Page 49 of Serpentine

Kylo says something through gritted teeth at her I don’t catch, and she rolls her eyes, crossing her arms.

“Sorry,” Kylo tells me, and I’m taken aback completely.

I know I’d taken to this situation too quickly, but no one truly knows me. No one knows how much I’ve hated my dad and the situation I’ve been in with Carter for so long. They don’t know how I can’t make a move without a photographer capturing it and selling it to some writer who’d write a piece about what I’d been doing. I’ve never been able to be myself and explore who I could be without the weight of my last name bearing down on my shoulders. Braxton taking me and thrusting me into this world did that for me. It took all of it away. I’m free to be me now. Well, find who I could be.

But Whitney had a point, as well. Why am I okay with being their bait? They have plans involving my father, and I need to find out why. My father has been at the top of the Forbes list for far too long. Men don’t get where he is without doing shady deals in dark alleys. It’s never been a legacy I wanted to take over or inherit, but I’ve never wondered who he stepped on to get where he is.

I’ve never wanted to know who he is behind all his money.

Maybe it’s time I seek answers of my fucking own.

When I finally head back towards the house, I note Sully behind me. He’s keeping his distance but making himself known enough that I feel at ease moving away from the party and through the darkness to the house.

When I reach the basement, I register the front door closing as Sully returns to the clubhouse.

Brax is in bed when I slide under the covers. I don’t know why I’d chosen his room over Miles’s, but his arm comes around me and tugs me close as his lips find my temple, and the world is forgotten.

“Where is our fearless drunken leader?” he asks sleepily.

“In his bed. He’s going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow.”

He chuckles softly. “He’s nursed worse things than that. He’ll be fine.”

As he drifts back to sleep, thoughts ramble through my head about how I fit into their world—if I even do. Based on what Whitney said, I know more secrets are still being kept from me than I thought. I turn away from Braxton’s heavy breathing, and my eyes fall on the massive desk where all his screens and computers are.

My stomach flips as a plan forms. If I want to know what they want me for, what they’re using me against my dad for, I’ll bet it’s in there.

As much as I don’t want to go home, I need to know all the facts. If they haven’t given them to me yet, they’re not going to.

I stare at the ceiling as I plot how to get the information I want while remaining safe with the two brothers I can feel myself falling for.

Before I can finish weaving my web, Braxton’s even breathing and warm body lull me to sleep.

SIXTEEN

BRAXTON

When I wake up, the feel of something warm on my hard cock is the first thing I register. Stretching and sliding it forward, a groan sounds.

I shoot up, pulling away from whoever I’d let sleep in my room, and click the light on.

Aella shifts, mumbling about whiskey and beer not mixing well, and then snorts before falling asleep. I don’t remember her coming in, but I smile at her state. She had stayed too late at the party and looked worse for the wear.

My dick reminds me of its insistence to snuggle back up to her, and I shut the light back off. It’s as dark as night in the basement with no lights on, but I slide toward Aella and snuggle up.

“Brax,” she moans, her body writhing, and I back up, thinking I’m crowding her.

“I’m sorry, Bambi. I didn’t realize you were awake. I would’ve?—”

“Don’t stop,” she breathes.

I’m tempted to turn the light back on to see what the fuck is going on.

She turns on her back, arching off the bed, and I’m astounded by what I’m privy to in the shadows.

“Aella,” I warn, but she’s not awake. She dreams, and it seems her hand has dreamed with her because when I follow her arm down under the covers, her hand is twirling circles over her pussy. She works herself over well enough to make another moan crack out of her throat.

“Aella!” I shout, and I’m close enough that she comes to and screams bloody murder.