Page 20

Chapter Twenty

Vivian

I can’t stop squirming in my seat, images of the guys drying my body while Ez stood there and watched flash through my mind. When I felt their come dripping out of me, I gasped which had all three of them focusing on my pussy and the mess they made of it. I expected them to wipe me clean but of course they did the opposite. Ezekiel was the one to gather the cum on his finger and push it back inside me, telling me to be a good girl and clench my cunt closed to hold it in. He promised to reward me if I listened and managed to get home with the cum still inside me. The three of them even sat on the edge of my bed and watched me change. I thought for sure they would all riot at my outfit choice but to my surprise each of them just told me how beautiful I looked.

To say that had me speechless is an understatement. On my way out the door I tried to avoid eye contact with my brother at all cost, but he isn’t an idiot. He knew what we were doing upstairs and if the sounds of grunts and shouting I heard as I closed the door behind myself was any indication , I know they were all fighting about me.

“She isn’t even listening!” I shake my head and push away all thoughts of my guys.

My guys?

I should be shocked by that revelation but I’m not. I love how it sounds and it has a certain ring to it if you ask me. But now is not the place to be having that revelation. I keep my face blank as I lock eyes with Donald Waiff. He is the owner of the banks in town, hence is the reason I needed to go to CHU to meet with Darius, Corvin, Beckett, Saint and Crue for their help.

“I am listening, Donald!” I grit out through clenched teeth. All I have done for the past fucking hour is listen to these ungrateful bastards go on and on about how they aren’t seeing an increase in their profits or how their extra income is suddenly drying out. “I opened Lividica to help with this issue and like I have said so many fucking times before, I am not Thomas and I will not stoop to his level!”

“At least Thomas had our pockets lined and our families fed,” Noel spits.

“Which one of your families was that again?” Noel’s eyes widen and his mouth pops open but I’m not done. I push to my feet and stare out at all the members of this fucking sham of a brotherhood. “You all think I am an airhead bitch who doesn’t know dick about money, politics or how to run an empire and I have allowed you all to think that because it was easier than arguing with you chauvinistic bastards.” David tries to stop me but I’m not shutting up, they need to hear this and there isn’t a fucking thing they can do about me being their leader until a month’s time. “Newsflash, I know more about all of you then you know about me. Like how I know Noel has two families and he has tried his best to keep his wife and mistress happy but what he doesn’t want everyone to know is his mistress is actually Cooper Fergusson’s wife and the brand new baby dear old Coop just welcomed into the world isn’t actually his son, it’s Noel’s.” Cooper leaps over the row of chairs in front of him and guns for Noel, who is trying to deny what I say but it’s falling on deaf ears.

“Lordess, I think you should go home while I smooth things over,” David shouts over the noise in the room. I shoot my right hand man a megawatt smile and prance out of that room full of men with ego’s twice the size of their heads. Tonight was supposed to be about me keeping the peace and assuring The Brotherhood that I had everything under control and they would see an increase in revenue soon, but I couldn’t help it.

Kelly’s death has triggered something in me, I can’t pretend anymore. These men I have spent the past year with are cold-blooded murderers. They care for no one except themselves and I am done playing their game, it’s time they all fucking played mine!

I push through the front door of my house and sigh. Everything is silent but just knowing that there are people I love and care about inside these walls makes my house feel like a home. I don’t feel trapped or isolated for the first time since moving in here. There's a warmth in here that wasn’t there yesterday, the colors on the walls don’t seem as dull and the home itself doesn’t seem as daunting.

“Why are you smiling?” I shriek and nearly jump a foot in the air. I glare at my brother who is leaning against the wall in the corner, shrouded in darkness.

“Could you be any more of a cliché?” I snap.

“What?”

“You’re hiding in a corner acting like I’m breaking curfew and you’re here to bust me!”

He comes toward me and the instant he steps into the light my eyes widen. His cheek is bruised and he has a cut above his eye. “I guess you four had a disagreement when I left?”

He scoffs and rolls his eyes, then stalks off into the kitchen with me hot on his heels. I dart my gaze around the living room hoping to spot one of my guys.

“They’re upstairs.” I swing my gaze back to my brother who looks like he wants to break something.

“I wasn’t looking for them.”

His eyes narrow. “You’ve always been a shit liar.”

“And you have always been an overprotective jerk but you don’t see me complaining!” I bite back.

“A jerk that devoted his life to trying to save you from the very fucking brotherhood you now lead.”

“What are you more pissed about, Vox, the fact I am the lordess or the fact I am screwing your friends?” He reels back and smacks into the edge of the counter. I pull a stool out at the breakfast counter and sit my ass on it while still glaring across at him. The asshole doesn’t answer, instead he turns and opens the fridge and pulls a beer out. Clearly one of them went to the store because I didn’t have any beer in there before. He pops the top and chugs back half the bottle before finally facing me again. Only this time when he looks at me, I see resignation in his eyes.

“When we were little, I thought you would always be by my side. It was supposed to be me and you till the end, Vi.” The hurt that laces his tone robs me of air.

“What does that mean?” I whisper.

“It means, you aren’t that little girl anymore and I’m not a little boy who thinks that our dad is going to come home.” Sadness envelops me for my brother, I may not think of our father as a hero anymore but he still does. “I want to be mad at you but I can’t.”

“Why do you want to be mad at me?”

He shoots me a sad look. “I want to be mad at you, so then I can displace the guilt of admitting it was me that broke us first.”

I recoil. “You didn’t break us.”

“I did. I broke us when I kept shit from you because I thought I knew better. I didn’t include you in our plans to take down the Saints because I thought I was doing the right thing by you. Turns out, I was wrong and I should have trusted you, but in my mind I was protecting you from the horrors of what the world was really like.”

“You did protect me?—”

“No, I didn’t. It’s my fault you married my best friend and became the lordess. I left you no other choice but to go behind my back and take matters into your own hands.”

“Vox, that isn’t true. I did what I did to protect you and save you all from living in hell. Helping Nikoa gather the intel I did helped me to see what the Saints were really like. I never wanted to be a part of them but when I was faced with a choice of you four dying under Thomas’s rule and my best friend being forced to marry his cunt of a son, I did what I had to in order to ensure we all made it out.”

“You still wanted to save me even though you thought I killed Ezekiel?”

Bitterness swells inside me at the reminder of what he did. “Yes, even then I still wanted to save you,” I force out through clenched teeth then take a breath to tamper down my feelings of betrayal. We’re both silent for a while lost to our own thoughts until he breaks it.

“Vi?”

“Yeah?” I say quietly.

“Why didn’t you come to me when you started getting letters?” A whoosh of air escapes me. “Believe it or not, Nova and I actually have a bit of experience with getting random notes and shit.”

“Because I didn’t need you to fix this one for me, Vox. I know this may shock you but I am a big girl and I can handle myself.”

“I know you are but you also have to know that I can’t just let this go. I have to get answers, Vivian.”

“Don’t fucking?—”

“Nova needs them!” It’s not his tone that has me snapping my mouth shut, it's the mention of my best friend and the reminder of what she has lost.

“You should be with her, Vox. She needs you.” He scrubs a hand down his face and sighs.

“I know. But the last time she lost someone, she pushed me away and blamed me. I… I just?—”

“You left because you were scared that if you stayed she would do it again and this time, you wouldn’t survive losing her.” His shoulders deflate as he drops his gaze to the floor and nods.

“Yeah,” he mutters. I rise from my seat and move around the counter to stand before him. He still won’t look at me so I poke his side like I used to do when we were younger. It brings a ghost of a smile to his lips but I can see the torment in his eyes that are mirrors of my own.

“That girl is crazy in love with you and she would never leave you, but right now, you being here isn’t where you need to be.”

He shakes his head denying what I say. “No, I need to do this for her.”

“Vox, you’re being a coward and you know it. Nova needs you to be with her right now and you know it. She needs you to hold her. Ezekiel is her brother and I know for a fact he will do whatever he has to so his sister can get the closure she needs. I know the four of you are at odds right now but you have to know that no matter what, they will always have your back. Nova isn’t just your girlfriend, she’s Ez’s little sister and he will protect her like you protect me.”

“She’s right.” I spin around at the sound of his voice and fight not to smile at the three of them standing in the entryway, the fact they are all shirtless and wearing sweats that hang low on their hips has my mind growing foggy with X-rated thoughts. “I’ll kill whoever I have to so my sister can get the justice her mother deserves. You can hate me for loving your sister but just know that I love mine the same as you love yours, and no matter how we feel about each other will never change that. But, Vivian is right, Vox, she needs you right now more than ever. I may be her brother but it isn’t me she wants wrapped around her, it's you .”

Vox eyes the guys and I can see he is warring within himself with his decision, but we all know what he will choose and I don’t want him to feel guilt over his decision so I say, “I know you love me and want to be here to help, but you also love her more.” He opens his mouth to argue but I push on. “There is nothing wrong with that. You should love her more than anyone and I want you to go back to Washington and be by her side while she grieves the loss of her mom—” I clamp my mouth closed when my front door bursts open and one of my guards rush inside. He was briefed on my way out earlier about my guests and knows his silence is key with who they are. “What is it ,Adam?”

“Miss, there is a car approaching, two occupants. What are our orders?” Within two point five seconds the guys claim control. I’m slung over Archer’s shoulder while Vox, Hayze and Ezekiel race around the house turning the lights off and shouting at Adam to get outside. Archer doesn’t put me down until we are in the corner of the living room. He pushes me into the corner and keeps me there with his body.

“Don’t move, I mean it, Vivian,” he orders.

“Screw you, Archer!” I bite back.

“They can’t be worried about you while trying to kill whoever the fuck it is at this time in the middle of the damn night.” His words hit me right in the chest and I snap my mouth closed. I wait with bated breath, my nerves are shot and I’m starting to panic as fear slowly grips me in its clutches. What if this is the person who sent me Kelly’s head? Oh my God, are we all going to die? I reach out and grip the back of Archer’s shirt in a vice-like hold. He turns and peers at me over his shoulder. “Shit,” he curses beneath his breath, then whirls around and grips my face between his hands as he bends down until we are eye level. “I won’t let anything happen to you, baby.”

“Arch, I’m scared,” I whisper, making his eyes soften.

“I’m right here, baby, and I swear to you, your brother and the guys won’t let any cunt get near you.” When we hear the sound of a car door closing, Archer turns away from me and faces the others. I peer around him when I can hear the sound of voices outside. If it was a bad guy surely they wouldn’t be talking, right? Vox is hiding behind the wall with a gun in his hands, Ez is crouched down behind the breakfast counter while Hayze is across the room using the sofa as a shield. The front door opens and all the guys turn rigid but the instant she speaks, everyone moves.

“If you shoot me, I’ll kill you all!” she says. Vox is the first to reach Nova, shoving his gun in his waistband, then he’s wrapping his arms around her and crushing her tiny body against his. Ez moves toward them and waits for Vox to release her while Hayze and Archer move to flank me on either side.

“What are you doing here, witch?” Vox asks when he pulls back. Nova doesn’t answer him, instead she pulls out of his hold and hugs her brother who seems to relax in her embrace. Seeing that brings a smile to my face.

“Nova, are you okay?” Ez asks her when she finally releases him. Her face is red and her eyes are bloodshot from all the tears, she looks rundown and utterly shattered. She darts her gaze around her brother and when she sees me, tears well in her eyes. My feet carry me across the room and within seconds of our arms wrapping around each other we both break down. She clutches me like a lifeline and I do the same to her. My heart breaks for Nova and the loss she has suffered.

“She’s gone, Vi, my mom is gone! I’m sorry but I had to see you. I tracked Vox’s phone and I just… need you!” she screams, then begins sobbing hysterically. I spy my brother out of the corner of my eye tugging on the strands of his hair helplessly, he has no idea what to do to ease her pain. It turns out we were all wrong, she didn’t need him or Ez, she needed me .

“I know, sweetie. I am so fucking sorry. I wish I could change what happened,” I say, meaning every single fucking word. Nova continues to cry into my shoulder as I hold her. I look at Vox and motion with my eyes for him to come to her. He looks like he’s in agony but manages to do as I asked. The instant he places his hand on her back she rips out of my hold and clings to my brother. He picks her up and without another word or so much as a backward glance he marches them up the stairs, while the rest of us stand here staring after them.

“Well, I guess that means he isn’t leaving.” The three of us turn and pin Hayze with a look that has him scrunching his face. “What? You were all thinking it, so don’t act like it was just me!” I shake my head, suddenly exhaustion weighs heavy on me and the need for my bed overwhelms me as I sway on my feet. For the second time in the space of ten minutes I’m lifted off my feet, but this time it's bride style. I don’t fight Ez as he carries me up the stairs, I just nuzzle into him and sigh in contentment. I feel guilty for being so at ease while my best friend is in one of the guest rooms breaking apart in my brother's arms.

Ez kicks my bedroom door shut behind us and manages to lock it without dropping me. When I hear fists pound against it from the outside I can’t help but chuckle. “Fuck off, dick heads, you had your turn,” Ez snaps. My breath hitches and suddenly the sleep I was craving vanishes and I’m wide awake and wired. He places me on my feet at the edge of my bed and grips my waist in a firm hold. The smoldering look in his eyes sends a shiver down my spine and need coursing through me. “Did you do what I said? Were you able to keep them inside of you like a good girl?” Fuck the filthiness of this situation isn’t lost on me and I should be worried about how turned on I am.

“Some of it came out,” I admit.

“Where?”

“In my panties,” I answer and blush.

“Show me.”