Page 152 of Stutter

Happily, I tug her to me again and pepper a dozen kisses on her cheek. “Yes!”

“Ugh! You slobbered on me!” she says, wiping at her face and I tilt my head back and laugh. Fuck it, I don’t care. I always want her with me.

________

“Negotiations have been settled, and the contracts have been signed. Their offspring will be the most powerful and wealthiest legacies of their generation. Not even God will be able to touch them.” My father sneers with pride but my heart crumbles in my chest, all blood draining from my head to my toes.

There’s no way. There’s no fucking way Raven signed her life away to Tyler. My hands curl into a fist as I stand from my chair in his office. “You said she was going to be mine.”

“I said, ‘If no other offers come as close to what we can build by staying in the family, then I’ll allow it.’”

Staying in the family. He makes it sound so incestuous. It's not. She’s mine. She’s always been mine. He knows this. He's known this since they first stepped foot in our house. Since the first time she sat at the foot of my bed and watched over me when I was sick, making sure my fever didn’t spike and brought me juice and watched cartoons with me. She’s been mine since our first dance at their wedding. She’s been mine since my eyes landed on her. Plain and simple.

“What’s going to happen to her?”

“Stephen has allowed for her to graduate with her degree in music. She’ll have two years to believe she has a choice in this, in which Tyler will try to woo her. And then when he fails, it’ll be known she has no choice.”

“She… but… she’s not going to go down without a fight.”

Father chuckles as if this is just a soft form of entertainment to him. “Stephen like his women with a little fight.”

“Stephen? You said she was negotiated for Tyler.”

He shrugs. “Semantics. Tyler has certain…tendenciesthat haven’t escaped Stephen. If Tyler can’t perform… well, then it’ll just be a marriage on paper and the heir will still be a Prescott.”

I can’t imagine her genetics being washed out by his. I can’t imagine her holding a child in her arms and they not have her eyes. “She’s not going to want this. She’ll flee. She’s a runner. She’s always been trying to escape you and Sofia… this life.”And for good reason,I don’t add.

The smirk on his face slides right off. “Then she'll die. The only way this contract does not go through… isdeath.” Hazel eyes harden as they peruse me from where he stands in the corner of his office, tall and somewhat imposing but if I were to stand, he'd have to look up. “If she dies, life will continue on, son. But if Tyler were to die, she goes straight to Stephen.”

I don’t hide the disgust from my face.

“Always read the fine print, son. You’ll know this once you pass the bar and work for our company.”

That’s my future.

To be another lawyer on my father's executive team of lawyers while I learn Monroe Tech's policies and procedures inside and out so I can take over for him as CEO when he retires. My entire life is set for me. Nothing is mine.

Not even her.

________

I wait until practice is over and we're back at the Sigma Delta Chi house and everyone's gone to bed to approach our star quarterback and captain, Tyler Prescott, knocking on his bedroom door. We've grown closer this year since he’s taken me under his wing, and I was nominated as Co-captain for the Yellow Jackets. “Hey, Tyler, can I talk to you?”

His door opens and I’m instantly met with bright blue eyes like clear ocean waters and a singular blonde brow lifts along with a corner of his lips. “Yeah?”

“It’s about… your contract with my stepsister.”

He blows out a breath, steps back and motions for me to step into his room, the master suite since he has seniority and ascaptain. Closing the door behind him he steps forward until he’s in front of his desk chair, sits then swivels to face me. “Trust me, this is the last thing I wanted but my dad is dead set on Raven. I don’t even think it’s about the money. He just… wants her.”

My guts churn and a wave of nausea hits me. “Can’t you do something?”

“I tried.” He waves it off like he’s just accepted it.

“Tyler, please. She’s… she doesn’t belong in this world she’ll never be happy. She’s gonna do big things with her music.”

“Look, Axel, it wasn’t my choice,” he stands, making his way to me, stepping so close we're toe-to-toe. “If I could have a different choice… it would be you.”

I feel my eyes widen in surprise. “What?”

---