He starts to lean down again, but when he gets close, I duck my head again. He growls and I laugh.
“Angel, if you don’t kiss me...”
He doesn’t finish, because I press a chaste kiss to his lips before I pull away quickly and run to my car. I look over my shoulder. He is starting toward me, but stops and gives me a look that tells me I’m getting it later.
I start up my car and pull out of the parking lot with Ethan pulling out behind me.
A few minutes from home, he puts on his sirens. My mouth pops open. Is he doing what I think he is? Laughing, I pull over to the side of the road. He pulls up behind me. I roll down my window and pull down my shirt to show more cleavage.
I can see Ethan walking toward me with his hat on and a notepad in his hand in my side mirror. He bends down and looks inside my window with a completely serious expression on his face.
“Did I do something wrong, officer?” I flutter my eyelashes, trying to look innocent. For a split second, his lip twitches.
“Can I see your license and registration?”
I make a big show of getting my license and information. I hand it to him, and he checks it over before he hands it back to me.
“Ma’am, I need you to step out of the car.” He starts to open my car door.
“Oh, officer, is there anything I can do to get out of trouble?” I bite my lip and look at his dick. Then I push my tits out farther so they are completely on display.
“Are you suggesting something, miss?” He arches an eyebrow at me, but I can tell he’s trying not to smile.
“Take it however you want it, sexy,” I purr and prop my tits up on the side of the door.
His expression darkens and he tears my door open. He entwines his fingers into my hair and slams his mouth on mine. His mouth moves over mine, completely uncontrolled and wild. Groaning, I give as good as I get.
He pulls away a second later and kisses my forehead. I lean against the armrest in a daze. He shuts my door and grins that grin again.
“Have a nice day, miss.”
Then he walks away. Blinking, I let out a deep breath and then start my car again.
A few minutes later, I pull up in front of Ethan’s house, and he pulls up beside me. He hops out with a grocery bag and walks over to open my door.
“You okay there, miss?” he teases with a wink.
I get out of the car and walk up the front steps. I yelp and jump forward when I feel a sharp pain on my butt. My eyes automatically move to Ethan, who is pretending to look at his watch.
“Watch it, mister.” I wag my finger at him.
“I plan on it, baby.” He sighs and tilts his head to the side to check out my butt. He steps forward and unlocks the door. The cold air immediately makes me shiver from having been outside in the heat.
“Go change, Angel, and I’ll get dinner started.” He smacks my butt as he passes by to the kitchen. I can’t help but check out his butt as he walks in front of me. He’s wearing tight pants; who can blame me?
“Braelyn, I can feel your eyes on me,” he yells over his shoulder, snapping me out of it. I half run up the stairs.
I take out a pair of soft shorts and a V-neck shirt, then find a hair tie and twist my hair up on my head. I throw my clothes in the basket and make my way downstairs.
I walk up behind Ethan in the kitchen and lay my head against his back while I hug him. Then I pull back and stand beside him. “Want me to finish so you can change?”
He nods and lets me take over. He kisses the top of my head before he walks out of the room. I finish rolling out the rest of the burgers, which is more than two people would eat.
I hear the stairs creaking as he walks down. Grabbing the burgers, I head on outside to the patio where the grill is. A hammock sits on the other side of the patio. I set the burgers on the table and start to light the grill.
“I got this, baby.” Ethan pulls me away then points to the hammock. “Go rest up for later.” He winks and smirks cockily. I arch an eyebrow at him and put my hand on my hip. He winks at me before turning to the grill.
I carefully sit down on the side of the hammock and lean back with the rest of my body hanging off. I get top heavy and I flip back off, hitting the floor.
Laughing, I roll to my side. Ethan runs over to me and picks me up off the ground. “Are you okay?” he urges and starts checking my head for bumps or whatever.
“I’m fine!” I laugh and motion for him to put me back down.
“I like you right here.” He nips at my neck, making me laugh even harder, then relents and sets me back onto the ground. I sit down on the lounge chair instead of trying my luck with the hammock again.
Ethan’s muscles bulge at his every movement, and I must admit it’s a freaking hot sight. I could sit here for hours watching him.
“Want to eat out here?” Ethan suggests as he places the burgers on a tray.
“Sure.” I stand up and walk inside to get the condiments and more plates.
The doorbell rings. I freeze for a second before I notice a woman’s leg through the window. I walk to the door and open it, not thinking. The plate I am holding hits the floor and breaks into a thousand pieces.
Standing before me are my mother and a teenage boy.
“Mom?” I manage to get out through my gasping.
“Who the fuck are you?” Ethan tucks me behind his body to confront them when he sees my expression.
“My mom,” I choke again and then everything goes black.
Braelyn
“Baby, wake up!” Ethan yells, but my body is like lead and my mouth feels like cotton. I manage to crack my eyes open and see Ethan above me.
“Thank God,” he says in a ragged voice, his face concerned.
Then it hits me. My mom is here. Why is she here? Is my dad here? My breath goes ragged as I start to panic at the thought of seeing my father for the first time in years, making my childhood all too real again.
“Hush, baby. I got you.” Ethan pulls me up tighter in his arms and holds me against his chest. He’s bowed over me protectively like he himself can shield me from the world.
I glance over my shoulder and see the boy with my mother leaning against the doorframe, staring at me knowingly.
Who is he?
I pull away from Ethan. He lifts me off his lap and helps me stand, then puts his arm around me and walks me over to the couch. I stop instantly when I see my mother sitting there. She has tears in her eyes.
She looks the same as she did all those years ago.
“What are you doing here?” I ask her with anger in my voice.
“I left him, honey.” She wipes under her eyes and looks over at the teenage boy then back at me. “This is your half-brother.” He crosses his arms across his chest, looking up at the ceiling.
“You finally left him after all these years? What made you change your mind, hmmm?” I ask, bitter. How could I not be? She let a man hit her daughter every single day while she watched. She starts crying, and I start to feel slightly guilty.
“He was hitting your brother,” she says through her sobs. My head shoots back like I am sucker punched. I look over at my brother, who is still staring at the ceiling. I can see his body stiffen. Closing my eyes, I try to hold back the tears that want to break away at the thought.
“Mom, you stood by for years while he beat me every day. You watched and carried on like nothing happened,” I say softly as the pain from all those years ago starts coming back. Ethan stiffens, and I can feel the anger radiating off him.
“Fucking great, woman! You even let him hit your own kid!” My brother yells at her and marches out of the room and to the kitchen.
I sink back into the couch. Then it hits me. He will come for her. He will be close to me again.
“Ethan, he will come for her.” My voice shows my emotions.
“He will not touch you,” he grounds out and pulls me into his lap.
“I know.” I lean my head back to kiss his cheek.
“Let’s go eat. The food is still pretty warm,” he tells everyone, trying to break the ice. I stand up and walk into the kitchen. Wiping away my tears, I lift my head high. I won’t let this affect me and bring me down.
My brother is leaning against the refrigerator. Our eyes connect, and then I notice he has the same exact eye color as me. I walk over and wrap my arms around his waist to hug him tightly. His hands go to my shoulders to halt my movements before he gives in and wraps them around me.
I pull back and grab his arm, then lead him over to the table. I take a plate and place two burgers onto it, because if it was anything like when I lived there, I knew he never got enough food. My dad liked to control every aspect, including what we ate and how much of it.
“Soda?”
He nods. “Thank you.”
Smiling at him, I turn around and walk to the refrigerator, then I stop when I see out of the corner of my eye Ethan in my mother’s face. His face is angry, while she’s just smiling at him weirdly. Honest to goodness, this is the first real smile I have seen from her.
I can’t bring myself to care for this woman, because she has never cared for me. Why should I? I feel no love for her. The only thing we share is blood, but blood doesn’t make you family. A real mother would never allow someone to hurt her kid, let alone watch and do nothing.
I grab his soda and pull out a seat beside him. His eyes are on me. I can see confusion all over his face like he can’t figure me out.
“How are you normal?” His voice is gruff.
“What do you mean?” I ask him softly. I grab some condiments and place them in front of him.
“The life you had growing up.”
“Ethan.” I shrug my shoulders then lean back farther into my seat. “He made me see the way I grew up and everything else doesn’t have to dictate my life or control it. Letting him control it lets him win, and I can’t let him do that. He’s not my father. A real father doesn’t do this.”
He rubs his face. I see the exhaustion on his face. “I hate him. My mom just died a few months ago and I had nowhere else to go. He showed up saying he was my father. His name was on the birth certificate, so I went home with him. As soon as those front doors slammed shut, the real man came out.” He shakes his head and looks behind him toward my mother, who is still talking to Ethan.
“I won’t go back there,” he states with conviction.
My heart breaks at the thought of him going back there. I’m not sure I could live with myself if he did. Living that life since I was a baby, I know what it’s like. It’s hell.
“I’m Braelyn.” I smile and raise my hand for him to shake.
His mouth twitches for a split second before he puts his hand in mine. “Liam.”
Before I can say anything else, Ethan and my mom come into the room. Ethan looks at me and gives me a pointed look, asking if I’m okay. Smiling, I nod my head. My mother walks behind me and touches my shoulder as she passes. I flinch away from her touch.
“Don’t touch her,” Ethan grounds out and pulls me from my seat and into his lap, away from her reach.
“Here’s the deal,” Ethan starts and looks over at my brother for a few seconds. Liam meets his eyes head-on, his gaze unwavering. I wring the bottom of my shirt, trying to calm my nerves.
“Your mom will be going to the center tomorrow. I talked to Kyle and he gave me the okay.” He looks at my mother, willing her to argue. She turns her head to the side and looks at the wall.
He turns to Liam and smiles. “You’re staying here with us.”
My mouth almost hits the floor. Liam’s expression is shocked but then quickly turns to relief. Biting my lip, I try to stop my smile. Liam looks at me, wondering if this is real. I nod my head and smile at him. If I didn’t already love Ethan, I would fall in love with him all over again.
“Let’s eat and turn in for the night,” Ethan suggests and grabs himself a burger.
We all eat in silence. You can cut the tension with a knife. Liam is already finished with his food and sets his plate in the sink. He sits back down at the table, waiting for us to finish. I eat the last of my food and stand up from Ethan’s lap.
“Want me to get the rooms ready?” I suggest
He nods, “Thank you.”
I lean down and press a chaste kiss on his lips. “Come with me.” I motion for Liam to follow. We reach the steps, where I look over my shoulder. “Did you bring anything?” He shakes his head no.
“Ethan will have something.”
They are four rooms in this house all together. Leading him down the hallway, I enter one of the guest bedrooms.
“This is your room. You have your own bathroom.”
I turn around to look at him and see him look around the room in wonder and then at me. It makes my heart hurt that someone is so surprised at something as small as getting a room to sleep in. But wasn’t that me a few months ago?
“Let me grab some fresh sheets and towels for your bathroom.”
He simply nods when I head to the linen closet by Ethan and my room. I take out a sheet, a pillowcase, and a towel before I hurry back to Liam. Turning the corner, I see him sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing the comforter.