Page 175 of Ruthless Legacy

“I don’t remember asking for a favor.”

“Maybe the guy bleeding in the alley in Skullz's territory will jog your memory.” He smirks at me. “I know how your brain works, and no, I didn’t stick that gift in an envelope, trying to entrap you. I got a call about him last week.”

He points to the envelope. “That came yesterday.” We’re heading back the other way when he says, “The alley was clean when my guys did a sweep.”

I stop, forcing him to turn around. I respect Saint. Most of the time. There are aspects of the Inferno Skullz I despise, but I know what he stands for, and what I’m about to say is for his ears only. “Saint, there were roaches scurrying around.”

He tips his head towards his second in command and disappears into the crowd.

Chapter70

Pax

“Thea! Open this door!” I yell, ramming my fist against the wood. I went to Wolfe Pack with her to workout, and she slipped out the back door without me knowing. The location for her phone was off. It came back online in her room a few minutes ago.

She opens the door, rolling her eyes at me. “Why are you out here banging and yelling like a madman?”

“Do you think this shit is a joke?”

“This? Meaning you?” She smiles at me. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

I’m in the wrong headspace to confront her about her disappearing act. I thought something happened. That somehow, someone snatched her from under my nose. But she looks fine. She’s cracking jokes, so she did it to piss me off.

My brain is telling me to walk away from her. To put some distance between us, before I do something stupid, but my hand seems to have a mind of its own.

I grab her by the front of her shirt and drag her closer, smashing my lips to hers. She’s fighting this kiss. Fighting this. Fighting me. I push her inside her room, kicking her door closed with my foot.

Squeezing her jaw, I force her mouth open and dive my tongue into her mouth. Demanding her compliance, her submission. Holden has this domineering thing, Finn is smooth and encouraging. Me, I’m a jack hammer, pounding through the concrete wall of her stubbornness.

She’s fighting on principle, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The heat between us builds and builds. I break the kiss long enough to catch my breath and, without giving her a chance to think, I dive back in. Her hand fist the hair at the back of my head and yanks, trying to change the angle of the kiss.

“Not happening, Nem.” I whisper against her lips before slipping my tongue back inside her mouth. She bites down on it. The growl that comes from me is primal, and my answering bite draws blood from her bottom lip. I lap at it and pull her closer, shoving her shorts down her hips. “Off.”

“You first.”

I pull out my dick and quickly roll a condom on, tossing the wrapper on the ground. “Just get them fucking off so I can bounce you on this dick.”

“You’ve got it backwards.” She says, pulling her shorts and panties off. “I’m gonna slide you in and out of my pussy.”

I lift her, notching the head of my cock at her entrance. “Whatever you have to tell your-”

She slides my length, using my shoulders as leverage to pull herself back up, then slides down again, taking a little more. She does this a few more times, finally taking as much as she can and rolls her hips in a circle.

I walk us over to the couch and sit, letting her control our rhythm, because she feels so damn good. Just as she gets a nice little vibe going, I disrupt that shit. I lift her, then slam her back down on my dick. Her eyes spring open because I’ve given her more than she took for herself.

I didn’t think I’d ever be able to enjoy sex again, and she’s proved me wrong. The attraction was there, even when I didn’t like her. I fought it. I’vebeenfighting it, and yet she’s slowly dragged me in just like she’s done with my friends. I didn’t want a companion, but I don’t hate having her as mine.

I love the push and pull. The give and take that only happens between us. I’ve been with women. Plenty of them, but none have ever made me feel like this. Sane and crazy at the same time.

I’ve said Finn and Holden are obsessed, but the truth is I’m a little obsessed too. What other explanation is there, for why I go out of my way to piss her off so she’ll talk to me, steal her panties, and pay a security guard to patrol the parking lot where she keeps her car?

If this is normal, then why did I intercept and tear up the transfer notice the housing department sent at the beginning of the semester just to keep her on this floor where I could keep an eye on her?

If it’s not obsession, then why is the money we took from her last semester sitting in a high yield savings account that I’ve been making monthly donations to? I was gonna give it to her and call it a payoff when she left town. She decided to stick around, so now it’s a graduation gift.

How else can I explain why I get so enraged when she talks to other guys?

My obsession might not look like Holden’s who sneaks into her room to watch her sleep, or Finn’s who kidnaps and stabs people trying to find out who was there the night she was attacked, but it’s there. I’ve insinuated myself into Thea’s life just as thoroughly as they have.

---