23. Kreed
23
KREED
M y eyes adjusted to the dim light, Raine’s silhouette sharpening in the doorway. Fucking hell. Just what I needed—my older brother catching me like this with Kaylor nearly naked and sprawled on top of me.
I should be relieved instead of annoyed. Should’ve been grateful that Raine had interrupted before things went too far, but my still rock-hard dick gave me a pretty clear indicator exactly how far I was willing to go.
Kaylor’s head snapped toward him, her breath hitching. When she realized who he was, she instantly pressed herself against my chest as if that would somehow make her disappear.
Scowling, I yanked a throw blanket from the back of the couch and tossed it over her, my jaw tightening
Raine leaned lazily against the doorframe, arms crossed. “Well, well. What do we have here, little brother?”
“Brother?” Kaylor echoed, her grip tightening on the blanket as she sat up, her eyes flicking between us.
I didn’t like how long she looked at him. The ridiculous, possessive part of me wanted those wide blue eyes locked on me. Only me. “Christ, Raine. It’s the middle of the damn night. What are you even doing home?” I ground out, trying and failing to keep the irritation from my voice. That was the more pressing question as far as I was concerned.
He smirked, his eyes gleaming with amusement. “I guess I don’t have to ask what you’re doing up so late. Seems pretty obvious.”
“Fuck off.”
His gaze flickered to Kaylor. “And who might you be?”
“I’m Kaylor,” she said smoothly, shifting slightly. The movement sent a slow, agonizing friction over my lap, and I clenched my jaw, barely swallowing the groan building in my throat.
Raine caught the exchange, and suddenly, his smirk vanished. A sharp, steely edge cut through his expression as his focus snapped to me. “You didn’t.”
His voice was low, clipped.
I stiffened. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Bullshit. You slept with her? Already?” His expression darkened. “Jesus, Kreed. I figured Maddox or Mason would be the problem, but you?”
Kaylor tensed. “We didn’t do anything. Not…that.”
“Not yet,” Raine shot back. “What would’ve happened if I hadn’t walked in?”
“Thanks for that,” I muttered. “Your timing is fucking impeccable. Besides, she was watching me sleep.”
Kaylor lifted her chin. “You’re making it sound like I creepily took advantage of you, which I didn’t. You’re the one who grabbed me. I was leaving.”
“You didn’t try hard enough,” I countered, my voice rougher than I intended. “And you weren’t exactly complaining.”
Her lips curled. “No, I didn’t. And you also won’t catch me making excuses. If I wanted to sleep with you., I would. Luckily for me, I came to my senses, and the senseless urge is out of my system just like a craving for Taco Bell when you’re high.”
The words hung heavy between us.
Raine chuckled, cutting through the thick silence. “Oh, I like her.”
“You don’t even know her,” I muttered. “Or what a pain in the ass she is.”
Kaylor slid off my lap, scooping up her discarded shirt and pulling it over her head in one fluid motion. “I should probably let you two catch up.” She didn’t look at me as she padded past Raine, but the way her eyes lingered on him sent an irrational flare of jealousy through me.
Raine watched her disappear, then shook his head. “You’re in deep shit.”
I raked a hand through my hair, exhaling sharply. “Drink?”
He didn’t need to be asked twice. He moved toward the liquor cabinet, pouring two glasses of whiskey before handing me one. “I’m assuming Dad doesn’t know about your late-night activities.”
I took a slow sip. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. She surprised me. I fell asleep on the couch, and then…she was just there.”
He studied me over the rim of his glass. “She’s got you twisted up inside, little brother.”
“You try keeping an eye on her and not losing your damn mind.”
“Was it good? The sex?”
I glared at him, and my scowl deepened. No matter what I said, Raine wouldn’t believe I hadn’t slept with her. Maybe it hadn’t happened tonight, but because of our compromising position, he’d believe we’d been intimate. Not sleeping with her would be very unlike me, and if he hadn’t shown up, I would have had sex with her. A sobering thought.
God, what got into me?
Obviously, I needed to get laid, just not by the girl upstairs.
He grinned. “That fucking good, huh?”
I clenched my jaw. “Drop it.”
Raine leaned back against the counter. “You’re in deep shit. If you’re not careful, that cold heart of yours is going to thaw, and you’re going to catch feelings.”
“Not on your life.”
He hummed, unconvinced. “Pretty freaking convenient that you failed to mention how stunning our ward is. Keeping her to yourself?”
“Hardly,” I muttered. “Now that you’re home, you can take over and see the crap I have to deal with.”
A strange light danced behind his eyes. “Something tells me keeping an eye on little Miss Thing won’t be much of a hardship. And the twins?” he inquired.
I ignored the flare of irritation in my chest. “Have been behaving themselves this week, which means they're up to something. Why are you here, Raine? Did something happen?”
He hesitated. “It’s nothing. Nothing I can’t handle.”
I wasn’t convinced. “Yet,” I added because I knew my brother. “Does this have anything to do with what happened at the club?”
“Alexus called me,” he stated.
Alexus was a family friend with a special skill set. If anyone could get Kaylor’s attacker to talk, it was him. “And? What did you learn?”
“He still isn’t talking. Not yet.”
“But you know as well as I know who’s behind this. They’ll try again.”
Raine’s finger tapped the side of his glass as he stared into the dwindling fire. “Then you’re going to have to be ready for them.” He swirled the whiskey in his glass, watching the fire flicker in the hearth. “You need to put your feelings for her aside, Kreed. One distraction is all it’ll take.”
“I don’t have feelings for her.” The denial was automatic, sharp.
Raine smirked. “Whatever you say, little brother. But for the family’s sake, you’d better hope no one finds out what I walked in on tonight.”
I set my drink down, my fingers curling into fists. Mason might be hurt, but he’d get over it. Maddox and Dad? They’d see it as a betrayal. “I know my responsibilities, Raine. I don’t need a reminder.”
He held up his hands. “Just making sure. Because things are about to get a hell of a lot more serious, especially since we have one of their guys.”
“They started this,” I muttered. “Did they really think there wouldn’t be consequences?”
Raine drained his glass. “Just don’t forget what side you’re on.” His stare was all blades and intent. “And be careful. They underestimated you tonight. They won’t make that mistake again.”
“I’ll talk to Maddox and Mason.”
Nodding, he set his empty glass on the coffee table. “I’ll be around for the next week or so. Get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”
Sleep? What a joke.
I couldn’t even fully blame Kaylor despite the overwhelming urge to despise her, to blame her for this rage curling within me, consuming me. A part of me recognized she wasn’t directly at fault, but knowing who she was and where she came from wasn’t something I could forget or ignore.
Guilt nibbled its way into my stomach as I recalled the dream I’d been captured in before she woke me up. I didn’t want to think about how it nearly paralleled what happened on this couch, which was how my dream got mixed up with reality, and I almost had sex with the enemy.
That was who she was to me.
An enemy.
Two months ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated to use her. I wouldn’t have cared. I would’ve taken what I wanted and walked away without a second thought.
And yet, I felt pieces of myself slipping away. Two months ago, I wouldn’t have thought twice about using Kaylor for personal gain. I would have slept with her and never spoken another word to her. I would have used her vulnerability.
But now?
I had no fucking clue what I was doing. What I felt. I knew what I didn’t want to feel.
Scowling, I pulled out my phone.
I needed a distraction. Any distraction.
God, I hated the club during peak hours. I preferred the day when only the bored husbands or the unemployed lounged in front of the stage. I couldn’t stand the annoying slot machines and the stench of booze, sweat, and sex.
I should have picked her up in my car, but the truth was, I didn’t want any trace of some random girl in my space.
I shouldn’t have called her at all. I knew it the second I saw her teetering through the club in heels too high for her ankles and a dress short enough to be mistaken for a shirt. She was eager, smiling, doe-eyed. And completely fucking wrong.
“Did anyone see you?” I demanded as she breezed past me into the room.
She shook her head. “I wore the wig just like you said and went through the back door.”
This wasn’t the first time she’d snuck into the club to meet me, but it was the first I’d ever asked her to come in disguise.
I leaned against the leather couch, my fingers tapping against my glass. Whiskey burned its way down my throat, but it wasn’t enough. I needed more. More of something that could make me forget.
Her name? I didn’t remember. Didn’t care.
The only reason I had called her was because I needed an anchor—something, someone to remind me that Kaylor wasn’t under my skin. That she wasn’t still lingering in my head.
But even now, as this girl slid onto my lap, all I saw was Kaylor, and I fucking hated myself for it.
“I’m surprised you called. It’s been a while,” the girl purred, pulling off the wig and shaking out her natural raven hair.
Now that she was here, I wanted to tell her to go. What I thought I wanted no longer seemed appealing.
Her perfume was off.
Her hair color was wrong.
The only thing about her that slightly resembled Kaylor was her height. It was fine. I didn’t have plans to look at her face.
I reached for the wig she discarded, my voice grating when I said, “Put it back on.” I stared at the girl sitting naked in my lap, her legs just wide enough to leave nothing to the imagination, but that was the point. She came knowing damn well what was expected.
She giggled, thinking this was some kind of kink, but my stomach twisted as she pulled the platinum strands over her dark ones. Now, if I squinted or drank another few glasses, she might almost look like her.
I grabbed her hips, pulling her closer, trying to force myself into this moment, into anyone but Kaylor. The girl’s lips were eager, pressing against my neck, moving with practiced ease. She knew the rules. Under no circumstances was she to try to kiss me. Everything was game but my lips. I didn’t kiss random girls.
But you had no problem kissing the one person your lips shouldn’t be touching, my conscience was all too happy to remind me.
Her nails scraped down my shoulders, her hands fisting my shirt, tugging, trying to get closer. I squeezed my eyes shut. Flashes of her. Kaylor.
The defiance in her eyes. The way she gritted her teeth every time I got too close. The fucking way she made me want to ruin her, own her, hate her.
And this? This wasn’t Kaylor.
The moment my mind twisted into that space, disgust punched through me. My hands clenched against the girl’s sides, and I wrenched her mouth away from me.
“Get your hands off me,” I growled.
She blinked, stunned. “What?—?”
I pushed her off me, not gently, not carefully. I couldn’t be.
The wig slid sideways, her real hair peeking out beneath it. The illusion shattered, and all I saw was a girl who wasn’t her. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, her voice thin and confused.
I didn’t answer.
Didn’t look back.
I left her there, sprawled on the couch in the back room, lips parted in shock, eyes tracking me as I stormed out. Her feelings mattered little. I didn’t care about anything except getting far away from what just happened.
I needed a drink.
Something stronger than whiskey. Something that could burn through the filth inside me, the mess twisting through my skull.
Because Kaylor Steele was living in my house.
And I was already too fucking lost.