“I know you don’t want to get rid of me.”
“How can you be so sure?” I hiss. "Remember what your mother told us in the treehouse, June?"
"She's gone," she argues. "She can't stop us now."
"And you really think I'd do that to her?" I turn to face my stepsister now, eyes flashing with anger. "You really think I'd break the promise I made to her, now that she's no longer here to finally tell us it's okay?"
"You can't let what she said stop you." June shakes her head resolutely. "She didn't know. She didn't get it."
"Know what? Get what?" I'm acting like a jerk, but I can't stop myself. I need June to see this in the same light I do. I need to nip this in the bud before it becomes a real fucking problem for both of us.
"This," June breathes. "Us."
"There's no us, June." I fumble for my keys and make a move to unlock the door, but she steps in front of me before I can do that.
"Stop lying to yourself," she pleads with me. "Will you for once acknowledge what we have here, Kade? Please. I'm begging you."
My cock hardens at her words, and I hate myself for how weak she makes me. I don't respond. I don't trust myself enough to speak right now.
"Please, Kade." June keeps going. "Please. If you don't want it anymore, I'll understand. Just tell me. Say it right now. Tell me to leave you alone, and you won't hear from me again."
She's giving me an easy way out, and I know I should take it. Yet my hands fist at the mention of losing her, and a snarl rips itself from my lips. I don't respond, and she steps closer, hands grabbing my jacket and pulling me in. I'm painfully aware that my brother is on the other side of the door. My brother, who doesn't know about any of this, and who has already put his own plan into motion to get June.
"Please, Kade," June repeats. "Tell me to stop."
She leans in close. It takes every vestige of willpower I have not to pull her against me and crush my lips to hers.
"Just tell me it's over. I'll go. I won't bother you again. Is that what you want, Kade? For me to disappear?"
I shut my eyes, trying to block out her pleading voice. If I ignore her for long enough, maybe she'll just leave. And I'll be beating my cock until the fucking morning thinking about the way she smells and the way her body feels against mine.
"You know what?" Her voice is small. She's giving up. "Fine. I'll go. You don't have to tell me. I can tell when I'm not welcome."
She pulls back, but before she can take a single step away from me, I've wrapped my fingers around her wrist and pulled her back.
"You're not fucking going anywhere," I hiss at her, pressing her back up against our front door. June takes a sharp breath, her eyes hopeful as they meet mine. "You keep fucking teasing me, June."
"I'm not teasing." Her voice is barely above a whisper. "I'm just asking for what I want... What I need."
“What do you need, June?” I ask roughly, wanting her to say it.
She’s shaking in my hands, but her eyes stay on mine, begging me for more. “I want you to make it better,” she admits. “I want the pain to go away.”
I think of her then, all alone in that huge fucking house. She didn't just lose us; she lost her mother and our father, too. And now she's all alone.
“I’ll only make it worse. This is not right. You know how pissed off they’d be.”
A moment of silence follows as we both remember our past mistakes.
“I don’t know right or wrong,” she whispers. Her hands flutter to mine, and her touch is soft, forbidden, and dangerous. “This time, they can’t stop us…”
I exhale for what seems like the first time in months, in years. My resolve weakens, wanting her so fucking badly. I’ve let our parents hold us back before, but that ends here and now. I’m done fighting my instincts.
I want June Wildfox, and tonight, I’m claiming her for myself. My brother be damned.
8
Kade
Our bodies are touching, and I can feel her heart beating wildly against my chest. We haven’t done it yet—haven’t done anything we shouldn’t have. But we're getting so fucking close. Dangerously close. I can feel June's breath on my lips.
But then she stands up on tiptoes, and her lips find my cheek. It’s a brotherly kiss if I ever saw one, but when she moves away, I see all that she can never ask of me in her eyes. And I’m a goner. I grip her arms and pull her even closer, her breasts pressing against me.