“Come for me, baby,” I say against her skin before going in harder this time, driving her over the cliff.
“Oliver,” she moans before she screams out her pleasure, her fingers twisting my hair to the point of pain, but I don’t care. She could rip out every last strand as long as I can hear her moan my name like this again.
When her body finally goes limp and she’s gasping for air, I know I did what needed to be done. Lulu Gallo is mine.
7
LULU
I startle awake,my heart pounding uncontrollably in my bed as I sit up. Was I having a bad dream? No. Not that I remember, but something has me bolting upright out of the deepest sleep I’ve had in weeks.
Suddenly, a pounding on my front door has me sucking in a breath of air like I’m a goldfish out of water.
“Lulu, open the damn door!” my sister screams so loud, she has to be waking up the entire neighborhood.
“What the hell,” Oliver says at my side as he rubs his eyes, his sleep shot to shit by Zoey too.
“It’s my sister. Something has to be wrong.” I jump out of bed, finding something to wear. I grab whatever’s closest and yank it on, needing to get toZoey as quickly as possible. “Go back to sleep. I’ve got her.”
My body trembles as I stalk down the hallway toward the front door, leaving Oliver in my bedroom.
“Coming!” I yell out, hoping she’ll stop making so much noise. I undo the locks and finally open the door.
Zoey is standing outside, mascara running down her face, eyes red and puffy, and her hair a mess.
I gasp as my eyes widen. “Oh my God. Get in here,” I tell her as the snow and ice rain down from the sky at a maddening pace from the storm.
She doesn’t move. She trembles as more tears start to stream down her face in a fresh wave. I reach out, grabbing her arms before I haul her into the foyer, wanting to get her warm and figure out what the hell has her so upset.
“What’s wrong, Zo?” I scan her body, looking for injuries, but it’s hard to see anything with her knee-length winter coat.
“He…” She wipes at her cheek with the back of her hand. “They…”
I bend down, helping her remove her fur-lined boots. Whatever she needs to tell me isn’t going to take place in the foyer. She needs to sit, and I have to find out everything that happened because Zoey doesn’t get upset with much, and she’s absolutely beside herself tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this in my entire life.
“Come on, sissy. Let’s get you warm,” I tell her, guiding her to the living room couch, not bothering to take her coat from her. “I need you to tell me what happened.”
Her bottom isn’t on the couch for three seconds when she blurts out, “Mark.”
My blood goes cold. Mark is a fuckwad she’s been seeing casually the last few months. They fool around and go to dinner, but neither of them has made any commitments to each other. My sister is fine with that. She doesn’t want to be tied down and thinks Mark is only a good-time kind of guy anyway.
But I’ve never liked him. When I look at him, I never see an ounce of kindness. He oozes self-absorbed asshole. And no matter how many times I’ve told Zoey that he gives me the icks, she hasn’t seen him the same way and has always reassured me that he was a decent enough guy.
“What did Mark do?” I do my best to keep my voice calm, but my insides are burning up. I already have visions of murder and mayhem, and all of them involve me putting an end to Mark if he hurt my sister. “Did he hit you?”
She shakes her head as her bottom lip trembles.
Reaching out, I take her hands in mine, rubbing my thumb across the delicate skin on the top. “Baby, what has you so worked up?”
The silence between us as I wait for her to answer seems to stretch on for an eternity.
“Tell me, Zo,” I beg as the panic inside me intensifies.
She drops her gaze as she opens her mouth and starts to speak, “We were fooling around, you know, and things were good. We had some wine…a lot of wine, actually.”
“Okay,” I say when she stops. “What else?”
“Mark likes to be adventurous in the bedroom.”
