My stepbrother and his friends want me 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 21 - 챕터 30

RHYSMy study felt so much smaller, with my thoughts being so big.I stood at the window with a glass of whiskey I had no intention of finishing and watched the dark stretch of lawn beyond the glass. Anger sat in my chest like a live coal. At my father, for the constant pressure and the smiling threats dressed up as family duty. At Victoria, for walking into this house like she already owned the air in it and laughing in Emma’s face. At myself, most of all, for the look in Emma’s eyes when the tears finally came hurt and confusion and a desperate hope that I would finally stop lying.I had held her and told her there was no marriage. The words had tasted like ash. She had believed them because she wanted to. Because she trusted me more than I deserved.The door opened behind me. Tristan came in first, followed by Theo and then Cade. No one spoke until the door was shut and the lock turned. Old habit.Tristan dropped into the nearest chair and scrubbed both hands over his face. “That wa

EMMACade stood at the foot of the bed completely bare, already hard, and looked at me like he had been waiting for this exact moment for weeks.I pushed up onto my elbows, pulse hammering in my throat. The door was shut. The rest of the penthouse felt very far away. He didn’t move closer right away. He just watched me, dark eyes moving over every inch of exposed skin.“Safe word,” he said. His voice was low and flat, the same tone he used when he was deadly serious. “You’re going to give me one before I touch you.”I swallowed. “Red.”“And colors. Green means you’re good. Yellow means slow down or ease up. Red stops everything. No questions, no anger. You use them. Understand?”“Yes.”“Say it back.”“Green means good. Yellow means slow down. Red stops everything.”He nodded once. “Good girl.”Then he moved.He climbed onto the bed, knees bracketing my thighs, and reached for my wrists. In one smooth motion he pinned them above my head with one large hand. The other trailed down the c

EMMATheo stayed above me for a long moment, weight braced on his forearms, eyes dark with the hunger I had only glimpsed before. Then he pushed himself up and off the bed.I watched as he reached for the buttons of his shirt and began undoing them one by one. The fabric parted, revealing the hard lines of his chest and stomach. He shrugged the shirt off and let it fall, leaving only his dark trousers. The outline of him was already clear against the material. He didn’t rush. Every movement was deliberate, controlled, the same way he did everything else.When he came back to the bed he started with my dress.He paused to press soft, open-mouthed kisses along the newly exposed skin of my collarbone, my shoulder, the upper curve of one breast. Each kiss was careful, almost reverent, while his palms smoothed over my sides and hips as he worked the dress the rest of the way off. My bra followed. He unhooked it slowly, drew the straps down, and immediately lowered his mouth to one nipple, su

RHYSThe elevator doors closed on the sound of her crying.I rode up to the office level without looking back. The anger that had been sitting under my skin all day finally had somewhere to go. By the time I stepped into the private office the three of them were already there Tristan near the window, Theo by the desk, Cade standing in the middle of the room like he had been waiting for the exact moment the door opened.He didn’t waste time.Cade’s fist came fast and hard. I turned my head enough that the blow caught my jaw instead of my mouth. Pain flared white and sharp. Before he could throw a second punch Tristan and Theo had him by the arms, hauling him back. I tasted blood where my teeth had cut the inside of my cheek. I reached into my jacket, drew the compact black pistol I always carried, and leveled it at Cade’s forehead in one clean motion.“I dare you, to hit me again.” I said, voice flat.The room went very still. Cade’s chest was heaving. His eyes were wet at the corners,

THEOTo others, the friendship was still there but in reality, it had become something thinner and more careful.Rhys spent most of his time buried in work or in the endless details of the wedding. When he was in a room with the rest of us he spoke about schedules, contracts, and timelines. Nothing else. The version of him that used to stay late talking, or argue for the sake of it, or look at any of us like we were more than useful pieces, had gone quiet. He kept the machine running. That was all.Cade had disappeared into himself. He still showed up when he was required. He still did the work. But the man who used to fill a doorway with silence that felt like a presence was gone. What remained was colder and more distant. He barely spoke. He left the second he could. Looking at him felt like looking at someone who had decided the rest of us were no longer worth the effort of being known.I was the one who kept searching. Although against orders. The call came in the middle of the af