Page 21 of Pucking Forbidden

I hesitate, wondering if I should tell him. “He hurt himself, too.” Jordan doesn’t say anything, so I take that as my cue to continue. “Obviously, I don’t know what he did to her, but whatever it was, I think he’s regretted it for a long time. He…changed after she left him. He drinks alone a lot. Management quietly sent him to rehab last year during the offseason. If he doesn’t get it together soon, they may not renew his contract. I don’t think he even cares. It’s like he hates himself.” I shrug, not really sure why I’m telling Jordan any of this. He doesn’t owe Jamison anything, not anymore. Not after everything. But…he’s still my brother. He’s still the guy who raised me after our parents died. There’s not a switch I can flip to magically shut off a lifetime of loving him.

“Doesn’t change anything,” Jordan mutters.

“I know,” I whisper. “I didn’t really expect it to change anything. I guess I just thought you should know that he’s paying for it in some way.” It doesn’t feel like enough, not really. But I don’t say that.

It hurt enough to realize my brother lied for so long. Knowing that he hurt everyone in the process and changed the trajectory of three lives feels like it might be too much to forgive. How do I ever look at him the same way now? He had years to make it right, and he chose not to do it. He maintained the lie. Maybe he does regret it. But I don’t think he regrets it enough. Certainly not enough to finally face it. Instead, he just buries it in alcohol like he can drink away his shame.

He can’t. Just like I can’t wish it away. He needs to face what he’s done. But I can’t force Jordan to talk to him and make him face it. It’s not even fair that I asked.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur. “I shouldn’t have asked. You don’t owe anyone that.”

“You don’t owe me an apology. He’s your brother,” Jordan says, simply accepting what I’m still struggling with. And maybethat’s why he didn’t tell me five years ago. Because even though it should be ancient history now…I’m still somehow in the middle, caught between the brother I thought I could trust with anything, and the man who risked everything.

There is no competition. I guess Jordan knows that, too. And maybe that’s why I could never let him go. Because there is no competition.

We sit quietly for a minute before he grunts and hauls me onto his lap. His lips come down on mine in a hard kiss. “New rule, princess. When you’re in my bed, we don’t talk about your brother. The only thing that exists is you and me.”

“Just me and you, huh?” I whisper, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, grateful for the distraction. Grateful that he’s here, giving me a chance to fix what we all played a part in breaking.

“Yeah. Just me and you.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

He smirks against my lips, palming my ass. “Rules aren’t deals, Sutton. I give them. You obey them. Simple.”

I bite his lip, my core clenching. He’s too damn hot when he’s bossy. I shouldn’t like it, and yet…

“Make me,” I whisper, knowing exactly how that’s going to end. With me on my back, coming for my damn life.

Sounds like heaven.

Chapter Six

Jordan

“Idon’t like your bed,” Sutton says early the next morning.

“Yeah? Why is that?” I ask, fighting a smile as I shove the rest of my shit into my bag and zip it up, juggling the phone between my shoulder and ear to keep my hands free. Therest of the team has already cleared out of the locker room, but I got a late start this morning.

Mostly because there’s a goddess in my bed. It took every ounce of willpower I had to leave at all. I wanted to stay right there, wrapped up in her.

Instead, I ate her until she came all over my tongue, fucked her again, and then dragged my ass away to avoid missing our flight.

“Because you aren’t in it.” The pout in her voice is fucking adorable. It also has my cock stiffening in my pants. “I miss you.”

“You could have come with me,” I remind her quietly. I tried to talk her into flying out for the game last night, but she refused. That’s probably for the best. Facing Jamison is a shitshow any day of the week. Doing it with his baby sister on my arm is bound to complicate things.

Right now, we don’t need complications. We need time to just fucking be. To find our way back to one another again. This time, I’m not letting her go. I know part of her is worried that this is some big, twisted game I’m trying to play with her brother, but fuck that. I don’t want her as a way to punish him. I want her, period. Permanently. That’s never changed, not once in six fucking years.

At this point, I’m convinced it never will. Maybe I met her too soon. Maybe I fucked it all up because I couldn’t get out of my own way and claim her the way I should have. I don’t know anymore. It’s all jumbled in my head.

But I’m not fucking it up this time. I don’t care what I lose, it won’t be her. Been there, done that. Damn near didn’t survive it. I’m not putting us through that shit again. Jamison doesn’t have to like it when he finds out. He can get fucked with a Zamboni. Sideways.

But his baby sister is mine now, the way she should have been back then. I’m not letting her go. Not for any reason.

“Bad idea,” she groans. “I need you to not get kicked out of the league and sent to prison for killing my brother, please.”

“Don’t plan on killing him.” Unless he gets between me and her, anyway. We’re going to have a big motherfucking problem if he tries to come between us. But that’s a problem for another day. “Behave while I’m gone. No touching my pussy.”

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