Chapter Two
“Let me say it louder for those of you in the back.”
WINTER
The loud music woke me up with a jolt. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and inched toward the end of my bed, knowing where it was coming from immediately. I pulled a tank top from the end of my bed and yanked it over my head before following suit with a pair of shorts and crawling my way out onto the edge of the roof, tracing my eyes on the house on the other side of the block.
Of course, Caden Dean’s homecoming.
Judging from the size of people swimming around, it was a big one. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Caden coming home was equivalent to the President paying a visit in this town. I moved my hand to my lips and ran my fingers over them as I traced the layout of the house for any signs of him.
The same lips that had just made him cum a few hours earlier.
God, just the thought thrilled me.
My hands fell back to my lap as soon as I spotted him and my heart ran cold in my chest. He was in the middle of the kitchen, talking to his little brother with some skinny blonde pressed up against his side, running her cat-like fingernails up and down his perfect chest.
Tears started to form behind my eyes but I forced them away.
What did I think? Just because he followed me home and performed some kind of weird and intense sexual experience with me that I was special? He fucking hated me, I would never be able to turn him on. Not the way a woman like that would be able to.
I bet she would get to see him without a blindfold.
Fucking asshole.
I was just about to back up and head back to my bed, unable to watch anymore when my body was being yanked backward and I was flying through the air, back inside of my room.
“What have I told you about climbing out onto the roof, huh?” My stepbrother Michael’s voice whispered into my ear as his grip tightened around the back of me. “I don’t want you out there without me.” He released me and shoved me down onto the floor hard. “How else can I fucking push you off?”
I hollered out in pain at the shot of wood that made its way into my spine.
“Is that the best that you’ve got?” Michael smirked and lowered his body to mine, sending a huge whiff of alcohol into my nose. “I want to hear you cry louder than that, Winter.”
He was drunk, stumbling from side to side.
I guess he hadn’t stayed out after all.
“You’re drunk,” I informed him lightly.
“You’re observant,” he huffed, getting even closer to me and grabbing me roughly by the arm. “Come on, little sister, it’s time for us to have a little fun with you.”
I tried to get out of his grip but it did me little good. “What kind of fun?”
“The kind of fun that involves beer bottles and target practice.” He laughed loudly, still dragging me after him down the hall and toward the front door. “We need someone to aim at.”
“What?” I asked, panicked. “Please! No!”
“You’re so pathetic when you beg,” he mumbled.
I closed my eyes and tried to form a plan. The boys drunk were a whole different ballgame, they lacked common sense. There was no telling what the hell they would do to me. Sometimes I could manipulate Carl with my words, talk him into things that weren’t as bad and make him think they were his idea but Michael? Everything went in one ear and out the other with him.
“Where’s Carl?”
“He’s going to meet us after the party.”
Dread filled my body and I felt myself go limp in my stepbrother’s arms. A party? Caden’s party? There was no way I could go to Caden Dean’s party. There was no telling what he would do to me if he caught me there.
“Jesus, Winter,” Michael sneered, yanking me up to my feet again. “Did you forget how to walk?” He started dragging me after him, my feet scraping the bottom of the steps as my body tumbled after him.
“I can’t go that party! Michael, I can’t!”
“You’ll do whatever the hell we tell you to do unless you want to make it worse for yourself.” He threw open the front door and started to drag me across the front porch and down the sidewalk. He was so drunk and determined that nothing I was saying was registering.
“Michael,” I protested. “Caden will lose his shit.”
My stepbrother grunted. “Kind of hard to do that from behind a bunch of metal bars, now isn’t it, little sis?” My feet were scraping against the bare ground, getting cut up thanks to the rough surface.
From behind a bunch of metal bars?
Oh, God, he didn’t’ know he was home.
“Michael!” I pleaded. “You don’t understand!”
He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned his evil gaze on me. “What I understand is that I’m going to break the rules and leave a mark where someone can see it if you don’t shut the fuck up,” he barked, picking up his pace again. “God, it’s never enough for you, Winter.”
“He’s home!” I shouted desperately. “Caden got out of prison early!”
Michael laughed loudly, sending a bunch of his drunken spit flying into the air around us. “Come on, Winter, don’t be a stupid bitch.” He yanked me closer to his chest. “Do you really think I would fall for something so dumb? Caden Dean isn’t getting out of jail for a long, long, time.”
I closed my eyes, silently cursing myself.
Shit, this is bad. This is really bad.
No, it’s a fucking disaster is what it is.
I glanced around at all the drunken college kids making their way up and down Caden’s sidewalk. We were halfway to the Dean household and I knew if I didn’t do something fast all hell was sure to break loose.
“I don’t even have any shoes on,” I offered up helplessly.
My stepbrother huffed. “I care, Winter, really.”
I tried not to react to the pain that was making its way into my ankle and drifting up toward the top of my ankle as Michael dragged me up Caden’s steps and swung the front door open. “Welcome to the party, little sis,” he hammered drunkenly as he swung side to side with my body tangled underneath him. “Are you ready to have a little fun?”
My eyes closed as I scanned the room, praying like hell Caden hadn’t seen us yet. I gave a slight sigh of relief when I couldn’t place him and turned to my stepbrother, placing my free hand on his shoulder. “Michael, please, I’m begging you and you know I usually don’t. Get me out of here, you can do whatever you want to me, you can use me for whatever target practice you have in mind just don’t make me go inside of there.” I scanned the room again, noticing that a few people were starting to look curiously in our direction. “If Caden catches me here, he’s going to kill the both of us.”
Michael glanced at my hand on his shoulder for a few seconds, taking in every inch of my gaze. His normally brown eyes were completely bloodshot and the small scar that traced the edge of his chin was more intensified and intimidating in the dark. He filled with a deeper edge of blackness when he lowered his head to mine, pushing my hair away from my face and leaning into me.
I felt his thick head of hair brush against the side of my cheek and for a second, one long lapse in time; I thought he was going to listen to me. I thought he was going to turn me around and march me back outside and into our backyard to do his worst. It didn’t matter what my stepbrothers had planned because I knew it was child’s play compared to what Caden could do it he was angry enough. I knew because I had seen it first hand, I had tried to stop it first hand.
Michael crushed any small sense of hope I had inside of me just as fast as it had come. “Just for that,” he whispered. “Just for that little game you keep trying to play with me, Winter, I’m going to shove alcohol down your throat until you choke and spit it out all over the floor.”
I lunged back from him, stung.
He caught me effortlessly and shoved me through the front door firmly, slamming it shut behind him. “And you’re going to do it in front of everyone.” He looked me up and down slowly before laughing. “Damn, sis, you’re a little underdressed, aren’t you?”
I glanced back at the door and tried to estimate the amount of time it would take me to make a run for it. Michael’s legs were twice my size but his body was pretty sloppy thanks to the amount of alcohol he had consumed.
My plan went down the drain within seconds.
Because I felt him.
I felt him all over my skin like a disease that had no cure.
I glanced back up at Michael. “I would remove your hand if I were you,” I offered up half-heartedly even though I knew it was too late. If I could feel Caden all over me, if that chill that was in my spine was so present it consumed me, then chances were Caden had already spotted us.
Michael frowned at something in the distance. “What’s Josh doing here?”
I sighed and tried not to follow his gaze. It had been a long time since I saw my youngest stepbrother and the last thing I wanted was to be met with his disapproving gaze. It was like no matter what I did, he was looking at me like I had screwed up his entire life.
Even though I had spoken to him all of two times in my entire life
It made sense he would come back into town when Caden did, though.
It was all about the king around here.
All about Caden.
The notion that Josh thought being in this town was pointless without Caden said a lot about how close they were. I wasn’t sure if it made me respect him or made me think he was pathetic. No one should have that much control over your actions, especially not your best friend.
Then why do you like it when Caden controls you so much, Winter?
I ignored the voice and took a step back from Michael.
“You have to let me go.”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” he told me, growing even more annoyed.
Carl pushed his way through the crowd, his eyes growing wide when he spotted me. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he spat at me before glancing at his brother. “Have you lost your fucking mind, Michael? Why the hell did you bring her here?”
Michael frowned. “For our target practice.”
“I said to meet at the fucking house,” Carl hissed. “Now take her back there.”
He can see me.
I can feel him, feel him everywhere.
“Why the fuck would I do that?” Michael slurred.
Run.
Winter.
Fucking run.
I jerked out of Michael’s grasp too hard and stumbled backward, practically tripping over myself as I lunged for the door. A group of girls standing to the side of me gasped and lunged backward in an effort to avoid the liquid I had sent flying over the edge of their red plastic cups.
No time to apologize, the only thing I could think about was the cold air hitting my face once I got back outside and away from the huge scene that was about to play out inside of those walls.
I didn’t even make it four feet.
Michael may have been drunk but he was still quick, still more aware than I was ready for and a second later I was being yanked backward and held tightly against his chest. “Where the hell do you think you’re going, huh? You aren’t going anywhere!”
I went still in his arms, bracing myself for the fireworks.
It was only a matter of time now.
Caden was coming.
It happened before I had a chance to blink.
Caden was ripping Michael off of me and pushing him up against the back of the door roughly. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Michael?” he seethed against the side of his face, pressing his thumb directly into the base of his throat and squeezing.
Michael eyes went wide and he glanced at me.
Yeah, I was telling the truth, idiot.
“Don’t look at her,” Caden snapped, picking his body up and slamming it so hard into the wall that the picture on the shelf next to the door fell to the ground with a loud crash. “You fucking look at me.”
The party had grown silent now, people pushing through to see the show.
I felt Josh's gaze land on mine as he neared his brother and his best friend. He shook his head and shot me a glare as if to say ‘look what you did now.’ I took a step backward, immediately self-conscious, and hugged my arms to my body. I needed to get the hell out of there and fast.
I inched toward the door but Luke, Caden’s younger brother, was there within seconds, shaking his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. I sighed and shrank backward again.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Michael said between breaths.
“What it looks like,” Caden sneered, squeezing his flesh tighter, “is that you had your hands all over something that belongs to me, something you had strict orders to stay the fuck away from.”
My stepbrother shook his head. “No, no, it’s not like that.”
“It’s exactly fucking like that.” Caden grabbed a beer bottle out of Luke’s hands and smashed it against the wall, taking the biggest broken piece and pressing it into Michael’s neck just enough to draw blood. “And it makes me wonder how many other times you’ve touched her.”
My heart started to race at the sight of the red blood.
Flashbacks of that night made their way into my mind.
Oh, God, not again.
“No!” Michael gasped; his eyes on the edge of the glass. “She followed me over here, I swear, I was trying to get her to leave! She said she wanted to see you, she was acting all crazy!”
Caden paused, processing his words.
“It’s true,” Carl cleared his throat. “I heard the whole exchange.”
Luke huffed; he clearly knew they were full of shit.
Josh stared at me, offering up no indication of how he felt one way or another. After a few seconds I bit down on my lip and looked down at the ground, I hated the way I always seemed to squirm under his gaze.
Caden pressed the tip of the bottle tighter into his skin and looked back at me. “Is that true, Winter? You were just so desperate to see me that you had to follow them over here?”
I did my best to hold his gaze, not wanting to appear like I was having to think about it. Michael’s lie was a hell of a lot better than the truth. At least if Caden thought I wanted to see him no one would end up in the hospital tonight. One look at Carl’s face told me if I didn’t play along I would regret it later.
“Y-Yes,” I said a little too loudly. “That’s how it happened.”
Luke huffed in disapproval.
Caden kept his eyes on me. “Funny how you were so determined to follow them over here but you didn’t even stop to put on any shoes.” He had his hands wrapped around Michael and his gaze wrapped around me. He knew I was fucking lying, he knew it, and it wasn’t okay with him.
He turned back to Michael and pressed the bottle deeper into him.
Michael cried out in pain.
“Caden,” Josh stepped forward, his voice serious. “He’s my brother.”
Caden held the position for a few more seconds before he backed off, shaking his head. “Fine, but you only get to use that once.” He glanced at Michael. “You get one pass and if I find out that there’s more to the story, I swear to God, I’ll make it hurt way worse than I originally intended.”
Michael nodded, rubbing the spot on his neck where he had been held.
“Thank you,” Josh said softly.
Caden ignored him, looking at Luke. “Take her to my room.”
“What?” I shook my head. “Why?”
Luke sighed but took me in his grasp anyway, leading my body after his.
“Don’t fight, Winter,” Caden said sternly.
I immediately stopped and he nodded his approval.
I could hear his loud and fierce voice as we made our way further and further toward the back of the house. “There seems to be some confusion in my absence. The rules I set forth before I left are still in play and if you disobey those laws, there will still be consequences for those actions, just like before.”
I trembled in Luke’s grip and he glanced back at me.
“Rule number one, no one touches Winter without my permission, no one even looks at her without my say so. Fuck, I wouldn’t even think about her if I were you. She belongs to me. Let me say it louder for those of you in the back…”
Shit.
“Winter. Belongs. To. Me.”