4

4

STACEY

When I eventually stop dancing and sit down next to my friends, I can breathe. They gossip, play Never Have I Ever, where I completely dodge most questions when they discuss our firsts, then take the remaining shots set out on the table.

I’m not sure why Kade has suddenly started making an appearance. For the past two years, I’ve only seen him a handful of times.

And I’m either met with silence, glares, derisive snorts or passing comments muttered under his breath that he doesn’t think I can hear.

He’s changed so much from the timid boy who couldn’t understand basic emotions, who needed to be shown that it’s okay to feel, who got nervous when he had no idea what he was doing in the bedroom to this version.

By the time the crowd starts to disperse, it’s four in the morning. Lu’s in bed, leaving Ty, myself and a few others to play more drinking games.

We’re all pretty drunk, happy, laughing while taking shots to prolong our buzz – until Kade, Dez and Base walk into the sitting area, two girls under Base’s arms.

Tylar, sitting beside me cross-legged, won’t even glance at them as she pours another drink and asks who’s next.

“We’re playing drinking games,” someone says. “Wanna join?”

Tylar blurts, “No,” at the same time Dez says, “Sure.”

We all shift on the sofas to make room, and the large coffee table between us fills with everyone’s drinks.

“I think we should spice up these little games though,” Base adds, sitting down and dragging both girls onto his lap. “Depending on how adventurous you all are.”

Kade drops onto the couch opposite me, and to my absolute horror, one of the girls on Base’s lap moves over to him. He pauses for a second, giving her a confused look, before a tattooed hand grasps at her hip. I gulp deeply, trying to ignore my jealousy.

I have no right to feel this way.

“You’re talking about How Much Can You Handle, aren’t you?” Tylar asks, frowning when they all nod. “You’re aware that Stacey and I are here? Lu will freak.”

“Just no one touch Kade, and she won’t kill us.” Dez nudges his friend, but I don’t look at him to see his reaction as I study my nails. “Base can pair up with Stacey. You said you wanted to fuck her, didn’t you?” he asks his friend.

Oh man.

Base shakes his head. “You’re a dick.”

Kade shifts on the couch, lighting a cigarette and tossing the clipper onto the coffee table between us.

“If Tylar accepts, then she can have me,” Dez says, winking. “You game?”

She nods slowly, her cheeks blushing with the alcohol. “I’m game.”

“If you can handle me.” He smirks, slapping his friend on the chest. “And Kade already has Abbie, so there won’t be a riot from the twin dragged from the pits of hell.”

“Stop saying that shit,” Base says. “She’s not that bad.”

“But she’s Satan’s twin? We all agreed.”

“If you want me, then stop talking about my best friend like that,” Tylar says, crossing her leg over her knee and quirking a brow.

I can see from the edge of my sight that Abbie’s hand is high on Kade’s lap. He’s paying zero attention as he takes a draw of his smoke and blows it between us, a cloud coming straight for my face.

She’s pretty. Her body is perfect – wavy brown hair, a nice rack, with long, smooth legs that dangle over his lap. Her dress is tight, accentuating every curve.

But I know he hates it when someone plays with his hair or presses a palm to his chest the way she is. It took ages for him to be comfortable with my touch. He’s either fighting the urge to not cringe away, or he truly has changed.

Have they had sex before? Or is it more? Does he talk to her about… everything?

Tylar tilts her head at me. “I don’t think Base could keep up with this one.” Her elbow digs into me. “She’s had a lot of practice lately.”

I slap her knee. “Hey!”

She winces and apologises with a kiss on my cheek.

Base – a taller, more muscular version of Dez – responds with chocolate brown eyes and a grin. “I’m up for the challenge if you are, Rhodes.”

Oh God. Shitting shit.

He would tear me in half.

And I’m not about to fuck one of Kade’s friends, no matter how much we hate each other.

Kade glares at me when I look at him – if it were possible, I’d be on fire from how angry he appears. Which is stupid, considering Abbie is whispering something in his ear and stroking her hand up his bicep, and he’s allowing her.

I shrug as our eyes clash a little longer, unbothered as Base nods in agreement.

I’ll play along with this for a minute, just to see Kade’s reaction, then I’ll go to bed before anything happens.

Would he even care? Doubtful, since he has Abbie trying to draw his mouth to hers. He isn’t kissing her. He isn’t even looking in her direction.

He’s looking at me.

“How do we play?” one of the guys asks, completely interested.

Dez’s eyes are on Tylar as he explains the rules. “Choose a partner – or partners – and fuck until you can’t.”

Abbie, perched on Kade’s lap, lets out another flirtatious giggle, leaning back to whisper something into his ear again. His eyes move to her, and his brows furrow.

“Stacey, there’s someone at the gate asking for you,” a voice says from the doorway of the sitting area. One of the guys who was waiting on an Uber. “He’s pretty fucked up.”

Shit.

“Is it the guy from earlier?” Ty asks me, a smile on her lips, and everyone around us is listening. “The one you were seconds from screwing in the studio? You could invite him in. Sorry, Base, but he was hot.”

I grimace, and so does Dez. “We weren’t going to—” I stop, sighing as I place my drink on the coffee table in front of us. “Start without me.”

“He’s pretty mad,” he tells me. “He’s shouting for you to get out there.”

Kade’s cigarette freezes halfway to his mouth.

Ty abruptly stands, but I tell her it’s fine and ask her to stay where she is, telling Base and Dez the same when they, too, get to their feet.

“You sure?” Dez asks, concerned as he fists his hands. “I’m happy to tell him to get to fuck.”

Base nods in agreement.

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’ll be fine.”

Standing and smoothing over my dress, I ignore Kade’s eyes following me as I walk out of the room.

When I reach the gates, hugging myself with how cold it is, I huff out a foggy breath. “Really, Chris? Why are you here?”

My stepbrother’s eyes are bloodshot, as if he’s had far too many drinks before coming here. “You weren’t answering me.”

His words are slurred, and saliva slips from the corner of his mouth.

“Are you high?”

“Will it make you come home with me if I say yes?” he asks, fingers curling on the rods of the metal gate I refuse to unlock with the code.

I shake my head, gritting my teeth in annoyance when he staggers to the left. “You look cold, little sister. You know I can heat you up.”

My stomach twists. “Go home.”

“You’re my home,” he replies with a hiccup. “Don’t make me mad. I don’t like being mad with you. Come with me. We’ll go back to the house and I’ll… I’ll make love to you.”

He loses his balance, tumbling to his side. I groan, taking a few steps and reaching my hand out to try to help him to his feet. Every single time he gets this messed up, I need to help him, even though I don’t want to. It’ll be worse for me if I leave him like this, and I’d rather not meet those consequences.

But this time, when I try to help him, he grabs my wrists and yanks me to him, slamming my body into the metal separating us.

A flash of pain momentarily seizes me as my face hits the hard surface between us.

“Let go of me,” I snap, tasting blood from a cut on the inside of my lip.

“Who are you fucking in there?” His thumb runs along my lips as he stares at them, his eyes wholly black from all the drugs he’s consumed. “Whose cock has been in this mouth?”

He lowers his hand to grab between my legs, and I flinch from his unwanted touch before he can make contact.

He smirks, catlike and evil. “This is all mine. Every inch of your body belongs to me.”

I manage to shove myself away from his grasp as he tries to kiss me, falling back a few steps and catching my breath. I’m thankful the cobble path to the gate is far from the manor as I begin to raise my voice. “You need to stop! You’re sick. You can’t do this with me!”

“You want me!” he rushes out.

I stare at him, shaking my head.

“You want me, and you deny it. You love—”

“I don’t.”

He glares at me, eyes watering, until they aren’t on me any longer.

“Who the fuck are you?” Chris snaps, his rage building. His eyes flicker between me and the person now standing behind me. “Who is he, Stacey?”

I know who it is without the need to turn. I can sense him; I can always feel when he’s nearby. The faint smell of spice, smoke and mint from the hoodie I’ve slept in only confirms it.

Kade snakes his arm around my waist, already making me feel safer. His other hand is wrapped around the neck of a beer bottle, a joint between his fingers.

He blows a cloud of toxic smoke towards Chris.

His arm tightens around me, his hand fisting the material of my dress at my hip. In a deep, threatening tone, Kade says, very slowly, “Walk away before I make you one sorry motherfucker.”

“Who are you?” Chris asks again, one of his hands slipping from the poles of the gate.

“Just go,” I beg him as Kade lowers his chin to my shoulder, inhaling deeply.

Chris will most likely come for me when I get home. He’s big and bad around me, but I watch the sliver of fear in his eyes as they shift to Kade again.

“She’s not yours.”

Kade chuckles. “She’s not yours either. Clearly.” He points behind Chris. “Leave.”

Chris pushes himself from the gate and spits on the ground before getting back into the car he certainly shouldn’t be driving.

I breathe, closing my eyes as the lights start to vanish in the foggy driveway. Kade hasn’t released me, but I haven’t moved away either. My core twists with a deep sensation I haven’t felt for a while as he brings his mouth to my ear, whispering, “Who was your friend, Freckles?”

“No one,” I manage to answer, holding in a gasp as the tip of his nose traces the shell of my ear.

As I tilt my head to give him better access, my chest heaves as the delicate yet powerful touch travels to the sensitive area of my neck that has my inner walls pulsing. He knows what he’s doing, tempting me, teasing me. “No… No one.”

He takes another draw of his joint, then has a swig of his beer, still holding me to him. “You sure? Wasn’t that who you were apparently close to fucking earlier?”

“No.”

Kade hums, the rumbling sound vibrating against my back. “He doesn’t seem your type. Far too young.” He lowers his voice. “You prefer your quick fucks older, don’t you?”

I don’t reply, concentrating on my unsteady breaths and the heat coiling around my spine.

When Kade’s fingers tug at my chin, forcing me to look at him over my shoulder, I lick away the metallic taste on my lips, trying to hide any evidence of Chris hitting my face against the gate.

So close. His mouth is so close to mine. If I tilt my head, our lips will collide.

When he turns my body to face him, his eyes are burning into my soul. He backs me up against the gate with a palm on my chest then moves it to my throat, holding me in place. My pulse is hammering against his hand, and as he squeezes slightly, a whimper slips from my mouth.

My entire body is on fire with his touch. The total opposite of when Chris tries to manhandle me.

His pupils dilate under the moonlight.

He releases my throat and grasps a handful of hair, roughly tugging it to tip my head back. “Is that what you want? A quick fuck?”

Kade waits for me to respond, tightening his hold when I let out a whimper from how close he is, then releasing me and stepping back.

“If that’s what you want,” he says, and I frown at him. Kade tips the bottle in the direction Chris went, fighting a snarl on his face. “By all means, go. Or you can have Base as planned. We both know how desperate you can be.”

Before I can come up with a snarky response, or at least tell him to go fuck himself, he scoffs, shaking his head and turning away from me. He tosses back the rest of his beer then chucks the bottle, my shoulders tensing as it smashes on the cobbles.

You prefer your quick fucks older, don’t you?

Fine. I might have deserved that.