“You’re the only girl he spends time with!”
Damn right. Because right now, his body is mine. His heart, too. I just don’t know how long I’ll own both.
Not that it’s going to stop me from going to him.
“You think you know the truth about me and him, but you don’t know shit.” It’s the last thing I tell her. I’m the first one to get into the car. My friends take a bit longer, and I know it’s because they’re staring Jennifer down, daring her to say something else about me.
Eventually, Jennifer turns to leave, and one by one my friends get into the car.
“What a fucking skank.” Marilyn slams the front passenger door closed.
Jenna gets into the driver’s side. “I want to slice her face apart. I know that’s probably wrong of me to say, but I’d love to disfigure the bitch for life.”
“It’s not wrong. She has it coming.” Ashley gets in last. “I don’t know how we’re going to keep her from running her mouth.”
I don’t either, and I can’t think on it. Jennifer’s gone. My mind fixates on Brayden once more and how worried I am for him. I don’t know what possesses me to try looking into his phone.
Jenna’s driving as fast as she legally can. When I swipe my thumb across the screen, I almost gasp with shock. There’s no passcode. It automatically takes me to the home page, and the first thing I see is my picture.
It’s a picture of me sleeping in his bed, my arms curled around one of his pillows. He caught me with the sunlight illuminating my features, and goddamn it, there’s a smile on my face.
I’d probably been dreaming about him. About all the things he’d done to me the night before.
Heart in my throat, I open up his gallery.
Me.
Nothing but my pictures as far as I can freaking see.
In a lot of them, I’m asleep. In others, I’m awake and he somehow managed to catch me unaware.
Others are from my Facebook. He must have downloaded close to a dozen of my pics.
“Oh, Brayden,” I whisper, closing my eyes as two tears leak out. Yes, it’s his fault he engaged Austin. Both their faults that they couldn’t control themselves.
I can’t get out of my head how vicious the fight was.
They’d been two men out to truly kill each other. Had the cops not arrived, God knows what would have happened to either one of them.
I don’t know what’s going to happen to Brayden now. His father still pays for his college tuition. He’s going to kill Brayden when he finds out about this.
More tears leak out.
Afraid one of the girls will see, I try to surreptitiously wipe away the tears and turn my head to stare out the window. It takes me a while to even realize I’m hugging Brayden’s phone to my chest tightly.
Ashley rubs my shoulder soothingly again—her go-to comfort move. “Kira?”
“Hm?” I don’t look at her.
“I know there’s a lot of bad feelings between you and Brayden, that he hurt you really bad in the past. Even if you don’t tell us the details, it’s obvious.”
I have no idea where she’s going with this, so I remain quiet.
“Have you ever entertained the idea that . . .” She pauses, and I hear her take a deep breath. “Girl,” she says in a low tone. “I think it’s obvious you’re still in love with him.”
It’s like being stabbed in the chest, but it’s something I had already admitted to myself deep, deep down.
I still love that crazy, stubborn asshole.
It’s why I’m in this car heading to him. Why I, without responding to Ashley, beg Jenna to go faster.
It’s the most frightening, uncertain moment of my life.
For all I know, by tonight, the entire town will be filled with the rumor that I’m sleeping with my stepbrother.
By tonight, Brayden’s father might ruin his life further and decide to no longer help him with college.
This might go on Brayden’s record and fuck up a lot of his employment opportunities in the future.
I have no clue if I can forgive him enough to be good to him. If I can fix myself enough to stop mistreating him.
All I do know for a fact is that, yes, I still love him. And nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to stop me from being by his side.
Need part 3
Coming 2016
Also in 2016…
Loveless
by N. Isabelle Blanco
One night.
An agreement.
The obsession that ensues . . .
Paige
He told me he only wanted sex with me.
I’ve agreed to his terms.
Elijah will be my first lover—I’ll let him have my virginity.
But I won’t give him anything other than that.
Elijah
She was supposed to be one of many.
My greatest conquest yet.
But she’s in my blood now. Inside my fucking soul.
It won’t end at just the sex with us.
I won’t let it.
Excerpt:
one
Elijah
My heart twists, right before it takes a skydive straight between my legs.
The lips pressed against mine are soft, wet—hungry.
God damn, I can almost believe she’s been as desperate for this as I’ve been. Just as obsessed. I give into the pull, letting Paige’s tongue—Paige-fucking-Madson’s tongue—slide sensually along my own.
Licking.