6. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Teagan
I ’d initially been looking forward to the weekend, holing myself up in my room and watching a Nicholas Sparks movie. What I didn’t have on my agenda was sitting in the backseat of an SUV behind two of the most infamous assholes at the university on a Saturday morning. I could be sleeping in right now. Annoyance skittered down my spine, but deep down, I knew this wasn’t their fault. If our parents requested this, it was on them.
Phoenix took a hard left around the corner, causing a surprised gasp to tumble from my lips. Clearly, he needed to work on his driving skills. He whipped into a secluded parking lot, jerking the vehicle to a stop near the front. My heart hammered violently against my ribcage, a million new fears unlocking inside me.
He turned to King. “Want anything specific?”
King glanced at me over his shoulder, his eyes raking down my slender figure. “I’ll text you,” he decided, his lips kicking up into a smirk before he turned back to his brother.
Phoenix nodded and stepped out of the vehicle, making a beeline for the entrance of the grocery store. My eyes tracked his movements. Taking note of his tense shoulders, the rigidness of his spine, and how he always held his head up high, even when something clearly seemed to be stressing him.
King was busy typing something on his phone, his fingers working a mile a minute over his screen. Once he was finished, he turned to me.
“Have you ever been camping?” he asked, undoing his seatbelt and allowing it to fall away. The metal hit the door with a clink before the belt smoothed itself back out and retracted.
I’d only been a couple times, and it was with the sorority girls, which was probably much different than a family camping trip.
“A couple of times,” I admitted, glancing out the window. There were only two other cars in the lot, presumably belonging to workers.
The sound of shuffling caught my attention, but I forced myself to sit still and not look. Maybe they’d leave me alone if I ignored them. It wasn’t until I felt his massive body climbing over the center console that my heart lurched into my throat, that I whipped my head over to the big, hulking figure now occupying the seat beside me.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes at him in accusation, despite the sudden awareness sparking to life inside of me.
“You looked lonely back here all by yourself.”
“I prefer it that way,” I snapped.
He tsked in response, acting as if I were nothing but a petulant child. “So much hostility,” he said with condescension. “And for no reason.”
I opened my mouth, ready to go the hell off on him, but then I realized… he was right. They might have made me uncomfortable, and the rumors didn’t do them any justice, but they hadn’t done anything to me directly. Maybe I was being unfair.
“Why are you back here, really?” I challenged, pressing my back up against the door to put some space between us.
King’s gaze flicked to my lips and then bounced back up to meet my eyes. “Do you not want me back here?” he countered.
“You make me uncomfortable.”
He snorted a laugh, but I found no amusement in it. “Do I?”
Nervous energy prickled along my skin. He was much too close for my liking, and I didn’t like the way he looked at me—like he was seconds away from devouring me. There was something dangerous about him, something that sent alarm bells resounding within my skull. The same could be said for his twin.
“You know you do.” I rolled my eyes. “You seem to get off on it.”
His smirk widened into a grin. “Such a dirty fucking mouth, little sister.”
A frown tugged at my lips, confusion slamming into me. How was that… oh. I suppose I walked into that one. “How original,” I retorted, not bothering to hide the annoyance lacing my tone.
“Do you think about that often?” he pressed, inching closer to me.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
He was so close to me that I could feel the heat radiating off his body, wrapping around me like a weighted blanket. It was just as suffocating as his thick and spicy cologne was.
“Getting me off,” he murmured, reaching toward me.
My shoulders instantly tensed as he plucked a strand of my light brown hair between his fingers—just like his brother had done yesterday. It also didn’t escape me that they opted for the same nickname, almost like they were one and the same.
“You’re delusional,” I deadpanned, despite the heat rising to the surface of my skin. “I didn’t even know you existed until you popped up in my mom’s kitchen.”
“Somehow, I doubt that.” His voice was lower now, bordering on something sinful and addicting. “I bet you were salivating as soon as you found out about our parent’s arrangement.”
“You’re extremely full of yourself. Has anyone ever told you that?”
His lips kicked up into a smirk, but it wasn’t as arrogant as his usual ones. “No. Because they know that if they did, they’d be buried six feet deep.” His free hand dropped to the curve of my hip, causing my breath to hitch. “Fuck,” he muttered, his gaze darkening with lust. “Tell me now, Teagan. Are you a virgin?”
A bucket of cold ice fell over me, forcing me back to reality. What the hell was happening? Was I really about to let this stranger—my s tepbrother —kiss me? In all my life, I’d never been so reckless. “That’s hardly any of your business,” I snarled.
His grip tightened on my waist, and I moved my hands out in front of me to prevent any further contact. “It is.”
“How?” I pressed, arching an eyebrow.
He huffed a sinister laugh, one that sent chills careening down my spine. “Because when I fuck you, I need to know whether to be rough or gentle.”
Heat spread through every inch of my body, followed by a wave of arousal. My thighs clenched of their own accord, and I hated that it interested me even in the slightest. I’ve only been intimate with one guy. My senior year of high school, I’d been in a serious relationship. Patrick, despite his unappealing name, had been a charmer. He was on the basketball team, constantly surrounded by a plethora of women when I met him.
For reasons I couldn’t understand at the time, he’d developed an interest in me. After a lot of wooing, I decided to give him the time of day. We were together for about a year before everything burst into flames. I made my way to his dorm on campus to surprise him for Valentine’s Day, only to discover him screwing some blonde chick. He had her bent over his bed as he drove into her again and again and again.
Needless to say, we broke up. A few weeks later, they just… both vanished off the face of the earth. I assumed they ran away together, because she allegedly had a boyfriend of her own, but with all the disappearances happening around here, who knows.
Reality slammed back into me when a brush of something warm drifted to my thigh. My gaze zeroed in on King, taking note of his searing hot gaze and the intensity within his green irises. A snarl got lodged in my throat and I shoved his hand away from me, hating that he’d taken advantage of my momentary weakness.
“Get bent, asshole,” I snapped.
“Such a dirty fucking mouth for a pretty, little thing.” He swiped his tongue over his lower lip, my eyes tracking the movement of their own accord. “But I think you have the positions wrong, seeing as it’ll be you who gets bent.”
A surge of rage punched through my chest. What was it with him? He was absolutely delusional if he thought these weird ass innuendos would work on me. Before I had the opportunity to say anything else, the driver’s side door opened, and Phoenix slipped inside. He released an audible sigh and tossed the grocery bags into the passenger seat, not seeming surprised in the slightest that his brother had changed seats.
“Did you do what I asked you to?” Phoenix asked King, sparing him a brief glance as he put the car in reverse.
King gave him a sheepish grin that made him look more boyish than I was used to. “I might have gotten sidetracked,” he admitted, turning to look at me again. “Let me see your phone.”
I bristled. “What?”
“You heard me. Let me see your phone.” He held out his hand like he actually expected me to obey.
“And why the hell would I do that?”
“Because he said,” Phoenix snapped, his hard tone sending tremors through my body.
King rolled his eyes at his brother’s attitude. “Because it’s tradition. We all keep our phones stored in the glove compartment during camping trips.”
I didn’t trust them one bit. Why did they need my phone? It was my only form of contact outside of them. I’d even packed my phone charger so I could scroll through social media before bed and connect with my friends.
“You’ll get it back tomorrow night before we leave,” he continued, softening his voice.
“What if I don’t want to give it to you?”
He glanced over at his brother who was staring back through the rearview mirror. Phoenix gave him a nod of approval, like they were silently communicating with one another again. It was freaking weird.
“Then I’ll take it,” King replied. “And if I have to take it, I’ll be taking a lot more than just your phone.”
I reeled back in surprise, my heart jumping into my throat at what he was insinuating. “A-are you threatening me?” I forced the words out through ragged breaths.
King shrugged in response. “It’s merely a warning, but in theory… yes.”
With shaky hands, I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and tugged out my phone, slapping it into the palm of his hand much harder than necessary. If it phased him, he didn’t show it. Instead, he moved to the opposite end of the car and resumed his place there, giving me some much-needed space.
This was going to be a long ass weekend.