Sweet Obsession (Nights Series #4)(9)

Catherine held out a hand, stalling him. She studied Luke for a long time, her blue gaze sending a shiver down his spine.

“Thank you for this offer, Luke. We will get back to you soon.”

Luke’s hands fisted at his sides as he stared at Ash’s aunt. The fact that she was deliberately going to let him stew hardly came as a shock. She was a vile woman and the faster he got her and her husband out of Ash’s affairs, the better.

And for that, I’d be willing to do anything.

That thought came to haunt Luke a few days later. On the night before Ash’s seventeenth birthday, Catherine called him with a counteroffer that chilled him to the bones.

“Peter and I would be happy to accept the terms of your contract. On one condition.”

Luke dug his nails into his palms as he waited, knowing Catherine’s long pause was intentional.

“I want you to have sex with us,” Catherine said calmly.

Luke froze then, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly for an instant.

“What?” he barked when he could speak again.

“Since you had us tailed, I’m sure you’ve discovered that Peter and I have some rather special…interests when it comes to our sex lives,” Catherine said in a voice devoid of shame.

Luke ran a hand through his hair and stared out of his bedroom window toward the dark ocean pounding the shoreline at the bottom of the cliff. When the PI firm had reported the Bernardinos’ visits to several notorious swingers and BDSM clubs in the San Francisco area, Luke had not been completely surprised. He’d seen the way Catherine looked at him over the last year and sensed her sexual interest despite her open hostility toward him.

The current situation no doubt thrilled her twisted soul.

“That’s all you have to do, Luke,” Catherine said in a saccharine tone. “Just have sex with us once and we’ll sign this contract and be on our way.”

Luke swallowed, his heart vacillating between hope and disgust. If he did as they asked, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to face Ash again. And he suspected Catherine knew this too.

“So, what’s it going to be, Mr. Rutherford?” Catherine asked, the glee in her voice so obvious Luke felt like tossing the phone right out the window.

“I’ll do it,” he finally whispered, a deep pain piercing through him.

“Tomorrow night. Nine o’clock. We’ll be waiting upstairs in the bedroom.”





Chapter 8





Luke’s pulse stuttered. “But it’s—”

“Ash’s birthday?” Catherine said sweetly. “Don’t worry. He’s spending it at boarding school.”

Luke felt a part of himself die when she disconnected. He listened to the dial tone for a long time as he stared blindly into space, wondering if he was insane for having agreed to go ahead with this, knowing Catherine had deliberately picked tomorrow’s date to further twist the knife already embedded in his heart.

Ash’s face swam across his vision a second later.

Luke swallowed. He’s worth it. He’s worth everything. He closed his eyes. It’s just one time.

Luke repeated that mantra the whole of that sleepless night and into the next day. He repeated it even as he headed into the Colby family home that evening and took the stairs to the bedroom that had once been Ash’s parents. He repeated it when Catherine ordered him to sit, fully clothed, in an armchair and watch while she and Peter had sex in front of him. Repeated it even when she beckoned him to stand at the end of the bed, pulled his zipper down, and gave him a blow job.

Luke didn’t think he could hate the woman any more than he already did until she looked up at him after a minute of trying to get him hard.

“Why don’t you pretend I’m Ash?” she murmured coyly, her red-tipped fingers stroking his limp cock while she sucked his shaft.

Luke had frozen then, air locking in his throat as he stared down at her. Fury sent a red mist across his vision. He grabbed the back of Catherine’s head and jerked her lips off his flesh.

“What did you just say?” Luke bit out.

Peter groaned where he pumped his dick in Catherine’s body, Luke’s action having obviously caused her to clench tightly around him. He came a second later, his animal grunts echoing around the bedroom, the mattress squeaking erratically beneath him.

Catherine moaned and licked her lips, her slutty gaze still on Luke’s face.

“I’ve seen the way you look at him. Like you want to sink your dick into his ass.” She smiled. “Just close your eyes and pretend I’m him. I’m sure you’ve fantasized about Ash blowing you when you’ve jerked off to the shitty kid before.”

For one wild moment, Luke had wanted to hit her.

The thrill that flashed in Catherine’s eyes when she read the expression on his face was what stayed Luke’s hand. It would only satisfy her and he would no doubt live to regret his action. Catherine opened her mouth wide and took Luke deep inside her throat while Peter started jacking himself off behind her.

Luke curled his fingers in Catherine’s hair and dropped his head back. He stared blindly at the ceiling, self-hatred and revulsion a quagmire threatening to drown him.

He’s worth this.

So Luke closed his eyes and thought of Ash—the person he loved more than life itself, the one he was doing this for. Luke still couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment he’d fallen for the boy he’d doted on all his life and who had worshipped him from the moment he could walk. The only thing Luke was certain of was that he had never before felt this burning desire for another human being, male or female, in his entire life.