Page 86 of Restrictions

I’ll never tire of his sexy groaning voice when he’s inside of me. Of the way he says my name.

I’ll never tire of him.

The sick realization is something I've already known, but still...

It terrifies me to my core.

37

ASHER

“You’re fucking her.”

It’s not a question coming from my brother. It’s a cold, knowing statement in the cool night air as he joins me out on the patio.

After I finished inside Viv, we did go back to the dinner table. The tension from before had died down, and although I didn’t want to engage in bullshit small talk, I was present. After we finished eating, Vivienne took Baz downstairs to start the agonizing process of getting Baz to go to sleep in a place virtually unknown to him.

I offered to help, but she suggested I spend some time with my family.

Not something I wanted. So after helping clean up the mess and when Penelope, Lola and my mom cracked open a bottle of wine, I found solace in their back patio which is right on the beach. I can see the ocean as I watch the water rippling from the breezy night.

I don’t look at my brother as he takes a seat in the chair covered in padded white fabric that’s next to my identical one.

Everything here is white.

Who the hell are they trying to fool? As if I don’t know how black their souls are.

“Answer me, Asher.”

The laugh that rolls out of my throat is cold and bitter. “Was it a question?”

I can feel him bristling next to me, but I don’t turn to face him. “Are you?”

“You have no right to ask me anything.” I love my brother. I do. I love my entire family. Maybe not my father. But I’m not answering to Linc.

“She’s Sebastian’s mom.”

I swallow the bile in my throat, feeling the hot shame inside but not wanting to show him a goddamn ounce of it. “She’s a woman.”

I try to repeat her own words, knowing they’ll fall on deaf ears. “A woman who had a child with our brother.”

Now my body swivels, my sight on my brother. “You have some balls, man. I’ll give you that.”

“Must run in the family.”

“Fuck you.”

His jaw ticks, his mouth in an angry frown. “After all the shit you gave me about P, you’re fucking Vivienne. When you’re supposed to be helping her out.”

“I help her plenty.”

“Right. Help her right out of her pants.”

I swallow, hating that he’s throwing this in my face. Hating that I knew he would. Hating that he’s right and I'm no better than him. “What we do is none of your business, Linc.” I lean closer to him, my eyes sending a deadly warning I know he won’t listen to. “She wasn’t his.”

“Penelope wasn’t either.” His words bite, but I see him flinch ever so slightly.

“Bull. Shit.” I turn away from him, looking back at the ocean. “She was his, Linc. You can keep telling yourself all you want that she was always yours, but we both know it’s a lie.”

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