Chapter 27
27
RAINE
O nly Killian could make death sound romantic. I don’t know how much the champagne buzz is adding to my current mood, but his admission about giving me that expensive snow globe even while we were in a relationship-ending fight has me rethinking everything.
Yes, the Homecoming night violence was horrible and traumatic, but was it unforgivable? If I have the power to keep it from ever happening again—because some part of him obviously cares about my happiness—then, maybe it can be a lesson learned for both of us. I won’t do things to trigger his jealousy, and he won’t go on a rampage that could drive me away.
As he taps the glass again, this time louder, I hook my arm around his and interlace our fingers. He glances down at my face.
My brows rise at his bemused expression. “Are you okay with me holding your hand in public?”
“Is that a serious question?” He sounds genuinely perplexed right now.
My soft laughter fills the night. “In high school, you seemed to want to keep up appearances of being a lone wolf. ”
His brows crowd each other as his grip on my hand tightens. “That’s what you thought?”
After a sharp nod, I cock my head, waiting for him to say more.
“St. Seb’s had a lot of strict rules, and they considered you my little sister. I didn’t want to get kicked out and end up at a different school. So, in the halls and cafeteria, I had to keep things low. Know what I thought about all the time? Picking the chapel door’s lock, so I could fuck you on the altar. That was the one place I might have been able to keep on-campus sex with you a secret.”
My jaw drops. In zero to sixty, his mind goes from sweetly holding hands to sex in a sacred space. Guys’ brains really are different. Never in a million years would I have daydreamed about having sex in the St. Seb’s chapel.
The door opens slowly and Leighton and Alicia, Killian’s two biggest naysayers, are in the kitchen. Perversely, I wonder what they would say if I told them what he’d just said. And then that I’m unexpectedly intrigued by his inappropriate fantasy sexcapades.
“You’re here?” Alicia asks me with mock surprise. “I thought you didn’t do this kind of thing?”
Leighton gives her a hostile look. “Go downstairs.”
Downstairs? The off-limits area of the house?
“I don’t think so.” Alicia’s voice is loud and high-pitched, and she waves her arm angrily in a dismissive gesture. “He can take me into a bedroom or forget it.”
A flush spreads from Leighton’s neck to his face. His voice is tight when he says to Alicia, “As far as I’m concerned, you can leave.” Turning to us, he says, “What are you guys doing here?”
“We heard there was an after party,” Killian says, glancing toward the doorway on the other side of the kitchen where voices from the other room are coming through.
“No,” Leighton says. “Just a few fraternity brothers getting together for a drink.”
“A drink of what?” Killian says, his gaze flicking to Alicia.
Yuck! I know I told him to play the part of a crude asshole, but when he’s crude as he talks about another girl it makes me want to retch .
A stocky young man who’s around my height steps into the doorway. “Here she is. Come on in,” he says, waving at Alicia. The man wears dark trousers and a polo shirt that’s tight around his biceps and stomach.
Alicia stalks across the floor with her high heels clicking. “Hey, Crosby! Listen, I’m not going down to the basement. I thought that was clear.” She gives him a kiss on the cheek, leaving a bright red smear of lipstick before passing by him.
He gives her a smack on the ass without ever breaking eye contact with me. The hair on the back of my neck stands. I don’t want him near me.
The guy’s gaze shifts to Killian. “And this one, she’s yours, I take it?”
“She is.” Killian didn’t miss a beat on that question.
I don’t contradict their objectification of me because I want Crosby to think I’m Killian’s and off limits. I see now that my original plan was short-sighted. If Killian were free to have sex with other people, that would make me available, too. A feeling of revulsion courses through me.
The Crosby guy licks his fleshy lips and walks slowly across the kitchen. He reminds me of a Sicilian gangster from old movies, except he’s WASPy.
“Yours just for tonight? Or…?” Crosby moves closer to me and looks me over like I’m a lobster he’s choosing for dinner. His hand rises slowly in my direction. I lean back to avoid contact.
Killian’s voice is low and deadly. “Touch her at all, and I’ll kick your face in. Tonight or any other.”
For once, Killian’s brutal jealousy has a positive effect. Crosby laughs like a barking seal and his hand flips up, so it’s cocked at the wrist in a gesture of surrender.
Crosby steps back. “My mistake.” Backpedaling farther, he narrows his eyes at us. “But you made a mistake, too, friend. Only an idiot would bring his girlfriend here.” His eyes shift to Miller, and he says, “Get rid of them.”
Killian’s eyes follow Crosby as he turns and leaves the kitchen.
Leighton shakes his head, looking almost apologetic. “It’s a private party. Sorry for the confusion.”
Killian opens the back door.
“How many men are here tonight?” I ask, staring in the direction of the voices.
I wonder if Alicia realized there would be several of them, rather than just one. Of course, I don’t know how many of them plan to have sex with her. Maybe there are more prostitutes coming or already in the other room.
“Just go.” Leighton pulls the door open wider and gestures for us to leave.
I frown but have to concede that this is none of my business. They’re all adults.
Stepping out into the chilly air, I wonder how Alicia ended up selling her body. Almost all the St. Seb’s kids go on to college, many to prestigious schools. I’m sure losing her father’s income was difficult, since he was a doctor, but she certainly could’ve gotten loans if her mother’s salary wasn’t enough to pay for school.
Killian pulls me along with him at a brisk pace as our breath fogs the air.
“Are you cold, Killian? I can give you your coat back. I have my wrap.”
He shakes his head as we round the corner and walk along the side of the house.
“Do you think she’ll be all right? Alicia didn’t seem worried, but she might not know all that’s in store for her. From the sounds of it, there might be a lot of guys in the front of the house.”
“Alicia’s so high I doubt she’ll care how many of them there are as long as they keep feeding her coke.”
I pause, which causes my hand to tug free of his. “You think she’s high on cocaine? I wondered why she was talking so loudly. I thought she was drunk.”
Killian reaches back and grabs my arm to get me started again. I lean close to him as we walk. His shirt is freezing, and I feel guilty that he won’t take his coat back.
“Might not be cocaine, but based on the way she touched her nose and kept sucking air up in sharp sniffs, it’s something she snorts. ”
“Wow,” I whisper, my frown deepening. “Her life is a mess.”
He shrugs. “She’s an adult. If she wants a different life, all she has to do is quit the one she’s living and move on.”
“That’s easier said than done for most people.”
“Yeah, they’re called kids.” He opens the passenger door. “Adults choose what they choose.”
KILLIAN
When we arrive back at the factory house, the parking lot’s empty. My partners are gone again.
As we enter, Raine says, “We have the place to ourselves, huh?”
“So it seems. Go get undressed, baby, and get in bed.”
A surprised expression crosses her face, but her pace slows only slightly as she makes her way to the back of the house.
I pause next to the kitchen island and shoot off a text to Jamie.
Killian: You working?
Jamie: No, playing. Didn’t wanna bring games home
Killian: How long do I have till ur back?
Jamie: 2 hrs or more
When War and Jamie want to play seriously dark games, they leave campus and go to Boston. So Raine being here isn’t really holding them back. It is something to think about, though. I like living in the same house with her. The bosses probably won’t go for that long-term. Too many opportunities for her to see things she shouldn’t. Maybe I need to move out and find a place for her and me .
I slide my phone into my pocket and come across Raine’s panties, which I finger with satisfaction. I can’t believe I’ve gotten her back into my life in such a big way. I should’ve kidnapped her a long time ago.
Inside my room, she’s arranging the top of the dresser. The decorative stuff is all hers. She centers the musical snow globe and runs her nail along its curve.
“Hey, do you mind if I put some of your stuff away, so it’s out of sight?” she asks, holding up a phone charger and an old video game controller.
“I don’t care. But do it later, not now.”
“Later?” she asks, separating things into different groups. This is Raine all the way. Everything belongs somewhere; she just needs to figure out where.
“Why are you still dressed? Strip.”
She thrusts out her lip in a sexy pout. “Say the magic word.”
“Clitoris?”
She tries not to, but she laughs.
I step closer, and she takes a step back.
“Not clit? How about orgasm? That’s a magic word, right?”
When my hand reaches out, she tries to slap it away. I’m still for a moment, then I lunge forward and grab her. She’s off the ground before she even has a chance to fight.
“Hey!”
“You’re surprised?”
Because she’s kicking her legs, I put her over my shoulder with an arm clamped around the back of her thighs so she won’t fall as I stalk to the bed.
When I drop her on her back, she grimaces and sits up. “Killian, wait.”
“Why?”
“I can’t lie on my back. It makes my shoulder sting.”
I frown. “Yeah, that wasn’t smooth on my part.” I lean down and scoop her up again. “Fortunately, you don’t need to be on your back while I fuck you. In fact… I know just the thing. ”
After carrying her to the bathroom, I set her down in the shower. “Wash that scrape, first, and we’ll cover it with a bandage. Don’t want you getting lockjaw. That would really fuck up my ability to get blow jobs.”
She flips me off, which strikes me as so funny I laugh out loud. I’ve never seen her flip anyone off. My laughter causes Raine to smile, too. Apparently she’s not bothered by the fact that I’m not taking her annoyance seriously.
“Okay, get out,” she says with a flick of her fingers toward me and the doorway.
“Not gonna happen.”
“If you’re going to watch, you’re going to help. You can wash my back.” Her tone makes it sound like she’s challenging me, which… I don’t think she understands me at all. Touching Raine more? I would fucking pay to do that.
“Yeah. Sure, I’ll help,” I say with a shrug.
Raine unties her wrap and folds it. Her hand thrusts the fabric toward me. I take it. Next, she peels off the dress. When she examines the fabric, she shakes her head and drops it on the floor.
“Ruined.” She unhooks her bra and tosses it at me.
I catch it and put it on top of the scarf.
For too brief a moment, she stretches her arms overhead in a long-limbed pose. “Why are you staring at me that way? You must’ve seen a lot of bodies at your clubs that were nicer than mine.”
I’m so hard if I bumped my dick, it would probably crack in half. I guess if I ranked women’s bodies based on porn standards of what’s hot, Raine might not come out on top. But that’s not how I rank them.
Naked Raine is perfection because that’s what I’ve craved like nothing else since I first laid eyes on her. Other bodies all fall into one category. Not her.
She scampers into the shower and turns on the water. When she rubs shower gel onto the back of her shoulder, she hisses at the sting. Then she turns and rinses it off. “Ouch, ouch, ouch,” she whispers. “Did I miss anything?”
“No. ”
Once the water is turned off, she grabs a towel and pats her injured flesh dry.
I drop her clothes in the sink and open the medicine cabinet. There are first aid supplies in case one of us gets stabbed or shot, but I give zero fucks about breaking into our stash.
“C’mere. I’ll bandage you up.”
She steps out and turns to face away from me. I stare at the beads of water on her back and the slope of her ass. My cock throbs impatiently.
After I slather some antibiotic ointment on her, I lick the water off the back of her neck.
She shudders. “Don’t. That gives me the shivers.”
I tape a gauze pad over the scrape and then slide an arm around her waist and pull her back against me.
“You’re going to ruin your suit.”
“I don’t care.”
I kiss the side of her neck and slide my hand down to cup between her legs. She presses her bare ass against my groin, and my lust grows exponentially. My index finger strokes her clit as the middle one presses into her pussy.
Raine arches her back and rises on tip toes. I could finger fuck her like this all night if my cock wouldn’t explode. My free hand slides up her slick skin to pinch her nipple. She writhes against me.
When I pull my hand out from between her legs, she turns her head to look at me with a heavy-lidded gaze. “More.”
“Yeah.” I turn her to face me and lean down. “Give me a kiss.”
She slides her arms around my neck and presses her body against mine, dampening my suit and scorching my brain.
When she opens her mouth for the kiss, my tongue slides in to stroke hers. Time slows, and we kiss for what feels like hours. That’s the thing about Raine. The laws of physics bend around her.
My fingers squeeze her ass cheek until she breaks the kiss with a small gasp. “Ouch,” she whispers against my lips.
“I’m gonna do worse,” I promise. “But you’re going to like it.” I release her flesh as she raises her brows. “Go get in bed. I’ve gotta get out of these wet clothes before I can get into you. ”
She’s starting to pull away but then smirks at my joke and leans close again to give me another quick kiss.
I watch her go, memorizing every inch of her. I’ve never enjoyed having an eidetic memory more.