Chapter 26
He was the first to break the silence. “I kept everything she left behind. Most of it is in a storage unit. Though this”—he gestured to the greenhouse—“was the only thing we kept of hers on the property. My father got rid of everything else. And quite frankly, he probably would’ve gotten rid of this had he remembered it existed.
I don’t even think Deja remembers this place… She was so young.”
“How long has it been here?”
He shrugged. “Forever. It was passed down from the Devereaux wives, but someone else always took care of them. My mother was different. She was the first to take on this place. You should’ve seen it before she got her hands on it.
Everything was dead, rotting, even the building.
” He looked all around. “Until she brought it back to life.”
“And you kept it for her?”
He softly smiled, placing his hands on the pocket of his hoodie. “I’ve tried.”
Again, there was nothing but silence all around us. You could hear a pin drop.
Then out of nowhere, he ordered, “You need to stop trying to figure me out. You won’t like what you find.”
My eyebrows pinched together.
“Don’t confuse my kindness for an invitation, Hennessy.”
Confused, I questioned, “An invitation to what?”
“To get too close to me.”
“You’re the one who brought me here.”
“I know.”
“Then stop making it so easy to want to get to know you. We’re friends, Onyx.”
“Friends, huh?”
I was about to reply, but the air was immediately knocked out of me from the impact of his mouth on mine. It was almost like he was trying to prove something to me.
He didn’t falter, parting his lips, beckoning me to follow, and I did. His hands were on the sides of my face, pushing me back until I felt the wood where the belladonna flowers lay.
Ignoring the sting I knew he felt from his back, he lifted me onto the edge.
The belladonna was now inches away from us.
With his hands on me, it was the scariest, most liberating feeling I’d ever felt.
Like I was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down, ready to jump.
Not caring if there would be land or water beneath me.
My mind scrambled with thoughts and emotions I couldn’t control, label, or even understand.
It was one giant clusterfuck of weeks of wanting to know the truth of all of this history between our families, the Graves Academy, and the Brotherhood.
On top of the emotions we were triggering inside each other.
He kissed me deeper, harder, and with more determination.
I had never been kissed like that before.
The desire burned off him. My chest rose and fell faster and faster with every slip of his tongue in my mouth.
With each deep breath I inhaled, and each caress of his fingers along my face, a groan escaped his mouth, and a moan vibrated out of mine.
With each second we spent just kissing, I felt a little more like his. I wasn’t imagining it. There in his mother’s haven, we found refuge the same way she did.
His body hovered over mine, our lips never leaving one another’s. They continued to move together as if they were meant for each other. He kissed me one last time, letting his lips linger for just a few seconds. I instantly felt the loss of his mouth when he set his forehead on mine.
No one could find us here. We didn’t have to hide.
He pushed the hair away from my face. I wanted to stay lost in his eyes, savoring the way he was looking at me, pulling every sentiment from my body as if it belonged to him.
“You’re poisoning me, Hennessy. You’re just too beautiful not to touch.”
That was another thing about Onyx Deveraux. He wanted to see the truths that most people tried to ignore. I struggled like hell to let go of my resolve that I had been holding on to since I moved here. To bring down the wall I’d built so high, so thick with everyone, especially him.
The way he looked at me, the way he spoke to me, the way he listened, every smile, every laugh, every word that fell from his lips meant something to me. It didn’t matter how big or how small. It was there, etching its way into my heart where no one could ever come close to it.
I cleared my throat, trying to steady my voice. “I won’t kill you, but I can’t say the same for the Brotherhood.”
He softly gripped my throat, his thumb and index finger clutching my pulse that only heightened with his touch. My breathing elevated, showing him just how much he was getting to me.
He continued his gentle torture for a few seconds, enjoying the feel of my skin against his calloused fingers. I could see, feel his internal struggle. He was fighting something deeper than I could ever truly understand.
“I know where you want me to touch you,” he rasped against my lips. “But what I’m going to do and what I yearn to do are two very different things.”
He backed away and left me in there.
Once again, he was back to Jekyll and Hyde.
Onyx
You couldn’t fault me for who I was.
For who I am.
I wanted to touch her so fucking bad. It physically pained me to restrain myself. My cock throbbed, and my balls ached to sink into her sweet pussy. I wasn’t trying to play mind games or go from hot to cold, but goddamn, I couldn’t help myself.
Her sassy mouth had been my initial draw to her in the first place. I wanted her. I wanted her so damn bad I couldn’t see straight. It took everything inside me not to claim every inch of her. To get lost in her body for days.
Her inexperience drove me fucking mad. The mere thought of making her mine, being the first man to claim her, drove me insane.
The truth was, I respected her, and that shocked me to my core.
It wasn’t as hard as I imagined it would be to keep my dick in my pants, but when she talked back to me… Fuck, it did things to my cock that I couldn’t control.
I was a man who was used to getting what he wanted and never holding back.
The Brotherhood lashed me because I kissed her. I couldn’t imagine what they’d do if I fucked her. But that wasn’t my reason. She wasn’t ready for me. That much I did know.
Splashing cold water on my face from the cistern on the side of the greenhouse, I looked into the smaller mirror above it.
“For fuck’s sake, get your shit together.”
On the whole ride back to her gate, she didn’t say one word to me. She was out of the golf cart as soon as she parked, not bothering to wait one second for me.
I did the only thing I could before I flipped my shit. I inhaled another painkiller and passed the fuck out. I must’ve passed out for a while. It felt like days had gone by when I first opened my eyes.
I was still exhausted, unable to shake off the bullshit.
I needed to wash off the blood and take a look at what they did to me.
I tried to shower, needing to feel clean.
Their handiwork on my back left at least ten distinct lashes.
They weren’t careless, precise with each stroke that they evoked.
It wasn’t one continuous wound. It’d scar like a work of art.
I didn’t bother to replace the bandages. Instead, I just threw on a pair of gym shorts to make my way into the kitchen. When I opened my bedroom door, there were a few things on the floor I hadn’t expected, with a note.
I grabbed the bag, walking back into my bedroom, and kicked the door shut behind me. I brought it over to my desk and took a seat. I tried not to lean my back against the leather chair.
My computer screen was on. The security cameras were active again. Hennessy was outside, feeding the crows. There were hundreds of them flying above her head as if she were Maleficent.
I chuckled, watching her smile and talk to them as she tossed food into the feeder. Their loud caws could be heard for miles, echoing through the woods.
Opening the bag, I grabbed a container of the soup she fed me, along with a meat dish with rice and french fries labeled “lomo.” Another food container was labeled “empanadas and tómales.”
“Jesus, I’m one person,” I muttered to myself.
She really did cook for an army. There was enough food in there for a few days. There were also a couple of Inca Kola that were still cold, making me think she recently dropped this off.
Grabbing my cell phone, I texted Deja to come eat some of this food with me before I grabbed the two bottles labeled “medicine,” each with instructions.
However, it was her note that entertained me the most. It read…
Get better soon, and I want the bag and containers back.