Destroy You (Destroy #3) Read online

  Back inside my apartment, Toni set out the takeout on my coffee table while I popped the disc into my Blu-ray player. I sat down next to her, and we ate in companionable silence during the first twenty or so minutes of the movie. When Toni pushed away her container, I paused it and cleared the leftovers away.

  Toni sat stiffly at the end of the futon when I rejoined her. The way she kept looking at me out of the corner of her eye told me that she wanted to get closer but she wasn’t going to make the first move. I propped some pillows against the wooden arm so I could take advantage of the entire length of the futon, then I grabbed her arm and pulled her down in front of me.

  I tried to be good, but the way her ass fit against my groin had me aroused, and I’m sure she could tell. Her breathing became shallow, and I was struggling to control mine as well.

  A lock of dark hair fell into her face, and I tucked it behind her ear. It was soft and smelled like coconut. I continued to run my fingers through her hair, allowing them to graze down her neck and across her shoulder with each pass through the silken strands. Toni shivered, and I gave in, pushing all of her hair aside and letting my lips follow the same path my finger just had.

  I’d decided to take things slow with Toni, but my blood supply was rapidly leaving my brain, and I was struggling to recall why we needed to take our time getting to know each other. I wanted her, and I knew I wasn’t going to stop wanting her even after I’d had her beneath me.

  She was so much smaller than me that when I leaned forward, my mouth was able to reach her collarbone. I kissed along the ridge and let my tongue flick the hollow space at the base of her neck. She let out a low moan and pressed herself against my aching cock. Toni rolled her body over me until I was about to explode. I hadn’t come like that since I was a teenager, and I wasn’t going to embarrass myself now.

  I sat up quickly and pulled her to straddle my lap. Our mouths crashed together, and we continued to rock against each other. The friction was enough to be frustrating, but not enough to get the job done. Besides, I wanted to see the look on her face when I sent her over the edge. She wasn’t ready to have sex with me, and I respected that, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other ways I could make her feel good.

  I moved her next to me and quickly turned her around to lean over the back of the futon. I placed her hands on the top and held them there until she understood I wanted her to stay still. I kept expecting her to stop me, but she was as worked up as I was if her ragged breathing was any indication.

  With quick fingers, I unbuttoned her jeans and slid my hand inside her panties. I stroked her over and over until she was riding my fingers, trying to get closer to release. I fisted my free hand in her hair and moved her face until I could reach her mouth with mine, then kissed her hard and fast the way I wanted to take her. When she began to moan against my mouth, I deepened the kiss and thrust two fingers inside of her, driving her higher and higher.

  She shouted at the same time she contracted around my fingers. I slowed down my kiss and touch until the last of her orgasm pulsed through her body. When I removed my hand, she slumped forward to rest her chest on the cushion.

  I tried to pull her to my side and settle back down to watch the rest of the movie, but my jeans had become painfully tight. It didn’t help that Toni’s gaze landed on the obvious bulge I was trying to hide. Her tiny hand stroked me on top of my zipper, and I groaned and tried to stop the tortuous movement.

  “Please, let me,” she whispered.

  I let go of her hand. How was I supposed to deny her? Of course I wanted her to touch me, but I didn’t want her to think she had to. “I don’t expect anything in return, Wildcat.”

  She smirked. “That’s exactly why I want to.”

  Toni worked off my belt and unbuttoned my fly. I hissed when she moved her hand inside my jeans and stroked me slowly and awkwardly at first, but the fact it was her touch nearly set me off before she’d established a rhythm. Quickly, she became bolder and more confident, and my eyes rolled back into my head.

  I started to thrust into her hand, and that made her wild. She kissed me the way I’d kissed her earlier, and I couldn’t control the grunts and moans escaping my mouth. The fact they seemed to excite her made me quit trying.

  When I felt the familiar heat race up my spine, I tried to warn her to pull her hand away, but she shook her head and picked up the pace instead. I practically roared as my release blasted through me.

  I think I blacked out for a second, because the next thing I knew, we were slanted to the side and I was slumped on top of Toni. My gaze landed on hers, and she started to giggle. Not exactly the sound I wanted to hear most, and I gave her a questioning look.

  “Um, I think we broke your futon,” she said, still laughing.

  That explained why we were tilted at an odd angle. It only took a second before I joined her in laughing at how out of control we’d gotten. “I was thinking about getting a real couch anyway.”

  I dropped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her into my side. Cuddling was new to me, but I wasn’t ready to let her go just yet. She began to relax until there was a loud knock at the door.

  She pulled away from me and started to straighten her clothes. “Are you expecting someone?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t go. Whoever it is, I’ll send them away.” I stood up and made sure my pants were buttoned and zipped before I opened the door.

  I should have pretended I wasn’t home. “What are you doing here, Trinity?” I snapped.

  “Don’t be an asshole. I thought I had a place to stay, but it fell through. I just need your futon, unless you want to share your bed.”

  Toni stood up and started gathering her things. “It’s late,” she said without looking at me.

  I groaned. “I don’t want you to go, but I can’t just send her away.” I laced my fingers behind my head and fought the urge to break things.

  She blinked several times before shaking her head. “I can’t. This—” she gestured back and forth between Trinity and us, “—isn’t what I expected. I…I need time to think.”

  “I hate the sound of that. She needs me, what am I supposed to do?”

  Toni came up to me and kissed my cheek. “You’re supposed to do exactly what you’re doing. Don’t worry about it. We’re friends, right?”

  Fuck. Thanks to Trinity, I’d been friend-zoned. “Toni, this isn’t over.”

  She smiled. “Nah, it’s just to be continued.”

  Chapter 5

  Toni

  Three Months Ago

  Every time Trent and I got together, which was never more than once a week, we burned hot. Despite my insistence that we try to remain friends, we were all over each other almost every single time we met. Yet he didn’t treat me like a booty call. He was sweet, and I knew he wanted more from me than a hookup, but I was scared. Miguel wounded my pride, but Trent could destroy my heart.

  Miguel had texted and tried to call me, but after ignoring him for over a month, he left me alone. Thank God for that too, because the one argument Trent and I had had was due to Miguel reaching out to me.

  A couple of weeks after our first movie night, I was back over at his apartment. I excused myself to use the bathroom and heard my phone chime with an incoming text on my way back. As I walked into the living room, I saw Trent pacing and staring at my phone.

  “Is this why you are keeping me at arm’s length?” he demanded and tossed my phone on his new sofa.

  I rushed to his side, and in a rare moment of vulnerability for me, I stepped into his arms and wrapped mine around his waist. Instantly he held me tight. “No. That’s my ex, and he refuses to accept that he and I are over. I know we aren’t…I mean we haven’t…uh, we aren’t exclusive, but…”

  Trent bent down and kissed me softly, then lifted his face again to look deep into my eyes. “I’m not seeing anyone else. I get that you aren’t ready to label what’s happening between us, but it is fucking happening.” He squeezed his
eyes shut and exhaled. “Just please, while we are doing whatever the hell this is, no one else.”

  I pressed my face into his chest. “No one else,” I agreed.

  Miguel continued to be a bit of a sore topic with us, though, because my parents refused to accept that he and I were over for good and continued to try to throw us together when I visited them in Yakima. Their stubbornness had strained my relationship with them. I believed they wanted what they thought was best for me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling they weren’t really seeing me. Ever since my twenty-first birthday, my dad would get lost in thought, and sometimes he’d call me the wrong name.

  “Eva, do as you’re told,” he shouted at me one afternoon when I refused to speak to Miguel at yet another “family only” barbeque. I learned “family only” meant they didn’t want me to bring a date or Jeremy.

  I cocked my head and gave him a puzzled look. “Who’s Eva?”

  His face paled, which was saying something with how dark he is, and he shook his head vigorously as he waved his hand about dismissively. “Someone I used to know. You just…reminded me of her for a moment.”

  Whoever Eva was, she’d ruined my life. Her mistakes were hoisted on my shoulders, and my parents expected me to “succeed” where she’d failed. I don’t know how I knew that, but I felt it deep down to my bones.

  Trent was getting impatient with me. He wanted more of my time, and he really wanted my parents to stop throwing Miguel and I together. I wanted to move forward with him too, but then I’d meet him at the bar or we’d be out in public and I’d see the way women threw themselves at him. He always ignored them, but I couldn’t stop worrying that one day he’d choose one of them. It would be my fault when he did, because I’d sat on my ass and let his feelings for me die, but I was afraid to risk my heart when he could have anyone.

  Of course Miguel and my parents weren’t our only roadblocks. Trinity had a habit of showing up or calling most of the times we were able to get together. He didn’t always run to help her, but she was relentless. She clearly wasn’t going to let go of the hold she had on him, even if she didn’t have him the way she desired. Trent believed she was confused, but I disagreed. Trinity knew exactly what she wanted, and that was to be in Trent’s bed.

  Despite all the interference, we still managed to steal moments of time to be alone. It was terrifying how much I missed him when we weren’t together. I was close to caving and telling him I wanted to really be with him, and stop pretending we were only friends, but that was before the crazy shit from Kate’s past reemerged. After her ex-husband reappeared, it would have been selfish to pull him into the danger that seemed to surround my friends and me, and Kate needed me.

  I knew she had secrets; you can’t live with someone for as long as I’d lived with her not to see the way she jumped at shadows and flinched from anyone’s touch. It broke my heart to watch, and I couldn’t really understand what caused it—at least, I couldn’t before last week.

  It doesn’t take long for life to spiral out of control.

  Becca called to tell me what time we were gathering at her and Aiden’s gigantic house for dinner, something we tried to do at least a couple times a month. I had been out all day and decided to go home to shower and change before I joined my friends.

  I was hurrying to find something simple but still sexy. My plan was to sneak off after dinner and try to watch a movie with Trent. It was a nice plan, where only my heart was supposed to be in danger. Little did I know the most threatening part of my night would be stopping off at my house to change clothes.

  I left most of the lights off in the house, but Kate’s paranoia was deeply embedded in my brain after living with her for two years. She was already at Becca and Aiden’s with Reed, which left me home alone. I flipped the locks on the door and headed straight for my room. I didn’t need the light to navigate my way through the house, since I had the entire layout memorized.

  After a fast shower, I entered my room wearing only a towel. I found a sexy set of bra and panties and put them on. Next, I pulled a soft T-shirt over my head. It was gray like Trent’s eyes, and I knew he liked it. I was about to go to my closet to find a pair of jeans when I heard the glass break by the back door.

  I should have run, reached for my phone, anything. It’s funny what kind of strange thoughts enter your head when you fear you’re about to be attacked. I didn’t want to be found in my T-shirt and panties, so instead of reaching for something heavy to fight back with, or for my phone, I tried to make it across the room to grab pants.

  I got a quick peek at a blond guy for only a fraction of a second before my hair was being viciously pulled at the roots until my neck was forced back so hard I thought it would break.

  My scalp stung and burned where my hair was slowly ripping free. My eyes swelled with tears, but I refused to let them fall.

  “Where’s Ana?” he shouted from behind me.

  My throat felt thick. “Who?” I asked.

  “Don’t play stupid with me, bitch. Where the fuck is Ana?” he growled. I could smell the alcohol on his breath even from behind me.

  I sent up a silent prayer to make it out of this alive. “I don’t know anyone named Ana,” I stuttered.

  With a skin-ripping yank on my hair, he slammed my head against the wall. Crack! The drywall dented under the impact. A flash of pain raced around my skull, making my vision slant and bile surge up my throat. I tried to force down my rising gorge and remain upright at the same time. It was a hard task to focus on while my heart was threatening to beat out of my chest with the surge of adrenaline coursing through my blood.

  He either realized I didn’t know who he was looking for or decided he’d been in the house too long, because he gave me a final shove, knocking me to the ground, and ran out. My cheek hit the hardwood floor, jarring my already aching head.

  The back door rattled and slammed, and despite my wooziness, I raced to put on pants and get out of the house. I vaguely remember slipping on a pair of shoes, grabbing my purse, and rooting for my keys. My hands shook while I tried to start the car, and I drove to Aiden’s house in a daze.

  The rest of the night was a blur. Everyone followed us over to my house, and we found it trashed. I shook violently when I realized my attacker had come back not long after I’d left. He’d used something heavy to beat large holes into the walls, Kate’s bed was slashed, and the knife was stuck into the wall, holding a note she immediately removed. If I’d hesitated a moment before leaving, my attacker could have done the same thing to me he’d done to the furniture.

  I now know that the man who attacked me was Kate’s ex-husband John. An ex-husband I didn’t even know she had. A man, and I use that term loosely, that put both her and her twin brother in the hospital. Even worse, he beat Kate so badly, she miscarried their unborn child.

  My heart ached for what she’d lived through. I couldn’t be angry with her for hiding her past from all of us, especially when I’d spent a week hiding from Trent. I didn’t want him to see how powerless and weak I felt after what happened. It was like having a stain that everyone could see. God, what I’d been through was only a small fraction of what either Kate or Becca had survived, and I felt so damn dirty from it.

  I spent the last week making excuses to keep Trent away. My cheek sported a nasty bruise from the impact with the floor, which was only now turning a sickly yellow-green color, and my hair was sticky with blood where my scalp was slammed into the wall. I didn’t want to explain anything, and I sure as hell didn’t want to admit how scared I still was.

  Kate’s ex-husband’s body was found outside of town, but I still didn’t feel safe. The urge to crawl into Trent’s muscular embrace and pretend, even for a minute, that he would keep the danger away was the exact reason I was avoiding him.

  Everyone was moving beyond me. Becca had Aiden and their son, Scott. They were a perfect family, and I suspected they would be adding to it soon. Kate had dropped the walls she’d erected and was happ
ily shacked up with Reed.

  Jeremy, Cameron, and I were coexisting in the same house without killing each other, but any dummy could feel the attraction between those two when they were near each other. I felt like I was in the way when I was with them. Like they might finally tear each other’s clothes off and go at it if I gave them enough privacy. That was hard to do while we all lived under the same roof, but Kate insisted her brother shouldn’t return to his apartment yet. Cameron was humoring her, mostly, but I also think he welcomed an excuse to spend time with Jeremy. I pretended everything was fine when I was with my friends. The last thing they needed was for me to add more problems to the mix.

  Trent only put up with my avoidance act for a week before he tracked me down. I heard my phone buzz and saw a message from him.

  Trent: Why is there a board on the window of your back door?

  Trent: Melody said you’re at Jeremy’s. Is everything ok?

  Me: It’s no big deal. Someone broke in last week. I’m fine.

  Trent: I’m on my way over.

  I sighed in relief. Odd, because before his texts, I was so sure I wanted to keep him away, but I was beyond tired of being alone and scared. I was also sick of lying to myself about how I felt about him.

  Chapter 6

  Trent

  I decided to go to Toni’s to give her a piece of my mind and then kiss her senseless. I was tired of her holding me at a distance when I knew she wanted me as badly as I wanted her. I knew she’d been hurt, but I wasn’t the asshole that’d broken her heart. He made her promises he never meant to keep, but I was only asking for a chance to see what we had. It took a few months, but I’d finally realized Toni didn’t expect anything from anyone. She put on an image of a carefree party girl, but I knew she was far from being either of those things.