Criminal: A Bad-Boy Stepbrother Romance (5 page)

I can’t wait just to soak in a tub and not have
to go into work. I was thin when I started, but now I have muscles in
places I never did before, my calves and arms more sculpted.

But no one can say I don’t suffer for my
figure.

“Yes! We’re
celebrating!
”
the blonde to my regular’s left says with a smile as she
reaches up with grabby hands towards the tray.

"Everything you have!" the blonde says way
too loud, but I smile politely and quickly count up the drinks on my
tray.

"It's $65 for the lot," I say with a smile,
and the blonde throws me a crisp, $100 bill.

"Keep the change!"

And if there's any way to a waitress' heart, it's
that.

I smile as I put the tray down on the table before
tucking the $35 into my pocket. I bring the rest to the register and
go back to grab more shots.

Maybe tonight isn't going to be so bad.

Though when I hear the hooping and hollering in the
back, I get a prickle down my spine, and I immediately know how wrong
I am.

I'm used to drunk guys, high guys, loud guys, and
leering guys, but once you're around them enough, you know the signs.
The slight, little differences between someone just being drunk, and
someone being
dangerously
drunk.

Between someone being high, and someone being stoned
out of their mind.

Between a guy being loud and perverted... and
those
guys.

I glance over my shoulder at them, feeling the dread
begin to build in the pit of my stomach as I top off the last of my
shots.

They're at the table with the regular and her
friends, skimming drinks from them. That, on its own? Normal night.

But the way he's touching blondie sends a chill up my
spine.

Ryder's behind the bar, just watching placidly, as if
simply waiting to see what I'd do. And knowing what I know about
him... I don't want to do a single thing to upset him or earn his
ire.

So when he turns his head to look at me, his brow
raised, I know it's time for action.

I take the steps across the bar, returning to where I
was just moments before, and I give the loudest, leeringest, drunkest
guy I've ever seen my most dazzling smile. He's clearly over twice my
age and looks older than that, with the heavy lines and the vacant,
blue eyes.

He's a guy that's seen a lot of hatred and hard
times, that's for sure.

"Did you need more drinks?" I ask politely,
begging my voice not to quiver, but my intuition is telling me he's
not a good man. He's not someone I should even be talking to or
getting the attention of.

"Well hi there,
precious
," he says
with a slur and a wobble as he removes his hand from blondie's
shoulder to go for mine. He's off balance and nearly falls over,
supported only by me. He makes me nearly spill all my shots as he
does, and I cry out.

I just made a $35 tip, and I didn't want it all to go
to replacing spilled drinks by this asshole.

He doesn't seem to notice or care, though, and I
quickly put down the tray on an empty table as he fumbles.

And just as I rise back up, he grabs my breast. Not
accidentally.

My face is red with rage as he squeezes it in his
hand, letting out the most disgusting moan I've ever heard in my
life.

"What a ripe peach," he shudders as I try
to back up, but I'm pinned between him and the bench, and the ladies
to my left are just laughing like it's all a joke.

I grab onto the bench, trying to push myself up, but
he’s built strong, and I can't move as he puts more weight on
me. His entire body is pinning me down, holding me there as he
squeezes my breast so hard it hurts like he's bruising me.

I let out a shout, and just as he's about to bring
his other hand up, headed towards my thigh, there's a scuffling of
tables. I can't see anything beyond the disgusting drunk until he's
yanked off me and thrown to the ground. Hard.

The thud can be heard even over the music, over the
laughter of the drunk women next to me, over my screams.

And then Kaiden is atop him, pummeling his face over
and over, and even though I’ve never been in a real fistfight,
I can tell he’s not holding back.

Each time they connect, they make a sick cracking
noise, and I cringe away. I feel like I'm going to be sick, and I
finally manage to jump up—around the two of them and between
the tables, out the door into the night air. My hands go to my knees,
and I buckle over, dry heaving onto the asphalt.

Tears sting my eyes, embarrassment and anger
combining in me.

I don't know how long I stay, just trying not to
throw up, but suddenly there's a hand on my back, and I jump,
startled, away from him.

"It's just me, Abby," says a much softer,
tenderer voice than I'm used to. I haven't heard Kaiden sound like
that in so long...

"Listen, we gotta go," he says, taking a
step nearer to me, but I back away.

"I'm fine, Kaiden. I didn't need your help,"
I spit back, and my words sting him like acid. He visibly flinches,
and some part of me feels bad, but I'm too angry and scared to care.

"That fuck-head is still in there. He's a friend
of Ryder's, you're not safe here," he warns, and his voice is
starting to return to its normal hard, gravelly sound.

"I'm not leaving, I still have a shift to
finish," I repeat, obstinate, and I can see the anger building
in him too.

I glance down and notice the blood on his knuckles,
and I know that by tomorrow, he'd be bruised and bandaged.

"I'm not fucking letting you go back in there
tonight, Abby, so stop fighting me," he grunts, grabbing my
shoulder roughly. And I just let him, even though the last thing I
want is to be touched right now. But in a strange way, it's
comforting.

Familiar.

Warm.

It's something I want, and something I don't want to
want, all at once.

"I need the money," I protest weakly with a
sob, but it's about more than that.

It's about what I heard him say to Ryder, what Ryder
said back. It's about the fact that I'm already involved in something
far more dangerous than some disgusting drunk.

"I remember when you looked up to me,"
Kaiden barks angrily, glaring daggers at me as he shakes my shoulder.
"You remember that, huh? Remember, you used to call me your hero
and mean it?"

Oh, I remember.

I was just a kid the first time I was picked on. I
can't remember why anymore, but I remember being so upset I cried for
days until Kaiden finally got it out of me.

The next time the kid started pushing me around,
Kaiden was there. He got suspended for a week; his face was all
bruised and he was so sore, but he just kept telling me he'd do it
again for me. That he'd protect me.

No matter what.

Tears sting my eyes as I remember, and I try to brush
past him, but he holds me still, his other hand going to my chin and
forcing my watery eyes to look at him.

"What happened to that girl, Abby? The one who
looked up to me?" He looks so sad, and his brows are furrowed as
he holds my chin between his thumb and his index finger.

My eyes move from his, down to his lips. They're so
near to me, so preciously near, and I envision myself just leaning
forward. Pressing my mouth to his, thanking him for protecting me,
for rescuing me.

Begging him to take me home and shield me from all
the terrible things in the world.

I lick my lips, my breathing hard, and I'm not sure
of how much time has passed, but it feels like an eternity before I
finally pull away, bringing my gaze back to the ground.

"Things have changed, Kaiden," I say,
icily. I can’t have these feelings, and so I push him away,
even though it breaks my heart. I can’t look at his lips and
think about kissing him.

It’s wrong.

But even as I turn my back on him, my heart’s
racing, and a small part of me hopes he won’t let me go.

***

I get off my shift late, and luckily, the drunk was
too wounded to hassle me anymore. And the ladies gave me an extra $50
to apologize for his behavior, though honestly, I just wanted them
not to laugh at me while I was being assaulted.

I took a shower immediately after getting home, and
now I feel like I’m suffocating from the overly hot water,
wrapped in just a towel.

I'm crumpled up on my bed, and shocker, Kaiden isn't
home yet. It's nice, in some ways, having the place to myself, though
tonight I wanted him to be home, despite how I treated him. I was
just so angry and embarrassed and... scared. Scared of what he was
into with Ryder. Scared of what
I'm
into with Ryder.

I close my eyes, trying to find sleep, but instead,
all I can find is the memory of his lips, hovering so near to me. A
little split down the center from some fight or another, but still so
full and gorgeous.

I moan softly as I think of his words, of how he and
I used to be best friends. How he always took care of me before he
just cut me out. It wasn't for a bad reason, I guess. He fell in with
the wrong crowd and wants to protect me from their retribution. And
the thought that he's so worried for me, so thoughtful, makes me
smile even if it is messed up.

I smell like his body wash, and I have to admit...
it's enticing in ways it shouldn't be.

I've dealt with these feelings for so long, but
living with him, just the two of us alone, has brought them back to
the surface. It’s getting harder and harder to deny them. I
don't even realize that my legs have parted, and that my hand is
slowly snaking down the fluffy, white towel.

Maybe I should feel traumatized about what happened
at the bar, and I do. I don't ever want to have to go back to work
again. But I'm almost in shock, and all I can think about is Kaiden
and how he'd rescued me, and how much I’d just wanted to kiss
him. To let myself go and get wrapped up in him.

But that would require him to feel the same way, and
he doesn't.

My fingers brush against my sex, and I let out a soft
gasp of surprised pleasure. I'm already wet.

I imagine him coming into the room, finding me as
I am, and walking over. His chest bare, his tattoos on display, as he
licks his lips, running the piercing over it seductively.

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to. The
expression on his face says it all as he looks over my freshly
showered body, just the towel hiding me from his hungry, green eyes.

His hands touch on both of my knees as he leans on
the bed, making it slant towards him as he puts his weight between
me.

And then he leans down between my legs, kissing my
clean little pussy, rubbing that tongue stud over my clit. I moan, my
nipples stiffening beneath the towel as he reaches up beneath the
fabric.

His hand dances along my stomach, loosening the
towel as he reaches up and up before finding my small breast.

He's gentle, kind, exploring it with a tenderness
I wouldn't expect from such a massive man. He lets out a growl
between my legs as he begins lashing against my clit with more
urgency. He looks up at me from between my legs, and I swear, they
glitter with such passion and desire as if he's been waiting just as
long for this as I have.

Thoughts of those broad, muscular shoulders
rippling as he grasps my legs so tight and works his mouth over my
pussy fill my mind. His big, powerful body focused upon me and mine,
every rippling cord of sinew bulging as he lashes at my pussy.

An orgasm rushes through me unlike I've felt in a
very long time. I don’t know if he could’ve got me off so
fast if he were actually eating me out.

"Oh,
Kaiden!
" I cry out, my body
arching and aching as I tremble atop my bed, bucking my hips into my
hand as the fantasy disappears. I’m left alone in my small
room, just the feeling of shame burning through my body.

I blush as I come down, inwardly reprimanding myself.

You swore you wouldn't fantasize about him
anymore.

I sneer at the unwanted thought.

The last thing I need right now is my brain telling
me off for feeling good for the first time in months. And it’s
only a fantasy, something that will never happen. Something I’ll
never let happen.

I get up, dropping my towel and changing into my
nightgown, but just as I'm about to crawl back into bed, I hear a
motorcycle coming down the road.

You should apologize,
I told myself, even
though with my skin still flushed from the orgasm that I fantasized
he gave me. I knew it was the right thing.

I didn't treat him fairly, and if I'm going to be
staying much longer, I'm going to need to make it right. To thank him
for standing up for me and protecting me, to let him know that I
appreciate his concern. That things are good between us.

But when he comes in with the blonde woman that had
tipped me earlier, the same one who laughed at me as I was being
assaulted?

All bets are off.

"What the
fuck
Kaiden?!" I screech,
looking from him to her, feeling absolutely and utterly humiliated
once more. Here I am getting off to the thought of him, thinking of
how caring and sweet he was, and he just has to come home with
another floozy? The same floozy that embarrassed me not six hours
earlier?

"Oh, Abigail. I didn't realize you'd still be
up," he says, his voice reeking of disappointment as he goes to
the fridge and grabs himself a beer. "You want something?"
he asks the woman he was with.

She half stumbles around before leaning against the
kitchen table and stares at Kaiden's ass. "I'm good, sugar,"
she coos, her voice slurred, and I want to smack her.

"I want her out of our house right now," I
scream, more pissed that Kaiden seems so calm.