“Dean!” I gasped, bucking upward to match his deep thrusts.
“Come on, my beauty. Fuck me.” He stilled suddenly, pressing my thighs open, watching me with a seething intensity that made my heart tremble. His hair fell across his forehead. A flush burned along the crest of his cheekbones.
His cock was halfway inside me. With a moan, I pushed forward, impaling myself on him. I squirmed, twisting to try and repeat his heavy plunges. It wasn’t the same, I needed more, needed his power… and then he thrust forward again and filled me.
I shrieked, convulsing around him with a force that shocked me to my bones. It went on and on, an endless stream of sensation blasting light through me. And still he fucked me, urging every shudder out of me before pulling out and gripping his shaft.
Gasping, I pushed up onto my elbows and watched as he stroked his slick cock, his movements quick and urgent. His body tensed. A groan rumbled from his chest the instant before he came, ropes of semen pooling onto my belly and mons. The smell of sex filled my head.
I shivered and reached down to rub my still-quivering clit. Dean levered himself over me, sealing our damp bodies together, his mouth descending on mine for a bruising kiss.
“Say it again,” he ordered, his voice hoarse.
I brushed his hair away from his forehead, stroked my hand down the side of his face.
“I’m yours,” I said, then looked into his gold-flecked eyes. “Say it back.”
“I’m yours.” He leaned his forehead against mine and drew in a breath. “Jesus, Liv. What are you doing to me?”
Falling for you. Hard.
Oh, no. What was at the end of that descent?
Joanna West insisted that Archer go to the hospital, then reported that he had a black eye, a split lip, numerous contusions, and a broken nose. Dean didn’t seem bothered by his own minor injuries. Certainly Archer had taken the brunt of the fight.
Not a fight. More like a beating.
I shuddered. I knew what had happened. Archer had never been able to surpass his older brother in any other way, but he’d quickly realized that he could get to Dean through me.
And he’d been right.
“What were you thinking?” Joanna West’s face was a mask of anger. “On Thanksgiving, Dean, really? Look at him!”
She waved a hand to where Archer slouched in a chair, one eye swollen half-shut, a few white gauze bandages taped to his face, dried blood crusted under his nose, bruises covering his jaw.
“What will people say?” Joanna snapped, her slender body shaking with fury. “Everyone saw what you did, Dean, everyone! They’re all talking about how you beat up your own brother!”
“I should press charges,” Archer said. His voice sounded foggy and drugged.
“Yeah, do that,” Dean challenged, his fists clenching at his sides. “See if you get any of your money then.”
Archer’s mouth thinned. “You fucker.”
“You fuck-up.”
“Stop it!” Joanna pressed her fingers to her temples. “You’re not pressing charges, for God’s sake, Archer.” She pivoted to face Dean. “What’s the matter with you? Since when do you act like a barbarian because of—”
She stopped short. And looked at me.
My stomach roiled. Dean stepped in front of me, as if to protect me from his mother’s needle-sharp, accusing glare.
“Enough,” he said. “Liv and I are leaving.”
“You fix this, Dean,” Joanna ordered. “I don’t care what you do, but you figure out how to fix it.”
“It’s not fixable, Mom,” Dean said, his voice cold. “You need to stop thinking it is.”
“Wow,” Archer muttered. “Is the only non-bastard son admitting defeat?”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard that right.
“Shut up, Archer,” Paige muttered, looking away from both her brothers.
Joanna stalked from the room, her back as rigid as metal.
I put my hand on Dean’s arm. His muscles were stiff with fury.
“I need to leave,” I whispered, so low I didn’t think he’d hear me.
He turned, his eyes pitch-black. “What?”
“I don’t want to cause… trouble.” The ache in my head pressed harder.
I was a good girl. I caused trouble for no one. I did what I was told to do. I followed the rules. Even when I was torn inside out, I patched myself back together in secret, in seclusion. No one would know anything bad had happened. No one would have reason to doubt me.
“You’re not causing trouble, Liv.” Dean forced his voice to steady. “It’s not you. Not at all. It’s them.”
“But they… they’re your family.” I couldn’t think of another way to say it. Couldn’t think past the undeniable fact that he had two parents, a sister, and a brother. Whatever else there was… it didn’t negate that fact.
I didn’t know where my mother was.
Dean took my arm and led me upstairs to get our suitcases. I managed to convey my apologies to Mrs. West before Dean got us both out of there and drove to a hotel near the airport.
He sank onto the bed, his shoulders slumping. “So fucking sorry. Never should have brought you here.”