Chapter 46 Dex
DEX
I did everything I could to make sure I never became my father. I meditated. I gave back. I never let my temper get the best of me.
And part of that last piece was never letting more people in—not beyond the surface level that meant I would lose it if someone hurt them or something happened to them. But that had all been blown to hell.
Because as I stared back at the piece of shit trying to dominate Brae, to reduce her to property, I knew I had the ability to kill. That alone should’ve snapped me out of it, but it didn’t. It only stoked the fire living inside me—one my father had laid the kindling for.
The dipshit douchebag whirled, no awareness of when someone else was present. Someone else who could end him in a matter of seconds. It would be far too easy.
The moment Vincent registered who I was, his eyes widened a fraction. Then true fury lit his features. “So this is who she’s spreading her legs for now. A felon with a serial killer for a father. The courts are going to love that. They’ll be begging me to take my bastard boy.”
I prowled toward the man. There was nothing and no one but him. The person I wanted to end, wipe from this earth once and for all. “You’re right, and you’re wrong, Vinny. I can call you Vinny, right?”
Heat bloomed over the asshole’s face. “You can call me sir, you trailer trash.”
A low chuckle left my lips, but it wasn’t a light sound. It was pure darkness. “Well, Vinny. You’re wrong that I’m a felon. Never did time. Worked for the FBI instead. And I can produce half a dozen high-level agents who would love to tell a judge what an upstanding citizen I am.”
A sound of derision left Vincent’s lips.
“But you’re right that my father was a serial killer. He did things that would give you nightmares for the rest of your pathetic life. And he made me. He raised me. So you better think long and hard before you mess with two people who mean something to me.”
Fear flooded the weasel’s expression. He realized he was alone with me and two people who would most certainly not have his back. But he doubled down, proving he was a moron in addition to being an asshole.
“You can’t touch me. But I’m going to own you before this is done. I’ll own this whole godforsaken town before this is over.” Vincent’s gaze flicked to Brae.
Just him looking at her was more than I could take—his gaze traveling over her skin, her face. But then he spoke. “And I’ll take that boy of yours. You should be grateful. He’ll have everything your pathetic ass could never give him.”
My fist lashed out, connecting with his jaw in a vicious punch, one that had his head snapping back at an unnatural angle. Vincent went down like a ton of bricks. But it wasn’t enough.
I moved lightning fast to grab and hit him again, but Wylder was faster. He grabbed me by the arm and hauled me back, trying to create distance.
“That’s enough,” Wylder bit out. “You got him. Got him good.”
“It’s not enough,” I snarled, trying to get to Vincent, to hurt him worse.
Wylder cursed, struggling to keep me back as Vincent staggered to his feet.
“Gonna sue you,” he spat, his voice slurring just a little.
I pushed harder against Wylder, but then Brae was there, filling my vision with all she was. Her beauty. Her understanding. Her worry.
She framed my face in her hands. “Dex. Look at me. Right at me. I’m safe. Okay?”
Those golden eyes broke through. “Hellion,” I croaked.
“That’s right. And I’m right here, okay?”
Vincent started spewing more bullshit, and my gaze moved to him.
Wylder cursed. “Get Dex to my office. I’ll get rid of the asshole.”
“Me,” Brae commanded. “Look at me. Right here.”
My gaze returned to her as if she owned it, owned me. Not in the way Vincent had spoken of, though. In a way that existed because I had given her that ownership. My body. My goddamned soul.
“That’s it. With me,” she praised.
Some part of me was aware of her guiding me to Wylder’s office. Shutting the door and locking it behind us. Though I wasn’t sure whether that was to keep me in or Vincent out.
Brae’s hands were on my face. She lifted my glasses off and set them on the desk. And then those hands were back. So soft compared to my stubbled jaw, my skin that felt so rough and undeserving.
“Don’t,” I rasped.
Pain streaked across her face—pain I put there. It only strengthened my resolve. Because that’s what I did. I inflicted hurt. Worse.
“Dex,” she whispered.
“Don’t touch me. You shouldn’t touch me.”
“Why?” The word was so gentle, searching for understanding.
“I can hurt people. I’ll hurt you. I have him in me, Brae. I have him in me.” Each word was barbed and ripped from my throat, leaving me in bloody shreds.
A wash of empathy spread over Brae’s face. She moved toward me, and I backed up, trying to ward her off, shield her, protect her. I hit the desk, nowhere else to go, and Brae was on me.
Those hands were back on my face, shaking me gently. “Dex. You aren’t him. You’re nothing like him. You use your power for good. You protect. You help. You never turn away, even though it would be so easy.”
“I wanted to kill him.” The words were a whisper. A dark secret.
Brae’s shoulders lifted and then fell. “So did I. You didn’t.”
“I could’ve.” She needed to know. To see.
“Yes. You could’ve. Which means the fact that you didn’t carries all the more weight.”
She didn’t understand. Didn’t see. “You shouldn’t be around me.”
“I get to decide that. And I can’t imagine anyone better to be around. Dex.” Brae’s voice hitched as if she were struggling with the words. “You gave me a family. You gave me one when I felt like I never really had that. You gave me a community.”
I shook my head. “You gave it to yourself.”
“Bullshit. You opened doors that were closed and locked. You gave my son someone to look up to. Someone to help him be proud of exactly who he is.”
More fear flooded me. “He needs to stay away from me, too.”
“No.” The word was so final it jolted me. Brae’s golden eyes flashed. “We’re not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere.”
Her mouth met mine in a kiss that was more of an attack than anything else. Brae’s tongue lashed against mine, making me instantly react, battle—as if my body could say everything my words were failing to convey.
My hand dove into her hair, pulling the strands, fisting them.
Brae moaned into my mouth, arching against me instead of pulling away.
My dick strained for attention, pressing hard against the zipper of my jeans.
She owned me, all right, down to my goddamned balls.
Everything in me came alive at her touch, her sounds.
Fucking hell.
Brae nipped my bottom lip and then took the kiss deeper. I growled into her mouth in response and palmed her breast through the cotton of her sundress. Her nipple pebbled against my hand as if it were dying to get to me, as if she would meet me anywhere I went.
She was consuming me—her taste, her touch. It was all-consuming. Burning me alive and drowning me all at once.
My hand left that perfect breast, the one that filled my hand and just a little more. It dove under her dress, finding the barest lace covering everything I wanted, covering my heaven and torturous hell.
“This is all you wear under these dresses?” I growled against Brae’s lips.
She pulled back, golden eyes flashing in challenge. “If you had investigated before now, you would’ve known.”
My fingers wrapped around the delicate lace. And I let the fury free so she could see. I ripped the lace from her in one brutal tear. Her whole body bowed, but she didn’t break. My hellion met me in the fire. The inferno so dark that it terrified me.
But not her. Not Brae. She was right there.
Her fingers found the button of my jeans. They moved in jerky, staccato motions. Suddenly, my jeans were being shucked down my legs, and my cock was in her hand. She stroked me, up and down, squeezing gently toward the end of each thrust.
I groaned, my head tipping back, a bead of wetness bleeding from my tip. Even my goddamned dick bowed at her altar.
“Need you to let go, Dex. Let it all go. Pour it into me. Let me take it from you.”
My head jerked up, gaze colliding with hers as my fingers dug into her hip. “I can’t.” But I wanted to. So damn badly. Wanted to lose myself in nothing but her.
“You can.” Brae stroked harder, and I thrust into her fist as my fingers dipped between her thighs.
I felt the wetness, and my eyes fell closed. “Fucking weeping.”
“For you,” she whispered.
“I don’t have a condom.” That would stop it. Protect us both.
“I’m on the pill.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
My hips arched into her, meeting her hand but wanting so much more. My eyes flew open. “Got checked,” I ground out. Received all my results just yesterday. Nothing was keeping us apart now, and I knew I would break. No force of will could keep me from her now.
“Let it out, Dex. Release it all. Let me take it.”
Those brave words from delicate lips were all it took. My hands moved to her waist as I kicked off my shoes and pants. I swore only the fury still burning snapped them free. I flipped our positions, pinning Brae to the desk.
But her legs encircled my waist, meeting me there like always, her eyes not moving from mine as my tip bumped her entrance. Her fingers dove into my hair, pulling it taut. As she pulled harder, I drove into her.
Brae’s back arched, a moan leaving her lips as I slid in. The way she moved, the way she met me…so fucking beautiful. And goddamn, she gripped me like a vise. I pulled back, thrusting home again, deeper this time.
A buzz lit beneath my skin, a high that was only her.
Brae’s head lifted as her fingers found my shoulders, gripping so hard her nails nearly pierced my skin, even through my tee. “Let go,” she commanded.
As though she knew I was still holding some part of myself back.
But not now. Not anymore.
I let go. I took her. Like the animal I was. Powering into her, over her.
Brae’s legs trembled around me, and her mouth fell open. “More.” The word was a plea.
I thrust impossibly deeper as she met me there, battled with me, for me. That buzz intensified, a tingle starting low on my spine. My fingers tightened in her hair as I took her. “Need you with me,” I growled. “Always with me.”
Her inner walls trembled, fluttering. “Almost.”
“Get there.” It was an order and a prayer. I needed it with her, not alone.
Brae’s nails bit into my shoulders as her eyes flared, and she clamped down on my dick—waving pulses that set me free.
I arched into her, moved through the waves. Losing myself as I spilled into her. That last wall between us crumbled down. There was nothing left. She had all of me.
We rode out the waning waves together until I collapsed against her, against the desk, trying not to crush her but having nothing left.
Brae’s hands found my cheeks as her eyes searched mine. “Even your rage is beautiful.”
“Hellion,” I croaked.
“Not scared of you, Dex. And I never will be. I see you, and it’s nothing but endless beauty.”
No more defenses, no more holding back. She had it all. Everything I had to give. I rested my forehead against hers, knowing I loved her, would always love her, and hoping like hell we could make it through whatever lay ahead.