3

3

STACEY

“If I wear the red dress then I can’t wear a red top tomorrow,” Lu says, alternating pressing each hanger to her chest. “But the blue is a little short.”

“Then wear another – you have plenty of dresses,” I tell her as I paint my nails, a towel wrapped around me and wet hair down my back. I’m lying on my front, on her bed, while she loses her shit every five minutes about what to wear.

“But I want to wear the red dress.”

“Then wear it,” I say, twisting the lid onto the polish and blowing on my nails.

“You aren’t even helping me, Stacey!” she replies with a huff and tosses both hangers onto the floor. “I can’t wear red. I’m wearing a red top tomorrow.”

My best friend is insufferable at times.

“Oh yeah, I meant to tell you that Kade and the others aren’t going out tonight. They cancelled their plans when Dez told them I was having a party.”

“I gathered,” I reply, not looking up from my screen, staring at the annoying messages from Chris I’ve left unanswered.

I’ll eventually have to respond, because if I don’t, he’ll track me here, and that’s the last thing I need.

When I go home, I’ll dodge him. There are five rooms he can’t unlock from the outside; I’m well versed in the manor’s hiding spots.

One day, I’ll be free. But I guess that’s the same day I slash his throat, because other than death, I’m not sure anything will stop him until I’m fully his.

The thought of giving in to Chris makes me feel sick.

Lu chucks a pair of rolled-up socks at my face. “Did you hear me?”

“What did you say?”

She sighs. “I know you’re not a fan of Kade and his friends. I’m hoping they stay away so you don’t leave.”

I snort. She knows me too well, but I wouldn’t be leaving because I can’t stand them – I just can’t stand the looks he gives me. “Did you tell him to stay on his side of the manor?”

“God, yes. I don’t think I can handle Base and his constant need to talk about sex. If they decide to have a full-on orgy again, I’ll kill them all.”

“You weren’t even there,” I say. “It’s not like you witnessed it happening.”

“I sat on the sofa Base was humping on two days later,” she mumbles.

I giggle, trying to rid myself of the memory as if I hadn’t been there without my best friend knowing. Tylar wanted to spy on Dez at the pool house, because she was still head over heels for him. She asked me to go with her, and obviously, so I could catch a glimpse of Kade, I agreed.

I wish I hadn’t.

We walked into the building and froze on the spot while a full sex-fest went on in front of us, music blaring.

Base, the Russian heir to an entire empire who never takes his eyes off Luciella, was snorting lines of coke from a set of tits while getting his dick sucked.

Dez had someone bouncing over him and froze when he saw Tylar.

Kade kept his scowl on me as he took his place behind a blonde bending over a pool table, naked, unbuckling his belt with a slowness that made me grit my teeth.

He didn’t take his eyes off me as he pushed into her.

I hadn’t felt pure rage until he smirked.

Bastard.

“I think Base just tries to get your attention,” I say. “To make you jealous or something. He’s been trying with you for years.”

A darkness unravels over Lu’s face. “Well, he can stop. Just like Dez and Tylar stopped. It never ends well.”

Ty and Dez had a thing; Lu found out and went crazy, declaring that none of her friends should go anywhere near Kade’s little trio. As much as I tried to tell her to calm down, that they were harmless, Ty called things off with him.

And I know it hurt her and Dez when she did.

Tylar and the rest arrive an hour later, and the night begins as we stand in a circle, taking shots that burn my chest.

Luckily, this house is big enough that Kade’s little get-together is non-existent compared to the party Lu is throwing. And since alcohol is slowly slithering through my veins, a part of me is wondering if they’ll invite loads of girls over.

The music’s loud enough that my ears are ringing. Someone brought strobe lights. The flashing has bodies glitching while they dance.

My phone vibrates, and I tut.

DoNotAnswer: If you don’t reply, I’m coming to get you from whoever it is that you’re fucking.

I roll my eyes, muttering, “Asshole.”

“Who the hell is that?” Tylar asks with furrowed brows, looking over my shoulder.

I put my phone in my bra, shrugging as I take her glass and down the vile, strong drink it contains.

“Hey, you bitch!” But she smiles as someone pulls her away from me, onto the makeshift dance floor.

I make my way to the bathroom on the first floor. My vision is a bit messy from the strobes as I relieve myself then lean against the sink.

I glare at my phone, which is sitting beside the sink. Maybe I’ll accidentally drop it in the water? Break it? Step on the screen so the messages are illegible?

DoNotAnswer: I’ll rip his jaw off. You’re mine.

I scoff at the text. Daily, hourly, I wish I could strangle my stepbrother in his sleep without him thinking I’m trying to make it sexual.

Me: Can you stop? I’m at my friend’s party. And I’m not yours. I’m your fucking stepsister, you sick freak.

DoNotAnswer: I’m coming to get you.

Anger builds as I quickly turn off my phone.

Surely it’s wrong for him to want me so badly?

I hurry upstairs to Lu’s room and toss the phone on her bed. I know I should be doing as he says to stop the abuse, but I’m at my limit. I want to fight back.

By the time I get back downstairs, most of my friends have moved into the main kitchen. Some are sitting on the counters, some at the breakfast bar, while hyping two people sitting on the floor for everyone to see. She’s straddling him and grinding against his…

Oh.

My eyes widen when I notice him taking her nipple into his mouth, grabbing her breast while he licks and sucks, as if he’s starving. Her dress rides up over her behind, where his other hand is gripping and moving her against him.

A girl from Lu’s college class stops in the doorway, her jaw nearly hitting the ground. “You do know we can see you, right?” she asks the pair, but they wave them off as they continue kissing and grinding.

“They’re just going to…”

“Fuck, yes!” someone confirms for her when she struggles for words.

Luciella walks in. “Absolutely not! This is my mother’s kitchen, goddammit!”

I continue to sip my drink, shoulder to shoulder with Ty while we watch them stand and disappear out of the kitchen, the girl giggling as he smacks her ass and asks where the spare rooms are.

Lu pops a hip out with folded arms, tapping her foot. “There are over thirty. Take your pick.”

Someone tells her there’s a smashed lamp in the lobby, and she sighs before vanishing.

“Such a spoilsport,” a voice says behind us.

Ty groans when she realises it’s Dez.

“You wanted to watch, didn’t you?”

“Get fucked,” she retorts without turning around. “Go back to the other side of the house where you belong before Lu sees you talking to me.”

“But we’re here for the free booze and the eye candy. Is Satan’s twin going to ruin that as well?”

Tylar’s eyes flutter as Dez lowers his voice to a whisper. She ignores whatever he says, but I see her flush, and one of his hands takes her hip, pulling her back to him. “If I put my hand up your dress, would your cunt be soaked, remembering how it felt to have me fuck you in every way possible?”

I clear my throat and suck on my straw, averting my eyes.

“Stop,” she says, but her voice is breathy.

He grunts. “You weren’t telling me to stop the other night.”

He obviously can’t see how devastated Ty looks. She shrugs him off and storms away. Dez just laughs and takes a swig of his beer, eyes finding mine.

I glare at him. “Why do you need to do that?”

He hasn’t taken her ending things with him very well and is forever teasing her, knowing it drives her crazy. He’s always texting and calling, and Tylar being Tylar, she answers.

“She loves it,” he replies, taking another drink of his beer.

I raise a brow and glare as I nod towards my retreating friend. “Oh, evidently.”

Dez winks at me with a smirk, pulling himself onto the counter. Before I can search for Tylar to console her, Dez glances over my shoulder. “You want another beer, Kade?”

I freeze.

He must nod, because his friend reaches out a bottle towards my shoulder. A warmth radiates against my back as Kade takes the drink, knuckles all bloodied and cut open. I hold my breath, trying to ignore my treacherous hormones as heat coils at my spine.

I can smell him, the spice of his aftershave and the shampoo he uses on his hair. It’s intoxicating, memories flooding me of my fingers wrapped in his waves, the scent of his pillow, the sound of his laugh when I sing terribly.

Still standing closely behind me, he only hums, and the deep rumble goes straight from my chest to between my legs, tingling all the way down like fireworks.

My cheeks are most likely red. I haven’t been this close to him in such a long time. The alcohol is numbing my common sense, because my body should not be reacting this way.

Does he feel the same way I do right now? Is he itching to grab me and drag me into an unoccupied room? Probably not, since he hates my guts.

Dez glances at a tall, leggy redhead walking in and tilts his head at her. “Did you not fuck her last night?”

I walk away before I can hear Kade’s response.

“I could look at you all day, do you know that?”

“Stop being romantic, Kade – I might get the wrong idea.”

A low laugh, and… “Just another thing you taught me, Freckles. Don’t go home tonight. Stay with me.”

I nod, and he presses me to the mattress, nudging my legs apart…

No.

I refuse to go back to that memory, the moment I knew what he meant to me.

At that point, he was everything.

And I lost him.