Page 15 of Resisted

She jumped forward, her fingers gripping my arm, her nails digging so tight, I felt the tiniest spark of pain. “No! Don’t!”

“Why wouldn’t I tell my alpha about this?” I raised a brow.

“He’s your alpha, not mine,” she spat. “What I do doesn’t concern him.”

“In theory, yes. But as my alpha, it’s my job to tell him everything. Everything includes what I caught his sister doing under his parents’ roof.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not his sister.”

“A technicality. His parents have raised and loved you as their own, provided for you. Can you deny that?”

Her hands dropped from my arm. “No.” I hit the call button and then speakerphone. It rang once, twice, and on the third ring, she rushed the words out. “I’ll tell you. Just hang up!”

At that exact moment, the phone picked up and Silas’ voice filled the line. “Tell you what?”

I gave her a hard look for a moment, ignoring the repeatedhelloscoming from the phone. Finally, I cleared my throat. “Vince sent me over for the extension pole, but Bella here won’t tell me where it’s at.”

He groaned. “Belladonna, for once in your life, could you just not cause trouble?”

“Not possible,” I commented before the red-faced girl in front of me exploded on him. “See you tonight.”

I hung up, and the first thing she said was, “I hate when he calls me that.”

“It could be worse.” I leveled her with my stare again. “Tell me.”

She bit her lower lip and I tried to look away, but I couldn’t. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I’ve heard and lived through worse,” I assured her.

“I…” She let the word hang.

She really wouldn’t tell me, I could see that now. Not unless I forced the words out of her, dragged each syllable out of her painstakingly slowly. I stepped forward, grabbing her hips and tossing her over my shoulder for the ten feet it took me to walk toward the workbench. Then I plopped her down on the workbench and squeezed my body between her open thighs so that our faces were six inches apart and she was forced to look nowhere else.

“Tell. Me.”

“You’re going to laugh.” She bit her fucking lip again as her face reddened.

“Probably.” I wouldn’t deny it. Though my body might have changed into adulthood, parts of my mind had sure as hell lagged. My humor was as immature as they came and I should’ve been ashamed to admit it, but fuck, if I didn’t find things to laugh at in this lifetime, I would’ve been as bitter as Vince. “Tell me anyway.”

“I’ve never been kissed. I’m sixteen, and I’ve never been kissed. Everyone knows what family I belong to, and that makes me nearly untouchable.”

I’d admit, we had a reputation. “What does that have to do with…” I realized a moment too late. “You wanted to kiss him? That guy?”

I was both equally intrigued and repulsed. She just shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t necessarily want it to be him, no. But no one else would do it. They’re all too afraid of Vince and Silas.”

“And me.”

“No. Not you.”

“Why do you have to be so hurtful?” I mumbled.

“You wouldn’t hurt a fly,” she responded.

I hadn’t realized I’d leaned closer to her. My hands, that had rested on either side of her, were somehow moving closer to her outer thigh, until my thumbs felt the warmth of her skin through her jeans. “That’s not what they were saying yesterday when I sunk my teeth into the throat of a poacher.”

Her voice came out almost breathless. “I wouldn’t believe it.”

I glanced at her eyes and then her lips, and before I could stop myself or think it through, I blurted out, “I’ll make you a deal, Bella. I’ll give you a first kiss, if that’s all you’re after. But if I ever catch you in the barn again with anyone, I don’t care who, I’ll make sure Silas, Vince, and I burn their fucking balls over a damn campfire. Am I clear?”

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