One Family

by Smyth, R. A

  Aiden, who’s been sitting on my other side, wraps his large hand around my much smaller one, staring at me until I meet his gaze.

  “We’re going to get him. I promise you, I won’t rest until he’s dead.”

  Chapter 24

  It’s nearly an hour later when the guy towing Preston’s car phones him, and he and Barrett leave to meet him.

  We phoned Oliver while we waited. Apparently he’s sitting outside the school right now, watching us. Like that’s not fucking concerning! Kirk’s got other guys traipsing through the forest, looking for us.

  According to Oliver, a lot of his men are out of town, sourcing new investors for The Citadel and dealing with some crisis back home. Whatever the reason, it works in our favor.

  Oliver believes he won’t make a move against Preston or Barrett if they leave here. Given Preston’s father is missing and Barrett’s was recently murdered, not to mention Meaghan’s father is still a missing person’s case, Kirk can’t afford any more mysterious disappearances or deaths without it raising red flags and drawing unwanted attention.

  From what Oliver said, it sounded like my father had more or less stopped looking for us, too busy running around trying to find replacements for the one-percenters we were taking down. That is until fucking Kurt drew his attention back our way. While he might be distracted with The Citadel and other club shit going on right now, he sure as hell wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to catch us.

  So when the tow guy showed up, Preston and Barrett left with anxious expressions and an order not to return until we had confirmation that Kirk’s men had gone.

  “Right, well I’m fucking starving,” Ty says once it’s just the three of us. “Why don’t you two find somewhere we can sleep in case we’re stuck here all night, and I’ll go raid the kitchen.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I respond as he takes off across the library and out the door. Seeing Sophie still sitting slumped in her chair, looking defeated, I round the table, holding my hand out for her to take. “Come on,” I encourage. “There’s no point in worrying over it all. Let’s make the best of a bad situation, yeah?”

  “Yeah, alright,” she sighs, taking my hand and climbing to her feet.

  “We can use one of the small study rooms at the back of the library to sleep in. They don’t have any windows so no one can peer in and see us there. We just need to find blankets or something...any ideas?” I ask when I come up empty. I know fuck all about this school. I’m here to keep an eye on Sophie, that’s it. Not to get a well-rounded education like the rest of kids here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a complete dumbass. I recognize this is my chance to get a high caliber education. A high school diploma from here could open doors for me that I’ve never even considered before.

  I have no idea what the fuck I want to do with my life. It’s never been mine before, to do with as I want. For all intents and purposes, until now, I’ve been the property of The Feral Beasts, their errand guy, their fall guy, their soldier to use as they see fit.

  I was never supposed to have a future. Never supposed to have the freedom to make these decisions, to be anyone I wanted to be. Now that I have that opportunity, I don’t know who the fuck I want to be. If I’m not a soldier—a gang member—then who the hell is Aiden Cullen? A tattooed thug with no education? A blue-collar worker? I have no fucking idea. Whoever I might turn out to be, I want to give myself the best possible start to my future.

  That all begins with a high school diploma. Since Ty and I dropped out of school at sixteen—and never gave a fuck about school for years before that—we never had the chance to get one before. It would have been from some shitty, second-rate institution anyway, not a prestigious place like this. So, like Sophie, I’ve been taking advantage of our morning and afternoon study sessions to keep on top of my school work.

  Of course, all of this is assuming I don’t go rogue and kill that fucking shit. A possibility that’s looking more and more likely by the day. Especially after today.

  I don’t give a damn that he nearly got Ty and I killed. It’s the fact he put Sophie at risk. Does he seriously think Kirk is just going to hand her over to him when he gets his hands on her? Not a fucking chance! After we slipped out right under his nose last time, there’s no way he would let something like that happen again. If he catches any of us, he won’t be taking his eyes off us until we’re good and dead, and I can fucking guarantee it won’t be a quick, painless death.

  The life of a gangster, right? You hope for the best while expecting the worst. It’s like a fucked up game. Instead of ‘fuck, marry, kill’, the choices are ‘prison, dead, surviving’ and the only participant is me.

  “The drama department might have blankets or even coats we can use,” Sophie suggests, pulling me out of my dark thoughts. Good thing too, before I go on a murdering rampage. I want to be the best version of myself for her, but she brings out the darkest parts of me. She calls to my inner Beast. I want to be the good guy, the fucking hero in her eyes, but I’d happily become that beast and burn down the whole goddamn world to save her.

  “Will we go look?” She prompts when I don’t respond to her. Right. Drama department. Blankets. I might not be able to kill all her enemies for her right now, but what I can do is make sure she’s warm and safe tonight. “I text Ty to meet us in the study room when he’s done.”

  “Let’s go,” I say, letting her lead the way. Thank god, cause I’ve got no idea where the drama department is. Fuck, I didn’t even know we had a drama department. Who the hell has time for such crap? We have enough fucking drama in our lives nevermind taking an extra-curricular in it too.

  Do normal kids seriously do this shit? Get all invested in school life, taking part in school activities, and what not? It’s so far from my reality I can’t even wrap my head around it. What the fuck would a normal childhood have looked like for me if I’d been fortunate enough to have one? Who the fuck knows. No point in dwelling on it, I guess, it’s not what I got. Maybe that would have pissed me off before, but I wouldn’t change my messed up past for anything now. Who wants to be normal, anyway? If it means Sophie’s in it, then I’ll keep my fucked up reality, thanks.

  “Are you even listening to a word I say?” She asks, pulling me up short halfway down an empty hallway and giving me a penetrating look before her brow furrows with concern. “Where’s your head at?”

  “What do you wanna do when this is all over?” I ask her. Her eyebrows rise in surprise, not expecting that question. It probably seems out of the blue and definitely gives away the fact I was not listening to her.

  She doesn’t immediately respond, her features growing serious as she thinks about the question. “I’m not sure,” she replies hesitantly. “I just know I don’t want a life like the one I had before I moved here; never having any money or being able to do anything, always too busy working and just getting by to actually live. I’ve already missed out on my childhood because of it, I don’t want to forgo any more of my life.”

  “You won’t,” I promise in a soft whisper, running my fingers along the angle of her jaw. I won’t let her lose out on anything more in this life. She deserves to experience it all and live her life to the fullest.

  “It wasn’t just the lack of money, though,” she continues, crinkles forming at the corner of her eyes as she smiles softly up at me. “I’ve come to realize you can have all the money in the world, and still merely exist. The people in this town? They have more money than they can ever hope to spend in ten lifetimes, yet they're all just as stuck as my mum was. They might look more alive, but they aren’t really living.”

  “So what’s the key to really living then?” I’m partly teasing, but also I really want to fucking know cause honestly, I don’t have a clue.

  Her smile grows bright as she leans in until our faces are inches apart. “It’s you,” she whispers against my lips, like it’s the world's best kept secret, her eyes sparkling with the knowledge. She looks so fucking beautiful w
ith her face lit up like that, not a single worry in the world.

  I’ve no idea what she’s going on about, though. I am most definitely not the key to living. The not-so-secret assurance of death maybe.

  “The guys,” she continues, her smile only growing bigger. “It’s Mia and Oliver. It’s the people you let into your life, the connections you make. I was going through the motions before I came here. I was surviving. I thought money would be the answer, but it was meeting you and Ty, Barrett and Preston. All of you make me feel alive. I’ve come to realize that living’s got fuck all to do with what you have in life and everything to do with who you have; and you, Aiden Cullen, are my everything.”

  It was there and then, in an unremarkable hallway, in a fancy as fuck prep school where neither of us belonged, that this incredible, feisty, sinful woman with the hottest accent brought me to my fucking knees. In that moment, she made me hers. I found my purpose. My reason for living.

  I’m still lost in her words when her lips brush over mine in a barely there kiss. My arms come up to wrap around her, pulling her into me, needing to feel the weight of her in my arms to be sure she’s fucking real and that I’m not lying half dead in a ditch somewhere imagining all of this.

  She melts into me; her curves fitting perfectly against my body. Kissing another person has never been like this for me. It’s never evoked such a visceral reaction. I’ve always been a take it or leave it kinda guy when it comes to kissing, I didn’t see the point in it and I was always just looking to get to the good stuff—basically I just wanted to get off. With Sophie, though? Her kiss lights up my whole body. I always fucking want her, but the second her lips touch mine, she takes it to a whole other level. The need I feel for her would drive a sane person crazy.

  Her small fist grips the front of my shirt and she pulls me with her as she steps backwards. I don’t know where she’s taking us, and I don’t fucking care. I’ll follow her anywhere.

  The creaking of a door being opened draws me back to our surroundings and I tear my lips away from hers as she leads us into an empty classroom. The windows on the opposite wall give us a view of the school grounds surrounding us. It’s getting late in the day now. The sun is a burnt orange colour, lying low in the sky, lighting up the horizon. The way Sophie is standing, with the windows behind her, it looks like the whole world is on fire around her. It’s the perfect backdrop and in my opinion, it depicts her perfectly. How she came bursting into my world and sent it up in flames. From the ashes has grown something so much more meaningful, something powerful. Everlasting.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” I breathe. I want to say so much more, but I don’t know what. I’ve never been good with words. I can only hope she can see in my eyes, how much she means to me, how much I love her.

  She smiles up at me, taking a step back towards me as I step forward to meet her, the two of us falling into each other's arms as we collide. My lips instantly come down on hers, my hand coming up to trail through her hair as she moans into my mouth. I fucking love it when she does that. I’m sure she can feel my dick twitching with every noise she makes.

  Her hands trail over the front of my shirt before coming up to push the blazer off my shoulders. Shrugging it off, I let it fall onto the floor before putting my hands back on her, desperate to feel her silky soft skin beneath my calloused touch.

  Running my hand along the back of her thigh, I slowly inch it up until I’m cupping her ass. Her moans turn to groans as I use my grip on her butt to grind my dick against her pelvis.

  “Aiden,” she moans, her hands stopping their exploration of my chest and biceps so she can shed her own blazer.

  Taking a step back, she licks her lips as her eyes devour me, mine doing exactly the same to her.

  “I need you,” she breathes, as she slowly undoes the buttons on the front of her shirt, teasing me with little hints of cleavage and the black satin bra she’s wearing today. She’s fucking sin wrapped up in a dirty package.

  I quickly undo the buttons of my shirt, my eyes never leaving her body as she slowly reveals it to me.

  “I’m going to come in my fucking slacks if I don’t get inside you soon,” I tell her, my eyes roaming all over her exposed body.

  She gives me a coy smirk. “Well, we can’t have that now, can we.” She slowly undoes the zip on her skirt until it falls to her ankles. Seeing her standing there in just her underwear, her eyes hooded, her lips swollen from our kiss, while the world burns behind her, is the last fucking straw.

  Unable to restrain myself any longer, I lunge across the small space between us, wrapping my hands around the back of her thighs and hauling her up my body.

  She winds her arms around my neck, her lips meeting mine in a greedy, sloppy kiss filled with passion and hunger as I carry her over to the teacher’s desk.

  Setting her down on the edge of it, I run my hands up her back until I find the clasp for her bra. Unhooking it, I stroke along her soft skin until my thumb runs over her pebbled nipple. She gasps into my mouth, her kiss growing deeper as I cup her tits in my hand. They’re the fucking perfect size, fitting beautifully into my large hands.

  “Aiden,” she whimpers, grinding against me, her hand cupping me through my slacks. I practically tear the button from my pants off in my haste to get them undone, shoving them down my thighs as I fist my dick, giving it a few quick jerks.

  Spreading her legs, Sophie hooks her fingers into her panties, tugging them to the side, presenting me with her glistening pink pussy that’s begging for me to slide into its wet warmth. A low guttural noise escapes the back of my throat, more animalistic than human.

  Sliding the tip of my cock through her juices, I position myself at her entrance before pushing all the way into her. “Fuck,” I grunt when I’m fully seated inside of her, feeling her tight walls rippling around me.

  Feeling the overwhelming urge to move, I pull back out of her, slamming in again. Over and over I thrust into her and she meets me stride for stride. There’s no other noise in the room except our laboured breathing and the slap of skin on skin.

  My eyes are transfixed on her, watching as every time I hit that perfect spot deep within her, she flushes a darker color, her eyes widen and she releases a small cry or whimper.

  Reaching my fingers down between us, I barely graze the top of her clit when I feel her walls clamping down on me. Her head falls back as she groans out my name, her eyes slamming closed as pleasure overtakes her. She’s so fucking beautiful when she comes.

  I can feel my own orgasm cresting, but I’m not done with her yet. I’m not ready to leave this moment and return to reality. Pulling out of her, I flip her over. Her stomach and chest press against the flat surface of the table, her ass up in the air, mine for the taking.

  Slamming back into her again, I stroke my hand over her tight ass, giving it a quick slam and relishing in how she tightens around my dick at the action, a soft gasp escaping her.

  At a quicker speed than before, I begin pistoning in and out of her, watching as her hands reach out, grabbing on to the edge of the desk for support.

  Swiping my fingers through her juices, I bring my hand up to her asshole, pushing the tip in and watching her for a reaction. When she pushes back against me, demanding more, I push into the knuckle.

  “Fuck, Aiden,” she groans.

  “You like?”

  “Yeah.” The word is barely more than a whispered moan as I plunge my finger in and out of her a few times, before adding a second.

  The noises coming from her become fucking wild as she comes apart beneath me again, cursing my name as her muscles clench down on me. The feel of her squeezing around me, pulling me even deeper into her, sends me over the edge. With one final thrust, I explode inside of her. “Fuck, Sophie,” I grunt, collapsing on top of her, my forehead resting against her shoulder blade.

  We stay like that for several minutes until our breathing’s back to normal and the cold air of the classroom seeps under our skin. Ki
ssing her shoulder, I lift off of her, pulling out and tucking myself away.

  Turning away, I grab her clothes for her, handing them to her, while I button my shirt and fix my blazer.

  Ten minutes later and the only telltale signs that amazing sex just happened in this room are our swollen lips and the glazed look in Sophie’s eyes.

  “Blankets?” I ask, remembering why we were wandering around the school in the first place.

  “Yes,” she breathes, her face still flushed.

  Half an hour later and we’re back in the library after a successful quest to find blankets. We even found some cushions we can use as pillows if need be.

  “What took you guys so long?” Ty asks us with a knowing smirk when we step into the small study room at the back of the library.

  He’s laid out a small buffet of food options on the table. A few sandwiches, chocolate bars, chips and sodas. There’s even a bottle of scotch on the table. I wonder what teacher he swiped that from.

  Making a nest out of the hoard we brought back from the drama department, we each grab some food and get comfy on the floor.

  “How long do you think we’ll be here for?” Sophie asks. Honestly, I’ve no idea. I’d rather Preston and Barrett be careful and not come back for us until tomorrow, than risk coming back too soon and putting us all at risk.

  “Probably late tonight or early tomorrow,” I guess.

  “Don’t worry, love,” Ty reassures, giving her one of his easy smiles. “It’ll be just like a sleepover. We can watch movies on the computer and play drinking games. You can spill all of your dark, dirty secrets,” he laughs.

  Chapter 25

  “Who’s up for a game of truth or dare?” I waggle my eyebrows, bringing the bottle of scotch to my lips and taking a gulp before handing it to Sophie. The three of us are sitting in a circle on the floor, surrounded by throws and cushions.