Page 38 of Sinful Desires

Tearing my gaze away from her, I took another drink of my beverage. When my eyes locked with Myles,’ a frown tugged at the corners of my mouth. He owed us an explanation, and I was going to get it one way or another.

“Who’s Aspen?” I demanded.

His gaze darkened instantaneously at the question. The other two stopped eye-fucking her long enough to return their attention to me, and I hated to say that it was surprising.

Myles ground his teeth together in response as we all stared at him, waiting for an appropriate answer.

“You know about just as much as I do.”

My mouth twitched in amusement. Either he thought I was dumb, or he was intentionally trying to piss me off. “No. I don’t think so.” Swiping my tongue across my lower lip to moisten it, I leaned forward. “I think you know exactly who she is, and her presence—for whatever reason—has triggered something inside of you.”

Without missing a beat, a dark laugh tumbled out of him. “You and your imagination, Foster.” He clicked his tongue in a mocking gesture and shook his head—taunting me. “It’s always running away with you.”

Annoyance thundered within my veins, bringing my blood to a boil. “Or you could stop being a little bitch for five seconds and tell us what’s up.”

His smile faded and he clenched his jaw. “That’s the thing though,” he bit back. “I don’t have to tell you shit.”

Anger and frustration ate away at me, and it was taking every bit of self-control that I possessed to refrain from leaping over this damn table and punching him.

“I’m not your fucking enemy, Myles,” I retorted through gritted teeth. “We’re in this together. You’ve got some beef with this bitch, then so do we. The world we live in is too fucked up to have to do it alone. So, stop pretending you don’t need people in your corner because you do.”

His jaw loosened and a sigh of defeat fell from his lips. “Fuck you,” he snapped, running a hand through his hair in frustration. When he glanced back up, his face had morphed back to normal.

Myles might have pretended he didn’t need anyone, and he also might have been damn good at hiding his emotions, but I could see through the bullshit. We weren’t much different from one another in that aspect. None of us were. We all hid our pain behind masks of anger and indifference.

Collin used sex and flirty innuendos to hide behind. Hunter used alcohol and sex. Myles enjoyed hurting other people when he felt down. It gave him a sense of control. The things he did were twisted and corrupt. But we didn’t judge him or hold it against him. I, on the other hand, had no idea what I hid behind. Anger probably. But I didn’t have anything to distract me from the pain or when life decided to fuck me up the ass with a jumbo cactus. Perhaps I was destined to just suffer through it and bottle it up.

“Fine,” he finally said, leaning back in his seat with his features pinched thoughtfully. “My parents took Aspen in a couple years ago as a foster kid. She looked completely different back then. She didn’t have piercings or purple hair; it was long and black.” He paused, his gaze drifting over to Aspen, and then back to us. “She was so innocent and timid. Pure. Just like a dove. I wanted to hurt her. I wanted to show her that the world wasn’t all sunshine and fucking rainbows, so me and my friends devised a plan to destroy her. We wanted that innocence for ourselves. We wanted to take it away.”

“Destroy her how?” Collin demanded, worry flickering across his face as if he actually cared about her.

Myles just shrugged. “She was a virgin. She’s not now.”

My throat tightened of its own accord, and I found myself gripping the edge of the table for support.

“I told her that I’d kill her if she ever told a soul about what happened in that treehouse. I owe her a death certificate.”

“So…let me get this straight,” Collin said with furrowed eyebrows. “You gang raped a girl because she was too nice, and she’s in the wrong because she told someone?”

I shot Collin a pointed look. It didn’t matter if he was in the wrong for doing what he did. Our loyalty was with him. No questions asked.

“What?” Myles mocked. “Did you think I was a good person?”

“Enough,” I snapped, glaring at the two of them before this could escalate. I fixed my attention on Collin, who looked like he was on the verge of combusting. He was no better and he knew it. I was sick of his little high and mighty act. “He did something stupid like he always does, and as always, we’re going to support him. I don’t care how bad you want her rank pussy. Think long and hard about who’s more important to you and make a fucking decision.”

Collin scoffed, directing his glare at me. “You already know the answer to that,” he mumbled. “And if you don’t, you’re a fucking idiot.”

My lips twitched slightly. Of course, I knew he’d choose us. But the ultimatum was necessary. “Good. It isn’t our job to question why Myles does the things he does. As of right now, Aspen Palmer is sexually off-limits until Myles decides otherwise.”

“Seriously?” Collin snapped incredulously. “Who the fuck even made you the boss?”

I shrugged. “You know the rules. If you have an issue with my proposal, then either challenge me in a fight, vote it out, or shut the fuck up and get over it.”

I wasn’t confident that I’d win in a fight against him. He was more athletic and spent a lot of time on the soccer field. I was more experienced in hand-to-hand combat, but he was great at defensive moves where I wasn’t.

Collin nodded, determination contorting his features. “Let’s vote.” His gaze bounced over to Myles. “He sits out.”

I shifted in my seat to get more comfortable and pulled my tongue ring between my lips. “All in favor of deeming trailer park off-limits, raise your hand,” I ordered, raising my right arm. Collin kept his hands tucked beneath his armpits as he shot a hopeful look at Hunter who ignored it and raised his arm right alongside me.

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