Chapter Forty-seven
Killian
I don’t think when I see Hex kiss Brynn—I just react.
My heart stops, my muscles freeze, and then she meets my gaze across the room, and a burst of adrenaline hits my veins.
Then she turns around and runs away with Hex’s fucking mantle draped over her shoulders, and I have no choice but to run after her.
I notice Aiden seconds before I plow into him, shoving the fucker and wanting to rip that mask off and break his fucking face, but Brynn’s getting away, and getting to her is more important.
“Kill,” Hex says, trying to stop me.
But I can’t look at him without ruining my life right now, so I ignore him and take off up the stairs after her.
She’s stopped at the door, probably trying to get her phone, but when she looks back at me, she abandons her mission, picking up her black lace skirt and taking off.
Like a princess in a prophecy she can’t outrun, she heads straight for the woods.
That’s all right.
It’s not the first time I’ve chased her pretty little ass through the forest, but this time when I get my hands on her, I’m not letting go.
And at the pace she’s running, it won’t be long.
She wore heels tonight, and Brynn can’t run in heels. She can’t stop to take them off, either. She knows I’ll catch her if she does.
But I catch her anyway.
“Killian,” she cries, trying to rip her arm away from me when I grab it.
I grab her everywhere I can. I let go of her arm, but only to grab her waist and yank her against me.
“Did Hex fuck you?”
“What?” she shrieks, the shock on her face easing the slightest bit of frenzied fucking fury out of me. “No, of course not.”
“You need to stay away from him. He’s poison. He’d fucking destroy you.”
“I don’t like Hex. You’re being crazy,” she says, struggling to get away from me.
Since she’s wiggling so fucking much, I grab her arms, pinning them behind her so I can hold her body against mine. “You looked awfully fucking cozy getting kisses from him in the goddamn corner for someone with no interest in him.”
She looks up at me with her big, innocent doe-eyes. “I was interested in his coat, not him. And I didn’t expect the kiss. I was as shocked as you were.”
“I swear to god, Brynn, if he touches you again…”
I don’t even know.
I’ll lose my fucking mind.
I’ll lock her up somewhere like a fucking prisoner.
I’ll torch both our fucking lives if I have to, but I’ll never let him touch her. Not him.
And not fucking Aiden, either.
Hex was the one I caught too close to her, but it was Aiden standing next to her in that fucking phantom mask.
And here she is, looking just like Christine.
His Christine.
My blood runs hot despite the chill in the air. I can feel my grip on her is painfully tight, but she doesn’t complain. “Did you come here with him?”
Guilt flashes through her eyes and she swallows, but she doesn’t look away from me. “Hex? No, of course—”
“Not Hex.”
She doesn’t answer this time, and that is the answer.
Of course she did.
Of course she got in a fucking car with a man who planned to rape andkill her and let him bring her out to the middle of fucking nowhere.
I don’t know if I’m angrier over the danger she put herself in, or the fact that in order to overlook what we both know about him, she would almost certainly have to be attracted to him.
He asked her on a date, and she said yes.
He brought her to the Blue Blood Ball.
And they’re wearing fucking couples’ costumes and dressed as the Phantom and Christine.
That’s so stupid, it shouldn’t hurt, but it fucking does.
The idea of her replacing me makes me so irrationally angry, I feel my sanity slipping.
Not fucking happening.
I shake my head, my skin hot. I look at her standing there in Hex’s clothes at a party she came to with Aiden and I know… I can’t fucking trust her to look after herself. She’s a magnet to murderous assholes and she’s going to get herself destroyed and then killed, probably in that order.
“I hope you’ve enjoyed your freedom, songbird, because after tonight, I’m putting your reckless little ass in a cage.”
She stares up at me, eyes wide. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I let go of her wrists, but only so I can shove her down on the ground.
“Killian,” she says, still with the audacity to sound outraged.
“I should beat that pretty little ass for what you’ve done tonight. But we’ll deal with that later. Right now, I just want to fuck you. It’s been too long.”
“You are not fucking me,” she says with surprising adamance, twisting and trying more desperately to get away from me.
“Oh, yes, I am.” I don’t take Hex’s mantle off her because I want to fuck her in it, but I grab the lacy bustline of her dress and rip it open. She gasps as her tits spill out. No bra underneath. Perfect.
“Killian,” she says a bit fearfully, but I’m too hungry for a taste to really hear her. I’m rough with her, kissing and biting her tits until she’s gasping and pulling at my hair, trying to pull me off her.
She’d need a fucking army to get me off her.
Unfortunately, it occurs to me she just might get one.
Hex didn’t want me coming after her, and while one had to skip the event, most of the Blue Bloods are in that building. All he has to do is gather them up, maybe even bring his new buddy Aiden to replace our missing brother tonight, and there would be an army looking for us in these woods.
A much more effective army than the last band of idiots who chased after us.
And if he’s pissed enough about me chasing after Brynn and leaving Sloane inside to watch, well…
I don’t want him getting any ideas about teaching me a lesson.
We won’t all survive that.
I’ll hide her from him after tonight. I have to. After what I just saw in the ballroom, maybe he hasn’t fucked her yet, but he’s thinking about it, and since I’m not free to make a claim on her, there really isn’t anything I can do to stop him short of killing the bastard.
But I’d have to do it in a way the Blue Bloods couldn’t trace back to me or I’d die too, and since the asshole is my friend, I don’t really want to kill him.
Even if I did, Aiden might pop up, and even if I finish what I started there, there will be some other fucker who falls into her pretty brown eyes and wants to touch her. There’s just no fucking way I’m gonna let them. I don’t care how unfair it is; Brynn Blakely is mine.
I look down at Brynn now, half naked with her dress torn, glaring up at me like I’m the devil.
She’s so fucking pretty lying there beneath me on the forest floor.
Her mask is caught on her hair clip, so I tug the mask off and toss it. I take the hair clip out, too, sinking my fingers into her dark curls and cradling her head.
“I love you. Don’t you forget that.”
A frown flickers across her face, but before she has a chance to respond, I kiss her.
Then I shove her dress up so I can pull her panties down, and her urgency to get away from me is renewed.
“Killian, stop. I don’t want—”
“I don’t care,” I tell her, not even letting her finish.
She glares up at me. “You don’t get to fuck me after you’ve fucked her. And you don’t get to be this jealous that I went on a date when you’re engaged to someone else.”
I don’t want to fucking hear about her right now.
I don’t want to argue, either.
I want to take what I know has been mine since the moment I touched it, so I do.
“Killian!” She shoves at me, trying to kick me away when I slide my hand into her panties.
Christ, the way her body moves under me makes me even harder.
“If you want me to get off you, baby, you’re on the wrong track.”
“You fucking hypocrite,” she says, shoving my chest as hard as she can. “You fucking asshole. You don’t get to do this to me anymore!”
“Who’s gonna stop me?” I ask her.
She wants to say she is, but she knows she can’t, so she just glares.
And I know it’s entirely possible people who can stop me are on their way into the woods to get us, so I stop playing with what might be my last meal and I fucking enjoy it.
Brynn swats my hands away when I squeeze her tits. Her skin is cool despite the flush. I didn’t realize it because I’m hot with all the murderous rage burning through me since I saw her with Hex, but snow is starting to fall so she’s probably cold.
I grab the edges of Hex’s cloak and fix it so it’s covering more of her shoulders, then I reach down to take my cock out.
“Killian, I’m so fucking serious.” Her voice shakes, and she tries again to throw me off her. “Get off me.”
“So am I,” I tell her. “I warned you. You didn’t listen. It doesn’t matter. The truth is, we were both fucked the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Please stop,” she says, softening her approach since her indignation isn’t getting her anywhere.
I smile faintly. She’s such smart, amusing prey to chase. I really do fucking admire her survival instincts. She doesn’t think she has any, but she does or she’d be dead with all the dumb fucking choices she makes.
“I love so much about you.”
Brynn sighs. “Please don’t do this to me, Killian. Not again. Please. My heart can’t take any more.”
Yes, it can.
Her heart is extremely resilient, and Hex called it right—Brynn’s love can rebound from any abuse thrown at her if her tormentor knows how to tug on the right heartstrings to pull her back in. The only reason her stupid family got locked out of her life was because they didn’t care enough to make her stay when she started pulling away. They let her leave.
After tonight, I’m not making that mistake. I don’t care if Sloane hates my fucking guts and comes to view me as the worst mistake she’s ever made. I’m keeping Brynn.
And Brynn will hate that, too, but I’m too selfish to let her go. I can’t do it. I won’t.
Maybe she doesn’t want to keep loving me, but she will. I won’t let her stop, even if it tears both of us apart.
I know Brynn isn’t capable of coldness, and I’m prepared to use that to my advantage. She’s all warmth; she just needs someone ruthless enough to light the fire no matter what it might burn down.
And I’m not afraid of setting fires, no matter how deadly the consequences may be.
She doesn’t want me to take her right now, but I will anyway, and she won’t hate me for it. I won’t let her.
She hasn’t accepted her fate yet, so when I grab her hips to position her and force myself between her thighs, she shoves at me and tries her best to swing her legs around and kick me away.
I shift my hold on her so I can grab her thighs, forcing them apart so I can fit myself where I need to be between them.
“Let me go,” she demands, her voice breaking with frustration.
“Never,” I vow. “I’ll never let you go.”
Her eyes are wide as she looks up at me, uselessly shoving her hands against my chest, and even though she doesn’t understand how much I mean those words, she will.
“Stop fucking fighting me,” I bite out as I reach under her dress and tear off her panties. She’s fighting too hard to just take them off her, and it’s a burning need at the base of my spine now—I have to get inside her.
“Please stop,” she tries again, but her panties are off now and it’s too late for her. Too late for me.
I push my cock right up against her warm slit and spread her open with my fingers. She tries to kick and shove me away, to move her hips so I can’t get inside her, but I have a single-minded focus and nothing short of a bullet in my skull is going to stop me.
“Killian, please.”
I shove into her, and an agonized cry slips from her pretty throat.
And then the edges of my vision fade as her tight walls stretch to fit me. I hold her hips tight and push deeper inside her wet heat. She cries out as I take her, but I can hardly breathe, let alone think. It’s ecstasy. Pure fucking ecstasy.
“Fuck.” Her body is still fighting to keep me out, but all I can concentrate on is getting so deep inside her, she can never make me leave.
I piston my hips forward, forcing my cock all the way in her resisting pussy and holding it there. She curses me and shoves against me, but I have an iron grip on her hips and she’s not going anywhere.
I ease back, but only so I can follow the same path to paradise and shove deep into her pussy again. I hold it again once she’s full of my cock because I just fucking love being inside her. “Right there, baby. Fuck, you feel so good.”
Brynn turns her pretty face and looks away from me. I see a tear slip down her face and I dip down to kiss it away.
She still won’t look at me. I know she’s pissed, but I’ll make it up to her later. Right now, I need to fuck her like I need to breathe, so I do.
I plunge in and out of her delicious fucking tightness, and as I pick up the pace, she works so hard to stifle the sounds of building pleasure that work their way out of her throat.
She may not want me inside her, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy it. Her eyes drift closed when I thrust into her. Her body’s natural response to mine can’t be stopped, and her tits jiggle as I fuck her, tempting me to steal a few kisses. I’m rough with her pussy tonight, so her gasps and pants keep coming, and when I drive deep, she groans helplessly, her nails clawing at Hex’s mantle instead of the cold, dirty ground beneath us.
I need to come inside her.
I don’t care how fucking reckless it is or how much she’ll hate it; I need to fill her pussy up until it’s overflowing and then I need to fuck her some more.
I need to mark my fucking territory.
“Killian,” she cries, throwing her head back as her back arches off the ground.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m right here.”
She’s getting close, so I grab her hips tight and fuck that sweet pussy until she’s crying out with pleasure and twisting with rapture.
Her perfect little pussy squeezes the everloving fuck out of my cock so I shove deep, making sure I come as deep inside her as I can.
When the last wave of pleasure subsides and all the strength momentarily abandons my muscles, I sink down and collapse on top of her.
I know she hates me a little right now, and she should, so I don’t fucking blame her, but she still threads her fingers through my hair and absently caresses me while I recover with my cock still inside her.
“I love you so fucking much, Brynn,” I murmur against her skin.
She doesn’t say it back, but she doesn’t have to. I know how she feels.
Once I can stand again, I do.
I look down at Brynn in her ruined dress and Hex’s fucking mantle, and the anger I just fucked out starts to resurface.
“Who bought you that dress?”
She looks up at me as she sits up, and the guilt in her eyes is all the answer I need.
My jaw locks.
The fucker brought her a dress.
Yep, I still need to punch him in the face.
“For future reference, Addison can pick out your clothes all she wants because you’re not into pussy, but if another fucking man offers to buy you a dress, you tell him no.”
She shoots me a dirty look, ignoring my crass words while taking the hand I offer to help her up.
Neither of us says anything, but I don’t let go of her hand as I drag her pretty ass back through the woods toward the party.
I don’t take her inside, though.
When we get close, I stop walking and turn back to her, drawing my key out of my pocket. “Give me your phone ticket. I’ve gotta run back inside for a minute, but you can wait for me in the car.”
“I’m not going home with you,” she mutters, pulling Hex’s mantle tighter around her since her dress isn’t doing the best job of keeping her tits covered and the security guard is looking our way.
“Yes, you fucking are, and I’m not arguing with you about it.” I hand her the key and grab her purse, finding the ticket myself since she’s being difficult. Then, handing it back to her, I say, “I’ll be right back.”
“Why are you going back inside?” she asks, but my back is already to her, and I don’t stop to answer her.
The security guard knows who I am, so he doesn’t stop me when I walk right past him.
As soon as I’m back in the building, all the feelings I had when I left it flood back in. I scan the area, looking for Hex and Aiden, and my annoyance intensifies when I find them together.
I’m down the steps and moving across the floor toward them in the span of a couple of heartbeats, and I feel mine pumping harder when I get Aiden between my crosshairs.
He isn’t facing me, he’s talking to Hex, so I see the black band stretched around the back of his head and know his mask is still on. So, when I walk up behind him, I grab him by it and yank him back.
I’m about to plant my fucking fist in his face, too, when someone grabs the back of my jacket and pulls me away before I can.
I swing around to glare at Hex, but he’s glaring right back, his blue eyes flashing dangerously.
“Get your hands off me,” I tell him, holding his gaze.
He knows I’d like to punch him, too.
He also knows I can’t.
He’s an asshole, but he’s still my friend, so despite being all over my fucking girl mere minutes ago, he tries to deescalate my anger. “I left you alone with her as a gesture, Killian. I hoped it would calm you down. But you know the rules. Blue Bloods do not fight over girls.”
“Let him go, Hex.”
For a second, I’m surprised when the guy I most want to punch in the face tells the guy holding me back to stop.
But when I look back at him holding the mask I broke, I can see his whole face.
I can also see an answering glint in his dark eyes, and I know he wants to fight me as much as I want to fight him.
“Luckily for me and Killian,” he says with a malicious smirk as he drops the broken mask, “I’m not a Blue Blood.”
And then he takes the first fucking swing.