Chapter 31 Everett
EVERETT
I’ve done a lot of fucked-up things in my life, but bringing Aurora here wasn’t one of them.
It isn’t about my revenge anymore. About humiliating her and her parents.
She’s here because I want her here.
As my fucking wife.
As the woman I’m proud to call mine.
No one gets to hurt her.
Winston Clarke ruined the people I loved most. All three of them. He’s already tried to break Aurora.
No more.
Whether he rots in prison or has maggots eat his decaying body, it doesn’t matter.
He’s done.
“You should be thanking me.” He sneers, looking even uglier than before with that purple bruise on his jaw.
The one I put there.
“A favor?” Since he isn’t letting go of her, I make good on my promise and twist his arm.
In the process, Aurora slides to the side until our arms brush. To her monster. Her protector. But she isn’t whimpering. Isn’t crying or showing any sign that he’s gotten to her.
Her bravery has pride surging through my veins. I’m hard as a rock.
I can’t let it distract me.
He. Still. Has. Her. Arm. In. His. Grip.
“Yes, a favor, Everett.”
His bones feel like they’re about to crack. I can tell I’m close to causing him actual damage.
“I’m teaching your unruly wife how to behave. You’re obviously failing at the simple task.”
The attention of the entire room is set on the three of us. No one says a word. No one comes to Aurora’s or Winston’s rescue.
That’s fine.
Because the latter doesn’t deserve it. And the former? She’s being rescued by me.
I’m fueled by years of rage. I’m turning into a beast in this luxurious space with its upscale catering and so-called civilized folks. Digging my fingers into the fabric of his jacket.
“Let. Go.”
“Fine.” When he finally releases her, I free his disgusting wrist.
His gaze cuts to Aurora, then to me. I push her behind my back on instinct.
Winston gives me a conniving look that turns my blood hot. “Your funeral.”
His words, the shit-eating grin, they should worry me. I should demand answers, strip him of the advantage he thinks he has.
Right here. Right now.
In plain sight.
Except I don’t care. At this moment, Aurora matters. She clutches my hand tightly, rubbing her thumb on the inside of my wrist.
In my periphery, I can see her using her other hand to massage her arm where the bastard grabbed her.
Her pain makes me lose it altogether.
Let’s see how he likes it when he’s the one being manhandled.
I clamp my fingers around Winston’s arm. The loser flinches.
“Haven’t you done enough?” his wife whisper-shouts from behind him. “He let her go. Stop it, Everett.”
The menacing gesture of tilting my head shuts her the hell up. Her heels scrape the floor as she scrambles backward, her cheeks paling.
“Everett.” That’s Stafford. He’s at my side, his voice low. Appeasing.
Nothing but violence could soothe me now.
No, that’s not accurate.
Violence and staking my claim over Aurora would soothe me.
Christ, I love how quiet she is. How she stays in place, trusting me to protect her.
Or maybe it was something Ivy said that silenced Aurora.
Either way, I need to be with her. Alone.
When I’m done with him.
“I warned you what would happen if you ever laid a hand on my wife again.” Ignoring my friend, I shake Winston.
His teeth clatter, his arm straining beneath my grip.
He’s not getting out of this one so easily.
“Yet here you are, hurting her. Did I not make myself clear? Or are you that eager to answer for your crimes by letting me ruin you?”
Aurora gasps, her small fingers squeezing my much larger ones.
She’s owed this. The humiliation I’m serving Winston with.
She deserves that and so much more. To be cared for. To be shielded.
To know what love is. For once in her life, she deserves that too.
Love.
The emotion feels new. Raw. Uncomfortable.
It’s a sharp ache that spreads over my chest like poison.
Nothing’s ever hurt like this. I haven’t loved anyone as much as I love Aurora.
This love shapes me into a better man. It changes my priorities.
Loving her doesn’t heal me. I’m afraid nothing ever will.
Love slams into me, and I embrace it.
And now I get to hurt the man who threatened that love.
“You’re not the only powerful man in this city.” Every word from Winston drips with hate. “You’ll do well to remember that.”
His threat is as meaningless as he is. Whatever he has in store for me, I’ll deal with the fallout.
“Unlike you…” Resentment tastes bitter on my tongue. “I remember everything. Everything.”
I can’t bear this for a second longer. Touching and dealing with him.
All I want is to be balls deep inside her. I need to be wrapped up in her warmth, her goodness. Bury myself in her sweet cunt.
“Good,” he says.
“Good.” I push him away, glowering at him as he scrambles to stay upright.
Molly rushes to help him, and he swats her hand off, murmuring some shit I don’t hear.
I’ve wounded their pride. Humiliated them.
A month ago, I would’ve basked in how pathetic they looked.
A month ago, I didn’t have Aurora. I didn’t have a fucking heart.
With one hand on the small of her back, I guide her to one of the exits from the main hall. The large archway leads into a hall of rooms designed as lounge areas.
This is where we hold private meetings with people from outside our secret society.
Never during our bi-monthly Fridays. No one’s permitted into our circle on those days.
We bring them here on any other day to make them feel special.
Chosen. In this gaudy mansion on the outskirts of Boston, in our presence, they think they actually mean something to us.
They don’t.
Anyway. I don’t give a fuck about anyone else.
Aurora. I’m taking her where we can talk. Where I can sink into her sweet pussy behind closed doors.
They won’t see her.
Whether they hear her or not, that’s a different story entirely.
Let them. Let everyone know who Aurora belongs to.
“Everett, we need to talk.” She tries to stop me, planting her heels on the floor.
Not happening.
“Please. Winston said—”
“Nothing of importance.” Despite her best efforts, I’m stronger. I’m out of my mind with lust.
“Everett!”
“I said, whatever Winston said doesn’t matter. Not now.” I open the second door on the left, shove Aurora into the room, and follow her inside.
Her shock works in my favor. I use it to pin her back against the wall. To slam two hands on either side of her beautiful, confused face.
I level my face with hers. “You matter.”
“You do too. Out there, they said—”
Maybe I should hear her out. Maybe I don’t give a fuck.
Lifting a hand to her jaw, I tip her face up and claim her blabbering mouth. I kiss the words out of her. Lick the pain and doubts anyone’s planted in her head.
My wife is brave, thinking she’s resisting by grabbing my shirt.
The only thing her nails do is turn me right the fuck on.
When I bite her bottom lip, she lets out a throaty moan that has me throbbing. I grab her by the hip, thrusting her body to where I need her the most.
By pressing her to my aching cock, I get a sliver of the friction I’ve been desperate for.
It’s nowhere near enough.
I fear nothing ever will be.
“More,” she echoes my thoughts. My deepest, darkest desires. “Please, Everett.”
Tonight is unlike all the nights that came before this one. I don’t want predictable. I don’t need a part of her that I’ve already claimed.
“Please, what? You want me to hear you out?” I push her face up higher, trailing soft kisses over the curve of her jaw. I roll my hips into her, slowly, gently.
Both of these light touches torture her. I hear it in her little huffs. Feel it in how she arches her back, pleading with me to go harder on her.
“Please.”
“Please, explain to you what you heard out there?” I bend lower, licking one of her nipples through her dress.
“Yes, ye—” As soon as I pull back, as I cup her pussy possessively without giving her the pleasure she’s dying to have, Aurora’s eyes widen. “No. I’m sorry. Don’t stop, don’t—”
I can only deny her for so long. I bite her hardened nipple, my middle finger pushing through the fabric of her dress. The sound of her whimper swallows up her pleas.
“Hmm.” One last lick to the tortured spot, and I rise to my full height.
She’s disheveled and wild beneath me. This woman is mine. I own her.
I’m going to mark her everywhere.
“As I said, no one else matters.” I rub her, slow enough to torture. “You do. You’re all I see. With your pupils blown, with the way you gasp. You’re begging to get fucked, and you care about them?”
Her thighs clench around me. I don’t think she has any idea that she’s riding my hand.
With her parents just outside the hall.
“You’re right, I am. I want you, Everett.”
Fuck, I’m dying over here.
“You’ll get your cock, brat.” Oh, will she ever. I can already hear her begging me to stop. “Turn around.”
This isn’t really a request. I fist her long, thick hair, spinning her to the wall.
We both let out a groan once I press her cheek to it. The depravity, the heat pulsing through us.
Better. So much better, having her lips on my palm. The swipe of her tongue along my hand has me thrusting hard into her.
“It’s the pain, isn’t it? You’re desperate for it, for your husband.” Every time I dry hump her, she moans louder. “I bet you’re soaked. That your pretty pussy is begging to be railed. To be split in half.”
Her eyes roll with pleasure for a second before they meet mine again.
Aurora is all mine.
And I’m hers.
“On second thought, no. I won’t be taking your cunt tonight.” My tongue runs over the top row of my teeth, my hand bunching the skirt of Aurora’s dress up her thighs. Her skin is smooth to the touch. Her whimpers are so fucking hot I can’t stand it. “I think you’re ready to have your ass fucked.”
I push my hand harder on her face, prepared for the scream I knew was coming. It reverberates onto my palm, lighting me up from the inside.
As I push her thong aside and run my thumb over her butt plug, she screams louder.