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SHILOH

“ Y ou did so well.”

My heart soars at Kaleb’s praise.

I’m bathing in it. In his attention. His heat.

In his touch.

After he forced himself into me in my sleep. After he made me come while I was still blinking away my dreams.

It’s wrong to let him treat me the way he does. Fucking me in my sleep isn’t right.

He hasn’t waited for me to wake up before violating me, and now, after he’s fucked me, I want more of him.

I spread my legs wider for him. I bite my bottom lip, then I bite him.

My pussy begs for his cum, for his babies, and he lets me have it. Kaleb shoves it deeper inside of me, and holy wow. My skin has never tingled like this. I’m floating.

Contentment shines through his golden eyes. Desire, too .

“Hmm.” That sound of satisfaction slips past my lips. My smile curves my mouth up.

Depravity at its finest.

It’s all I have.

It’s all I want. To be here, in his apartment, well rested. Well fucked. While we’re living our best lives as if nothing happened last night. As if we didn’t kill four people.

The last part sucked. Murdering the security man. He was innocent. His only sin was showing up for work that day.

He was also a witness.

While there were no cameras inside the bathroom, he’d seen my face—not Kaleb’s, who’d been hidden behind the mask. He watched me walk in, then walk out.

We could’ve hacked the cameras somehow, sure. Sadly, we couldn’t erase his memory.

His death was unfortunate and inevitable. We were quick about it. One blow to the head and he was gone.

The sharp bite of Kaleb’s teeth digging into my leg jolts me out of my daydreaming.

I shriek. He places both hands on my thighs, brows furrowed. “You left me just now. Went somewhere inside your head. Without me.”

“I would never.” Even when deep in thought, Kaleb is always there. Forever.

His hair is soft beneath my fingertips. He’s silent during the long minute it takes him to believe me.

“Okay.” A soft kiss on where he bit me sends shivers through me. “I’m going to try something. See if I can make you come again. I want to—have to—know what makes you feel good.”

“You literally just?—”

My breath catches in my throat when three of his fingers are shoved into my pussy. His teeth are on my clit, grazing it. Then biting.

“Oh God.” I’m done stroking his hair. I’m pulling on it with every bit of dark desire that he’s making me feel. My sanity, he sucks on my clit and steals it from me altogether. Toes curling, my heels dig into the bed. “Kaleb, fuck.”

Rain pours outside the apartment. Thunder cracks somewhere in the distance. The glass rattles as the wind howls louder. The heater doesn’t work.

I couldn’t care less.

The whole world is painted a dull shade of gray. Boring. Mundane. Replaceable.

Everything but him.

Everything but his intense attention on my pussy. Nothing but his mouth on me. His tongue swiping, then his teeth again, and—fuck, fuck, fuck.

The look he’s spearing me with. My God.

He is my God.

A sliver of emotion pushes through his golden eyes. Something other than desire, jealousy, or pure murderous rage. Other than his blank stare that I obsess over.

Curiosity.

“So good.” I choke on the words, moaning them. He needs to hear my encouragement. I’ll give it to him. I’ll give him everything. “You—yes. Just like that. You’re not trying to make it good for me, Kaleb. Christ, you know . So good. You make me feel so good.”

Kaleb was right that first time when we lost our virginity together.

I didn’t need to fuck anyone else to know how to fuck you .

He hums against my damp, sensitive skin, and it’s so much.

This pleasure is like reaching the mountain peak, only to realize it’s not it. That there’s more to climb, more to explore, and oh, holy fuck.

Black dots line the edges of my vision. My breath comes in heavy pants as he pushes his thumb inside my soaking pussy too. Soaking it in my arousal before pushing it to my tighter hole.

Despite my fierce grip on his hair, he raises his lips. “How does that feel?”

“So. Good. Yes. Yes. Please.” My hips thrust into him, fucking his face. Can’t stop. Impossible. “I’m dying, Kaleb. I’m going to die without you. Please. I need you.”

“Love it when you beg.” His fingers curl inside me. More pleasure, I don’t know if I can take it.

“Oh God.”

“I’m your God.” He shoves his thumb deeper. I’m so full. So close. “Beg for me.”

“You’re my God,” I breathe out, and that’s all the encouragement he needs to go back to eating me out.

Never have I been tended to so thoroughly. Cared for this passionately. Being touched like I’m some kind of deity .

Because that’s what it is, isn’t it? His thumb shoved inside my ass, the rest of his body working to satisfy mine. This is worship. This is reverence.

And this—Oh, oh, oh . This orgasm is stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.

I have to slam a hand over my mouth to silence my screams.

No one’s coming for the Davis couple. Not yet, anyway.

No calls from their workplace, wherever that was. No neighbors knocking on our door. The couple who caught us slipping in here last night didn’t give us funny looks.

Thing is, the walls here are paper-thin.

“Such a good girl.” Naked Kaleb climbs up my body. His kiss is everything. It’s also terribly filthy to taste both him and me on his lips as he cradles my cheek in his palm.

I kiss him back like he’s my entire world.

He is.

We’re both breathing hard by the time he pulls back. He nuzzles his nose to mine, moving lower to trail his lips down my jaw.

He pauses at my neck. “Good girl.”

“Thank you.” I hug him, latching onto his warmth, where I stay for long, delicious minutes.

He lets me have it, brushing his scruff to my cheek.

Then, since he knows what I need better than I do, he gets up, throwing me over his shoulder. He does everything for me in the shower, loving me under the warm spray.

“My turn.” My tongue darts out, swiping along my bottom lip as I rake my gaze over his body .

Rivulets of water cascade down his lean muscles, highlighting the work of art that’s my stepbrother. His abs are defined, rippling. A light smattering of hair covers the V muscle that leads to his thick cock.

I squeeze soap into my palms, running my hands over the hard planes. Massaging soap into his strong arms. Trailing his veins with my fingertips.

His cock jerks. Thickens. He’s glowering at me.

Watching.

I’ll never get used to it. His attention is the equivalent of two hands burrowing inside my head, seeking information.

I’ll always be addicted to it. I’ll always question what it means.

Now, it means he wants to fuck me against the wall.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Eventually, the water runs cold and we get out. He dries me off, raking his fingers through my hair until it’s smooth and there are no more knots left.

When I shiver, he helps me into one of his black hoodies and his sweatpants, then pushes a pair of socks onto my feet.

From my place next to the dresser, I look at him as he shrugs on an identical hoodie and sweatpants.

No underwear for either of us. No need for them.

What for? We’ll be inside all day. Maybe even tomorrow.

Maybe until we leave this city for good.

Our underwear will only get in the way.

With that thought, I reach for my phone. I hate that I have to check for missed calls and messages instead of spending every second staring at him. Being present, here, with him .

Sadly, neglecting it will look suspicious. I’ll be called into questioning if I don’t make this go away, so I check the damn thing.

At least no one knows where I am since I’ve turned off the location on my phone.

“You’re frowning.” Kaleb’s there. I didn’t notice him coming closer. He smooths out the frowning lines between my eyebrows. Watching me.

“It’s these texts and emails that I have to get when all I want is to be with you.” There’s understanding in his eyes. This is the only way we can continue playing here in Seattle. Just for a bit longer. Just until it’s time to kill our parents. “Can’t have anyone coming for us.”

“Speaking of.” His lips brush my forehead, a fleeting moment, and then they’re gone. He swipes the PI’s phone, whose coordinates have also been turned off.

He’s texting someone, probably Dad. Who hasn’t contacted me.

No surprise there.

Other people are looking for me, though.

I answer Val’s text.

I’m alive. No, I wasn’t there when they murdered those people on campus. No, I can’t talk right now. My throat is sore. I think I caught something. I won’t be able to make it to Marina’s wake. Sorry.

Then there’s an email from Dad’s assistant.

“Kaleb.” My eyes narrow at my sneaky stepbrother. “Did you have anything to do with Dad asking me to meet him on Halloween? Did you know he would and that’s why you chose that date? ”

He brushes his knuckles along my cheek, sliding his hand into my hair.

Winds it and tugs. “Are you asking if I’ve been hiding shit from you?”

I pinch my lips, faking defiance. On the inside, I’m melting at his touch. “Have you?”

“No.” He bends until his head is inches above mine. “I guess it’s the universe’s way of compensating us for the shit it put us through.”

“Do you think they know?”

Kaleb’s growl and harsher tug on my hair send out a clear message. He doesn’t approve of my doubts. Hot. “Stop questioning me.”

Through the searing pain in my scalp, I manage a smile. “Okay.”

He releases me, but not before he pulls me into a crushing kiss.

Back to covering our tracks. I reply to Dad’s assistant’s email, agreeing to my father’s request. I have no idea why he summoned me. It doesn’t even matter.

My knight in shining…mask…will help me put him down once and for all.

His lawyers are next. When I didn’t answer their calls, one of them texted. The detectives have questions after yesterday. I let them know I wasn’t at the scene of the crime, didn’t witness a damn thing. I’m shocked , I add for good measure, and down with something .

Last thing I say is that if the detectives insist on an interview, it’d have to wait .

They reply within seconds, assuring me they’ll relay the message to the detectives. I have nothing to worry about.

The rest of the texts, calls, and emails aren’t nearly as important.

Enough damage control. I throw the phone on the bed, returning to what truly matters.

Kaleb raises an eyebrow when he notices me ogling him as he folds the clothes that have just come out of the dryer. He’d been busy before he woke me up with his dick inside me, apparently.

My breaths are shallow the longer I watch him. He’s delicious. Who would’ve thought folding clothes could look so sinful?

It is. On him, everything is.

He dips his chin. See something you like?

I lift a shoulder. You.

He closes the dresser drawer, guiding me to the kitchen, his hand on the small of my back.

“Breakfast,” he huffs.

Would you look at us.

A man and a woman in love waking up together. Two people enjoying a lazy morning. Just us. Just Kaleb and Shiloh without the weight of the world on our shoulders.

We’re painfully normal. I almost cry at that.

“Sit.” One order and my ass drops to the nearest chair in the small dining area. He makes a low sound of approval and starts the coffee.

The coffeemaker stutters, but eventually works. Once it does, Kaleb turns to prepare breakfast. He sets out two plates, sliced bread, cheese, and butter. He pulls out a pan and puts it on the stove.

“Grilled cheese?” I ask, my elbows leaning on the table, my body arching toward him. I can’t look anywhere else but at him, the only man in my world.

“Yeah.” He looks over his shoulder, his lips curving up in a ghost of a smile. “I’d dreamed about it for years. About the ones you’d make me. During those weekends, your dad was stuck in the office and my mom was holed up in her room. Remember those?”

“I haven’t forgotten a single thing about our time together.”

“I liked those.” A nod, and he’s back to working on our food. Alone.

Like hell. He’ll never be alone again. I won’t stay seated when I can be closer. When I can touch him.

“They were nothing special.” I bump my hip into his. “Anyone could’ve made those.”

“No.” He looks down at me, borderline murderous. I don’t flinch, soaking up his madness. “The ones at Berkshire sucked. Almost as much as their cake did.”

“You had cake?” My nose scrunches. “You hate it.”

His focus is on the sizzling butter. On placing bread in the pan and adding the cheese.

“Kaleb?”

Another slice of bread. He presses both of them down with the spatula. As hard as I used to. I was eleven the last time I fixed those for him. I had to put all my strength into it. Kaleb is far stronger than I’ll ever be .

He presses it hard anyway.

“Hey, you there?”

Silence.

Concern curls around my lungs. He senses my unease somehow, hooking an arm around my side andyanking me to him.

“You’re upset.” My forehead creases, my heart twisting. “Did I say something?”

“No.”

“Then talk to me.” I place a hand over the one he has on my shoulder, my touch soft. “Why’d you have cake? Someone forced you?”

“No.” A loaded silence. “It was the only way to celebrate your birthday, Shi.”

It should be impossible to have your heart crash and splinter on the floor while it’s still beating in your chest.

That’s what happens as I let his words sink in.

I’m devastated. Hurting. Hollow.

Again, he senses my pain, tightening his grip around me.

“You remembered?” I whisper. It’s hard to speak. Hard to breathe.

“Of course.”

Delicious aromas rise from the pan when he flips the sandwich. Kaleb smells better. Kaleb smells like home.

Kaleb is also deadly silent.

“They let you celebrate it? I—Damn it, I never asked. You told me your therapist let you keep the photos and mask, but other than that?” Fuck, could I be any more self-centered? Why haven’t I asked? “You could just go anywhere inside the facilities?”

“No.”

His fingers dig into my waist, his love language. His way of comforting me. I won’t be comforted. I won’t stop wishing I could magically go back in time and spare him every miserable second he’d spent locked up in there.

“Then?”

“I did what I had to.” He levels me with a dark gaze. “I pretended to be sick or started banging my head against the wall until I bled. Until one of the attendants or guards came for me.” Without turning away from me, he flips the sandwich in the pan. “Every year on your birthday, I made up some bullshit excuse to call them over there. Then I’d grab them by their throats, drag them out toward the kitchen. They let me have my way. Otherwise, they knew I’d murder their colleagues and wouldn’t lose sleep over it. They’d follow me all the way to the staff’s break room. They’d have cakes delivered each morning, and each year on your birthday, I’d stuff my face with a slice. Then I’d release my hostage. They’d jump on me, sedate me, and put me back in my cell where I slept through the day.”

Not a room. A cell . I get what he’s saying. I get it better than I would’ve liked.

To him, it was a cell. A cell my father forced him into.

Caged. Tested.

Vilified.

The pressure in my chest intensifies.

He was willing to be sedated, hurt himself, all so he could celebrate my birthday .

Alone.

I won’t cry. My tears would offend him, and I won’t do that. He’s been through enough.

I do something better, slipping an arm around him. Burrowing myself into his body, offering him my warmth.

Kaleb sets the grilled cheese on one of the plates. While my heart shreds into a million pieces.

When people look at him, they see a cold, heartless man. Emotionless. Steely.

They aren’t wrong.

He’s that, yeah. And so much more.

But that soft part of him isn’t meant for them.

Kaleb saves and offers every ounce of his goodness to me.

He becomes kinder, warmer, and softer the more time we spend together. His warmth thaws the chill that had clung to my bones for so long.

Whereas I feel the unhinged parts of me unraveling in his presence. He needs me to be obsessive, possessive and his. I am. Always will be.

We’re our true selves around each other. Like two pieces of a secret puzzle.

“Kaleb.” I snuggle closer to him. It isn’t just a hug.

It’s an apology. It’s my gratitude.

A penance.

Take my body , it says. Take everything you need from me.

“Shiloh.” He squeezes me back. Painfully so.

I close my eyes, breathing him in.

“Worth it,” he deadpans and my eyes open at his no-nonsense tone .

The spatula is no longer in his hand. It’s been set on the counter, leaning against the pan. Kaleb has freed his hand to place two fingers beneath my chin, tilting my face up.

His gold eyes are darker, almost bronze-like. He steals my breath away.

He’s dead serious. “Did you hear me?”

My breath hitches.

“Did you?”

I’m not sure. Not sure what he meant. Not sure that I want more gut-wrenching truths to come out of his mouth.

Unfortunately, there’s no running from it. Year after year, he had no one. Kaleb was alone. He isn’t anymore. Never will be.

“Worth what?”

“Worth. It.” He dips his mouth to my cheek, kissing me first. His tongue swipes along the tears that stream down my cheeks. Fresh tears that fall without my permission.

Kaleb kisses them, then wipes them off the other cheek with his rough palm.

Claims them as his.

“I’m sorry.” For so many things. For every single one of them.

“I said…” He sucks on my cheek. I sigh, and he lets out a low chuckle that reaches all the way down to my toes. “Worth it.”

“You don’t have to?—”

“I’ll keep repeating it for the rest of my life.” His hand slides up from my waist, wrapping around the side of my neck. “You were worth it. The probing. The isolation. The guards, the attendants. Being away from you. Avenging you was worth it.”

Goosebumps break out along my skin. I dig my fingers into his hoodie, and he groans, pulling me closer, angling my face to the side, pressing his lips to my other cheek.

He moans into my skin, and I arch my back for him. I can’t help it. I’m not in charge of my own body.

I just need him.

“Your birthdays were the only times the fuckers made me take any drugs,” he whispers, his lips rugged and soft at the same time. I’m dizzy. I’m sad. I’m his. “Wasn’t the worst thing. Being forced to sleep for hours one day of the year. Worth it, Shi.”

Pushing his chest, I put some space between us. I gawk at him.

Relief overwhelms me. I can’t breathe.

He didn’t take their drugs. He fooled everyone.

He manipulated them.

He won.

A sob rips from my chest. It’s a visceral pain that I tried to suppress. I worked hard to put away the images Dad had planted in my head. Images of a drugged Kaleb. A suffering Kaleb.

It.

Hurts.

So bad.

Someone is carving me up from the inside .

Every sad, scary and depressing image of a suffering Kaleb shoots up to my consciousness. They never happened, but Dad made me imagine them.

It was the stuff my nightmares were made of. I’d wake up screaming. Wake up sweating and crying and?—

None of that ever happened, I repeat. None of it. But it doesn’t help when the images and repressed fear bang at my consciousness.

My wounded cry is feral, tortured. So pained that Kaleb turns off the stove, grabs my hips, and sets me on the counter.

“Tell me.” He pushes himself between my thighs. My face is wrapped in his huge hands. This isn’t a comforting touch. He’s protecting me. Erecting a wall between me and the world. “Let me carry the pain for you. Let. Me.”

“My pain?” Keeping my voice down is a true challenge.

I wish I could scream. I wish, with everything I have, that I could let some of it out. Kaleb would allow it. Would take it. I’m sure. Damn him. Damn him for taking on so much.

Even if we were all alone without any neighbors to worry about, I wouldn’t dump more of my pain on him. Just no.

“You think it’s too much? You think I can’t take it? That it’ll hurt me, hearing that your dad said I let them dope me? Huh?”

I can’t hold back the tears. He’s fine and alive, and the flashbacks are nothing but a figment of my imagination, but the pain won’t go away.

“He said exactly that.” I sniff, talking through my tears. “He said monsters deserve to be sedated.”

“Okay, and he said that. So what? ”

“Kaleb—”

“Take a look around you, Shiloh.” He switches his grip on my face. My chin is in his large palm, and he shoves my face left and right. Up toward the ceiling. Back to him. “See the fucks I give anywhere?”

“No. It’s not what he said.” Blinking away my tears, I punch his chest, that’s much stronger than any real-life wall. He’s a shield made of diamonds. Impenetrable. “He said those things so I’d fear you. So I’d want nothing to do with you, the only person who ever loved me. All he cared about was making sure I never came for you, never tried to do anything to save you. That’s how he manipulated me.” Deep breath. I hate this part. Shame floods me. “Most days, I’d fall for it. I had been scared of you. I loved you, and that scared me too.”

“Not good enough.” He moves in as close as he can. The counter stops him, so he drags me to him by my hips. “Tell me the exact words he said to you. I won’t let it haunt you. Tell. Me.”

“ The vile murderer is stuck there for life, ” I mimic my dad’s voice. I won’t repeat that shit as if I’m the one saying it. As if a shred of me still thinks it. “ Doped out of his mind. He’ll never be released, his doctors report back to me. He doesn’t make any progress. He’ll kill again, that’s a guarantee. You’re a fool to ask about him, Shiloh. If he’s ever out, he’ll come after you first. ”

Kaleb’s face betrays nothing. Briefly, I wonder if he’s even heard me.

“Bastard.” He pulls his lips in. His chest expands, then deflates.

“He’s wrong.” I reach out for his neck, cupping both sides .

“I wouldn’t say that.” Kaleb lets out a mirthless laugh. “I am a monster. I did come back here to wreak havoc and murder our parents. But I’m here to steal the princess, not kill her. And about my meds? Like I mentioned, they couldn’t force me. They tried, and I threw them up as soon as I was alone again.”

Oh. That’s how he knew what to do this morning, with his fingers down my throat. His fingers curled in just the right angle, efficient in making me throw up.

“Deep down, I never gave up on you. I hoped you’d be back. Prayed for it.” A flush climbs up my neck. My cheeks.

Kaleb cocks his head to the side, studying me. Clawing his way under my skin. “I saw the letters. I know you did. What are you not telling me?”

“I wished you weren’t completely out of it so that…” My fingers sink into him, borrowing strength from the strongest person in the world. “That you’d be back, and we could be together like this. I hoped that you’d kill me if you had to. Other than that, I wished for this. You were my secret.”

“From him?” He doesn’t have to shout. He’s just as bone-chilling when he hisses.

“From everyone.” I need his warmth for this, inching closer. “I wasn’t ashamed of you. I could never. It was Dad. He made me swear not to talk about you. And since I didn’t want to talk about anything else, I kept to myself. I was always yours and you were mine. Then Val and…”

Marina. I sigh as I remember her. Another person who thought the worst things about Kaleb.

“They were kind. They pretended nothing happened when we talked on the phone, mostly.” I shrug. “That’s it. You were my secret. In my heart. That was more than enough, even when I feared you. I always loved you.”

“You spent years alone.” His expression hardens. The muscles of his jaw work. “Basically by yourself.” His brow furrows, his fingers inflicting pain on my chin. A pain that reminds me that I’m still alive. That I’m his. “You could’ve chosen the easy way out. You could’ve accepted that I was a monster and moved on with your life. Had friends. Gone to parties.”

His hands find my cheeks again.

My chin quivers as my legs press around him. “I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t want another life. I was yours from day one. Day fucking one, Kaleb.”

“No, you’re wrong. With me at Berkshire, you had plenty of choices.” He’s as serious as I’d ever seen him. As intense. Satisfied that I chose him. I brought these emotions out of him. Me. “Now you have none.”

“What’s next? After we kill our parents?” I skim my fingers over his neck, up to his jaw. He sucks in a breath, pressing his forehead to mine. “You have a plan set in place. I know you do.”

“We’ll take our parents’ money. They have safes around the house.” One day, when Dad was drunk, he blabbered about the safes. The money he was hiding from the IRS. Before the three of us, Kaleb, me, and his mom. “Pay for our new IDs, birth certificates and passports. That’s Jerome’s job. Then we get the hell out of this country. Where no one recognizes us.”

“Yes. ”

His eyes glimmer at my enthusiastic response. Darkness settles over them a second later.

My teeth lock with fear, breasts are swollen with lust.

“Before that, as in right this fucking minute, you’ll go to the bathroom.” Our breakfast date is officially postponed. Kaleb is in the mood, and I’m greedy for every ounce of his depravity. “Shave your legs. Your pretty pussy. Wait for me there. We’re going to play out our fantasy.” His hands slide beneath my hoodie. The pads of his fingers stroke and sear me. His touch is confident. Sensual. “Go on. Stop wasting my time, little sister.”

The underlying threat has my heart swooping. Galloping.

Once he places me on the floor, his hand points in the direction of the bedroom.

I shiver. I crave him.

I run.