11

11

STACEY

Iwake to Kade standing by the window, looking out with a hand in his pocket, drinking a glass of what I assume is whisky that he must’ve picked up from the bar downstairs.

Ice cubes clink against the glass as he takes a drink – and the gulp is so audible that I can picture the way his throat shifts as he swallows.

I perch on my elbow and rub my knuckles into my eyes to rub away the tiredness. “Do you ever sleep?” I ask groggily as I yawn.

“No,” he replies sternly, taking another sip. “Go back to sleep.”

“That’s all I’ve done since we got here.” I sit up fully and stretch my arms, rocking my head from side to side to fix the cramp in my neck. “How long until we fly out?”

He walks slowly to the bedside unit and checks his phone for the time even though he’s wearing a watch. “A few hours.”

“You should lie down.”

“No.”

“You look tired.”

“I’m not.”

“Kade…”

He rolls his eyes. “Will you shut up if I do?”

I fall back on the bed. “You’re insufferable – do you know that? There’s no need for you to speak to me the way you do. What’s done is done. Stop being a dickhead.”

He laughs dryly, not even slightly amused. “What’s done is done.” Kade licks the whisky from his lips as he stares at me. “Move over.”

I begrudgingly move over to the edge of the bed.

Kade settles on top of the covers, sighing and rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He looks exhausted, and his knuckles are freshly cut again.

I turn onto my side. “Were you fighting?”

He glances at his hand and puts it down at his side, staying quiet as his gaze flickers around the ceiling, as if he’s thinking. His eyelashes are so long and dark, and I impulsively want to tug at them.

The bed is small, and our elbows brush for a millisecond as he gets under the duvet. The touch is more of a graze, but it’s enough to make heat rush to my cheeks.

I lie on my back and fold the duvet around me, my arms straight against my sides.

Kade reaches over to turn the lamp off, bathing us in darkness, but the moonlight gives us a good-enough view of each other’s faces.

The aftershave he used to use when he was younger has been replaced by something more expensive, and it fills my nostrils. I fidget my fingers and try not to breathe too heavily.

He pinches the bridge of his nose, huffing to himself – either because of our situation or the fact that Aria convinced him to come on the trip, and it’s already going sideways.

My chest rises and falls in the quiet as I try my best to remain calm. Sharing a bed with him is fine. We can be mature about this and not make it a thing.

We can pretend my hand wasn’t around his cock last night while he sucked on my nipple. We can pretend that we weren’t in love at one point. We can also pretend we aren’t sharing a hotel bed while hating each other’s guts.

We’ve shared loads of beds; albeit his dick was always inside me, but still. Does he feel it too? The gravitational tug between us? It’s bringing a thin layer of sweat to my skin, and I want to slide my hand to the right and touch his pinkie with mine.

Like we did when we were teenagers, with the blanket over us so no one would see.

“Can I ask you something?” His deep voice and tone rumble through me. “And I want you to be honest with me.”

Oh God. This could go in so many directions. “What?”

He takes a deep breath and sits up, perching on his elbow so he’s facing me. “Did you blame me for what happened? Is that why you did it?”

My heart twists in my chest. I’ve tried not to think of that heartbreak. I shake my head. “How could I blame you for something like that?”

“When you—” He stops, licks his lips then runs his thumb along them. “I’ve convinced myself it was some sort of twisted revenge.”

I wish I could tell him the truth, but I fear the damage is already done. He deserves the real story – I know that. But it would start a war, and I have no idea how that might end. Chris is diabolical, in every sense, so the thought of him and Kade clashing terrifies me.

Even if I did tell him, nothing can change. What’s lost is lost, and I’m stuck trying to find my strength and voice.

How do I tell someone what happened that night without them looking at me like I’m filth? I can only shake my head and hope he drops it. “No. It wasn’t like that.”

He stares at me for a long second, studying my face, the way I’m holding back the audible gulp and the tears threatening to fall. “Forget I asked.”

We had everything, and now we have nothing but lies and grudges. I can’t be mad at him – not really. But he walked away so easily, and I couldn’t fight for him.

I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and, without waiting for him to say anything else, I turn my back to him and hike my knees up to get comfortable.

The ghost of a touch on my spine sends shocks in every direction. My momentary lapse in judgement means my top has ridden up, and every bruise and scar Chris has left on my back is now in full view.

“The fuck?” His voice is a growl – deadly. “What happened to you?”

My blood turns to ice as he touches my scars, tracing them. I gulp. “Dancing.”

“Don’t lie to me. Do I need to kill someone?”

I scoff. “No. I’m not lying. They’re from dancing.”

“Really?” he asks. “Why didn’t you have these before?”

I close my eyes as I feel him pull my top up more, exposing every scar and bruise.

“Fuck no, Stacey. Turn around.”

“No,” I say quietly.

“Turn. Around.”

I sigh and glance at him over my shoulder. He looks furious, brows furrowing, his eyes full of rage.

“I do silk routines now, remember? They rip at my skin.”

My phone starts buzzing, a random number popping up on my screen. I silence it as Kade grips my shoulder, pulling me back so I lie flat on the mattress. He’s so close again as he hovers above me, inspecting me. One hand is buried in the pillow beside my head; the other pulls my top up to just under my breasts, revealing a messy scar under my belly button from being dragged across the ground and cutting it on glass.

“Stop it, Kade.”

His finger glides over the dented skin. “You didn’t have any of these before.”

I yank my top down before he can see between my breasts. There’s no way I could lie about that and blame dancing.

“Leave it.”

“What about the bruises on your neck and the marks on your face? Dancing?”

He’ll know I’m lying, so I bite my tongue before responding quietly, “No.”

His eyes flicker over my face. “Me?”

My phone begins buzzing again. “No,” I reply.

“They must be from me,” he replies, frowning deeper as he traces a bruise on my shoulder, and then one on my throat.

I shouldn’t shiver, but I do, and he notices.

The touch shouldn’t be sending me into a spiral or causing heat to gather between my legs. Yet here I am, getting wet and needy from Kade simply being near me.

My eyes widen slightly as he mimics the hold he had on my throat in the studio. “I held you like this. It was me.” He looks horrified, his eyes darkening a fraction as he takes in my appearance. “I hurt you.”

“It wasn’t you,” I whisper.

“So you fucked someone last night?” His eyes flash with something threatening. “Since when are you into getting beaten up during sex? Who was he?”

My pulse flutters beneath his thumb, and I know he can feel it. His jaw clenches as he stares down at my neck, and the need to wrap my legs around his waist is too much.

“I’m not answering those kinds of questions from you.” I can’t. All I can see is the real reason I’m battered and bruised. “Drop it.”

Kade sucks on his bottom lip, breathing through his nose. He’s still above me, and the heat radiating from him has me nearly squirming.

“I want to know who.” His voice is frightening, the mania sobering him. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll find out. Don’t go near him again if he’s going to do this to your body.”

A wave of anger hits me. “I can sleep with whoever I want. Just like you screw whoever you want.”

I gasp, my body coming alive as Kade lowers himself on top of me, settling between my legs and gripping my throat – but more gently than he did in the studio.

“That’s right. We can fuck whoever we want, when we want, in any position we want. And I will. Because I want nothing more than to rid the image of you grabbing my cock last night.”

Said cock is rigid between my legs, and I fight the urge to raise my hips. “Yeah?”

He nods, minty breath hitting my face. “You irritate me. You’re a poisonous snake that won’t fuck off from my mind. You’re everywhere yet nowhere. A fucking disease.”

I frown at him. “A disease? I will hit you.”

A gasp rips between us as he grinds into my pussy over our clothes. “You could try.”

I want to clench my legs around him so badly, which is strange, since he just called me a goddamn snake and a disease. My breath hitches as he rocks his hips into me once more, fighting his own urges.

“Fuck. I hate you. I fucking hate you.”

I raise my hips. “You feel like you hate me.”

He shakes his head, fisting my hair until I feel pressure on my scalp. “Who did you fuck?”

I stay silent, although my breathing has become a little heavy from how hot I’m getting, how soaked I am beneath my shorts, and the random jabs of his cock against me. “Questioning me while you’re doing that isn’t going to get you an answer.”

I gasp as he grinds harder, the head of his cock pressing right against my entrance, and I wish my underwear would rip.

The fourth time the phone buzzes, Kade swears under his breath and shifts to lie by my side, breaking contact.

I’m going to hex whoever this is. I sit up, take a shaky breath and hide my flushed cheeks as I grab my phone. “Hello?”

“Wow,” Chris drawls and my heart sinks. “She actually answers.”

I rush to climb on top of Kade, straddling him and pressing my hand to his mouth in case he tries to speak.

“What do you want?” I attempt to discreetly turn the volume down on my phone.

But Kade notices, his brows knitting together as he studies my horrified expression.

“Where the fuck are you?”

I flinch at how pissed Chris sounds. Kade glares. Both of his hands are resting beside my knees in tight fists.

“Why aren’t you in America?”

“Complications,” is all I say, silently begging Kade to stay quiet. I press my palm to his mouth harder when he tries to break away. “I missed my flight.”

I’m not sure how I’m sounding, because all my concentration goes when I try to pin Kade more firmly, nearly flinching as I feel him rock solid right there. His hands fly to each side of my waist, gripping me when I try to get off.

He digs his fingers into my flesh, pulling me tighter into him, so the hard ridge of his cock presses into the material between my legs.

I want to rock my hips again. The need is almost robbing me of every responsible thought as Chris continues to yell.

Thank God I turned the volume down – even I can barely hear him.

The clench in Kade’s jaw tells me he feels it too. The struggle to not grind into each other. To not move and feel the pleasure we know awaits us. If I move my hips, rock them, the underside of his cock will rub against my clit again and definitely drag a moan from my throat.

My hand slips from his mouth, and I press my finger to his lips to warn him to be quiet. He doesn’t like being told what to do, but I think the fear in my eyes makes him compliant, because he’s not making himself known to the person on the phone.

His hands are so large they nearly circle my waist. His fingers move from gripping my hips to my ass, tugging me even closer.

“Rock your hips into my cock, Freckles,” he whispers quietly, and I nearly whimper. “I fucking dare you.”

Even as Chris continues ranting down the phone, we keep our eyes on each other. His darken as a string of my sanity snaps and I shift against him once.

My body sings at the sensation.

He tightens his hold to control me and moves his own hips in a way that has my lips parting. From base to tip, the length of him smooths over every sensitive area of my pussy.

My underwear is drenched already, soaking through to my PJ shorts.

I rest my hand on his chest and roll my hips once more. His heart is thudding against my palm, his chest rising and falling with each deep inhale and exhale. I’ve no idea what Chris is saying, neither of us paying any attention to the phone as we dry-fuck each other.

Kade keeps his voice low and quiet, the blue of his eyes taken over by his dilating pupils. “Does he make you scream the way I used to?”

Oh, he thinks I’m sleeping with my caller. But it’s either that or he questions me more about my bruises and cuts, and to be honest, I’d rather keep dry-fucking him while my abusive stepbrother is threatening me, none the wiser to my actions. A huge fuck you, Chris.

With the phone still to my ear, I move my hand from his chest and slide it up to his neck as I roll my hips, grinding against the underside of his thick length. He meets each movement, and if I don’t hang up soon, Chris is going to hear me whimper.

Kade pulses against my pussy as I tighten my grip on his throat. He stops me from moving with his hold on my ass, watching as his cock drags up my core with each rise of his hips. My spine tingles, heat gathering up my legs all the way from my toes.

“Answer me or I’ll stop,” he warns.

Between each breathed-out word, the tip of his cock presses against my entrance before sliding up to my clit, making me tense everywhere. I bite my lip with each stroke, my thighs wet.

“Does he make you scream the way I used to?”

“No,” I whimper.

“No what?” Chris asks in confusion, pausing his rant.

Kade loses his patience and takes the phone from me, ending the call and returning his hands to my waist. “Do you remember how to scream my name?”

I gasp with each solid stroke as his hand reaches for my shoulder, pulling me down on him. Before I can say anything, before I can even think of forming any sort of response, I grasp a handful of his hair just as a coiling sensation wraps around each vertebra, burying deep within and leaving me close to detonating.

Kade yanks down my shorts and sinks his fingers inside me. My every nerve ending is on fire.

I let out a moan and slam my palm against the headboard. He thrusts hard and fast, and my legs shake with how roughly he’s fucking me with them.

He stops, and I gasp for breath, whimpering as he smacks my ass with his free hand. “Ride my fingers, you little slut. Just like you used to.”

My head drops back, my long dark hair a mess as I do what he says until my legs are trembling relentlessly.

Kade takes over again, fucking me even harder, curling his fingers so they hit that sweet spot that has my vision blurring.

“Kade. We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“I know. Keep fucking doing it.” He grips my ass cheek with his other hand. “If Base tries to fuck you, you’ll remember this. Me – having you moan my name.”

He goes deeper, and I tense all over.

“You’re making a mess, Freckles. Fucking dripping all over my hand.”

With my eyes screwed shut, I moan, whimpering as his fingers hammer into me with delicious force. His breathing is laboured, and he drops his own groans as I lower myself enough to rub his cock with my soaked thigh.

On my knees above him, my gaze clashes with his. Both of us are completely taken over by lust and the liquid heat in our veins. But something flashes in Kade’s eyes.

“You won’t let anyone harm you – do you understand me?” He presses his thumb to my clit, and my lips part in a hum of pleasure, the orgasm that’s been building and building close to combusting.

“When I find out who hurt you, I’m going to fucking destroy them. I’ll make sure to bleed them dry then fuck you next to their corpse. You got that?”

Driven by the sensual strokes of his fingers, his thumb against my swollen clit, I nod.

“Words, Stacey.” He slaps my clit and I cry. “Give me fucking words.”

“Yes! Okay, yes. I won’t… fuck… Kade, this is so wrong.”

His eyes blaze into me. “Are you tapping out?”

My head shakes, hips rolling against his hand. “No.”

“I want to hear what it sounds like, just like old times. I needto hear you screaming my name.”

He pulls his fingers out, and I debate punching him.

“I want you to sit on my face.” He yanks me up to his mouth, and I catch myself on the bedframe. “Suffocate me with this pussy.”

Kade yanks me down by the hips and buries his face between my legs, and I moan so loud, I think the room next door hears.

His tongue is wet on my clit, and he groans as he sucks loudly on it – then he takes it between his teeth and sinks two fingers inside me, causing me to scream.

He strokes himself with his free hand, groaning against my needy cunt and alternating between fingering and tonguing my entrance, taking each piece of flesh between his teeth, dragging his lips all over my pussy then diving between my legs and tasting me after attacking my inner thighs.

Like an electric shock, everything inside me lights up when my orgasm hits – a strike of a match that spreads like wildfire all over my body. My walls clench and throb around his fingers, my vision blurring to darkness.

Both my hands are in his hair, tugging as I ride his face, grinding against his fingers and mouth as I explode – and keep exploding.

Kade’s tongue lashes against me, my body spasming as liquid lust wraps around my spinal cord like one of his tattooed snakes.

“Oh fuck.”

He bites at my clit, and I yelp through my orgasm.

“Louder. Grip my fingers with your soaking cunt and scream my fucking name like the dirty little whore you are.”

Such derogatory terms should have me slapping him, not clutching his fingers inside my pussy, needing him to keep the dirty words coming. My head falls back, and I see stars.

Air rips from my lungs. The intensity of my high reaches breaking point, and his name slips from my lips with a string of curses. But it’s a whisper – a gasp.

“Louder.”

He sucks on my clit so hard, I nearly pass out as I remind him exactly what it sounds like when I scream his name.