Take (Need #2)(29)

My tongue flicks out.

One taste isn’t enough. Fuck, it’ll never be enough.

I thrust up into her hand, sucking her into my mouth.

She whimpers and bites me even harder.

Fuck yeah, I want it. I want the promise of violent sex between us. Want her claw marks running down my back, her bite marks all over me.

“Fuck me, Brayden. Fuck me hard.”

Yes. God, yes. I slide my hands down her slim back, toward her ass.

Sanity shoots through my mind. A momentary burst of common sense.

Not like this. Not. Fucking. Like. This.

I slam back into the wall behind me, at the same time jerking Kira away from me.

On her knees before me, she blinks up at me, expression hazy with lust.

I scramble to my feet, adrenaline pumping through my veins. My cock is so hard he’s practically pointing at her. “No.” My voice breaks; I clear my throat before speaking again. “It’s not happening like this, Kira.”

“I don’t get it. You keep trying to f*ck me.”

“I don’t just want to f*ck you!” Bending down, I run my fingers down her cheek. Smooth. Delicious. If she were sober right now, I’d eat every inch of her. “I want you. Not just your *. And letting you f*ck me while you’re drunk doesn’t help me with that.”

Her calmness evaporates. Jaw clenched, she moves away from me. “I’ll never be your girl, Brayden.”

It hurts every time she says that. Not that I pay too much attention to it. She wants to believe her words, I see that. Regardless, it’s not true. “If you truly believe that, come find me tomorrow. Sober. Come and ask me to f*ck you while you’re fully aware of what you’re asking for.”

I watch her get to her feet. “And if I do?”

Impatience rides me, almost overruling my resolve. I don’t allow myself to contemplate my answer for too long. “If you do . . . then I’ll give you what you want.”

God help her, because I will. I’ll give her every single thing she’s asking for.

“Even if I were to come find you tomorrow, sex is all you’d get from me.”

I laugh. Not because I find this funny, but I can hear the doubt in her tone. “You keep telling yourself that.”

She doesn’t respond. Her stubbornness is almost visible. Without another word, she heads to the entrance of the tree house.

All right. If that’s how she wants to play it, I’ll continue to go along with it. For now. Eventually, I’ll break her down.

When it comes to this—to us—she isn’t more stubborn than I am.





June 10th, 2015





“What is he doing home?”

I grind my teeth as I pull up into the driveway next to my father’s car. It’s past one in the afternoon on a Wednesday. If it wasn’t for Kira’s car sitting out front, I’d turn my ass back around before walking inside. I’m ninety percent sure he’s cheating on Sonia. All the signs are there—late nights working, missing dinner, fighting, and a waning of affection between them.

I’m not even out of my car when the * opens the garage door and walks out. He stops mid-step to stare at me before continuing on.

“How did it go?” He shuffles his suit jacket from one arm to the other and pulls his keys out, keeping his gaze from mine.

“Good. I found an apartment near campus in the same complex Ryan and Dana are in.”

He gives a curt nod. “How much is that going to set me back a month?”

I clench my teeth. “About the same.” I hate these conversations. The awkward, stilted flow of forced words from a broken relationship. It’s almost like we’re strangers, and I don’t know if it will ever change. I don’t even know if I want it to. I hate him.

After throwing his jacket in the car, he sighs and looks up at me. “I wish you’d decided years ago to go to OSU instead of changing in your last year of undergrad. Would have saved me thousands in out-of-state tuition.”

It takes everything in me not to go off on him, to explode out all the feelings I’ve been holding back for years.

I shrug, the tension thickening between us. “Yeah, well, it’s where I’m going to get my Master’s, so I figured why not go now?”

“That, and your sister is going there.” I hate his tone. The way he accentuates that one word.

“She’s not my sister.” It’s an automatic response, and one I’ve practically growled at my father. Too late to take it back now.

A triumphant sneer forms on his lips. “The law says so, and everyone knows she’s your stepsister.”

His attitude screams out that he knows I want Kira. Not that it matters. I don’t care what people are going to think anymore.

“Fuck that.”

His eyes flash as he slams the car door and stomps over to me. We’re eye to eye, but that doesn’t mean he stops trying to appear larger than me.

“Listen and listen good, Brayden. I am your f*cking father, and you will respect me and what I’m about to say.”

I let out a harsh laugh and shake my head, my eyes hard. “After all the shit you’ve done? You lost that a long time ago.”

He grabs hold of my shirt and pushes me back against the side of my car. Face inches from mine, the explosive, testosterone-fueled rage I know all too well—one of his character traits I inherited—emanates from him. My fists are balled up, ready to lay the f*cker out.