Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
“You broke one of our rules today,” Ryker says darkly, trailing his lips up the column of my throat. Then he’s undoing the button on my shorts with one hand and pushing down on the space between my shoulder blades with the other.
“What rule?” My body quakes with anticipation as the cold counter presses against my chest and upper stomach.
“The one where you don’t let another man touch you,” he says so dangerously low that my thighs clench. “Especially not my fucking brother .”
Ryker shoves my shorts down to my ankles and then whips off my bra, leaving me in just my boots, thong, and red bandana. A soft gasp escapes my lips when he slides a palm across my ass, squeezing and kneading until suddenly he rears back and spanks my right cheek with a loud smack.
“Every time you wiggle in your seat because you can’t get comfortable on your drive tomorrow, I want you to think of me. I want you to picture my handprint on this perfect ass.”
Crack.
He spanks me again, same cheek, same spot, but twice as hard. I moan through the sting, my pussy throbbing as need soaks my underwear. “No one touches you except me. Got it, Princess?”
“Yes,” I pant, voice rising when he strikes again. The sting sends sparks tingling up my spine, my brain humming with quiet satisfaction while I fight the urge to rub my thighs together.
“That night at Rib Cage, when you spread your legs for me as I spanked you…” He shifts his palm to the opposite cheek and gives it the tiniest smack . “I’ve beat off to that memory so many fucking times, imagining what it would have been like if I’d slid my fingers into your wet cunt. Wondering if I could’ve made you come draped over my shoulder like that.”
With one of his hands still on my ass, he slides the other around my hip to my belly, dipping inside my panties to circle my swollen clit. A tremor of pleasure racks through my core, and I struggle to keep my eyes open.
“I should have kissed you on that water tower like you wanted me to. Should have tasted you. Bent you over and…” His fingers plunge inside me, retreating the second I moan.
I rotate my hips, desperately searching for his touch. “I didn’t want you?—”
Crack.
He spanks me full force, so hard that I cry out, but the pain barely lasts a second before my brain goes fuzzy again, heat coursing through my center until my body buzzes with the singular desire to be filled by him.
“You did . Admit it.” Ryker grabs my thong, pulling it so far up my ass the fabric grinds against my clit. My eyes flutter open and closed from the delicious friction, and then he’s spanking me again in quick succession.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
My back arches as everything outside of this room fades away until there is only me and him. “I wanted you,” I admit on a breathy moan when I can finally think again.
Ryker hums in approval. “I fucking knew it.” His hands drop to my hips and then he uses his foot to spread my legs apart. My body trembles when his fingers slide beneath my underwear, teasing me with painstakingly slow circles around my drenched opening.
His belt clatters to the floor, and my pulse goes wild. “Should I take my boots off?”
“No, Princess.” A sharp sting slices across my hip, followed by a tearing sound as he rips my thong clean off. “The boots stay on.”
Ryker nudging the crown of his cock against my entrance is my only warning before he grabs my hips and yanks me backward, sheathing himself inside me with a single thrust. I cry out, my eyes rolling backward while heat thrums up my spine. His cock pulses, and then he’s fisting my hair, tugging me upward and tilting my head to the side so he can capture my mouth with his.
With our tongues entwined, he angles his hips back and thrusts inside me again and again—slow at first as I stretch around him, then faster until we’re both sweaty and moaning. My breasts bounce in time with each punishing movement of his cock. I lift my arm, grasping him behind the neck as he trails kisses across my jaw and buries his nose in my hair.
Ryker’s chest heaves against my back, the heat of his body seeping into mine as he breathes me in. “You’re the only good thing in my life, Willa.”
He drives into me with long strokes, harder and faster, until he’s bottoming out and the pressure building in my belly is near explosive. “Fuck, Princess, I love the way your pussy clenches around my cock. I love every fucking thing about you. You’re fucking perfect.”
Heat blooms in my chest, my heart so full I can’t hold it back any longer… “Ryker, I?—”
“Come for me, Princess,” he demands.
“No,” I pant, brain fuzzy as his thick cock plows into me from behind. “That’s not it. Ryker, I ?—”
Taking my entire jaw in his hand, he tilts my head back and to the side so that our noses are touching and I’m forced to look him in the eye .
“Say it,” he grunts against my lips as he continues to move inside me.
My eyes water as the tension between my thighs builds until I can barely stand. But he needs to know. I need to tell him. Even if it gives him the power to hurt me. Even if my world will never be the same…
“Say it, Willa,” he growls, rolling his hips. “Fucking say it.”
“I love you,” I cry out as my orgasm barrels through me in a flurry of heat and light so vibrant I forget to breathe.
Ryker’s lips curve into a soft, radiant smile. “Goddamn right you do. I love you, too, Willa Dunn. Always fucking have.”
Hours later, tucked against Ryker’s chest on a nest of blankets we piled on the floor, a deep sense of calm settles over me. Every other relationship in my life might be in shambles, but if I have this—if I have him —that’s all I need.
I wake with a start, pulse thudding and nose twitching at the horrifyingly familiar scent of smoke in the air.
Something’s burning.
Sitting up abruptly, I reach for the light switch before realizing I’m still on the rug in the bunkhouse. Only now, I’m alone.
“Ryker?” I call out, voice shrill as I draw in a smoke-laced breath.
Besides the rattle of my lungs, the bunkhouse remains quiet. My head whips from left to right, panic making my breaths come too quickly while I clutch the unfamiliar blanket wrapped around my body and wait for him to round a corner.
He doesn’t.
Unease slithering up my spine, I scramble to my feet and throw on my clothes.
Ryker wouldn’t have left me here without telling me where he was going, would he? He must be getting something from the house or taking a phone call outside …
Another whiff of smoke hits my nose, and my body tremors.
Breathe, Willa . Find Ryker and then you can figure out what’s going on together.
I dash to the door and rip it open, skittering to a halt when I’m greeted by an ominous ocher glow illuminating the otherwise black sky to the south. Holy hell . It’s so bright it almost looks like the first light of dawn…except the sun doesn’t rise in that direction, and it definitely doesn’t create those thick billowing clouds.
I break into a cold sweat, my vision narrowing when I turn my back on the fire and sprint on quivering knees toward my house. The driveway is empty, but I still manage to trip three times before bursting through the door.
“Ryker?”
Once again, there’s no response. No sound at all. Even the crickets and cicadas outside are silent, as if they, too, sense that something is horribly wrong.
I stumble to my bedroom, hands shaking violently as I grab my phone and call Ryker.
It goes straight to voicemail.
I try again, but the same thing happens.
Pulse thudding in my temples, I stare at Dad’s contact info next before deciding this isn’t worth putting my anger aside for. If I call him the first time I get scared, I’ll be proving him right that I’m not ready to move out and be on my own.
Breathe, Willa. Just breathe. The fire is nowhere near your house. If anything, it looks like the smoke is coming from downtown ? —
My heart skips a beat and then another as I rush to my bedroom window for a better view.
My brain hiccups, ice crystallizing up my spine when I realize that not only is the orange glow even brighter now, but that it’s coming from the Old Town Square…
Near the police station.
I drop my phone twice before successfully clicking on my dad’s contact info. It rings and rings and rings, the tempo of my pulse rising with each passing second he doesn’t answer. I explicitly heard him say he was headed to the office. It’s almost four o’clock in the morning, there’s no reason for him not to pick up his phone. Unless…
Hyperventilating, I dial my brother.
I tap my foot as it rings once. Twice. Three times.
“Willa? What’s wrong?” Noah’s voice is sleep-drenched, but he doesn’t sound annoyed. If anything, he sounds worried, which throws me more than it should.
I force myself to suck down a ragged breath. “Dad won’t answer his phone…a-and I think there’s a fire downtown.”
A mattress groans on the other end of the line before Noah’s thudding footsteps echo loud enough through the speaker that it feels like he’s in the room with me.
“ Shit . I see it,” he mutters. Then more footsteps sound through the phone, far faster, like he’s running, until a door slams. “Holy fuck…”
“What?” My heart crawls into my throat and then drops into my stomach when he doesn’t answer. “Noah? What is it? What do you see?”
I pull the phone away from my ear to look at the screen.
The line is dead.
He hung up on me.
Not knowing what else to do, I stare vacantly out the window at the undulating gray-and-orange clouds in the distance, every muscle in my body trembling as the unnatural shape continues to grow.
I try Dad again, and then Noah, neither of them answering. But then I remember that emergency calls go straight to the police station. Hope takes root inside my terrified heart, blotting out the fear as I dial 911 and imagine Dad’s voice on the other end of the line. But it slowly withers when the phone just rings and rings.
The call is eventually transferred to the fire station, where a frantic Mandy Cromwell answers and shouts, “We’re aware of the second fire and are working on getting the crew there,” before abruptly ending the call.
A second fire? Body trembling, I stand there like a helpless child. I consider crawling into bed and pulling the covers over my head. I even think about getting into my Chevy and driving in the opposite direction, but I need to prove to myself that Dad’s fine.
Wrapping my arms around my middle to control the shaking, I stumble into the garage and climb into my truck. Staggered breaths rattle inside my chest as I throw my phone onto the passenger seat and start the engine, keeping one hand braced on my queasy stomach while I open the garage and head out into the night.
My windows are up, but the smell of smoke still permeates through the ancient air conditioning, getting stronger and stronger with each revolution of my tires—my pulse ramping up right alongside the atrocious scent. I take one squealing turn after another, adrenaline making my hands shake when the glow of the fire intensifies. By the time I turn onto Main Street, the smoke is so thick and acrid that I’m already coughing.
Almost there… One more turn…
Every fiber of my being tells me to turn this truck around, but I’m almost there now. I just need to drive by, see what’s on fire, and then I can get the hell out of there…
I turn left, slamming on my brakes as the flame-engulfed police station comes into view.
A violent bout of nausea racks my body as I stare unblinking at the inferno.
This has to be a nightmare … This can’t be real …
Clamping my hand over my mouth, I barely swing the door open in time to spill my guts onto the pavement. When I’m finished, I wipe my chin and stumble forward. Where is everyone? Why aren’t the firetrucks here? I whip around, a sob escaping my lips when I spot Dad’s cruiser parked in front of the blazing station.
Oh God…
Flames dance in my memory at the same time they slither through gaps in the roof and out the busted-up first-floor windows of the stone building in front of me. A siren wails from somewhere in the distance, and when the heat of the blaze licks at my cheeks, I can’t tell if it’s in my mind or in real time.
Another round of nausea forces me to empty the remaining contents of my stomach onto the sidewalk, but still, I can’t tear my eyes away from the flames. Not even when I fall to my knees, the scars on my back tightening as the ghost of a memory whispers that the fire is a cleansing …
My teeth chatter, and then I’m wrenched upright, my brother’s blurry face coming into view as he spins me to face him.
“What are you doing here?” Forehead etched with deep lines of worry, Noah shakes me forcefully enough that my brain rattles against my skull. “Willa, why are you here?”
“D-Dad’s inside,” I choke out, grabbing his hand so tightly my nails sink into his flesh.
“What?” he gasps, head whipping to the station as his face drains of blood. “No, he’s not. He can’t be. Are you sure?”
A choked sob escapes my throat when I try to answer him, but instead of screaming at me, Noah wraps his arms around my shoulders and draws me to his chest. “You’re okay, Wills. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” He places his hands on either side of my face and pulls back a few inches. “You’re safe out here. Don’t look at the station. Focus on me.”
Reluctantly, I tear my eyes away from the flames and meet his blue-gray gaze. My breath hitches when instead of the anger I’ve grown so accustomed to over the past few weeks, I see love and concern. He looks like himself, like the Noah I grew up with.
For one second, I allow myself to pretend it’s just another day. That we’re running errands and it’s the sun casting that perfect golden glow over his face.
“You’re okay, Wills. Take a breath and tell me why you think Dad’s inside.” He nods encouragingly, the same way he did when he was trying to convince me to get back on my bicycle after my first big wipeout when I was ten.
Gripping his wrists with both hands, I force myself to swallow my fear. “D-Dad isn’t answering my calls. He said he was going into work, and—” My voice cracks. “And look, his car’s here.” I raise a shaky hand to point at the cruiser.
Following the direction of my finger, Noah’s eyes widen, the muscles in his arms going impossibly rigid. “ Shit .” He swallows once and then turns to face me. “Stay here, Wills. Keep your back to the fire and wait for help.”
Brow pinched, I stare at him as ash rains down around us. Then, without warning, he kisses my cheek and turns, sprinting for the flame-engulfed door where he disappears behind a veil of smoke like a ship beneath the sea.
I blink once, twice, waiting for him to reappear, but he doesn’t.
I call his name. Scream it. But my only answer is the roar of the fire.
He’s okay , I tell myself as my pulse hammers inside my chest . They both are. Noah will find Dad and they’ll be just fi ? —
Several of the second-floor windows of the police station crack and then shatter. My arm rises up instinctively to shield my eyes when the influx of oxygen makes the fire blaze ten times brighter. Heart in my throat, I watch in horror as flames lick up the sides of the ancient building, the crackling groan of the inferno intensifying until the ground itself seems to sway and shift.
“Noah!” I scream, taking three steps forward until my legs give out and I fall to my knees. I tell myself to get up and go help him, but my muscles won’t work.
I scream his name again, unable to look away as the god-awful truth burns my retinas.
There’s no way anyone can survive that…
The realization flays my insides open with a serrated blade.
I just sent my brother to his death…