Brutal Little Secrets (Lust & Liars #2)

Chapter 1

Hawk

Leaving the party to go get Annie after her douchebag of a boyfriend stranded her is a no-brainer. I left Cam drunk with no keys and Damon to deal with Olivia. He wanted Olivia to leave Annie alone but paying her too much attention might make Olivia even more territorial.

I ride as fast as I can down the country road until I get to the pull off. Annie sits on one of the railroad ties they use as curbs. Her arms are wrapped around her knees, making her look small in the headlight of my motorcycle.

How could someone who cares about her abandon her out here? In the middle of nowhere? It’s not even walkable back to town. Did Chase plan to leave her out here and then come back later? Hoping she’d be grateful to be rescued after he abandoned her?

Fuck him.

We’re going to destroy Chase Chadwick.

I park and cut my engine. As I cross the lot to her, I shrug out of my leather jacket. It’s not that cold out tonight, but the wind can be chilly when I ride. She doesn’t look up as I approach.

Draping my jacket around her shoulders, I squat in front of her and lift her chin. Fuck. Her face is tear-streaked. Her blue eyes are watery. She won’t meet my gaze.

I push down all the fury I feel toward Chase right now and focus on the girl before me.

“Hey there, Annie.” I brush my thumb over a stray tear on her cheek.

She sniffles and whispers, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I slide my hand to cup her jaw, and she leans into my touch. I don’t know if she’s aware she’s doing it. The need to protect her at all costs flows through me.

“For making you leave the party.” Her eyes remain downcast.

“You didn’t make me do anything.” I blow out a breath. “I was getting worried about you when I got your call.”

She trembles and pulls my jacket around her tighter. “I didn’t know who else to call. My mom’s busy. Cam was drinking. Damon—” Tears slip free. “I don’t have anyone else—”

She cuts herself off on a small sob with the back of her hand pressed against her mouth. Fuck. My chest aches to see her like this. I sit next to her on the railroad tie and wrap my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my side.

“Did he hurt you?” I ask, quietly. We don’t know much about their relationship except he cheats on her. It’s an asshole move. He may have gotten rough if she didn’t want to be with him. Right now, she doesn’t seem hurt besides emotionally. But if he hurt her physically...

No one would stop me from tearing through him. Not Cam. Not Damon.

“He grabbed my arm, but mostly he scared me.” She rubs her arm and sighs. “I told him I knew he was cheating on me. He wanted to...”

She turns into me and buries her face in my chest. Her shoulders shake as she cries softly against me. I’m going to kick Chase’s ass. But I have to ask.

“Did he force you?” I try to keep my anger out of my voice. Not that we’re much better, but at least we give her a fucking choice. And if he did, I’ll encourage her to press charges, because fuck him.

She shakes her head and her eyes get this far off look. “I ran away before he could touch me, and he left me. Got in his truck and left me out here in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t even know if I had my phone.”

I glance around the area. There are a few low lights for the parking lot and there’s moonlight, but otherwise it’s dark out here.

It’s a few miles outside of town, and the nearest gas station or house isn’t close.

If this is the type of shit he pulls, we need to rethink letting her remain with Chase.

It may be part of the plan, but I’m not risking Annie.

Right now, I need to get her some place safe and warm.

“You ready to ride, baby girl?” I brush her hair off her cheek and behind her ear.

Her eyes lift to mine, searching. “Are we over?”

Fuck. The hurt and resignation in her eyes are almost my undoing. The party tonight. Cam is hopefully sleeping off his keg stands. The girls were all over me, but I didn’t touch any of them. But Damon... Fucking Damon had Olivia all over him tonight.

He had a good reason. Mia thinks Damon is into Evan. Olivia was suspicious, and for our plan to work, we need to keep that a secret.

I sigh. “No, we’re not over. We’re playing the roles, so people don’t suspect anything.”

“Damon went into a room with Olivia.” She sighs like she expected that. Like we’d be like Chase and cheat on her.

“He was probably angry at seeing Chase kiss you.”

She makes a dismissive sound like that would be ridiculous, but I know Damon.

We’ve been friends forever and I’ve never seen him react to a girl the way he reacts to Annie.

I dismissed it at first. Figured he’s fucking angry.

Angry at his father. Angry at Chase. Angry at having his future ripped away.

But there’s something else here. He doesn’t have to sleep with Annie to fuck with her. But I know that’s where she spends her nights. In his arms. In his bed.

Maybe the first night was a control thing, but he just holds her now. He set us up with the feed to his cameras, figuring we deserve to have those pieces of Annie since she’s ours. He takes care of her.

When it comes down to it, I don’t know if he’ll be able to drive her and her mom out of his life. Not if it means losing Annie.

“Come on, Annie. Let’s head back into town.”

She doesn’t try to stand. “What for?”

This girl. Fuck. “To get warm and to find out what we do next.”

Her gaze darts up to mine. “I don’t want to be around Chase anymore.”

I nod. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll be able to see him and not beat the living shit out of him.

Standing, I offer her my hands to pull her up. Once she’s standing, she brushes off her ass. When she tries to offer my jacket back to me, I shake my head.

“You wear it.”

She puts her arms in it while I get my helmet on. Then I help her with hers. When I get on the bike, she doesn’t hesitate to climb on behind me. She still wraps around me like a koala bear, tucked in tight against me, but I like the way she feels.

I go slower on the way home. This is one of my favorite roads to ride on. And having Annie with me makes it even better.

Riding with a girl is a simple thing, but when everything else in my life screams at me to excel, riding is just joyful for me. I could ride with Annie wrapped around me for hours.

As we reach town, I could take her to my house, but she’ll be more comfortable at hers and Damon’s.

All the lights are out when we pull up. Their parents are probably out in the city for the weekend again. But I know how to get in. When I park in the garage and shut off my motorcycle, Annie climbs off and for a moment, I wish she still had issues.

I like taking care of her, which should make me hesitate, but I’m through hesitating when it comes to this girl.

As soon as both helmets are secure, I take Annie’s hand and lead her to the side door.

The code unlocks the door, and I guide her in.

While this may be where she lives now, this is where I grew up. I’m more familiar with the house.

As I lead her into the kitchen, she follows behind me. Her fingers tangled with mine. The fear I felt when she called to tell me she’d been abandoned in the woods still clings to me. When I stop and look into her blue eyes, I find it still clings to her as well.

Taking hold of her hips, I lift her onto the counter before turning and getting her a towel, wetting it with warm water. When I hand it to her, her smile is sad.

“Thank you.”

I move over to the refrigerator and grab us bottles of water. “Are you hungry?”

“No, thank you.” She wipes at her face with the towel as she peers around the kitchen. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen this kitchen without staff in it.”

“Guess they can’t afford a night kitchen employee.” I grab a small tray of veggies just in case she changes her mind.

She hums in agreement.

When I walk back over to her, I set the items beside her on the island. I step between her knees and slide my hand beneath her hair and tip her chin, so she looks into my eyes.

I search her stormy blue eyes for a moment. “What do you need, Annie?”

She shrugs. Does no one take care of this girl? It seems like she expects nothing from any of us. Sure, we’re essentially blackmailing her, but it doesn’t seem like she expects anything from anyone in her family or friends.

“Damon should be home soon.” I brush my thumb across her cheek.

She stiffens and looks away, biting her lip. She believes something happened between Olivia and Damon. But there’s no way. Damon should be the one to tell her this, but I take her chin between my thumb and finger and make her look at me.

“He doesn’t break promises or rules or whatever the fuck we have.”

Her wide eyes blink. The hurt lingers. Another reason to fuck Chase up. His fucking around on her made her doubt her desirability. And then Damon goes and lets Olivia hang all over him like he’s going to fuck her.

“Damon’s not going to fuck anyone else.” I blow out a breath. Her eyes search mine. “He might make it look like he’s fucking someone else, but he wouldn’t actually do it.”

She swallows.

Fuck, I hope I’m right. He’s been tense with the current condition of our agreement. He wants to fuck Annie. Who doesn’t? He wanted to push her, and he got her to change the original agreement, but what if it wasn’t enough?

What if he wanted to hurt Annie because he couldn’t handle seeing Chase kiss her? Fuck. I have to trust he did the right thing, but it might set him back with Annie again.

“Let’s get you cleaned up and in bed.”

She nods. “It’s been a long night.”

I lift her down to her feet and give her a bottle of water. I take the other one and the vegetable tray and lead the way to the staircase.

When we get to her room, she walks in and hesitates. She doesn’t look at me when she asks, “Are you going to leave?”

I set everything down on her desk and turn to look at her. The more time I spend with her, the more she captivates me.

She’s always been as smart as me, maybe even smarter.

Before her, I’ve never really sat down and discussed Shakespeare with a girl, or anyone else for that matter.

Usually when I’m with a girl, I have other intentions.

I lean back on the desk and cross my arms over my chest. I don’t know which way she’s headed with that question.

“Do you want me to?”

Her blue eyes meet mine before she lowers them again and shrugs.

I’m across the room with her face in my hands before she can gasp.

“Tell me what you want, baby girl. I’ll give it to you.”

Her hands come up and tentatively rest on my waist. Her stormy eyes search mine. “Stay.”

I kiss her softly. “Always.”

She leans into me. I take her into my arms and hold her. She’s had a rough night and needs me to be gentle. I can give that to her.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” She releases me and I step back, giving her space. “He didn’t do more than kiss me. And I really didn’t have time to stop him. I didn’t want him to kiss me.”

She drags in a rough breath, and her fingers play with the label on the water bottle. “I don’t want to do this anymore, Hawk.”

I arch an eyebrow when she lifts her gaze to mine.

“Date Chase,” she clarifies. “He keeps pushing for more, and I don’t even want to be alone with him. I never thought he’d... That he would...”

Her eyes well with tears again. I take her water and set it on the nightstand.

“It’s been a long night.” I thread my fingers with hers and pull her toward the bathroom. “Let’s take a quick shower, and we’ll crawl into bed. Things should be brighter in the morning.”

She looks at me doubtfully but lets me bring her into the bathroom. She slips into the water closet while I start the shower. When she comes out, I’ve stripped down to my boxers.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to share or take turns,” I explain and step into her, lifting Damon’s shirt off over her head.

Her blond hair falls around her shoulders as I drop the shirt on the floor. She works on her jeans as I move around her to unhook her bra. Unable to resist, I kiss her shoulder. Her skin is soft beneath my lips, and I inhale that woodsy scent that clings to her. She shivers but doesn’t pull away.

When I rub my thumb across the mark Damon left on her shoulder, she trembles.

I don’t touch her more. Not that I don’t want to, but she’s been through a lot tonight.

She turns to me, naked. My already semi-hard cock grows harder. It amazes me I dismissed her for so many years. Looked through her as if she was nothing more than another classmate. I’ve never had to try for a girl. None of us have.

But she makes me want to try.

She reaches for my boxers. “Take a shower with me, Hawk.”

I nod and thread my fingers through her hair as she lowers my boxers. She lifts her eyes to mine, and I draw her against me to hug her. She sighs and rests her head against my chest. Something shifts inside me and falls into place.

This girl is mine.