PROLOGUE
Styx
Isit outside my ex-best friend’s house for the longest time, replaying the speech I’ve spent the past two days perfecting in my head.
He’s going to be pissed.
No.
He’s going to be more than pissed.
He’s going to be downright murderous.
Diesel already hates me, unable to forgive me for what went down when we were just two teenagers who thought we knew the way of the world.
But when he finds out that I did the one thing I always promised him—hell, the one thing I always promised myself—I wouldn’t do. Well, he has every right to pull his gun on me and put me out of my misery for good.
My restraint snapped two nights ago.
All this time, I’ve done the right thing when she’s tempted me. I’ve backed off when her flirting has gotten too much, when she’s left little than zero suggestions as to what she wants from me.
Kat Walker is off-limits.
Always has been. Always will be.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t want her, crave her.
And two nights ago… my tightly woven rope of restraint snapped and I finally took what wasn’t mine to ever take.
“Fuck,” I hiss, scrubbing my hand down my face and rubbing at my rough jaw.
But it wasn’t just a one-night thing. I knew it wouldn’t be. I knew that the second I caved, I’d want her again, and again, and again.
She could be any other woman on the planet and it wouldn’t matter.
But no, my stupid body—heart, I guess—has decided that the only one I want is my ex-best friend’s little sister.
Fuck my fucking life.
I want to blame it all on Ryder fucking Montrou. This is all his fault. He pushed me, dangled her right in my face. But the only reason he tempted me with her in the first place at the costume party the other night was because he knew how badly I wanted her.
He thought he was being funny. Probably thought that I could fuck her and get her out of my system. Hell knows it’s always been our MO in the past.
Since we were seventeen, the three of us—Diesel, Ryder, and myself—have never seriously dated. We learned the hard way just how painful trying to be faithful was, and all of us have steered clear of it since. It’s been like some unspoken rule that appeared despite the fact that our little trio was no longer.
I hated myself for a long time for what happened five years ago. We were just kids, the temptation was all too real and things got out of control. If I could go back, I’d do it all again differently. But I was young and dumb and…
The same age as Diesel’s little sister is now…
“Fuck.”
The thought has never been far from my mind as I’ve tried to convince myself over the past few months that I can’t have her.
But she’s right, age is just a number. She’s more mature than some of the older women I’ve been with thanks to the way she’s been brought up. And aside from there being three of us the other night—another regret to add to the whole heap I’ve already got—I’m pretty sure nothing else was new to her.
My kitty kat is a wild one. Something I both love and hate.
Images of her laid out on the coffee table in the back room flicker through my head, and my cock swells as I remember pushing into her the first time. Fuck it was good. No, it was better than good. It was every-fucking-thing. Enough to be sitting here considering risking it all for her.