LOGINChapter Seven
Grant Pov : V Card???
I’m a lot of things in life, but one thing I’m not is allergic to moans or any sound of sex.
And I’m damn sure what I just heard was a moan. She didn’t speak. She probably isn’t even aware it slipped out of her mouth.
Talk about ‘Yes, sir.’
“No, I didn’t,” the pretender lied.
Ever since I saw her at my birthday party, pretending not to know me or have any memory or anything to do with me, I’ve been wary of her.
But then I started to think that maybe she’s just shy. With her love for oversized glasses, baggy sweaters, and a novel always glued to her hand, it would fit.
But what really made me doubt that image was how she’s hot one moment, and then the next she’s like a turtle retreating into its shell.
Too contradictory.
Too… fake.
It has to be a mask, one of her many little facades.
Now she’s giving me more weapons to add to my arsenal of suspicions about her.
“You actually did moan, Nova.”
“No, I—”
“Can you just stop lying and be yourself? Stop pretending to be what you’re not.”
She’d literally forced that out of me, pushed me to the wall.
I don’t do outbursts. I’m not a fan of losing control.
gods don’t lose control. And since she’s already knelt in my temple to worship a part of me, I’m definitely her god, and she shouldn’t have the power to push me over the walls of my own emotions in my own kingdom.
Who the hell is she, and why do I keep getting out of character around her?
First, she’s my daughter’s friend, as she so tightly pointed out the other day.
Second, I don’t relate with women outside my family unless it’s to: Release my cum or Exercise my authority as a Dom while they scream my name and beg for mercy. I’m their god after all.
Third, I don’t share my space with people. I even had my daughter stay in a hostel, even though her school is barely a twenty-minute drive from the house. That’s how much I hate people breathing around me. My personal guard doesn’t even stay on the same floor of the same building as me.
But Nova, tempting, infuriating Nova has been toying with my boundaries like they’re a dildo for her to play with.
For the last week, I’ve avoided her on purpose, hoping she’d fade into the background where she belongs while I focused on more important matters in my kingdom.
But her perfume, her clumsiness, the sound of her flipping pages… they’ve all been nagging at the edges of my mind.
I hate that she destabilizes me this much. And it’s time I returned the favor.
“I… I wasn’t lying.”
Now she’s back to her default setting, the shy nerd.
What was I saying before she distracted me? Something about… rules, right.
“We’ll have this discussion another time. When you’re more stable and not… distracted.”
I put weight on that last word for me as much as it was for her and felt a spark of satisfaction when she reddened like a ripe tomato.
I headed back to my study. Minutes later, while working on a pending contract, I realized something… the occasional buzz of my phone was missing.
That’s when I remembered leaving it on the dining table while talking to Nova earlier.
She was still there, but now she was gesticulating wildly while speaking into the phone. I caught a glimpse of my daughter’s face on the screen just before I heard her voice.
They better be talking about schoolwork.
I don’t know Nova well, but I’m sure she’s smart enough not to tell Lena she kissed her father. My daughter may be sweet, but she’s got the Irish temper of her late mother, and she wouldn’t hesitate to put any “flirty” friend of hers in her place.
“Tyler is cool, and honestly, it’s time you lose your V-card, Nova.”
I’d been walking over to grab my phone, but that statement froze me mid-step. I slipped back into the shadows.
V-card. Last I checked, that meant virginity.
Don’t tell me Nova is a virgin. The throat goddess who worshipped at my temple looked far too skilled for that.
“You’re twenty-two, and you’ll be twenty-three before summer’s over. It’s high time you let someone show you what it means to get an orgasm.”
I didn’t want to hear my daughter talk like this again… but I did appreciate her pushing Nova. And I was enjoying this.
“Orgasm is the least of my worries and I’ve experienced it several times. Thanks for your overwhelming trust in me.”
“Okay, fine. But you’re still a virgin, and it’s more embarrassing to say out loud.”
Wait. Does this mean Lena’s no longer a virgin? I had her aunt give her the sex talk at thirteen. She’d better not get pregnant for some douchebag.
“No, Lena. What’s more embarrassing is you talking like being a virgin is bad. It’s my life, my pussy, my virginity.”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. So much passion, so much dedication to her virginity. Does that mean she doesn’t want to have sex yet?
“No, it’s not.”
That sounded like their third roommate… Stacy? Katie?
“It is my pussy and my v card, Katie. Don’t be a bully.”
Okay, her name is Katie.
“I’m not doing this with you anymore, Nova. I’ll forward your contact to Tyler and have him message you directly.”
Lena’s voice had that authoritative edge I recognized. My daughter really is like me.
Shame she’s not a son.
“And if you love yourself, your privacy, and me as your best friend, you’d better treat him well. If not, I’ll put you on Tinder,” Katie added.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Nova angrily tapped the red button, ending the call before screaming into her sweater.
Her muffled frustration and the way she tugged at her ponytail was… a beautiful sight. Definitely something I’d enjoy remembering.
I filed all the information I’d just gathered into a private mental folder definitely for future use.
“…and no matter what, Nova, you are not a failure for being a virgin.”
So now she was giving herself pep talks as she hugged herself out of the room.
“Self-pleasure orgasms are still orgasms.”
Her voice was fading down the hall.
“And unless you find someone ready to take you roughly and forcefully, you’re definitely not getting fucked by a boy who barely knows what he’s doing.”
That last bit was delivered with passion and sounds like a promise.
So… she likes it rough.
I knew the nymph I saw at the club was hiding somewhere inside her.
I’m ready to play the long game for as long as she wants to pretend. But before she leaves my house, I will take that pussy and every other one of her wildest fantasies will be sacrificed at the altar of my Red Room.
CHAPTER SIXTY THREENALA POVAfter Nova excused herself to go attend to the kids I realize I couldn’t possibly leave Isla here, her condition might deteriorate if care is not taken so I decided to take a big step without overthinking shit. I mentioned to Ivin to come closer then I borrowed his phone and dialed Sue.She picked on the second ring and I gave her a crash summary enough for her to know Isla but not enough to make her sound like a charity pity case. If I would be travelling to God knows where with Ivin and Isla ragged along it might not end well cause Isla seem to be afraid of Ivin even if she won’t say it out loud. “So she’ll have a job,” I said into the phone. “Not just a place to sleep. An actual reason to be there. That matters to her and really keeps her busy enough not to overthink or remember all those bad memories .”“Course it matters.” Sue’s voice came through warm and immediate, no hesitation in it at all. “Girl needs purpose, not pity. I got a spot behind the
CHAPTER SIXTY TWONALA POVThe estate looked exactly the way I remembered it, which felt strange considering how much of me had changed in the weeks since I’d last walked through those gates. Same warm colored corridors. Same smell of something baking somewhere. Same sense of a house that had learned how to hold a lot of people’s worst days without ever looking like it minded.I walked in slowly, careful not to let my ribs pain obvious or announce themselves. Small steps. Even breathing. The trick was in not thinking about it too hard, because thinking about it made my body remember it had permission to hurt.“Nala.” Nova came around the corner with Aurora on her hip and that bright, easy smile that always made a room feel warmer just by existing in it. “You’re here. You’re actually here.”“In the flesh.” I smiled back, kept my voice light, let it skate right over the top of everything underneath it. “Couldn’t stay away.”Her eyes did a quick pass over me, the kind mothers and older
CHAPTER SIXTY ONENALA POVThe line clicked on the third ring.“Sue’s, we’re closed, call back at a decent hour—”“Sue.” My voice cracked right down the middle of her name. “Sue, it’s me.”Silence on the other end. “Nala.” She said it like she was checking the word still worked in her mouth. “Nalayna Brooks.”“Yeah.” I pressed the phone harder against my ear like that could close the distance. The wind off the water kept trying to steal the sound of her voice and I hated it for that. “It’s me. I’m okay.”“You’re okay.” Something sharp came into her tone, the kind of sharp that only showed up in people who’d been scared for a long time and just found somewhere to put it down. “You call me okay after weeks and months of nothing. Weeks, days and months, Nala. I called that number your Ethan left me a dozen times. A dozen times and nobody answered and nobody told me a damn thing and I sat behind that counter every night wondering if I was gonna hear you were—”She stopped herself befor
CHAPTER SIXTYNALA POV“Pack light,” Ivin said, already halfway out the bedroom door. I noticed the way he talked and behaved around me like he was walking on eggshells and I won’t be having any of that. “Pack light for what, exactly.” I was still sitting on the edge of the bed pressing careful fingers against my ribs, testing how much protest they’d give me this morning. Less than yesterday. Progress, I guessed.“We’re leaving.”“Leaving for where.” He didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t. Ivin communicated in riddles and silences and the occasional devastating one liner, and apparently marrying the man hadn’t upgraded his customer service at all.I pulled a duffel out from under the bed and started folding things into it without much thought, mostly because moving my hands gave me something to do besides sit there turning his non answer over in my head. I've gotten good at packing light lately, seeing as my whole fucking life these days seemed to fit into whatever bag someone handed
CHAPTER FIFTY NINE : NALA POVI woke up not knowing where I was.That was the new normal apparently. Eyes open, body frozen, brain running a full threat assessment before it allowed itself to register that the ceiling was different from the room's ceiling, that the smell was different, that the bed beneath me was soft in a way that concrete floors and cots were not soft.Safe house. Ivin's.Right.I breathed.The breathing thing had become a whole process now cause it had to be deliberate and counted, the only breathing you did when your body had forgotten it was allowed to just breathe without checking first.Ivin was in the chair.Of course he was.Same chair energy as the hospital except this time he was awake, forearms on his knees, eyes on my face, and when he saw me register him he didn't move or speak or make it a thing. Just stayed exactly where he was and let me take my time coming back to the room.I appreciated that more than I had words for."Isla?" I said. First word out
CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT NALA POVThe priest was a small man with kind eyes and he definitely looked like someone who had married people in stranger circumstances than this and had made peace with that being his life.He looked at me over his glasses when Ivin introduced us and said nothing about the bruising or the jacket or the fact that I was wearing clothes that weren't mine and had clearly not slept in something that felt like years."Are you here of your own free will?" he asked.I looked at Ivin standing beside me.Ivin looked back at me with that face."Yes," I said.The door opened behind us and Scar came in with Isla close to his side. She had Scar's jacket around her shoulders now, swimming in it, her dark hair loose and her eyes moving around the room with the careful attention of someone who had learned that new rooms required immediate assessment.She assessed the priest.The desk.The candles.Ivin.Me."What is happening?" she said in her careful broken English."We're get







