Chapter 4
WYLDER
“Did you find the gift I left for you?”
I ignore Neo’s question, just as I’ve been ignoring him since I entered the kitchen.
He’s sitting on the counter again, his supple legs casually kicking.
He knows I hate it when he does that, which is probably why he’s up there in the first place.
Kitchen counters are for food prep, not Neo’s ass.
Lord knows where that thing has been or what he’s shoved into it recently.
Aside from Kyle’s cock, you mean?
My nostrils flare as I shove the porta filter into the machine with more force than necessary.
Coffee is needed. Maybe that’ll help quell the fury that’s been swimming through my veins since I woke to the sight of Neo’s latest “gift.” My dagger, covered in what I hoped was chocolate sauce, stabbed through a picture of Candace.
After game night, Neo upped his antics to a new extreme. It’s like he’s taken my claim of being straight as a challenge.
A challenge to see how far he can push me before I snap.
“I’m taking your silence to mean you did see it,” he says smugly, his feet continuing to swing, his eyes twinkling. “I tried to find an uglier picture of her, but she’s annoyingly photogenic.”
Once again, I don’t bother to reply. There’s little point. It was hardly like I could miss it, given how he’d pinned it to my ceiling, right above my bed.
The act itself doesn’t bother me. If anything, I might say it’s almost amusing. What does bother me is the fact that it was my dagger he used.
The dagger I sleep with under my pillow.
The one that no one is meant to know is there.
Somehow, Neo knows. Worse, he was able to slip it free without waking me. Evidently, I slept throughout the entire stunt.
That’s what’s bothering me. Someone was in my space while I was at my most vulnerable, and I didn’t so much as stir.
It’s just Neo, my monster whispers. He won’t hurt us.
No, he won’t physically hurt us. My sanity, though? That’s apparently fair game.
The machine beeps to let me know my espresso is ready. Without so much as looking at Neo, I pick up my cup and move past him. Or, at least, I try to. Neo’s too quick for me, his foot shooting out. It catches on the side of my knee, making me freeze. “Let go.”
“No,” Neo says conversationally. “Why should I?”
I slowly turn my head. His eyes are bright with mischief, the smile on his lips driving me crazy. I want to erase it. I need to smother it somehow. To mash my mouth against his until…
My mind screeches to a halt, my breath hitching.
Where the fuck did that come from?
I shake the thought away. I don’t have time for…whatever that was.
“Because it’s rude,” I say flatly, keeping my expression clear. These errant thoughts are nothing more than that—thoughts. Ones I’ll be keeping to myself. No one can ever know I thought that.
His smirk deepens. “I’m just mirroring your behavior.”
My brows draw together. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do.” His foot starts to move, sliding up and down the inside of my thigh. My muscles go rigid. “You’re being rude by ignoring me. I’m a guest.”
“You’re not a guest,” I say shortly, unable to think with the way he’s caressing me. I should shove him off. It’d be easy enough. Why am I not doing it? This is the thing with Neo; he makes it impossible to focus. Impossible to think. “You’re an imposition.”
Neo’s foot falls away immediately. “Wow. I knew you were an asshole, but that’s low even for you.”
I run back over the words, trying to locate the insult. “Having you here isn’t easy. You’re intent on making my life a misery. Surely you must know that?”
There’s a change on Neo’s face. A curl of his lip that I’ve never seen before. It unsettles something in my gut, but I have no idea why.
“Understood,” he says in a clipped tone. “Thanks for clueing me in. I’ll fix it.”
He’s gone from the kitchen before I can blink. I stare after him, wondering why there’s a pit in my stomach.
I try to shake off the unease as I walk to my office. This is just another step in Neo’s game. He’s probably expecting me to chase him down and insist he explain himself.
I won’t give him the satisfaction. No, I’m going to work until lunchtime. That’ll show Neo that he’s not calling the shots here.
The monster rattles his cage, but I ignore him.
Something that’s getting harder to do with each day that passes.
The situation doesn’t enter my mind again as I lose myself to the mountain of emails. Neo has cleared at least a month’s worth, but there are always more arriving. It makes me want to crawl under my desk and press my hands over my ears.
I don’t, though. I could never do something so…unexpected.
I massage my temple, not blinking until my office door slams open. It’s shoved with such force that it ricochets off the paneled wall.
I raise my head, expecting to see Neo, or perhaps one of my brothers. But it’s Ansel who’s glaring at me from the doorway. “What did you say to him?”
I frown. “To Cade? Nothing. I haven’t even seen him today.”
“Not Cade,” Ansel says from between gritted teeth. He steps up to my desk, fists clenched. I’ve only seen him this angry at Candace. It’s not frightening, but very out of character for someone who looks so angelic. “Neo. What the fuck did you say?”
Just the mention of his name has my monster shoving against the bars.
I go to retort, ready to remind Ansel that it’s none of his business.
But, like he knows what I’m thinking, Cade slides into the room.
He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to.
The way he’s palming his dagger delivers his message for him.
If I upset his butterfly, I’ll pay for it in blood.
I take a breath, tightening the cage. “I just reminded him that he’s a guest here.”
Ansel grips the back of the chair opposite my desk so hard that his knuckles go white. “What did you say exactly?”
Alarm starts to prick at the back of my neck. “I mean…I think I called him an imposition.”
Cade gives a low whistle from the doorway. “Fuck, Wylder. That’s cold, man.”
My eyes widen. “What? Why? Neo knows he’s making my life miserable with his antics. He does it on purpose. He does it with a purpose.”
Miserable? Is that really what you’re feeling?
Ansel turns to Cade, his voice rising in disbelief. “He can’t honestly be this stupid.”
My nose wrinkles. I’m far from stupid. I have the Mensa membership to prove it. I’m a genius, just not in this area apparently.
“He’s emotionally stunted,” Cade murmurs, tugging Ansel into his arms and kissing his temple. “Needs things explained to him like he’s five sometimes.”
I huff. “I’m sitting right here.”
Ansel turns in Cade’s arms to glare at me. “Yes, and you should be upstairs groveling on your knees.”
“Why?”
“Like he’s five,” Cade repeats, smirking at me over his boyfriend’s head.
I make a note to give Cade every shitty job for the next six months. The really boring ones. As punishment.
“Small words,” he continues. “Speak slowly.”
Make that the next year.
Ansel breathes out through his nose. “Fine. Neo grew up in group homes.”
I nod, unsure why he’s bringing this up. I already know everything there is to know about Neo’s past and upbringing. It’s why I’ve quietly set up a new arm to the charity, focused entirely on funding a few non-profit group homes.
“He never had a place of his own,” Ansel says.
“Never felt like he had a home, somewhere he belonged. On the rare occasions that he was fostered, it was always with the reminder that it wasn’t forever.
That he’d been taken in for them to earn a paycheck, and that he’d be gone the instant enough of them cleared. ”
The unsettled sensation is back now, spreading through my body until it’s all I can feel.
“God, seriously. You still don’t get it?
Well, here, let me spell it out for you.
Neo grew up being told that he was an imposition,” Ansel spits out the last word like it tastes foul in his mouth.
I can’t blame him. I’m starting to loathe it myself.
“That he should be grateful for just having a roof over his head. He was never wanted. He was tolerated.”
There’s another feeling in me now, one that’s more familiar. I grip onto it with both hands. “Are any of them still alive? Anyone who made him feel that way?”
I may have to kill them all.
“One of them is,” he says slowly, pulling out of Cade’s arms and drifting closer to the desk.
“Tell me his name,” I demand, shoving to my feet, my heart beating wildly. “Now.”
Cade shoots me a glance, but it’s not threatening. I’m not good at reading expressions, but I think it might be…pity? That makes no sense. Why would Cade be pitying me right now?
Then Ansel gives me the name, and everything becomes clear. “Wylder Buckingham.”
My knees lock, and I stare at Ansel, my lungs struggling to draw in breath, my entire body warm with shame. “What?”
“You called him an imposition,” Ansel says. “And, in doing so, you reminded him that he doesn’t belong here just as he was starting to feel like he did.”
I blink. “He was?”
“Yes.” Ansel’s tone softens slightly, like he can tell how much of a revelation this is. “He was. I know he lives to prank you and wind you up, but that’s how he shows he cares. He doesn’t understand healthy or normal ways to seek attention. This is what he knows.”
I turn that over in my mind. It doesn’t excuse Neo’s behavior, but it does explain it. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I won’t say that again.” I sit down and pick up my pen to start writing, only looking up when Ansel makes a disbelieving sound. “Was there something else?”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Right now, nothing.”
Ansel sighs. “Cade, I know he’s your brother, but my god.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“You need to apologize,” Ansel says slowly. “Right now.”
My nose wrinkles. “Why? I didn’t mean to insult him.”
“But you did.”
I blink. “And this warrants an apology?”
“Yes,” Cade says firmly.
“Fine.” I roll my eyes. “I’ll apologize to him at dinner. Happy?”
Ansel’s voice is somewhat gentler as he takes a step forward. “He won’t be at dinner.”
“Why not? Does he have plans?”
“No.” Ansel exchanges a look with Cade. “He’s leaving.”
“Leaving? To go where?”
“Anywhere else.” Ansel shakes his head. “He’s not going to stay somewhere where he feels like an imposition.”
“But he can’t leave,” I say, my voice low. “It’s not safe. You have to get him to stay.”
Ansel gives me a grim smile. “He’s not going to listen to me.”
I try to read between the lines, frustrated that it’s not coming easily to me. “You mean I need to talk to him?”
“Yes,” Cade says. “And apologize. He won’t listen to anyone else.”
My monster loves hearing that. Like it means I have some kind of sway over Neo or that he respects my opinion over others’.
I know that’s not true though.
I hesitate. Maybe it’s a good idea to let Neo leave. I can have bodyguards tailing him before he makes it to the end of the driveway. Perhaps it’s better to have him out of my hair before I do something truly stupid.
Like let my monster play with him.
But then Cade speaks, unlocking the cage before I can stop him. “It’s not safe out there. Anything could happen to him. How would you feel if he got hurt?”
The monster breaks free, taking over my body.
I stand up quickly, tearing through the room and down the hall, skidding to a halt in the foyer.
Neo is huffing his way down the stairs, a suitcase in one hand and a duffel bag over his shoulder.
My chest tightens. Can he truly fit all his worldly possessions into those?
I suspect I know the answer. The monster growls at the knowledge.
“Don’t worry,” he says shortly, spotting me at the bottom of the stairs. He doesn’t so much as slow his steps. “I won’t be an imposition much longer. I’m leaving now.”
I move into his path and block his way. “No. You’re not leaving.”
Neo doesn’t meet my eyes as he attempts to sidle around me. “Yes, I am. I’m not one of your brothers, and I don’t work for you or The Firm. You can’t boss me around.”
I sidestep to block him again. “But you like it when I boss you around.”
He does. He might pretend he doesn’t, but there’s no mistaking how his pupils dilate when I do. The way his tongue darts out over his lips and he shifts on his feet.
How his pulse hammers in his neck.
“That was before I knew I was being an imposition,” he snaps, shoving against my chest. I don’t move an inch.
Not because Neo held back, but because nothing could make me step aside and let him go.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been one of those all my life.
I didn’t realize that’s what I was here, but now that I do, I’ll go. ”
“That’s not what I meant.” I rub the back of my neck. “I want you here. We all do.”
“Don’t start lying to me now. Telling the truth is the one thing I can count on from you.”
There’s no explaining why those words make something twist in my chest. “I’m not lying, and you’re not leaving. It’s not happening.”
“Move.” Neo’s voice is flat. I can’t stand it. “I know when I’m not wanted. Let me leave with some dignity. Please.”
I stare at him, trying to work out what the right thing to do is. Societal conventions suggest I should let him go. He’s not my prisoner. We live in a free country.
Following societal conventions hasn’t gotten me anywhere with Neo thus far. He certainly hasn’t honored my wishes when I’ve asked him to stop with the pranks.
Maybe I shouldn’t honor his now.
Yes, the monster whispers. He’s ours. Don’t let him leave.
I waver, but that’s when his gaze finally lifts to mine. There’s no life. No spark. No mischief.
But there is a tear. Just one.
I don’t like it.
Not a single bit.
Yanking the bags out of his hands, I throw them behind me. I’ll get them later, or Cade can make himself useful. Before Neo has a chance to protest, I have him in my arms and over my shoulder.
“Wylder!” He whacks on my back. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“You’re not an imposition, and you’re not leaving.” My voice is flat, betraying none of the emotions roiling under my skin. “That’s final.”
He doesn’t speak until I walk us into his room and dump him on the bed. I go to the door, but I don’t leave. I close it and flip the lock before turning to face a slack-jawed Neo.
“You’re not leaving,” I repeat, grinding my teeth as a little of my temper slips through. “You belong here.”
Neo sneers from the bed. “You’re not the boss of me.”
I draw closer until I’m looming over him. “That’s where you’re wrong.”