The kind of monsters that flood our property and whose eyes wander to pretty things.
Tayla was our wildflower growing through a brutally hard world.
She was softspoken. Kindhearted. Gentle.
Had a smile that was as bright as her eyes. Blue, like moms. Eyes that looked ethereal against her dark brown hair, with the way they make you feel like you’re drowning in sunlit glacial waters.
I used to be able to remember her voice, her unique warmth when she clung to me, just like a younger sister would who looks up to her brother. There may have been three years separating us, but it didn’t feel like that. We were close. So close that I went against my father’s rules and would sneak her out of her room to come to parties with me. Because I knew if I didn’t, she would disappear anyway, and at least if I helped her, I could keep a watchful eye on her when she was with her friends.
Without trying, I’m dragged back to a moment that replays on a constant loop. I’m pulled into the night I took Tayla to one of my family's clubs an hour away in Portland. A secret twenty-first birthday trip that should’ve landed us both front row seats to my father’s fury. But I was careful. Crafted a story made up of beautiful lies to see her smile return after she’d been locked away in her room, suffering through her first heartbreak.
I’m still not sure who she was seeing. Probably good considering I would’ve killed the bastard who hurt her.
Still would.
That night, I lurked in the shadows and watched her dance and drink until she felt better. Luckily, I ran into Carter, and he kept me company before a call from my father came in, and I had to step away to spew more lies to keep him in the dark about where we were.
I live in those moments more than is healthy.
Recounting that memory and all that transpired in that month before she was taken—before Luciano crushed her petals in his fist, destroying the only bright and innocent life that didn’t make mine feel so dark and bleak. Before he cut her heart out of her chest like a vile, bloodthirsty motherfucker he is, acting like he wasn’t already happy to be on top, ruling without his brother.
Like I said, I hurled myself into my work to mute my demons, but with Kate lying naked in my bed, somehow her sugary scent and sweetness have slowly started seeping into all those places I could never reach. The kind of depths that until now have left a constant ache behind flesh and bone, stirring a pain that hardens you on the outside because there’s not enough space to harbor any other feelings on the inside.
From that moment I saw her on the dock, a part of me thawed and melted straight through the wooden boards, disappearing with the tide.
The first time I watched her fall apart on my fingers, on my tongue, her taste invaded my bloodstream, leaving behind a comfort that I don’t feel deserving of.
And yesterday, when I fucked her for the first time, I wrapped that beautiful hair around my fist and clung onto her like she was my lifeline. The one supplying oxygen to my lungs. A drop of sunshine through a crack in the cavernous void I’ve adapted to.
The faint glow of moonlight drifts through my open French doors, cascading long, fingered shadows across the room. The black curtains billow in waves from the breath of the breeze, circulating the room.
I thread my fingers through Kate’s hair, lightly stroking the strands near her temple, caressing her ear as I tuck them behind. Don’t get me wrong, ears aren’t a turn on, but hers are cute as fuck. They’re delicately adorned with small diamond studs, with a slight point to them. The only reason I noticed is because I’ve been staring at her for the last few hours before reality comes crashing back. She’s filling my head and my room with her soft, even calming breaths that make this place feel more alive than it has in five years.
“Come for me, mo ghrá.”
That declaration echoes in my ears. Calling her that came naturally despite how much it terrified me after.
If I could stay here in the confines of my room with her tucked into my side forever or coming on my cock, I would.
But I have shit to do.
For example, I'll meet my father in a few hours for another shipment that’s coming into the harbor.
And tomorrow night, when we release Rowan and Cathal in the park after it closes, we'll see if Lex and Brett are worthy of being proposed for the opportunity to live and die for a kingdom, rather than wasting their purpose and skills on an amusementpark. Exhilaration thrums in my veins thinking about the show we’ll get from them. Releasing Rowan and Cathal will be like freeing two rabid dogs with gnashing teeth. They are men who will stop at nothing to survive.
My fingers push aside Kate’s hair, floating down the delicate slope of her neck, where the risen and angry skin slices through perfection. She tenses where she’s cradled into my side, the slight movement causing her ass to stir my half-erect cock.
I shift my arm, resting behind my head on the pillow, to get comfortable again and make sure there’s still blood flow to my limbs. I move the collar adorning her neck out of the way, lightly brushing the pad of my thumb over the scar.
Her voice is as delicate as my touch. “I was with him for three years.”
My body stills.
She has enough scars on her stomach to tell the story of a lifetime. I know, because I have them. I remain silent, my gentle movements in her hair turning mechanical with the ire burning behind my sternum.
“He was a phlebotomist at a blood drive I went to while I was attending OHSU School of Nursing in Oregon. He was the one who drew my blood that day, and he asked me out after.”
I remember Brody pulling up information about her college years when she was attending nursing school, before she started her internship, which eventually turned into a full-time position at OHSU Hospital. She was renting a cute little house on the outskirts of Portland and attended a yoga studio in Beaverton. Her mother and father still live in Oregon, and she has an older sister named Natalie. The amount of information he pulled up could tell me anything about her and her younger life, besides the one fucking thing I wanted to know, which she is telling me now.
