She promises to text me in a few hours, and we hang up. I’m opening my car door when I hear the screeching of tires. Looking up, I see Sin’s car flying toward me. He brings it to a quick halt right behind my car, blocking mine in my spot since I’m parked up against a curb.
“Get in,” he orders me through his passenger-side window.
I walk over to him and bend over to see him clenching the steering wheel. “Good afternoon to you too,” I say, flipping my hair over my shoulder. I haven’t heard from him. Not one word.
His eyes snap to mine, and I frown when I see them narrowed on me. “Everything okay?” I ask.
“Get in the car, Elli,” he snaps.
I roll my eyes, straighten my back, and walk over to my car. “You’re not going to talk to me like that,” I holler over my shoulder. In bed and out in public are two very different things. Opening my door, I go to get into my car when his hand grips my upper arm. He jerks me from my car. “Hey!” I try to get away, but he drags me to his car and pushes me into his passenger side, slamming the door shut. “Sin, I can’t just leave my car here,” I protest, but he’s already speeding away, kids jumping out of the way to keep from getting run over by him. “What the fuck is your problem?”
He remains silent but turns up the radio, and “I Hate everything About You” by Three Days Grace drowns out anything I could possibly say.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I let out a huff and watch the trees fly by as he speeds down the road. It only takes me a second to realize he’s headed to my house. Now I’m really concerned. If he wanted to go to my house, then why didn’t he just let me drive my car? I could have followed him. Well, okay. A quick look shows he’s going almost a hundred miles an hour. I speed but, damn, not that much.
My body jerks when he slams on his brakes in my driveway. He gets out, slamming his car door. I get out much slower but start running up the stairs when I see him entering the house.
“Sin, what in the fuck are we doing?” I bark out, taking the stairs two at a time to catch up with him. He’s much taller than me, so I can’t get there as fast. I enter my room, and he’s pulling a suitcase out from under my bed and starts opening drawers, tossing stuff into it. “Are you kidnapping me?” I ask, as somewhat of a joke, laughing it off. Because that’s ridiculous, right? But my pulse accelerates at the thought. A rush of adrenaline makes my pussy clench. That’s another fantasy in my diary. And I know he’s read some of at least one of them.
He stops what he’s doing and stalks over to me. My breath catches at the look in his eyes. He did not find that funny. Coming to a stop, he reaches out and cups my face. My lips part on their own, and he runs his thumb over them. “Is that what’s about to happen, Elli? Going to make me drag you out of this house against your will?”
“No.” I’d go anywhere with him. But the question is, why the urgency? Why now? Where are we going?
Leaning in, he gently gives me a soft kiss on my forehead and then pulls away. “Help me pack your bag.”
_______________
AN HOUR LATER,we’re pulling up to the house of Lords. I’ve been here before. They have a lot of big parties. But I’ve never been here with an actual Lord. Just Kira. We dance, get trashed, and Uber home.
He parks his car and gets out a lot slower this time. Popping his trunk, he grabs my suitcase, then opens my door for me. “How long are we staying here?” I ask. I haven’t spoken to him since he threatened to drag me out of my house. But he packed a lot of my things, enough for more than one overnight stay.
“You’ll live here with me.” He grabs my hand and drags me up the stone steps.
I give a rough laugh. “Live? Sin, I can’t live here.” With him? Since when did we become a couple just because I let him fuck me? I mean, he did read my diary, so he knows how I’ve felt about him for years. But that doesn’t mean he feels the same, right?
“Well, you’re not staying there,” he argues with a clipped tone.
“Where? My home?” What the hell is he talking about?
We enter the house that I’m pretty sure was once an elaborate hotel, and it’s fucking chaos. Men and women everywhere. The house smells of weed and sex. You can tell they had a party last night due to the beer cans and empty glass bottles of liquor. Trash bags sit up against the walls in the hallway that are already full but haven’t been taken out yet.
He comes up to a door on the first floor and pushes it open. I step inside and look around as he closes it behind us. It’s got a single bed that to my surprise is made with white sheets and a duvet. Two white pillows to match. One dresser and a door that he walks into and drops my bag. It makes me wonder when he stayed here last. Does he bring women here? Or does he stay at their place?
“That’s the bathroom,” he says, exiting.
I nod my head and walk in there, trying to figure out what in the fuck I’m doing here and how long I will willingly stay. Because if there’s one thing I know about Sin—if I decide to leave, he’ll tie me to that bed and make me stay. And honestly, that doesn’t sound too bad.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SIN
NO WAY IN hell will she stay at her house. Her mother has brought another evil man into their lives. Now, I’m not sure it’s her fault. She probably doesn’t know that Lincoln is using her to climb the social ladder within the Lords.
What I can’t figure out is how he was able to pull it off. To get the Lords to agree for him to marry her? A Lord doesn’t always need permission to marry who they want. Usually, it’s set up through the families. By the time we graduate from Barrington, our weddings will already be planned. But it’s different when you’re a Lord’s widow. The Lady very rarely gets to choose the Lord she is re-gifted to. Mrs. Asher looked to really be in love with Linc, which makes me believe that he’s been winning her over for the past two years. Women are easy to manipulate. Especially a grieving woman who lost her second husband. It makes her vulnerable and needy to anyone offering her any type of attention.
But I know everything I need to know after he threatened Elli. And I won’t leave her at that house for Linc to take what’s mine. Willingly or by force.
Elli is very fragile and can easily be manipulated. I know because I’ve done it. And I won’t stand by and let Linc have his way with something that is mine. I’ve waited too long to get her where I want her. And no one will stand in my way. Especially not some fucking low-level Lord on a power trip.