I narrow my eyes. “That’s a likely story, and I’m not buying it.”
“Maybe this will convince you then,” he says right before he grabs hold of my face, drawing it to his as he smashes his lips onto mine.
All protests die on my tongue as Zayn kisses me. His lips are full and soft as they move expertly against mine. Angling my head, he deepens our kiss, and his tongue slips into my mouth.A primal groan rumbles from my throat as our tongues battle for control, stroking against one another as our kiss grows more frantic. Every nerve ending and cell in my body is awakened and need pools in my core, dampening my panties.
Holy hell, can Zayn kiss.
His large palms cup my face as his mouth and his tongue make love to me. I’m putty in his hands, melting against him, grabbing his shirt, and pulling him close, needing to feel all of him. My hands roam up and down his back as we kiss, and I’m vaguely aware of the movie starting in the background. I don’t care. My only reality now is this boy and the way he’s making me feel.
Noah’s kisses never made me feel like this, and I have clearly been missing out.
If Zayn’s kisses cause this kind of reaction in me, imagine what it would feel like to have sex with him.
Chapter Six
Zayn
“Ro, I need to talk to you about Friday night,” I say, my voice trailing off as I push the door to his bedroom open, spotting the asshole lying in bed beside him. “What the fuck is he doing here?” I bark, my hands balling into fists at my side.
“Chill, bro. It’s cool.” Roman sits up with his back against the headboard, positioning the comforter so it hides his junk. I can tell they’re both naked, and it’s obvious they’ve been fucking. Jarvis is like a bad smell you can’t get rid of, and I hate how he keeps fucking with my brother’s head.
“I don’t want him here when I’m not.” I drill a look at my brother. I don’t trust Jarvis, and I don’t want him sniffing around my brother or any of my things. I’m careful to not keep any physical evidence around our apartment, and I have all kinds of security on my computers so no one can get at my files, but I don’t trust this guy or his motives.
“I was just leaving.” Jarvis fixes me with a smirk I’d love to wipe off his face. Cupping my brother’s face, he kisses him hard on the mouth. “I’ll call you later.” Jarvis whips the covers off and stands stark naked. If he thinks that will get a rise out of me, he’s got another think coming. I purposely avoid looking at him as hegrabs his clothes and gets dressed, only relaxing when I hear the front door shutting behind him.
I open my mouth to speak, but Roman cuts me off. “Don’t start, Zayn. He helps me to forget.”
I bite my tongue. Continuing to argue with him about the dickhead won’t get me anywhere. Maybe I’ll stop bitching about Jarvis, and Roman might stop rebelling. “I went to the deli, on my way back from the gym, and got us lunch. Come eat with me.”
I’m sitting at the counter in our kitchen, munching on my sandwich, when Roman appears, wearing a pair of shorts with slides on his feet. We eat in silence, but it’s not the usual companionable silence. “Out with it,” I say, wiping mayo off my cheek with a napkin. “I know you’ve got something on your mind.”
Roman slowly chews the last of his sandwich and drinks his vitamin water before he sets his brown eyes on me. “I know who they are—our brothers and our father.”
Panic bubbles up my throat, but I push it back down. “What do you know?”
“Our father is Atticus Anderson, and our brothers live in Rydeville, Massachusetts.”
Fucking. Hell. Thank fuck, Joaquin and Harley have just relocated to Rydeville full-time now both of them have graduated from West Lorian High. If Roman had discovered this news while they were still living in New York, I’d never have been able to stop him from going to them. Not that he won’t try now. “How did you find out?”
“I overheard Lindsay on a call to Winston one time.” He grimaces, and I’m surprised he’s even able to say her name. “She mentioned the word elite and Parkhurst. I googled both last night, and it wasn’t hard to make the connection. I know what went down in Wyoming. I know Atticus is in the wind and there’s an arrest warrant for him. The story I read mentioned Kaidenand Maverick, so I did more searching. Found other stuff.” He leans forward on his elbows. “Kaiden is friends with Sawyer Hunt. That’s why you interned at Techxet last summer, isn’t it? What did you do, Zayn? What are you up to?”
“I’m getting even, Ro. Everyone who has wronged us will pay the price.”
A veil of sadness washes over his features. “No. I don’t want that. I want you to let it go.”
“I can’t do that.”
“We need to leave all the shitty stuff in the past and move forward. I want to meet my brothers. I want them to look us in the eye and tell us they abandoned us. It might not have happened the way you think it did.”
I drag a hand through my hair, exhaling heavily. “I know you want to believe that. I know you try to see the best in people, and I love that about you, but there is nothing good about the elite. These people have no conscience, and their loyalty is transient. We can’t get tangled up in that world. Both Maverick and Kaiden are elite members, Ro. If we reach out to them, they could try to drag us into that world. Worse, if the men behind our adoption find out what’s been done, they could come after us. It’s not safe.”
“You’re just trying to scare me.”
“I am. Is it working?”
He shakes his head, and I decide to give him a truth I wasn’t planning on sharing, but he needs to wake the fuck up. “Parkhurst used to be the elites’ HQ. Only descendants of the founding fathers were permitted to attend initiation there, although all levels of the elite within the US are members. I found out they make kids kill people as part of their initiation tasks. Plus, they are forced into giving up their virginity at a public ceremony when they are thirteen.”
He laughs until he sees the look on my face. “You’re not serious? That can’t be true. This is real life. Not the movies.”
