Chapter Twenty-Four
Hayes
Ilooked down at my vibrating phone, my eyes lingering on the old photo of my sister and me as her name slid across the screen.
Today was Thanksgiving.
It had been weeks since I’d spoken to her, and I had no plans on speaking to her until the new year.
I loved my sister. I would die for her and my niece.
But the cost of keeping in touch with her most days was my peace.
She wanted the entire family to be united again, but I knew, deep down, I knew.
The truth? The truth would eviscerate any illusion of family she was still clinging to.
I was knee-deep in protecting someone who didn’t make me feel like I had to earn her affection, her attention, her love.
Margo was my highest priority.
Gordon had gone underground. The FBI was hunting him, but they had yet to let us into their investigation.
From what Jake could get his hands on before breaking down the army of firewalls, Gordon was linked to an international drug network that spanned over eighteen countries, ten of those primary contacts being government officials.
Grayson and I agreed that Jake needed to back off.
For now, at least. He was no longer a threat to Margo, not while he was on the run.
She was the least of his worries. Marcus had abandoned his and Margo’s childhood home.
Ash and one of Humbly’s uniforms went over there the day before yesterday to deliver the restraining order his sister took out against him.
If he came within a hundred feet of her or contacted her in any way, he would be facing a one-hundred-thousand-dollar fine and five years’ jail time.
We wanted the sentence to be longer, but Humbly urged us against it.
The fine alone would be enough to scare that bastard.
The last forty-eight hours had been quiet.
Margo was getting back into the swing of things, and she was set to graduate in the spring.
Her final semester was paid for, and the relief she felt was visible.
When she wasn’t at the bar or at Rossy’s, she was here, curled up on the couch beside me, nose buried in research for the big project that would start in January.
Everything was good, but there was a feeling of unease still swirling inside me.
The ghosts of my past were crawling up my spine from their graves, calling out to me, begging me to pay attention to them.
The only thing in this world keeping me grounded right now was Margo.
For the first time in years, I was able to get a full night’s sleep without any interruptions.
I wasn’t stupid enough to brush it off as some coincidence.
It was her.
She had no idea how much power she had over me.
I couldn’t lose her.
“Top Gun,” Margo called from somewhere deep in her closet.
A short sigh left my nose as I sent the call to voice mail and silenced it for the rest of the day. “Yeah?” I called back, pocketing the device and ignoring the feeling of shame pooling at the bottom of my gut.
“Have you seen my fishnets?”
I ventured into her room, mentally bracing for the massive mess of clothes and accessories she’d thrown all over her bed, dresser, nightstands, and furniture.
It looked like a tornado had passed through.
Shaking my head, I looked over to where she was standing at the mouth of her closet, her pale-yellow towel wrapped around her body.
Putting my shoulder against the doorframe, I watched water droplets from her freshly washed hair skate over the curve of her shoulder as another trailed down the length of her spine, covering the moon cycles tattooed there.
There were intricate swirls between each one, delicate and light, while the moons were heavier and dark.
I hadn’t had a chance to ask about her tattoos yet.
She had over twenty, including her full sleeves.
On her right arm, her skin was covered by a vast array of florals and vines.
“No,” I answered, clearing my throat. “I haven’t seen them.”
She muttered a string of angry curses and shook her head, causing more drops of water to fall from her hair.
It was twisted back tightly and clamped together by a massive hamburger hair clip that looked like something out of a cartoon.
I watched, in awe, as she scrambled through the pile of pants at her feet, grumbling and mumbling things I couldn’t hear.
Knowing her, it was a string of enough foul language to make a priest faint.
I chuckled, my lips twitching.
My newly formed smile died as she bent over, giving me a full view of her ass, her pretty pussy on display, glistening in the sunlight.
My lips parted, my heart pounding as it sent all the blood in my body straight to my cock.
My mouth went dry, and I slowly pushed off the wall and stepped over several piles of clothes.
My eyes never left her sweet, pink cunt.
When I was behind her, she froze and looked at me, eyes dilating.
“What are you doing?” she rasped.
I flicked open my belt buckle, undid my pants, and pulled out my cock. “Stay just like that,” I commanded gruffly. Gently, I pulled the clip out of her hair and tossed it on the bed. “Hands on the wall.”
“Hayes, we’re going to be late.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I answered, lining myself up to her. “Why is my pussy wet, baby?”
I heard her gulp and watched her shaking hands grab on to the trim of her closet. “You were watching me shower,” she whispered. “All you have to do is watch me, Hayes, and I feel like I’m on fire.”
My hands fisted the towel and ripped it away from her. I didn’t respond as I slowly pushed inside her, her warmth surrounding me. She tipped her head back, letting out a feral moan that made my balls twitch.
“Superman,” she breathed.
“Yeah,” I confirmed, grabbing a fistful of her hair, holding her in that position. I wanted to see her butterfly while I fucked her. “I’m your Superman.” I pulled out and slammed back in once. Then twice.
She spread her feet farther apart to take my fucking, my harsh thrusts. Soon the sound of my belt buckle clinking and slapping skin filled my ears. “That’s it,” I praised, yanking her back farther. “Take my cock, Temper.”
“Yes,” she rasped as her eyes rolled back.
“You can’t let me see your pretty pussy before we have to leave,” I taunted, grunting as her walls trembled around my length.
“I can’t focus.” I bent over, hips still pounding relentlessly into her.
My lips brushed against her forehead. “I can’t survive without it.
” I pressed a quick kiss there before giving her another piece of me. “I need you every day, baby.”
I was addicted to her and I didn’t know how to break it.
She groaned and started pushing back against me, fucking me back with the same urgency.
My next order was sharp. “Give me your eyes.”
I was surrounded by her soft green then, promising me life and a gentle love. My free hand shifted from her hip, grabbing the swell of her ass, pulling the cheek away from the other, spreading her. She moaned and gasped for air as I pulled out and slammed back in.
“Tell me you need me,” I whispered, voice shaking.
Tell me you need me just as much as I need you.
Could you survive without me, baby?
I’d be lost without you and that scares the shit out of me.
“I need you,” she gasped as her hand fell away from the wall, going between her legs.
I sucked in a sharp breath when I felt her fingers on the sides of my cock, spreading her hole wider for me, feeling me—us, together.
A whimper left me then, uncontrolled, needy.
“Fuck—God, fuck!” My hand left her hair, going around her waist and bringing her back against me.
With a growl, I turned us to face her mirror on the far wall.
We were surrounded by a mess—her mess—but I didn’t care.
I needed her, her colors, her mess, her anger, her chaos.
I needed all of it more than anything else in the world and it was killing me from the inside out.
“Look at you,” I growled into her ear, lifting her off the ground a few inches, hitting her cervix at a new angle. “Look at you being fucked, Margo.”
Her back bowed and she tossed her head back, screaming my name, coming for me with her butterfly on full display. Her beauty was etched into my brain, this moment planting itself in my memories. “Hayes! Fuck! Hayes, please!”
My eyes scanned over the length of her pale body, her tits bouncing above my arms, her nipples dark pink and puckered, her soft stomach under my forearm, the extra flesh at the curves of her hips jiggling, her legs shaking as my cock stretched her over and over.
She was drenched in color, in life, in love, and I needed her to show me how to live.
I needed her to help me shatter the lie.
“Christ, baby,” I clipped, groaning into her ear as her cunt clamped down around me. I slowed my pace, fucking her slowly, savoring her as she drowned my cock in her cum.
Her head was resting against my shoulder, and when she came down from her high, I was ready to give her another.
She hooked her arm around my neck and tipped her head back, giving me a better view of her butterfly, her tits still moving in time with my thrusts, her hand still between her legs, feeling us.
“I love this,” she purred, her chest and cheeks red with passion, eyes sparkling. “I love the way we feel together.”
My eyes dropped just in time to see her hand shift, her black nails circling her clit.
“I used to touch myself almost every night to the thought of you, Hayes Mitchell.”
A harsh growl left me, and I pushed her to the bed and bent her over. “Keep touching yourself,” I shot back, baring my teeth as I gripped her soft hips, bringing her back to me.
“Yes,” she hissed, propping herself up on her hand, rising up to watch us in the mirror, her hand working between her legs. “That’s it, baby. Fuck me good.”
She only called me that when my cock was inside her, and fuck, it drove me batshit crazy. My skin began to tingle, my balls tightening as white-hot pleasure gathered at the base of my spine. My voice was raw, gruff and harsh, as I began to question her.
“You come to the thought of me, beautiful?”
Thrust.
“Did your thighs shake and close when you imagined me pounding into you like this?”
Thrust.
“Did I fuck the anger out of you in your little daydreams, Temper?”
Thrust.
She didn’t answer. Instead, her body shook and bucked as her second climax hit her.
She fell into the mattress, and I kicked her legs farther apart, put my hands at her lower back, and held her down, fucking her like an animal.
I snarled her name as she screamed mine, clawing at the sheets, desperate to hold on to reality.
“Tell me you need me, baby,” I repeated, staring down at our connection, my cock glistening with her. I needed to hear her say the words. Over and over again.
“I—I need you,” she rasped.
“Again.”
“I need you!”
“Again!” I barked, something urgent and dangerous swimming up to the surface. I was too weak to fight it, and once it got a taste of the air I’d been denying it, I’d be destroyed.
She couldn’t speak, gasping for air as her pussy clamped down again. Her body pushed me out as she cried my name, squirting all over my jeans.
“Yeah,” I spat, suddenly angry. “Yeah, you fucking need me, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she blubbered, sobbing into the sheets as I slid back inside. “Yes, I need you, Hayes.”
There was something in her voice, an earth-shattering confession.
She didn’t want to need me.
I didn’t want to need her.
And yet? Here we were, both trapped in the orbits of each other, addicted and dependent.
I hated it.
I loved it.
I hated it.
But I loved her.
There was no stopping it now. The damage was already done.
My hips went harder, faster. The entire bed was shaking, the headboard slamming against the wall.
The next words slipped off my tongue before I could conceal them with a lie, my chest heaving. My voice cracked as I thrust into her for a final time, my cum filling her as my head fell back. “Tell me you love me, Margo.”
My ears were ringing as I swam out of the sea of pleasure she’d sent me to get lost in.
White spots dotted my vision; I was gasping for breath as I tried to come back to reality with her.
My pulse skittered across my skin, goose bumps spreading down my arms, and when I opened my eyes, I found Margo’s.
My gut twisted at the look on her face. I hadn’t given anything to her; I was demanding her to give me more. I wasn’t strong enough to tell her the truth.
Fuck.
Fuck, goddamn fuck!
Slowly, I removed my hands from her, broke our connection, and stepped back. She immediately rolled over and curled her legs. Her hair was wild, her face flushed. “Hayes?” she whispered, her raw, sweet voice stabbing me in the chest.
Another voice chuckled in my ear, dark and dripping with a cold malice that she would never be able to warm.
I bit down, grinding my teeth as I tucked my cock back into my pants, righting them.
I tore my eyes from her, focusing on the ocean outside her window.
“I’ll let you get ready,” I murmured, throat thick, ears still ringing.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, the same explosion I’d been trying to forget filled the void of my panic with fire and smoke, the screams of my crew taking over.
“Wait—Hayes,” she started, reaching for me. Her fingers touched my arm, and I jerked it away. It took everything I had to ignore the look of pain etched across her face. I cleared my throat. “We need to leave in ten. You need to get dressed and I need to change.”
Then I was gone, shutting the door behind me, leaving her and my heart on the bed.