“That may be, but I’m here now, bitch, and I’m not going anywhere.” I may have walked away from her before, but there was no way I could or would do it again. It was the threat—no the promise—I made to her the night I left her tied to her bed for her parents to find her.
Lake burst through the door with a look filled with dread just as Sheldon was ready to retort. Her chest heaved up and down as if she’d just run a mile rather than come from the waiting just outside the door.
“They’re arresting him!”
*
Everything erupted in chaos at once, and for the umpteenth time in my life, I watched my brother as he was led away in handcuffs.
Everyone in the vicinity stopped to the watch the scene unfold. Doctors, nurses, and patients all seemed to forget what they were doing as the town’s bad boy was read his rights. Keiran went peacefully, and even more surprisingly, it was Lake and John who yelled endless obscenities and insults. Never mind that Keiran had likely put a man in the hospital because of his violent rage.
The Chambers were in the far corner and already Sheldon’s father was on his phone, no doubt calling his lawyer to bail Keiran out. I watched him make eye contact with John, the man I believed for eighteen years was my father. Some unspoken communication passed between them, and then they were heading for the elevator behind the officers with Keiran in tow.
Lake stepped forward to lay a comforting hand on Keiran’s arm.
“Stay the fuck away from me,” he growled at her. Hatred and anger flashed in his eyes, and I could tell it surprised and hurt her the way she stepped back.
I smiled when I realized that everything wasn’t perfect in happily ever after land. I always wondered.
The hall cleared after the elevator doors closed, and I stood there staring at the empty space, wondering what I should do next.
“What’s going on?” Sheldon asked from her room door.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
She lifted an eyebrow and propped a hand on her hip. “Shouldn’t you be running?”
I stepped into her space until my hips were pressed against hers and curled a finger around a glossy lock. To a passing bystander, it would look like a simple embrace between lovers and not the assertion of power it was.
“I hope you have as much mouth when I have you alone and naked.”
“We’re alone now,” she challenged. “But you won’t be getting me naked, ever.”
“What I’m going to do to you won’t bear having witnesses. Nothing will give me more pleasure than punishing you past your limits. I’m going to make you scream for me, Shelly, and when you do, you’ll be begging.”
Just like you made me beg.
She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “You sound like your brother.”
“I am my brother.” The grittiness in my tone was unrecognizable even to me. The proof of my claim lay in what I helped him do not twenty-four hours ago.
“I’m going to hurt you, Sheldon, and not just where it cuts deepest.” I touched her collarbone and then trailed a finger down her chest while cursing the gown for keeping me from touching her completely.
“So do you actually expect to just pick up where we left off?”
“Second chances can be deadly, but I set you free once. Now you’re mine.”
“I won’t love you again, Keenan. It’s not something I can survive a second time.”
I laughed because I didn’t know how else to react. We had unfinished business, but the only thing I felt for her was anger and lust. Love didn’t have any place here.
“I don’t want your love. I just want you.” I didn’t realize how true it was until I’d spoken the words.
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Not anymore,” I whispered reluctantly.
She made a show of hiding it, but I didn’t miss the anguish that flashed in her eyes before they turned into cold, angry flecks of amber.
“Stay away from me, Keenan… and my daughter.”
“I’m going to find our daughter, so get well, Sheldon. I’ll see you both soon.”
I disarmed her and stole her breath simultaneously as I sealed her lips with mine and fuck me if she didn’t still taste as good as ever.
I was going to make it my mission to ruin that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SHELDON
IT’S BEEN A week since I’ve heard from or seen Keenan, and I still felt his kiss as if he were standing here kissing me senseless at this moment. A huge, frightened part of me hoped he had changed his mind, gave up, and went back to whatever hole he crawled out of—or knowing Keiran, he had been forcefully persuaded from hiding.
The knowledge reminded me that Keenan’s being here was his fault anyway. If he hadn’t insisted on finding him, I wouldn’t be so terrified of myself.
Only angry was more like it because despite what my mouth said, my heart still beat for him. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on him again—that everything about us may have changed, but my feelings remained.
The thought of him still owning any part of me was enough to drive me insane.
I felt as if I were dying inside but living again at the same time.