Chapter 12

Alexzander

The next day, Gunnir acted like nothing had happened. Like he hadn't threatened to cut Ophelia. Like I hadn't pulled a gun on him. It unnerved me. Normally when I pissed him off, he'd stomp around the house and pout and make life miserable for a few days. If he was acting like everything was fine and dandy, it meant he had something up his sleeve to make me pay for last night.

I'd just wanted to make her feel good. I wanted to feel her chasing my fingers instead of trying to get away from me. I liked that my dick responded to the scoop of her hips, and the soft moans that escaped her lips made me as hard as the crying and fighting. I loved that I didn't feel guilty for the erection because it wasn't for The Man's reasons.

But I had fucked up.

Gunnir would never accept anything aside from what The Man taught him, and that lesson had been simple: You caught them, fucked them in the most selfish ways, and got rid of them once you grew bored. Unlike Gunnir, I never had sex with them to hurt them. I just did it to please myself. And the way she bucked against my hand pleased me. I liked the soft pout of her lips as her eyes closed and the pleasure built inside her. Pleasure I created. When the moans she tried to hold back leaked from her lips, it did something to me. And now she would pay for it.

Gunnir would never understand the reasons why I wanted to touch her like that. I hardly understood it myself, but I tried to make it make sense. It was what I wanted, not what she wanted. He didn't see the way she resisted and pleaded for me to stop. He didn't hear me command her to sit between my legs and let me explore her body. Gunnir walked in only once she started to enjoy my touch. But that was enough to send him spiraling.

Ophelia stood by the stove, cooking dinner in her little maid outfit and trying to avoid looking at Gunnir. I couldn't help watching her because the full cuffs of her ass beneath her panties made my mouth water. I wanted to bury my face between her legs as she bent over the sink.

But why? Why would I want to do that?

Jesus, my head was off. We didn't eat them out. We never put our mouths on them like that. But Ophelia was so pure, and I wanted to devour her innocence and swallow every drop.

"Did you hear me?" Gunnir asked.

"What?" I said, breaking from the delicious thought of being on my knees behind Ophelia.

Gunnir laughed. "Holy fuck, girl. You got Alex here whipped as all get out." His lips tightened. "I said I'd like to have a party. Get the girls dressed all nice and pretty. Play music. Dance."

I didn't like the look in his eyes. His idea sounded innocent, but it wasn't.

Ophelia brought over the plates of baked chicken and steamed vegetables. Each step she took was accented by a wince. She still hurt from the whipping she'd received the night before. There was a subtle twitch of pain in her lips as she turned to walk away.

"Ah ah, girl. Come sit on my lap." Gunnir turned in his chair, his fork still in his hand, and motioned to her.

Each muscle in my body went rigid. She looked at me before stepping toward him and taking a painful seat on his lap. He dug into his food as his hand rested on the small of her back. No one spoke. We just let him eat. He stuffed the chicken into his mouth, only taking his hand off her to rip more meat from the bone. When it was almost picked clean, he held the bone between his greasy fingers and brought it to Ophelia's mouth.

"Suck on it," he said as he rubbed it along her lower lip.

She shook her head.

"If you don't, I'll put my dick in your mouth instead," he cooed, speaking like he was trying to encourage a naughty child to finish the last bite of food on their plate.

Ophelia loosened her lips, and he wiggled the bone into her mouth, groaning as he moved it in and out. When that wasn't enough to satisfy him, he brought his hand to the back of her head and pushed it deeper. As she started to gag, I worried he'd go further and make her blow him. I didn't want to fight my brother again, but I would if he crossed the line. He hadn't yet, but he was inching closer.

"You sure can suck, can't you?" Gunnir asked as he pulled the bone from her mouth. "Now I know why you have Alex so fucking pussy whipped."

"I don't," she whispered, wiping the grease from her chin.

"You do. I've known Alex his entire life, and I never thought I'd walk in on him trying to make a bitch come," Gunnir said with a laugh. He turned toward me. "What were you going to get out of it?"

I had to think fast. "I'd have fucked her after. Have you been inside them once you make them come? It's even better if you're inside them when they come. The way they clench your dick..." I gave a convincing groan.

Gunnir's eyes narrowed on me. "You're telling me you've made other bitches come from fucking them?"

"Yeah. They fight the fuck out of it, but that almost makes it feel better." It was true. It happened out of nowhere, usually. I'd fuck them in just the right way, and they would cry harder as they clenched around me. Nothing made me come faster than that surprise orgasm ripping through them. I had gotten close with Ophelia. She'd started to spasm around me and I'd wanted to push her over the edge, but she never got there. Maybe that's why I wanted to bring her there so badly now.

"That ain't never happened to me," Gunnir said.

I laughed. "Not surprised, considering that stubby little dick of yours."

He released Ophelia, and she fell to her back as he jumped to his feet. She landed with a thud and backed herself across the hardwood floors to get away from him.

"What'd you say about my dick?" Gunnir stepped closer, keeping his arms slightly lifted from his sides to make himself look larger.

I stood and stared into his squinted eyes. "It's about the size of that fucking chicken bone," I said with a smirk.

"Fuck you, Alex. Always thinking you're better than me."

Gunnir had lost all interest in Ophelia. I gave her a gentle wave toward the bedroom, and she lifted her chain so it wouldn't make a sound as she slipped away to safety.

Good girl,I thought, before Gunnir came at me with his fist.

I dodged his initial blow, but the second swing connected with the right side of my face. I stumbled back a step, touching my cheek for a moment before I charged at him and knocked him off his feet. My fists pummeled his face until his nose sprayed blood.

"Fuck you, Gunnir. I am better than you," I said. I launched a wad of spit to the floor near his head. "You're everything I hated about The Man."

"Get the fuck off me," he growled as he bucked me off him much too easily. "Go kiss your bitch's feet before I fucking kill you!"

I shook out my hand, got up, and walked to my bedroom, locking the door behind me. Ophelia sat on the floor, but she jumped to her feet and came toward me when she heard the lock click. She took my hand in hers and ran her fingers over my bloody knuckles.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you cause a fight like that?"

"He would have done something worse to you."

She shook her head. "Why protect me, though? What good can come from it?"

"Nothing good will come from it, but things are already in motion toward a destination I don't fucking like. So, it is what it is."

She leaned in and kissed me, her chain rattling as she lifted her other hand to my face. My body tensed. She shouldn't have seen me as some white knight. I wasn't. I was fiercely possessive of her. I selfishly wanted to keep her for myself, and I was messing with the household's dynamic to keep a hold on her. I didn't do it because I liked how smart she was or how she was stronger than other girls when she was beneath me. It wasn't because she could wipe the floor with me in checkers or because she seemed to care when I showed her a picture of my mother. It wasn't because she remembered something as stupid as how I liked my eggs.

Fuck. It was all those things.

And it couldn't be any of them.

I stopped her deepening kiss and put distance between us by holding her shoulders. I'd put more distance between us with what I said next. "I don't do what I do because I'm a saint. I do it because I'm a demon disguised as one."

Her lower lip formed a perfect pout, and her eyes lifted to mine. "I don't understand."

"I'm not protecting you. I'm owning you. I'm keeping you from him because I don't want anyone else touching you. I want to be the only one inside you. You can't like me, Ophelia. If he thinks you like me, he'll kill you. If he thinks I like you, he'll kill me. No matter what, you have to be disgusted by me. You have to hate me around him." I drew a sharp inhale. "You have to hate me anyway."

Her lip trembled and her eyes rounded with a sadness I'd never seen. "Oh," she said. She took a step back...and then another.

Seeing how my truth broke her made my heart ache, but I had to set these boundaries between us. For both of us. I doubled down. "Did you really think I cared about you?"

Tears welled in her eyes. "No."

She was lying—that word was as plastic as when she pretended to get off—but I was lying too. I cared for her in ways I'd never cared for anyone before. But this house was too small, leaving no room for feelings like that. If Gunnir had lost his mind because I'd tried to get her off, there was no telling how he would react if he knew I was falling for her.

Maybe I didn't have to make her feel completely rejected. I was a Bruggar, after all, and the way she'd come onto me moments before had made me throb. I could put the ball in her court and let her decide. "Don't just stand there like a whipped puppy. If you want something, I'll give it to you, but just be sure you know what this is. If you want something good between the evil here, that's fine, but it's not love or anything."

I expected her to stay back. I could still see the hurt on her face. Instead, she surprised me and walked back into my arms. I didn't kiss her, though. I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to her knees.

"Show me how you can suck, O," I commanded as I fisted her hair.

She kept silent as I worked down my jeans and pulled out my cock, then her eyes found mine as she wrapped her hand around my dick and stroked me. There was a jagged roughness when I forced someone's hand onto my dick, but Ophelia's touch was soft and smooth, riding from the base to the tip. I'd fucked a lot, but I could count on one hand the times a woman willingly stroked me.

I grabbed the back of her head, but she placed her hand on my wrist.

"Alex, let me do it," she whispered.

Though it went against everything I'd been taught, I let her take control. My hands dropped to my sides, and she opened her mouth and guided me past her waiting lips. My abs tightened as her warm tongue wrapped around me in a way it couldn't when I forced her. It swirled around the head, and I fought the intense urge to grab the back of her head and fuck her face. There was no need to, though. She brought me to the back of her throat.

Willingly.

"Goddamnit, O," I growled. I wrapped my hand within her dark hair without disrupting the movement of her mouth. The way she sucked me felt better than when she fought me, and I didn't want to interrupt this gift she'd given me. I'd never felt such a thing.

It felt too fucking good, though, and I still had plans to make my earlier fantasy a reality. I dragged her onto her feet and kissed her hard. Before she could catch her breath, I led her to the dresser and pushed her chest onto it. I kicked open her legs and her breath hitched, anticipating what she thought would happen next. She had no idea what I wanted to do to her. As much as my dick throbbed to be inside her, I had no plans to force myself on her. Instead, I dropped to my knees.

"Alex," she whimpered.

"What, O?" I asked, blowing a warm breath over her swollen clit.

"I don't know if I want this," she whispered.

"Just hide your moans."

I didn't care what Gunnir thought at that moment. I only wanted to taste her on my tongue. I licked from the swell of her clit to her entrance. I'd never had the urge to go down on a woman, but once I tasted her, it ignited a fire in my belly. She smelled like me. Like the soap we'd used in the shower earlier. She bit into her arm to muffle the whimpers she couldn't control, and her body reacted to each movement of my tongue. I stroked my dick as she grinded on my face from above. I gripped her perfect ass with my other hand and licked at her until her thighs trembled.

"Come for me," I growled against her.

Like a wave, her orgasm swelled and headed for shore. I shoved my fingers inside her and rubbed her clit with my thumb as I licked and nipped at her sensitive, swollen lips. She squeezed around me and clutched the wood, shuddering so hard it made the mirror rattle against the wall. I fucked her with my fingers until she stopped quivering, until her body only jolted with each pass of my thumb over her clit. When I knew she'd ridden out the last of that wave, I stood up, turned her around, and kissed her.

"Clean me up, O," I said against her mouth. She went to lift her hand toward my face, but I pinned it at her side. She understood what I wanted and licked my chin in a long, broad stroke. "Good fucking girl," I growled.

We were heading for the deep end without a life preserver. No one was there to save us, and we were too caught up in each other to save ourselves.