Sunlight filters through my thin curtains, highlighting the beautiful bare ass cheeks on the man at my side. My mouth waters with the urge to take a big old bite of the solid humps, firm with muscle. It’s not like it’d be the first time. For someone who refused to get involved with a former client, and went months without sex before he came along, I’ve become remarkably insatiable for Liam Rooker.

With the playlist of rock ballads he made for me still playing quietly on repeat from my portable speaker, I lean my head on my hand, feasting on the impressive curves of his body. They’re no longer marred with ugly bruises at the hand of his old man. The counselor at his school told me his father wouldn’t pay for him to participate in any sports. He likes to stay in shape regardless, using a barbell and several free weights brought over from his apartment. Sometimes during our late night conversations, he grunts while doing pushups. Before that, I wasn’t aware ear porn was a thing. With a perfectly defined body like his, he likely would’ve excelled in football. I hate thinking he only stayed in shape all this time to finally stand up against his old man.

Hundreds of his female classmates would be sick with envy if they knew the glorious sight before me. For a sickening moment, I’m reminded of the only other eighteen-year-old I slept with—Matthew. He wasn’t anything near as attractive or charming as Liam, or an ounce as brave. Skinny, light blond hair, crooked teeth, and the ability to weasel his way out of anything were his prominent features. His parents were both crackheads who OD’d together when he was a toddler. He spent his life bouncing from home to home, finding vulnerable young girls to dominate. I wasn’t his first victim, although I’ve prayed endless times that I was his last.

Liam wouldn’t hesitate to make Matthew pay if given the opportunity. His feelings go far beyond those involved in a fling, as do mine. Because of it, I haven’t been able to stop pondering what lies ahead. I’ve invested both my life and heart into making him happy. But what’s best for him isn’t necessarily what’s right for me.

As easy as it would be to let him move in, he deserves a fresh start as far from the South Side as humanly possible. If I were to allow him to stay, he’ll only get sucked into old habits with his friends. And with his best friend being King Marty’s nephew, there’s no escaping the South Side ways even if he tried. That shit will always stay with him as long as he’s around.

If he decides to accept one of the full rides he’s been offered, or even pursue his dream to play in a headlining band, I need to let him go. Permanently. Trying to maintain a long-distance relationship wouldn’t be fair to him or the hundreds of girls who would want a piece of him, whether it be on stage or in a classroom. Just because I didn’t make it very far doesn’t mean he should get tethered here along with me.

I’m convinced he has what it takes to become a rockstar. Whenever I get to watch him play the bass, eyes drunk with the music and fingers expertly working the strings, it’s easy to picture him playing for the masses. He was born with a sexy swagger and soul-penetrating eyes. Hell, if he stayed on with Stone and Ryker, they’d be unstoppable. But I think they’re all afraid to plan for the band’s future knowing it may not involve their drummer.

My stomach twists when I remember the horror of finding Sasha’s room empty. In our time together, she came to depend on me as the kind of family she’d never had, and I let that bastard steal her right out from under my nose. I can’t breathe wondering what they’ll do to her, how they’ll make Trask bend to King Marty’s wishes.

As if sensing my anguish, Liam’s hand shoots out, dragging me in close. Then he’s kissing the side of my head, filling me with the tantalizing scent of male pheromones. He’s become an addiction worse than cocaine, better than the most decadent coffee.

“Get any sleep, babydoll?” His groggy voice sends a shot of adrenaline straight into a nest of my hormones.

“A little after you passed out.” I snuggle up against his hard muscles and inhale his essence, wishing I could stay nestled against him forever. We started out fully dressed and intended to sleep that way until he kissed me goodnight, and I began crying over Sasha. His comfort lead to soft touches and gentle, reassuring mouths. Soon we were up half the night, making what could only be described as sweet love twice in a row before he passed out. “You were still inside me.”

Strong arms squeeze around me. “Damn straight. It’s the only place my cock belongs.”

Tears burn behind my eyes when recalling his whispered promises and tender strokes just hours before. I went into this wanting to show him a bit of tenderness. At some point, I fell much harder than intended. It’s going to make things that much more complicated when I’m forced to let him go.

While tracing a path along his tight pectorals with my fingertips, the terror of Sasha’s fate becomes too much to withstand a minute longer. I tuck my face back into his chest, hiding my tears as they spill. Whenever someone begins to mean something to me, I lose someone else in return. What if Sasha disappearing was merely karma coming back to bite me in the ass for getting involved with Liam? What if it’s payback for giving Brylee to a stranger? What will happen when Liam leaves? I’ll be left with nothing.

Liam nudges me back, meeting my gaze with a somber expression that sends shivers through my core. “Baby, it’s gonna be okay.”

“I should’ve been there for her,” I blurt. “I should’ve fought for her.”

“I’m so fuckin’ glad you weren’t there when they came for her. They would’ve seen you as expendable.”

I give my head a little shake, unable to look him in the eye. At this point I’m not sure if I was talking about Brylee or Sasha. The combined pain of losing them is unbearable, soul-crushing.

Liam takes my face in his hands. “Look at me, Brooke.”

I lift my heavy lids, finding the amount of passion behind his gorgeous green orbs overwhelming. They pin me down, putting me under his spell.

“We’re going to save her.”

Warmth spreads through me with his promise. I have no doubt he’ll do whatever it takes to get Sasha back. And that scares me even more.

Soft lips drag across my jaw before connecting with mine in a fierce, bruising kiss. Tears burn behind my eyes as I kiss him back, grabbing what I can of his hair and meeting his tongue slide-for-slide. We tangle in the bed sheets, getting lost in the moment…in each other. We kiss for a glorious eternity, but it’s still not enough.

At one point I open my eyes, finding him already consuming me with an unyielding hunger that steals my breath.

Immense love and anguish wrench my heart as I hold his beautiful stare. This could be the last time we make love. Yet I can’t fathom a future without this beautiful, smart-assed man at my side.

I straddle him and close my eyes, kissing him hard and deep, hoping he’ll always remember the way I kissed him. Hoping I’ll somehow ruin him for any future lovers. I certainly won’t be able to kiss another man without remembering the powerful lips and probing tongue of Liam Rooker. At times I thought I’d come just from his kisses alone.

He begins a torturous—although considerably gentle—assault on my clit with one finger, then slides two inside me. My muscles clench around them as I float blissfully higher and higher. Heavy, desperate breaths fall from my lips when he draws his mouth away, panting against my cheek.

“Christ…baby, you’re so wet. I need more. I need you. All of you.”

I’m too far gone to respond, even though I want to tell him that he already has me. That I need him too. Love him.

Eyes rolling back into my head, a powerful release explodes in my belly, thundering through every last inch of my body, and seizing my muscles with a spastic burn. My hips buckle. I squeeze my arms around him, crying out his name as my arousal coats his fingers. He grunts in appreciation, rolling me down to my back to take a tight nipple in his mouth.

I moan and arch into his mouth, thrusting my hips into the air, needing more. Needing his unrelenting touch. Needing to be wrapped around his beautifully hard cock. Needing him—all of him.

He stops, taking my chin between his fingers and giving me the kind of dire, loving look that will haunt me the rest of my life. It’ll be the last thing I see when I close my eyes every night, the first thing I’ll remember whenever I think of him. “I could never get enough of you.”

Then he’s kissing me again, the taut head of his cock teasing my wet, aching opening. My clit’s still throbbing from the brutal orgasm as I spread my thighs, gripping his ass and guiding him inside. Guiding him home.

The gentle slide of his lips feels like so much more than a kiss. It’s like he’s branding my heart and claiming my soul with their sweet caress.

Tears spill from my eyes as his hardness fills me the same way he entered my life and filled my heart. Relentlessly. Unapologetically. With nothing but love.

He leans back as he eases back out, his beautiful green eyes piercing my heart. “God, you’re so beautiful.”

He continues to rock against me at a slow and gentle pace, filling me again and again as his gaze burns with a silent promise to be mine forever. The intensity of his bright green eyes is so much that I forget how to breathe. Forget how I existed before this wild man came into my life. Now there’s only him.

My muscles squeeze around him and I cry out, wishing we could somehow always be this physically connected. Wishing there was a way we could meld into one being, making us twice as strong when we take on every crappy obstacle life throws at us.

Liam kisses me until my cries become a whimper. Then he pulls away, speeding his pace until he’s grunting and shaking in my arms. I bring him into my arms and kiss his face, heart squeezing in agony.

I’m not ready to let him go.

* * *

On the back side of the courthouse, I wait for Liam to finish a smoke. He’s been on edge since we left my place, uncharacteristically short when I ask him something, and throwing everyone we pass the deadliest of glares. I’ve given him space since nothing I could do or say will lighten his mood anyway. I’m just as angry by Sasha’s disappearance and her brother’s situation.

Out of nowhere, a wild-haired kid around 14 or 15 comes at us, dark eyes and deeply set scowl more off-putting than Liam’s…maybe even Stone’s. From the way he’s dressed in ratty jeans and a light gray sweatshirt dotted with holes, it’s obvious he’s from the South Side. On instinct, I begin to shrink behind Liam.

“Bender?” Liam flicks his smoke into the grass and hooks his arms around the kid’s neck. “The fuck you doin’ here?”

Bender. Ryker’s little brother? The one that’s supposed to be in juvie?

“I snuck out from work release—you know, picking up garbage and shit.” Bender slaps Liam on the back before they part. “I’d been asking around like you said, and got some dirt on King Marty.”

While running my fingers over my ponytail, I glance over my shoulder to the front of the courthouse to make sure no one’s watching. “Doesn’t sound like something we should discuss out in the open. Let’s go inside. There’s a storage room in the old basement where no one ever goes.”

Bender throws me a dark, threatening look. “What the fuck makes you think we’d want a teacher involved? Go back to your class, bitch.”

I cross my arms, peering down on him over the bridge of my nose. “If I were a teacher, I’d be whacking your smart-ass with a ruler. And it’s Brooke, not ‘bitch’.”

“She’s my girl,” Liam warns, taking my hand. “And she’s right. It’s safer if we talk inside.”

Bender’s eyes pop wide with shock, studying me with a new appreciation. “Way to go, Rook.”

It’s dangerous to be seen holding Liam’s hand in public, but I’m too jacked up over hearing him tell one of the only people he cares about that I’m his. I overheard part of his conversation with Stone at my place, and there was great hesitation in Liam’s voice when asked if he was in love with me. I’d be lying if I claimed I didn’t care either way.

I lead them through a side door on the newer part of the building. They’ve beefed up on security over the years since terrorism became the norm, but I’ve worked here long enough to know what areas are unlocked and aren’t under surveillance. No one says a word until we enter the least used part of the building. The old foundation’s littered with stacks of boxes containing ancient files.

“King Marty took Sasha last night,” Liam tells Bender, sitting on an old table and reeling me in so my back is tight against him. His arms lock around me. “The only way they could’ve found her was if his men are following me.”

Bender scratches the top of his head while shaking it. “Fuck. Did he leave a note or something?”

“No, but I’m convinced it’s his way of reminding Trask who has the upper hand.” Liam pulls in a deep breath. “What’s this dirt you found?”

“You sure it’s safe to talk about this shit around her?” Bender’s dark eyes snap back to me. “No offense, lady. I just prefer my balls to stay attached to my body. If King Marty finds out I’m spillin’ his secrets, it’s game over. He’s not one of my biggest fans.”

“No offense taken,” I say, offering a terse smile. “I get that this is dangerous, and that’s why I’ve been trying to help Rook get to the bottom of why Trask was set up.”

The side of his mouth lifts with a smirk. “You swear you’re not one of his teachers?”

“Only if you can swear you’re not kidding me with that haircut.”

Liam cracks up a little behind me. “She’s safe, numbnuts. Just spill it.”

Rolling his eyes, Bender pauses to take a short breath. “One of the kids at juvie claimed he was a runner for King Marty. I called bullshit because I’d never seen that punk in my life, and the kid was always makin’ up stories tryin’ to impress everyone. But when I cornered him about it, he was able to redeem himself by describing details of King Marty’s personal office, including that ugly-ass painting that hangs behind his desk. And, get this…he worked with Trask.”

“You mean selling weed?” Liam asks.

Bender shakes his head. “No. This was something else. He said it was their job to follow college students around, targeting anyone who stayed on campus on the weekends, and didn’t seem to come from a lot of money. They were told to lure them to the South Side with premium weed. King Marty was most interested in the ones that weren’t overweight and didn’t smoke cigarettes.”

Liam slips off the table. “Did he say what King Marty wanted with them?”

“Just that they needed to be healthy and shit. This kid was paid a lot of green to keep his mouth shut about what they were doing, and where they were told to bring the contenders. Lucky for us, he was raging after he got caught dealing and King Marty didn’t offer to bail him out. I got him drunk one night on homemade moonshine. He spilled everything, including a stomach full of nasty-ass vomit.” With a giant smile, he digs into his pocket and pulls out a piece of crumpled paper. Through his cockiness, I can see in his expression how badly he wants Liam’s approval. “Here’s the address.”

Excitement rises in my chest as I take the slip of paper from him. Liam plucks it from my fingers before I can read it, his gaze volleying between his friend and the paper.

“Holy shit, Bender! You’re a fucking genius!”

Bender lifts his chin proudly. “I am pretty fucking smart.”

“You think we could convince this kid to testify to all that in front of a judge?” I ask.

Bender’s expression flattens back out. “That’s not gonna happen. They found him hanging in his cell this morning. I overheard one of the guards say it looked suspicious. The sheriff was called in to investigate.”

With a stab of fear, I clutch Liam’s arm. I can’t stomach the idea of him getting caught in the middle of all this and ending up like Trask or the kid in juvie. “You have to give that address to the cops. Whatever’s going on there is shady enough that someone was murdered to protect it.”

“There isn’t time to get the cops involved, babe.” His dark expression from earlier in the day returns when he jerks his arm away from my trembling hand. “They could find Trask guilty in a matter of hours. I’m doing whatever it fucking takes to stop that from happening.”

“What about Sasha?” I plead, blinking back tears. “If King Marty finds out you’re digging into his business, he could use her to hurt you.”

The stubborn shit lifts one shoulder. “She would want me to clear her brother’s name at all costs. Besides, if King Marty’s so intent on keeping this place a secret, it could also be where he’s keeping her too.”

I shake my head. “I won’t let you go there alone.”

“I’ll go too,” Bender offers. “My ass is grass by now anyway. By now my boss probably reported that I skipped out.”

I meet Liam’s gaze. “This is a bad idea.”

“Babe, I’ll be careful. I promise.” Liam presses a dismissive kiss on my cheek, then nudges me aside to squeeze Bender’s shoulder. “You did good.”

The urge to beat my fists against his chest until he listens climbs up my throat. “Don’t do this. If you’re not in court, King Marty will be suspicious. If he’s having you followed, you’re screwed.”

Liam’s eyes jump around the room. “Then we need to find a more discreet way out.”

With a tear spilling down one cheek, I close my eyes and let my shoulders drop. As dangerous as this mission may be, I don’t have the right to talk him out of it. He could be Trask’s last hope. “There’s a tunnel that leads out of the mechanical room. Pete told me about it while we were on a long drive to visit a client’s grandparents. One of the judges that worked here during the cold war was paranoid and insisted they give him an alternate escape route available incase of an attack.”

Strong arms wrap around me, lifting me off the floor. Then his warm mouth is on mine and his tongue slips between my lips, filling me with Liam’s dark flavor and unspoken declarations.

The kiss scares the shit out of me for countless reasons, the very least being because we’re not alone. It’s tender and loving as well as desperate, and tinged with sadness. I refuse to believe anything will happen to him, because then I won’t be strong enough to sit in the courtroom without him.

He’s the smartest eighteen-year-old I’ve ever encountered—smarter than me on my best day. He’ll figure out a way to return to me.

The kiss breaks off into a series of light brushes of our lips. I dig my fingers into the back of his neck, wishing I didn’t have to let him go.

“Promise me you’ll be careful,” I mutter against his soft lips.

“Nothing’s stopping me from coming back to you.”

Coiling my arms around his head, I cling to him, bringing my lips up to his earring. The need to tell him how much I care about him, and how much it would hurt if anything happened to him wars with every reason why I shouldn’t. “I—” the word ‘love’ sticks to my throat, “—need you, Liam Rooker.”

He chuckles, arms squeezing the air from my lungs. “Trust me when I say I need your hot ass too.”

Bender clears his throat. “Fun fact, they don’t let us watch porn in juvie. If you two wanted to keep going—”

“Fuck off,” Liam growls over his shoulder. With a crooked smile, he kisses the corner of my mouth. “This will all be over soon, then we can start talking about what we’re gonna do after graduation. I have big plans for you, baby.”

Something unfamiliar squeezes at my chest as I return his smile.

As I’m leading them to the mechanical room, Liam’s fingers linked with mine, I realize the hot sensation blooming in my chest is something I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a single day in my life. It’s something I wouldn’t have dreamed of before Liam came along, something I wouldn’t think possible for a girl from the South Side who was forced to give up a baby she hadn’t planned for with a boy she didn’t care about.

It’s hope.

Hope for a happily ever after with a brave, sweet man I love more than anything.