Chapter 6
brOOKS
I stared back at my stepsister, who sat with her lips apart, blue eyes on me.
Her face haunted my dreams for too fucking long.
The amount of times I thought about her, with my fist around my cock, hating myself afterward…
Of all the women I ever met, why did she keep clinging to my attention like she belonged there?
The fact I was here at all, in the same town as her…
"Leah," I said coldly. "What a surprise."
She rose from her chair like a cat, all smooth and feline. With a hint of the stiffness she tried to hide from everyone. She couldn't hide it from me. I knew her too well. Knew when she was uncomfortable. The way the side of her mouth pulled back slightly was her tell, every time. Stubborn bitch.
"What are you doing here?" She walked toward me like she couldn't believe I was standing in front of her.
"I thought I'd get a coffee." I stepped past her and gave the server a wave.
"That wasn't what I meant," she said to my back. "Why are you in Aurora Hollow?"
"One coffee and a sandwich," I said to the server. "Thanks."
"Brooks." Leah placed a hand on my shoulder. "If you've come to—"
Was she trying to threaten me?
I turned around, letting her hand fall away from me. "It's a free country. I can be here if I want." I would have loved to see her flinch, but that wasn't her style. Leah Kent never backed down, not from me. No matter how hard I pushed.
"And yet, it's a hell of a coincidence," she said sarcastically. "You happen to turn up in the same town I'm living in."
I rolled my eyes. "There's no such thing as coincidence." She knew that as well as I did.
"Which brings me back to why you're here.” She raised her chin, daring to provoke me. One of these days she would, and I wouldn't be responsible for what I'd do to her. Once I started, I wouldn't be able to stop.
"Because I wanted to," I said. "This town is interesting." I took my coffee and sandwich from the server, slipped her some money and turned to walk out.
"Broo—" Her annoyed voice cut off as the door closed behind me. The tinkle of the bell told me she opened it again to follow me out. "What the hell?"
I continued to ignore her, instead walking to the edge of town, where I found a quiet spot with a thick trunk to sit against while I tried to eat my sandwich. Like always, she was a dog with a bone, following me, as if she didn't dare let me out of her sight.
"You're such a prick." She sat down beside me.
"You already knew that about me." I bit into my sandwich, washing it down with a cup of coffee. "This coffee is terrible."
"Then I guess you better go back to the city, where you can get better coffee," she said snidely.
I pretended to consider that for a few moments, the cup pressed against my lower lip.
"I like it here," I said finally. "I think I'll stick around for a while." I took another bite. At least the sandwich was edible. Mostly.
"Why?" she asked insistently. "You don't even like getting dirt on your shoes. Why would you want to stick around a place like this?"
"Someone has to keep an eye on you," I told her. "Look what happened when Mom and Dad looked away for a moment. You ran away to the mountains."
She bristled, like I knew she would.
"Since when do you call her Mom?" Her eyes were narrowed, flashing with annoyance.
Exactly never, but she didn't need to know that. Let her think things changed in her absence.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her. "This isn't exactly the sculpture capital of the world." I knew that would also get her going. She made herself too easy a target for my barbs. As I expected, her eyes glazed with unshed tears.
"You're an asshole," she said. "For your information, I've been painting and working."
"Who for?" I finished off my sandwich and coffee and stuffed the paper into the empty cup.
"My boyfriends," she said, her chin dropped almost to her chest.
I burst out laughing. "Sorry, I thought you said boyfriends, plural."
She tipped her head back, looking directly at me. "I did say that. Connor and Riley have been good to me." She looked as though she was going to add something else, but pressed her lips together.
I snorted. "I bet they have. Let me guess, you've been good to them too." I wanted to strangle both of them for touching her. Why would she let them do that when she wouldn't let me close enough?
"We've been good to each other," she said unapologetically. "Maybe you should try it sometime."
Before she could blink, I had my hand around her throat, the pressure just enough to make her eyes widen.
"Maybe I should," I said, my voice pitched low. "Maybe I should try you."
She swallowed, her throat constricting under my palm, but made no move to pull away.
"Is that what you want?" I whispered.
Her tongue slid over her lip. "I want to know why you're here in town."
Her panties were drenched, I could tell by the look in her eyes.
If she thought I wouldn't fuck her here beside the road with cars driving back and forth, she was wrong.
But I didn't want it this easily. I wanted her to keep fighting me.
I wanted her to go on hating me while I slammed into her.
I wanted her to hate herself for doing it. Only then would I know I'd won.
"I wanted to see where you went," I said. "You didn't think you could disappear and I wouldn't notice, did you?" If she did, she was very much mistaken.
"How did you know I was here?" She swallowed again, but still didn't move away.
I smiled. The kind of smile that makes people shiver without knowing why. Not a nice or warm expression. I didn't do nice or warm. I hadn't since the day I met her.
"I have a tracker on your car," I said. "And one in an app on your phone.
I know exactly where you are and when, and for how long.
I know who you call, and you haven't called your mother.
" I clicked my tongue. "I should punish you for that.
" I lowered my hand from her throat and let my words sink in.
"You've been tracking me?" She shook her head slowly. "For how long?" I could see her mind ticking over, thinking frantically. As if she'd done things she was scared I knew about.
"Since shortly after we met," I said easily, as if that wasn't completely fucked up. "I also had a camera in your bedroom back home."
I leaned in and whispered, "I know which is your favourite vibrator. I've watched you getting off so many times."
Her face paled slightly. I expected her to slap me and call me names. Threaten me with the police, or to tell her mother or my father.
"If you were watching so closely, then why didn't you come in and help me?" She raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows a fraction.
I have to admit her question took me by surprise. I didn't like surprises. I wanted her to squirm. Instead, she seemed even more aroused.
"Why would I want to touch you?" I hedged.
"Why else would you watch me?" she countered. "You wanted to see me come, why not do it yourself?"
My brain finally caught up. "You knew." Fuck. "You knew and you did it anyway."
"I suspected," she admitted. "You gave me that jewellery box.
You'd never given me anything before. I looked it over carefully.
Found what I thought might be a camera. Figured you're too much of a selfish asshole to share with any of your friends.
So I gave you a show. The next morning, you looked smug as fuck, which confirmed what I suspected. You'd watched every moment."
She smiled slowly. "Did you enjoy the show?"
I had to think quickly, gather my thoughts.
I wasn't going to let her get one up on me.
How had I not realised she knew I was watching?
That her sweet and innocent act was just an act.
The real performance happened on top of her covers, where she'd slid the vibrator into her pussy over and over until she brought herself to orgasm.
"It could use some work," I said finally, throwing in a half-shrug as if I wasn't rattled.
She laughed out loud. "There's always room for improvement.
Before you ask, yes, my boyfriends like to film me too.
" She really didn't seem at all concerned by that, or the possibility of the footage being shared with the entire world.
She must trust those pricks. If they released any of it, they'd have me to answer to.
I wouldn't hesitate to wring their necks.
"Leah Kent, porn star." I smirked. "I should have known. You look sweet, but deep down you're a slut."
She didn't look bothered by the accusation. She knew she'd taken me by surprise and was smug as fuck about it. But I'd taken her by surprise too, tracking her car. I could call that a tie, but I hated ties.
"Is that why you're really here?" she asked. "You missed your entertainment?"
"Something like that," I said. I pushed myself up to my feet and brushed my hands on each other. I had hours of footage recorded I could watch any time I wanted to. All stored somewhere no one else could access it. Every moment of that was for my eyes only.
"This has been an interesting conversation." She struggled a little to stand, but I watched without offering to help. I smiled as though it amused me, but the truth was she wouldn't accept anyway. Leah Kent was as stubborn as they came.
"We've only just started," she said. "About the tracker in my car—"
"It stays there," I said. "In case I need to know where you are." She could buy a new car and I'd put one in that as well. She wasn't driving anywhere without me knowing. No matter what she did, that was non-negotiable.
"I'm going to find the one on my phone and delete it," she said as if that was some kind of win.
"I figured you would." If I cared about that, I wouldn't have told her it was there. It had outlived its usefulness anyway. Since she hardly called anyone, there was nothing to discover.
In a town this small, I could keep my eyes on her personally, any time I wanted to.
Like when she was on the Ferris wheel with those two other men.
Were those her boyfriends? I presumed so.
Whatever, I wasn't threatened by them. I'd turned and walked away because I wasn't ready to speak to her yet.
I wanted her to know I was in town, nothing more.
I'd stepped back behind the food trucks and watched her run around, looking for me before giving up. The whole thing was fucking hilarious.
"Don't you want to know why I didn't tell my mother or your father that you’ve been watching me?" she asked.
I laughed at that. "I already know the answer. They wouldn't have believed you. And if they had, they wouldn't have given a shit. They didn't care what either of us did."
Her brow creased. "That's not true. They care what you do. You were always the one they—"
"They fucking did not," I snarled, keeping my voice low still. Without waiting to see her response, I turned and stalked away.
This time, she didn't follow me.