Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
I’d been crying nonstop for what felt like hours. I tried to sleep, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t. Creed’s pillow, which I’d been hugging, was soaked. The bed dipped on either side of me and said pillow was pulled from my arms. I slowly opened my puffy eyes to Colt scooting close, trying to take the pillow’s place. A body that I knew belonged to Creed cuddled me from behind and he draped his arm around my waist.
Colt tucked my hair behind my ear before cupping my cheek and brushing away some tears with his thumb. “We’re sorry,” he said, laying his head next to mine so close that our noses were only a few inches apart. “We should have been more patient. It was wrong of us to push you like that.”
Creed’s arm tightened around my waist. “Tell us what we can do to fix this, Shi.”
“Can you turn back time?” I whispered.
Colt’s brow furrowed. “Nothing has changed, babe. I told you that whatever you were keeping from us wouldn’t scare us away.”
I saw sincerity in his eyes, but I was scared to believe him. “How can you not see me differently?”
“We don’t, I promise,” Creed insisted. “Things make a lot of sense to us now, but Colt’s right. We should have waited until you were ready.”
I sighed. “It wouldn’t have mattered if I was ready to tell you or not. I wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“You know we won’t say anything to anyone, Shi,” Creed said, nuzzling the back of my neck. “You’re important to us and to Keelan. I know it’s hard to believe right now, but you’re important to Knox, too.”
I scoffed at that.
Colt gave me a tight smile. “It’s true. I think he cares for you so much, he doesn’t know how to deal with it.”
“He needs to pull his head out of his ass,” Creed grumbled and nuzzled my neck again. He then inhaled deeply and exhaled a heavy sigh. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day.”
A corner of my mouth twitched. “Smell me?”
Colt snorted.
“No.” Creed’s hand flattened on my stomach. “Hold you.”
“Oh,” I said. Hearing him say that made my heart ache more and I was desperate to soothe it. Even though I was sobering up, I was still in the take what I want state of mind. “Will you hold me tighter?”
Creed’s arm moved up around my ribs and his hand rested just below my breast. Colt scooted even closer, bringing his nose right up to mine. I grabbed his hand that was cupping my cheek and hugged it under my chin. Having them so close lifted a crippling weight off me and my eyelids quickly began to feel heavy.
“Why don’t you try and sleep for a little bit? We’ll wake you for dinner,” Colt suggested.
All I could do was nod before I drifted off.
“Shi,” Creed whispered in my ear before my hair was pulled away from my neck. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Five more minutes,” I mumbled sleepily.
His lips pressed where my neck curved into my shoulder. I let out a pleased sigh. His lips moved up to the middle of my neck and kissed me there. A shiver rippled through me, starting from where he’d kissed me down to my curling toes. He moved up again and pressed his lips below my ear. I gasped. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered to life and flew south.
He ran his nose along my ear. “Do you want me to keep going?”
I finally opened my eyes and turned my head, bringing us face to face. “Yes.”
His eyes searched mine as if he didn’t quite believe what I had said. Tired of waiting, I put my hand behind his head and pulled him to me. The moment our lips met, his hesitation vanished. I loved the thrill I got from taking charge. It was addictive and empowering. He tried to take over, but I wasn’t ready to give him the reins just yet. I rolled my body to face his, threw my leg over his hip, pushed him onto his back, and climbed on top of him, never breaking our kiss as I did. He smiled against my lips and sat up, making me sit in his lap.
His hands went to my waist and I put mine behind his neck. I sucked his bottom lip between mine and lightly grazed my teeth over it. He let out a breathy groan and he grew hard beneath me. Feeling his arousal pressed against mine caused me to throb and my panties to become wet. I surprised us both when I rocked my hips, grinding myself against him, seeking relief.
He groaned louder before breaking our kiss. “Are you still drunk?”
“No.” I moved my hands to his cheeks and pecked him on the lips. “Why?”
“Because,” he started. “I thought you had a no kissing rule.”
I dropped my hands from his face and bit my lip as my confidence quickly plummeted. “You don’t want to kiss me?”
His hands moved to my butt, squeezing as he ground his bulge against me. My breath hitched. “I want to do more than kiss you, Shi,” he said in a deep, purely male voice.
I put my hands on his chest and brought my lips to his. “Then more than kiss me.”
He wrapped his arms around me and flipped us so I was on my back and he was holding himself above me. His mouth went back to my neck. It became obvious he had been holding back before. This time his tongue came into play. When he found that spot below my ear again, I moaned.
He pulled at the ties of my straps, untying them as he kissed along my shoulder and down past my collarbone. Two of his fingers hooked into the top of my dress between my breasts. He paused and his gaze met mine, giving me the opportunity to protest. When I didn’t, he slowly pulled down. My chest rose and fell as he revealed my heavy-feeling breasts.
I could feel his eyes on me, taking in my pale mounds and my peaked, pink nipples. My heart pounded in my chest so hard, I was sure he could hear it.
He cupped one breast and his mouth descended on the other. I whimpered when he sucked my nipple into his mouth, then tugged it gently between his teeth. I buried my fingers in his hair and arched beneath him, needing more.
I had never been touched like this—never gone this far with anyone. My whole body was trembling. The need pulsing through me made me feel like I was on fire. It wasn’t a painful fire, but a maddening, addictive burn.
His hand dropped from my breast and moved down between my legs. The skirt of my dress had bunched up at my hips, displaying my underwear, which was red silk with black Spider-Man lace webbing. Creed touched me through my underwear, rubbing up and down over my clit. “Creed,” I panted pleadingly and I wasn’t entirely sure what for.
Releasing my breast, he chuckled and stared down at me as his fingers pulled my underwear to the side. “Is this what you want?” he asked, watching me as he touched me again without a barrier.
My forehead scrunched up and I put the back of my hand over my mouth to keep from moaning again.
“You’re so wet.” His voice had gone hoarse.
Heat scorched my cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s nothing to be sorry about, Shi.” He moved my hand away from my mouth and kissed me. “It’s fucking hot and makes me want to taste you.”
Taste me? Oh, he means…
“I’ve never—I mean—if you want to you can,” I said nervously.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes reading mine.
I nodded. He kissed me one more time before moving down my body. He sat back on his haunches between my legs. His fingers hooked into my panties at my hips and began pulling them down. I helped him remove them by pulling my feet from them one at a time. He tossed my underwear to the floor and scooted back a little. My heart raced with anticipation and I couldn’t help but bring my legs together.
He pressed his lips to my knee. “You say stop and we stop, Shi.”
I knew that. I trusted him. I was ready and wanted to do this with him. But oh-my-lanta , I was nervous. It was a good nervous, though.
I slowly opened my legs. Just as slowly, he placed open-mouth kisses down my inner leg until he reached my center. He pushed my legs open wider and hooked them over his shoulders. I felt his warm breath on me before the lap of his tongue over my clit. I sucked in a breath and returned the back of my hand to my mouth.
Next came the intense flicking of his tongue that made my legs shake. I moaned behind my hand. I did my best to keep my legs open, but when he sucked my clit into his mouth, my thighs tried to snap closed around his head. His hands caught me and held me open for him. A pressure grew in my core, like a coil, twisting tighter and tighter the more he devoured me. My hand fisted the bedding, trying to anchor myself for what was quickly coming. My other hand did very little to muffle the sounds he was drawing from me.
“Creed,” I moaned as I shook my head from side to side. That coil inside me was tightened to the max and when he did that flicking motion with his tongue again, it snapped, and I came. I cried out as I contracted with rippling pleasure.
The bedroom door burst open. “Is everything okay?” Colt asked as he and Keelan came storming in, looking worried. The worried looks quickly changed to surprise as they noticed I was practically naked, with my breasts out, my dress bunched around my stomach, and Creed’s head between my legs. I let out a yelp and covered up my breasts.
“Was she having another nightmare?” I heard Knox ask just before he walked into the room next. Creed chose that moment to sit up from between my legs and wipe my essence off his mouth and chin. He glared at his brothers. “What the hell?!” he yelled.
For a moment all they did was stand there staring, all of them stunned speechless.
Knox snapped out of his shock and glared right back at Creed. “What the fuck were you thinking? She’s drunk.”
“I’m sober,” I said.
Knox’s glare shifted to me. “I highly doubt that.”
I sighed tiredly. “I don’t want to fight with you anymore, Knox.” I wasn’t admitting defeat. I just didn’t want to look back at this moment as one that had ended with Knox and me lashing out at each other. I wanted what Creed and I had done to be a happy memory. I pulled the skirt of my dress down and sat up. I let go of my breasts to pull the top of my dress up and over them. “What time is it?”
Keelan stared at the ceiling. “Uh, a little after seven.” Both him and Colt had been polite enough to avert their eyes when I’d sat up. Knox, on the other hand, hadn’t removed his angry stare from me.
“Crap,” I said and climbed off the bed. “I need my purse.”
“Why?” Knox asked, his glare never easing up.
“Stop fucking staring at her like that,” Creed snapped.
Knox looked to Creed, seeming ready to tear into him.
Before Knox could open his mouth, I stepped into his line of sight. “Don’t fight,” I said firmly. I did my best to stay calm. “Where is my purse? I haven’t checked in with my uncle today.”
“It’s in the kitchen,” Knox finally answered.
Holding my dress up by the front so that it wouldn’t fall, I walked around the three of them, head held high. I wasn’t ashamed of what Creed and I had done.
“We’ll talk about this later,” I heard Knox say in a hushed tone the moment I stepped into the hall.
I was able to get one of my straps retied by the time I made it to the kitchen. The dining room table was set and food looked ready to be served in the kitchen. I spotted my purse on the island. I quickly tied my other strap and put it back in place on my shoulder before opening my purse and pulling out my personal cell phone and burner. Sure enough, I had multiple texts and missed calls from Logan on both of my phones.
As I was looking over the messages, my burner started ringing. I immediately answered it. “I’m so sorry, Logan. I forgot to check in. I know I messed up.”
“Damnit, Shi,” he cursed with a sigh of relief. “I almost called the police to do a welfare check on you.”
“I’m sorry I worried you.” The sound of chairs sliding on the tile floor in the dining room caught my attention. I looked in that direction and saw the guys sitting down around the table.
“What have you been doing that you forgot to do your check-ins?” Logan asked.
“I—” I didn’t want to tell him the truth. Not yet, at least. “I wasn’t feeling well and spent most of the day sleeping.”
“Are you alright?”
The concern in his voice gutted me. I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. “Yeah, I overdid it running again.”
“You gotta stop doing that to yourself, Shi.”
“I know,” I said.
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. Don’t miss your check-ins tomorrow,” he said, and we said our goodbyes. I snapped the phone closed and tossed it on the counter. Frowning down at it, I chewed on my lip, feeling guilty.
“Why’d you lie to him?” Knox asked.
I glanced at the four of them sitting around the table watching me. “If I told him the truth, he’d have me relocated with a new identity by morning. I don’t want to uproot my life again.”
“I told you we won’t say anything,” Colt said.
I moved over to the table and sat in my chair between the twins. “My uncle won’t care. To him, my safety is compromised, and he’ll make it his top priority to get me somewhere safe. I wouldn’t put it past him to put me in handcuffs and drag me all the way to the next location of his choosing if I tried to protest.”
They went quiet and exchanged looks.
I sighed. “You might as well ask what you want to know. It’s not like I can take back this morning.”
“Why do you have a second phone?” Creed asked.
“It’s a prepaid burner and harder to trace,” I answered. “My uncle calls me on my personal phone from a secure line once a week so we can catch up.”
“Why isn’t he here with you?” Keelan asked.
“Because he was asked to help find Mr. X.”
“That’s who killed your family?” Knox asked bluntly.
I nodded, leaning back in my chair. I knew I was going to have to tell them everything or we’d be here all night and I really wanted to just get this over with. “Mr. X was my freshman English teacher,” I said. “At first he acted like a regular teacher. I couldn’t tell you when things changed, but I started noticing him watching me, even when I wasn’t in his class at the time. Then the staring turned into innocent or accidental touches, like putting his hand on my shoulder, rubbing my back, or bumping into me so that he could hold me close. In my gut, I knew it was intentional and something wasn’t right. I tried talking to Shayla about it. She laughed it off and made me feel stupid. I started doubting myself after that and because of that doubt, I agreed to stay after class one day when Mr. X asked me to.” I took a deep breath to steel my nerves. “He tried to rape me on his desk.” I saw all of them go still and I thought I saw Knox’s hand squeeze into a fist before he lifted it off the table and set it in his lap. “I begged him to stop and to let me go. He thought I was playing hard to get. He was convinced that I wanted him just as much as he wanted me. The school principal walked in as he was about to…”
Colt scooted closer and grabbed my hand.
I continued on. “She screamed at him to let me go. He refused. Instead, he went on and on about how we loved each other and what he was doing was consensual. The more he talked, it was obvious that he was crazy, and I was so grateful that she thought so, too.
“She tried to call the police on her cell phone. He let go of me to stop her. He hit her, knocking the phone out of her hand. I took that opportunity to get away. As soon as I was out of the classroom, I started screaming at the top of my lungs for help. Teachers came out of their classrooms to help us. But by that point, Mr. X had run. Police searched for him at his home and found a shrine of me in his bedroom, but no sign of Mr. X. He had disappeared and no one could find him.
“A few months later, I received a letter from him in the mail. It was a love letter and inside it was a picture of me sitting in a movie theater with my friends. It had been taken from a few rows away. After that, more letters and pictures consistently came every couple of weeks and in between those, I’d receive texts telling me how much he missed me and video messages of him touching himself. No matter how many times I changed my number, he’d find out what the new one was.
“I did my best to ignore it and continue living my life like normal. I held out for about a year until I couldn’t take it anymore. I stopped hanging out with friends and leaving the house unless it was for school. I was terrified all the time. I could never shake the feeling of being watched or stop wondering each time I left the house if that was the day he was going to get me. It was like the world had become so small and there was nothing I could do, nowhere I could go to escape him. It was suffocating.”
“You felt helpless,” Keelan said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Sometimes I would hide in my closet and I would tell myself that if he couldn’t see me, he couldn’t get me. That was somewhat true, and it pissed Mr. X off. When I stopped going out as much, he escalated things. He broke into our house while my sister and I were at school and my parents were at work. He stole all of my panties and a few other things, like my hairbrush and a teddy bear my dad had won for me at the fair when I was eight. He left rose petals all over my bed, along with some rope, a vibrator, and a letter with explicit instructions on what to do with the vibrator. The letter also explained that the rope was a sneak peek of what he was going to do to me when it was time for us to be together. I wish I could say that the upside was that I eventually got all my panties back.” A disgusted shiver ripped through me. “He sent them back to me one at a time after he…pleasured himself with them.”
They all reacted with disgust. Creed cursed. Keelan shook his head. Colt and Knox were glaring at the table.
“Did your family ever consider moving?” Keelan asked.
“Logan suggested we move to Texas to be closer to him after Mr. X broke in, but my parents didn’t want to move. My mom had finally achieved her dream of owning her own restaurant. My dad had just made partner at his law firm. They would have had to give up so much to move and if we did move, there was still a chance Mr. X might follow us and then it would have all been for nothing.”
“This went on for years?” Creed asked.
“It stopped for a couple of months after our last family trip during spring break, my junior year. I had been so depressed. I was barely getting out of bed. Our parents woke Shayla and me up in the middle of the night and snuck us away to Texas to visit Logan. It was the best week I’d had in the longest time. We spent pretty much every day at the beach. It’s where that picture I showed you of Shayla and me was taken.”
They all nodded, remembering.
“After we returned from Texas, we didn’t hear from Mr. X for a few months. Then one afternoon my dad found a DVD with a note taped to his car window outside his work. The DVD had a video of me changing my clothes in my bedroom on it and the note was a threat. If my dad ever took me away again, Mr. X would kill him and my mom. My dad came home stumbling drunk that night and my parents argued about what to do.
“Seeing how happy we’d been in Texas and receiving a threatening note from Mr. X seemed to change their perspective on things, or it was their breaking point. I’m not sure, but they were considering moving. Not to Texas, though. My parents and Logan figured that if we were going to move, we had to do it in a way that would make it hard for Mr. X to follow us. Logan came up with a plan to spirit us away, get us set up in a small town with different names. The only issue was that Shayla wasn’t on board.
“Despite what had been going on with me, she had the perfect life. She was popular, had a bunch of friends, was on track to be the captain of the cheerleading squad. Moving was her worst nightmare. Little did I know at the time, she complained about it out in the open with her friends and that was how Mr. X found out. Which brings us to the night he killed them.” I trailed off.
Staring at the empty plate on the table in front of me, my mind wandered back to that night. For over a year, I had done my best to evade the memories from that night. Now, I was about to take a stroll through them.
Colt squeezed my hand. I felt so much support with such a small gesture. “In the few months Mr. X had left us alone, I had reconnected with a friend. That day, I went over to her house right after school to hang out. I didn’t get home until a little after nine. I knew something wasn’t right the moment I walked through the door. All the lights were off and it was too quiet. I went into the living room when I saw that the TV was on but muted. I found my dad on the couch. With the light coming off the TV I could see all the blood on his…” With my free hand I gestured to my whole torso. “I tried to convince myself that it was dark and I was seeing things. So I flicked on the lamp.” I squeezed my eyes shut as if to hide my eyes from seeing that image again. Panic was quickly growing in my chest. “I can’t.” Squeezing Colt’s hand, I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
Creed put his hand on my thigh. “It’s okay, Shi, you don’t have to.”
“Creed’s right,” Keelan said. “You’ve shared enough. The rest you can share with us when you’re ready.”
I nodded.
Knox stood from the table and headed for the kitchen. “We should eat dinner, anyways.”
Keelan followed him and the both of them pulled dishes out of the oven and brought them over to the table. Knox had made baked chicken, homemade French fries, and coleslaw.
“It’s not the chicken nuggets and French fries you were wanting, but I figured once you sobered up you’d want a somewhat healthier version,” Knox said, watching me.
I looked back at my food. “You did this for me?”
Knox shrugged and started putting food on his plate.
Creed went to grab the tongs to pick up some chicken and Keelan smacked his hand away. “Since you’ve already eaten, you can go last.”
Colt snorted and hid his mouth behind my hand that he was still holding. When he caught me staring, he cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
Keelan took the tongs, picked up a piece of chicken, and put it on my plate.
“I was going to serve Shiloh,” Creed deadpanned.
“Well, you’ve serviced her enough tonight,” Keelan said in a put-off tone.
Everything Keelan had been saying to Creed registered in my head at that moment and I blushed. Colt kissed the back of my hand to comfort me.
Creed straightened in his chair. “Sounds like you’re jealous.”
The glare Keelan fixed on Creed surprised me. It wasn’t a look I’d ever seen on his happy and carefree face. “What if I am?” he asked Creed.
“I didn’t think pretty boys got jealous,” Creed snapped.
Keelan smirked. “Sounds like I’m not the only one who’s jealous.”
I let go of Colt’s hand and stood. “Maybe I should go.”
Knox slammed his hand down on the table. “Enough!” he snapped at Keelan and Creed. Then he looked at me. “You don’t get to leave this house until you’ve eaten something.”
I arched a brow at him.
“Shiloh,” he said in a strained voice. “I will feed you myself if I have to.”
Pick your battles. Pick your battles. “I’d like to see you try and throw me over your shoulder now that I’m sober, you bench-pressing jerk face,” I muttered to myself as I plopped back in my chair. I angrily scooped coleslaw onto my plate. “I’m pretty sure I could take your giant butt to the floor in three moves.” I grabbed a large portion of fries next.
“I can hear everything you’re saying,” Knox grumbled.
I bit a fry in half. “You were supposed to.”
Keelan snorted from across the table, followed by Creed. That caused Colt to erupt with laughter. Keelan and Creed burst out next and the room filled up with the three of them laughing.
“I would pay to see Shiloh kick your ass,” Keelan wheezed at Knox in between laughs.
Knox rolled his eyes and dug into his food.