Page 48 of Ride or Die (The Shores #1)

CHAPTER

FORTY-EIGHT

STILL MY SISTER

LAYLA

The ride back from Constantine’s is quiet. My mind is going a million miles a minute at the thought that so many people want to see us dead. We just want out, but you’d think we were betraying everyone to form our own gang.

What is with these people? Fucking abandonment issues.

As if Colt can sense my discomfort, he looks over at me and grabs my hand. “We’re lucky I’ve spent my entire time doing this thinking meticulously about every move I’ve made, and it's paid off. Fuck.” He laughs to himself and shakes his head in disbelief at what he just pulled off.

Yet I can believe it. My man is fucking smart.

When we pull into the suburb, the headlights shine into the park, and I see Simone sitting on the swings. Growing up, this always seemed to be her go-to spot when times were tough and she needed to be alone.

“Pull over,” I say softly, placing my hand on Colt’s arm. He does as I ask, and I exit the car with him following closely behind.

I hate her guts right now, but something is pulling me to her. We are sisters, and I can just feel these things with her. There’s something going on, something is wrong, and I need to go see her.

Colt stands at the entrance to the park, watching us from a distance but giving us privacy to talk.

As I approach Simone, I notice she’s barefoot, pushing herself back and forth gently on the swing.

She’s staring at the ground, smoking a cigarette, her body shivering in nothing but a tank top and jogging shorts, her hair in disarray.

“Simone,” I say quietly. She looks up at me, and I gasp.

Her face is battered and bruised, her lip cut and swollen, and one eye is bright red from a busted blood vessel. There are marks on her arms that resemble fingerprints, scrapes and scratches on her hands and knees. Someone beat her up.

“What happened?”

She frowns and shakes her head. “Nuthin’.”

I give her a pointed look, and she takes a drag of her smoke, throwing her head back and letting out a loud, bitter laugh. Then, her eyes meet mine again, and she licks her teeth.

“Well, let me see. I didn’t go through with hurting you.

” She starts counting on her fingers. “Then I asked them to leave you alone, and then I refused to let a guy fuck me as punishment for my actions. I’m a girl who talks back when I shouldn’t and tries to fight assholes when I shouldn't. Basically, I'm me. What didn’t happen? But why do you even care? You’re the new queen bee, right?

All badass ‘n’ shit,” she spits out as she glares at me, her five fingers splayed from counting everything she did that got her beat up.

“Simone, I?—”

“That’s the thing, Layla,” she interrupts. “Even though I’m a narcissistic sociopathic fuck up, everything I have done since we moved here has been to protect you. If they sent anyone else after you that night, you might be seriously hurt or dead right now.”

“What do you mean?”

She sniffs, shaking her head and looking away. “It doesn’t matter, you guys will make it work. You’re almost out. You’re one of the lucky ones. The rest of us will be left here to deal with this bullshit.” She takes another drag of her smoke.

Simone may have been a horrible bitch to me, but seeing her here like this guts me. I know there was more behind her actions than I can even begin to comprehend.

“Did you come by that night to warn us? To protect me? Who sent you?” She doesn’t answer or even look up at me. Her trembling hand just brings her cigarette up to her mouth, and she inhales deeply.

I’ve seen Simone in some fucked up situations, but I’ve never seen her like this.

“Simone, you can come with us,” I offer softly.

She shakes her head repeatedly. “Spend my life with you two love fucks? No thanks. Besides, Franky owns me now, I’m not going anywhere.”

“You can still?—”

“Layla. No. I can’t. Just fucking leave it, okay? Do your shit, get out of here. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. But I still fucking hate you,” she says, turning away from me.

I stare at her for a moment, remorse for all my actions towards her over the past year hitting me strong. Seeing her like this, depleted in a park in her pyjamas all beat up, is breaking my heart.

She looks back up at me and rolls her eyes, then glares, probably hating the look of sympathy I’m giving her. She never liked to admit weakness or have people pity her.

“Gooo awaaayyy,” she says, her tone full of hate and exasperation. At a loss, I nod, and she gives me an annoyed wave as I turn to head back to Colt.

I take a few steps and stop in my tracks, looking back at her once more.

Seeing her bare feet, I take my shoes and socks off, tossing the pair of socks onto her lap before putting my shoes back on.

She looks up at me, and a small smirk of thanks pulls at the corner of her mouth. With a final nod, I walk away for good.

“Is she okay?” Colt asks, looking past me as I approach him. I turn around to see her in the same position as when I arrived.

“No. Someone beat the shit out of her. I know she’s been such a bitch, but something she said back there just doesn’t sit right.” He puts his arm around my shoulders and we start walking back to the car.

“What do you mean?”

“She said 'everything I’ve done since we moved here was to protect you'. I think that night in the garage she came to warn me, not hurt me. I also feel like maybe all her actions to keep me as ‘the good girl’ were her attempt to keep me safe and get me out of here.”

“You think she thought that far ahead? Had that kind of plan in place? She talked shit about you for years.”

“Yeah, to keep me down. Away from all the popular kids who end up in bad shit in The Shores. Before we moved here, everyone knew I was smart. She always told me I’d make something of myself one day.

Then we moved here, and everything changed.

She was instantly pulled into it. She became angry, started being mean to me.

I don’t know, Colt, she’s still my sister.

I told her to come with us, but she said Franky owns her now and basically told me to fuck off.

” He sighs as we get back to the car and opens the door for me.

“I told you as soon as we found out about Franky that she chose the wrong path. She’s not wrong, she can’t leave. He will find her and kill her if she does. Franky is fucked in the head, possessive of his girls.” he says quietly.

We both look back at the park and see she’s still sitting there, swaying as she stares down at her now sock-covered feet. I fucking hate her for what she’s done, but I love her, and I feel a pang of guilt and sickness hit my stomach knowing I am leaving her here.

We pull away and drive past my parents’ house. The place looks like shit. They are standing on the front lawn having cigarettes and drinks with some questionable people, arms flailing as they discuss something heatedly.

I wonder if they’re the ones who fucked up Simone.

As we pull past, my parents stop and watch us drive by. They can’t see through the tinted windows but the hate from their stares penetrates through the glass. I look at their frail bodies, stressed faces, and bruises from the track marks on their arms. The drugs have taken full hold of them.

“Jesus fuck, I’m so glad you’re out of there,” Colt says under his breath as we pass.

I look in the side mirror as they step out onto the road and watch us drive away.

Everything about my family life is so fucked up.

Thank god Colt brought me into his life and I'm away from that situation.

Even if I had stayed there and continued paying them, once in the throes of a serious addiction, god knows what they would have done to me.

When we get back home, Colt makes us a late dinner. He eats like a beast, making three sandwiches for himself. I chuckle and shake my head, watching him devour his food.

“What?” he asks with a mouthful. “I’ve gotta eat a lot to keep this form.”

“I wasn’t judging,” I defend. “I love your muscles, so eat all you like as long as you keep looking like that.” My shameless flirting sparks a sexy grin as he chews, and his gorgeous eyes stare into mine.

After we’re done, Colt clears our plates and starts washing the dishes.

Watching as he cleans without hesitation, I think of all the years I cleaned up after my family, and never once did I get a thank you.

All the years I tried to make things easier on them, it was never enough.

All they did was put me down, nice gestures were never reciprocated.

And then there’s Colt. He cooks and cleans for me, he does things out of the goodness of his heart just to make my day a little bit easier, he builds me up every day, hell, he just threatened a mob boss in my defense.

He is the epitome of love.

Watching him put Constantine in his place for threatening me made me swoon. I had to refrain from attacking him the moment we got in the car. Even though we fucked all afternoon, I still want more.

I stand from the table and saunter up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist. He leans into my embrace, and I rest my head on his back as he keeps washing, running my hands up and down those washboard abs.

His muscles twitch under my touch as my hands creep down, stroking his massive package over his jeans.

A little moan escapes him. “What are you doing, babe?”

“Taking what’s mine,” I whisper against him as my hands undo his pants, sliding in effortlessly. I cup his balls and drag my hand along his shaft, his cock hardening by the second under my touch.

“Fuck,” he mumbles as I begin to stroke him from root to tip with one hand while my other fondles his balls.

“You’re so fucking hot, Colton. Telling off Torres like that, taking care of me the way you do.” He stops washing, leaning his hands against the counter as my grasp on him tightens and my pace quickens.

“Shit, Lay,” he rasps as his hips start to thrust in rhythm with my strokes. My thighs clench tightly, trying to ease the pulsing ache between them.

“You like taking care of me, Colt?"

"Mmhmm," he moans out.

"You like showing me off? Reminding everyone that I'm yours? That you own me?” I whisper seductively.

“Uh-huh, I do. I fucking love it. I'm so proud that you're my girl.” He breathes heavily.

“I fucking love it too. I love how one day, you're going to put a baby in me, marking me as yours forever,” I whisper.

"Goddamnit, Lay. You own me too, baby." He groans.

Grabbing his hips, I turn him, and he looks at me with lustful half-lidded eyes.

Between us, his hard cock stands at attention, and I lick my lips.

I lower to my knees, taking his pants with me, and glance up at him with a seductive smirk. He grins down at me.

“You are so fucking hot,” he mumbles as he watches my tongue lick the length of his shaft before surrounding him with my mouth. His head drops back, and he lets out a moan.

“Fuuuck,” he groans out as I go to town on him, giving him everything I have, and I have a lot to give Colton fucking Hawthorne. My eyes stay on him as I suck him off, getting wetter by the second watching his body respond to my mouth, hearing every pleasurable sound that escapes his lips.

Unable to help myself, my hand snakes down my leggings and I begin to touch myself, spreading my wetness through my pussy lips until I’m circling my clit.

His head whips down to me and observes what I’m doing, his aroused stormy blues staring at me through his messy hair. A wicked smirk pulls at his lips as he watches me pleasure myself while I pleasure him.

We maintain eye contact, and I see a glint in his eyes. He grabs my arms and pulls me up, and his mouth slants over mine. Our tongues twirl and dance with so much passion that goosebumps rise on my skin.

Colt lets out a growl, and the beast in him takes over. He aggressively turns me around, pulls down my leggings, and pushes me face down onto the kitchen table, holding the back of my neck to pin me there. His dominance has me quivering in anticipation of that huge cock invading me.

Without warning, he plows into me, and I cry out as he hits deep. Colton fucks me hard and fast on the table, the legs squeaking along the floor underneath us. This angle hits me perfectly, and we begin grunting with each thrust as he pounds into me.

“Fuck, Colt. Your cock knows right where to hit me,” I whimper.

“Fucking right I do. This is my cunt.” He groans. “ My tight little cunt. ” His voice is strained as he tries to maintain control, his erotic words making my pussy clench around him. I reach down and start circling my clit again as he continues to hold me in place and have his way with me.

“Ah, Yes, Colt!” A knot forms in my lower abdomen, and I know I’m about to come. My body tightens, and he slams into me harder and faster as I start to cry out, my orgasm consuming me.

“Fuck!” he yells as he drives into me one last time before stilling. His hand leaves my neck and drops to my hip, both hands gripping me tightly, pulling me back onto him as he releases himself into me, grunting with every spurt of cum he shoots deep inside.

He breathes heavily behind me and then lets out a pained groan. “Ah, cramp! Cramp! Too much activity too soon after eating.” He breathes out.

We burst out laughing as he pulls out of me. I turn around to see him wincing in pain, grabbing his abdomen with his pants around his ankles, and we laugh even harder.

There is no stopping the two of us when we are together. Colt is my best friend, my home and my family. I may have lost one family, but in turn, I gained the greatest love of my life.