14. Luca
LUCA
Dear Diary,
Today I defended a woman who climbed into my father’s lap five minutes later. Stellar instincts. Truly.
Fuck her. Fuck standing up for her. Fuck it all.
I hadn’t even thought about the consequences when I’d defended her. I’d just heard my father criticizing her weight, seen him restricting her food, and I’d seen red.
I’d seen him do that to Isabella. I had long-ago memories of him doing it to our mother as well. I hadn’t stood up for either of them. But I had for Nyah…
And had it thrown back in my face in the form of her practically crawling into my father’s lap, then having to watch him finger her until he could suck her juices right off his finger.
It pissed me off that one of the feelings swirling around inside me was pure, hot jealousy.
Jealousy I needed to get under control because he could see it in me, as surely as a shark could sniff out blood in the water. He was using it to control me, just as much as he was using Isabella’s safety to keep a ball and chain around my ankle.
If Nyah wanted to be put on a diet, I couldn’t stop her. If she wanted to get off at breakfast by a man twice her age, then that was her business.
A text on my phone let me know there was a car and driver downstairs, ready to take me into town, and I was grateful for it. Anything to get out of this house.
I slammed my way down the stairs, not waiting for the driver, and yanked open the back door of the sleek black town car.
I groaned at the sight of Nyah and Lynx already sitting there, waiting.
Lynx leaned across Nyah to pat the seat next to her. “Backseat buddies!”
I scowled at him. “Go sit in the front.”
Nyah raised an eyebrow. “And leave me alone in the back with you? No thanks. You go sit in the front.”
I should have. Could have saved myself a little bit of agony and put some space between us.
But being pressed up against my father’s woman in the back seat felt like the biggest fuck you I could give him right now. So I slid in beside her, Lynx and I squishing her between our broad shoulders.
She rolled her eyes. “Well, this is comfortable.”
All I could think about was the little black panties I knew she was wearing beneath that dress. The ones my father had his grubby hands all over at breakfast.
The ones I wanted to put my tongue on, just to show him I fucking could if I wanted.
Only Nyah cringed away from me so hard she was practically in Lynx’s lap.
A position he didn’t seem like he minded at all.
I stared at him, not missing the way he sucked in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her hair.
I laughed out loud. “Well, that’s fucking great.”
“What is?” Nyah asked, tone sharp.
I knew I was being an asshole. Taking out my frustrations with my father on them. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “Did you know Lynx has a massive boner for you right now?”
Nyah glanced over at him and then down at his lap. “No, he doesn’t.”
“A metaphorical boner,” I clarified. “As in a crush.”
Lynx glared at me, annoyance in the line of his mouth. “Are you always this much of an asshole?”
“Only on Tuesdays,” I spat back.
Nyah shook her head and spoke to Lynx, “Just ignore him. He’s in a mood.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like cake?” Lynx asked.
“I like cake just fine.”
They went on like I wasn’t even there.
“Let’s give him the bad flavors,” Lynx said dryly. “The carrot cake.”
Nyah nodded. “And the lemon. I hate lemon cakes.”
So the two of them were besties now? Fabulous. I sat back and closed my eyes, wishing I had taken up that spot in the front seat. “I’m allergic to citrus.”
Nyah glanced over at me. “Excellent! I’ll have the bakers put extra in!”
Lynx laughed with her.
“The two of you are annoying,” I complained.
Nyah elbowed me. “Are you going to be like this all day?”
“Like what? This is my personality.” It wasn’t. My real self I’d left back at that farmhouse with Mrs. Wilson and Isabella. But this grumpy, sarcastic, sharp Luca was the only one I had when I was anywhere near my father.
Nyah sighed. “Fine. Be like that then.”
Knots formed in the back of my neck. I couldn’t blame Lynx for sneaking sniffs of her hair.
Her perfume filled the car, something deliciously fruity when mixed with her skin.
I cracked a window just to let some air in.
But it did little to help. For a woman who wasn’t exactly big, Nyah seemed to take up every inch of that back seat.
Even though she was clearly trying not to touch me, every shift she made brought us into contact with each other.
Her arm and thigh brushing mine. The heat of her permeating through my clothes in a way that had me thinking about how it would feel if I pulled her right onto my lap.
Which of course then led to thoughts about having her on my cock in the back seat, while Lynx sucked her tits. And my father’s driver tried not to watch in the rearview mirror.
None of which could happen. My father’s warning that morning said I was already skating on thin ice with him. And now he was just trying to torture me, waving Nyah under my nose like a red flag to a bull.
I leaned forward and spoke to the driver, “Take a left up here. There’re some things we need to do before we go eat cake.”
“What’s that, sir?”
I almost didn’t care what. I just needed to get the hell out of this car and away from Nyah Matish.