Silks: A Taboo Kentucky Derby Romance

Chapter 7 （Ophelia）

“Don’t bother,” my brothersaid in a cool voice. “You won’t be fucking Chet.”

“Oh, and who’s going to stop me?” I retorted angrily.

I didn’t really want to fuck Chet. But I definitely did want to piss Teddy off.

“I am,” my brother said, coming up behind me, his voice a low rumble in my ear.

I flicked him away impatiently, but he was already brushing past me and heading over to tee up.

My insides sizzled with anger at him. So fucking tall and cocky as shit, brushing past me like he could tell me what to do.

And it was the fucking cool unconcern I couldn’t stand. Like he wasn’t even mad.

Seething, I waited until he had lined up his shot perfectly. Like everything else he did, my brother had an excellent golf game.

Yeah, he was good at golf but all the bootlicking suck-up comments were annoying, too.

“Oh, Teddy always blows us out of the water”

“Teddy, bro, where did you get those clubs? I’m looking for a new set. . .”

“This man’s got fucking balls of steel”

So I waited, and when my brother had completed his endless ass-waggling foreplay in preparation for actually hitting the ball, I fake-sneezed as loud as I could 1.5 seconds before he hit the ball.

I was pleased to see him absolutely majestically top that ball, just send it dribbling down the hill.

“Sorry,” I said. “Must be allergies.”

Everyone but Teddy turned and looked at me indignantly, the cigar almost falling out of Dad’s mouth.

I saw a few of the guys dart nervous looks between me and Teddy, like my twin was going to come rampaging over to me.

I clenched my fists. Ooh, what I wouldn’t give for Teddy to get pissed at me, so I would have some excuse to hit him in the stomach with my golf club.

My brother was bending over and checking where he’d taken a huge chunk of grass out of the ground, and then he stood up and turned around.

“Bless you,” he said evenly, and I would have given anything to have some excuse to wring his neck.

“Damn, that didn’t go very far, did it?” I asked brattily.

My brother’s lips twitched.

“Guys, why don’t you play through? I’ll stay with my sister so we don’t hold you up.”

He walked back to stand beside me with those long, efficient strides.

God, why did my brother have to be 6’5 with stupid linebacker shoulders?

It was so hard to punish him.

I tossed my head and ignored him.

When they had finally cleared off, I stood with my arms crossed.

“Well,” Teddy said, and I heard the laugh in his voice. “Take two, I guess.”

Then he gave my ass a sharp slap. This little borrowed golf skirt didn’t fit all that well, and he spanked right where the shorts had ridden up, the blow landing with stinging force right on my bare cheek.

I gasped in outrage as my brother headed to the tee.

This time I definitely had an excuse, and I raised my club to smite him across the shoulders, really wallop the shit out of him, but my asshole brother only turned around and grabbed the club.

He still didn’t even look mad, only holding the club with a smirk on his face.

“God, Teddy, you are the worst!” I complained, trying unsuccessfully to pull the club from his grip.

“You’re the one trying to brain me with a club, sweetheart,” he said.

“Why don’t you ever get mad?” I burst out. “Stop acting like everything is ok between us when it is not.”

His brows drew together.

“Who says I don’t get mad? I am mad.”

“At what?” I sniffed in disgust, finally releasing the club.

“At you, for leaving.”

His eyes were uncomfortably tight on me.

“You’re not mad at me. You’re never mad at me,” I retorted.

Teddy stepped closer. “Why did you leave?”

“I didn’t want to be in Louisville anymore. I didn’t want to be around my family anymore.”

Was I imagining it or did my brother finally wince at that?

“Is this about law school?” he asked, frowning, and his hand suddenly snapped out and grabbed my wrist.

“I don’t want to talk about it!”

I tried to twist away, but he held me so tightly my arm stung.

“Don’t try to get away,” he ordered through gritted teeth. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself. But I have to know, Ophelia. Because if it was that, I called you. I texted you. I said I would go if that’s what you wanted!”

“Why would I be mad that you changed your mind about going to law school together to fight for animal rights?” I snapped. “I’m not mad about that at all.”

His eyes looked unexpectedly, startlingly raw so close to me.

“I told you Dad said he’d disinherit us both if I didn’t go to work for his company,” Teddy said. “I didn’t want to be the reason you didn’t get an inheritance! I didn’t want to do that! But when you left all mad, I called you so many fucking times to tell you I’d go! That I’d do anything you wanted. That’s a bullshit excuse, Ophelia. It’s bullshit what you did.”

Finally he looked angry, his eyes flashing at me. My throat felt tight, like there was a huge lump there I couldn’t swallow down. I had been so pissed at him.

“I really don’t care anymore, Teddy,” I said, tossing my hair. “Let’s just go to the next hole.”

He let go of my arm, but only to shove his club back in his golf bag.

“Let’s go to lunch instead.”

“Go to lunch by yourself,” I huffed.

“I said I’d watch you this whole weekend to make sure you don’t get into any trouble, and I meant that,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me. “So where I go, you go.”

*

OF COURSE, HE TOOKme to my favorite restaurant in Louisville. But I would not let him get around me with the Kentucky Stack Cake at Proof on Main.

It did not exactly feel comfortable to sit down with some ass cheek hanging out of my borrowed golf skirt, but my brother looked as cool and unconcerned as ever in his crisp white polo and navy slacks and asshole wingtips.

The waitress, a stunning auburn-haired woman with legs that seemed to go on for miles, slipped a little note under Teddy’s plate, giving him a significant look that I knew meant it was her phone number.

But he didn’t even look at her; he was intent on pissing me off.

“Can I get a big glass of ice water for my sister?” he asked. “I bet you haven’t drunk enough water today, Ophelia.”

“Yes, I have,” I lied through my teeth, because he was a controlling, bossy ass.

“If you still want to go to law school, I’ll take the LSAT right now,” he continued.

“It’s too late,” I said. “I’m doing my Master’s in agricultural science. Which you know perfectly well because you’ve been spying on me like a real creep.”

If I expected that to shame my brother, I was sadly mistaken.

He only smiled at me, his fingers toying with his silverware. “You should have answered my texts then.”

“How many people do you have following me now, Teddy?” I asked with awful sarcasm, but he only shrugged.

“None. I’m watching you now.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, my ass probably making huge round prints all over this chair.

Teddy straightened his legs out, one massive thigh stretching so that his foot went between my legs. I bit my lip and ignored it. He was obviously trying to rile me up. Still, I felt a flush on my face as his thigh brushed mine.

Why did he have to be so. . . huge? It was certainly why he always got what he wanted.

“Why don’t you go bother the waitress instead of me?” I asked as I opened the menu, even though I knew what I wanted to get. I always got the grilled cheese and roasted carrot soup. “She seems like she wants some attention.”

“Because I don’t want to,” Teddy said. “I’ll get the bison burger.”

I huffed silently. Of course. We used to come here together all the time, and I was always a good girl and got a light lunch but usually ended up eating half of his burger and most of his fries.

“I’ve sworn off bison,” I said.

“Want me to get a veggie burger?” he asked.

No, I don’t!

I said nothing and for a moment there was silence. Teddy was twisting the cloth napkin up in his hands.

“I can do a lot of good as the company Director,” he said. “I’ve already banned working with kill buyers.”

When I said nothing, only pretending to examine the bourbon menu carefully, my brother spoke again in a tight voice.

“What do you want, Ophelia?”

“Carrot soup,” I said.

“No,” he growled back at me, and I looked up, startled. His blue eyes bore into mine. I had gray eyes and he had blue, and everyone had always commented on his eyes.

Such beautiful blue eyes.

You look like a movie star.

No one ever bothered to comment on ordinary gray eyes. Not that I cared. But my twin’s eyes were strangely hypnotic, pinning me uncomfortably in place.

“What do you want from me? How can I make this better?”

“It’s fine,” I said, my voice sounding strange to my ears. “It’s water under the bridge now.”

“I won’t stop, Ophelia,” he said, and there was a warning tone in his voice again.

What does that mean?I wondered, but I felt a little uneasy shiver down my spine.

Maybe I didn’t want to know what that meant.

Teddy had always been so freaking intense when it came to me. Two years away from him meant I wasn’t used to the everyday intensity of my asshole overly protective big brother. Turning down all the frats that wanted him in favor of renting a house he could share with me. Calling and texting me all day. All the classes we took together, even the ones he couldn’t possibly have wanted to take, like pottery. The time he left at halftime during a football game to come get me at the library because I wasn’t there to watch him.

I shouldn’t have been surprised he was paying to tail me at graduate school.

We ordered and ate. My grilled cheese and carrot soup were delicious but damn, did my brother’s golden fries ever look good, too.

I was just debating causing a distraction so I could grab one when my phone buzzed.

I was only able to glance at the screen and see that it was Harvey when Teddy picked up my phone.

“Give me that!” I said, trying to lunge across the table, but he only captured both my wrists easily in his hand, his eyes scanning the text message.

We need more or you know what will happen

“What does this mean?” he asked, his voice tight with anger. “What have you gotten yourself into, sweetheart?”

“Don’t sweetheart me!” I said indignantly. “And it’s none of your business. Maybe I work for the mob now.”

But this attempt at humor fell flat, a muscle throbbing in my brother’s jawline.

“You better not be,” he said grimly. “Tell me who is threatening you, Ophelia. Now.”

“I have to go pee,” I said, swiping a few fries from his plate and cramming them in my mouth, then hurrying away before he could object.

After going to the bathroom, I put my hands on my hips and contemplated my options.

Obviously I was going to dine and dash, crawl out the window, and get an Uber.

It wasn’t like Teddy couldn’t afford it.

The only downside was that he now had my phone, but thank God Harvey was using some sort of encrypted number.

Maybe it would be easier to do a few months in jail. I wasn’t sure I was cut out for the cloak-and-dagger stuff.

If I could only get to Chet! He looked slimy and sleazy and he was high-ranking in Barrington Industries. If there was something dodgy going on, he certainly knew about it. Only I couldn’t even try to charm Chet with my twin brother always getting in the way.

I dragged a chair over underneath the window, but I had barely stood on it before the door to the bathroom opened and my brother stood there.

“Get out of the women’s bathroom!” I cried, but he only strode up to me.

He kicked the chair away, but since he had one hand firmly on my shirt, the only thing that happened was I dangled in the air, kicking ineffectively at him.

“Sugar, don’t bother trying to get away,” he said in an amused voice, setting me gently down on the ground.

“I’m going to kill you, Theodore!” I shrieked, kicking wildly at him, but he pushed me backward, shoving a knee in between my thighs to trap me in place.

His knee was pressing right against my pussy, and I tried to wiggle to get away, but he put both hands on my throat, his big fingers doing nothing but raising my chin up so I was forced to look him in the eyes.

“Tell me who is threatening you,” he ordered again, but I only writhed and struggled to get away.

The only problem was that wiggling meant my cunt was ground on his thigh, and I began to feel uncomfortably flushed and heated.

“Grind on me if you want,” he growled in my ear. “I don’t mind.”

“You’re disgusting!” I shot at him, and he only shoved his knee harder, spreading my pussy lips open. The pressure hitting my clit was intense and I felt my core begin to pound with low heat.

“Are you wet down there, Ophelia?” he asked, his voice low and gravelly.

“No!” I cried.

I should have yelled for help, but I refused to give my brother the satisfaction!

There was a rattling noise on the door and I looked over to see that Teddy had shoved the trash can in front of it to lock us in together.

He abruptly let me go and motioned me to follow him.

“I’m going to make you tell me,” he warned. “Anybody trying to threaten you has to go through me first. Now come back to the table so you can eat some Stack Cake.”

He turned and headed for the door, big broad shoulders cocky and arrogant, knowing I had no choice but to follow him.

“I’m going back to Chicago after the Derby is over,” I said, feeling almost breathless.

“We’ll see about that,” my brother retorted, not looking back.