Page 11 of Blood Ties
His eyebrows lift. “You like them,” he says, the inflection making it not quite a question.
“I’m the one who should be surprised. I didn’t know small town boys listened to Radiohead.”
He laughs — a low sound with a self-deprecating edge. “Small town boy, huh?” He shakes his head and mutters, “You have no idea.”
Taking a long drag, I look him up and down — his long hair and his cigarette, his baggy black clothes and combat boots. “Yeah, I get the impression you don’t really fit in here. So why not go somewhere else?”
His lips twitch, but he takes a long drag of his cigarette before an actual smile can develop. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen him smile once. “You say that like it’s easy.”
“Easy? No. But it’s possible.”
His eyes flicker, the mirth gone now. “You wouldn’t get it.” He turns away, flicking ashes onto a patch of weeds sprouting below the porch steps.
I study his side profile. His features are sharper than his brother’s, maybe not as classically handsome, but more magnetizing in their own way. There’s something about his deep-set, dark eyes, and the shadows carved beneath them. I barely know him, but I know the look. He gives off the kind of sadness that I ache to soothe, even though trying always leaves me with a broken heart.
“If you like music...” He turns back to me as I speak, and I hesitate. Is this crazy? “Well, me and my friends are heading to this music festival in L.A. We, um... have an extra ticket.” I suck my bottom lip between my teeth, looking up at him. “You could come with us? We could drop you off on our way back.”
He stares at me. His lips curve into a small, crooked smile, and warmth spreads through my chest. “That’s really nice,” he says. “You’re... really nice.” But he looks away, the smile fading. “I can’t, though. My family needs me here. Sorry.”
“That’s okay.” My face is hot. Why did I even offer that? Of course he doesn’t want to travel with a bunch of strangers, especially after we invaded his home and ruined his night. I drop the rest of my cigarette and stamp it out; it was mostly an excuse to linger, anyway. quickly finish “Uh, anyway. I’ll...” I jerk my chin at the door. He watches silently as I head back inside, his cigarette burning down to a forgotten stub between his fingers.
*
ISTARTLE AWAKE ASthe front door shuts. I hadn’t even realized I dozed off, but here I am, slouched on the couch on Felix’s shoulder. He’s asleep too, head leaning back against the couch and mouth hanging open. I disentangle myself from him and tiptoe toward the door, peering out through the mudroom windows.
Caleb and May are outside, heading to the broken-down car where it waits attached to Knox’s tow truck. They look like they’re arguing, but as I squint to determine if I should intervene, she presses him against the car and kisses him. I slap a hand across my mouth to stifle a surprised gasp. When I lower it, I’m grinning.Good for them.
I turn away before I see something I can’t unsee. Smiling tomyself, I head into the nearby kitchen, seeking something to cure the terrible cotton-y feeling in my mouth. A glass sitting on the tile counter looks clean, or close enough, so I grab it and fill it with tap water. I think again about the kiss I witnessed as I sip it, and feel a shameful stir of heat. Not that I’m attracted to either of them, but... I’m still a little drunk, and I haven’t been laid in a while.
Touching my lips, I think of the game we played. I remember kissing Kai, kissing Knox. Felix’s eyes searing into me from across the circle. I imagine walking back into the living room and straddling Felix to wake him up. May would probably be happy, especially if she and Caleb are starting something up. But I know it won’t work long-term; Felix just isn’t my type.
Kai, though... I think of the sadness in his gaze, that rare flicker of a smile I earned on the porch. His lips closing around a cigarette, the veins standing out in his lean arms. I bite my lip as I lower the glass of water, and wonder...
Someone grips my hip from behind, and I nearly scream. I whirl around and find Knox towering over me.
He takes the glass of water from my hand and sets it aside. I barely have time for a breath before he kisses me.
It takes my still-drunk brain a moment to catch up. By then he’s leaning into me, his free hand sliding into my hair, yanking at the roots hard enough to hurt. I gasp into his mouth, and he devours the sound, pressing me hard into the counter. The edge digs into my spine. It’s uncomfortable, but — I’m not averse to a bit of pain with my pleasure, and before I can think about it, I’m kissing him back.
Knox’s grip on me is commanding, his mouth rough and whiskey-sweet. I’m so focused on his tongue against mine, his teeth on my lip, the rough rub of his stubble against my cheek, that I barely notice his hands moving until the button of my shorts comes undone. He shoves them down around my knees.
I pull back from the kiss to say something —waitornot here,maybe — but then he pushes my panties to the side and he spears me with a finger. All that comes out of my mouth is a shocked little whimper.
“Fuck, you’re wet,” he groans, sinking a second finger knuckle-deep inside of me. His fingers curl and so do my toes; I arch against him, my brain short-circuiting, thinking nothing butmore. His breath is hot in my ear as he fucks me with his fingers, hard and fast. A littletoohard and fast, but when I reach for his wrist to urge him to slow down, he grabs my hand and pins it to the counter.
It should scare me that he’s being so rough and so bold. We’re practically strangers. Instead, it sends a bolt of pure lust through me, and I spread my legs wider for him. He chuckles, low and dark in my ear.
“You like this, don’t you?” he whispers. “Getting fucked on a dirty counter with your friend in the next room?”
Felix. I almost forgot. I should protest, I should stop this, but I am putty under Knox’s hands. All I can do is bite down on my lip to stop myself from moaning as his fingers drag pleasure out of me. It feels so good and I need more. I want it to hurt.
“I knew you were a little slut,” he says, and I come apart against him, racked by an orgasm so intense my vision goes dark around the edges. I barely have a second to recover before he’s hauling me up over his shoulder and moving. My hands fist in his shirt as he carries me out to the living room, past where Felix is thankfully still asleep on the couch, and up the stairs I was eyeing earlier. My shorts slip down to my knees and leave only lace covering my bare ass, but the house is empty as he takes me to the second floor.
It’s pretty bare up here. Just a long hallway, a slightly ajar bathroom, and three closed doors. Knox, Kai, and— does someone else live here?
The thought disappears as Knox shuts the door behind us and tosses me onto the bed. I roll onto my back, catching only a glimpse of the cluttered space that smells like cologne and cigarettes. Then Knox is on top of me, knees bracketing my thighs, pushing his fingers into my mouth to make me taste the evidence of my orgasm. I suck his fingers, groan as I feel his hard length pressing through his jeans. He shoves his fingers down my throat until I gag, and then pulls them free, smirking.
“Are you gonna be a good little whore for me tonight?” he asks.
