Mission accomplished. Two birds killed with one stone. I gave a believable narrative for the whole twin scandal nonsense, and I took away Melissa’s only leverage—well, that I know of. She’s been sulking since we returned from Houston. Her only argument was that I made a mockery of something sacred between us and was hurt by my statement regarding people wishing to exploit my kink. Yes, it was a dig at her.
“Are you ever going to forgive me?” she finally asks.
“I’m not getting into this conversation with you … again.” I change into a pair of comfy joggers while she looks on. “I’ve already answered this more times than necessary.”
Her eyebrows knit. Her face sullen. “I’ll meet you downstairs then.”
I can’t let myself feel sorry for her. She started this game of wits, attempting to play me for a fool. I wait a few minutes and then head to see what everyone is up to. They’ve since brought all the barbecue inside, and I’m ready to dive in. I note that Melissa has a plate and is sitting on the floor next to Gable.
“Are you joining us, man? We’re about to start Pacific Rim Uprising.” Gable scoots over, making room for me between him and Melissa.
“Sure. Just let me make myself a plate first.”
“You’re slacking, girl,” he jokes, directed at Melissa.
“I’m not his servant. He can get his own damn plate,” she mumbles, not amused.
“But you are his submissive, right?” Mitch teases.
“Cut the shit, guys. Don’t mock something you don’t understand. Now, I needed to air that bit of info about myself so that it came from me and wasn’t discovered later. But the last thing I want is to be given shit about it from my friends—from my family.”
“You’re right, man. Shit, I’m sorry. I won’t bring it up again. Let’s start this damn movie.”
“Come on, babe. What are you doing over there?” Xander summons.
I look over at Lily and Lourdes tucked away in the corner at the dining room table. Lily looks up from the laptop they have open with a sly grin.
“Just a second. We’re finishing up Lourdes’s dating profile.”
“What the heck for? You know what, never mind. Just hurry your cute butt up.”
Melissa looks over at me … to study my reaction, I’m sure.
“Almost done, babe. We just needed to add a few pictures. The last guy was a real dud,” Lily adds, letting me know she is aware of the lie I created.
Was it her idea to try to fix Lourdes up for real? I want to punch something, but I can’t show my irritation. Melissa continues to eye me closely. I quickly fix a plate of food and go sit next to her, ignoring the fuckery going on at the table behind me. Lily snuggles up to Xander before the movie start, but Lourdes never joins us. I force myself not to look back. The movie plays, but I’m unable to focus on the plot. Melissa eventually eases her head in my lap and puts my arm around her waist. I’m too distracted to care. That is until a chair scrapes across the wood before falling over. We all turn to see what the heck is going on.
“Sorry, guys,” Lourdes apologizes as she rights the chair. She doesn’t speak another word before bolting upstairs, no doubt as a response to our cuddling. I just can’t win. There is no way in hell I’ll be able to focus on the movie now. A smug smile forms at Melissa’s lips, and I want nothing more than to push her off me, but I don’t. I will play the role that I must. For now.
The movie ends, and Mitch suggests we end the night by going out for beers. I was the first to pass and so did Xander. Everyone loaded up into the waiting SUVs, leaving only the two couples in the house and Lourdes. Hopefully, they know better than to stay out too late. We have rehearsal tomorrow before leaving for Austin on Saturday. It’s time to get back to touring. I need music like I need air at the moment—a welcomed distraction. Xander leads Lily to his bedroom, and it doesn’t take a genius to guess what they’re up to.
“I’m going to take a shower,” Melissa announces.
“Sure. Go ahead. I’ll use the one down the hall.”
She frowns but gets up anyway. I wait until she disappears and then call Sevyn.
“What up, shit starter?” he greets.
“Whatever. I told you and Claude that I was going to do it.”
“We had our doubts that you’d actually go through with it. Didn’t seem like any of the questions she asked were going to give you an in, but then she asked the most subjective question ever.” He laughs.
“What did Claude think about my secret?”
“He wasn’t judgmental, if that’s what you’re asking. He took it quite well. I actually admitted to him that I’m into that as well.”
“Holy fuck! And?”
“And let’s just leave at that. You don’t want to know the rest.”
“Bullshit. No more secrets, remember?”
“Okay, just remember you asked for it.”
“Spill it.”
“Let’s just say that Melissa may have introduced us to our need for dominance, but it’s always been in our nature. Claude and our biological father are both dominants. So our dear mother is a—”
“Stop the fucking presses. Don’t you finish that sentence.”
“Submissive,” he finishes anyway.
I scrub my face with my hand. “That’s so damn hard to believe about Mom. I mean, I know she was always sort of passive, but I’ve never witnessed the power exchange. Or have I?”
I don’t even want to comb my memories for the signs. I don’t want to think of either of my parents in that way.
“Our need for control was always there, brother. She just awakened it.”
“Did he know that we were like him?”
“No. He never suspected it, but he wasn’t surprised. He was proud of your idea to get our side out there before it could be used against us.”
“He actually said that?”
“Yep.”
My heart swells. Until this moment, I never realized how much I needed my father’s approval. Even crazier is that he’s not even my real father.
“I got to go but keep digging and keep me updated.”
“Will do.”
We end our call, and I head upstairs to start my shower. It isn’t until the water pelts down on me that I realize I forgot to snag something to sleep in. Fuck it. I hum the song we’ve been working on with Reckless Ambition. I’m at the chorus when a very naked Melissa catches my eye. I’m frozen with desire as my eyes peruse her every curve. She is just as stacked as Lourdes. My cock doesn’t care about the comparison, and it juts to attention, ready to partake in more than my hand. She uses my moment of shock to enter the shower. A petite hand wraps around my cock. I’m about to push her away, but the door opens, and again, I’m taken off guard. What the fuck is this?
Lourdes steel gray eyes meet mine and then lower to find Melissa’s hand gripping my cock. I swipe her hand away, but it’s too late. Lourdes has already turned her back on us in shame. She removes her earbuds and holds them up, so we can see—her back still to us.
“I thought everyone had left,” she rushes.
“Well, we’re still here obviously, so can you get out? We were kind of in the middle of something.”
“This isn’t my fault. You two have your own bathroom for that,” she retorts.
“Nothing’s going on. I came to use this bathroom because Melissa was supposed to shower in the other one. She snuck in here just before you came in, so it’s not what it looks like.”
“What the fuck are you explaining to her for?” She shoves me. “Why is your dick hard then? Damn sure isn’t for Lourdes.”
“It’s none of my business. I’m out.”
Her words sting with finality. I somehow know that this is the straw that has broke the camel’s back. The sinking feeling that this has run its course knocks the wind from my sails. Lourdes slams the door behind her. Fuck. I exit the shower and struggle to pull my joggers over my still wet skin.
“You’re not seriously running after her?” Melissa asks in astonishment. She gets out the shower to dry off, but I’m already running down the hall—my pride left in that damn bathroom.
“Don’t go,” I hear Lily plead as I enter their bedroom.
A broken Lourdes sobs as she throws clothes into her suitcase. Xander arrives in the room seconds later. “Sis, where are you going?” He looks at me questioning.
“I can’t pretend anymore, Xander,” Lourdes warns.
“Please don’t,” he whispers.
“Pretend about what?” Lily pushes.
I’m stunned silent as I watch this fucking catastrophe play out in front of me.
“I can’t pretend I’m okay with any of this. Can’t pretend I don’t know the only family I have left fucking hates me—tolerating me so that his girl doesn’t leave if I do. Can’t pretend that seeing Diesel with that monstrous bitch isn’t shredding my damn heart and soul like a meat grinder. I’d rather go back home and live under same roof with the man who destroyed my innocence,” she screams, but I’m still stuck on her last statement. “At least I grew to learn how to push past that pain.”
She drops to her knees and curls in a ball, rocking. Melissa peeps through door, and surprisingly, Xander and I both yell for her to go downstairs. Xander looks at me, his skin white as a sheet. Overwhelming fear strikes me; a feeling that’s so fucking foreign, I don’t know what to do with it. I’m afraid for her to elaborate about her “destroyed innocence.” Lily drops to her knees with her. “You’re not going back there. I told you that I’d keep quiet, but you can’t let him get away with this.”
“So you fucking knew? You knew someone had hurt my sister, and you kept this from me?”
Tears fall from Xander’s eyes. I can feel the sting behind my own, but I swipe at them before they make their appearance.
“She made me promise, Xander. It wasn’t my story to tell.”
“God-fucking-dammit,” he yells. He walks over and punches the wall. “Was it the fucking stepfather? Thomas?”
Lourdes flinches at the sound of his name, and we have our answer.
“I’m going to murder that son of a bitch,” I growl.
I pick up Lourdes, but she’s catatonic. I set her on my lap, and everything that I’ve been holding in releases without my consent. I fucking cry into her shoulder—a full-out cry. Memories invade this moment with the state she was in when I first met her, the shit she’s had to endure because of Melissa, all of it. I’ve added to her hurt and suffering.
“Oh, believe me, he’s going to pay. I’m so sorry, princess. Please forgive me for not recognizing the signs. Forgive me for what I said to you in the room that day. I love you so much. We won’t let him get away with this.”
Lourdes is unresponsive. She remains in a ball as I rock her in my lap. This shit with Melissa is over. She has to leave. I will find another way. Besides, let her try to play her last ace. I already put it out there, so what. I’ve been fighting a losing battle with my heart from the very beginning. I don’t want to love. I don’t want to be weak for anyone. It’s only now that I’m starting to realize that the decision isn’t up to me. The harder I fight it, the harder I fall. I never stood a chance. This broken woman in my arms has owned me since the day we met. My heart chose her. Now I have a new goal—a new mission that has nothing to do with Melissa or the fucking scandal or hostile takeovers. My goal is to fix my broken princess. To fix us. I will do whatever it takes to undo the mental fuck job this guy has done to her. I pull her hair back. I need to see her face, but her stare is empty.
I pull the covers back and lay her down with me in the bed.
“Xander, I love your sister more than you know. I have a lot to explain about the Melissa situation, but for now, I’m not leaving her.”
Xander nods.
“Can you let Melissa know that I will talk with her in the morning but to get her clothes packed. She can’t stay.”
“Gladly,” Lily says. She grabs Xander by the arm. “Take care of her, Diesel. We’ll talk in the morning,”
She closes the door behind them, and I pull Lourdes closer to me. She lets me unfold her from her ball, but she still isn’t responding to me. I wrap my arms around her, and I sing softly in her ear. I sing the very song I sang that night when I first professed my love to her. “The Unknown” by Dirty South. It’s not long before her breathing evens out. My princess. Mine. Starting tomorrow, everything will be better. I saved her once before when I didn’t even know why she needed saving, and I’ll do it again.
My heart aches for the time wasted and the unknown variables that kept me from her. I’ve foolishly let my pride and need for control dictate my path. It’s time to leave that terminal thinking in the past—leave it all behind.