Chapter 4
Bodhi
My eyes fix on her with cold deliberate laser focus.
Little miss perfect might not be the picture of the mayor’s daughter while she’s covered in bruises, but she’s still a stuck-up entitled princess who thinks she’s too good for us.
Our predicament is Kasen has always had a soft spot for her, and last night was the first time I have seen any signs of life in his eyes in years.
“While you’re under our roof, you will follow our rules. That includes keeping your opinions to yourself. Behave and do as you’re told. We have a reputation to uphold, and what happened last night can never happen again. I’m not about cleaning up your messes, last night was a one-off.”
Her hands fly to her hips in outrage. “I didn’t ask you to do—”
With one swift move, I pin her to the wall, her skin so damn soft under my fingertips it’s hard not to test the water and see how she reacts when I slide my finger down the side of her face.
“And yet here I was disposing of two bodies and the murder weapon. Just like in the past, isn’t it, Dove.
Us boys are all just tools at your disposal.
You will use us then take off when you’ve got whatever it is you wanted. ”
She swallows hard, her throat bobbing. “You think I wanted to leave?” she murmurs, seeming surprised by my comment.
“All I know is you did. No goodbye, nothing. Did we mean that little to you?” I don’t even know why I’m pushing it.
I don’t care about the past. It’s dead and buried as far as I’m concerned.
But when I stare into her broken eyes, it breaks down the armor I have strategically built since I saw her last. And I know it will mess Kasen and River up just as bad.
How can it not? At one point in our lives, she was as much one of our crew as anyone could be.
Her eyes go wide, and her cheeks flush with heat and maybe anger.
Even though I’m holding her firmly, she stomps her foot in frustration.
“You meant everything to me, you stupid asshole. You’re the ones who were ready to ship me off on daddy’s orders.
I never would have left you if I didn’t have to. Never.”
Anger vibrates through me because I know it’s all lies.
She could have stayed if we really were that important.
Whatever trouble she and her dad were in, we would have helped them.
We would have done anything for her. But that’s not what people do, they leave when it all gets too hard, just like my parents did.
“Bullshit.” My back straightens. “You knew you had all four of us wrapped around your pinky. The perfect princess.” I shake my head.
I have never told a soul how I really felt about her.
She would never have wanted me back then anyway, I was too nerdy for her, except when she needed help with her math or science homework.
I’m positive no matter how I felt about her, she saw me as an older-brother type at her disposal when she needed my brain.
Nothing more. “You strung us along, knowing all too well you had all four of us falling for you. And we both know you were never going to do anything about it, because while we might have been fun to hang out with, we never would have been good enough for your family. Or you.” I keep going when I should be walking away.
She’s no one to me, a ghost from our past, and that’s where she should stay.
But from the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew that would never be the case again.
Her plump, red lips purse. “Fuck you.” She shoves at me, trying to escape my hold, but I’m not letting her go until I have said my piece. I don’t care how much I upset her. I guess the truth hurts, and she needs to know what she did to me. To us.
“Stop lying to us all and just tell us what really happened that night. You and your dad took off and didn’t look back, on to something better, I’m sure.” My chest heaves, a heaviness I hadn’t let invade it in so long now settles deep and painful.
Tears flicker in her eyes. “You’re so wrong about me, Slater. I never based my decisions on what my family thought. You of all people should have known me better than that. I loved all of you with everything I had, right up until you broke my heart.”
My heart hammers in my chest. It’s like a drumbeat, solid and loud.
I have waited a long time to hear those words from this girl’s mouth, but I never once thought they would make me want to rip my own heart from my chest so I can end the pain she’s now lodged in it.
My hand moves into her hair, gripping her so firmly I’m sure it’s uncomfortable.
But if it is, she doesn’t protest. Instead, she tilts her head up, challenging me to push her. “Like a big brother?”
“What?” Her eyes furrow, confused.
Maybe I misread the signs when I was younger, because the look in her eyes now is unmistakable.
And before I can get my brain to find logic, I move, acting on pure impulse.
My lips claim hers in a battle of tongues and lips and teeth.
She tastes of sunshine and cherry lip gloss, just how I imagined she would all those years ago.
But I don’t kiss her like I would have back then.
I pin her to the wall, taking control with ruthless precision.
She doesn’t fight me off like I expected she might.
Instead, she nips and kisses me back, moaning into my lips, needy for more.
For me. When I eventually pull back, she’s panting.
Her anger toward me hasn’t simmered down, but there is something new in her expression as well.
Lust. Well, what do you know, maybe the brat did miss me after all.
“What did you do that for?” she whispers, wiping at her mouth aggressively before she discovers she’s bleeding. She rubs the blood from her bottom lip over her thumb and forefinger in fascination.
My hold on her loosens, and I glare down my nose at her.
No response. I didn’t expect to paw at her.
Maybe I was trying to prove a point, but I’m not sure who I was trying to prove it to.
Because all that did was solidify that there is way too much unexplored chemistry between us.
Attraction neither of us can afford to revisit.
She needs to stay away from me as a matter of urgency, but that is the last thing I want.
She’s tugged away from me. When I flick my glare back, I find Kasen’s face serious, but he knew what he was doing sending me in to get her. “Get your hands off me, asshole,” she barks at him as she is guided down the hallway toward the kitchen.
Kasen always did have flawless timing. I follow along behind them, ready to defuse the situation before it gets out of hand.
Why do I feel like she’s going to be our downfall?
Nope, scrap that, I know she will be, just by the pathetic way Kasen is drooling over her.
He’s obsessed, always has been. It damn well nearly destroyed him when she disappeared.
It nearly tore all of us apart, and I won’t go through it again.
I’m not sure my best mate would survive this time.
If she’s staying, things will be different now.
Insurances made to make sure she can’t cause the same damage twice.
With the kind of intimidation Kasen lives by, he convinces her to sit in a linen high-back chair at the dining table that looks out over the view of the ocean.
Her eyes widen when she sees the assortment of breakfast dishes laid out in front of her.
“I’m not hungry.” She crosses her arms over her chest like a brat and stares out into space.
Her vacant, dead gaze sends a chill down my spine.
What the fuck happened to her? I shouldn’t care, she took off without a word, so good riddance and all that, but there is something in the way she fights back, the way she won’t take shit from us when the rest of this town falls at our feet, that has me slightly intrigued.
She grew balls while she was away, and I want to know why.
Kasen glances back at me, giving me a look like can you hear this shit? I’m not sure what he expects me to do. He’s the one who thought it was a good idea to bring a stray home, not me.
I shrug. It’s no skin off my nose if she refuses to eat. That’s on her, when she’s clearly in need of a decent meal with how malnourished she is.
He places a hand on the table in front of her, a bang as his hand slaps down.
His furious eyes lock with hers, and I know at least part of that frustration is directed toward me.
“Eat something, then I can give you pain meds.” He forces the words through clenched teeth.
He’s on edge, he has been since we found out Keller had a massive heart attack and died on his way to the hospital last week.
But today, he’s extra heightened, like one wrong move could see us all with a bullet in the head.
It’s an energy I enjoy on him, some of his power creeping back in.
The influence she has on him. Maybe her being back won’t be the worst thing ever.
If my brother can pull his shit together and start acting like our boss again, I might just let her stick around after all.
Rolling her eyes, she sucks in a breath, then winces. I bet those broken ribs are giving her trouble and she’s about desperate for some relief. With a heavy sigh, she picks up a croissant and nibbles at the side of it. “Happy?” She smirks at him.
“I won’t be happy until you don’t look like Skeletor anymore,” he snaps back. Yeah, K is more himself today. Our leader, ready to take his rightful place at the helm.
She throws him a bitchy-as-hell look. “You really shouldn’t be judging my appearance. Skinny shaming is just as bad as fat shaming, you know,” she sasses.
He runs a hand through his short hair, tugging on the ends. “We both know that’s not what this is.” He hands her the pain meds she’s after, and she throws them back with a glass of apple juice.