Page 17 of Cannon
Dear. Fucking. God. Elliot sits on one of the kitchen stools, looking tired as hell with dark circles under her eyes… and yep. White cropped concert T-shirt. Bare legs. Not panties but rather some sort of stretchy booty shorts.Bam.Instant hard dick. Goddamn, she’s a sight for literal sore eyes.
I don’t get my mind out of the gutter as quickly as Cannon does. He hurries toward Elliot, whipping off his T-shirt as he goes. Standing in front of her and blocking all other curious eyes from staring at her body, he gestures that she should get up. When she does, he wraps his T-shirt around her waist and ties it in a knot at her hip. Apparently satisfied, he takes her by the upper arms and gently ushers her back onto the kitchen stool she’d been on when we barged in.
My brain skids and swerves, hating that anyone saw her in her goddamn tiny sleep shorts but us. And I do realize what a hypocritical bastard that makes me, considering what I’ve made her do and shown these assholes in the past. I clench my teeth and scrub my hand through my hair as I spin around to face them. “Is there a reason why you dickheads are still standing here in your own filth? Did you not hear me? Downstairs.Now.”
At the tone of my voice, they hustle out of view, though as they head down the stairs, Alec mutters, “She must be an awfully good piece of ass if they’re all fighting over her.”
Then Joel adds on, snickering, “I’m sure she takes itupthe ass, too.”
I practically roar, charging over to the stairs. “Say one more word, and I’ll permanently knock that smirk off your face.” Heaving out a breath, I turn around, my eyes falling upon Elliot. She remains seated right where Cannon put her, he and Archer on either side come off as broody sentinels.
As I approach, I note the way her chest rises and falls rapidly, betraying her upset—because it’s clear she doesn’t want us to know she’s internally freaking out by the way she straightens her back and boldly stares at me with defiant eyes. “I really thought everyone was gone for the day, and I sure as hell didn’t think twice about wearing my sleep shorts to come down for coffee. Where were you?” Her eyes glance toward the stairs leading down to the basement. “What happened last night?”
My lips twitch as I consider her. She thinks I’m angry with her. But she’s wrong. It was our fucking fault that we came upon her like this. In answer to her question, I shrug, like it was nothing. “Don’t worry about it. We took care of what we had to.”
Her eyes narrow, before flicking to both Archer and Cannon as well. “I saw you take them away.” She draws in a breath, focusing on Cannon. “And I saw what you did to Bridger before you put them in the SUVs.”
The edge of Cannon’s mouth curls. If only she knew. It could have been so much worse for them. We would have liked to have done heinous things as payback, but we restrained ourselves. Setting them up to encounter all sorts of nastiness in the house had been good enough. For now. Cannon lifts his shoulders to his ears before dropping them with a sigh. He touches her cheek, meeting her gaze, all that he feels for her beaming from his eyes. He’s, I dunno. Obsessed?
Maybe we all are.
Her jaw tightens almost imperceptibly as the length of time he stares goes on and on, without end in sight. “Whatever you did… you did it for me?”
Cannon’s broad chest puffs out with his inhale. He closes his eyes for a moment, and nods.
“They needed to be taught a lesson.” Archer wets his lips as he scratches the back of his head eyeing the way Cannon and Elliot seem to be communicating nonverbally. “I’m not altogether sure they learned what they needed to, judging by the comments just now… but we’ll keep after them until they wise up. That”—his eyes flick to mine—“or I think this guy might be ready to kick their asses to the curb.”
Strangely, Elliot’s expression turns cold, her lips tipping down at the corners, and an odd glint lighting her eyes. We’re talking about potentially getting rid of brothers because of their behavior toward her and she’s unhappy about it? Mad?
I stride forward until I’m close enough to her on the kitchen stool that her bent knees touch the fronts of my thighs. Slowly, I reach out to her, sliding my fingers over the smooth skin of her throat, and feel her pulse thrum like a hummingbird’s wings before I curl them around the back of her neck. Bending at the waist, I look into her dark eyes. “You are ours. No one touches you without our permission. No one tries to harm you without facing repercussions. No one. Got it?”
She scans my face for a moment with her head cocked to the side and wets her lips. “You realize you just fucked me over, right?” She puts her hands to my shoulders and shoves.Hard.
Her strength is no match for mine, but I back up anyway, confused by her outburst. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Elliot glares at me, throwing one arm toward the stairs as she slips from her seat. “Do you know how much more difficult they are going to make my life here now? I look like I’m a little princess you have to take care of because I’m incapable of doing it myself. They’ll be poised to take me out at every turn, whether it’s during a game, on campus, or even while I sleep. Those assholes will wait until I make one tiny misstep and then, boom.I’m a goner.”Those last words come out on a shuddered breath, and she bites down on her lip to curtail the faint tremble I’d seen before she caught herself.
I glance at Archer and Cannon, whose eyes have widened in response to her tirade. My brow pinches together, and I wait, watching her as she clutches her head with her hands, giving us this awful, anxious look.
“This is exactly why I asked Dane not to say anything about Bridger. I figured those jerks would get on me for some sort of favoritism or maybe think I was too weak to handle playing with the big boys. Well, I’m fucking not. I can do whatever they can. I need your support, not this kind of help!” She pushes past me in an angry rush, no doubt intending to go to her room and lock herself in.
“Elliot.” Her name comes out of my mouth like the sharp blast from the air horn we’d used during the last game. “Stop.”
She whirls around, so beautiful with her eyes furious and her hair wild around her shoulders.“What?What do you want from me?”
Archer holds out a hand, palm up, in her direction. “Our objective wasnotto make things harder for you.”
She shakes her head in a slow, anguished manner before she bites out, “Well, you did. You must know that.”
Archer looks down, bobbing his head, taking that in before he meets her eyes again. And, always the calm one, he simply states, “And you must realize that wasn’t our intention. Don’t you know us well enough by now?”
“I’m beginning to think I know nothing, Archer.” Another odd, strained look passes over her face, there one second and gone the next. Almost like I imagined it.
Well, fuck it.I’ve had enough. She’ll hear me—us—even if I have to force her to. I stalk toward her, and in one quick motion, wrap my arms around her back, hauling her off her feet and against my body so our torsos are molded together.
Her hands immediately claw at my shoulders, and I put my nose to hers. Let her take a few seconds to let it sink in that she’s not going anywhere until she’s heard what I have to say. “Listen to me. You’re ours. Even if we were only talking about in the capacity of our initiate, we wouldn’t put up with their shit.” I let out a steady breath. “And, dammit, wewillprotect you from as much of their bullshit as we can.” I stop to swallow, only to realize the fire thrashing through my veins is whipping me into a frenzy. I have to grind out the last words she needs to hear. “But I won’t put up with you questioning our motives.”
We stare at each other for several long moments as our bodies heat and melt together. The reaction I have anytime I’m near her is wildfire and crashing waves all at once.
