CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
TRAVIS
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With my hand on Brook’s thigh in the back of the car, sunglasses down over my eyes and my sleeves rolled up my forearms, we head to the private airfield.
I’ve never taken a woman away for a weekend. Then again, I’ve never fucked a woman and claimed her soul like I’m a bloodthirsty goddamn vampire or something.
When I got home the other night, I couldn’t stop pacing my living room, so I texted Killian telling him it was urgent.
He arrived ten minutes later.
“What’s going on?” he asked, tossing his jacket over the back of my sofa and crossing his arms.
Glancing around the room, he searched for the emergency while I strode to the bar and poured him a Macallan.
“I think something is wrong with me.”
He sat after taking the crystal glass and waited for me to explain.
I couldn’t find the words. Hell, I wasn’t sure myself what was going on. So I began pacing, stopping once or twice to sip my whisky.
“Am I meant to guess? No pressure, but you said it was urgent.”
My eyes find his across the room and lock as if this is life or death. It might be.
“It is fucking urgent. I could be having a delayed psychotic breakdown or...fuck, maybe I had a heart attack and didn’t know. It could be medical.”
He shifted to the edge of his seat, his brows bunching. “Do we need to go to the emergency room?”
“What?” I shook my head. “No. Maybe.”
Realizing I was losing the plot, I sat in my armchair and held the crystal glass in two hands, leaning forward. “I just fucked Brooklyn.”
Killian squinted in confusion. “Um, congratulations. No offense, but we all figured you were. Or had.”
“No, you don’t understand. It was different.”
“You know, I’ve seen you do a lot of kinky shit, so I doubt anything would shock me. Unless...Fuck is she dead?”
My head snapped up.
“Dead? No, she’s not fucking dead. I’m not a murderer.”
Unless that guy who hugged her returns.
“Okay, I’m confused.” He drained the Macallan, climbed to his feet, and crossed the room for a refill. “And need more of these. Now talk.”
I emptied my glass, and Killian walked over to fill it. Placing the Waterford crystal on the table beside me, I ran a hand through my hair. Then made my confession.
“I told her she belonged to me.”
Killian actually choked on his drink.
Finally, he was getting it.
“That’s why you think you’re having a mental breakdown? Or, what else did you call it? A heart attack?” His coughing turned to laughter.
I changed my mind. He wasn’t taking this seriously at fucking all.
“Think about it, Kill. This is...not normal. I was like an animal. I swear if I had a cage I might have locked her in it and only brought her out for sex.”
“New kink unlocked.” His smile grew.
I snorted despite myself, then sobered. “Dude. I could’ve hurt her.”
“Did you?”
No.
Not this time.
But what was I capable of?
“We’re going off track here. I’m not a monogamous man. Neither are you.”
“True.”
“Don’t you think this could be something to do with my father being mentioned? Finally getting close to revenge?”
I was trying to connect the dots and explain my obsession with her.
“Brook is potentially the one person who can make this happen without me going public or facing him in person.”
Killian sipped his drink, his foot resting on his knee, and tapped.
I waited and waited for him to tell me my behavior was a result of some mental or physical disease that needed treatment. Because I can’t accept that I might not be able to let this beautiful, smart woman go.
“No.”
Damn him.
Hence not fucking sleeping much last night. I kept having nightmares of Brook wearing a wedding dress and walking down the aisle. There I was, waiting for her to stop in front of me, then some faceless prick stepped between us.
Next, it was a bloodbath.
She’s screaming that I’m a monster, and I yelled back that I warned her.
You can’t own someone. I’m not one of your business assets. She cried, and I had to watch her walk away in her beautiful dress with tears falling down her face.
God she looked so pretty.
It was just a dream.
I turn, glancing down at her. She’s wearing a pretty sundress and long cardigan. Fuck, I hope she brought warmer clothes, or she’s going to be really mad at me again.
I’ll take her shopping.
Women stop being mad when you buy them things. It’s the law. Like gravity.
“I cannot believe I’m flying out of the country with you,” Brook says as we drive through the airfield gates toward my jet.
“I can’t believe you are either. I’m not to be trusted at all.” I slide my hand up her skirt and brush my fingers against her panties.
“Don’t say that. I’m nervous as it is.” Brook stops my hand.
I turn, cup her face, and kiss her lips as she melts into me.
“I have no intention of behaving, nor do you want me to. But I will make sure you get home late Sunday night in time for work on Monday.”
Everything’s different between us since last night.
Killian was useless, and I didn’t bother calling Maddox or Parker. They’d just tell me I should join their marriage club. Fuck that. That left Zayne, who was away at a conference in Chicago.
I did send out a group message saying I wasn’t going to be at the club on Friday night. Without giving a reason. But Killian the prick told them I was going on vacation with a woman.
Which...you can imagine the comments.
Twenty thousand says that he comes home married. That was Parker, and I rest my case.
You’re all falling like dominoes, Zayne added with a laugh emoji.
Settle the fuck down...it’s a dirty weekend, I replied.
Which it will be, but Brooklyn no longer feels like a stranger. Her body is imprinted on mine.
I know her touch.
Her skin feels familiar.
I know the pink of her pussy, the taste of her juices, the way she likes to be kissed.
When we walk or sit, she nestles into my side and touches me in affectionate small ways I’m sure she’s unaware of.
But it’s in the secrets she hides behind those blue eyes she will never voice. Her silent submission and acceptance that has agreed she belongs to me.
My chest swells with pleasure when I see it.
But it also scares the fuck out of me. Perhaps she’s accepted it more than I have.
I force my hand past hers, then slip my finger under her lace, sliding between her folds. “Nothing to be nervous about, sweetheart. I want you wet and taking my cock all weekend.”
She lets out a moan as I sink my finger inside her.
An hour later, we’re thirty thousand feet in the air and Brook is on her knees sucking me off. “Good girl.”
Great start to the weekend.
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WE LAND IN Switzerland and head straight to the luxury hotel. After a seven-hour flight and with a six-hour time difference, it’s very late when we finally get into our suite.
Her security is paused over the weekend. She has me, so I told Decker to start back on Monday.
“No problem, man,” the Marine replied. “Call us if you change your mind.”
I wouldn’t.
I wanted her all to myself.
“I can’t believe we are in Switzerland! My god, the view! It’s beautiful.” Brook walks to the floor-to-ceiling windows in awe.
The Riffelalp Resort is located almost eight thousand feet above sea level in the famous skiing area of the Matterhorn. The exclusive hotel is inaccessible to most people due to the cost, so I had no question she’d be impressed.
Not that I’m trying to impress her.
You are such a liar.
“Wait until morning.” I walk over and kiss her neck, gazing out at the snow-covered Matterhorn. It’s barely visible, but what we can see is breathtaking.
Between us is a large, heated swimming pool, a hot tub, and loungers. Though I don’t know who would be sitting out and sunbathing even in a Swiss summer.
I glance at Brook’s coat on the bed, tossed when she walked in, and wonder if it's too soon to start undressing her. Or if I should get us a light snack and nightcap, and ask her how the story is going.
The guys have gotten to me.
All that talk of commitment and marriage has my skin crawling.
The window of opportunity is small here. Having the Walk of Fame people decline his nomination now it’s been publicly shared would be soul crushing.
Something like joy dances through me.
God, I’m tempted to hire someone to plant some well-positioned cameras inside his house and car to capture the moment.
So I am keen to learn who Brook and her team have spoken to. If she’s heard from my father’s lawyers or any officials.
Mine are standing by to step in if necessary. I briefed them yesterday—aside from the guys and Sofia, they are the only people who know of my real identity.
It’s not illegal to change your name, but the fewer people who know, the better.
Even after Leo Taylor is nothing but a forgotten has-been actor now behind bars, I’ll still never look back. Just this once, as he’s rubbing his hands together waiting for the accolades, and then finds his darkness exposed.
For the whole world to see.
Shamed.
Then again, I might send him a farewell gift, so he knows I had a hand in this...but nothing he can prove. Something he’ll spend his locked-up days and nights wondering about. Questioning his sanity.
That would be fun.
The asshole.
With my body pressed against Brook, a memory crashes into me, and I close my eyes.
His hand wrapped around my small member, only meant for peeing back then. Leo laughed. A dark and terrifying sound as he toyed with it and I shook.
“You’ll learn what to do with this one day. Once it’s this size.” He forced my hand around his erection and showed me what to do.
The cunt.
I step back from Brooklyn abruptly, and she spins.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m going to shower.” My gaze circles her face, reminding me why she’s here.
To destroy him.
Not for me to fantasize about a future we can never have.
One I don’t want.