Page 104 of Bred
“Aww Silas, you do care. Also how do you know I don’t eat hmm? Paying just a little too much attention to what I do. While we’re on this topic, I’ve called and booked myself a room at the Hillcrest Inn for a week, so I’ll be out of your hair and this house in just a few hours.” The ease at which she flirts and teases me has my blood boiling and the box I have locked up inside threatening to burst. She’s fucking asking to be taken over my knee and her ass turned red until she’s a blubbering mess.
I visibly exhale and watch as her eyes track each movement of my jawline before I inform her sharply, “I distinctly remember telling you that you will not be staying at a hotel. You will remain here and unless you want me to call your mother and pull her back to town from vacation, you will obey. While on this subject of things you will do, last night should never have happened. I apologize for the part I played in it, but you and I, we cannot do this. You are my niece, and I took advantage of you.”
“We aren’t blood related Uncle Silas, so don’t get your panties in a twist. Didn’t it make you all hot knowing we were secretly doing something frowned upon? I know it did for me.” Her words have me seeing red and cause me to speak before thinking.
“You’re so fucking young, Zoey. You have no idea what kind of things I’m into and I don’t expect you to have any understanding of how the real world or real relationships work. Quit baiting me. I know exactly what game you are trying to play, and I’ll have no part in it.” I leave the finality of my statement in the air before I purposely skirt around her to avoid contact as I storm out of the kitchen.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ZOEY
Ijustneedtogo back down to Flesh & Fiddle and explain what happened. It wasn’t my fault that Silas barged into my place of employment, dragging his knuckles like a fucking Neanderthal before hekidnappedme. I was kidnapped! Surely she’ll understand and offer me my job back.
Ugh. I’m so fucking screwed. She’s not the type that would understand that. She would have stabbed him with a dinner fork, smoothed out her blazer and continued about her business while someone else mopped up his body.
I practically rip my night shirt up and over my head in frustration as I stare down at my work shirt lying on my bed. I get my arms through and lift to put my head through the larger opening when my phone rings. I yank the tight fabric down over my bare breasts and fumble around on my unmade bed for my phone. I can only imagine who is calling this early in the morning. It’s a toss-up between Miss Sinclair’s dopey assistant calling to officially fire me and Mom letting me know that Silas tattled about my job and baiting him in the car last night. I’m leaning toward it being Flesh and Fiddle related because I’ve never given Mom and Ted any reason to think I’m a liar, and Silas knows I could tell them he initiated the kiss.
I grumble as my hand finally connects with the hard plastic of my phone case under the pillow that somehow ended up in the middle of the bed. When I see the number, I immediately think it must be work related, because I don’t recognize it. I suppose they wouldn’t call from the main line to tell me to come pick up my final check.
“H-hi,” I manage to get out. When I start to speak my voice cracks.
I expect to hear the nasally voice of Miss Sinclair’s assistant, but instead it’s my ex-boyfriend Lucas, and he sounds like he’s crying.
“Please don’t hang up! Zoey, please just listen to me. I know you’ve been avoiding my calls and—”
And that’s exactly what I do. I avoid speaking to him and hang up the phone. I’m so flustered already, I don’t need him calling to ask me something asinine. He called me while I was at work back when we were together to ask me if I’d washed his favorite socks. The ones he likes to wear to play basketball with his friends. I should have known then that he needed to mature. My phone rings again, but I don’t pick up this time.
I shove my pajama pants down my legs and kick them off just as the phone starts ringing again. I breathe in, trying to ignore it because I know if I let myself pick it up to silence it, I’m going to lose my temper and answer it. Lucas isn’t sturdy enough to handle what I’ll say if I answer right now. I grab my work shorts off the end of the bed and start to put them on. I’ve got one leg in and that damn phone rings again. Before I can stop myself, I lunge across my bed, leaving my shorts to dangle off of one of my ankles and press the green answer icon.
“What, Lucas? What else could you possibly want from me?” I yell into the phone and there’s dead silence. “What? You HAVE my attention now. What is it that you want to say to me? Do you want to steal more of my hard-earned money? Do you want to lie to me some more?” All the stress and rage I’ve felt over the last couple of weeks with Silas is pouring out of me. Lucas is a fuckup, but this really isn’t about him. I’m attracted to my step-uncle who wants to play caveman one minute and then act like I don’t exist the next, and it’s really messing with my emotions.
“Zo, I’m so sorry. I really thought that if I invested…” Lucas finally speaks, and he’s definitely sniffling.
“Gambling with your little fuckboy friends is not investing!” I take in a deep breath and rock back on my knees. I feel like I’m less vulnerable in an upright position. “You can’tinvestmoney that isn’tyours.You were supposed to book our trip with that money.” I feel the anger bubbling over in my words, and my hands are shaking. “I was finally going to get a stamp on my passport instead of taking care of everyone all the time. My mother finally has Ted to look after her, but I still had you to look after because you couldn’t do anything on your own!” I let it all out, not caring how loud I’m being because after last night there’s no way Silas wants to be anywhere near me. “I had to move in with a literal stranger because you not only spent the vacation money, but then you drained my savings to try to recoup that.”
“Zoey, please stop yelling. You know it hurts me to hurt you,” Lucas’s voice is trembling, and my eyes widen at the actual audacity he has. I open my mouth to retort, but he continues, “where are you? What stranger? What’s her name?”
“Hisname is Silas,” I snap, but I don’t get to say anything else, because Lucas interrupts me.
“You’re living with another man?” Lucas’s tone is much harder than it was before, and that makes me feel like the sniffling was all fake.
“It’s none of your business. You fucked things up for me, and as usual, your dad rushed in to clean up your mess and pay your way. I’m cleaning up my own mess. Don’t fucking call me again,” I seethe into the phone. I take a deep breath, fully prepared to lay into him again because he’syetto acknowledge that taking my money and doinganythingwith it without telling me was the problem, not the fact that he lost it. I don’t get the chance because a large masculine hand wrenches my phone out of my hand, and I topple over on the bed from the unexpected force.
“Don’t call this fucking number again or I will find you and break every single one of your fingers,” Silas growls at Lucas, but he doesn’t wait for a response. He ends the call and tosses it on the bed next to me. He adjusts his glasses, and I can feel the heat of his eyes rake over my body. I feel completely naked even though I’m in panties and my work top.
“Who was that?” Silas practically barks at me as he rolls up the sleeves on his button-down shirt, his eyes never wavering from mine.
I pull my legs up so I’m not flashing him my panties and do my best to stay cool and calm, which isn’t easy considering I was just screaming at my ex-boyfriend.
“Do you typically threaten bodily harm on people you don’t know?” I quip back. I want to get up and get my shorts or even my pajama pants, but I’ll be flashing him my bare ass if I do that. This feels different than last night. I was in control then, and Silas Barlow is definitely in control right now.
“Don’t play games with me, Zoey.” He leans down, bracing his hands on the bed on either side of me, his face hovering inches away from mine. I feel like I could melt just from the heat radiating off of this man. My pussy clenches and I know my nipples are hard enough to be poking against the thin fabric of my shirt. “Who. Was. That?”
“My ex-boyfriend,” I rasp out the words and squeeze my thighs together, trying to get some friction on my clit to ease the ache.
“He stole money from you?” I feel my eyes widen, because I realize now that Silas heard more of the conversation than I originally thought. “Tell me what happened.”
“Get out of my face and I will.” I glare up at him and I see a hint of a smirk twitch at his upper lip before he moves to stand upright. He’s still just as close, but he’s not hovering anymore.
