Chapter 26
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
WESLEY
“And where do you think you’re going?” my father demands as I gather the rest of my things from my bedroom.
“I’m going home,” I tell him, grabbing the box off the bed.
“You are home,” he huffs.
“As you can tell from the empty bedroom, this hasn’t been my fucking home for a long time.”
It’s like he’s just now seeing the bare walls, stripped bed, and the lack of personal items. He swings a furious gaze my way. “You can’t leave.”
“I can and I fucking will.” I snort out a laugh as I push past him.
“What about your mother and me? We can’t afford this place on our own!”
“The house is fucking paid off, you dumbass,” I chastise him. “As for what happens to you and mom, I couldn’t care less.”
I make my way down the stairs, heading towards the front door.
“Wessy,” my mother whines. I close my eyes and groan, taking in a deep breath. I don’t have time for her melodrama right now. “You can’t leave me. I’m your mother! I gave birth to you. How could you be so cruel?” She gives me her best crocodile tears.
“You’re fucking joking.” I laugh, turning around to face her.
“You gave birth to me, sure. Then you handed me over to the nannies so you could travel the world, get shit-faced drunk or high out of your mind while spending all of dad’s money and fucking any young guy with a working dick.
Oh no! The horror. How could I be so cruel as to leave my dear sweet mother?
Give me a fucking break. Relax. You’re still going to get your Botox. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“Oh.” Her attitude does a one-eighty as she wipes at her eyes. “Thank you, baby.” She blows me a kiss. “Love you!”
“Get fucked,” I sing-song back.
“Don’t talk to your mother like that!” my dad barks.
“Don’t act like you care. You share her around with your friends like fucking is a team sport. The only reason why you haven’t divorced her is because she’d take you for everything you have.”
“Everything I have!” he repeats with a snarl, his face turning red. “I don’t fucking have anything because of you and your bratty little friends.”
“You have nothing because you almost ran the company into the ground. You are the reason we almost lost everything. I’m the reason why we didn’t.
I saved it when you couldn’t. My ‘bratty little friends’ made sure of it.
Watch yourself, old man. Piss me off enough, and I’ll remind you of how easy it is for me to actually make you lose everything.
You’re lucky I let you keep the house and the car.
Get a fucking job like a real man, and pay for anything else you need.
Or, you could start selling things off; anything in this house is fair game.
I bet you would get a pretty penny for all the pointless bullshit items scattered around this place.
You’re lucky I didn’t just kill you when I had the chance.
Take what I’m offering, because it’s all you're getting.”
“You think because you’re the head of this family now that you're better than me?” he barks. “You stole everything out from under me.”
“I don’t think I’m better than you, I know it.” I chuckle. “Now, kindly get fucked, old man, I’m out of here.”
He continues to shout at me as I make my way out of the house and to my car. Tossing the box into the back seat, I get into the driver's side. As I’m pulling out, I flip him off, laughing as I go.
It’s about time I officially moved in with Sylas. Any time I went home, I had to deal with my parents' bullshit. I could have gotten my own place, but I spend all my time with Jasper and Sylas, so it would be a waste.
I’m in a good mood as I pull up to Sylas’. That is, until I see Nola’s Jeep.
“This fucking girl is always here,” I growl through gritted teeth. How the fuck did we go from watching her from afar to seeing her every fucking day?
And Jasper says we’re not allowed to touch her? How the hell am I supposed to keep my hands to myself when temptation is around every corner?
She’s one giant fucking tease.
It was easier to avoid her when she could hardly form two sentences around us without tripping over her words or her face going bright red.
It seems that my Little Rabbit has grown a backbone. Not only that, she’s changed. A lot.
I find myself wanting to push her, to see how far I can make her bend before she breaks.
Every little bit of sass has my cock hardening.
Every time she speaks, laughs, or smiles, it makes me want to pull her into my lap.
I want to turn that smile into a look of fear, or that laugh into a whimper as she begs me to have mercy on her.
She has never tried to hide her attraction to us. But now… she flirts. Like what?
I mean, I think it’s flirting? Nola’s version of it, anyway.
Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. I want her gone. I can’t fucking keep doing this.
Every time I’m around her I have to find what little self-control I have and keep my fucking hands to myself.
Sylas tried to bring up possibly testing her to see if, with these new changes in our girl, maybe she could handle us now.
Jasper shot it down. Didn’t even give it a second thought.
He’s right, though, and we know it.
Just because Nola has become a little braver and bolder that doesn’t mean she’s anywhere close to being able to handle us or our lifestyle.
Jasper makes it seem like we would be depraved all the time. And, sure, none of us are prince charming, but we’re not total monsters either. If we can respect Callie and treat her well, I’m sure outside of the bedroom, we could do the same to Nola.
Our sexual preferences are the main reason why we’ve agreed to never pursue her.
And seeing how sex is a big part of our day-to-day life, an issue would arise around every corner.
At least, that was our main concern until some fucking dumbass felt the need to go around murdering girls we’ve shown an interest in.
It’s been months of this, and the police are no closer to catching this killer.
I’m tempted to try and find this menace to take care of him myself, especially if it means I can go back to losing myself in a woman whenever I please to distract myself from not being able to have Nola.
I’m getting fucking blue balls.
And I think Jasper is full of shit. Despite what it looked like at first, whoever the killer is, they're not out to get us.
I’ve fucked at least three women over the past few months, and they’re all still alive and well… I think? I don’t fucking know. I don’t check on my past hookups. But I haven't seen their names in the news, so I’m guessing they’re still breathing. Not that I care. I’m just trying to prove a point.
Jasper and Sylas don’t know because I would really like to avoid being bitched out by the both of them. It always gives me a headache.
Not sure what Jasper expects to happen, though. Are we supposed to become monks or something until this killer is found?
It’s fucking ridiculous.
Pulling my pack of smokes from my pocket, I pull one out and light it up. Closing my eyes, I inhale deeply and hold it in before blowing it out.
“Are you going to stay here all day?”
My eyes snap open. Swinging my gaze to the left, I see Nola standing outside my car window.
“Fuck’s sake,” I mutter, blowing out the smoke. “What are you doing here?” I ask, raising a brow.
“It’s New Year’s,” she says, like that explains anything.
“I’m aware of that,” I grumble, taking another puff.
“Callie invited me over. She’s having a party.”
“Like hell she is,” I growl. “That girl is banned from having parties in this house ever again.”
Nola rolls her eyes at me. She. Fucking. Rolls. Her. Eyes. Who the hell does this brat think she is?
“It’s a low-key party with just us. As in me, her, you, Sylas, and Jasper. Oh, and well, I invited Garrett.” She grins. “Callie is pissed off at me. But I believe those two are soulmates, and if she just gave him a chance, I know they would be good together.”
“Soulmates,” I repeat dryly. “This isn’t some fairytale.”
“I know that.” Her brows furrow. “But it’s obvious Garrett cares about her.”
“It won’t happen.” I blow the smoke out from the corner of my mouth and away from her. “Sylas won’t let it.”
“Pretty sure Sylas isn’t his sister's keeper.” Nola crosses her arms. “Callie is a big girl and can make her own decisions.”
A slow smile creeps over my face. As much as this new side of Nola pisses me off, it also intrigues me.
I open the car door, forcing her to take a step back. Slamming the door shut, I step into her personal space, getting right in her face.
Placing the cigarette between my lips, I take another drag before slowly letting it out. “Why don’t you go tell Sylas that yourself,” I chuckle. “I’d love to see his face when you do.”
She licks her lips, growing a little flustered. And there we go. Proof that no matter how much she changes, she’s still way too fucking pure for us.
It’s a shame she’s off limits because I’d love nothing more than to be the one to corrupt her right down to her very soul.
“You’re all too protective over her.”
“We have our reasons.” I counter with the cock of my brow.
“Why?” she huffs. “Do you like her or something?”
Oh. Fuck me. Little Rabbit is jealous.
“Why?” I question, raising a brow. “What’s it matter to you?”
Her face falls. “I was just joking. Are you serious?”
I shrug. “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. Wouldn’t you like to know.”
I step past her and head towards the front door. I grin as I hear her footsteps grow in pace and volume as I walk away, indicating that she’s following after me. I know she wants to ask more, to demand what I mean, and to explain myself. But she won’t, and I wouldn’t tell her even if she did.
Callie is like my little sister, I would never touch her in a sexual way.
She is in the same category as Jasper and Sylas are, family. That's it. I have no desire to do the things I want to do to Nola to Callie.
It’s complicated. We would kill to protect Nola, but the biggest people she needs protection from is us.