Kingston Ross
Something was wrong.
I didn’t knowwhat, but everything was telling me, from the moment I opened my eyes just seconds ago, that something was wrong. I snapped up in bed and looked around as I tried to figure out why the hell I felt so off.
Grabbing my phone from the nightstand next to me, I frowned, realizing it was far later than I anticipated. I don’t think I’d ever in my goddamn life slept in, so the feeling of something being ‘off’ was only enhanced by the fact that it was early afternoon.
A picture of Dahlia stared back at me from my phone screen as I let out a groan of frustration, my cock twitching at the mere sight of her smile. Would I ever not wake up painfully and uncomfortably hard? Somehow I didn’t think so. At least if Dahlia was here, I could satisfy the constant need to be inside of her.
My thoughts jumped to the dream I’d been pulled out of by this weird feeling, wishing it was far more my reality than this pestering concern that was overtaking my thoughts. I could now imagine exactly what Dahlia would look like pinned to my bed as I fucked her hard enough that all she could do was moan out my name while coming. Before, the notion had just been a fantasy, but after having her underneath me and her lips pressed against mine? Now I knew exactly how amazing it would feel, and the thought alone had me wanting to fucking come. I couldn’t even be embarrassed by that. Although, I would much rather come inside of her, filling her so much that it leaked from between her thighs all day while she sat around in one of her pretty sundresses.
A groan broke from my throat as I closed my eyes and briefly considered just staying in bed. Maybe she would be concerned and come find me. Then I could trap her here. Forever. Well, at least until our parents returned from their trip.
What was it, two weeks?
I felt like that was long enough to make her addicted to what I could do to her body. I would just keep making her come until she passed out, and then do it again.
When my phone lit up again, I realized I had an unread message from Dahlia to our group, making me frown in concern. Reading her text, I let out a groan, frustrated that she’d left Wildberry Lane without one of us. I used to think she was safe at the club, so my worry normally would have been eased by that… but not anymore.
A dark, seething rage rolled over me as I closed my eyes, trying to breathe through it so I didn’t start to think again about what had happened this weekend. Dahlia wasn’t fucking safe anywhere. Not without one of us. Not without someone that would kill to protect her. It was sad that we lived and ruled over a town that was filled with such disgusting people.
Pliable people that had no morals and would do anything you asked of them for the right amount of money. Good thing we had that in spades.
My feelings towards Dahlia had been slowly growing into something dangerous since the start of high school. I didn’t give a fuck, but she probably should. I ran a hand over my chest, thinking about how my fairly innocent notions of her had turned dark really fast once I realized that there was a possibility that people outside of my brothers and I would want her. I was still as insanely in love with her, but the things I would do to keep her ‘ours’ were fucked. Now, there was this dark and desperate clawing at the center of my chest to possess her. To claim her.
Leaving this past summer had been damn near impossible, and I had almost cancelled my plans. Hell, I had equally considered kidnapping her on my jet and forcing her to come with me. Jason Aldridge wasn’t someone I particularly wanted to piss off, but I also think that everyone had a very keen understanding of how this was going to work out. Whether they were okay with it or not wasn’t a factor.
In the end, her safety and how dangerous it was overseas had won out. I wanted Dahlia to be involved in everything I did, if she wanted that, but right now was a delicate transition, and I hadn’t been lying about plausible deniability. As much as I wanted to make Dahlia my queen and sit her on the throne next to me, I knew that would come with dangers that even I wasn’t fully prepared for. Yet.
The Ross family was involved in dangerous shit, and this summer I had taken the steps necessary to establish myself and how different I planned on running things from my own father. Not that my father was soft in any measure when it came to how he handled shit, but I was an extreme, even for him. It had taken a few… interactions, to say the least, but now no one in the family business had a misunderstanding of who would be in charge when my father decided to officially hand over the reins.
It had been an exhausting and long summer, and when I’d finally gotten home, I had almost immediately made my way to Dahlia’s house. The instincts I’d had to bury during the summer had all come roaring to the surface the minute I had seen her floating down the stairs. Every part of the darkness that had grown the previous three months had receded enough for me to become the man I knew Dahlia wanted in her life.
The one that wouldn’t scare the living hell out of her.
At least that was what I assumed. Although, the more time passed, the more I was realizing that Dahlia’s acceptance of us went far beyond my expectations. Which was good, because I hated the idea of hiding anything from her, and right now I felt like there were too many secrets between us.
Our interactions with the FBI. The plans I had for our family in the future. The reason I had suggested Dermot come back with us to Wildberry Lane to begin with. And no, it wasn’t just because him living in the new house made an easy excuse for why I need her opinion on how to redo the entire place.
Although that was one more secret.
No, I needed Dermot here. Not only because I knew he had my back no matter what, but because without something to ground him, he would end up becoming worse than me. Which was saying something. Just because my uncle was a piece of shit didn’t mean Dermot didn’t need to have family, and while mine would do just fine, I had assumed, correctly, that he would understand the draw to Dahlia the moment he met her.
This entire summer I had caught him unintentionally listening to our conversations or asking questions about her, and the more information I told him, the more invested he had seemed. Which was why it had been so goddamn hilarious when he finally met her. I shook my head, thinking about the way her pulse had picked up in surprise and a flush hit her face upon introduction.
I’d expected Dahlia to be friendly, but I hadn’t expected their instant connection. It had thrilled me and further solidified that we needed to push forward with our plan. We were done with high school, and we couldn’t avoid real life anymore, so while it was somewhat intimidating to finally move forward, I think we all knew it was time.
Although, there were some things that concerned me after everything that had happened this weekend. For one, there was the fact that I knew Dahlia was still hiding shit from us, and while I hated to admit Yates was right, we probably needed to push her just a little bit. I ran a hand over my face and considered going to pick her up from the club just to make sure she was okay, maybe try to talk to her after everything that had happened with Stratton last night.
We had known something was wrong with him, but I also had always known he would come back, and after the bullshit with Ian on Friday night, I knew he wouldn’t last long staying away from her. I just hadn’t expected him to say such stupid shit and send her into a bit of a downward spiral on Sunday. I knew what he had been attempting to protect her from, but that was why we existed. The group of us could handle anything like that.
I shook my head, thinking about how my princess had forced him to accept what I had already known—that she loved him and that he very much loved her. Had I liked that she had gone to that fight by herself? Absolutely goddamn not. I was still trying to figure out a proper punishment for that bullshit.
Although, I would probably just end up kissing the hell out of her and tasting every single inch of her body before burying myself inside of her to remind her who she belonged to. Who she needed to listen to. Whether she actually would or not was up for debate. In some ways, her not listening to me only turned me on more, because everyone usually fucking listened to me. The only people who seemed to exist outside of that sphere were my brothers and Dahlia.
Dahlia did whatever she wanted, and while I could get frustrated, I would continue to fight for a world where she had that ability. I never wanted her to feel restrained in any fashion. I just needed her to fucking trust me.
At least I had finally cleared the air about what was going on between all of us… something that hadn’t surprised her nearly as much as I had expected. I had a feeling Dahlia knew far more about what had been happening than she let on. It made me feel like we were doing something right, even if there had been some doubt recently.