Page 19 of Kingston
I storm out of the bathroom, the sound of their laughter following me all the way through the raucous party and out of the house.
THIRTEEN
CANNON
Up ahead of me,Elliot strides purposefully back toward the hill where Hawthorne Hall resides. I allow myself to study her as I follow, feeling a bit like an animal stalking my prey. It’s only been twenty-four hours, but I’m heading into dangerously obsessed territory. I like everything about her, from the way her ass moves in those ripped-up jeans to how she stood up to Kingston back there. Other than Archer and myself, I’ve never seen anyone do that before, but especially not a female. I tried to hide it, but it’d sent arousal skidding through my system.Fuck.It’s a good thing she’d taken off when she did because her sassy mouth was giving me a hard-on. It hasn’t completely gone away either, so here I am, chasing after her with wood in my shorts.
My mind churns about everything that went down in the bathroom. Elliot had valid points; however, I doubt she foresaw how Kingston would twist things. If I know him at all, he meant it, too. He hopes suggesting we all get to fuck her will intimidate her into leaving. No doubt in my mind. But I’ve also seen the way he looks at her. It’s kinda like how I look at her, only with less possession and more anger.
After Elliot rushed away from us, the tension in the room hadn’t dissipated even a tiny bit because, first, watching her stride out of there with a huge head of mad had been hotter than hell. But second, none of us had known how to handle her running. No male initiate would dare walkorrun away from us. But I get it. She hasn’t liked the rules from the get-go. Opinionated little thing.
When we left the bathroom to find her, she’d disappeared, but the front door had slammed loudly, alerting us to the direction she’d gone in. At first, Archer was going to go after her, but I knew it had to be me. She doesn’t need someone else who will argue with her right now, or worse, tell her to calm down. That never works with women. Archer and Kingston haven’t learned that particular lesson yet—or maybe they haven’t paid close enough attention to the women they’ve been with. But me? I get it. Practically all Idois observe human nature.
Besides, I want to be the one to take her home.Me.
I pick up my pace as she approaches the quarter-mile driveway because there’s no way she’s going to be able to hike up the hill in those sexy fucking heels of hers. Hell, the only way she’d made it down in them was by hanging onto Archer and me for dear life.
Not that I’d minded. I’d enjoyed every goddamn moment of Elliot’s hand wrapped around my bicep, gripping me tightly. Archer had too. I could tell by the way his lips kept twitching every time he looked at her. And that had been a lot. Dude sees everyone and everything, but he’s been especially watchful with her around.
I’ve almost caught up to her when I realize she has no clue I’m here. She’s off in her own little world. I swiftly clap my hands a few times, which does startle her, but it gets the job done. She whirls around, stumbling, but I reach out and steady her before she loses her balance completely. I cock my head to the side, taking in her flushed skin and the way she’s teetering a bit. She’s a little drunk. I’m surprised I didn’t notice before. Or maybe the alcohol hit her all at once. Either way, she definitely needs help getting back to the house.
Holding her hands in front of her, she heaves out, “Leave me alone, Cannon.” She sways a bit to the side.
I arch a brow at her, and she groans, and then it’s on. Before she sees me coming, I have her over my shoulder again like the other night, only she’s wearing more clothing this time.
“What the fuck are you doing? No!” Elliot shouts into the darkness.
I glance around. There’s simply no one out this far to hear her, so I grasp her wriggling, intoxicated form tightly, one arm around her upper thighs and the opposite hand firmly planted on her ass. And then, I begin the journey up the hill with a smile on my face.Mine.
As we get to the front door five minutes later, she hasn’t calmed at all. She swats at me and hammers her fists against my lower back and ass at the same time she tries to do damage to my abs and chest with her knees, but she can’t do much with the grip I’ve got on her legs. It’s been a near-constant battle to keep her over my shoulder this entire time because she won’t stop moving. Thank goodness I work out every day for several hours, and her tiny five-foot-four frame is nothing to me.
“Put me down. Cannon. Goddammit, I think I might have had too much to drink. I’m gonna puke.”
I freeze. There’s nothing quite like the threat of imminent barf to make me reassess things. Quickly gripping her hips, I haul her from my shoulder and set her on her feet. Dammit, she’s hitting me again, and clearly not going to retch.Little liar.She gets in a fisted punch to my pec and a slap to my cheek. I suck in a breath, stunned, and back up a few paces, which is hardly enough room to let her open the front door and dash inside, but she manages anyway.
Locking my jaw, I enter the house behind her, catching sight of her fleeing toward the stairs. A few brothers, Stuart and Zeke, look on like they’re watching some fuckin’ disaster occur in front of them. As I pass, I hear the low mumble from Zeke, “What the fuck is going on?” It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t expect me to turn around to tell him, anyway.
Upstairs, I catch up with her outside our rooms and grab her from behind. My arms band around her midsection, pinning her arms at the same time. We stand there in the middle of the hallway, both of us breathing hard, her feet hardly touching the ground. She struggles in my hold, the plump ass I’ve been staring at all night nudging my cock time and time again. I’d set her down and be an upstanding guy, but she really hasn’t inspired a very gentlemanly feeling in me at the moment. All I can think of is the pink thong Archer told us she’s wearing under these fucking sexy pants and the skimpy camisole that’s doing nothing to hide the shape of her luscious body at all. I groan as my arm brushes the underside of her breasts.
She cranes her neck around to look at me. “Why won’t you talk to me? I see it in your eyes. You want to.” She huffs angrily.
Would she understand if I explained myself? I don’t usually bother. Women don’t stick around long enough when they realize I have no intention of giving them the sweet words they’re looking for. Fuck them.
But with her… I dunno. Like I told them in the text this morning, she’s different. I feel it.
“What’s going on?” Kingston’s gruff voice causes me to turn with Elliot in my arms.
I don’t have a clue what she’s about to tell them, but I close my eyes briefly and shake my head, letting the pinch of my lips do the talking.
“This hulk snatched me up and threw me over his shoulder again, even though I told him to put me down.”
Archer’s head nods, as if he’d known what was going to happen. I mean, he does know me. And they both witnessed me carrying her away from the striptease last night.
Kingston folds his arms across his chest. “And here we thought he’d have no trouble with you.” He tilts his head to the side, and if I had to guess, he can see the red mark on my cheek from where she slapped me. “Let’s see, so you disrespected one of our brothers, and you went somewhere without telling us, without our permission.”
“Doesn’t seem like she wants to be part of this brotherhood. Two rules broken at once, not to mention the whole debacle of you talking to the guy who wanted to lick you like a lollipop.” Archer’s brow quirks up. “What do you think her punishment should be, Cannon?”
Slowly, I release her arms and set her on her feet. She whirls away from me, stumbling in her haste, but Kingston is there to catch her. Eyeing all of us warily, she jerks from his hold and backs up to the wall.
