Page 30 of The Merger

I stepped out of the way to let him unlock the door. He grabbed the knob and frowned. “Sunshine, did you leave the door unlocked?”

“Of course not. It was probably Waverly.” I rolled my eyes.

She was the worst roommate, but I had promised Colt I’d help her when he cut off funding her extravagant lifestyle. Soft touch that he was, he still tried to help her. Or rather, he pushed me to help her. Maybe I was the pushover.

“Get behind me,” he ordered.

I did as he asked, and moved behind him while he pushed open the door.

The sounds filling the apartment were obscene, but not unexpected. I might have been choosier about my sexual partners, but my sister certainly wasn’t. Not that choosing was hard considering I hadn’t had any kind of sex for the last five years. Still, my sister had a new man every week, sometimes every few days.

Not that I should slut shame my own sister or anyone. She was single, and as long as she was safe she could have as much fun as she wanted. Men did it, and if it was good enough for them, then women should get to play too. With Waverly, it was harder for me to keep that in mind since she often went out of her way to sleep with any man I was remotely interested in.

There was also the fact that I didn’t love coming home to the sounds of skin slapping and heavy breathing broken up by grunts and moans. It was louder than it should have been in her bedroom.

I went to move around Stryker, but he threw his arm out, keeping me behind him.

“I actually need to get to my room if I’m going to change,” I said and ducked under his arm.

“Sabrina, no,” Stryker blurted out and tried to push me back behind him.

It was too late though. The scene before me hurt, but not in the way I expected it to. If there was even a shred of doubt that I didn’t have romantic feelings for Malcolm that was cleared up in the time it took my brain to realize what I was looking at.

Malcolm had Waverly bent over the table and was pounding into her oblivious to the fact they were no longer alone. Or, my inner voice whispered, they wanted to be caught.

All those times I thought Malcolm was waiting for me in my apartment, had I really just interrupted him hooking up with my sister? It didn’t make sense. Not him screwing my sister, I understood that. They had a history, and she was beautiful. What confused me was, why had he pursued me at all if he was sleeping with Waverly? Did he have some kink about fucking sisters? Did he think I’d join them someday? That was never going to happen.

Stryker grabbed my arms and pushed me back out the door. There was a needless look of sympathy on his face, but also pain. He was misinterpreting my feelings for what I saw.

In the hallway, he stopped me to rub up and down my arm. “I’m sorry he hurt you.”

“What? No,” I sputtered. I opened my mouth to clear up his misconception, but the door to my apartment flew open, interrupting me.

Malcolm stormed out, his shirt inside out, and his pants still undone. “Sabrina!” he shouted, even though I was only a few feet away from him.

I held up my hand. “Don’t try to justify what I walked into. Answer one question for me.”

Leaning back against Stryker, I selfishly borrowed some of his strength to help me face off against my former best friend. “Why did you pursue me if you’re with Waverly?”

His head shook so vehemently I thought he was going to give himself whiplash. “I’m not with Waverly. We help each other relieve the tension sometimes, but it’s nothing.”

My arms fell to my side. Stryker wrapped an arm around my waist giving me more comfort. Malcolm’s eyes dropped down to where his brother held me and sneered.

“I guess the little message I gave my friend in accounting wasn’t wrong after all.”

“I fucking knew it,” Stryker barked. He took a step forward, but I leaned more of my weight against him to keep him from attacking Malcolm.

I patted Stryker’s hand, letting him know it was fine. Well, it wasn’t fine, but I no longer cared what Malcolm thought. “I have been trying to get a hold of you all afternoon, but I don’t feel like we need to have a talk anymore. Our friendship is over.”

He laughed, and the sound was grating. “I knew you wanted to get ahead, but I thought you relied on nepotism, not your pussy.”

Before I realized what he was doing, Stryker spun me so that he was in front of me again. His fist plowed into Malcolm’s face.

“You ever speak to my wife like that again and I’ll do more than break your fucking nose,” he promised.

Malcolm pinched his nose, trying to stem the rush of blood that quickly coated his face and hand. “I’ll call the cops.” His voice was muffled behind his hand.

This time Stryker replied with a laugh, except his wasn’t cold. It burned with fury, but also a seductive promise. It said that he’d suffer any consequences to keep me safe. They weren’t just night and day in their looks.

---