Beautiful Brute (Court University 3)

Shock riddled me frozen when she squatted in her boots. She quite literally hunkered down, nothing but defiance in her eyes as she hugged her arms in my jacket. She lifted her chin. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Son of a…

“Hey!”

Hands at her thighs, then her ass when I tossed her over my shoulder. Her curtain of long hair fell down my back as she kicked and flailed her skinny legs.

“What are you doing!” A slap to my back, a punch to my arms. “Put me down this instant!”

Chuckling, and I couldn’t even help myself. She was even cute mad and certainly not threatening.

“No.” I swung around with her in my arms, making her squeal. I chuckled again. “The way I see it, you got two options…”

“What?” She growled, punching my back again.

Good. I had her attention.

I grinned. “Option A.” I thrust out a finger, though she couldn’t see. “I leave you here, then track down this fucker who left you. Then proceed to chop his balls off and force-feed them to him.”

Her legs stopped. Good, really listening now.

“Or option B.” I paused, and getting a firm hold of her, I returned her to her feet. She slid the entire length down my body, every soft and supple curve in my hands. I felt every quiver, every shake trembling within her.

I even felt her heartbeat.

It thudded against my chest, and once I got her to the ground, she didn’t move. In fact, she held on to my shirt so tight her little fists paled.

I braced her shoulders. “You let me take you home. Get you safe,” I finished. I wanted her to take that option and was beyond questioning it at this point. I just wanted to help her, save her.

I guessed we were both fucking crazy.

She was for jumping in water after me despite being deathly afraid of it. I supposed I was now jumping into my own tremulous waters.

“Option B,” came from her pretty lips, though a bit struggled. Clearly, she labored over the decision and was maybe even conflicted by it.

My hands fell away from her, making myself. “Good choice.”

I jerked my head in the direction of the car, and she followed me to it. I got inside after she did and hoped to God I was making the right decision here. I hoped to God I wasn’t fucking myself over. I was letting her do this shit again.

I was letting myself do this shit again.

Chapter Nineteen

Cleo

“Where’d you get the car?” Silence had been between us for quite some time before that. My stepbrother was like a raging bull coming down off something. His hand grappling the wheel, he looked intense, no doubt pissed at having to come and get me.

So why had he then?

I didn’t understand why he bothered since he hated me, his hands ghost white on the wheel most of the drive. It was a long drive. Lawson had basically taken us out in the middle of nowhere for our scenic look of the ocean. Looking back, it really hadn’t been a smart decision to come out here. I didn’t really know the guy despite going to school with him and had probably had too much wine to make the right decisions tonight.

He probably knew that, Cleo.

His objective was obviously clear, get the girl alone after getting a few drinks in her. He thought I was an easy lay just because of th

e way I’d been reintroduced into his life.

Asshole.