Page 47 of Duke
“Someone had access to his phone,” Lennon mumbles against my chest, but then lowers her voice further. “That’s the one thing I didn’t tell that lady.” Her eyes dart to the closed office door. “We don’t know for a fact who got their hands on his phone or when. But Mason and I talked about it at length. We can’t imagine when it would’ve happened unless it was while he was sleeping—not that he sleeps that much as it is—or, more likely, it was compromised during the auction.”
“Fuuuuucckkkkk.” Duke’s irritation bleeds from him. “That entire night was nothing but bad fucking juju.”
It’s burning me up inside to think someone had the balls to move around our home the way they must have. And it really makes me wonder what else they managed to accomplish that we’re unaware of. My mind races a million miles a minute. “Do we know if his phone was on him that night?”
“He said it was charging. He didn’t figure he’d need it,” Lennon murmurs, her eyes flicking to the door. There’s some indistinct talking coming from the other side, so it’s obvious they aren’t done yet.
“It could be fucking anyone.” Duke heaves a sigh of frustration just as the door opens across the entryway from us and slams into the interior wall of the office.
Mason storms directly from the room and charges up the stairs.
TWENTY-FOUR
MASON
It’s really fuckingcrazy how the OG Bastards can infiltrate a goddamn police department. Absolutely bonkers. But unless police department detectives are now being given free rein to express their opinions as part of their investigation—to try to make the people being questioned feel like absolute shit—I’m one hundred percent certain that she was sent to mess with me. Instead of talking to me about how the images of Lennon came to be all over campus, she was more focused on how it came to be that I’d used my charcoal on Lennon. I couldn’t get it through her head no matter what I said that I’d done nothing wrong, that Lennon is an adult and had been a willing participant that day. I hadn’t coerced her. I chuckle to myself, in fact, I couldn’t get rid of her.
Had I taken a few photos without her knowledge?Yes.But never fucking ever with the intention of sharing them with anyone. And I already told her why I’d done that in the time we’d spent talking about it in the library. In that moment, standing there all naked and gloriously degraded by my charcoal, she was my art. And I always document my art, for fear that I’ll destroy it later.
My stomach lurches. Somewhere between the library and that interview with the detective, would Lennon have gotten it into her head that this was my way of destroyingher?I pinch my eyes shut, giving myself a violent shake, dark thoughts encroaching even though I know there’s no way that’s true.
Yeah, I’m sure Tristan and Derek—and my father by extension—thought it was hysterical to send cops here to question us. It sure is playing with my goddamn head. Fuckers. Well, our fathersandthat detective lady can fuck right off because if she doesn’t want to do her goddamn job the right way, then I refuse to speak to her.
I hear the scramble from below as I ascend the stairs and hit the landing—the low rumble of conversation from the officer and detective, then Duke and Bear loudly voicing concerns in my defense. I don’t hear Lennon, and that worries me the entire way down the hall to my bedroom.
I throw open my door, moving directly to the balcony and letting myself outside. I force myself to breathe slowly. In. Out. Repeat. Bracing my hands on the railing, I close my eyes. The muscles in my jaw twitch and pop.
Lennon wouldn’t have said something to the detective to make her question me like she did, would she? My heart is being squeezed on all sides. I rub my hand over my chest while my mind spins back to the day that I’d drawn on her.
She’d wanted so fucking bad to help me, and I thought I’d teach her a lesson about why it was a bad idea to come upstairs into my attic without permission. But Lennon wasn’t necessarily the one who’d learned a lesson that day. She’d taughtmeabout patience and kindness and strength.
Behind me, footsteps pad across the floor, and whoever it is that has the guts to join me slips out the open door. A gentle hand meets my back, the other gripping my bicep. A mouth presses to my shoulder. “Whatever she said to you, put it out of your head.”
“I know better than to let someone who is more than likely being paid by my father get to me. But I did. She made me feel like some sort of fucking pervert,” I bite out, staring into the backyard. “She said, and I quote, ‘What kind of deranged psycho does that to a woman?’”
A moment passes where the only sounds are the tweeting of the birds in the trees. Everyone’s done a good fucking job of making themselves disappear.
Lennon shakes her head, a look of disdain crossing her face. “Nope, Mase. Don’t fucking do that to either of us. I don’t know who stole those photos from your phone, but they’re the pervy asshole, not you. I let you draw on me because I wanted to help you, and I meant it when I said I understood why you’d taken the photos of me afterward.” She squeezes my arm, and when I turn my head, her eyes bore into mine, glittering in the late afternoon light. “Mase. We’ve always had a connection. You and me. Don’t let some cop with a bully stick up her butt tell you what we should feel or how we should be together.”
Her broken pieces have always seen and understood the damage in me. She trusts me. “Fuck, you make me happy.” I grasp the hair at the back of her head and tug, so she looks up at me. “I love how you know how to calm me down. I love how you bring me out of the dark. I just—” My breath hitches and the words get stuck in my throat as I stare into her eyes.
“I know, Mase.”
I see the knowledge in her eyes and slowly lower my mouth to hers, maintaining that eye contact until our lips meet. And once they do, it’s like a raging inferno takes over. A wicked wildfire burns through my veins and licks at my skin as we slam together. One arm goes around her, yanking her flush to my body, and the other pulls the skirt of her sundress out of my way. Sometimes, I just fucking need her. I’ve been with her all day, trying to focus on the problems at hand, but also thinking aboutthis,even as shit was hitting the fan on campus. I palm her ass, so damn greedy for her. My fingers pull the damp swatch of fabric between her legs to the side, and slide through her silky, wet pussy. “Goddamn, Lennon.”
Her hands grasp the back of my neck, and she sucks my bottom lip into her mouth as she hooks her leg around my hip. The increased access to her aroused cunt has me groaning deep in my chest. My cock hardens behind my zipper, and I stroke my tongue into her mouth with one devilish lick after another. She increases the intensity in response, her body straining in my arms. Our mouths nip and bite as we go after each other like animals. Gripping the straps of her dress, I drag them off her shoulders. I make a growling noise in response to the increased pace of her breathing and dip down to sweep my tongue over the exposed swell of tits.
“Suck on them.” She lets go of me to pull the front of her stretchy dress down. Her breasts fall out, glorious mounds of flesh that have me bending her back over the railing. She’s practically panting, grinding her clit against my cock.
“So fucking beautiful.” I bury my face between her breasts and breathe deep, inhaling her sweet scent, then capture one nipple in my mouth while I play with the other, tweaking the taut bud. She gasps at my ministrations but arches her back and holds me tight to her breast. I lick and suck and swirl my tongue until she’s writhing against me. “I have to have you. Right now. Right fucking here.”
Her brows go up as she unwraps her leg from my waist. Wetting her lips, she glances down at my obvious erection, and my gaze follows. Fuck. She’s so wet, her arousal has left a dark spot on the front of my jeans. I let out a sharp exhale through my nose, my chest rising and falling fast. I tear out of my shirt, while she goes after my belt buckle. She has it undone in record time along with the button and zipper, and in a blink, she shoves my jeans over my ass and has my cock in her hand. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes wanton as they drift over the backyard, then back to me. “Right here? Right now?”
I nod, then spin her the fuck around without another thought in my head beyond getting my dick into her tight, wet pussy. “Hold on to the railing,” I demand, my voice husky as I pull her dress up and out of the way again and hook her thong with one finger, exposing her pretty pink cunt to the daylight. I can’t help myself, I drop to my knees and lick her slowly from front to back, eliciting a sensual cry of bliss that has my cock dripping for her.
Fuck me.I stroke my hard-as-steel length, eyes pinned to her, then give her another thorough lick before standing. I notch my dick at her entrance, then grab hold of her hips as I push inside her. The heat of her body surrounds me, and she’s so wet and tight, it damn near makes my head pop right off my neck. This girl. She’s everything. My eyes ping to the railing she’s bent over as I steadily pump my dick into her. Thudding and throbbing in my chest, my tormented heart makes its presence known. I blow out a harsh breath. “You’re okay with this, right?”Fuck.Can I handle it? Am I going to fucking wig out on her? I close my eyes, my jaw twitching before I suck in a breath and open them again.
Her head turns, and she gives me a quizzical look.
