Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Starling

I stare up at the ceiling, my mind going in a thousand directions, making it impossible to sleep.

Abbot snores beside me. For a brief moment, I have to fight the urge to put a pillow over his head.

I think back to the dinner and cake Hudson surprised me with and feel myself soften a little toward the man. As much as he puts me on edge, I can't deny that it was an incredibly sweet thing for him to do.

Grrrr. He's so damn confusing. If he were just this way, I would have easily let my guard down around him. But the soft touches, innuendos, and flirty comments remind me that there's a reason I keep my walls sky-high. He's looking for a weak spot. Once he finds it, he'll pounce, and then there will be no more Mr. Nice Guy. Not that he's ever really nice. I'm sure there was an ulterior motive for tonight too; I just haven't figured it out yet.

I blow out a frustrated breath and look at the clock. It's 1:30 a.m., and I don't seem to be any closer to sleep. The house is quiet, so I assume Hudson is either in bed or out again. I bite my lip, contemplating whether or not warming up some milk will help.

When Abbot starts mumbling in his sleep, I give up and quietly slip out of bed.

I pad naked to the door and grab Abbot's oversized hoodie from the hook on the back of it. My housecoat is in the other room, and I don't want to get dressed just to go downstairs. The hoodie hits mid-thigh, so it covers everything anyway.

I creep down the stairs and head to the kitchen, looking over my shoulder to make sure that nobody's sneaking down behind me. I almost laugh at how ridiculous I'm being, until I walk into the kitchen and find the light above the stove on and Hudson sitting at the island with a bottle of beer in his hand and his tablet in front of him.

I freeze, ready to leave, but he must sense me because he looks up and stares at me. His eyes move over my body, down to my bare legs, and back up again, making me very much aware of the fact that I'm not wearing anything under this hoodie.

"Sorry, I'm just going to—" I step back, but Hudson gets to his feet and walks toward me.

"Stay."

I look up at him but say nothing. He takes my hand and leads me over to the island.

"Can't sleep?"

I shake my head as I move to sit on one of the chairs, but he stops me. His hands slide to my waist, and he lifts me up onto the counter. I suck in a sharp breath when he steps between my thighs instead of backing away.

"Eighteen, huh? How does it feel to be all grown up?"

Coming from anyone else, it would sound creepy. But his words make my pussy throb, much to my dismay.

"Hudson." My strangled voice comes out as a plea. I need to get out of here.

He leans closer, his hips forcing my legs to part farther as his lips skim over the shell of my ear. "I heard you before, you know. Your soft little moans as my son played with your pussy."

I gasp at his words.

"But then he left you high and dry again, just like he always does. That's the trouble with boys. All they care about is their own pleasure. A man, though, only cares about his woman's."

His hand slides up my thigh, pushing my hoodie higher, until I grab his hand to stop him.

"Stop. I'm with Abbot."

"Such loyalty to a boy who can't even make you come," he says.

"He's my boyfriend," I lie.

"Well, he's my son, and this is my house, so it's my rules you have to follow."

I frown, getting pissed off. "Are you threatening me?"

"I don't know. Do you feel threatened, little bird?"

"Just let me go, and we'll pretend this never happened."

"Oh no, that won't do at all. See, all I've been able to think about is your tight, slick pussy since I saw you looking so fucking breakable at the wake."

"I'm not sleeping with you." I raise my hand to hit him, but he expects the move and captures my wrist.

"I didn't say anything about sleeping. I want to fuck you hard and often. I want to fill you with my cum and watch it drip from your pussy."

He leans in close again. "I'll like knowing that when you're lying beside my boy, you'll still feel every inch of me inside you."

"No."

"You say that now, but I haven't told you what the stakes are yet."

I freeze at his words, my stomach swirling with the urge to throw up all over him, which would serve him right.

"If you deny me what I want, I'll find an excuse to kick Abbot out of the house."

My eyes close for a second as I absorb just how much of an asshole he is. When I open them, I know they must blaze with the fury I'm feeling. "And when I tell him about this, you'll ruin any chance you have of a relationship with him."

"You want to know something? I don't care. You keep expecting me to act like a good man when I'm far from it. You can tell him what you want, but it won't change the fact that he'll leave, storming out after throwing a punch or two at me. He'll try dragging you with him, but he won't get far with two broken legs. You're right. Maybe that way will be better, and then at least I'll have you all to myself."

I stare at him in horror.

"Or you can let me do whatever the fuck I want to you, and I'll keep it a secret between the two of us. Abbot never needs to know."

A whimper escapes my lips. The choices are so awful that nobody would agree to them. But I can't see Abbot on the streets. He has his whole life ahead of him. He's so close to getting out of this godforsaken place. How can I take that from him?

Besides, if I tell him, he'll murder Hudson or die trying.

"I don't believe you. You'll fuck me, then fuck him over anyway."

"No, I won't. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not a monster. I do want my son to be happy."

"Liar," I hiss at him.

His hand is wrapped around my throat before I can say anything else, holding me in place. "So brave in defense of my son. It would be adorable if it weren't for one thing."

He dips his head, his lips barely an inch from mine.

"What thing?" I breathe.

"That you're not his anymore. You're mine."

He slams his mouth down over mine, swallowing my protests as I try to shove him away. But he's stronger than me, holding me against him. He moves the hand from my throat and slides it up my thigh and under the hoodie before his fingers skate across the lips of my pussy. He pushes one finger inside me with embarrassing ease.

"Stop." I tear my mouth from his, my lips feeling swollen, my body feeling like a live wire.

"Your mouth says no, but your pussy says yes." He pulls his finger free and holds it up for me to see how wet it is. "What's it gonna be, Birdie?" He slips his finger into his mouth and sucks it clean.

I don't answer. How can I? My head tells me to run, but all I can see is Abbot's face after being rejected by another parent. I can't let that happen to him again.

"Let's go tell him to pack his shit and get out."

He takes a step back, but I reach out and grab his arm. Decision made. Now, I've just gotta commit to it.

There are times, despite the agony, when I know I need to soldier on. And moments, like now, when surrendering is my only option. I let the fight drain out of me as the man I had once hoped would be our salvation, becomes our enemy. Tears pool in my eyes at the taste of victory on his lips as he destroys me, claiming me as his spoils of war.

"I'll be yours."

"Say it again. Louder this time."

"I'm yours."

"Yes, you fucking are."

His mouth is on mine again, his tongue slipping between my lips to duel with mine. He tastes like beer and blackmail. This man will be my downfall.

He reaches down and yanks the hoodie up. He waits for me to raise my arms before he pulls it free and tosses it to the floor, leaving me naked in more ways than one.

"Fuck me," he whispers reverently, before he dips his head and sucks one of my nipples into his mouth.

I feel wetness pool between my legs, sparking a surge of anger inside me. How dare he do this to me? How dare he turn my own body against me.

He switches to the other breast, sucking my nipple hard before nipping it with his teeth and then soothing the sting with his tongue. He pushes me to lay back, my hands gripping the edge of the counter as I lay down. The cold granite making me gasp, but I hold still, waiting for Hudson's next move.

"You have no idea how much I've thought about this. Of seeing your pussy split open by my cock."

I feel him line himself up and press against me.

"Tell me to stop, and I will."

And Abbot will end up on the streets, and he'll keep me and fuck me anyway, just to prove what a big man he is.

I keep my mouth shut as he presses just the head inside me.

"Tell me you want me, Birdie."

Go to fucking hell.

I refuse to tell him I want him, so I offer him something else instead. "Fuck me, Hudson."

Whatever restraint he had snaps as he surges inside me. I gasp as I stretch to accommodate him. He's so fucking big and deep that it's bordering on painful. He gives me a second to adjust before his hands dig into my hips, and he eases out of me to the tip. I suck in a sharp breath as he thrusts back into me.

"You are so fucking tight. You're strangling my cock."

He starts fucking me then. In and out, over and over, as I stare at the ceiling, wishing I'd stayed in bed. He would have caught up to me eventually, but I wasn't ready for eventually to be now.

I'm not ready.

And he doesn't care one little bit.

He lifts my left leg and rests it on one of the barstools, opening me up farther for him. "Your pussy looks so good taking my cock. Does it feel good?"

I don't answer. A dark voice in my head asks me if I'm keeping quiet because I don't want to admit the truth. I can feel how wet I am, after all.

"Tell me, Birdie, does Abbot make you this wet? Does he fuck you this deep?"

He thrusts into me hard, making me whimper, his cruel words beating against me as his fingers play with my clit. I feel something inside of me twist and coil as my eyes squeeze closed with shame.

I'm going to come. I know it, and he knows it.

He's not lying. What he's doing to me feels a thousand times better than anything I've ever experienced. And the truth makes me hate us both.

"Admit it. You like fucking your boyfriend's dad. It turns you on. I bet you'll think about it later when you're lying next to him. You'll slip your hand under the blankets you share, slide your fingers inside the pussy that's still wet with my cum, and get yourself off."

My womb spasms at his words.

"Come for me, Birdie. Show me you're mine."

I fight it, I really do, but he pinches my clit hard, ripping the orgasm out of me, my back arching. I feel him swell inside me, and he comes, whispering my name as he fucks me through the aftershocks of my reaction to him.