Chapter 30
The Monster
E xhaustion is creeping into my mind as well, but my job isn’t over yet. With Ainsley’s heavy breathing soothing the anger flaring back up, I reach over to the nightstand and grab my phone.
It doesn’t take me long to edit the video so I can send it as my ultimate form of punishment. With the video sent, I type out a quick message to get my point across.
ME: Do you see how she craves me? My touch, my cock, me. Not you. It will never be you. Never lay your hands on my girl again.
As much as I hate having another man see her like that, he won’t be able to see much. The camera has night vision on it, but details of her naked body stayed hidden. Especially since she was on top of me, facing away from the camera. He’ll get a nice view of her ass and my name carved into her skin, but that’s about it.
A million ideas for punishing her ran through my mind while I laid in her bed, but none of them sounded as good as making him watch her come undone for me. Except edging her, of course, but that was part of it. I had to drive her wild so she wouldn’t be able to go to bed without having me first. The video I sent him cut out everything we did beforehand, and started with the way she gripped me under the sheets and begged me to let her suck my cock.
I thought about cutting the audio out, but I wanted him to hear how she begged me. He needed to hear how she speaks to me when no one is listening. He wants to call her a whore, but he has no idea just how far she’ll go for the pleasure only I can give her.
Ainsley is still too innocent to understand how a man works. When he admitted that he’s in love with her, and she allowed him to hold her, she was giving him an invitation. He would have seen that as a sign that he still had a chance.
I needed him to know that’s not the case. Ainsley belongs to me, and only me, and I will never allow that to change.
I wish I could convince her to stop being his friend altogether, but I know that won’t happen. They’ve been inseparable since they were children, and his family treats her as their own. I can’t just rip her away from that, though if he tries anything with her, I may not have a choice.
Beside me, Ainsley stirs as she feels her way across the bed, looking for me. Her heavy breathing has turned shallow and erratic, telling me the nightmares are trying to take hold of her.
Without waking her, I drop my phone back on the nightstand and pull her into my side so I can wrap my arms around her. She breathes a sigh of relief in her sleep as she soaks up my comfort, and together, we drift into a peaceful sleep.
“Holy shit,” I hear someone exclaim from behind me. I turn my head to look over my shoulder, where I find one of Ainsley’s friends staring at me like I walked straight out of a dream she had. She’s looking me up and down like she can’t believe I’m actually here, standing in her kitchen.
“Good morning,” I greet her. If I remember correctly, this one is Cassie. She was with Ainsley in the Halloween shop when we met for the first time, and I didn’t miss what she was saying as I walked away. “I hope you’re hungry, I’m making omelets for everyone.”
I turn around to face her after placing the omelet I was just cooking on a plate, and offer it to her. There wasn’t much to work with in the fridge, other than the last of the eggs I’m using and a few vegetables I was able to cut up and add in. I plan on remedying that while they’re all in class today. I need to make sure Ainsley has enough to eat during the week since she insists on staying here, and I want to make sure it’s not all junk.
Cassie doesn’t reach out for the plate, nor does she shut her mouth that’s hanging wide open as she looks me up and down.
“Ainsley!” she shouts, loud enough to wake up others in the building. When I came out here to cook, Ainsley was getting into the shower. I wanted to have breakfast ready for her before she had to leave for her first class.
She comes barreling out of her room now, her hair wet and only dressed in a sports bra and leggings. Her eyes land on Cassie first, still standing as still as a statue. Ainsley looks confused until she follows Cassie’s gaze to me.
Her eyes land on my ruffled hair, still messed up from sleep and from the way she ran her fingers through it last night. The reminder makes me smirk, which is the next thing her eyes land on. Slowly, her eyes drift, landing on the tattooed bite mark on my neck, to the tattoos covering my muscles, and down to her name carved into my skin.
When her eyes land on my gray sweatpants, I accept that I might have to snap both her and her friend out of their trances, but she does it herself. Ainsley clears her throat as she pulls her eyes from the outline of my cock through my pants and finds an ever bigger smirk on my face.
She finds my eyes trained on her nearly exposed breasts, almost overflowing in that sports bra. The sight makes my cock twitch in my pants, which neither of them miss.
Just then, her other friend groggily steps out of her room. “What’s going on?”
She looks at Ainsley and Cassie, and then at me, but her eyes don’t wander from my face.
“There’s a shirtless guy standing in our kitchen cooking. Someone explain,” she instructs. Ainsley finally snaps out of it and scowls at me.
“Go put a shirt on. They don’t want to see that,” she tells me. I raise an eyebrow as my eyes seek out her breasts again, telling her I’m not the only one not fully dressed. And if I keep looking at her like that, her friends are going to get an encore from last night's screaming.
“I made everyone omelets,” I announce instead of going to put a shirt on. Finally, Cassie takes the plate from my hand as the other two look at the plates on the counter. “Enjoy. I’ll go look for a shirt.”
Ainsley scowls as I approach her. I was going to walk past her, but her cute, grumpy mood makes me stop. “Good morning, little one,” I greet her as I place a kiss on her forehead.
I expect her to growl or snap at me for the display of affection instead of going to find a shirt, but instead, she practically melts into me. A chuckle comes from deep in my chest as I pull away from her and disappear into her room. The second the door is closed behind me, one of the girls squeals with excitement.
“Not that we need to ask after the sounds coming from your room last night, but he stayed the night?” One of them asks excitedly. The door gives the illusion of a private conversation for them, but I can still hear everything they’re saying.
“Umm, yeah,” I hear Ainsley admit. “That’s, um, Cain. He’s my… boyfriend?”
Hearing her stumble over her introduction of me has me chuckling again, especially when she pauses to think of a title to give me. Boyfriend doesn’t fully encompass what I am to her, but it’s probably the easiest word to throw at them right now.
“That was a lot of tattoos,” the first voice says, almost dreamily. “And was that your name I saw? What kind of tattoo was that?”
“It, um, it was…”
She trails off, and I take that as my cue to re-enter the conversation. With a shirt now covering the tattoos and scar in question, and a shirt for Ainsley in my hand, I walk back out into the living room and find the two girls looking at Ainsley. When they hear the door open, they all turn to look at me.
Ainsley’s hair is covering the scar on her back, but I imagine if she’s having a hard time explaining me, she won’t want to explain my name on her back. Which is why I brought the shirt for her. And also because getting a hard on in front of her friends wouldn’t be a great first impression.
“I’m Cain,” I introduce myself, saving Ainsley from the embarrassment covering her cheeks as I hand her the shirt. “The scary but kinda hot guy from last night.”
Now it’s her friend’s turn to be embarrassed as I remind her of the words she used to describe me last night. The room goes quiet as all three of them stare at me, apparently waiting for me to make the next move.
“Who’s hungry?” I ask as I move to the counter to pick out one of the plates I made. They all follow, except Cassie who takes the first seat at the table with a plate already in her hands.
Ainsley sets her plate down next to mine as I take my seat, but walks to the fridge instead of sitting down. She comes back with a bottle of ketchup, the only way she’ll eat eggs no matter how they’re cooked.
Once she takes her seat, I grab it and drag it closer to me. She looks at me, clearly flustered by my actions, but it gains me a few more points with her friends. They both giggle at her reaction as they look at me approvingly.
Breakfast has a side of lively conversation as her friends try to get to know me better. I answer all of their questions how they want me to, ensuring that I’ll forever be in their good graces. I’m so distracted by making a good impression that I don’t pay my phone any mind when it goes off in my pocket. At least, not until the door opens suddenly, allowing the last person I want to see into the apartment.
“Morning, Ains. Ready for class?”
Where the hell is Jonah and why did he allow Ethan in here? My dislike of him hasn’t exactly been hidden recently.
Slowly, I turn around to face Ethan as he walks into the apartment like he’s one of their roommates. His eyes were already trained on me, but when our eyes meet, his steps falter. Instead of stopping altogether, I watch a diabolical plan form in his mind.
He struts straight to Ainsley, staring at me the whole time as he wraps his arms around her shoulders and places a kiss on the top of her head. I watch her stiffen in his embrace, and her eyes dart to me, full of concern.
She thinks I’m going to make a scene. I will, but not the one she has in mind.
“Ainsley already has a ride to class,” I tell Ethan. They’ve been riding to campus together all semester, a fact I didn’t forget as I planned for her to come back here.
“I’m sure you have more important things to do,” Ethan snaps back at me, the fight clear in his body language as he stands to his full height and looks down to me sitting in my chair. “Besides, this has been our routine all semester. Ainsley needed an extra shoulder to lean on, since so much happened to her last semester. I’ve been there for her, driving her to class, comforting her when she needs it. You know, just being exactly the person she needs.”
Irritation rolls off him as I refuse to look annoyed by his stance, and give no reaction to his words. Ainsley is visibly uncomfortable with this confrontation, while her friends just look confused.
The tension grows thicker as I just sit there, staring at him with boredom. If he thinks he’s going to get a rise out of me, he’s mistaken.
“Jonah,” I shout when Ainsley looks like she’s about to intervene. Jonah bursts into the apartment, looking ready for a fight. He scans every individual in the room before his eyes stay trained on me. Motioning to him, I tell Ethan, “Jonah will drive Ainsley to and from campus from now on.”
I expect Ainsley to object, but she doesn’t. She sits there, letting me fight this battle instead of intervening.
“That’s unnecessary,” Ethan argues. His jaw clenches as his frustration grows, and he tries to think of another reason he should be the one to drive her. “I’m perfectly capable of driving her.”
“So is the man in charge of her safety,” I snap back, leaving no room for argument.
Ainsley stands from her seat at the table, stepping between us to end the argument. “I forgot to tell you, Ethan, but I’m driving with Jonah. There’s just a lot going on and it would make Cain more comfortable, as well as make me feel safer.”
Ethan clenches his jaw again, and I watch in satisfaction as his muscles bulge out of the side of his face. Realizing he won’t win this battle, he curses under his breath and turns to leave.
“Let me walk out with you,” I announce before he can take a step. “I’d like to have a word with you.”
I stand from my seat, but stop before I pass Ainsley.
“You have a little something…” I trail off instead of finishing my sentence. Leaning in, I lick the dot of ketchup on the side of her mouth. She shudders under my touch, making me smirk. Once her mouth is cleaned, I move over an inch and crash my lips against hers. She practically melts against me as she moans in my mouth. Ethan may have tried to stake a claim when he walked in, but it’s clear who Ainsley wants.
When I pull away from her, her cheeks are flushed and she looks a little unsteady on her feet. “You’re not to leave Jonah’s sight,” I remind her.
With my father still on the loose, there’s a target on her back. Jonah being with her is the only reason I’m comfortable with her going back to classes. She nods her head in agreement, understanding the consequences if something were to happen.
I place another chaste kiss on her lips. “Have a good day, little one. I’ll see you tonight.”
She doesn’t respond as I turn to walk out with Ethan. An evil grin stretches across my face when I turn to find that he watched that entire show, just as I expected him to.
Reluctantly, he walks out the door with me, knowing he lost the battle. If he had a tail, it would be tucked between his legs right now.
As soon as the door to the apartment is closed, Ainsley’s friends cheer her on.
“Where do I get one?” I hear one of the girls ask.
“Cassie!” she chastises her friend, but even I can hear the grin in her voice.
Satisfied that I made a good impression, I turn my attention to Ethan. Now that I’m standing, I tower over him, and he has the sense to look intimidated. Any humor that was on my face inside is gone as I stare at him like I want nothing more than to kill him.
“Make no mistake. Just because you’re my brother does not mean I won’t hesitate to break every single bone in your body. You may be her best friend, but she belongs to me. You’d do well to remember that.”