The Secrets You Keep (Blurred Lines), page 28
He could take her to the Creek, make her his prisoner, and I’d never see her again.
Okay, so that might be a little bit dramatic. But this is Knox we’re talking about. He just did five fucking years behind bars for no fucking reason. The man is fucking certifiable.
You’d have done it in a heartbeat if you were in the same position, a little voice says. Anything for Violet.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss, pushing from the wall and stalking toward my bedroom, and then to the bathroom to clean up.
I throw myself in the shower, embracing the sting of my knuckles as my shower gel gets into the cuts.
I flick a towel over my body, rub it over my head and then pull on a pair of sweats. Only a pair of sweats.
If Knox wants to play, then he needs to understand that he’s not the only one who can get down and dirty in order to get what he wants.
It’s only a couple of minutes later when the buzzer rings around my apartment and my stomach knots. Anger and anticipation for what might have happened between them since I had little choice but to allow Knox to rescue her last night burns through me.
I want to look at ease, like I’m barely bothered by what’s happened, but I know I fail the second I pull the door open and my eyes lock on Knox’s amused ones over Violet’s head.
Silence falls around the three of us as reality presses down on my shoulders.
I’m about to lose her to him.
I never even stood a fucking chance.
Ripping my eyes from his smug fucking face, I look down at Violet.
“Hey, Pip,” I say like an imbecile.
She smiles at me, but it’s forced.
“Can we come in?” she asks, looking around me.
“Oh shit, yeah.” I step aside, unblocking the door.
The second I shut it behind them, the atmosphere only gets worse. The air is so thick it’s hard to suck in a damn breath.
I don’t realize that I’m still standing out in the hallway until the scent of fried food hits my nose and I stalk back toward the living room.
Violet and Knox are sitting on my couch, digging into paper bags of food.
Violet is wearing a dress that I assume she wore to the party last night. Her legs are curled up beneath her, the hem of said dress temptingly high on her thighs.
I swallow thickly, stupidly wondering if Knox knows what she’s hiding beneath. My fist curls.
Of course he fucking knows. That’s why he’s so smug.
Dragging my eyes up, I take in her messy hair and her makeup-clear face. Her skin is pale and the shadows under her eyes are dark, pointing toward a hangover. Not that I can say that’s unexpected. I already know, thanks to the man at her side, that she was so wasted last night that she passed out in his arms. Something I really, really didn’t need to know. But there we go.
Feeling my stare, Violet lifts her head after throwing a couple of fries into her mouth.
Her eyes hold mine for a beat before they drop down to my half-naked body.
I can’t help the smirk that twitches at my lips. That is, until Knox scoffs.
My amusement vanishes as I look over at him with a mouthful of burger.
“You’re so transparent, bro,” he mutters despite the food. “Violet wants more than a pretty body, don’t you, Firefly?”
“Can we please not do this? I just want to eat in peace and without drowning in all this testosterone. Tris, come eat,” she demands, pointing at the bag on the coffee table.
Unable to refuse, I grab the bag and drop into the chair opposite them, hating the fact Knox is within touching distance of my girl.
We eat in silence. I barely taste my food, each mouthful like swallowing rocks with the level of tension hanging over us.
My eyes continue to bounce between them, but neither says anything or does anything other than eat.
“What happened last night?” I finally ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.
“Oh man, you probably don’t want those details,” Knox quips like the fucking asshole that he is.
“Really?” Violet mumbles.
“He’s just jealous, baby,” Knox breathes, reaching over and squeezing her thigh. Right. In. Front. Of. Me.
I try to fume silently, but I realize how badly I fail when a loud growl hits my ears that I quickly discover rumbled from the depths of my throat.
“Knox,” Violet hisses, shooting him a deadly look that only seems to amuse him.
“You can leave, you know,” I mutter, my appetite long gone. “I never actually invited you in.”
“But I brought you food, man,” Knox teases.
“Fucking hell,” Violet mutters, shoving what’s left of her food aside and pushing to her feet. She pauses at the end of the coffee table and glares between both of us. “You two used to be friends, do you remember that?”
“Different lifetime, Pip. I think we can all agree that none of us are the same people we were back then.”
“I’m not so sure about that. My girl’s as sexy as ever, don’t you think?” Knox quips.
“Shut the fuck up, Knox. Tristan is right, if you can’t play nice then you need to leave,” she warns fiercely. “Either remember those kids or just… go.”
With that threat lingering in the air, she turns and walks away from both of us.
We both stare at her in that tiny dress until she disappears around the corner and into my bedroom. And damn if the sight of that doesn’t make my cock swell.
“What the fuck happened last night?” I growl before I turn around and get a look at Knox’s smug fucking face.
“You really want to know?” he asks, his smirk growing.
“Don’t be a dick, Knox.”
“I already told you. She was at a party at the football team’s house. She was wasted. That little blonde friend of hers was trying to make her calm down. I watched her force a bottle of water on her through the kitchen window.”
“Stalker,” I mutter.
“Anyway,” he continues, “she stumbled outside and I caught her before she face-planted the grass.”
My fists curl at my sides, my nails digging into my palms as I think about her passed out in his arms.
“Why didn’t you just bring her back home?” I ask. Stupid question. I’m aware of that, but it still rolls off my tongue.
“Do you have any fucking idea how lonely the last five years have been, Tris?” he asks, leaning forward. He ducks his head for a beat before looking back up at me. “How much I fucking missed her?”
I swallow thickly.
“I fucking love her, man. I have since I was sixteen. She was the only fucking good thing in my life. Well, that and the two of you. My life in the Creek was shit. And despite hating Maddison County at first, that house, the people in it soon became my solace.
“I never told either of you just how much you fucking changed my life.
“I was condemned from the moment my father shot his load in some whore. I was a Creek kid. Destined to a life of hell as one of Victor fucking Harris’s soldiers.
“You all showed me a different life. Another way. Happiness that didn’t involve drugs, alcohol, and violence.”
“Shit, man,” I say, scrubbing my hand down my face.
Disbelief floods me as I think about what he’s really been through for the first time.
In the fallout of that fire, I thought about him being inside. But I was too focused on Violet, on Roman, for the few days he hung around at least.
I figured that Knox had made his choice, and that was for him to deal with. I had enough shit going on.
I was a senior. I had the pressure of my final season of high school football. I needed to get into MKU to ensure my future. And I had the girl I’d been craving for as long as I could remember breaking right in front of me.
Life was hard. But yeah, I’m man enough to admit that it was still a shitload better than it was for Knox as he was thrown in juvie for a crime he didn’t commit.
“I don’t want your fucking sympathy. I did what I did for reasons we now both know. And I’d do it again to protect her in a fucking heartbeat.”
Glancing over my shoulder, I look toward where I know she is.
“I’m not letting you take her from me,” I state.
“And I’m not handing her over.”
When I look back, he’s resting against my couch, his arms crossed over his chest and his ankle resting on the opposite knee.
He might appear relaxed, but there’s a fire in his eyes that shows me that he’s ready for this fight. And there’s a fucking arrogance there which also tells me he truly believes he’s going to win.
“Excuse me,” I mutter, pushing to my feet and stalking toward my bedroom.
“Good luck,” he calls from behind me, a lightness in his tone. If I were to look back, I’d find him laughing.
I half expect him to stop me, but to my surprise, I make it to my room and slip inside without another sound from him.
The bedroom is empty, but my bathroom door has been pushed shut.
Not willing to keep this distance between us, I stride across the room and quickly knock, but I fail to wait for a response, instead just throwing the door open.
My breath catches when I find Violet standing in a tank and a tiny pair of booty shorts.
If she was hoping to put an end to us fighting like a couple of horny teenagers, then she really missed the mark with the outfit choice.
Or maybe she had other intentions…
I slam that line of thought down before it has a chance to grow.
I close the space between us in only a few steps and she lowers the face wipe she was using to rid the lingering makeup from the night before.
“Tristan,” she whispers, holding my eyes in the mirror.
“It’s okay,” I breathe.
“I’m sorry for—”
“Me too.” Her head drops, severing our connection, and I panic.
Reaching for her arm, I spin her around, backing her up against the wall.
Tucking my fingers under her chin, I force her to look up.
“I’m sorry you never felt like you could tell me.”
She shakes her head, tears filling her eyes. “It was never that, Tris. I just… I hated him. Or, at least, I thought I did. I tried to. He…” She sighs, her eyes glazing over as she thinks back. “He was my everything back then. He… he gave me…”
“I can imagine,” I deadpan, stepping closer, desperately needing to feel her against me.
She rolls her eyes. “It was more than that. I didn’t want to accept it after all that, but he was the one who started building the confidence I’ve needed to get through it all. That and your support,” she adds, reaching up to wrap her hand around the back of my neck.
“I don’t want to lose you, Pip.”
“Tris,” she breathes. “I might have secretly been with him, but that didn’t stop me from wanting you as well.”
“That’s fucked up, baby girl,” I tell her, my voice low and raspy.
She shrugs. “It’s the truth.”
“I appreciate it.”
“You’re not turned off, kn-knowing that I—”
I press harder against her, letting her feel just how not turned off I am right now.
She gasps. “Tristan.”
“I want you, Violet. I’ve always wanted you. And it’s going to take a lot to change my mind about that. I’ve tried, trust me I have. I wanted to do the right thing, to come good on the promise I made to Roman before I was even old enough to really understand what I was agreeing to.”
“Roman’s gone, Tris. Any promise you made him was severed the second he turned his back on us.”
“I know. I guess I just really wanted to believe he might just come back once he sorted himself out.”
“Yeah,” she agrees. “I did too. But then I figured that it would have happened by now. Sometimes, I like to think he might still be out there. But really, it’s more likely that he overdosed long ago and left us behind for good.”
A lone tear finally falls, and I reach out to catch it with the pad of my thumb.
“Please don’t cry, baby girl. I hate seeing you hurting.”
Leaning forward, I rest my brow against hers.
“I missed you,” I confess, staring right into her emerald eyes.
Looping her arms around my shoulders, she threads her fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck.
“Thank you for coming for me Thursday night.”
“I wasn’t sure you were aware.”
“I knew.”
“I’m sorry all this is being dragged back up again. That you’ve got to relive it.”
She nods, her lips coming dangerously close as she moves.
“It was inevitable. It was naïve of me to think Knox would let the past lie.”
“It’s funny. I never thought he truly cared about anything. But I see it now.”
“Stop,” she begs, her grip on me tightening.
“Anything,” I breathe against her lips.
It might have been what I wished for when I stormed in here, but really, it wasn’t what I was expecting as she presses her lips to mine hesitantly. But if she thinks that motherfucker sitting out in my living room is going to put me off her, then she really needs to think again.
I might have fucked up in the past and allowed him to slip into the place I desperately wanted to be. But it’s not going to happen again.
Violet is mine, and I’ll die before I willingly hand her over to him.
29
VIOLET
Tristan’s lips press against mine and on instinct, mine part to allow him entry.
He consumes me. Utterly consumes me. And as his tongue slides against mine, his body pinning me harder against the wall, the thick length of his dick crushed against my stomach, all thoughts, fears, and regrets fall from my head.
He’s my happy place, my solace, my savior.
“Violet,” he growls into our kiss, his deep, raspy voice sending shivers skating down my spine.
I drown in him, and when his hand skims down my stomach between us, I refuse to let reality slip in.
“Oh God,” I whimper when his fingers dip under the waistband of my booty shorts.
“Addicted to this pussy, baby girl.”
“Tris,” I moan, shifting my hips forward in an attempt to force his fingers exactly where I need them.
I cry out, sounding like nothing but a shameless whore when he circles my clit.
I was only with Knox an hour ago.
But it doesn’t seem to matter.
My body wants Tristan too. No. It doesn’t just want him. It craves him.
“Yes,” I cry when he pushes two thick fingers inside me.
“So wet for me, baby girl,” he groans before latching on to the soft skin of my throat, sucking hard enough to leave his mark.
It should put me off, knowing that he’s only doing it to piss Knox off and mark his territory. But that’s not the reaction it has. He knows it too, because he groans when I gush over his fingers.
My eyes are almost shut as I focus on the sensations rushing through my body, but that doesn’t mean I miss the movement by the door.
My gasp rips through the air as a dark shadow spreads across the bathroom floor and Knox appears in the doorway.
He wraps his fingers around the frame, his dark, hungry eyes eating up the sight of me falling under Tristan’s spell.
His attention locks on where Tristan’s hand disappears into my shorts and he swallows thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“Did you want something, bro?” Tristan barks and I startle, not aware that he knew about our audience. “I’m busy.”
“Tris—” My warning for him to stop taunting Knox is cut off with a moan when he presses harder against my G-spot.
Silence falls around us as the air turns thick with sexual tension and desire. The only thing that can be heard is our increased breaths.
My body burns under the attention of the two men who are both so far under my skin I’m not sure a lifetime would be enough to get them out.
I tried. I really fucking tried to forget about Knox. I thought I had, to a point.
But one look at him and I know that I’ve been lying to myself for years. He might have been gone. But he never left me.
“Make her come, Carver,” Knox demands, releasing his grip on the doorframe and rubbing his hard cock that’s fighting to get out of his pants.
“Oh God.”
“I want to watch you make her fall. See if you’re any good.”
“Fuck you, Bowman. Violet has been well looked after in your absence.”
It’s lies. He’s only been ‘looking after’ me in this way for a week, but I don’t have any words to argue as Tristan keeps finger fucking me like a savage.
Adding a third digit inside me, he presses his thumb to my clit.
“Shouldn’t like watching this,” Knox mutters to himself, his eyes blazing with heat, the sight pushing me that bit closer to the edge.
“She loves it,” Tristan points out. “She’s so fucking wet.”
I look up at him, shocked that he’s letting this fly right now.
I’ve learned a lot of things about my best friend in the past week, but I never ever would have thought that he’d be okay with this.
I guess it might be an entirely different story if he was the one watching.
“You sure that’s her? I unloaded five years’ worth of cum right inside her barely an hour ago.”
Tristan stills, and I cry out in frustration.
I’m so close. So fucking close. And I really don’t need them to embark on a cock-measuring contest right this second. Unless…
No. Shut it down, Violet.
Shut. It. Down.
“Tristan,” I beg. “Please.”
“Need me to take over, bro? If you’re not man eno—”
“Shut the fuck up, Bowman.”
Tristan picks up exactly where he left off, fucking me even harder. It’s good, but damn, I wish it were his cock.
