MasukAuthor’s Note: TWO CHAPTERS LEFT!! I AM ~distressed~
~I relax into a full-body stretch as I wake up the next morning, the sheets falling from my arms as I lift them overhead. My muscles ache deliciously, and memories of last night flood my mind. Getting into bed. In the bath.Rhys’s house.I’m not left with my reminiscing for very long because suddenly I am very aware of the fact that David’s tongue is between my legs.Lifting the sheets to look down, David smI watch the soft, relaxed expression on Eli’s face vanish, replaced by a sudden rigidity that makes his shoulders lock. His large hands drop from my waist and an immediate panic washes over my chest as the vulnerability of what I just confessed hits me.“You don’t have to say it back,” I say quickly, taking a step back and wrapping my arms tightly over my uniform skirt. “I… um… I just wanted you to know.”Eli rubs the back of his neck, his knuckles catching on the edge of his collar as he looks down at the floor, refusing to meet my eyes.“Why,” he says, his brows pulling together in a tight frown. “Why would you even say that?”The tone of his voice is entirely devoid of the tenderness from a moment ago. It sounds flat, bordering on annoyed, and the rejection hits me hard. My panic instantly morphs into a hot, defensive anger as my defenses flare up to protect whatever dignity I have left.“What the hell kind of response is that?” I demand, my thoughts screaming that I’ve just m
Eli slides off the mattress, yanking the gun from between my thighs and tucking it securely back into his waistband before I can even drag my breathing back to a normal rhythm. He lifts me off him and places me on the bed, then dashes across the room and slips into the narrow space between the heavy oak wardrobe and the bedroom door just as the handle begins to turn. I barely have enough time to kick my discarded panties under the edge of the bed before the door swings wide open and my mother steps in. “Lucy, sweetheart, everything alright in here?” “Of course, Mom,” I say, forcing my voice into a slightly high, airy register as I sit up on the edge of the mattress, flattening my skirt over my knees. “I’m just, uh, resting. It was a long day at school.” Mom’s brows furrow, her gaze sweeping across the rumpled sheets before landing on my flushed face. “Are you entirely certain? I swear I heard a noise from the hallway that sounded precisely like a squeal.” She stops, her nos
A/N: Sorry for the inconsistent updates guys. School has been kicking your girl's ass and I'm currently writing three books at the same time so I'm stretched thin. Butttt, I promise I'm working on a schedule that won't end with me in a coma so I promise it will all stabilize in due time. Also..... gun grinding trigger warning for this chapter (is that even a thing??). Anyway, watch out for some weird ass gun kink with our favorite couple. Have fun! P.S. My new book "His Dominant Sub" is out on GoodNovel now, featuring another couple from the Red Room. Do give it a try and let me know what you think. ~ Chloe is standing by the doorway with her hands resting on the straps of her bag and her eyes moving from the smeared blood on the floor straight to my face. Priya is right behind her, chewing on a piece of gum, her brow raised in that classic, investigative way she adopts whenever she smells drama. “Find out what?” Chloe repeats, stepping further into the room. She looks at Emma,
The heavy glass entrance doors of the high school haven’t even fully settled behind me before Emma blocks my path. She is standing near the rows of green metal lockers with her arms tightly crossed over her chest. I try to offer a casual wave, but she doesn’t blink.“When are you planning on doing it?” Emma asks as I approach.I stop, adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. “Good morning to you too, Em. I slept wonderfully, thank you for asking.”“Don’t do the sarcasm thing right now,” she says, refusing to smile. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Chloe. When are you going to tell her about you and Eli?”I look past her shoulder, scanning the crowded hallway to ensure a specific blonde head isn’t within earshot. “I really don’t know how to tell her, Em. You saw how she ran out of that hospital room. If I tell her that the guy she is crying over has been sneaking onto my roof for weeks, it won’t just hurt her. She will absolutely hate me forever.”“She’s hurting alre
The dining room is filled with the warm, rich scent of roasted lamb and rosemary, the heavy crystal chandelier overhead casting a soft glow across the polished mahogany table. For the first time since the shooting, my family actually feels like a family instead of a collection of heavily guarded assets trying to survive a corporate war. Tyler is currently mocking Lucas about his miserable attempt at a soccer tryout earlier this week, his voice full of that annoying big-brother superiority that usually makes me want to slide a fork into his thigh. “I’m telling you, David, he tripped over the penalty cone before he even touched the ball,” Tyler says, leaning back in his chair with a smug grin as he passes the basket of fresh rolls down the table. “The coach looked like he wanted to cry out of sheer embarrassment for our bloodline.” “It was windy, okay?” Lucas fires back, his cheeks turning a bright, defensive red as he aggressively stabs a piece of potato. “The ground was wet, and T
The white coat of the physician moves back and forth in front of the hospital window, the man’s voice a monotonous hum as he lists the post-discharge instructions. Eli sits on the edge of the bed, already dressed in a clean black t-shirt and jeans that the security staff had brought for him, his chest tightly bound beneath the fabric. “No heavy lifting for at least four weeks, Elias,” the doctor says, checking a box on his digital tablet. “The entry wound has closed nicely, but the muscular tissue beneath the ribs needs time to repair. You should strictly avoid any high-impact movements, keep your diet clean and low in sodium to prevent inflammation, and take the prescribed antibiotics every eight hours without fail. Do you understand everything I’ve just gone over?” “Yes,” Eli says, his voice flat as he stares at his own boots. He hasn’t listened to a single word the man has said for the past ten minutes. His entire brain is occupied by a suffocating mixture of frustration an
We’re officially at 20k views, guyssss 😭 I know this might not seem like a huge milestone to some of you who are used to reading books with 100k, 500k, or even millions of views, but for me?? For the fact that this is my very first book ever??? Speechless. I was surprised when this book even got
I stare into the empty space where the ledger should be, my pulse loud in my ears, each beat reminding me how quickly everything we built to protect ourselves has crumbled. David exhales sharply beside me, the sound cutting through the silence. “Someone knew exactly where to look.” I don’t answer
I grip the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turn white as I speed through the city streets, David in the passenger seat beside me. "Turn left at the next light," he says quietly, glancing at his phone's GPS. "It'll shave off a few minutes." I nod without speaking and make the turn, the hospital
Lucy kicks off her sneakers the moment we cross the threshold, leaving them in a haphazard pile by the coat closet. She’s already halfway down the hall before I can remind her to hang her coat. “Daddy!” she calls, sprinting toward him with her arms wide. Vincent is in the livi







