Page 24 of Under the Lights (The Big Boys of BRU #2)
Dom turned the music up a little as we drove in silence, eyes fixed on the road ahead. The next song on the playlist started playing, and Ella suddenly popped her head through the gap between the seats, making me shriek with surprise again.
“Fucking hell! What is it with you and startling me today?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Dom’s shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Bastard .
“Whoops. My bad. Hey, Dom, turn it up please, I love this song.”
Ella pulled her head back again, and somehow, I didn’t think she was sorry at all. Dom obediently turned up the volume, and I finally recognized the song.
I slowly turned to face him, casting major side-eye his way.
“This your playlist?” I asked mockingly, brows raised.
“Sure is.” He bobbed his head from side to side to the beat of the music.
“Really? You expect me to believe that?”
He shrugged. There was no fucking way .
He took his eyes off the road for a second, looked me dead in the eye, and started singing along.
“God, what have you done? You’re a pink pony girl…” he pointed at me, as I gaped at him.
“… On the stage in my heels, it’s where I belong down at the Pink Pony Club…” He held a hand to his chest, his silver rings glinting in the fading sunlight.
Speechless, my eyes widened as I watched him perform the entire chorus with as much fervor as if he were on a Broadway stage. The bastard even had a halfway decent singing voice.
His voice trailed off, and he gave me a fucking wink before turning his attention back to the road, a smirk on his lips.
God, he was getting on my nerves . With his annoying smooth voice, and his annoying sparkling hazel eyes, and his annoying veins on his hands.
And I absolutely wasn’t digging his display of non-toxic masculinity. In fact, I couldn’t care less. I shifted a little on the seat, squeezing my thighs together in a desperate attempt to crush this tingly feeling deep in my core.
I froze as his heated gaze swept over me once more.
“Everything okay?”
“Just dandy.”
“Let me know if you need help with that, Darlin’.” His voice was low, a dark, delicious promise.
A slow heat settled between my legs, throbbing and spreading throughout my entire body, smoldering.
“Don’t worry, I can find help for that all on my own. I’m a big girl,” I sniped.
He stiffened for a second, then with a quick glance over his shoulder, he reached over the center console. With steady hands, he pushed my knees apart, his fingers exploring the sensitive skin on the inside of my bare thigh.
I inhaled sharply, my hips twitching involuntarily, as his fingertips traced the edge of my panties. My nipples tightened, the smoldering embers turning into a wildfire spreading through every single cell of my body.
“Oh yeah?” He pulled his hand back and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, his smile taking on a dangerous, predatory edge. “You do that.”
I didn’t like the tone he used at all — way too confident and patronizing at the same time. “Are you insinuating I couldn’t?” I crossed my arms challengingly.
“Not at all.”
Flicking my hair over my shoulder, I peered at him down my nose, trying to muster as much conceit as possible. “That’s what I thought.”
He just bobbed his head to the music, gaze fixed on the road, his smile never wavering.
“Darlin’, the only thing I’m insinuating is that there’s no way in hell I’m gonna let anybody else touch what’s mine. But by all means, be my guest. Try and see what happens.”
Pulling to a stop in a residential area far too expensive for the average college student, he threw the truck in park, finally pinning me down with the full intensity of his gaze.
“I’m gonna have fun either way,” he said in a low voice before climbing out, leaving me gaping after him.
“Well,” Ella’s voice sounded from behind me. “ That was interesting.”
Fuck . Before I got the chance to get a word out, the passenger door was wrenched open.
“Let’s go,” Dom said, jerking his head to the side.
Ella jumped out of the truck while I sat frozen. Her brother seemed to be on the impatient side because he started to reach over me, which finally snapped me out of my stupor.
I slapped at his hands. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
He wasn’t deterred at all, ignoring my physical protest as well as my “Stop it, Dom!” and just unbuckled me.
Then he caught both of my hands in one of his massive palms and pulled me out of the truck with his other arm snaking around my waist.
The neighborhood felt like an upgrade from typical college digs. It had neatly kept lawns edged with fresh mulch, soft lamplights casting warm halos over wide porches, and the faint scent of honeysuckle drifting through the warm summer night air.
The mountain breeze whispered through the tall pines, carrying with it the quiet hum of cicadas and the distant bark of a dog. Streetlamps lined the winding road, their amber glow pooling on the pavement like molten gold.
Ella was already waiting on the sidewalk, alarmingly unconcerned by this whole ordeal.
What the fuck was wrong with this family?
As soon as he placed me on my own feet again, I wrenched out of his grip, glaring daggers at him. His easy grin never wavered, maddeningly.
“We’ll be there in a few, Dom. Go inside.” Ella instructed, waving him away dismissively.
“See you inside, Darlin’. I’ll be waiting.” He bent his head a little and winked at me, his minty breath ghosting over my face.
“Right,” I sighed, anxiety twisting my stomach into knots.
This was a fucking disaster. It wasn’t that I’d purposely hidden Dom and me having a past — I just hadn’t known how or if I should bring it up. I’d started to trust Ella as a friend, and the thought of rocking that fragile balance was terrifying.
What the fuck was I supposed to say?
Oh, and by the way, I fucked your brother when he was here for his scouting trip, but don’t worry, I definitely thought he was already in college.
That would’ve gone over well. I’d been hoping maybe it would come up to nothing, the same way I’d been hoping I could just avoid Dom. Which both had obviously been working so well for me.
Dom brushed past me, our fingers grazing, sparks firing up my arm despite myself. Ella waited until his footsteps faded before breaking the silence.
“I think you might’ve been withholding some information from me.” She cocked her head to one side, eyeing me, her face giving nothing away.
“Not on purpose.”
Suddenly, she snorted. “Girl, you’re so fucked.”
Then she started giggling as I gaped at her. Insane . This whole-ass family had to be insane; there was no other explanation for it.
“Ugh, I so wanted to play the bitchy big sister, but I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. You should’ve seen your face.”
I blinked once, bewildered. “Wait, you’re not pissed?”
“Pissed? I-I almost feel … like I shou-should apologize.” Ella shook her head, still giggling away.
“Huh? What are you talking about? Am I having a stroke or something?”
“Oh God, sorry, I’m sorry,” she wheezed, holding a hand in the air, gesturing for me to hold on.
In an effort to calm herself, she took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m good. What I’m trying to say is, you don’t know my brother like I do. I mean, obviously you don’t — how could you?”
“I still don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
Did I even want to know at this point? This whole conversation had been pretty disturbing so far.
She pursed her lips with a sigh. “My brother is extremely bullheaded.”
“Okay … and?”
“ And , apparently, he decided you’re what he wants. What happened between you two anyway? And when?” Her eyes burned with curiosity.
I nervously wrung my hands. “We might’ve hooked up …” Resigned, I closed my eyes. “On his recruiting trip.”
“Damn.”
“But I really didn’t know — I definitely wasn’t … and, and, he didn’t tell me … I mean, have you looked at him?!”
I wasn’t making any sense whatsoever, the words just hurriedly tumbling out of my mouth.
“Excuse me?” Ella raised her brows in amusement.
“Ugh, what I’m trying to say is, I had no idea he wasn’t in college yet. I thought I was hooking up with some random dude from another school.”
“Okay?” Confusion resonated in her voice now. “I mean, I can see why you thought that. He’s massive, plus he has a late birthday, so he’s always been the oldest in his class. He’s turning 20 this year. You do know I’m not mad, right? Like I said, if anything, I feel sorry for you.”
“Why?!”
“Because,” she drawled, “he’s not gonna give up. He just won’t, and I’m speaking from experience here.”
“Well, then he’s shit out of luck because I refuse to give in.” I folded my arms across my chest and raised my chin defiantly.
“No offense, babe, I’m sure you think that, but to be honest, technically speaking, you’ve already given in.
” She pointed behind herself with her thumb, sucking her teeth.
“You know, when y’all first hooked up. That’s kind of your precedent.
He obviously knows there’s attraction, or chemistry, or whatever between you.
So I highly doubt he’s going to give up. ”
Closing the distance between us, she put her hand on my shoulder and smiled sympathetically. “You never really had a chance, babe. Good luck. Or should I say, Welcome to the family ?”
Snorting with laughter, she pulled me toward the house while I was stuck in some kind of bewildered stupor.
Insane . The whole fucking lot of them.