11. Blaise

“Kiss me, Cole,” Allie’s voice drifts through the door, and I fist my hands, ear pressed to the wood. “I’ve missed you. Did you miss me?”

I can’t hear Cole’s response, my brows knitting together as I strain to listen. Are they kissing? Does he want her?

I grind my teeth, cursing myself for hovering outside my brother’s bedroom door like a peeping Tom, but my skin crawls at the thought of his girlfriend anywhere near him after the way he looked at me from beneath his heavy lids in the shower. I can’t stop thinking about his soaked hair plastered to his forehead or how the water beaded on his lips, a droplet clinging to the end of his nose while he stroked his hard dick. Fuck me... I’m ruined after seeing him wet and horny, surrounded by steam. The way he stared at me as he pleasured himself, trying to reach a high that seemed far away until I curled my fingers around his wrist.

He didn’t stop me.

I should have stayed away, but I didn’t.

Despite my better judgment, I reach for the door handle, hesitating. What am I doing? Why am I here?

I let my hand fall away, then form a fist. Allie giggles on the other side of the door, and something ugly stirs from deep within. My knuckles turn white as I inhale a steadying breath, feeling my chest expand.

Get yourself together, Blaise.

I slowly uncurl my fingers on an exhale, my heart aching and throbbing.

Fuck this…

Turning on my heel, I drag a trembling hand through my hair. I’m a fucking mess, and my emotions are all over the place after I let a stranger touch me last night. What started as a fun game, a thrill to add a little color to my boring life, soon left me empty and restless.

I’m no closer to figuring out who hides behind that damn mask. Why’s that? Because I got too caught up in the moment.

Fucking weak.

I enter the kitchen and open the fridge, allowing the cool air to clear my head.

Cole didn’t pull away or tell me to fuck off. No, he came almost as soon as I touched him, his wet lips parting with a shuddering breath as cum rained over my wrist.

“Fuck…” I slam the fridge door shut but pause when the landline rings, the shrill tone tensing my shoulders. Who the hell could that be now? Dragging my hand down my face, I blow out a long breath, exhausted and fed up with my internal turmoil.

It rings again, so I cross the room and pick up the phone without checking the caller ID.

Leaning back against the counter, I balance it between my shoulder and ear as I fish my mobile out of my pocket.

“Hello.” I swipe the screen, noting a new message from Tiago.

“Cole? Is that you?” a slurred voice rasps.

I stiffen, looking up as the man in question and his annoying girlfriend enter the room. They stop in the doorway as though they didn’t expect to see me there.

For once, I’m swallowing thickly for a different reason.

A pang of…something throbs behind my ribcage.

“It’s me…your dad. I’ve been thinking…” His words fade into the background when Cole’s eyes clash with mine.

He walks past, his leather scent lingering for long moments. I clench a muscle in my cheek, staring at the expanse of his broad back. His gray T-shirt is stretching over his shoulders, and his combats sit low on his hips, accentuating his toned legs and fine-as-hell⁠—

“I want to see you,” Cole’s dad slurs through the line.

I turn my back and stare out the window, watching Mia pull up outside. After exiting her car, she talks briefly to my dad, who shuts the trunk on the suitcases.

“Cole? Talk to⁠—”

“Wrong number,” I grit out, lowering the phone from my ear and ending the call.

“Who was that?” Allie asks, seated at the table, peeling a mandarin while Cole roots through the fridge.

Placing the phone back in the holder, I tear my gaze away from the window.

Some people peel off small pieces, but not Allie. No, she makes a game out of creating a long spiral. I watch her, feeling Cole’s eyes on me as he shuts the fridge.

Guilt eats me up from the inside despite the overwhelming sense of protectiveness, which has my chest tightening. His father is an asshole who only calls here when he’s drunk. Sometimes, he’s regretful, begging for forgiveness. Other times, he shouts abuse.

I’ve managed to intercept every call, but there will come a day when Cole picks up. I told his mom once, and she changed the number, but it didn’t stop him. Nothing does.

“Mia is here,” I say, pocketing my phone, and Allie cranes her neck to see outside, her face lighting up.

Cole lingers behind when she leaves the room in a cloud of citrus fruit, perfume, and undertones of her boyfriend’s cologne.

I fucking hate his smell on her.

Leaning back against the counter again, I finally lift my gaze, my heart thudding as our eyes clash in a hurricane of unspoken words.

Why does he make me feel this way? I want to blur the lines for him.

I mean, fuck, I sought him out last night, hiding in the shadows of his room, listening to his steady breathing. When he woke up, I felt…relief.

I could finally breathe again.

He speaks first, staring at me from across the table. “Why did you do it?”

“Why did I do what?” I ask, letting my eyes fall down his body and back up, lingering on the veins in his arms and his tense jaw.

How can he have such a chokehold on me? I don’t get it, yet here I am, feeling my heart pound harder while he grinds his teeth. I wonder if he can sense this pull between us or if it’s all in my head. When he looks away, I want those conflicted eyes back on me.

I’m growing addicted to how it hurts when he looks at me with such fury.

“Don’t play games with me.”

“Isn’t that what we do?” I question, and he reluctantly trains his attention back on me. “Play games.”

“You…” he starts, breaking eye contact and shaking his head before raking his fingers through his hair, twisting the strands as though he needs the pricking pain to help him focus. “Don’t fucking touch me again.”

“You didn’t stop me.”

He drops his hand to his side as a look of disgust or anger—maybe both—twists his features. I try so fucking hard not to let him sink the knife deeper into my chest, but I know it’s a lost battle when he looks at me again. I felt numb for so long and lost in a gray world. Then he entered the picture. I’m not numb anymore, not when he cuts me wide open with his tormented gaze.

I never want him to turn away.

He swallows, his voice trembling as he lifts a shoulder in a small shrug. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

The charged air between us pulsates while we stare at each other.

“Just…” He clears his throat. “Stay the fuck away.”

Then he’s gone, brushing past me, his scent curling around my aching heart like tendrils of ivy. I stare at the empty doorway with my hands in my pockets until I’m forced to blink because my eyes burn.

Turning to face the window, I watch Allie glue herself to his side the moment he walks outside, batting her wispy lashes and looking so fucking happy.

When he wraps his arm around her shoulder and pulls her into him, I feel sick.

I swing back around before I can do something stupid, like storm outside and haul her off him in front of our parents.

I need her out of the fucking picture.

My eyes catch on the lilies on the kitchen table. Cole’s mom’s pride and joy. Pushing off the counter, I cross the small space and pick up the vase, then hurl it against the fridge. The glass shatters on impact in a spectacular explosion of broken shards and destruction, but the loud crash does nothing to calm me down. If anything, I want more violence. My chest won’t stop aching.

Cole is drivingus to the airport, and our parents are in their own car a few vehicles ahead on the stretching country road as music drifts through the speakers.

Cole drums his thumb on the steering wheel in time with the beat, his other hand surfing the wind outside the open window while the warm breeze teases the dark hairs around his ears and nape. I regret my decision to wear a sweater so soon. We’re not even on the plane yet. Sweat beads on my forehead as I reach behind me to pull the extra layer off, messing up my hair in the process. I toss it beside me, my eyes clashing with Cole’s in the rearview mirror.

“Stay the fuck away.”

His words from earlier turn my stomach, and I look away first. Trees pass by in a blur outside as I listen to the guitar riff, jiggling my knee, restless as hell.

A soft touch to the top of my hand makes me stiffen. Mia smiles at me and trails her nails over my knuckles. The urge is there to pull my hand away, but I keep it on my thigh while she threads her fingers through mine. We’re traveling to a ski resort, yet she’s wearing a short skirt and heels.

She sneaks a furtive glance toward the front, then guides my hand to her smooth thigh, parting them in invitation. Unease twists my insides when she sucks on her lip. Why am I feeling this…confused? I’ve never hesitated to touch her before, yet when my fingers graze her damp lace panties, I want to recoil.

But then I feel it.

Cole’s eyes on me.

I lift my gaze and trail the edge of Mia’s panties. He’s no longer tapping his thumb on the steering wheel. Now, he wrings it until his knuckles turn white against the leather.

I dip my fingers beneath the lace, and when Mia realizes we have an audience, she grips my wrist to stop me. Parting her soaked pussy lips, I slide my middle finger knuckle deep into her tight little cunt.

That sensation of wanting to recoil? It’s gone.

I shove my finger deeper, feeling her pussy tighten as I smirk at Cole.

You want me to stay the fuck away from you?

One finger becomes two. I fuck her with slow, sensual strokes while the rock music drowns out her panting breaths and pathetic little moans that don’t do shit for me. Cole stares the whole time, glancing at the road every few seconds.

This is what he wants. What he asked for. I’m staying away.

Mia’s pussy pulsates around my fingers, her grip turning slack on my wrist. The fight is gone. Now that her climax is within reach, she doesn’t care about an audience. She cants her hips and guides me deeper, rocking to meet my touch.

When I look at her, she spreads her legs wider, her heaving tits rising and falling with every ragged breath from her parted lips. I’ve fucked this pussy enough times to know how to get her off in minutes, but I keep her on the edge, slowing down every time she comes too close.

I meet Cole’s stormy gaze and smirk, my hand moving inside Mia’s bunched skirt. He tracks the movement, then swallows thickly before glaring at the road ahead, but his eyes soon return to me—haunted.

As he looks away again, I finish Mia off.

I know the minute she comes apart around my fingers, and I hate how she ripples and pulsates, squirming beside me. But I don’t pull out or allow my mask to crack. Cole can’t have the cake and eat it, too.

I will break him open one way or another.

When he rolls up the window and glances at me again, I slip my fingers from beneath Mia’s skirt and suck them clean, pretending to savor the tangy taste.

I used to love the taste of pussy, but now I have a craving for something else.

Someone forbidden.

And that someone is currently staring at me with a frown between his brows.

“I can’t fucking believe this,”Cole mutters, sliding his duffle bag from his shoulder and tossing it onto the bed. He turns around, his eyes sweeping over the small room and the bed.

“Trust me, I don’t want to share a room with you either,” I grumble, plopping down onto the couch across from him.

He looks at me then, and we watch each other while the girls giggle in the ensuite bathroom. I wish I could read his thoughts. The air is tense, but neither of us says a word. His eyes fall down my body and then back up. He turns away just as quickly, unzipping his bag.

His shoulders tense when I rise to my feet, but he doesn’t turn around or ask me to leave. I’m so close I can smell his cologne, and it’s all I can do not to lose my sanity.

“You want me to stay away?” I whisper against the nape of his neck, lining my chest up with his broad back. He stops breathing when I reach around to tease the sliver of skin where his hoodie meets his combats. His stomach is smooth and warm, and I almost growl as I dip my fingers below the waistband. Shivers erupt over his skin, his pulse pounding. I press my lips to the curve of his neck, where his hair curls enticingly. Fuck, I’ve longed to taste him for so long.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” I ask, sliding my hand lower, avoiding touching his dick.

“Yes,” he whispers even as he melts into me. “Stay the fuck away⁠—”

The girls giggle in the bathroom, and he stiffens, ready to bolt. I chuckle, wrapping my hand around his dick in a possessive hold before he can make his escape.

I don’t stroke him. I hold him, feeling his cock swell in my palm.

“Has your girlfriend ever told you how perfect your dick is, brother?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“No?” I kiss his neck again, sensing his shiver, then pull his earlobe between my teeth, nibbling and sucking. “Admit that you were jealous earlier.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” His voice breaks when I give his dick a small tug.

“Sure, you don’t.” I pull my hand out of his pants when the bathroom door opens.

Mia enters first, with Allie close behind, having reapplied her lipstick and combed her shiny hair.

Without a glance in their direction, Cole escapes to the bathroom, brushing past his girlfriend as though she doesn’t exist. Call me selfish, but it gives me a sense of satisfaction knowing she fails to rattle him as I do.

Mia asks me something, but my attention snags on Cole’s bag, and I do a double take, pulling it closer to me on the bed.

A mask peeks through the creased clothes shoved inside.

Curious, I pick it up.

What the hell?

I stare at the crack, unable to believe my eyes. It was Cole all along? He was the one who chased me with the hockey stick? I broke his mask—this mask… Was it him that first time, too?

What about the fucking messages? My eyes widen.

He sent them…

The mask trembles in my hold, my heart slowing to heavy, insisting thuds. I can’t think. Fuck… It was Cole.

The girls’ annoying giggles fade into muted background noise as my mind spirals out of control.

Glancing at the closed bathroom door, I set my jaw.

I should have guessed that he likes to play games, scared to let the world in on his little secret.

Looking back down at the cracked mask, I trail my thumb over it, then shove it back inside the bag.

He wants to play pretend? Threaten me one second and jerk my dick the next?

Mia comes up behind me and slides her hand over my back. “Are you okay, baby?”

Turning around, I pull her into me. “Never better.”