Addicted After All (Addicted #3)(24)

It’s not even close to being bad.

She mumbles something into the comforter that sounds like, I was just curious.

I take the tub of icing and the tray of sliced apples out of the bag and then roll Lily on her back. She shields her face with her hands.

“I couldn’t help it. I mean, I could, but I just wondered what would feel the best and…and I’m going to stop talking now.”

I straddle her, my knees on either side of her hips, and she peeks out of her fingers, inspecting the icing and the apples in my clutch.

“Am I dreaming?” she whispers.

“No, love.”

She crinkles her nose. “This seems an awful lot like one of my fantasies.” She pauses. “Only you’re supposed to be naked.”

“In time,” I tell her, snapping open the tub of icing.

“So you’re not mad at me?” she asks, propping her body on her elbows.

“I trust you, Lil.” I’d rather her be comfortable when we sleep together than panicked and anxious anyway. I recognize how unfair it must be when I can read all of these sites, have all of this knowledge, and she’s supposedly not allowed any of it—for the sake of not arousing her. We’re going to f*ck regardless.

She reddens even more as she whispers, “Are we going to have sex right now?”

“Why are you whispering?” I say. “Are you hiding someone under the bed?”

“No,” she says, watching me dip an apple in icing.

With my other hand, I cup the spot between her legs, and she writhes beneath me, a breathless sound leaving her lips. My cock throbs a couple times. I’m about to put the apple between her lips, but the moment I lean forward, our window suddenly shatters. I flinch as a projectile thuds hard on the floorboards.

What the hell?

Lily goes rigid in fright, her fingers gripping my biceps.

Climbing off her body, I instinctively position her behind me. “Lil, stay back.” My command is muffled through shouting outside, alarmed voices that echo into our bedroom.

“Come on, go, go!”

“Run. Run! He’s going to see us!”

My pulse is racing with blood-red heat as I start to piece together this incident. A prank. I grind my teeth. A stupid prank. I immediately stand off the bed, and Lily crawls to the edge.

I give her a warning look. “Lily, stay back.” Too much glass litters the floor, and I don’t want her near it. My eyes fall to her abdomen. I have someone else to look out for too. This must trigger a maternal impulse in Lily. She remains still, not following me.

With a pit in my stomach, I step around the sharp shards and pick up a brick, a note attached with a rubber band. I head to the window before I read it, my muscles in taut strands. Right outside, I spot about five teenagers in black hoodies, sprinting across our yard. Floodlights still illuminate the grass.

Only one of the guys turns to look back. And his eyes meet mine. Dead on. I feel how severely sharpened my face is—I sense the malice in my eyes. But it all bleeds away the moment I see the same exact expression in this teenager. The same guy that I grabbed in the street during the paintball prank.

I shake my head at him.

He inhales heavily. And then he sprints away, following his friends. My gaze falls to the cold brick. I snap off the rubber band and unfurl the white paper.

“What does it say?” Lily asks.

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

Fuck your slut.

We all know your brother will too.

With white knuckles, I crumple the paper, my veins on fire. I suppress this irritation. I hate the three-way rumors, but what I hate more are the ones about our kid belonging to Ryke.

“Lo?” she says.

And what I can’t stomach—is Lily’s reaction to these things. It tears her down, and I want her to rise above it all. But it f*cking hurts. I know it. So I’m going to do my best to shield her from this shit.

I pull the velvet purple curtains closed, a lie already concocted in my head. “It’s a bad joke about small dicks. It’s not even funny.”

She nods, probably not even believing me, but she lets it go anyway. Her gaze travels to the glass, the broken window already concealed behind the curtain.

“I’ll clean it later,” I say the moment our door blows open without a knock.

“Hey,” Ryke says. “I heard a…” He sees the glass and then the brick in my hand.

“Here.” I step around the shards and hand him the brick and balled note. “Do what you want with this. It’s nothing to me.”

His shoulders tighten, and he unfurls the note, reading it quickly. His voice lowers so Lily can’t hear him. “This is f*cking wrong.”

“We’ve heard it all before,” I say. “I can deal with it.” I don’t need Ryke to threaten these guys on my behalf. I have a louder voice than him anyway. I’ve always been capable of lashing out. This is the route I’ve never taken before.

Wait and see. Be calm. Try to put my emotions aside to find the better option.

“Are you sure?” Ryke asks me, his eyes flickering to Lily on the bed and back to me.

“They’re not going to break our fragile hearts into little pieces,” I say dryly. “So no one needs to contact a realtor. We’re not moving.” Everyone’s lives have changed too many times because of outside forces. This house is supposed to be our stability, and these teenagers aren’t going to take that away.