Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“Kraven, what are you doing?” she murmured against my lips.
I swallowed hard.
What am I doing, and why can’t I stop it?
I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. That was how in tune we were. I couldn’t get enough of her, and all we were doing was touching each other’s lips.
We weren’t kissing.
Just caressing.
Exploring.
Searching for something in each other that had always been and would always be there, whether we wanted it to or not.
No matter what.
“You taste like trouble,” I rasped, brushing my lips over hers.
“What are we doing?” she coaxed, placing her hand against my chest.
Not pushing me away.
Not pulling me closer either.
“I thought we were just two old friends catching up.”
“I don’t think old friends do what we’re doing.”
Following the movement of her tongue, I asked, “And what is that exactly?”
“Playing with fire.”
“This isn’t playing with fire,” I warned. “This is.”
With that, I backed her into the wall and wrapped her legs around my waist. Next, I caged her in with my arms on the sides of her head. Having her like this was sensory overload for me.
I breathed her in, and once I couldn’t take it anymore, I growled, gripping her throat to hold her in place.
Away from me.
I stayed quiet until it felt like I was sitting in a jail cell, bled dry.
I let her go. I had to.
Fully aware…
I was royally fucked.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
JULIUS
Call it instinct.
Perception.
Madness.
I should have stopped watching the video surveillance of them, but I couldn’t help it.
One second, Marco wouldn’t shut the fuck up, and the next, I thought I saw Isla’s bright red hair coming out of the bathroom. The camera quickly shifted to her walking down the hallway. Even on the security footage, she was stunning and took my breath away.
I was a lucky bastard.
There I sat, admiring the beauty that was Isla, not paying any mind to what Marco was saying. All of a sudden, Kraven appeared out of nowhere, backing her into what appeared to be a secluded corner. I wondered if he did that for my benefit.
I wasn’t an idiot, walking in on them more times than I cared to remember. Their little private conversations always got to me, but it was what it was…
I don’t think I have to worry, right?
Trust didn’t come easy for me by any means, and if I couldn’t trust my own brother, my own flesh and blood, then who could I trust?
Isla’s my best friend, and the best relationships stem from friendships, right?
The last thing I wanted was to see with my own two eyes what was happening behind my back.
“What the fuck?” I muttered under my breath, standing to get closer to the screen.
“Hmm…” Marco hummed, swiftly gripping my shoulder. “Looks like you might have some competition.”
I was a ticking fucking time bomb about to explode.
“Your brother doesn’t know you’ve been trying to get custody of him, does he?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I didn’t want to get his hopes up.”
The longer I stood there, the more I realized I couldn’t save him. Maybe because he wanted a rival, an enemy to blame. For years, I’d been killing myself to take care of him, to make sure he had a roof over his head and food on the table.
I bent over backward for him anytime he needed me. He never asked. I just did. It was my role as his older brother. I had to protect him. For a long time, until Isla came along, he was my only family. The only person who mattered to me.
But this…
Watching as he hovered above her with no distance between their mouths.
This, I couldn’t forgive.
Forget.
Ignore.
Pretend this wasn’t a betrayal, a slap in my face, the biggest fuck you. This was the line he decided to cross. Out of all the boundaries to burn, this was where I stopped being his shield and started being his threat.
I spent the past ten months since I turned eighteen working behind the scenes with a lawyer, filling out the proper paperwork to prove that our parents couldn’t sign him over to me, and that this needed to be mandated by the state. I also had to show a stable income for as far back as I could go, but most of my jobs were paid cash under the table.
The only money I had coming in now was from dealing, and although it was thousands at a time, it couldn’t look suspicious, or it’d bring a whole other set of problems, and I’d wind up in jail or worse —prison. I was no longer a minor, so I’d be tried as an adult. What was supposed to only be until I turned eighteen became a full-time career, and I had no plans for the future other than dealing drugs.
I was losing myself, and the only grounding I had was in two of the closest people to me, Isla and Kraven.