With a snort, she rolled her eyes. “Because I work with the overly protective big brother type? I don’t know.”
“Because Pick’s told them to,” I corrected. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed anything unusual these past few months since working at Forbidden. Prank phone calls. Problems with your car?”
She paused as if something had recently happened to her car. But then she scowled. “My car’s a piece of shit. It never works right. And everyone gets hang-ups now and again. I assure you, nothing has struck my radar as threatening.” She lifted her eyebrows. “And that includes you.”
I watched her, worry growing inside me. Turning her nose up in denial might be worse than if she’d just been blissfully unaware. Now she might purposely put herself into a sketchy situation just to prove no one was after her.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I said. “Just keep it safe.”
Narrowing her eyes, she met my warning with a rebellious glare. “Well, aren’t you just the pot calling the kettle black.”
“Excuse me?”
“You stood there not thirty seconds ago and ranted to me about staying away from you so I could be safe, but now you’re turning it around and trying to tell me you moved in with me for safety’s sake. So I’m confused. Which is it? Are you the threat? Or really my bodyguard?”
“Both,” I said before meaning to blurt that out. I’d planned on keeping all other dangers away while trying to stay away from her myself in the process. Mumbling, I looked down. “I didn’t think we’d have quite this much contact with each other if we became roommates.”
I realized how stupid I sounded as soon as the words left my mouth.
She cracked off a harsh laugh. “I hate to break it to you, honey, but you’re bound to have the occasional contact with the person you live with.”
I shot her a petulant glare. “I didn’t think we’d...talk this much.”
Her shoulders deflated as pain filled her features. I bit the inside of my lip until I tasted blood, not meaning to hurt her…again.
But she pulled herself together, straightened her spine, and murmured, “Oh. I see.” Turning away from me, she left the room.
The hollow ache that filled my chest told me I’d fucked up. Bad.
“What…the fuck?” The back door to City’s car flew open.
What felt like a dozen hands reached in and grabbed me. They dragged me out before I could find my footing, and I would’ve gone down if they hadn’t kept yanking me along until I was well away from the car. Once they released me, I landed on my ass.
“Who the hell are you, and what’re you doing with my sister?”
In nothing but my boxer shorts, I looked up at City’s brothers and frowned in confusion. There were three guys looming over me. She only had two brothers.
“It’s that Parker fucker who was hanging around our backyard the day of the cotillion,” Max answered the other brother’s demand.
“He’s what?” Garrett boomed. “A Parker touched my little sister?” He grasped me by the hair and dragged me to my feet before punching me in the face.
It hurt like hell, might’ve even broken my nose, but I didn’t really blame him. If I’d caught one of them with my sister, I would’ve wanted to do the same thing.
Behind us, City screamed, “No! Leave him alone.”
My eyes watered and my entire face screamed in pain. But as I held my nose, feeling blood fill my palm I called, “It’s okay,” so she wouldn’t freak out too much.
“Oh, it’s not going to be okay for you at all, asshole,” Garrett assured me as he cracked his knuckles. “Tad, hold him still for me.”
As his friend grabbed me, he swung at me again. City screamed and tried to dive forward. I ducked my face to the side, but Garrett still grazed my jaw.
“No. I’m sorry. This is all my fault. Please don’t hurt him.”
“Felicity, shut up.” Max tried to stuff her back into the backseat. “Put your clothes on. We’ll take care of this.”
“I will not. You have no idea what’s going on.”
“Oh, I think the used condom lying right there makes it clear what just happened.”
“Bastard,” Garrett howled before jacking me again.
“Son of a bitch.” That one might’ve loosened a tooth.
“You were probably the fucker who left those diapers on my bed, too, weren’t you?”
I spit out blood and glanced up at him. “Yeah, sorry about that. Turns out I had the wrong brother.”
Momentarily startled speechless, Garrett tipped his face to the side. “Say what?”
“Shut him up and get him in your car,” Max ordered, pointing to me. “We’ll take him home for Father to deal with. And you.” He shoved City toward her car. “I told you to put some goddamn clothes on.”
“Hey!” I broke free of the restraining hands holding me and dove at Max, punching him as hard as I could before I even realized what I was doing. Then I grabbed his shirt and yanked him close. “Don’t you ever fucking shove her again.”
I would’ve hit him once more, but the other two pulled me away. Max wiped blood off the corner of his mouth and straightened his shirt.
He shook his head with an evil leer and slowly advanced. “Oh, this is rich. You’re threatening me after I just caught you banging my sister?”
I spit on him. I couldn’t help it. I hated this self-righteous prick. “Don’t even talk to me, you hypocritical fuck face. What happened between me and her isn’t anything like what you did to my sister.”
“What the fuck?” Garrett demanded. “What is he talking about, Max? Are you the one who knocked up the Parker girl?”
Max ignored his brother. Glaring at me, he stepped right into my face. “Is that what this is about? You think I fucked your sister, so you fucked mine?”
I glanced at City, hoping she didn’t believe that. Tears glistened in her eyes as she hovered in her bra and panties and covered her mouth with both hands. “Not even close,” I answered her brother as I watched her.
She dropped her hands to offer me a watery smile, and that’s all I needed to see.
“Hey, don’t look at her,” Max ordered before he punched me hard in the diaphragm.
I woke sitting upright with a splitting headache and my arms bound behind my back at the wrists with…what were those, plastic zip ties? I shook my head, trying to awaken with as much grace as possible. But damn, I hurt everywhere.
The last thing I’d heard before I blacked out was City’s scream. And the first thing I heard as I came to was her sobbing.
“Father, please,” she entreated. “Don’t do this. I’m begging you. I love him.”
The loud crack of a palm against skin resounded through the room. “Stop talking, you little bitch.”
I jerked my face up, suddenly alert. When I spotted Felicity on the floor, clutching her cheek, I saw red.
“No!” Lurching to my feet, and bringing the chair I was tied to with me, I plowed forward, shoulder first. “How dare you hurt her?”
Before I reached her father, his sons caught me and yanked me back into my chair. I landed hard, jarring every bloody gash on me.
“Interesting,” Abbott Bainbridge murmured as he studied me, my chest heaving and eyes blazing with hatred.
“Don’t slap her again,” I warned, my voice low and deadly. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Debatable,” he answered, and held up a finger in City’s direction when she tried to talk to him. “Ann,” he commanded without looking behind him. “Take her upstairs and get some decent clothes on her.”
As her mother dragged her away, none too gently, I watched her through the doorway of the office or whatever we were in as she disappeared up the stairs. Convinced that was the last time I was ever going to see her, I drew in a shaky breath and looked up at her father, ready to meet my fate.
“Boys,” Bainbridge said as he continued to watch me. “Leave us.”
As the two brothers depa
rted from the room—I’m not sure where the third guy had disappeared to—I met Max’s leer one last time and shared a glare with him. But as soon as he closed the door, shutting me in alone with his father, the fear closed in. I had no idea what Bainbridge had planned for me.
“I’ve called the sheriff. He’ll be here any minute.”
Relief flooded me. I’d convinced myself he was going to kill me off, tie me to a couple concrete blocks, and dump my body in the strip pit. At least this way, I was going to live.
But then he said, “You’re going to jail, no matter what. You’re eighteen; she’s sixteen. That’s statutory rape.”
Jail? Shit. The reality of that sent the fear of God racing through me. I had no idea what jail would be like, but I knew I didn’t want to find out. I didn’t want to be separated from City. I wanted to finish high school and get to work on providing a life for the girl I loved. I didn’t want my freedom taken away.
Bainbridge leaned down to get into my face. “Now here’s what’s going to happen when he arrives. You’re going to tell him you forced her.”
I blinked, not expecting him to say that at all. “Excuse me?”
“You’re going to serve time no matter what.”
“Then why does it matter?” I shook my head, not understanding.
“Because I don’t want everyone and their dog knowing my own daughter willingly spread her legs for some damn Parker.”
I snorted. “One of your own has already knocked up a Parker. You think this is any worse?”
He slapped me. The pussy actually slapped me. Even his sons had been manly enough to hit with their fists instead of using an open palm. Still, the spot stung, but only because he caught me in a sore place Garrett had bruised earlier.
Tasting blood, I licked it off my lip and glared.
“You’re going to tell him you forced her, and that’s that.”
I laughed. “I don’t fucking think so. I’m not stupid. I’m not going to lie about that. Forcible rape has to get a guy a hell of a lot more time than statutory rape.”
He merely shrugged. “Not that much more time if you plead guilty first thing. Maybe only a couple extra years.”
Years? He really had lost his fucking mind.
“No way in hell.”
“Look, kid. I can get your entire family kicked off that property and put out on the street. You want me to do that to them?”
I shook my head. “You’re lying. If you could get them evicted, you would’ve done it a long time ago.”
“Oh?” He cocked up an eyebrow. “You sure about that? Do you really want to risk the home of your entire family just to see if I’m bluffing?”
I looked away, refusing to engage him. But then he took another approach.
“Would you be so cavalier if I threatened Felicity?”
My gaze shot to his as a bad feeling sank into my bones.
He smiled. “If you don’t tell the sheriff exactly what I tell you to tell him, then that little slap I gave her will be nothing compared to what I’ll do to her next.”
“You son of a bitch.” I seethed, breathing hard as worry sliced through my system.
“I’ll beat her every night in places no one will see the bruises. I’ll beat her until she’s eighteen, and then…then I won’t have anything to do with the little whore ever again. I’ll kick her out and cut her off without a cent. Do you want that to happen to your precious girlfriend? Because I swear to God, I’ll do it.”
“Heartless bastard,” I rasped, glaring at him as I struggled against my bonds. “She’s your daughter.”
He snorted. “No daughter of mine would get into the backseat of a car with a scumbag Parker.”
I glared at him, helpless and pissed, and hating him, wanting to hurt him for everything he was saying about her, for everything he’d done to her, for everything he was threatening. But he was right. I could never risk City’s safety in case he wasn’t bluffing.
Barely able to control my voice to a steely calm, I said, “I’ll only agree to your terms if you get Felicity through college and if you provide my niece with financial support for the rest of your life.”
Bainbridge narrowed his eyes at me. So I narrowed mine right back. “I mean, she is your one and only granddaughter, your precious son’s love child. I don’t think that’s such an unreasonable request.”
He snorted, but gave a small nod before saying, “Fine.”
“I want it in writing,” I said.
With another glare my way, he started for his desk. After ripping a sheet from his planner, his scrawled out a few words before showing them to me. I nodded, realizing this meant nothing. As soon as I was behind bars, he could rip it to shreds and never think of Bentley again. But on the off chance he might actually keep his word about her and ensure Felicity’s future, I was willing to keep mine.
“It’s settled then.” With a degrading sniff, he folded the sheet, tucked it into his top right drawer, then turned and strolled from the room.
I was left alone, sweating and worrying. Sick to my stomach and hoping he wasn’t going after City right that moment, I struggled against the zip ties, only succeeding in cutting my wrists deeper than I already had.
“Fuck,” I muttered, right before the door came open, and Felicity in a different outfit slipped into the room. “What…how’d you get in here?”
She sent me a tremulous smile as she hurried forward. “I slipped past my mother when she thought I was in the bathroom crying. Are you okay?” Tears filled her eyes as she took in my face.
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “What about you? Your cheek’s already bruising. I can’t believe he fucking slapped you.”
“I’ll get over it.” Distracted, she knelt by my tied hands and bit her lip. “God, your wrists are bleeding. How dare they do this to you?” She popped to her feet and hurried to a large desk before yanking open drawer after drawer.
“What’re you doing? City?”
She kept opening drawers. “I’m looking for some scissors to cut those damn things off.”
“No…Felicity, stop.” She paused and glanced at me. I shook my head. “It’s no use. The sheriff’s already on his way.”
“I know. That’s why we have to get you free now.”
“And then what?” I pressed quietly.
Desperation crossed her features. “Then we’ll get out of here. Together.”
“And go where? Do what?” When she couldn’t answer me, I shook my head. “We can’t run from this, City. What’s going to happen is going to happen. Just… come here, talk to me, stay until they arrive. Please.”
She shut the last drawer she’d opened, and her chin trembled as a new batch of tears filled her eyes. “This is all my fault. If only I hadn’t pressured you into having sex.”
“Baby, don’t. Come here.”
She slumped to me and sat on my knees before wrapping her arms around me and hugging me. I buried my face in her hair and inhaled a lungful of her scent. “This was not your fault. I wanted to do it as much as you did. I regret nothing. It was just bad luck that your brothers came along when they did.”
“No.” She shook her head and sucked in a sob. “That was my fault too. I told Garrett I was going to show my new car to my friend Ada. But I guess he actually pays more attention to my life than Max ever did. He knew I didn’t have a friend around here named that. So they came looking for me until they found us.”
“It’s not your fault,” I insisted, pressing my lips to her neck. “Even if I’d known they were going to show up when they did, I still wouldn’t have changed anything we ever did together. You said I was the best thing that ever happened to you. Well, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and I’m honored to have spent the time with you that I did.”
She shook her head and sobbed harder against my shoulder. “Stop talking like this is the last time we’ll ever see each other.”
I couldn’t tell her she was wrong, because I had no idea if she was or
not. So instead of issuing false reassurance, I kissed her cheek and murmured into her ear, “Hey, make me a promise.”
She lifted her face; her blue eyes were so red and watery, it almost broke me. “Anything,” she swore.
“No matter what happens tonight, don’t ever change, okay? You are fun and sweet and amazing just the way you are. You make the world a better place because you always find the bright side. You are the bright side. And if I’m ever going to make it through this, I need to know you’re out there, still glowing and making the world bright.”
She nodded solemnly. “Any other promises?”
I knew what she wanted me to say. She wanted me to ask her to wait on me. But I wanted her to live on and have a full, happy life.
So I murmured, “Yeah. Don’t ever cut this amazing hair, okay?”
“Knox,” she sobbed, crying even harder. “Don’t be funny. Not right now.”
My lips lifted at the corners. “I’m being completely serious. I think it’d kill me on the spot if I knew all this amazing hair was gone.”
“God, I’m going to miss you.” She pressed her face to my neck. “How long do you think we’ll be forced apart?”
“I don’t know.” I closed my eyes and soaked her in. I knew our time apart would be longer than it should be, though.
When neither of us could think of anything to say, I whispered. “Knock-knock.”
She sniffed. “Who’s there?”
“Olive.”
“Olive who?”
“Olive you.”
Smiling through her tears, she said, “Olive you, too.”
That’s when the door came open and her father stormed in, followed by her brothers, mother, and the sheriff.
“Get her out of here.”
Felicity popped her feet. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded. “Please. I’m sorry. I’ll do anything.”
But her brothers were already dragging her away. When she glanced back at me, she looked devastated. “I’m so sorry, Knox.”
My chin trembled. Without her there against me, all the bravery I’d been feeling failed me. I wasn’t ready for jail.