Page 30 of Defiant
My mind should’ve been alight with possibilities as to what he meant—as a Scott, making them pay surely meant something else, something worlds more serious than petty revenge—but it wasn’t. I could hardly think straight, feeling his breath on my face, his hands holding my neck so confidently, so smoothly.
“I do want to ask, though,” Vaughn whispered, his body pressing so hard against mine my stomach warmed with all of the ideas, all of the things we could do in this tiny closet. Lunch had only just begun, after all. We had plenty of time left. “Your investigator…who is he?”
Oh, yeah, like I’d tell Vaughn Scott the name of my private investigator, the man who was currently looking into his family for me—
“Jacob Hall,” my stupid mouth shot off, telling Vaughn something he most certainly did not need to know. Where the hell was my brain? Telling him was the last thing I should’ve done; I probably just put Jacob in danger.
Ugh, stupid, stupid.
I brought both hands to his chest, in what little room I had, my fingers curling against the fabric of his shirt. With his hands on my neck and his forehead against mine, it was doubly hard to think straight, but I knew enough to say, “Don’t hurt him.”
Vaughn was quiet for a few moments. “What kind of man do you think I am?”
That was a trick question, wasn’t it? I knew what family he came from, knew enough that the Scotts were bad. Did that automatically mean Vaughn was just as bad as they were? I…I didn’t know.
“Jacob…” I paused, thinking about that grumpy guy. “He can be a little grouchy sometimes, but he means well. He’s not a bad guy. I don’t want your family to hurt him.” I couldn’t remember the last time I’d meant what I’d said more.
To see Jacob getting hurt because of me…I wasn’t sure if I could bear it.
“Then tell him to stop looking into my family,” Vaughn said. “I can’t be held accountable for what my brother will do to him when he finds out Jacob is putting his nose where it doesn’t belong.” There was a pause, a short sigh, before he added, “And he will find out. Markus always does.”
Markus…was that the man he was with at the fundraiser, the man who’d spoken with Ollie? I couldn’t remember if names were ever spoken, but if that man was Markus…I did not want Jacob to ever encounter him. I hadn’t been in the room with them, but that man had radiated darkness.
Even knowing that, I wanted to argue with him. Jacob had told me what had happened with the Fitzpatricks years ago, but something still didn’t sit right about the Scotts and their involvement with Ollie. There was still so much I didn’t know, so much I was dying to. I wanted to have the full picture in front of me, even if that picture was one of mainly blackness. “But—”
Vaughn stopped me by lowering his lips to mine. A soft dancing of his mouth on top of mine, an instant jolt of electricity zapping through me, setting my nerves on fire. The kiss was slow and steady, and it took everything in me to let him shut me up, to stand there and take whatever it was he’d give me, even if it wasn’t enough.
I had the feeling it would never be enough.
“You have nothing to worry from my family,” Vaughn spoke once he broke the kiss, when my mouth longed for his. “They won’t hurt you. You’re not on their radar…but if you keep pushing, you will be. I want to keep you safe from them as long as I can, Jaz.”
My eyelids were half-open, and his face was so close to mine it was hard to focus on. The hands around my neck held on, showing no signs of letting go. He could strangle me here, and I wouldn’t be able to stop him. The boy with hate and pain on his knuckles could walk out of this closet and leave me in here, dead.
The cameras in the hall would record him walking out, but still. I was in such a dark, enclosed space, trapped with a boy who was dangerous, a boy whose family was also dangerous, with his hands around my neck and his body pinning mine back.
But I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t frightened, nor did I feel uneasy with the way his fingers curled around my neck. How could I, when he kissed me like I was everything? How could I possibly be afraid of Vaughn when his lips told me what his words could not? He was confused, so very confused, but he wasn’t so confused when it came to how he felt about me.
The passion you could fake. The quick, hard kisses that only served to fill a carnal hunger could be faked. Archer’s kisses were all lies, but Vaughn’s? His were the opposite, and I felt myself becoming a slave to them, as foolish as it was. You couldn’t fake the tenderness behind Vaughn’s kisses, the gentleness, the eagerness; it was a hunger that was different, a hunger he was afraid to show.
Vaughn wasn’t the only one confused here. I was, too. After all, knowing I should stay away from the Scotts, how could I let myself feel these things for Vaughn? I was asking for trouble, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted whatever trouble Vaughn would bring in his wake.
“What happens then?” I asked, my voice a bare whisper. If I kept Jacob pushing at the Scotts, if I came onto the Scotts’ radar…what would happen to me then? Would I disappear, become the next Celeste Chambers? Only no one would care about my disappearance, beyond my mom. Or maybe I’d take a long walk off a short pier, just drop off the face of the earth with no hope of coming back to reclaim my old life.
I didn’t want to die. I was too young. Had too much left to do.
“You don’t want to know,” he whispered. “So, please, Jaz, for me, call Jacob off. Leave my family alone. I don’t…don’t force me to choose between you.”
Me or his family? How barbaric.
Then again, I had no idea he was at that level with me. When Vaughn Scott fell, he fell hard and he fell fast, apparently. It was a refreshing change from the way most guys were nowadays. Not that I had much experience dating, since my mom was the textbook definition of a helicopter parent, but still.
With my heart beating rapidly in my chest, I said, “I’ll see what I can do.” However, I would make no promises to him right now; calling Jacob off meant…well, it meant I was basically giving up and accepting whatever hand this town gave Mom and me, whether that was good or bad. There would be no prepping, no warning, if Midpark decided to devour us whole.
“Good,” Vaughn murmured, his lips finding mine yet again. This time, it was no quick kiss. Still just as tentative as the other, but he was more confident this time, taking me, claiming me through that kiss. He was a lot better at kissing than he was at explaining his feelings, that’s for sure.
It was clear Vaughn cared for me. Was that why he offered to help me get back at those at the party? The price of his help was still up in the air, but at this point, I didn’t care what that price would be.
As I lost myself in the way he kissed me, the feeling rising up in my gut, I couldn’t help but wonder what I’d do if Vaughn stated the price of his help was me cutting ties with Jacob. He didn’t outright say it yet, but I didn’t doubt that it was coming, should I choose not to tell Jacob to quit investigating the Scotts.
