Page 10 of Until I Own You

Fuck.

I hate apologizing, but this is not all on her. “Yeah, sorry.”

Without another word, Solomon gets up from the table and follows the path of my mother outside.

Leaving Bridget and me alone. A rare occasion. Often, we’re surrounded by our friends or our family, interacting at events, not left alone to deal with what is between us.

Or isn’t, which makes my chest ache.

“Were you seriously going to tell my dad?” Bridget whispers in a way that pulls on my heart strings.

“Were you going to tell my mom?” I shoot back.

“As if that’s nearly as a big of a deal.” She shakes her head.

I scoff. “Of course it is!”

“You’re a guy! It’s not the same if people know you’re into… the lifestyle.”

I frown. “What’s the difference? Between me and you, then?”

“Are you kidding?” She huffs. “My dad knows all about your…” she waves her hands wildly, “what you do and doesn’t bat an eye. If he were to know I was doing that, then I wouldn’t be his good girl anymore.”

Not my cock growing hard at that.

Good girl.

What the fuck, that’s so unfair.

“And that’s what my dad expects.”

“You seriously put on the good girl persona just for your dad?” I scoff.

She rolls her eyes. “It’s not just for my dad.”

“People see you walking out of the Underground. They see you in the gallery. It’s not like people don’t know that you–”

She shakes her head. “It’s just different. You know it is. And if you don’t get that…” Bridget stops.

“What is there to get? I’ve got my needs and you have yours.” Fury flashes in my brain for all the men who have gotten to touch her and kiss her the ways I always have wanted to. “And neither of us want our biological parent to know. Although I really don’t think you should waste your time in the Underground with any more than watching. Those guys…they won’t know how to take care of you.”

Bridget’s brow pinches at the center. “And you would? No, don’t answer that. I don’t know why I continue to try and make you understand when you never will.”

A knife to the gut would have been less painful than that. “The fuck does that mean, Bridget?”

“I’m so tired of you speaking to me like I’m some kid who doesn’t get anything. You’re only three years older than me, Seth.”

“You’re my…” No, I can’t even think it, let alone say it. I don’t care what society or law say. I’ll never seen her that way. I swallow before adding, “We’re family, I’m trying to look out for you.”

Bridget shoots out of her chair. It tips back and smacks the ground. “You’re trying to control me! You’re always trying to control me and tell me what’s best for me and threatening me with my secrets to keep me down and–”

“I’ve never threatened, Bridget.” At least, I haven’t intended to. Is that how she sees it?

She puts up her hand. “Look, I don’t think we should talk anymore. Okay? Unless it’s family dinner.”

I shake my head. My heart is being ripped in two. “What?”

“I don’t want your commentary on my life or my choices. I don’t want you to interfere. And if you do–”

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