“What about the ones in her room?” Kiara stiffens and snaps her head back to stare down at me, the fire and rebellion that shines in her eyes has the beast inside me wanting to push her further.
“You have cameras inmyfucking dorm room?” she hisses. She is vibrating with rage and I can see her fists are clenched on her lap. I lean back and stare at her for a beat, making her stew in my silence. The longer it takes me to answer, the more she shakes from her rage.
“You didn’t think you roomed with my sister by mistake, did you?” Her eyes widen a fraction when it sinks in. she knows I am the one who made her rooming arrangements.
“You knew?” I raise a brow at her before nodding. “How?” I reach out and brush my knuckles over her cheek and relish in the involuntary shudder that courses through her.
“Baby, do you really think you got a scholarship?” She jerks back so fast she nearly falls from my lap; I reach out and grip her waist holding her steading on my lap. Her eyes fill with betrayal. She looks over her shoulder at Gage.
“Did you know?” He shakes his head.
“I had no fucking idea, I swear, doll.” The truth of his words settles something inside her. She turns back to me and walls off her emotions behind her mask.
“I would like to pull out of school. Whatever it cost you for me to go there, I’ll pay you back.” Her statement has me grinding my teeth and my anger soaring to new fucking heights.
“You won’t be dropping out and you will not be paying a fucking cent!”
“I’m not your charity case, Bishop. I don’t want your fucking money. Why can’t you understand that? I don’t want to marry you and become your trophy wife––”
“You don’t get a say in the fucking matter. When you return to school, Mav and Luka will accompany you. I gave you your freedom. You’re the one who found their way back to me, now I won’t let you go again.” She shoves me back but I won’t lessen my hold, she narrows her eyes and slaps me. I hear the guy’s hiss. I slowly turn back to face her. Whatever she sees in my eyes has her stilling. I can see she is shocked she hit me but that won’t lessen her punishment. “Get out.” The others don’t fuck around. King grips Gage by his shirt and drags him from the room. As soon as the door clicks shut, I stand. She scrambles to wrap herself around me so she doesn’t fall on her ass. I march across the room and don’t stop until she smacks against the wall. She grunts but doesn’t cry out or even attempt to wiggle free. Her legs tighten around my waist and her arms remain wrapped around my neck.
“What are you doing?” The unease in her tone has me filling with glee. I reach up, grip her hair in my hand and yank it––hard. She hisses but doesn’t scream out for help or try to break my hold.
“Whatever the fuck I want with you.” She holds my gaze as she speaks.
“But why would you want to? How come you care all of a sudden what happens to me? I get the twins wanting to help or whatever, but you and King were never around when we were kids.” I smirk darkly at her. She has no fucking idea.
“I was always around, Kiara. You just didn’t know it unless I wanted you to know I was there. Don’t act coy, you knew I was always watching you.”
“You sound like a perv, you know that?” I shrug as I run my nose along the column of her neck and inhale her intoxicating scent.
“At first, I was just intrigued by you and your happiness. I never knew what that was like, nothing in my life made me smile the way you did daily. Then as the years went by and you grew, my fascination for you did as well. Intrigue turned to want, want turned to lust and now, look where we are because you caught the monster’s attention.” Her brow furrows as she gazes at me.
“You’re not a monster, Bishop.” Her quietly spoken words stun me. Out of everything I just said, that is all she heard? “I don’t understand what is happening. Why now? Why after all this time are you doing this?”
“I had planned to wait until after you graduated, let you have your senior year of high school before I came and claimed you but that changed.” Her eyes search mine trying to detect if I’m lying.
“How did it change?”
“Carlina went missing. I was supposed to check out the school and search her room but then I saw you. I was only going to watch for a while and then leave.” Realization crosses her features.
“I woke up and changed your plan.” I nod. She runs her tongue over her bottom lip and like an addict, I follow her every movement. “I can’t stay here, Bishop.” Her softly spoken words have me breaking out of my trance.
“Until Carlina is back safe, you won’t be going back to school.” I see the fight return to her eyes so I decide to compromise. “The best I can offer is for you to collect all your schoolwork and do it from here. That is my final offer.” She tries to fight the smile that wants to break free but fails.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I glare at her which causes a beautiful laugh to tumble from her lips. She really has no idea who she is or how fucking special of a prize she is. Kiara Coleman has no fucking idea she is really a Bennett. She has lived in squalor her whole life and still managed to stay off the street corners, never put a needle to her skin like her mother. I release my hold on her hair and cup both her cheeks between my hands. Her laughter dies immediately. We stare at each other for a beat before I slowly lower my lips toward hers. When there is a sliver of space between us, I pause, giving her a chance to back out. “If you fucking turn away and tease me again, I’ll break your dick off.” Just hearing that word come from her mouth has my cock hardening behind my slacks. I chuckle and pull back, electing a groan of frustration from her. I smile wickedly at her before smashing my lips against hers. Her shocked gasp allows me entry and I groan at the taste of her. I swipe my tongue across hers, pulling a long moan from her. She runs her fingers through my hair and grips the strands.
“I didn’t expect that.” I pull back from her and turn to find Rook, Knight and King all standing in the doorway with a pissed off Gage behind them glaring daggers at me. “Carry on, brother. We’ll come back after you guys are… finished.” I glare at Rook. Kiara cups my cheek and pulls me back to face her, smiles shyly, then nibbles on the corner of her lip before speaking.
“Can you put me down?” I roll my eyes and do as she asks, keeping my back to the fuckers in the doorway as I adjust myself. The sound of her girlish giggle has me peering down at her and narrowing my eyes. She rolls her lips over her teeth. I turn back to face my brothers and Gage.
“What is it?” King holds my gaze as he fishes a phone from his pocket and holds it up to me.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Kiara attempts to go and retrieve it but I wrap an arm around her waist and haul her back against my front. She doesn’t fight me, it fills me with pride when she softens in my hold and leans further into me.
“She got a message.” The ominous tone of King’s voice tells me it isn’t just a message from a kid at school.
“You went through my fucking phone?” King spares her a look that has her clamping her mouth closed. King moves toward us and hands me the phone. I grab it and input the passcode. “Are you kidding me?” I stare down at her impatiently, she moves out of my hold and places her hands on her hips and glares up at me.