“For what? So Brent can give me more details about how he’s going to screw someone else and have me listen? Or so you can sit silently while he talks shit? As much as I love being the source of your entertainment, I think I’ll pass.” I slammed the trunk harder than necessary and rounded the car, pulling open the driver's side door—but I didn’t get in. Like a true glutton for punishment, I watched him from over the roof of the car, waiting for him to say something.
Cain rubbed his tattooed hand across the back of his neck, looking down at the ground. After several tense seconds, he brought his attention back to me. “Where are you going?” he asked, taking a few more steps toward my car.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, my eyes narrowing as I tried thinking about where my first stop would be. Probably the motel on the outskirts of Ridgewood. It’d be the most inexpensive. My heart hammered in my chest as I made a snap decision to pull down one more layer of vulnerability I couldn’t really afford to gamble with. “Come with me.”
Cain’s eyes darkened with my request, and instantly I could see the turmoil behind his light brown eyes. “It’s not that easy. Brent’s my brother…”
“He’ll get over it,” I argued, doing my best to keep the desperation out of my voice. I knew I was walking a fine line between being vulnerable and being desperate. Iwasn’tdesperate, but Cain held a piece of my heart in his hand and I’d be lying if I denied that I wanted him to run away with me.
“We both know he wouldn’t, he’d—”
“Cain? The fuck are you doing?” The screen flew open and hit against the side of the house as Brent’s voice boomed from across the front yard. Cain’s spine went ramrod straight.
Brent’s eyes bounced between me and his brother, narrowing as he assessed us, drawing his own conclusions. Being unapologetically myself, I tossed him a snarky smile, knowing he was about to either explode on both of us, or turn around and slam the door in our faces.
Cain turned to face his brother, shrugging nonchalantly. “She ran from the house like a bat outta hell. I came to find out why.”
“Not so sure it looks that way from where I’m standing,brother.”
Resting my hands on my hips, I watched the two men face off, one looking skeptical while the other looked like he was trying to come up with an iron-clad excuse to save his own ass.
“Not sure what you think it looks like, but I was just making sure your bitch knew to respect our property next time she walked out of the house. She slammed the door so hard it rattled the front windows,” Cain spouted, the lies tumbling from his mouth effortlessly as he turned back to me and his features hardened.
“She isn’t my bitch anymore,” Brent scoffed, stomping down the two steps of the weathered front porch. “Kind of seems like you want her to be your bitch, though.”
A satisfied smile curled at my lips—my earlier suggestion of crawling into Cain’s bed had clearly resonated with Brent. It got him thinking. Doubting himself and his brother’s loyalty.
My intention was never to cause a rift between them, but rather remind Brent that being in his presence wasmychoice. Despite my current lack of income, I knew my damn worth, and with the snap of my fingers, I could have another man lined up if I wanted.
My smile was short-lived though, because nothing could have prepared me for Cain’s response, and the wound it would ultimately leave on my heart.
Cain tossed his head back and laughed. What was normally a rare, yet beautiful sound with the power to inflate my heart, came out villainous and cruel. “Why the fuck would I want your sloppy seconds, Brent?” His eyes connected with mine as he delivered the final blow that would ricochet through my darkest moments for years to come. “She’s nothing but damaged goods. Trailer trash. You couldn’t pay me to give her my cock.”
I knew words could hurt, but I hadn’t realized just how badly until then.
Without hesitating, I flung myself into the driver's seat and cranked the ignition, not bothering to let it warm up before I tossed the car into drive and sped away, my tires squealing against the asphalt. I blew through the stop sign at the corner of their street, needing to get as far away from the Michaels brothers as quickly as I could. It took everything I had not to glance in the rearview mirror as I hightailed it out of their neighborhood and in the direction of the most expensive hotel in Ridgewood.
Forget staying at a cheap motel. I had some money tucked away, stashed because my subconsciousknewsomething like this could happen, and I couldn’t think of a more perfect reason to pull a little cash out.
A high thread count and some room service would be exactly what I needed while I licked my wounds for the night.
Why would I sit around in a crappy room and dwell on the words of two certified jerks? Tomorrow was a new day with back-to-back job interviews and a whole lot of promise for my future.
Glass half full, right?
Fuck Brent, and fuck his brother even more.
I was Rosie Adler, and if there was one thing I’d learned over the years, it was that the only person on this planet I needed was myself.
Certainly not a six foot four, tattooed, sexy as sin man who looked like he could murder your enemies with his bare hands, but around you was a complete marshmallow.
DefinitelynotCain Michaels.
CHAPTERTWO
Present Day
“Fuck, mia preferita, you feel amazing,” Sly grunted as he slammed into me, his beautiful Italian accent even thicker during sex. He reached his large hand up and kneaded my boob. “God, I’m so close. I don’t think I can hold it much longer. You…feel like paradiso.”
