Page 4 of The Sweetest Revenge

Then—a violent tug. The towel ripped away from my body. Cold air rushed against my exposed skin. My stomach dropped as realization hit: this wasn't over.

I struggled to grab it back, but his hand tightened in my hair, shoving me forward again. He pressed his hip hard against me, pinning me tighter than before so my feet weren't touching the floor anymore and pushing his hard length between my ass cheeks. "I said, please, what?"

"Please, let me go." I cried out. "It's not what you think, I swear."

He ground his thickness firmly into my ass. He grunted, stepping back, and I hissed as a sharp pain shot through my scalp as he snatched me back by my hair. My hands flew up over my head, gripping his wrist, trying to ease the ache. His free hand slid over my hip from behind and down between my thighs, sliding through my folds. "You're so fucking wet. Does this turn you on?" He pulled his hand free, coated in my arousal, and brought his fingers to my lips. "Open."

What the actual fuck?

I shook my head.

"Open your fucking mouth," he grunted against my ear, tightening the grip on my hair.

"Okay," I whimpered, easing my mouth open as he slid his two thick, wet middle fingers between my lips.

"Suck." I did as I was told and sucked them clean as he moved them in and out, each time going deeper until I gagged. "Does this turn you on, you dirty slut." I assumed it was a rhetorical question, considering he had my mouth full. My small hands wrapped around his wrist as he shoved his fingers deeper.

I hummed a plea for mercy, gagging around him as I desperately tried to pull him out of my throat. "It's bad enough I have to share a house with your whore of a mother." He pulled them from my mouth, and I gasped for air as he released my hair and shoved me forward toward the staircase. "Does it turn you on moving in here and replacing my sister?"

My hands flew up, attempting to cover myself as his heated, dark gaze swept over me. "I don't want to be here any more than you want me here."

"Then get the fuck out." He stepped forward, backing me toward the staircases.

"Fine," I muttered, my gaze fixed on the white towel crumpled on the floor behind him. "Give me my towel, and I'll go."

The corner of his mouth lifted—not a smile, but something darker.

He shook his head. "Not a chance."

The gap between us seemed to shrink without either of us moving.

In the hallway mirror behind him, I caught a glimpse of my face—pale, wide-eyed, exposed. He charged forward like a predator who knew his prey was cornered.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for impact, for the sensation of falling down the stairs. Instead, I was lifted, my stomach dropping as he hoisted me over his shoulder. Each thundering step down the stairs jolted through my body. The cold air hit me first, then the rough wood of the porch against my bare skin as he dropped me outside.

"If you ever come back here, I'll make you regret every decision you've made since the night Kacie died."

He slammed the door, leaving me on the front porch naked, freezing, and furious.

I scrambled to my feet as the wind picked up, raising goosebumps across my exposed skin. I pressed my palms against my eyes until I saw stars, willing the tears back as my entire body vibrated with a mixture of fury and humiliation.

He'd caught me off guard. A mistake I wouldn't repeat.

I looked up at Kacie's old window, which was my window now. I hugged myself tighter, my anger crystallizing into something colder.

Next time, and there would be a next time, I'd be ready.

For now, though, I needed to get back inside before someone saw me standing naked on the front porch. I rushed around the house, stopping at the door to the garage, and tried the knob, releasing a heavy sigh when it twisted open.

Now, I had to wait for him to leave.

CHAPTER3

ZAIDEN

My skates bit into the ice. The familiar scrape should have calmed me, but my pulse hammered in my ears, drowning everything else out. Each breath burned in my lungs, a wildfire I couldn't contain, let alone extinguish.

I'd avoided Ariella for the first few weeks of school, hoping distance would dull the edge. It hadn't. My fingers tightened around my stick until my knuckles ached, the same ache I'd felt when I found her in Kacie's room.

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