamn lungs, I’m not fucking Jane! But I can’t even unleash the words. The wind is knocked out of my chest. Stunned in the face of their doubt.

  Jane’s mom takes over. “When I was your age, I thought I knew my sister, but for years Lily hid her sex addiction from me,” Rose tells me. “She was lying. She was sneaking around. I missed every sign.” I hear the guilt in her voice. She wishes she’d been there for my mom earlier.

  And she thinks I’m lying like my mom.

  Fuck. I run my hands through my hair and growl, “I’m not an addict. We’re not lying!” But their experiences shaped them.

  They’ve shaped us. And how many times did my parents tell Rose, Connor, Ryke, and Daisy, we’re not lying. How many times were they caught in one?

  Goddammit.

  “We’re not lying,” Jane says more clearly, less hostile. “I promise, we’re not.”

  I nod over and over and fucking over.

  “It’s fucking incest, Mof,” Ryke says, his rough voice strained. “Like your dad says, it’s not something you’re going to willingly admit.”

  “So then what?” I question. “You want to catch us in a lie until we’re forced to admit it? Is that the goal here?”

  They don’t say anything.

  “Jesus,” I murmur.

  “Here…” My mom gets up, watery eyes. “Have some trail mix.”

  I glare. “I don’t want your trail mix, Mom.” Instantly, I feel like an asshole. I don’t think I’ve ever snapped at my mom in my life. She sinks back onto the trunk, her chin quivering. She sniffs and tries to raise her chin.

  “I’ll take some trail mix, love.” My dad snatches her bag.

  “Dad,” Jane says, her voice soft and wary. “We are telling the truth.”

  Connor barely blinks. “I have to stick with the facts.” He pauses. “And I want you two to realize the health risks if—”

  “Stop.” Rose covers his mouth with her hand.

  My mom bursts into tears. Aunt Daisy wipes her eyes with the edge of her shirt.

  “Fucking A, Cobalt,” Ryke growls.

  My dad looks sick.

  “We’re not having sex!” I yell, veins almost protruding in my neck. I set my hands on my head, breathing hard. Farrow.

  I almost turn to my right. Expecting him to be there. He’s always next to me, but he’s outside the closed door. Listening to my frustration and fury.

  Ryke points to me. “Explain the fucking bite marks.”

  “It wasn’t me,” Jane says, still sitting, but confidence and power boosts her words. The truth.

  It’s the goddamn truth.

  “Then who the fuck was it?” Ryke asks me.

  Shit.

  Shit.

  Shit.

  Jane, Farrow, and I already talked about the secret. The real one. Where I’m sleeping with my bodyguard. Jane said, “I’m not going to be the reason you two go public.”

  She was adamant that we not expose our secret to the world. She’s intelligent and calculated and she told me, “There’s no certainty the media will even believe you and Farrow were dating. They’ll most likely say it’s a ploy to hide our supposed love affair. The timing is suspicious. And then what, Moffy? Farrow loses his job and his privacy. You get a new bodyguard. And everyone will still believe we’re having sex.”

  There’s no evidence of Farrow and I hooking up. We have no texts to leak. No email thread. No photos from the past. No video footage. Us being so damn careful—I never thought that’d work against us.

  Compare that load of nothing to the countless photographs and evidence of Jane and me together. All the times we’ve hugged. Where we’ve kissed each other’s cheeks. My arms wrapped around her shoulders. Her head on my chest.

  We’re close.

  We’ve always been close, but now every photograph can be twisted. Add in the hours of We Are Calloway footage where we both talk about how much we love each other. Platonic love—but that can be distorted too.

  Even the Hallow Friends Eve is now packaged as evidence. Media posted the photo of me cradling Jane in my arms. I’m practically naked. She’s in her pajamas. They say it’s too close for cousins.

  For the first time in my life, I feel isolated. Alone. Like Jane and I have boarded a lifeboat and been pushed out into a swelling ocean.

  “Maximoff,” Ryke forces. “Who bit you?”

  I prepared myself to deal with tabloids, the world. Not my family. And while you may think the world would be a worse battle—it’s not.

  This is worse. This is gut-wrenching.

  “Not Jane,” I say strongly.

  “The bite marks can’t be from a one-night stand though,” my dad says.

  I frown, wondering how they would’ve drawn that conclusion.

  Ryke tells me, “You haven’t been going to clubs for four fucking months. I called Price, asking for the NDAs, and he doesn’t have any.”

  “Which means that you haven’t had any one-night stands,” Connor continues, “or any random hookups. Do you follow the logic, Moffy?”

  I remember the lie Farrow told the security team. “You think I’m seeing one girl.”

  “Price told me,” Ryke says. Price. I shake my head repeatedly. “He said you’ve been sleeping with the same girl, and you refused to get an NDA because she’s not someone your parents would fucking approve of.”

  They all look to Jane.

  Dammit.

  “It’s not me,” Jane says stiffly.

  My dad gestures to my chest. “Who else would we not approve of? I can’t think of one goddamn name other than your cousin.”

  Farrow Redford Keene.

  I stare off, haunted. Morality is a demanding beast that asks me, pleads with me, begs me to do the right thing. What’s right anymore? I’m searching for the sword that I need to fall on. I just don’t want to hurt Jane or Farrow in the process.

  I can’t hurt him.

  I can’t.

  Just let it slice through me.

  “Maybe it’s not a love affair,” Ryke says. “Are you drinking? Are you having any fucking problems?”

  “No,” I say firmly.

  “Are you?” Ryke turns on Jane.

  “No,” she says adamantly.

  “We just want to help,” my mom chimes in, wet tears streaking her cheeks. “If you both would be honest, we can all work this out.” They think we’re lying.

  And I am lying.

  The truth is standing just outside the door. And I remember what Farrow once said. “You just need to know that I’m going to get banged up and you can’t run and save me, wolf scout. You have to let it happen.”
I’m not supposed to protect him. As much as it’s killing me. As much as it’s driving knots in my damn stomach.

  We’re supposed to stand side-by-side. And we need to take this hit together.

  Go get the truth.

  I turn my head.

  “Do you sleep in the same bed together?” my dad asks, voice stilted.

  I go rigid. The room grows hot.

  My head swerves back to him. I’m not burying myself beneath another lie. “Sometimes,” I say. “It’s always platonic.”

  My mom sits on the very edge of the trunk. “But you sleep in the same bed,” she says as though she needs extra confirmation. Like she didn’t hear right.

  “Yeah.”

  My mom touches her chest with two hands. “Your dad and I—we used to sleep in the same bed when we were just friends.”

  Oh shit.

  I lick my dry lips. “You were attracted to each other. I’m not attracted to Jane.”

  “Likewise,” Jane says, shifting in her chair. “I’m not attracted to Moffy.”

  “We were also liars,” my dad tells me.

  Right now, I am a liar, too. They spot it like blood in the water. They’re sharks. I’m prey. And I’m being ripped open.

  My dad keeps eye contact with me, looking broken and pained. “We love you,” he tells me. “We’d love you no matter what. But we can’t help you unless you’re honest with us.”

  “I don’t need help,” I tell him. “I’m fine.”

  He nods. “I’ve said that one before.” His words practically ice. He gives me his classic, bitter smile. “Congratulations, Maximoff, you got what you wanted. You’re more like me.” His disappointment is a tsunami crashing through my chest.

  I stare at my dad. Right in the eyes, and I say the words that I’ve never wanted to utter in my damn life. It takes every ounce of power inside of me to admit this to myself and to him and to the room—and even to you.

  And I tell my dad, “I’m not like you.”

  I would never hurt people I love with a lie, and that’s what’s happening now. I’m hurting him, my mom, aunts and uncles—and even Jane. I can handle the world’s doubt. That’s commonplace. But I can’t live with theirs.

  Go get the truth.

  I turn to the door. And I suddenly freeze.

  Farrow approaches me. Already inside the cabin, his lips rise like I know.

  41

  FARROW KEENE

  I HEARD EVERYTHING FROM OUTSIDE, and about midway through I knew what I needed to do. I feel six incredulous, confused gazes sweep my sudden presence. I don’t confront them yet.

  Before Maximoff repeatedly asks are you sure you want to do this? I catch his wrist, standing right by his side.

  Very softly, I whisper, “Your morality is rubbing off on me.” I feel sick putting Maximoff Hale in a place where he’d be forced to lie to these people.

  His family. Who need him.

  Who trust him.

  Who love him.

  He’d be a worse man if he trampled all over them with a lie, and he’s made me a better one because I don’t even hesitate to unleash the truth. I don’t care about the career consequences, and we’re strong enough to survive the blowback. At the end of the road, all I know is that I’m protecting and preserving the very essence of who he is.

  And I’d do it five hundred times over.

  I nod to Maximoff to go ahead. Tell them.

  He fists my shirt and tugs me to his chest. In a swift, pulse-pounding moment, he has two firm hands on my neck, and his mouth meets mine. Not wavering, not second-guessing—his pride for this second and for us lifts his carriage like he’s sky-scraping tall.

  He has to feel my lips rising. I can’t restrain a smile. I wouldn’t, even if I was ordered to. Our bodies pull together in a deeper, slower kiss, and I hook my arm around his broad shoulders. His hand slides through my black hair, his desire and hunger urging my mouth open again. Pulsating my veins and heart. All things I’ve felt with Maximoff before.

  He went all in.

  All in with me.

  I recognize like everyone else has to: this is his first kiss with an audience. If they don’t believe him now, then they’re just in denial.

  When we finally break the kiss, we exchange one headstrong, stubborn-as-hell look that says, we’re in this shit together, and we’re going to get out together. No matter what.

  We confront his stunned family side-by-side, my arm wrapped around his lower back.

  “There’s the truth,” Maximoff says. “And I’m not fucking lying.”

  His over-protective dad stakes an icy glare into me. And only me. “Either you’re the best goddamn bodyguard and you’re protecting him with a cover-up—or you’re the shittiest bodyguard and you’re sleeping with my son.”

  I don’t miss a beat. “I’m sleeping with your son.”

  Lo seethes, his gaze butchering me. I expected that one, but all the respect and trust I’d built and earned with him throughout the years just rips right out of my body.

  He rotates to his brother. Ryke jumps down from the top bunk before his wife can catch his shoulder.

  Maximoff points angrily at them. “Farrow isn’t the enemy. He’s my fucking boyfriend!”

  I try not to smile. Damn, that felt good to hear.

  Connor Cobalt commands the floor with one step forward. “Let’s clear the air before the overreacting begins.” He raises a calming hand towards Maximoff and me. “We believe you’re together, but the world won’t. Not now. The media will run with the Moffy/Jane love affair story.”

  It’s more salacious.

  “Setting that aside,” Connor says, “we now need to deal with the private, security issue of a bodyguard having sex with a client—”

  “My son,” Lo sneers at Connor. “I swear to God, Connor, don’t treat this like it means nothing—”

  “Dad,” Maximoff interjects. “I’m an adult. We’re two consenting adults. There’s nothing wrong—”

  Ryke points at me. “He’s your fucking bodyguard, Moffy!”

  Lily pushes through the wall of men and stands right…in front of me. Green eyes pained. I tried not to wonder what this moment would look like.

  Me hurting the one woman I spent years protecting.

  But I was on Alpha for three years, surrounded by all six of these people—fuck, I knew how they’d react to any bodyguard sleeping with their children.

  I knew there’d be condemnation. I knew that in their eyes, I broke a sacred rule.

  “I matched you with my son.” Her chin tries to shake, but she sucks in a breath, raises her head, and pokes my chest with a mad finger. “I trusted you, Farrow. You looked me in the eye and you promised me that you’d protect him.”

  “I did,” I say from my core. “I am—”

  “You took advantage of our son,” Lo cuts me off. “That’s not protecting him.” I force myself not to roll my eyes. I’ve been there for Maximoff Hale every fucking day, and I definitely didn’t coerce him into sucking my cock.

  Maximoff groans into a frustrated growl. “He didn’t take advantage of me. Yes, I’m a celebrity. Yes, he knows private shit about me because he’s my bodyguard. Did he ever use his position to seduce me or blackmail me or hurt me? Never.”

  Rose perches her hands on her hips. “But we hire bodyguards to protect our children.” She sets a fiery glare on me. “Not fuck them. For your betrayal, your heart should be fed to the wolves.” She extends a hand to her husband. “The knife, Richard.”

  Connor lowers her arm. “Let’s shelve the hyperbolic murders, darling.”

  Maximoff tries to steal his dad’s attention, but it’s skewering me. “Dad, I’m twenty-two. I make my own choices, and I chose him.”

  “How long?” Lo asks me, ignoring his son to grill me. “Did this start before you were assigned to him—”

  “No,” I force the word.

  Lo considers this for a moment before saying, “I don’t trust easily. And I gave you as much a
s I give family, and you just shit on me, on Lily. For what?”

  “For what?” I repeat with the shake of my head. For what. “I’d do anything for Maximoff. I’m here, willing to sacrifice a career for him. Because I care about him, I want to be with him. And I’m sorry that I broke your trust, but I can’t lie to you or Lily. Given the opportunity, I’d do it all again.”

  I’m in love with him.

  I haven’t said those words to Maximoff yet, and he’s not hearing them for the first time while I speak to his dad.

  Lo stands uneasy, but they all hear what I’m saying.

  “I’m telling you right now,” Maximoff says firmly to the room, “you’re not firing Farrow. None of you are. He’s still going to be my bodyguard.”

  Connor speaks. “For that to happen, your relationship would need to remain secret from the public.”

  Ryke cuts in, “Who the fuck said he’s staying in the security team and on Moffy’s detail?”

  “Who’s going to fire him?” Maximoff rebuts. “You?”

  Ryke glowers at me. Like he wants me to quit. And just shove another bodyguard into Maximoff’s arms? Fuck no.

  “I’m not quitting,” I tell him. “And we’re fine keeping this from the public.”

  “You still crossed a line,” his dad says, “and there needs to be repercussions.”

  Maximoff motions to Lo. “Again, you’re not—”

  “This is a security issue,” his dad declares. “We’ll let security make the call. If they think Farrow isn’t fit to be your bodyguard and it’s too dangerous, then he’s gone. And that’s goddamn diplomatic of me.”

  Before Maximoff speaks, I tell his dad, “Fair enough.”

  I sound agreeable, but security has more reasons to fire me than they do to keep me. Plus, I’m betting Price and Thatcher would just love to replace me with an uptight do-gooder. Basically, someone who’d never lower their radios, argue or have sex with a client.

  And I’m honestly not sure if Akara and the rest of Omega will vouch for me or turn their backs. My actions reflect poorly on SFO, and if they’d rather remain an untarnished, respectable Force, they’d transfer me.

  Here’s what I know: I can be fired from the whole team, just transferred to another person’s detail, or they could put me on probation.