Broken Wings (Dark Legacy #1)

Smiling back at him gratefully, I took the menus and headed up to my room. Nightmares or not, I was determined not to go fleeing into Beck’s embrace again tonight. Sooner or later, I needed to learn to face my demons alone.

After my pizza and a long shower, I decided to tackle some school work in the hope that it would send me to sleep. After about an hour of staring at quadratic equations, my eyelids were drooping like they were coated in lead.

Satisfied that I was tired enough to actually sleep, I flicked off the lights and crawled into the middle of my huge bed. It took a couple of tosses and turns, but eventually I found a comfy position and closed my eyes.

Gloved fingers bit into the soft skin of my neck, squeezing tighter and tighter, cutting off my air supply until—

“Fuck!” I yelled, sitting bolt upright and gasping greedy lungfuls of air. “Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck.” Tears streamed from my eyes, and I began to shake as residual terror washed over me in waves. “This can’t keep happening,” I sobbed into my arms as I hugged my knees.

Dimly, I heard my phone vibrate softly—again—but I ignored it. Beck had been messaging all afternoon, and I’d been clearing the notifications without reading them. He needed to learn that I wasn’t a leg of mutton that he and his friends could fight over like hungry wolves. Checking his messages would have only made my resolve crumble, especially after how sweet he’d been last night in the cinema. The way we had kissed... I groaned, but happily let the confusing, fuzzy emotions push aside the fear that had been dominating me.

Something made a sound outside my windows, and I startled. Sitting there, frozen, I waited. What had it been? It sounded like...

There it was again! It sounded like someone had just pried the intruder mesh off my windows. Holy shit, someone was breaking into my room!

Frantic, I scrambled out of bed and hunted for a weapon. Stupid me, I’d left my beautiful new gun at Beck’s house so the next best thing was a heavy, carved wooden lamp.

I yanked the shade off it, tossing it aside, then brandishing the base like a bat as I waited for my intruder to enter the room.

Seconds later, the window clicked open, and a huge, dark shape slipped through and pushed the gauze curtains aside.

I didn’t hesitate for a second. With a wild battle cry, I swung my lamp and smashed it into the intruder’s head. Or, I tried to. He was taller than I’d expected, and I mostly hit shoulder.

Good thing I did too.

“What the fuck, Butterfly?” Beck roared, clutching his shoulder and stumbling back a few steps. “What the hell did you just hit me with? Is that a lamp?”

Gaping in horror, I dropped my weapon and clapped my hands over my mouth. “Oh my god, Sebastian.” Laughter started to bubble up and I did my best to swallow it down. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were coming to murder me! Wait, what the fuck are you doing climbing through my damn window like a creeper? I’m on the second floor! How did you even get up here? Why didn’t you use the damn door, you psychopath?”

Beck just scowled at me and stalked across the room to flick my other lamp on and inspect his injuries. “I think you cut me,” he muttered, pulling his shirt off to get a better look at his upper arm. Dear God. Drool.

“Beck!” I snapped, desperately trying to keep my hungry eyes off his tatted up muscles. “Answer me!”

He huffed and actually rolled his eyes. He broke into my room like a fucking cat burglar but he was rolling his eyes at me? “If you had checked your phone, you would have known I was coming,” he informed me with a sarcastic lilt. “Besides the fact that we just spent all damn day teaching you to defend yourself and you still decided to attack with a lamp?”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes as I flopped back down on my bed and cuddled a pillow. “Why are you here, Sebastian?” I asked again. “I think I made it pretty clear I didn’t want to see you tonight.”

“Yeah, well I wanted to see you.” He shrugged, sitting on the side of my bed and peering at me with way too much insight and understanding. “How were you sleeping, Butterfly?” he challenged me, propping his leg up and leaning over me as I lay back down to cuddle my pillow defensively. “No bad dreams?”

I scowled at him. “You know full well I wasn’t sleeping,” I whispered in a hoarse voice. Fear and desperation threatened to overwhelm me again, and I clenched my jaw to force them away.

Beck just gave me a knowing look, then stood up and stripped his jeans and boots off.

“Uh,” I stuttered, not even trying to stop from staring. “What are you doing?”

He kicked his clothes aside, then climbed over me and wriggled under the blankets. “What? I’m not sleeping in jeans, Butterfly. Now shut up, you actually have to attend school tomorrow.” His strong arms gathered me up, and I released my pillow as he tucked me into his warm embrace.

Yeah, I was still pissed at him and annoyed as fuck that he turned up uninvited ... but I was so glad he was here. My whole body seemed to sigh as the tension dropped away and the steady beat of Beck’s heart lulled me to sleep.

If I was more interested in psychology, I’d have been questioning why such a dangerous, secretive, violent person could make me feel so utterly safe. But I wasn’t second guessing shit.





*



Sunlight streaming into my room woke me, and I scrubbed the back of my hand over my eyes. Why were my fucking curtains open?

Warm hands tightened around me, hugging me tighter against a hot, hard body and I grinned. That’s right. My late night intruder must have left them open.

I yawned and snuggled back into his embrace. It was the first time I’d woken up after a night with Beck, and he was actually still there.

He mumbled a sleepy noise, his hands shifting on my belly and his lips pressing to the back of my neck in a way that caused a delicious wave of half-asleep arousal to roll through me.

“Good morning, Butterfly,” he murmured in a rough, thick voice. His hands shifted further until one large palm cupped my breast. The thin fabric of my tank top may as well have not been there at all, because my nipple hardened under his fingers as though I were naked. His lips moved lazily across the back of my neck, and I moaned a little.

“Sebastian,” I breathed in warning. Warning of what? I had no idea. All my sensible thoughts had flown out the window. Or maybe part of my brain was still asleep.

He breathed a sigh into the back of my hair, his hardness pressing into my ass as he pulled me closer. “I fucking love when you use my name,” he confessed in a dark whisper.

I snickered. “I do it to piss you off.”

He kissed the spot behind my ear, and I could feel him grinning. “I know. It’s such a turn on, Butterfly.”

I smiled like a damn fool, arching my neck and groaning encouragement as his hand not on my breast ventured south, slipping inside the small shorts of my pajamas and under the soft cotton of my panties.

For a long, indulgent moment, I let him work me over with his hand until I was panting and writhing against him. As much as I was loving how talented his fingers were, I was craving something more.

His teeth nipped at the bend of my neck, and I gasped. “Sebastian...” I trailed off with a groan. “I don’t have any...”

Beck’s lips paused against my neck, and his fingers stilled for a moment. “Shit,” he cursed. “I didn’t bring any either.”

A strangled, frustrated noise escaped my throat. “You didn’t?” I was shocked. He seemed like the type who had condoms permanently stuffed in his pockets.

“I wasn’t coming over here to fuck you, Butterfly,” he informed me, his forehead dropping to rest on my shoulder. That statement clicked something inside me, and I lost a little piece of my heart to him. He hadn’t climbed through my window for a booty call. He’d come because he was worried and wanted to help me sleep…

I might have to change his name in my phone after all.