Chapter 26
26
JO
Jayden is frozen, staring at the door Cole disappeared into.
I’ve only just met Cole’s mom, but I hate her.
“Fuck.” Jayden clenches his fists. “I’m going to get us something to eat.” He storms to the door we came in, then turns abruptly, fixing me with a stern look. “If you try to run, I’ll keep you drugged until we get to Mexico. Got it?”
I glare at him. He’s being a dick for no reason. “Got it.”
Fucking asshole.
Jayden looks at me for a while longer, then steps out of the room.
I hear Cole turn the shower on. The tortured look in his eyes made my chest hurt.
I swallow, then go to the door. I knock softly.
“Fuck off, Jay.”
I hear a shower door roll shut, and I test the door handle. It’s unlocked. Pushing the door open, I step inside.
The bathroom is just as fancy as the other room, lined with mirrors, eggshell accents, and gilded accessories. Cole is in the shower, and the glass is fogged up.
“I said fuck off,” Cole snaps.
I cross my arms.
“Fucker, did you not—“ he turns and sees me. “Jo?”
I raise an eyebrow.
Cole cracks the shower door open to see me better. His face looks tortured, but he immediately tries to cover it with a smirk. “Did you want to join me?”
“No.” I lean against the counter. My chest tightens from the steam in the room. I remind myself I can breathe. I’m fine. “Just checking on you.”
Cole shakes some of the water from his face, then opens the door and steps out all the way. “Checking on me? You’re so fucking sweet.”
“What are you?—“
Cole grabs at me. “Come here.”
I gasp, darting away.
Cole grins. His face is manic, and my gaze darts down his gloriously naked and muscled body. My eyes lock on his left thigh, where blood drips down.
“Cole!” I gasp.
He looks down, then back up at me. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Pretty? What…” There is a deep slash across his leg, dark blood rolling down and mixing with the water running down him.
Cole lunges at me, wrapping me in his arms. “Shower with me.”
“No.” I struggle, but Cole yanks me back to the shower. He drags me inside, clothes and all. “Cole!”
I gasp as he slams me against the shower wall. He stands under the spray, water raining down on his head as he blinks it out of his eyes.
Water soaks into my clothes and the bandage on my arm, and immediately, I can’t breathe. My chest locks up, and I can’t suck in a breath.
“Easy, lemon drop. Breathe with me.”
My chest hurts.
“Hey.” Cole raises a hand to brush the hair out of my face, letting warm drops drip down my skin. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
I pull in fast, shallow breaths. “Can’t. Breathe.”
“Yes, you can.” Cole grips my face. “Look at me.”
I do, blinking as the spray of the water hits me. Fuck, I can’t breathe!
“Jo!” Cole squeezes so hard pain runs through my cheeks.
“There she is. Good girl.”
I suck in a few more breaths.
Cole’s expression looks pained. “I’m sorry, little one. I’m sorry.” He looks me up and down. “I didn’t mean…fuck.”
I want to get out of the water. I need to. I struggle, and Cole winces, but he doesn’t let me go.
“Here.” He grabs something off the shower shelf and holds it out to me.
I blink. It’s his knife.
“Cut me.”
“What?” I snap my gaze to Cole’s. For once, his cocky mask has slipped away. He looks tortured.
“Fucking cut me, Jo. Make me hurt for what I did.”
“No!” I try to pull away, but he cages me in with his arms, the knife slamming into the shower wall with a bang.
Cole drops his head to mine, blue, pained eyes boring into mine. “Please.” Then he says softer, so soft I almost don’t hear it over the spray of the water, “Make it better.”
I swallow.
Cole grabs my hand and puts the knife in it, wrapping my fingers around it. I stare at it.
Cole continues to stand in the spray, shielding me from most of it. I realize with a start that I’ve been breathing fine.
“Do it.” Cole watches me, gaze still ripped open.
I clench my jaw. “I don’t think I can.”
“Here.” Cole pushes me to my knees, grabs my hand with the knife, and pulls it close to him.
“No.” I try to yank away. This is wrong. I don’t want to hurt him.
Cole keeps his grip gentle but firm, guiding the knife to the skin right below his other cut.
My heart races. Fuck, I don’t want to hurt him.
Cole presses our hands and the blade to his thigh, and his dick jerks.
I snap my gaze up to his, but the water pours down on my face, and I can’t see. I choke for a second, unable to breathe.
“Easy, Jo. Just look at what we’re doing.”
With gentle firmness, Cole presses down on my hand and drags, cutting the blade into his skin. Blood wells up immediately, splattering under the spray of the water and washing down his skin.
Cole groans, a heady sound, and his dick jerks again, hardening in front of my eyes.
Cole lifts the blade, then takes his hand off mine. “Atta girl. Now do it again.”
“Cole,” I watch the blood streak down his body.
“Fuck, Jo.” Cole buries his hands in my hair. “Help me feel good. Please.”
I hate the pleading in his voice. He sounds…broken.
I raise the knife to Cole’s skin again, and the groan he lets out is one of relief and need. I press it to him just enough that it dents his skin.
“Harder,” Cole grits.
So I do. I press into him, the knife barely resisting as it cuts through his skin.
“Fuck, Jo! Yes. Good fucking girl.” His fingers tighten to the point of pain. His dick bobs, swollen and hard.
“Again.”
I do it again, this time hesitating less, and Cole’s body shakes. The low growl he lets out is primal and sends the heat pulsing straight to my core.
“Now lick it up.” Cole jerks my head toward his thigh. “Lick it up, nasty girl. I want to be all over you, in your mouth and hair and eyes.” Cole shoves my face into the blood on his leg. “I want to be in your head, in your body, in your fucking heart. Jesus. Suck my dick with a mouthful of me.”
My clit throbs, and I try to pull away from him. He doesn’t let me.
“Go on. Be my nasty girl.”
I feel his blood on my face. It’s slippery and warm and thick. “Cole…”
“Get out of your head,” Cole snarls, smashing my face into him so hard I taste the copper. “Let go for me, Jo.” Then he adds in a softer tone, “Please.”
It’s the last please that gets me. I stick out my tongue, licking hesitantly at first, thick blood immediately filling my mouth. Cole moans loudly, jerking his hips against me. I lick harder, getting more of a reaction out of him, tasting his blood and skin. He tastes like water and copper and sweat.
It only seems to drive him more wild. Cole lets go of my hair with one hand and jerks himself furiously with the other. I drag my tongue along the cuts and feel more scabs underneath my tongue. His thigh quivers beneath me.
“More. Please,” he begs.
The power goes to my head, and I moan into his skin. I lick harder, relishing Cole’s reactions. He’s so sensitive to every move I make. Then I smack his hand away from his dick, reaching out to grab it myself and stroke him slowly, so slowly.
“Jesus, woman.” Cole bucks his hips into me. “Don’t tease me.”
“What?” I carefully put the knife on the shower floor and push it away from us, tracing my other hand up his stomach. Cole shifts, and the water rains down on my head.
For a second, I panic. But I suck in a breath. I’m okay. I’m in control. I can stop this if I want.
Cole waits for me. When I start stroking him again, he lets out a breath, jerking his dick into my hand. “What a good girl.”
“Is this what you want?” I seal my lips over one of the cuts and suck. I pull as much of his blood into my mouth as I can, then move over to his dick and spit it onto him.
Cole shudders, his dick twitching. “God damn, nasty girl. Just like that.”
I move back to his cuts, dragging in another mouthful and then spitting it all over his dick.
I close my lips around his dick and suck. I pull him deep into my throat, bobbing and licking on him with enthusiasm.
I glance up, and Cole’s head is thrown back, his entire body tense. “Shit Jo, I’m gonna come.”
I pull him into my mouth and relax my throat around him.
Cole comes, his dick jerking against me, his cum pouring down my throat in spurts. I take it all, sucking him down, waiting until he’s done, then popping off him and licking his tip.
Cole shudders, turns the shower off, then wraps his hand around my neck, under my chin. He pulls me up, looking down into my eyes with a softness I’m not used to seeing. Cole’s blue eyes search mine, then he plants a kiss on my forehead. “You look beautiful covered in my blood.”
A small smile curves against my lips.
“Jesus,” Cole whispers, stroking a thumb against my cheek.
I hear my name shouted from outside the bathroom, and I jump. Before I have a chance to get up, the door slams open.
“Cole! Jo ran…”
Both of us turn to see Jayden panting. He takes us in and straightens. “Oh.”
“Hey,” I shrug.
“What the hell happened to you?” Jayden strides up to the shower, alarm on his face.
I blink. I’m not sure what he means.
“Just messing around.” Cole bends down to grab the knife from the shower floor.
“Are you okay?” Jayden grabs my face, twisting it from side to side.
Oh fuck. The blood. I lick my lips. “I’m fine.”
“Where’s this coming from?” Jayden frantically smooths his fingers along my face.
“It’s mine,” Cole says.
Jayden continues searching me, and when he can’t find anything, he slowly moves his gaze to Cole.
“Cole.” Anger fills his tone. “Jesus fucking Christ, enough. Give me the knife.”
Cole holds it up, away from Jayden. “Fuck all the way off, Jayden.”
Jayden snarls, and I struggle to get to my feet. Cole helps me up with the hand not holding the knife, and the cold air from outside rushes in around my cold clothes. I gasp.
Both men are caught in a glaring match.
“I swear to fuck, we aren’t leaving this bathroom until you give me that knife.”
With the water off, I can see the other scars on Cole’s leg, and my heart clenches for what he’s going through. I lift my gaze to him.
“Why the fuck do you care?” Cole’s jaw is tight. “I’m clearly not trying to kill myself.”
“Because, fuck! You’re my fucking kid brother, man; you’re not supposed to be doing that.” Jayden swallows hard.
Cole narrows his eyes, his body stiffening. “Was I your kid brother when I killed Pat? Hmmm? How about when I helped you kidnap Sage? Or when I hunted Jo down when she tried to leave? Stop. Trying. To. Baby. Me.” Cole’s seething now.
Oh shit. Oh shit, they killed Pat?
I blink, looking at the killers in front of me. My heart rate picks up, but not because I’m afraid. The exact opposite. My clit pounds. Somewhere, deep inside, I knew they killed him. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were others, too.
Something stupid enters my head. I’m not sure why I offer, but I hold my hand out to Cole. “Give me the knife. I’ll keep it since you two can’t get along.”
Both men look at me. I lift an eyebrow and hold out my hand.
Finally, Cole moves. He puts the knife in my palm, closing my fingers around the handle.
The room stills. Jayden watches me, Cole watches Jayden, and my gaze darts between them. Is this actually going to go down?
There are a few moments of tense silence. Finally, Jayden lets out a breath and runs his hand through his hair. “Fine, but don’t try to cut me, Jo. I’m not into that shit, and I’ll beat your ass black and blue.”
Cole winks at me. “You can try it on me.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” Jayden mutters as he tosses me a towel and then marches out the door.
“You’ll have to pick something other than a knife to do it with,” Cole grumbles, then places a kiss on top of my head. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”