Wretched (Never After Series)(49)

His hand grasps the side of my face, cupping my cheek. He opens his mouth but hesitates, his eyes shuttering like he’s trying to figure out what to say. “It’s not a girlfriend… it’s my sister.”

I squint my eyes. “You don’t have a sister.”

“I do.”

Slowly, I lower the gun.

He grabs my palm immediately, tangling our fingers together and dragging me behind him. I follow, too stunned from his tender touches and his revelations to argue.

My mind races as we walk down the hallway and through the stairwell. He maneuvers around the building as if he knows it intimately, and my heart squeezes tight, wondering if he’s lying.

Cody said he had no relatives.

He opens a side door to the outside and the cool air smacks my face, but even then he doesn’t stop until he’s pulled me around the side of the building into a small, dark alley. He yanks back his hand like I lit him on fire.

I shake my head, raising my gun again. “You’re lying to me.”

His eyes darken and he snaps forward, twisting my arm quickly, my tendons stretching as he steals the Eagle from my hand, and points it at me. His other palm grasps my wrists tightly, binding them with his strong grip and shoving them above my head and against the wall.

“Let me lay something out for you, sweetheart.” He runs the barrel along the side of my face, the metal scraping against my cheek, my heart surging into my throat. “I’ve been a thief for years. And in that time, I’ve stolen from very dangerous men. Important men. You think I’d do all that without ensuring the safety of people important to me?”

I grind my teeth and push against his hold.

He tightens his grip. “I know you’re not stupid enough to believe you’re the only one with access to government files.”

Confusion swims through my head even though everything he’s saying makes sense. In fact, if I were in his situation I would probably do the same. “My guy would know if your documents were fake.”

He smirks, pressing his hips farther into me. “You sure about that?”

“No,” I admit grudgingly. “Get my gun out of my face.”

“Doesn’t feel so good when it’s on the other side, does it?” The barrel is cold as he glides it along the skin of my neck, dragging it down at a torturous pace until it caresses my collarbone. “I scrubbed the fact I had a sister. Made up some stories about a lonely kid who lived a normal life until he lost his mom. Congratulations, you fell for it. Just like everybody else.”

My heart rate speeds, adrenaline thrumming through every single vein. “Let me go.”

“You’re hardly in the position to be demanding.”

My fingers are starting to go numb from his grip around my wrists, and I shift, the brick scratching against my back even through my clothes. If I wanted to fight, if I truly wanted to, then I know I could, but for whatever reason, I don’t.

If I’m honest, this is why I showed up, isn’t it? Why I jumped in my car, gun half-cocked, ready to get in Brayden’s face and piss him off. It wasn’t to demand answers, not entirely anyway. It was because my emotions were exploding, and the only one who takes the hits, the only one who lets me feel… is him. He doesn’t tell me to get it together, or to not be exactly who I am. Instead, he cushions the blow, making sure my pieces don’t scatter in the wind. And maybe that’s why I revel in his attention, lusting for the way his jaw muscles tic and his eyes grow dark when he puts me in my place. Or when he gives up his control.

He may have given Dorothy soft kisses and fancy dinners, but he doesn’t give her this.

I slacken in his hold, becoming pliant, his breath skating across my cheek as he maneuvers my gun along the planes of my body. He notices the shift and moves in closer until his body is flush with mine.

My teeth sink into my lower lip, and his eyes drop to follow the movement.

“You like this, don’t you, pretty girl,” he rasps, pressing the weapon against the side of my neck. “Does it excite you?”

“Stop flattering yourself.” My voice comes out breathy.

“It does.” He smiles, dipping his head down until his lips graze against my skin. “I’ll tell you a secret. The thought of doing things to you right here in this dirty alley has me so fucking hard.”

My insides quake at his words and I push halfheartedly against him, trying like hell to hold on to my anger from a few minutes ago and failing miserably.

“You have me so. Fucking. Hard.”

He keeps my arms pinned as he works his way over my breasts with the Eagle, slipping the barrel between my cleavage. My nipples tighten, aching for his touch.

“I want to fuck you here,” he says, pulling the gun back so my shirt peels away from my skin. “I spent days memorizing the curves of your body just to go home and take out my cock, stroking it to the vision of you in my head.”

My teeth sink harder into my lip, the flesh splitting until the tang of warm copper hits my tastebuds.

He moves again, gliding the metal down my sides, goose bumps sprouting in every place he roams.

Voices shout from down the street, echoing off the buildings and growing louder as the seconds pass, but he doesn’t stop. In fact, his erection throbs against me, like the thought of them seeing us turns him on.

“You and these skirts,” he groans, finally releasing my wrists and reaching down to slip his free hand underneath the fabric.