“Artwork is expressive, Ebs. It tells the world your story…” Cooper adds, tugging down the neck of my t-shirt she’s wearing, his gaze trailing over the patch of creamy peach skin between her cleavage before tipping his head back to swallow a generous mouthful from the bottle of tequila Jose was kind enough to leave stashed in the centre divider.
“It also warns others who you belong to,” I add through gritted teeth, my voice low as my grip of her hardens. pulling her attention back to me.
“I didn’t mean…you can’t. I don’t like needles, Caleb. This is all a misund?—”
I don’t let her finish, and I try to ignore the inappropriate timing of my cock hardening in my jeans as she breathlessly says my name.
“Fuck it,” I bite out, slamming my lips against hers, welcoming the rush of endorphins that have my cock rock solid in my trousers now. She allows me entry, parting her lips hungrily as her hands grapple with my shirt to hold me to her. Our tongues dance, slow with the perfect amount of force as I wrap my hand around her throat to steady her. Taking what I want as her pulse jumping wildly under my palm, her hips rocking forward as she chases the release my touch has worked up in her.Such a needy pet.
I sever the connection even though my heart is pleading with me to keep going, to keep taking what it needs from her to heal from her betrayal.
Her lips part to say something, but whatever it is seems to get lodged in her throat as she shivers in my hold.
The young boy broken by her decision that day rears his head and lets every vile thought lose on Ebony, disregarding how it might make her feel. I don’t hold back as I speak my truth. The weight of her betrayal lifting as the words hit my intended target and jab at the most insecure parts of her. Wounding what remains of her self-worth. “You could have had this. I would have given the world to you if you had asked for it.” I tuck her hair behind her ear, and her head tilts as she melts into the simple touch. “But whores who break their promises don’t deserve bliss. If ever there was a question as to why your life turned out the way it did—look in the fucking mirror.” I squeeze her face, hard enough to leave the imprint of my fingers in her skin, and she pulls away sharply.
“I never wanted this. I never wanted you,” she protests, unshed tears in those beautiful stormy violet grey eyes of hers. A mixture of anger and sadness colouring her cheeks pink.
“You can lie to me all you want, Dove, but your body is mighty loud with its need for me.”
I don’t think she even realises she’s done it, but her gaze flicks quickly to my brother behind me and back to my face. Chewing on her lip nervously, I can see her mentally berating herself for allowing such a telling move free reign as she tries to claw back her power.
“Needfor us,” I correct, and that twinkle of approvalflashes across her expression. As though one of those little voices in her head has reminded her that she’s meant to be angry with us right now, theif looks could maim and murder scowlshifts back into place over her expression, and she struggles against her binds again.
“You can’t keep me tied up forever,” she hollers, but I can tell she doesn’t believe the statement. I can and I will if I want to.
“I can do whatever the fuck I please, and you’d do wise to remember that, sweetheart.” I snap cruelly.
The familiar tune ofWings by Birdy,a song i’ve played on repeat too many times to count,echoes around us, as Cooper links up his music app to the car. It draws her attention his way and she spins to face him. The tension she had been feeling melting from her shoulders as the tinkering melody builds. A slice of sorrow pierces my heart when I see her lip bob with the emotion she’s trying to hide. I step forward to close the space between us, her back pressed up against my chest. It felt fitting to choose the song that had played the night she gave herself to us. But I hadn’t expected it to hit me as hard as it has. I see the sadness in my brother’s eyes and quickly look away. With Ebony suitably distracted, I uncap another syringe from my back pocket with my teeth, and I don’t hesitate as I slide the sharp tip of the weeping needle into her neck, her vein expanding along her collar as the fluid begins coursing through her body. She winces, and the heartbreak is visible in her wide eyes reddened with unshed tears in the reflection of the tinted car window. It takes everything in me to keep playing my role and not hug her to my body to soothe her. Locking my arm aroundher waist, she slackens in my hold, the fight leaving her as the drugs work their magic. A tear falls unbidden over her cheek as Cooper approaches to scoop her up, and he wipes it away affectionately. I release her once he has a firm grip on her. The loss of her warmth unsettling me, unable to voice the sentiment that claws uncomfortably in my throat.
I care about her, too much maybe, because my plan was a simple one. The pain her duplicity caused is still twisted like thorned vines around my heart, a constant reminder of everything we’ve lost.
If she has any chance of staying alive, it’s going to take more than a breathless half-arsed reasoning like she just uttered. I vowed to make her pay; I just hope my emotions don’t get in the way of that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
EBONY
Strolling into the bathroom, with a surprisingly clear head, I pile my hair high up into a loose knot. The deep dreamless sleep was the best I’ve had in years, but my limbs still feel stiff like I’ve spent the last forty-eight hours running a marathon under duress. No-one I know would run for twenty-six miles unless they were being chased.
‘Most people you know would be the ones doing the chasing.’
Fair point.
I gaze at the mess that is my face, prodding at the swelling that I know has at least three more turns on the colour wheel before it even begins to properly heal. I swear if that fucker Bobby wasn’t already dead, I’d be making him pay right now with a blow torch to his balls.
Brushing my teeth around my split lip is likeHunger Gameslevel torture as the slightest knock has it opening back up, the white froth of the toothpaste congealed with my blood.
From the moment I woke up and found the glass of water and two paracetamols on my bedside table, thoughts of the two Knox brothers filled my thumping head, only now they are no longer the eighteen-year-old misfits I remember. They are grown, and strong, and dangerous.
‘And fit, tanned, and drop-dead gorgeous. Why are we standing here reminiscing when we could be out there demanding the other brother try to out-finger the first brother?’My conscience, my inner cynic, the personification of my desires—whatever that little voice in my head was, it had started out as my safe place to hide away, it was my security when times got tough. Like an imaginary best friend that even I couldn’t see. My better judgement when needed. Currently though it has lost the plot and is reduced down to a raging bundle of untapped hormones all hot for cowboy candy.
‘Don’t try and rationalise me. You still owe me from that whole lithium debacle. I offer you wisdom and friendship, and you were ready to scrub me out for good.’
“It’s shit like this why the doctor prescribed it in the first place,” I snap at my reflection, weirdly feeling proud at the fact that I feel like I’ve won the argument.
‘Shut up and wash your face; that’s either sleep or semen on your mouth, and neither is an acceptable lipstick alternative.’
I’m careful of my wounds as I hover over the sink and wash my face. I witnessed a murder last night, and yet the only thing I can think about clearly is the shock of discovering that Cooper Knox was my mystery cowboy; it has butterflies whipping around like angry bats in my belly even now. I should be fuming that he lied to me, that theyboth basically used me in some backwards attempt at revenge.
