He sucks in a breath as my legs constrict around his hips and he gradually eases farther into me. He moves his lips away from my mouth and looks into my eyes while caressing his fingers across my cheek. Then, he pauses, before giving one last rock until he’s completely inside me.

Every part of my body and mind open up as he kisses me. It burns at first as he moves back and forth, and I almost cry out for him to stop, but the pain subsides and my muscles unravel as my head falls back against the pillow.

It’s a moment I’ll remember forever, because it belongs to me.

Kayden

I have never been so fucking terrified in my life. Not when I was being yelled at, beaten, or even when I stood up to my dad. I’ve had sex before, plenty of times. It was all for fun, even with Daisy. There was nothing there; I thought it was supposed to be that way. As Callie looks up at me, trusting me, I’m lost. No one has ever looked at me like that before; no one has ever made me feel the way I feel at this moment. It’s like every one of my scars has ruptured and the pain is real, but I can’t stop.

I kiss her fiercely, moving her arms above her head as I thrust inside her. It feels so good and I never want it to stop. Her eyes are glossed over and her pupils dilate as her lips part. Her neck arches as she gasps in pleasure and she bucks her hips against my movements. I let go of her arms and my palms scan downward to her breasts, feeling her skin as I suck on her neck. Her fingers sketch each scar, leaving a path of heat everywhere she touches and it nearly drives me crazy. Her back bows up as she cries out and moments later, I join her, knowing I can never go back from this. The way I feel is irreversible; overtaken, wanted, needed, connected. I’ll never be able to let it go.

As we catch our breaths, I tell myself that it will be okay; that I can handle it and for an instant, it feels like I can.

I let out an uneven breath as I slip out of her and roll onto my back, tugging my hands through my hair. Rotating on her hip, her warm body follows mine. She rests her cheek against my chest, gliding her leg over my waist.

“Are you okay?” I finally dare ask her, fighting through my own racing thoughts.

She nods, sketching the lines of my stomach muscles with her pinkie. “I’m more than okay.”

I shut my eyes and put my chin on top of her head. “Callie, there’s something I need to tell you.”

She lifts her face away from my chest and peers up at me. “What’s wrong? Did I… did I do something wrong?”

I touch the tip of my finger to the bottom of her lip. “No, it’s not you. It’s me. There are things about me that you don’t know and I think I need to tell you.”

She sits up and my gaze drifts to her body, so fragile, just like her heart. “You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m sorry,” I back out as feelings of shame rush over me. “I’m just stuck in my own head.”

She frowns. “Kayden, you can tell me anything. There’s no judgment here.”

“I know that,” I say with honesty as my hands grip her waist possessively. Lifting her up, I set her down on top of me, so one of her legs is on each side of my hip. “We’ll talk about it, but a little bit later.”

Wetting my lips with my tongue, I cup the back of her head and bring her mouth toward mine, as I slide my other hand up the front of her, gripping at her breast, wanting to go back and relive the only peaceful moment I’ve had in my life.

Chapter 18

#33 Lay With Someone, Motionless, Just Feeling Each Other.

Callie

“I think I have to go inside,” I say, checking the seventh message my mom has sent me. “Otherwise, she’s going to come out here and see this.”

“See what?” he questions innocently as he flips me over so he’s above me and he takes my breast into his mouth, tracing circles over my nipple with the tip of his tongue.

I gasp as my thighs ache for him to be inside me again. “You’re going to get me caught up again.”

He leans away with a smile on his face, but his cheek is red and puffy. “So?”

I fake a stern look. “I’m not kidding. She’ll come out here with her key and open the door to this.”

He laughs, still not fully believing me, but frees me from his arms. “Fine, you win. I’ll let you go, but we’re coming right back as soon as you deal with your mother.”

I laugh softly as I wrap the sheet around me and pad over to my bag to take some clothes out. I feel a little shy even after what we did. I manage to put my clothes on before I let the sheet go. He doesn’t question what I’m doing as he gets up and puts his jeans and shirt back on.

I glance out the window at the dark sky. Everything seems perfect, untouchable, like I’m holding my life in my own hands for once. “How late is it?”

He turns his arm and checks his watch. “Like seven thirty.”

“No wonder she’s freaking out. I missed dinner.”

He laces his fingers through mine as I open the door. “So how bad is this going to be?”

I lead him down the steps behind me. “She’s going to ask you a thousand questions and be super cheerful.”

“What about your dad?”

“He’ll yammer about football, I’m sure.”

My phone beeps and I pause at the bottom of the steps to check the message.

“Is it another one from your mom?” he wonders and I shake my head.

Seth: Hey, darling. How’s it going? Good I hope. Did you eat some delicious treats?

Me: Maybe… But what kind of treats r u talking about?

Seth: OMFG!!! Did u? Because I had this really weird feeling that you did.

Me: Did what?”

Seth: U know what.

I glance up at Kayden, who laughs at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “It’s from Seth.”

He leans over to get a better look and I cover the screen with my hand. “Are you talking about me?”

I bite at my lip, feeling my cheeks warm. “No.”

“You are,” he says proudly. “Even after that, I can still make you blush. God, I’m good.”

I lower my head, allowing my hair to veil my face. “I’m not blushing.”

“You so are.” He hooks a finger under my chin and tips my face up. “And I’m glad.” He brushes his lips lightly across mine, giving me a soft kiss that I feel all the way to my toes.

I pull away, smiling, but pause when I catch sight of the extra car in the driveway. “Whose car is that?”

Kayden tracks my gaze and shrugs. “I’m not sure.”

Confused, I push open the back door. Seconds later, it all leaves me; every breath, every heartbeat, every kiss, every moment of my own. Black spots pop across my vision as I take in my brother, Jackson, sitting at the table, wolfing a piece of pie straight out of the tin. Across from him sits his best friend Caleb Miller. He’s flipping through a magazine, his dark hair scraggily and long, like he hasn’t had a haircut in years. When he glances up my gaze instinctively shoots to the floor.

“Well, if it isn’t little Miss Callie all grown up,” Caleb says and I stare at the pencil on the table in front of him, envisioning what it would be like to stab him in the eye multiple times and inflict as much pain as possible.

“Mom thought you ran away,” Jackson says, licking the whip cream off the fork. “She texted you a thousand times.”

“Good for her,” I snap. I’ve always had this bitter hatred toward my brother for bringing that asshole around. I know he didn’t know, but I can’t turn it off. “Can you tell her that we stopped by and that I’m okay so she can stop texting?"

“No,” Jackson says. “I’m not your messenger. She’s just in the living room. Go tell her yourself.”

“Why are you even here?” I ask and Kayden’s finger grazes the inside of my wrist. I blink at him. I’d almost forgotten he was there.

Kayden shakes his head, and his emerald eyes convey something I don’t like. He can see it—sense it—hidden deep beneath the surface of my skin.

Caleb rises up from the table and heads across the kitchen, his movements unhurried like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “So how’s college football?” he says to Kayden. “I’ve heard it’s a lot more intense at that level.”

Kayden doesn’t take his eyes off me. “It’s not that bad. You just have to be tough enough to make it.”

Caleb eyes Kayden’s inflamed cheek with a sadistic look in his expression as he opens the cupboard. “Yeah, you look pretty tough. Nice shiner by the way.”

Kayden gives him a cold, hard stare, his fingers wrapping inward into his palms. “Didn’t you get kicked out of college for selling pot on campus?”

“Hey, I had to make a living,” Caleb says, slamming the cupboard shut. “Not everyone has daddy’s money and a scholarship to live off of.”

Kayden’s jaw tenses and I jerk on his arm. “Can we go?”

He nods, backing toward the door with my hand in his and his eyes boring into Caleb, who’s growing uneasy.

“No way,” Jackson says to me. “You are not leaving me here to be smothered by mom.”

“Shouldn’t you be in Florida or whatever?” I ask with rage and unsteadiness in my voice. “You weren’t supposed to be here.”

He messes with his hair as he gets up from the kitchen table with the pie tin in his hand. “We had a last minute change of heart.”

“Didn’t you have to work?” I ask derisively. “Or did you just quit another job?”

“I have a fucking job, Callie.” He tosses the tin into the kitchen sink and glares at me. “So quit being a cunt. I don’t know why you always have to talk to me like this.”

“Hey.” Kayden steps in on my behalf, moving in front of me. “Don’t fucking call her names.”

“I can call her whatever I want,” Jackson retorts, folding his arms over his chest. “You don’t know the shit she put this family through. Her little issues or whatever they are have made my mom basically crazy.”

Caleb watches me with interest, waiting for me to react. I can’t look away from him. I want to, but he’s overpowering me because he knows what my issues are—he put them there. I slowly start to die, wilt into pieces like I’m a Night-Blooming Cereus, the flowers that bloom only once a year at night and die before sunrise, their lives and happiness short lived.

“Leave her alone.” Caleb arches his eyebrows at me with a smile surfacing at his lips. “Maybe Callie has reasons for the way she acts.”

Take me out of here. Take me out of here. Save me. Save me. Save me.

Suddenly, my legs are moving and I’m being dragged somewhere. The back door swings open and I’m hauled down the stairs into the center of the driveway.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs and in the light of the porch, Kayden observes me with uncertainty in his eyes, his hands on my shoulders. “What’s wrong? You have this look in your eyes…”

I let out a strangled breath. “I don’t like my brother very much.”

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