Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
I pull Lucas away, spin him from the dresser, and shove him so hard he goes careening toward my bedroom door, arms windmilling to get some balance. He goes down to his knees but pops right back up, spinning on me with no less fury on his face.
Advancing toward me, he throws his head left and right, popping his neck. “I’m so going to enjoy kicking your ass.”
“For what, dude?” I say with my arms thrown wide. I shoot a glance to Simone and see her rounding the bed. I forget about her brother and bark at her, “Simone…for God’s sake, get some clothes on.”
She ignores me. Before Lucas can take another step, Simone is there slapping her hands into her brother’s chest. She looks up at him, but he’s staring daggers at me over her head. All I can think about is the fact she’s freaking naked in front of her brother, and that’s not cool. I turn to the bed and whip the sheet off. I wince, as that causes the lube and butt plug to fall to the floor at Lucas’s feet. As he looks down at the evidence of my kink with his sister, I throw the sheet around her shoulders.
“Lucas, what the fuck are you doing?” Simone asks as she grabs the sheet to her front so she’s covered.
His eyes come up to lock with mine and he doesn’t spare Simone a glance as he growls, “That fucker took advantage of you. He’s a fucking manwhore. Bangs anything that moves. And apparently that includes my little sister.”
Simone gives a frustrated grunt and gives him a hard push back. He doesn’t budge, but he does look down at her.
“Van did not take advantage of me,” she snarls at Lucas.
“What the fuck ever,” Lucas snarls back. “I know how he operates. He doesn’t do relationships. It’s just sex, Simone. Whatever he promised you, it was just to get in your pants.”
“He promised me nothing,” Simone yells at her brother, and he jerks backward. She advances on him, backing him right up to the door. “In fact, he was really damn clear to me that he had nothing to give other than sex. And I was fine with that. On top of that, I pursued him relentlessly, Lucas. He tried to push me away but I kept at him. So if anyone did the seducing, it was me.”
All of that was flat-out true, and yet I find myself not liking that Simone is doing the protecting of me. Totally dents my man card.
So I chime in, “I knew what I was doing. I gave in to her because I wanted to.”
“Shut up, Van.” Simone glares at me over her shoulder before turning back to her brother. My lips press tight together and I decide to let Simone have her glory.
Leaning over, I pick up my shorts and slip them on as Simone continues. “I’m an adult, Lucas. I make my own decisions. I’m also pretty damn smart, and I make pretty good decisions.”
Here she pauses, only to pull a hand free from under the sheet where she’s grasping it to her body, and jabs her index finger into his chest. He takes another step out through the doorway and into the hallway. “So whatever I decide to get myself into with Van, you need to trust I know what the fuck I’m doing.”
“Says the girl that dropped out of college,” Lucas mutters, and that was a low blow. Also completely irrelevant to this conversation.
“Asshole,” Simone says softly, and then shuts the bedroom door in his face, flipping the lock. I was just able to see the shock on Lucas’s face before the latch clicked.
Simone’s shoulders sag as she lets out a sigh. When she turns to me, sheet wrapped around her shoulders and clutched to her front like a safety cloak or something, she attempts a slightly sheepish, apologetic smile. “Sorry about that.”
“What the fuck do you have to be sorry for?” I ask her as I nab my T-shirt from the floor and pull it on. “Your brother’s being a dick.”
Simone walks to the edge of the bed and sits down. Her gaze goes to her lap, where she fiddles with the sheet pooled there. “I get where he’s coming from. Lucas, Max, and Malik grew up being older brothers to me. Protecting me. Once they all left home and I went to college…they sort of forgot that I grew up. That I’m an adult now.”
“Still doesn’t excuse him being a dick to you,” I mutter as I reach into my closet and pull out my tennis shoes. I sit down on the end of the bed to put them on.
“What about being a dick to you?” Simone asks incredulously. “Lucas just yelled at me, but he punched you.”