Chapter 9
NINE
SUMMER
My blood pumps wildly as he retreats from the room, his feet dragging, and my body sags the moment the door slams shut.
Holy shit.
I rub at my temple. Did that just happen?
He’s here.
He’s actually freaking here, and worse, he’s my stepbrother.
I’ve spent weeks trying to block the memories from my mind of our one night together, but they whirl around constantly, taunting me with the way he marked me.
The memories are burned into my mind, engrained so deep it’s like they’ve become a part of my everyday life.
Do all girls feel this way after losing their virginity?
I chastise myself again, hating how attached I’ve become to someone I ultimately don’t know.
But I do know him now; now he has a name other than a username.
He’s no longer Saintly Sinner, he’s Mason, or Mase, as Jeff would refer to him as during his hate-filled tirades.
And he’s my stepbrother. He’s going to be in the same house as me.
But for how long? I want to know his plan.
Will he live here? Will he make me homeless?
I shake my head, unwilling to go there, and slowly lower myself back down to the bed, chewing on my bottom lip as I go over the night’s events that led him back to me. Back to us.
Two hours ago …
“Summer, this party is insane!” Travis bumps my shoulder and takes another shot.
I grin back up at him, and he pulls me into his solid chest. My best friend is the epitome of hotness, and I love the fact that he doesn’t even care. He doesn’t lack confidence per se, it’s just misdirected, but I promised him we would figure shit out together, just like he promised me.
He’s the only person I’ve ever had in my corner, the only person I’ve ever loved, and even though he knows all about my one-night stand, he hasn’t judged me or my decision, and I know he’ll take it to the grave.
“Don’t look now, but Levi is checking you out,” he breathes into my ear, and I stiffen.
Levi Williamson is hot, sure, but he knows it, and the guy is also a major douche.
In fact, he’s a womanizing pig. He treats girls like they’re disposable, then he moves onto the next before he’s barely kicked the other to the curb, and what do the girls do?
They throw themselves all over him, like he’s the last man on earth.
“Oh, God, he’s coming over,” I whisper, tugging my dress down.
When Travis told me I looked incredible as I slipped on the little red number, I actually believed him. He’s the only person besides Sinner who’s ever made me feel beautiful.
“You don’t need to pull it down any more, Summer. How about you just take it off?” Levi smirks and takes another sip from his red cup.
“How about you leave her the fuck alone?” Travis spits back, stepping in front of me.
“Jealous?” Levi mocks, staring Travis down.
I step up behind Travis and rest my hand on his back. “It’s okay, Trav.” I step to the side. “There’s no way in hell you’d be able to make me take it off,” I sneer in the arrogant asshole’s direction.
A crowd is gathering around us, and my cheeks heat. “Really?” He chuckles. “I think this might do it.”
Before I know what’s happening, he’s thrown the contents of his cup at my dress, the liquid drenching the material, and chills sweep through me.
“You fucking asshole,” Travis roars before driving his fist into Levi’s nose, causing blood to spray through the air.
“Holy shit,” I gasp, tugging on Travis’s T-shirt. My instant reaction is to get him out of here before Levi’s minions arrive as backup. “Trav, come on. Let’s go.”
Always my protector, Travis reluctantly allows me to pull him out of the kitchen, spitting and snarling in Levi’s direction as we go. “Come on. I need to go change,” I coax.
The moment my bedroom door is shut, I relax. The throbbing in my temple has been there all day again, along with a wave of dizziness, nausea, and fatigue.
“You look like shit,” Travis remarks, heading toward my bathroom.
“Gee, thanks!”
I lift the dress over my head and drop it to the floor, then step in front of the mirror and grimace. Turning from side to side, I rest a hand on my lower stomach.
“What the hell am I going to do?” I whisper.
“Bed. Relax for a bit, then we’ll go back out there and kick them all out,” Travis says, coming back into the room, shirtless, his six-pack gleaming under the light.
“And stop staring at me like that. You look like you want to eat me alive.” He throws the comforter back on my bed.
“Come on. In you get,” he rumbles. “I’m going to hold you and my bubba for a little while.
” Anxiety coupled with guilt eats away at me as I slide into the sheets and let him do just that.
That same heaviness I’ve been feeling for weeks now comes over me, and I rest my head on my pillow and close my eyes. Then I allow myself to succumb to the darkness, where he waits for me. Those green eyes shimmer back at me with intensity, holding me captive with his possessive dominance.