Cruel Intentions

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Mila Crawford

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Copyright © 2022 by Mila Crawford
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 Contents

Introduction
Also by Mila Crawford
Blurb

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
First Epilogue
Second Epilogue

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 Introduction

Dear Reader,
This novella contains content that could be disturbing to some readers,
please read at your own risk.

-Somnoph!l!@, Degrad@tion, Prim@l Play, Praise, Sp!t pl@y, Breath Play,

CNC, Dubcon. Exhibitionism, DP, Food play.

-Parental loss
-Mentions of Suicide not MC

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Also by Mila Crawford

These are all stand alone novellas within the same wold.
Bound Together
Room Twenty-Two
Thicker Than Blood
Hide snd Seek
The Mask

Taboo Full Length Romance

Original Sin

Full Length Friends to Enemies to Lovers

Break

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 Blurb

I used to be part of her world.

The princess of the Upper West Side, and I, her dutiful knight.
But that was then, before her family ruined mine.
Now, I hate Devlynn Price and everything she stands for.
The upper crust of New-York Society hiding behind their masks adorned
with riches they don’t deserve.
Five years later, she’s standing in front of me, willing to provide me with
the perfect alibi.
This time, she won’t get to walk away.
This time, I was going to get my revenge.
A dish served cold from a heart that she has broken.

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 Chapter 1

E lis

“H ey!” The old man’s voice interrupted the last slash of red on brick.
“I’m calling the police this time, you little punk!”
I released the trigger of the spray, and drips of paint bled between the cracks
of the brick in angry rivulets.
Not perfect, but it’d have to be for tonight.
I shot one last look at the shop owner, thrusting the phone in his hand
toward me as he yelled at the top of his lungs. I took off around the corner
of Fifth Avenue at a full jog, crossing the street—and lost myself in the
overgrowth of Central Park.
I could still hear his angry voice shouting from the corner.
I didn’t blame him.
I’d been working on that piece for the last three nights. I was surprised he
hadn’t painted over the current work in progress—a fist wrapped in barbed
wire with red splashes meant to symbolize consumer oppression.
I hovered at the path inside the treeline and outside the nearest streetlamp.
The truth was, I liked watching the angry man spit nails as much as I liked
making the art on his brand-new brick wall.
Graffiti on the corner of 59th and 5th, the heart of uptown shopping, was
never looked kindly upon.
And then I heard the siren.
A vicious grin twisted my face as I launched the spray cans into the garbage
at my side before I hustled the other way along the path deeper into the
park.
“Shit!”
A hot beverage soaked my shirt as my eyes cast up.
“I’m so, so sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’ve had the worst
fucking day. I shouldn’t even be around people right now.” Her hand
launched out to wipe my black shirt with a recycled napkin.
I caught her dainty hands, halting them before she could make contact.
“Stop,” I gritted.
Her head was still bent, and fat, ugly tears rolled down the planes of her
creamy cheeks. “I said I was sorry.”
“So that makes you entitled to my forgiveness? Think again, rich girl.” I
glanced over my shoulder to see a cop car slowing at the curb. It stopped at
the path we were on, eyes nailed on us.
“Shit,” I breathed, realizing this would look bad if I took off running now. I
was as good as caught red-handed.
“Elis?” Her voice sucked in a breath of air at my shoulder. “Elis Brooks?”
I clenched my jaw so damn tight that it physically hurt. The cop was
walking toward us now, eyes on me, and I could only pray he hadn’t heard
this fucking meek little thing utter my real name.
“Evenin’, kids.” The middle-aged officer stopped short of us. “Pretty late to
be out in the park.” His voice trailed off, forming a question. When neither
of us answered, he shuffled on his feet, throwing a nod over his shoulder to
the shop owner, still talking to himself on the corner as he tried to watch.
“Any chance you may have seen anything…suspicious?”
I could see him taking me in, trying to determine if I was the criminal he
was looking for or just another waste of his time.
I cleared my throat, thrusting a hand through my dark hair and about to
make up some excuse about the night shift when little miss meek threaded
her fingers in mine. A tremor of disdain rushed through me before her tiny
voice spoke up.
“We haven’t seen anything, Officer. My boyfriend here thought a stroll
through the park at night would be romantic until I spilled coffee on us
and…” She rolled her eyes, bouncing her shoulder into mine like we’d
known each other for ages.
“Hm.” The officer’s gaze hovered at her hand clasped with mine, a
cloyingly sweet smile decorating her face as she rocked back and forth in
her designer boots. “Well, stick to the well-lit areas. There have been
reports of an uptick in crime around here this late at night.” He shoved a
hand into his back pocket and pulled a card out, passing it to her. “Please,
call me personally if you see anything that stands out.”
His eyes lingered long and hard, and I physically restrained myself from
kicking his arrogant fucking teeth in.
I’d only been adding a little artwork to the face of one of the fine
establishments on Fifth. This guy was visibly eye-fucking a strange woman
at night under the guise of law and order.
I shook my head, ready to speak up to him, when she put her other palm on
my chest, siding a little closer and putting her body between him and me.
She tipped her head to one side, and her silky curls fell over her shoulder
when she whispered, “Honey…”
The desperate saccharine tone in her words caught my attention, and I
finally dragged my gaze to meet hers.
And that’s when I knew exactly who she was.
She was the fucking bane of my existence. My fucking nightmare and my
most lucid dream.
“Can we go home now? It’s getting chilly out here.”
I almost shook with her lie-riddled words as memories doused my ability to
manage my emotions.
“Please?” Her words clung to mine, begging.
My teeth ached with the pain from grinding them, hindering my ability to
speak. I forced a jerky nod but what I wanted was to tear into her.
“Well…” The officer was still lingering, this time his gaze not on me but on
her ass.
I grunted at him, and he smirked. The fucker thought he had the upper hand,
but one perfectly placed blow to his nose, and he’d be good as dead.
His glance traveled up her form before he stopped on my face. “Have a
good night, then, kids.”
As soon as he turned and walked away, I tore the officer’s card from her
hand and threw it in the garbage behind me. “I wouldn’t let you call him,
even if I did give a shit about you.”
Her face fell, and her hand dropped from mine. “Wait. I just saved your ass.
Call me crazy, but I thought you’d be a little more grateful, Elis.”
“Stop using my name.” I started walking, but unfortunately, she kept up.
“I know it’s been a while, but unless you changed your name—”
“I didn’t. I can’t stand the way it sounds on your lips.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “Maybe I should run back to Officer
Feinman and tell him where he can find those cans of spray paint you
tossed right before I walked up.”
I froze, chest heaving with the adrenaline still coursing through my system.
“Wouldn’t shock me. Once a stuck-up bitch, always a stuck-up bitch.”
“I’m loyal to a fault, not something you would know anything about.”
“I’m more loyal than you’ve ever been.” I put myself in her personal space,
my hand hovering at her hair, whether to pet or yank it, I wasn’t sure. “The
thing is, you’re not a human at all. You’re just a spoiled Park Avenue Bitch
desperate for attention. You were then, and”—I made a point of looking her
up and down—“from the looks of things, that hasn’t changed.”
I turned, leaving her behind me, right where she belonged. Ignoring the
small fucking ache in my chest she’d left there long ago when she stabbed
me in the back and proved once and for all these rich bitches were the
same.

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 Chapter 2

D evlynn

“Y ou don’t know the full story of what happened back then!” I shouted
at his shrinking form before I launched after him, catching him by the
arm when I was close enough.
He yanked out of my grip and kept walking. “I don’t need your bullshit
story. What I need is your hands off me.”
“I’m not a spoiled Barbie. Things in high school were…complicated for
me.” Annoyed tears formed behind my eyelids again, and I swept them
away before he could notice.
His look of disgust was like a jagged piece of glass slicing through me. Elis
had perfected his look of death, I thought he’d never look at me like that,
but I was wrong. I was so very wrong.
“Said every spoiled princess ever,” he seethed, continuing to stalk down the
gravel pathway as snow-covered evergreen branches hung low over his
head.
He looked every part the villain he’d become. If I were in law enforcement,
I’d give Elis Brooks a once-over too. Black on black was his uniform, but it
was more than that. He had that devious glint in his eye. It was one thing
that drew me to him in high school. The way he scared everyone and put
them on edge with just a look sent thrills of excitement through my skin.
I battled to fight that same reaction to him now.
“Elis…” My voice softened.
His steps slowed when he reached a bench, and he turned, leveling me with
his gaze. I crossed the pathway in his direction. A late-night jogger looked
warily between us before nodding at me once and giving Elis a wide berth.
“It’s been a lot of years since then. I don’t feel like the person I was when
we last knew each other.”
“That sounds like a win.” His voice was monotone.
I didn’t react to his dig. I sat on the bench at his shoulder. “So you’ve been
the one decorating all of 5th Avenue in graffiti? You made the top headline
in Page Six last week. Your designs are gaining a cult following. A few
more runs from the law, and they’ll erect a statue in Williamsburg in your
honor.”
He cracked a grin. “Leave it to Brooklyn… If you can’t beat them, join
them.”
I laughed. The idea of Elis Brooks in a beanie behind the counter of a coffee
shop was laughable. “That scowl would scare off your clientele. It’s all
peace, love, and light vibes over there.”
It had been five years since we’d graduated from high school, and the
angles of his face were more pronounced and appealing to my needy
fingertips. He was just as good-looking, but he’d grown out of being a
handsome boy. He was a man now. But he still had the same soulful brown
eyes. You couldn’t help but be captivated by Elis when you were around
him. From the moment I’d met him, I knew he was destined for greatness.
“Painting walls is hardly a danger.” His thick voice finally broke the
silence. “I want them to know someone sees them.”
I sat silently at his side, taking him in. His sadness hit me in waves, and I
realized that was what had changed about him. Elis Brooks’s eyes weren’t
etched with rebellion now. They were shadowed with sadness.
“Who is them?” I finally asked.
In slow beats, he turned to take me in, his gaze crawling up my form with
measured movements.
I’d never felt so naked and vulnerable as I did under his intense stare, like
he could see through to the heart of every bad thing I’d ever done. Most
people saw the designer coat, Italian leather boots, or limited-edition Birkin
mini on my shoulder, but not him. Never him.
I’d never been able to hide a thing from Elis Brooks, and maybe that’s why
he made me so uncomfortably naked. He didn’t see what I wanted him to
see; he saw what I tried to shield from the world. He saw me. That’s why it
hurt so badly when he no longer could.
“Them”—he leaned slower, sucking in a breath of night air as his lips
brushed against mine for a fraction of a breath—“are those who take
advantage of other people as easily as breathing.” His thumb dashed across
my jaw and sent a shudder of sensation through me. “Them, Devlynn Price,
is people like you.”
And then he stood, walking off into the night, and left me seething.
By the time I’d walked the short distance out of the park and crossed W.
59 th, my muscles were strung tight with tension. I didn’t know who Elis
Brooks thought he was, talking to me like that. I didn’t need the painful
memories of the past, especially not now, when the world had fallen out
from underneath me, the pain still raw and processing like cement through
my tired body.
I dashed home faster than I usually did, wanting to outrun the disgusted
look in his eyes and the disdain in his voice.

***
“How’s your mom holding up today, Ms. Price?” The doorman of my
building held the elevator door and let me pass him.
“Not so great. She’s been having night terrors since my dad…” I trailed off.
“I figured that’s what had you out so late, miss. Let me know if you need
anything. I’m here for you.” He patted my shoulder, and his kindness nearly
crushed me. Since my dad had passed two nights ago, the doorman at my
building had shown me more kindness than anyone.
The Prices may be one of the most prestigious names in the city, but most
of the family had died out. It was only my mom, brother, and me now that
my dad was gone. We’d never been a close family. My dad worked too
much, and my mom was busy with her charity events and dinner parties, but
somehow, without him, the world seemed dimmer.
When the elevator opened to my modern apartment, windows overlooked
all of Park Avenue and the verdant green of the park beyond it. It was
breathtaking—my father’s twenty-first birthday present to me. Before I’d
even had a chance to redesign the kitchen, he’d been diagnosed with an
aggressive metastatic tumor. His radiation and chemotherapy had started the
following week at Lenox Hill Hospital.
I’d sat at his side every day while they’d pumped toxins into his system and
watched him lose himself to his illness while my mother avoided anything
too heavy from day one. And my brother, Matt, hadn’t even come home
from school in California.
I was the only one left to hold his hand through his illness.
The disease wasn’t like any sickness; it was a slow and steady decline. For
nearly two years, he fought—we fought together. I’d spent hours each week
researching new treatments while avant-garde international doctors ran
cutting-edge trials and therapies. Many had visited my father at his bedside.
None had been able to fix the problem.
My father was dying. We would need to prepare ourselves for that.
I’d spent hours with the grief counselor in the days leading up to my
father’s passing while my mother sobbed to her psychiatrist that she needed
a stronger prescription for her anxiety.
I was losing my father and watching my mother fall apart at the same time.
While the last two years had been the hardest of my life, the last two days
took the cake.
While Mom was drugging herself into a permanent mental vacation, I was
planning my father’s visitation. He’d explicitly stated in his will that he
wanted no funeral—only a visitation.
His passing had made the top page of the obituaries in The Times. Going
without a funeral was nearly unheard of for someone of his stature. Hosting
a visitation would be required, at the bare minimum.
I swallowed the ache that had been lodged in my throat for days—the same
ache I’d been trying to dislodge with a hot cup of coffee and a stroll through
the park on the way home from my mother’s apartment until Elis Brooks
had happened.
A frown formed instantly when I thought of how his eyes had cut me up
and down as if they held invisible swords. He’d been vicious, not that I
should have been surprised.
What had surprised me was that he was the Vigilante Artist, a silly name
Page Six had taken to calling him. The coffee shop idiots in Brooklyn had
already made a Warhol-inspired poster of one of the first works of graffiti
attributed to him—a giant silver ring, easily two stories tall, and where the
sparkling diamond would usually be nestled, a smiling poop emoji sat in its
place.
The worst part?
He’d painted his sparkling poop emoji ring on the front side of the white
wall of Tiffany’s.
The Tiffany’s.
He’d caused quite a scene the next morning. I remembered seeing the local
news crews when I’d walked by that morning to meet my dad for one of his
radiation sessions. He’d cracked a smile when I’d told him I’d seen the
ridiculous piece of street art firsthand, and then he’d dozed off in his chair,
tubes and wires attached to him in every direction.
I’d had to laugh then, or I’d cry.
Pretty much the same way I felt now.
I flopped back on my pillow, watching the silver moonlight chase the dark
shadow from the corners of my room. Sighing, I rolled over, salty tears
wetting my pillow.
I missed my dad so much, mostly because he was the only one in my family
who’d ever understood me—maybe the only person who ever would.
Before I could cry any more tears, I rolled back out of bed, swiped my
phone off the table, and headed for the bathtub. I may not get any sleep the
night before my father’s visitation, but I could at least soak in the bathtub
and relax with some friendly online stalking.
I had Elis Brooks on my mind.

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 Chapter 3

E lis

T he entire walk home, my fists were clenched to my sides, and the cool
air did nothing to alleviate the hot rage pumping in my veins.
It’d been five years since I’d last seen her. She still looked as beautiful and
just as shallow. Devlynn Price, the poster girl for the perfect-looking New
York City socialite. Queen Fucking Bee. I hated her and everything her
world stood for, but I also couldn’t shake her.
The familiar subway stench assaulted my senses as I sat in the empty car.
Not too long ago, I’d had a limo and a driver taking me where I wanted,
when I wanted. At one time, I was what I hated most in the world, but those
days were gone.
The subway ride wasn’t long, and I was home in thirty minutes. Good old
Brooklyn.
I turned the key to our two-story brownstone, walking quietly not to wake
up my mother or sister. My sister, Sarena, hadn’t gotten used to our new
way of living. She’d started taking jobs watching rich old men’s homes or
their bratty kids. She would end up with some old man, a trophy wife on his
arm, spending his fortune and chasing something she’d always longed for:
status.
My mom started working five years ago after it all happened. She mourned
my dad for all of ten seconds, picked herself up, and moved us out of our
twenty-million-dollar apartment into the brownstone. The brownstone was
at least ours, the one respite. After all was said and done, there was enough
money left over to buy this place free and clear.
I hated her for it then, but now…now I understood. That life was poison,
taking everything from her, and she didn’t want it to win. Sarena didn’t
understand the decision, but I knew it had saved me. I saw those guys who
were my best friends, slaves to the almighty dollar. Thinking the way they
were told to, dating the right girl, and joining the right organizations. They
were machines, robots mindlessly roaming the earth until they died in a
pool of their wealth. I didn’t want anything to do with any of it.
“Where have you been?” my mother spoke softly from the corner of the
dark living room.
She turned on the lamp beside the old leather wingback. I could still see the
black circles under her eyes in the darkness—proof of how tired she was,
even though she constantly denied it. I hated how she worked herself to the
bone, but I also understood that principles couldn’t be bought. She was a
daily reminder of the mess my piece of shit father made.
“I was out with some friends. Studying.”
She nodded as she got up and walked toward me, placing her palm on my
face. “You’re such a good man. Nothing like him.”
The aftertaste of my lie twisted in my mouth. I hated lying to her, but I
knew she would worry if she knew the truth.
She grabbed me in an embrace, her arms light and airy. “You and your sister
are the only good thing that came out of that old life. My angels.” She
sounded off, but I chalked it up to maybe too many nightcaps while she
waited for me to come home.
“I love you too, Mom.” I kissed her frail, withered cheek. “Go to bed,” I
ordered, adding, “Please.”
She nodded and walked up the stairs.
I went to the fridge and took out a beer before sitting on the couch. My head
fell back, and I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. The usual
rush I felt after tagging walls in those affluent neighborhoods wasn’t
present.
Instead, my mind returned to the pretty blonde with the amber eyes. I still
felt the burn of her touch on my hand. Years ago, I would have wrapped her
in my arms and kissed her pretty pink lips until she was flushed and like
putty in my hands. In a different life, she was my world, and I was hers.
I would have done anything for her, but shit happens, and life gets
complicated. None of it was her fault, but when I looked at her, I saw the
one person I hated more than anyone else in the world.
I wanted Devlynn to suffer. I wanted her to fall, desperate and pathetic, to
the floor, begging. I wanted her to whither and be ruined. I wanted her to
feel the pain my mother felt because of hers.
But I also wanted to hate fuck her into oblivion. I wanted to bury my cock
deep in her pussy until she didn’t know where I began and she ended. I
wanted to split her open with my cock until she screamed my name and
forgot hers.

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 Chapter 4

D evlynn – Five Years Ago

“W hat are you always doing in that notebook?” I asked Elis as his hands
danced, hidden behind a large leather-bound sketch pad.
“Tryin’ to capture beauty on paper,” he said, his eyes glued to the page. His
lips formed into that sly smile I loved so much. His hair fell, a curl
bouncing on his forehead, which was furrowed in concentration.
I took off my top and crawled onto his lap, one leg on either side of his
thighs. Pushing him back, I wanted to grab that sketch pad, but I knew he
would lose his mind. In our two whole years together, he’d never shown me
the contents of that book. I knew he liked to draw, but he was always so
private about it.
“You know I can’t concentrate with those fantastic tits bouncing in my
face.” This time his glance was on me. He licked his lips, and his eyes
zeroed in on mine. He placed the pad on the nightstand before balancing his
weight on his elbows.
I placed my lips next to his and whispered, “I know.”
He grabbed my face, crushing his lips to mine. He tasted like happiness
mixed with lust. I could have kissed him for a thousand years and never
tired of the feeling. His hand unhooked my bra from behind, letting it fall
between us, exposing my breasts to his hot touch and the cool air. My
nipples hardened as he took them in his hands and tweaked them. A moan
escaped my lips.
“You are so fuckin’ hot,” he whispered before bending his head and taking
one nipple into his mouth, his teeth grazing gently.
“Elis,” I panted, desperate for more.
He straightened us as his hands roamed down my yoga pants. He dipped his
hand inside, feeling my heat. “You’re soaked.” He pushed his finger in my
pussy before pulling out and rubbing my wetness on my mouth before
crushing his lips to mine. “So fucking sweet,”
He flipped us so I was lying on my back on the bed with him above me. He
peeled off my pants, his hands sliding down my bare legs as he pushed
them off. He looked at me, bare to him other than my white lace panties.
“Good enough to eat,” he whispered, his voice husky as he bent his head to
my panties, moving them aside but not taking them off.
He slid his tongue up and down my slit, making me moan in ecstasy as I
clung to my one-thousand-thread-count sheets.
“Fuck this.”
He gripped my panties between his teeth and ripped them off my body. The
act was so primal, so animalistic. My body was on fire with need for him.
He was the only person who had ever been able to make me lose control
and forget about the world around me. I would have done anything never to
lose that emotion.
“Those things were getting in the way.” He grabbed my clit between his
fingers, rolling it and causing my body to jerk.
“So responsive for me, aren’t you, pretty girl?"
My back arched at his touch and the way he spoke to me. “Please.”
He chuckled as he bent his head and bit my inner thigh. The sensation stung
and felt glorious, all wrapped in one. “Please, what, Devlynn?”
The little shit always liked to push me. He wanted me open and completely
at his mercy. That was part of the game for him, making the good little rich
girl dirty. Say things no one would ever believe could come from my
mouth. “You know what.”
‘“You know what’ isn’t very specific.” He inserted one finger inside me,
curling it up to my g-spot, a sample of what he could do to me if I only gave
him what he wanted. “Don’t you want to come, Dev?” He pushed against
my g-spot.
My frustrated pants took over the room, and my desperate need for Elis’s
touch drove me wild. “Elis, I want your mouth on me.”
Elis kissed my stomach, moving up my body to find my lips. “Just like
this?”
“That’s nice, but it’s not exactly what I meant.”
“What do you mean, Princess?”
“Put your mouth down there.”
Elis moved down and kissed my lower abdomen.
“You’re entirely frustrating.”
He grinned. “Give me what I want, and I’ll make sure you get what you
need.”
“You suck.”
Elis chuckled. “I’m not currently, but I could be.”
“Fine.” I gripped his hair and looked into his eyes. “Eat my pussy.”
“I don’t hear the magic words, Princess.”
“Now.”
Elis kissed his way down my body. His fingers spread my pussy lips
apart before his mouth was on me. He sucked at my clit, his finger working
me in and out as his teeth and tongue worked my bundle of nerves, driving
me to the brink of insanity.
 “So fucking sweet,” he murmured into my pussy. “If I could pick my
last moments on this earth, it better be drowning in this perfect cunt.”
The manipulation of his tongue and how he spoke to me, crass words
that caused wanton pleasure and need, drove me to the edge. There was
something about this man and the dirty things that came from his perfectly
full lips.
One of his hands roamed up my body, and he grabbed my breast,
squeezing it while his tongue lapped at my center. Elis was a man who ate
pussy like his life depended on it.
“It should be illegal for someone to be so good at this.”
“Don’t think you’d want me to go to jail for this, Dev.”
I moaned, “No, definitely not.” My body tensed as lightning flashed
through my veins, and I screamed my orgasm into my pillow to not disturb
anyone else in the house.
“Devlynn, you home?” my mother called from the hallway as a pair of
heels tracked on the marble floor.
I pushed Elis off me, diving for my clothes and putting them on before she
opened the door. It was obvious that the two of us were up to no good, but it
didn’t even faze my mother.
She smiled at us, her fake socialite grin. “Oh, hello, Elis. Are you staying
for dinner?”
“No, thank you. Mrs. Price. I have to be going,” he said, his hand working
its way through his disheveled hair nervously.
“Well, okay then. Devlynn, dinner will be served in thirty minutes. Please
say hello to your father,” my mom said, leaving the room and closing the
door behind her.
“Does she ever knock?” Elis asked once she left. “I was scared she’d smell
your pussy if she came any closer.”
I hit his arm, and he roared with laughter.
“Do you have to be so crass?” I asked, burying my head in my hands as
embarrassment set in.
I still hadn’t gotten used to having sex. It might have been my upbringing,
but all the women in my world seemed so uptight and reserved. I thought
there was something wrong with enjoying what Elis and I did together.
“Dev, stop that,” he said, peeling my hands from my face. “I love you. I
love being with you. You are so fuckin’ amazing. I wish you would be freer
when your clothing is on.”
He kissed my lips, and I tasted myself on him, something I had experienced
many times. It was one of the ways Elis tried to loosen my inhibitions. He
liked to spread my arousal on my lips and ask me to lick it off. Usually,
when we were in the middle of sex, I loved and relished it, but now I felt
like I was doing something wrong.
“Stop it, Devlynn. You’re my girl. You will always be my girl. My girl has
to know she is fuckin’ amazing.” He kissed me again, this time a sweet,
chaste kiss. “I love you,” he whispered on my lips.
“I love you, too.”
“I’m gonna get going. My mom made dinner tonight—sounded important.
I’ll text you later.” He smiled as he grabbed my panties off the floor,
bringing them to his nose and winking at me as he put them in his pocket.
“I’m gonna need these later when I jerk off.”

***

That was the second to last time I saw him. He broke up with me a week
later, leaving me heartbroken and angry.

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 Chapter 5

E lis

I went back to the wall the next day.

Only, I didn’t get to check on the progress of my artwork, just the
takedown, as city workers scrubbed a section of my tag off before a second
crew followed up with white paint rollers.
All that fresh paint made my fingertips itch to tag it in something colorful
again.
I swallowed, edging to the corner of the brick building across the street, my
eyes following a line of penthouse windows at the top of a limestone
building. Dozens of black iron balconies in a row, the perfect canvas for my
handiwork.
But that wasn't why I was there. The real reason was her. I hardly wanted to
admit it to myself. I always checked up on my work after I finished a piece
—I liked the temporary nature of what I did—but now, instead of focusing
on the graffiti, I was focused on the girl who lived in one of these buildings
upstairs, a Park Avenue princess.
I frowned, counting the windows along the top row of apartments
obsessively. Twenty-four, all equally spaced. Some with heavy drapes,
some wide-open into the lives of their owners. Which one was hers?
I strolled down the street, searching the sidewalk at the base of the building
as a doorman helped patrons in and out of fancy black cars. I kept walking,
moving closer to the glow of amber lights as the ants wrapped in designer
furs bustled in and out of the building with smiles on their rich upper-crust
polished faces.
I hated them so much. I could taste their greed, their shallow facade of
thinking they were better than all those they passed. My feet carried me
closer as I watched the coming and going of the prestigious apartment
buildings.
Injustice made me angry, and it’d been my experience that anyone with
wealth like this had either bribed, manipulated, stolen, or dick-sucked their
way to the top or would be willing to if shit hit the fan.
And shit always hits the fan with these people.
“Hey, no loitering, bum. Don’t make me call security,” the doorman called,
waving an angry finger at me.
I smiled, taking my time as I walked to him, my grin growing.
“Back off, you little punk. Get out of here.” His voice was growing shrill,
and I didn’t blame him.
The dark hood and crazy look in my eye were part of my schtick to keep
people fearing me. It gave me the privacy I craved so fucking desperately in
this city.
“He’s fine, Arthur.” Devlynn stepped out of one of the dark cars idling at
the valet. She was dressed head to toe in black, a conservative turtleneck
dress, and black tights down to her sensible black heels.
I wore all black to scare people off. She wore it and looked devastating.
Devlynn tucked her sparkly clutch bag in her elbow and laced her fingers in
my right hand, shooting the doorman a smile as if to prove I wasn’t the
criminal he thought I was. That I wasn’t anything to fear.
Wrong on both counts, assholes.
I shook my hand from her grip, and she shot me an annoyed glare before
gliding on those high heels toward the revolving glass doors of her building.
“Well? You coming?”
I tipped my chin to her, about to tell her to go fuck herself before I thought
better of it—the desire to see what was behind one of those twenty-four
balcony-lined windows was too powerful.
Research, I decided. I followed after her, flipping Arthur the doorman my
middle. Devlynn didn’t see me do it. I’m pretty sure her bleeding heart
would have kicked me right out on my ass for being so rude, but then
again…her bleeding heart for broken things was probably more powerful.
I was the walking, talking proof. She saw something broken in me, a project
she could fix. But she was the one who shattered me in the first place: her
and her blue blood family.
I scanned the elegant lobby as we entered—the creamy handwoven
wallpaper decorating the walls begged my fingers to mark it. I resisted the
urge, turning my gaze to a hand-painted masterpiece on the domed
cathedral ceilings where a crystal-drop chandelier hung from the center.
It was more opulent than any theater I’d ever been to, and my mom had
dragged me to a ton of Broadway performances as a kid. I still cringed,
remembering all the times we’d walked the red carpet at a Broadway
premier, and she reminded me to straighten my back and smile for the
cameras like I had a secret. The camera loved a secret, she always cooed a
gentle reminder.
“Nice digs. Looks like it’s turned up for the Price family since the last time
I saw you.” I watched her profile as she punched the button for the top
floor.
“It’s nothing impressive.”
“Seen one penthouse, seen ’em all?” I huffed, unable to stand the stench of
wealth dripping from her unimpressed tone. She may have grown more
beautiful in the years since we’d known each other, but she’d also grown
more spoiled.
“Something like that.” Her tone was flat as the elevator doors dinged open,
and we stepped inside. Alone and quiet, we rode to the top.
When the doors dinged open again, she walked out without a word, slipping
both her heels off and tucking them under her arm as she touched the
keypad to unlock her door.
I heard the soft snick of the deadbolt, and she pushed the door wide. Floor-
to-ceiling windows dominated the entire wall, from the kitchen to the living
room to the hallway leading to the bedroom and the rest of the apartment.
The city night was lit up like fireflies in the darkness, and the blanket of
black that was Central Park was almost mesmerizing in the sea of stars.
“Eighteen through twenty-two.” I hummed, walking past her, drawn to the
windows like a moth.
I could see my next piece dancing before my eyes, the soft swirls of navy
mixed with amber. Like a modern starry night, the yellow orbs of Park
Avenue hummed to life as far as the eyes could see.
“Excuse me?” She tossed her shoes onto the white sofa and padded to the
open-concept kitchen, with white cupboards flanked by white marble
counters and white tile swirls underneath. It was modern luxury,
understated and minimalist, and fit her perfectly.
“Your balconies. There are twenty-four of them across the facade of your
building. You are eighteen through twenty-two,” I offered, my gaze finally
settling on hers.
She was coming at me, two freshly poured glasses of red wine in hand, one
held out to me. “Okay, I guess I never thought of that. Your brain looks at
life in such a different way from mine.” She sat down on the couch, her all-
black ensemble a stark contrast to the pure white sofa. “I always loved that
about you.”
I nearly crushed the glass in my hand with her words. I hated that she could
show me kindness when I didn’t feel kind enough to help an old lady with
her shopping bags. Devlynn held a mirror to my face, a mirror I had no
desire to see. Because I wanted to burn every single person like her. Watch
the entire Upper West Side crumble to ash from a match that I’d lit.
“Don’t say that,” I gritted, sitting opposite her, stiff and painfully aware of
how wrong I was in her space. How much I stood out and how right Arthur
was when he'd tried to kick me off the property.
“I’ve had a shit day, okay, Elis? I’m cool to hang for a while. I could use the
distraction. I won’t even ask why you were lingering outside my building
tonight because all I can think about is this glass of wine and forgetting this
day ever happened. Or week.” She paused, swirling her glass before tears
filled her eyes, and she glanced out the window. “Maybe the last two
years.”
“The last two years? What could be that bad? Did you not get the limited-
edition handbag you wanted? Did the next up and coming musician find
you too uncool to invite you to his release party? What could be so bad for
a rich girl like you?”
Her eyes cut back to mine. Big tears rolled down her pretty face, a face I
loved once. A face I would have done anything for.
She shifted and took another swallow of wine as if the alcohol would be
strong enough to wipe away the taste of my words. “I buried my dad
today.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Not what I was expecting.”
“And what exactly were you expecting, Elis? That I spent all day shopping
and needed a nice, strong man to carry my loot? I swear, you may think my
life is superficial, but your thinking is all wrong.”
“Sorry about your dad and all, but living in this shell of a penthouse and
never struggling a day in your life doesn't make you a poster child for
misfortune. People die all the time, Devlynn. Having your parents die
doesn’t make you eligible for the world humanitarian award.”
“And what does that say about you? You think you’re making such a
massive political statement by spray-painting your little murals around
Tiffany’s, but if you gave a shit, you’d know that the biggest philanthropist
in the city just died, and with him, his cash flow. I’m supporting my mother
through a breakdown, so forgive me if I don’t have time for your
stereotypes about my life.”
I shot to my feet, red splashes of wine covering my hand as I invaded her
space, lust-fueled frustration lacing my veins. “You think you’ve got it all
figured out, Devlynn? You think that man told you everything?”
I set the glass at my side, caging her in the broad span of my arms until my
nose was only a breadth from hers, our breaths heaving as we shared air and
intense gazes.
Her chest rose with breathless pants, and her eyes finally averted. I caught
her chin in my fingers and forced her lips to meet mine. The kiss was a
combustible force of everything toxic, compiled with hate, frustration,
longing, and misery. I hated everything she stood for, but I also craved her
like a hit of the most expensive designer drug.
“You drive me fucking insane, Devlynn Price. All I can think about since
seeing you again is fucking you up against that same balcony window
where you look down at the peasants below. Every soft inch of you calls out
to me, begs for my hands, those sexy lips begging to suck my cock dry. And
as much as I want to fuck you so hard that you forget your damn name,
nothing has changed from five years ago. The reason we broke up is still
there, glaring at us like a neon sign.”
I passed my nose up the length of her neck, enjoying the tremor that erupted
inside her. Her nipples pebbled, and the soft hum of her heartbeat thrummed
like a hummingbird under her throat. I darted the tip of my tongue out,
trailing up the contours of her neck before dancing one fingertip in tiny
circles around the faint outline of her nipple.
“Those eyes say yes to everything I want, Devlynn, but I can’t be trusted to
be gentle with you anymore. I don’t want to make love to you, Dev. I want
to fuck you hard, raw, and fast. I want to make you beg to be my slut. To be
in control, to hurt you, Devlynn. To ruin you in ways a good girl like you
shouldn’t be ruined. A toy for me to fuck at my leisure, to use and abuse.
But I don’t want to make a habit of fucking broken dolls, and that’s all
you’ll ever be.”
I stood, fists clenched at my sides as I left her stunned on her pristine
designer sofa, my kiss haunting her lips.

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 Chapter 6

D evlynn

A nger vibrated through me as I stood frozen at the window. Elis’s

shadowy black form disappeared into the night two dozen floors below
me.
I gulped down the rest of my glass and then swiped for his at the table,
downing that in one motion. The warm liquid loosened my aching body,
and I was ready to collapse into bed and forget this day. My life. Him.
Everybody.
“Play The Nutcracker Suite,” I called out to the smart music system,
comforted when the soft strains of the opening melody seeped into my
body.
I remembered countless nights practicing this music on our baby grand
piano in the entry. Mom always slammed the door as soon as we started
playing, but those were some of my best memories with my dad. The long
hours he worked left him hardly at home. Many nights I’d find him with his
head bent over papers long after midnight, but as soon as my fingers
stroked the keys, he stopped whatever he was doing to play with me.
Fresh tears blanketed my cheeks as I searched the sidewalk around Central
Park, desperate for the freedom that Elis must feel. I’d never felt free
enough to walk the streets all hours of the night. My life was too scheduled,
and my reputation too precious, according to my mother. I only had time for
studies, lessons, and charitable events.
I wondered about the thrill Elis must feel when he tagged a blank wall for
the first time, the charge of adrenaline as he broke the law. I respected his
crimes in a weird way. A lot of anti-establishment hipsters did because he
made a statement without hurting anyone.
I had trouble figuring out why Elis was so bitter. I shook my head, cleaning
up the wine glasses before heading to my bedroom at the back of the long
hallway.
I brushed my teeth, my anger beginning to boil over as I thought about all
the prejudices he held against me.
I’d said goodbye to the only man—possibly the only human—to show me
unconditional love, and I had to go and fight with Elis fucking Brooks? I
grew so annoyed with his presumptions that if I wasn’t already stripping out
of my dress, I might be crazy enough—and exhausted enough—to run after
him to give him a further piece of my mind.
Elis Brooks didn’t know shit about me anymore. I just wished I could kick
him out of the real estate in my head.

***

“Ms. Price.” My professor nodded somberly the next morning as I stepped

into my lecture approximately ten seconds before class started. “I’m sorry
to hear about your father. The wake was beautiful.”
I nodded, not at all surprised that my professor had been there. He was a
tenured professor in the department, and as an alumnus, my father was one
of the university's biggest donors. I'd seen the dean and head of the board
yesterday through my tears.
“Thank you,” I breathed, taking one of only two seats left in his crowded
lecture.
“He’ll be missed so much.” The professor shook his head sadly.
I wished instantly for any distraction to relieve me of this torture.
And then I wished my prayer had gone unanswered.
The door swung open as the clock chimed on the hour, and in head-to-toe
black with an oversize hoodie pulled low over his eyes, in walked Elis
Brooks.
“Oh my God,” I gritted, my eyes rounding when he ignored the professor's
gaze and zeroed in on the chair at my side.
He slipped in, opened his notebook, and pulled a pen out of his hoodie
pocket. “Morning, Barbie.”
“What the fuck is this?” I seethed.
“Biology 310, right? Am I in the wrong class again? Hey, Prof?” Elis
winked as the professor’s mouth dropped open.
I shook my head, scooting my desk as many inches away from his as
possible before knocking elbows with my other neighbor. The professor
started the lecture but didn’t get more than ninety seconds in before Elis
thrust his hand into the air and started bouncing what sounded like
impossible questions at him.
I was lost in scientific lingo from the start.
Forty minutes later, the professor was not much deeper into his slides. Elis
had kept him busy answering dead-end rhetorical questions. His ability to
verbally spar with anyone was unmatched. I’d loved that about him in high
school, but he was getting deep under my skin now.
“What the fuck, Brooks?” I hissed as we crowded through the lecture hall
doo a while later.
“Needed inspiration. I was hoping to find it in one of America’s finest
institutions of higher learning, but it turns out this place only crushes the
free thought out of you. I’d run if you know what’s good for that pretty little
head of yours, Price.” He tapped my temple.
“How did you even get into this lecture? I was the last add, and I had to beg
them to let me slip in,” I fumed.
His grin cracked, sliding to one cocky side and making me want to kick his
teeth out. “I’ve got a way with words.”
I shook my head. “Why are you torturing me like this?”
His head tipped at an angle, his amused grin turning wry. “Because I can,
Barbie, and because you deserve it.”

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 Chapter 7

E lis – Five Years Ago

I walked through the front doors, the scent of Devlynn still on my skin. My
mom and Sarena huddled at the kitchen table, the place settings all in
proper order, but the food was still on the stove, untouched.
My father wasn’t around, which wasn’t unusual. He worked hard and was
barely home. What was strange was that my mother made today’s dinner
seem important, and my dad’s presence was usually a requirement.
I didn’t care much now that I had Devlynn to occupy my time.
“Who died?” I joked, hanging my jacket behind my chair and sitting at the
table. As soon as I sat, my mom began bawling hysterically. Sarena hugged
her, shooting me a dark look. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
I didn’t understand why she was acting the way she was. My entire life, I’d
never seen my mother cry, not once. She was the epitome of measured
grace.
I caught my sister’s eye, and she shrugged her shoulders, her look of
confusion mirroring mine.
“I’m sorry, kids. Can you both sit down—are you hungry?” My mother
stood, walking to the stove.
“Why aren't we eating in the dining room? We always eat in the dining
room,” I said, thinking this scene was beyond weird.
Maybe I should have skipped this dinner in favor of Devlynn’s kisses. Since
she’d come into my life, home hadn’t seemed quite as unbearable.
“Really, Elis?” Sarena scolded, shooting me a death-defying glare.
I walked over to my mother, took the white serving spoon from her, and
placed it on the marble countertop.
Our apartment was nice. We lived in the Upper East Side. It was nothing
like Devlynn’s place, but we were doing okay. My father was a corporate
lawyer, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom who spent her time taking
care of my sister and me. We had a pretty comfortable life, and for the most
part, we were happy, my mom especially. She was the kind of mother my
friends growing up wished they’d had. She was present, loving, and
completely stable. So seeing her like this, falling apart and looking so sad,
was more disturbing than it would have been for most.
“What are we going to do?” She hung her head and shook it slowly from
side to side.
“Mom, please look at me.” I grabbed her hands, forcing her to shift her
body to face me. I couldn’t help noticing how tired and worn she was, and
her usual sunny disposition was now covered in defeat.
“He’s gone,” she whispered so softly I almost didn’t hear her.
“Who’s gone?”
“Your father. He’s gone. When the police called, I didn’t believe it.”
“What are you talking about?” Sarena asked, getting up from the table, her
eyes rounded in shock and her bottom lip quivering as if trying to keep her
tears at bay. “Where is Daddy?”
My mother wiped the tears from her face, straightened her back, and
grabbed our hands, walking us back to the table. “I need you two to sit
down.”
My sister and I took our seats, not protesting. We were frightened and
confused about the whole situation. Sarena was only twelve and much
closer to my dad than I was. I didn’t want to panic, but my fear was starting
to take over, and the sensations were nearly crippling.
My mother fidgeted with a manilla envelope on the table. Her fingers
worked the edges nervously as she looked everywhere but at us.
“Mom, you’re scaring Sarena. Just spit it out. This waiting is making
everything so much worse,” I finally said, pounding my fist on the table so
forcefully that it visibly shook.
My mother’s gaze shot to me, and the pain was replaced with anger for a
moment before it returned to a mournful look. “Your father had an affair
with Mrs. Price, and her husband found out. He got him ostracized
Throughout the city—the entire Eastern Seaboard. It all started two months
ago—your father has been unemployed for two months! I had no idea. He
never told me…” Her voice trailed off, her eyes on Sarena, her hand on my
fist, wrapping around it as if she was trying to offer warmth and comfort. “I
can’t believe I’m saying this…but your father is dead. He took his own life
this morning. I went in and identified the body.”
I stood in shock while Sarena cried so hard that she began hyperventilating.
My father and I had always had a tumultuous relationship. I couldn’t
remember one decent memory with the man. Most of my memories were of
him drinking a Scotch and working, barely saying a word to my mother or
me. Yet the knowledge that he was gone hit me with such force that I
couldn’t breathe.
And then the anger hummed in my veins when the rest of my mother’s
words finally set in. My father was having sex with another woman who
wasn’t my mom. My father was having an affair with Devlynn’s mom.
“He was fucking Devlynn’s mom,” I blurted, not thinking about how
callous and insensitive my words were.
I was a selfish, self-absorbed teen. Yes, I missed my father, but the world I
had constructed so perfectly was tumbling down, block after block, on top
of my head.
“Daddy is dead, and all you can think of is your rich girlfriend? Her whore
mother is the reason our father is dead!” my sister hollered, her ice blue
eyes filled with pure venom and lasered in on me.
“No, Sarena. Dad is the reason he’s dead. He killed himself.” My voice was
level and emotionless, yet I felt the pain.
My father wanted to be part of that world more than he wanted us, his
children. My rage and hatred for the upper crust set in at that moment, and
my whole world changed.
My father had died because he valued money and prestige more than his
own flesh and blood.

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 Chapter 8

D evlynn

“H ello again, Princess,” his familiar voice hissed in my ear.

Even after all these years, that voice still made my entire body tingle with
need and want. I despised myself for it. I should hate Elis. But I didn’t. That
made my anger and confusion mix together like an overdone stew.
I turned, my face almost touching his and my heart vibrating even more
than it was a moment ago.
Elis’s lips curled into a smile. He looked so smug and sure of himself,
something I hated and found immensely attractive. I backed my chair away
from him, needing space, needing to breathe. I’d come to this coffee shop
down the street from my apartment for some peace, and his smiling face
was the furthest from it.
He barked a sardonic laugh that curled through my bloodstream like a
spider web and sat down across from me, grin half-cocked and eyes trained
on mine.
“What do you want, Elis?” I finally asked, exasperated with the game of cat
and mouse we’d been playing. Everything about him pulled me in and made
me resentful of his presence at the same time.
“Can’t a guy just say hi to an old friend?”
“Is that what we are? Friends?” I asked, zeroing my eyes in on him.
“Maybe not,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. “But I want to be.”
“Elis, please stop messing with me. I’ve had a hard couple of weeks.”
“Well, I’ve had a hard couple of years,” he spat, his voice low and laced
with anger.
I lowered my head to avoid his face. I knew what my mother had done and
how it had impacted his family.
It’d also impacted mine.
After it happened, my parents lived as nothing more than roommates. If
they could avoid each other, they did. My father had threatened divorce,
which—thanks to their prenup—would have left my mother penniless.
She’d begged me to talk to him, to convince him not to go through with it.
Her eyes had been wild and flowing with tears. I hadn’t wanted to help her.
I’d wanted her to suffer like my father and I had suffered. But at the end of
the day, she was my mother, so I’d convinced my father to stay with her—
something I now regretted.
“Elis, none of that was my fault.”
“No. It was your mother’s.” Cold disdain laced his words as he shrugged his
shoulders. “Anyway, that was a long time ago. Time heals all wounds and
all that crap,” he said nonchalantly. “Listen, Princess. I don’t want to feel
the way I do. From the moment I saw you, I couldn’t stop thinking about
you. I thought I was over you, but I’m not. I don’t think I ever will be.”
His words floored me. I stared at him silently. The words caught
somewhere deep inside me, desperate to get out but unable to unbind
themselves from the bonds holding them in place.
“So what do you want?” I finally squeaked.
“I told you. I want to be friends.”
“Elis, you and I can never be friends.”
“Probably not.” He leaned over, his face so close to mine. “Because every
time I look at you, Princess, I want to bend you over and fuck the life out of
you.”
I grew warm everywhere under his hard gaze, and I was sure a flush was
now plastered on my face.
“I missed how red you get when you’re horny,” he whispered so low that I
wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Pardon?” I stuttered.
“You, Devlynn Price, are horny.” He said it slowly, enunciating every word
so it would be hard for anyone to miss.
I got up quickly, and the chair I was sitting in fell back on the floor, causing
all the eyes in the room to land on me.
Elis laughed, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, staring at me
intently. I didn’t know what to say because his words were true, and I hated
that they were.
Instead, I silently grabbed my bag, gave Elis one last look, and stormed out.

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 Chapter 9

E lis

“E ighteen: the kitchen. Nineteen: the dining room. Twenty and twenty-
one: the living room. Twenty-two: master suite.” I hummed the words
as my eyes traveled the dark iron bars of the balconies spanning the top
floor of the building.
I hadn’t seen Devlynn in the few days since she’d stormed out of the coffee
shop. I hadn’t meant to elicit that reaction, but I did love rattling the fuck
out of her at every opportunity.
My eyes once again followed the line of windows on the top-floor
apartment.
I wondered if she’d ever let another guy into her home like she had me. The
notion sent a bolt of rage through me.
“Where are you, Devlynn Price?”
I hated that I kept finding myself here—with her or waiting for her. I’d
grown accustomed to her schedule: a run first thing in the morning—rain or
sun. A coffee from the bakery on the corner on the way home. It wasn’t that
I was stalking her. It was simpler than that. I just kept…gravitating here.
I groaned when I reached the corner of 5th Avenue, my eyes on the Tiffany
wall now wearing a fresh coat of white paint. I remembered the look on my
mother’s face when Dad had presented her with a Tiffany blue box every
year for her birthday. In the later years, the gifts grew bigger, glitzier, more
ostentatious, and my mother loved them. I should have known then he was
up to no good, asking for silent forgiveness with every diamond-encrusted
gift.
The doorman of Devlynn’s building opened the door on a cab, and my girl
stepped out.
My girl.
“She’s not your girl, idiot.” I verbally kicked myself for the mistake as I
sprinted across the street, narrowly avoiding her cab speeding out of the
valet entrance. He crushed on his horn and threw me the finger before
skittering off the curb and onto the street.
I shook my head, straightening my black jacket and mouthing fucker at the
driver.
“Hey, Elis. Are you okay?”
I smelled the soft scent of her floral perfume before I laid eyes on her. Her
tender words of concern wrapped around my barbed edges like a warm
blanket.
“Fine,” I spat, turning to narrow my eyes at her. “Where were you?”
Her grin dropped on one side, and she removed her palm from my forearm
as she turned, quilted backpack staring me in the face. “What’s it to you?”
“I didn’t come here to watch you walk away from me.” I caught her elbow,
forcing her to stop and look at me.
I liked the rattled look on her face. Found myself wanting to see it while she
was naked and writhing underneath me.
Her chin tipped up, and her eyes narrowed. “Maybe you came to watch me?
I’ve seen you out there at the edge of the park.”
I shook my head, no excuse except the truth. “I wanted to see you. Come
with me.”
She assessed me slowly, pressing her full lips together before she glanced
up to the top of the building, to the sky, and then back to me. “Why?”
She waited, but I said nothing.
“Whatever this back-and-forth, love-hate game you’re playing is about, I’m
not here for it. I don’t have time. I didn’t then, and I sure as hell don’t now.”
She backed away, but I caught her wrist, pulling her to me until our chests
brushed. “This isn’t a game.”
“Then why does it feel like one?”
“Nothing with you has ever been a game.” I enunciated the last four words,
my eyes holding hers as something intense burned inside my chest. “That’s
the part that fucks with my head the most—that you’re so in my head. All.
The. Time.”
“That’s not my problem, Elis.”
“Right now, it is. Come with me.”
“My parents always told me to avoid the park after dark, no matter what.”
She broke the silence. “It’s funny being here with you, of all people.”
I shrugged, thinking how funny it was after everything.
“Is it crazy that I’ve been at that apartment for almost two years and…?”
Her voice trailed off, loneliness radiating through her words.
“It’s a big park. Don’t worry, Princess. I know the place like the back of my
hand.”
She was silent for a long time, her fingertips grazing my forearm, every
tremor like a lead weight connected directly to me. It had torn me up when
she’d stomped out of the coffee shop a few days ago. Maybe that’s why I
was here, to make amends and absolve myself of the guilt of hurting her.
I shoved my hand through my hair, annoyed that I’d let her get to me this
much. I wasn’t one to overthink my every word, but with her, I couldn’t
stop.
“I tagged my first wall over there.” I nodded around the corner to a low
brick wall painted dark gray. “The streetlamp over there is just out of view.
It’s always shadowy—a pretty safe tag for a first-timer.”
Her grin deepened as we took a few steps down the path so she could get a
close-up of the wall. “What was it?”
I tensed, remembering my first piece like a brand behind my eyelids. “For
my dad, the night after I found out he’d killed himself. I walked around the
park for hours, lost in the only place I knew as home. I had to…mark it
somehow, leave an imprint of my pain.”
I swallowed, the bright blue and purple slashes of color emblazoned like a
tattoo. “There was this game he took me to when I was a kid, one of the
first summers we spent in the city. Mets and Yankees. I sketched the
mascots, adding the final stats of the game in roman numerals. It took me
four hours to do it, trying to dodge stray park people walking by. I hid in the
bushes so many times that night.” I laughed, remembering my amateur
move to tag a high-traffic area. “I’ve memorized every single detail of that
game. The park service had it painted over by the next night.”
“Is it hard? Seeing it painted over so soon? Why not put your stuff in a
gallery and sell it? Allow the highest number of people to see it?”
“It’s not about that. It’s about the right people seeing it.”
I shoved a hand into my pocket, fishing out one of the slim cans of black
spray paint I always kept on me. “Try it.”
She shook her head, soft waves flying around her face. “What would I do?”
“What do you have to say?”
She frowned, taking the can from my hand and slowly approaching the
wall.
“I’ll keep an eye on your backside.” I grinned.
“Clever,” she threw over her shoulder.
She bent to the wall, giving me a real view of her round ass. My fingers
twitched at my sides in the same way they did before I started a new piece. I
was dying to put my hands on her warm skin.
I heard the soft whoosh of spraying paint in the air, and the smell hit my
nostrils a moment later as she laid her first swipes of black on the gray
brick. I waited patiently, watching the sidewalk both ways as she quickly
moved the paint around the wall in elegant swipes, pausing to take in her
finished work less than five minutes after she’d started.
“What is it?” I tipped my head to the side, squinting in the dim light to
make out whatever the fuck it was I was seeing.
“You can’t tell?” she purred, one black-tipped pointer finger stroking a line
that curved to the right. “It’s a nutcracker mouse in a tutu. I know it’s silly,
but your memory was so sweet. My best memory of my dad is when I was
eight and performed in The Nutcracker. I had a solo I worked on for weeks
in his office every night after dinner. My dad was beaming after the first
performance. He brought me three dozen roses. The bouquet was so big that
it covered my head in the picture.” She gnashed on her bottom lip. “That’s
one of my favorite nights.”
Silence settled around us. Her eyes were on the abstract mouse with tutu,
but mine were on her. Emotion sucked the air from my lungs as much as the
humid summer night.
My heart hammered as I watched her wiping at tears. I was so caught up in
my bullshit that I had no idea what to say to ease hers.
So I reacted.
My hand moved to the back of her head, my fingers gripped her hair, and I
yanked. Her doe eyes peered up at me, placing a crack in my cement heart.
I crushed my lips to hers, savoring her because I didn’t know if I would
again. I wanted to burn her lips into my memory and wear her like a brand
on my soul. They said there was a thin line between love and hate, and until
that moment, while my hands were on her flesh with my mouth against
hers, I didn’t understand how true that was. Because as much as I wanted to
cherish Devlynn, I also wanted my hands around her throat as I squeezed
the life out of her.
She whimpered, parting her lips for me, inviting me to invade her mouth
further.
“Sugar.”
“What,” she murmured against my lips.
“You taste the same. Like spun sugar. You could put a man in a diabetic
coma.” Quick movements of my hand unbuttoned her coat, causing her
nipples to harden in the chilly air. “You ever fuck in public, Princess?”
“Elis, what if someone sees?”
She shivered as I trailed kisses along her neck. My hands moved over her
body, connecting with all the parts that made her moan. It was as if my
brain had imprinted this girl there all those years, waiting for that moment.
“Then they’ll know not to touch what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours.”
“You can lie to yourself, Princess, but you’ll never be able to lie to me. Bet
if I touch your pussy, my finger will be soaked with your lie.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
I smirked before undoing her pants and dipping my fingers into her panties.
“I know that. Princess. Still doesn’t mean your pussy isn’t creaming for my
touch. Tell me, Devlynn, what will you do to get my cock in your pretty
cunt?’
She took a sharp inhale of breath, trying to pretend that the crass talk
offended her. But the funny thing was, we both knew that the filthier my
words, the hotter she got.
“Still pretending you wouldn’t be a slut for me, huh, Devlynn? Tell me
what you would do to come.”

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 Chapter 10

D evlynn

I hated him, and I longed for him. Two dueling emotions that had festered
in the depths of my soul. It was easy to ignore the void when he wasn’t in
my orbit, but it seemed impossible now.
I despised how he made me feel. How I lost myself in his touch. How I’d
do anything to have him in my orbit. But if I bent for him, I’d never forgive
myself because I would’ve sold my self-respect.
“I’m not doing this with you, Elis.” I pushed at his chest, but he wouldn’t
budge. He was a brick house, steady, unmoving, and impenetrable. “Get off
me.”
He smirked, turning me around. My face hung over the park bench. I
should’ve been frightened, but a small voice deep inside me kept saying,
“this is Elis. You’re safe.”
But that little voice was the memory of the boy I loved and who loved me.
This man wasn’t the same as the boy. He didn’t look at me like I was the
sun rising after the dark night. In the depths of his dark eyes, I was the
eclipse that turned his world black.
“What are you going to do, Elis? Rape me? Is that what would make it all
better? To fuck me like a common whore? Show me who’s boss by
breaking me? As you said, Elis, I’m already broken.”
I thought my words would shame him. Cause him remorse. Make him
pause before he did something we’d both regret.
“Do you want me to stop, Princess? Walk away. Make it so that you never
see me again?”
His question pinched at my heart as tears slowly slid down my cheeks. The
idea of never seeing him again made me gasp for air. I could withstand
plenty of things in life, but I wasn’t sure if losing him was something my
heart would bear again. What did that make me? Probably an idiot.
“I don’t want you to hurt me.”
Wetness stained my cheek from the wicked lash of his hot tongue. “Never
thought the taste of your tears would make my cock hard as steel.”
I whimpered at his anger and mourned the boy he was.
“I want to fuck you until you forget your pain, and I forget my rage.
Hurting you isn’t what I have in mind, Devlynn. I want to wipe away how
looking at you makes me feel.”
“How do I make you feel?”
“Like I’m possessed by Satan, and you’re the damn fucking cure.”
Cool air teased my exposed skin right before the sting of his hand hit my
ass, making me yelp. “I should spank you, Devlynn. Turn this creamy ass
red for all the hell you put me through. For making me think of you, crave
you. You’ve been a bad girl, Devlynn.”
His words were sharp, and his tone was low and deadly. I kicked, and when
he stumbled backward, I pulled up my pants and ran.
“Running won’t stop me, Devlynn.” The rush of his feet followed me. His
boots hit the cement as he chased me. “Have you never seen what a junkie
will do for a hit?”
“You’re not a junkie,” I yelled behind me, but my feet didn’t stop moving.
I was stopped in my tracks when his strong arms wrapped around my body.
My body lunged forward, but my feet weren’t on the ground. Elis had
picked me up and was moving me to a nearby tree.
“You’re wrong, Devlynn. I’m the worst kind of junkie there is. I’ll do
anything to get my hit. I have no morals about it. It’s your fault, you know.
You should have never stepped back into my orbit. You should’ve stayed
locked up in your Park Avenue tower and stayed the fuck away from me.”
I kicked my feet, desperate to connect with any part of him, hoping he’d let
me go.
His hold tightened, and his teeth grazed my earlobe. “Why are you fighting
me, Princess? We both know you want it. You don’t have to pretend in the
dark. Here you can be dirty. I know you want to be. That perfect rich girl
facade is for your tower, Rapunzel, not when you’re on the ground
desperate to come on my cock like my good slut.”
“I want no such thing,” I lied.
But the truth was I wanted all of that. I craved it. I longed to shed all the
pretenses of my life. Lose the heavy burden I carried that had sat like a
noose around my neck from the moment I was born.
“Is that why your panties have a giant wet spot? You're creaming yourself
imagining my cock ramming into your tight cunt.”
His filthy words were enough to make me come right then and there. But I
didn’t want to crumble for him like I used to. I hated the war between my
heart, mind, and treacherous vagina. “Please.”
His hard cock pressed against me, establishing the depth of his desire. “I
like it when you beg, Princess. I still dream about the sexy way you’d plead
until my tongue was on your juicy pussy. You still come like that, Devlynn?
You still gush pussy juice?”
I fell back on his frame, hating how my body reacted to him. “I hate you.”
“I hate you too, Princess, but it doesn’t mean I won’t fuck you.” Elis flipped
me, his dark eyes burning into mine. “Now, why don’t you get on your
knees and open that pretty little mouth for me.”
“Fuck you.”
“That’s the idea, baby.”
My hand flew up, connecting with his face. I didn’t think about what I was
doing. All I knew was that I wanted to hurt him the same way his words
were slicing through me. I flung out my hands, attacking him any way I
could.
Elis's joyless laugh echoed in the dark. He didn’t try to protect himself but
let me go at him like a cornered cat. “Never thought I’d get hard from a
chick hitting me.” Elis smirked as my nails clawed his skin. “I’ll tell you
what, Princess. I’ll let you keep the same energy while I fuck you.”
He grabbed my arms and pinned me back. My body ached from the force of
his as we crashed to the ground. He looked at me then, his eyes filled with
so many emotions I couldn’t decipher.
“I fucking hate you,” I spat.
“Fuck me like you mean that. Fuck me like I’m the most disgusting thing
you’ve ever seen.”
“I don’t want you.”
His fingers dip into my center, coaxing away the lie I’d uttered. A moan
escaped my lips, and my body succumbed to a touch I knew better than my
own. I didn’t know how Elis made my body sing, but here he was after five
years, a master handling his instrument like a damn aficionado.
“Your body will never say no to me.”
I landed a punch on his face, moving him off me. I climbed on top of him,
my hands on his shoulders, my face directly in front of his.
“I’m okay with you being on top, Princess, if that’s what you want. But we
both know you'd prefer it if I took you from behind, pulling your hair while
calling you a good slut.”
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E lis

F uck, she was so beautiful. Not attractive in the traditional sense, but
fucking beautiful. So stunning that she could make the damn sun look
dim.
I watched her chest heave at my words. Focusing on her perfect fucking tits
and hard nipples through her thin shirt. I didn’t wait for her to respond,
moving my mouth to her hardened peak and biting down. It wasn’t hard,
but it had enough force to get her attention.
‘Elis!” she screamed.
If I could’ve gotten harder, I would have, as I heard her shout my name in
agony.
My hands flew to her throat, her soft flesh so vulnerable to my touch. I
squeezed as I glared up at her. Her eyes were wide with horror, but her
hands remained limp by her sides. She made no attempt to move or attack
me. There was an audible pop from my mouth as I abandoned her nipple.
Keeping the pressure on her neck, I pushed her until she was underneath
me.
I smirked as she arched her back while my free hand roamed her body, and I
cupped her pussy. “Ever come while you’re struggling to breathe?”
Her body squirmed against me, the heat of her pussy calling to my cock like
a siren as she shook her head no.
I moved down her body. Her pants weren’t zipped up, and I easily pulled
them down, exposing her wet panties. Kissing around her mound, I moved
toward her slit and inhaled. Intoxicating—that was the only way one could
describe the scent of Devlynn’s pussy. Her legs shook slightly as my tongue
swiped along her slit. Her ankles crossed as her thighs gripped my head
holding me where she wanted me, basking in her cunt.
“Thought you weren’t into this, Princess.”
“Shut up,” she croaked, unable to speak properly with the pressure I placed
on her delicate throat.
My hand connected to her pussy with a slap. Her body jolted and she
moaned, her hips circling wildly. “Tut, tut, Devlynn. If you want to come, I
suggest you show some manners.”
My index and middle finger held her delicate clit between them and
pinched. I applied maximum pressure, wanting her to be confused and
unsure if she was experiencing pain or pleasure. “You’re not the one giving
the orders here. Look at you, Princess. Imagine if one of your socialite
friends saw you now, looking like a desperate whore, with your legs around
a low life, desperate for him to make you come any way he chooses.”
She gasped as I ripped her shirt open, exposing her lace bra. “I think we
should give them a real show, don’t you think? Make sure they know whose
cock you crave, so they know not to touch what’s mine.”
Her throat bobs against my hand. I lessen my hold to allow her the
opportunity to speak. “I’m not yours. Fucking me on the ground like an
animal doesn’t make me yours.”
She hisses as I cup her wet hot cunt. “Princess, I’ve owned this pussy from
jump. You can run, you can hide, you can never see me again, but we both
know this cunt will always weep for me and no one else.”
“Never.”
My hand curled around her throat, fingers digging in. Devlynn gasped for
breath as the rage within me boiled to the surface. But the rage wasn’t for
the past and everything I’d gone through. My rage was about her not
wanting me. She’d stared me right in the eyes and said the word: Never. I
hated thinking she wasn’t as consumed with me as I was with her. Every
fiber of my being was coursing with her essence, and she was telling me it
wasn’t the same for her.
Her hands flew to her neck, and her nails dug into my skin. Her eyes were
wide with confusion. Her mouth opened, but no sound emerged.
“There’s a thin line between love and hate, Devlynn. An even thinner line
between obsession and worship.” I held her still with my hand at her throat
while my free hand moved back to her pretty cunt, spreading her with my
fingers and swiping at her sweet nectar. What I was doing might have been
wrong, but the need to get what I needed was stronger.
I paused a moment, unsure if I were crossing a line I’d never be able to
come back from, when Devlynn stopped fighting me and wrapped her legs
around my neck, pushing my head closer to her pussy.
“You're going to be a perfect slut for me, Devlynn. You going to let me eat
this pretty cunt until you drench my face with your pussy juice?”
Devlynn bucked her hips, offering herself on a platter—a platter I was
going to eat until I was full. I sucked on her clit, my fingers moving in her
cunt and finding her g-spot. Fuck, I’d missed this—how she responded to
my touch and bucked beneath me, how her hands pulled my hair,
encouraging me to ravish her.
As I licked her pussy, savoring my favorite flavor, it dawned on me that I’d
been lying to myself. Because it wasn’t hate I had for Devlynn, it was
fucking love. A love so deep that it was embedded in my veins and pumped
my heart with life.
She stilled for a moment before her legs shook and she came in a large
wave that drenched my face. I abandoned her throat and held her stomach
firm as I covered her pussy, not wanting to waste a single drop. Eventually,
her body calmed and she moved her legs from my neck.
“Fuck. I forgot how hard you come, Princess.”
She scampered away from me and covered her body with her coat, refusing
to look at me. We didn’t say a word.
I pulled my shirt up and wiped my face, noticing her eyes tracing my six-
pack as she licked her lips. “Like what you see, Princess.”
“You’re so fucking arrogant.”
I sat beside her, my fingers working on her jacket and doing up the buttons
before I dug up the pack of smokes from my back pocket and lit a cigarette.
“Those will kill you,” she said, pointing to the glowing ember.
I smirked, putting the cigarette between my lips and taking a long haul.
“I’m already dead.”
Her gaze went to my lips, and hers parted slightly. “Well, you should still
give it up. It’s bad for you.”
“You mean it doesn’t add to the bad boy sex appeal?”
She blushed and looked away quickly.
I bumped her shoulder, smirking at how easy it was to rattle her. “You can
admit it. It can be our little secret.”
She turned her fiery gaze on me, lips pursed, hands clenched into fists.
“You’re a world-class asshole, you know that? You had me on the ground,
forcing me to do whatever you wanted, and this is how you act right after?”
“You can stop pretending you hated it. It’s not like you said no. I think it
was the opposite of no. Your legs were like a vice around my neck. I
thought you were gonna pop my damn head off.”
She jumped up, facing me with pure fire in her eyes. “You're an asshole.
I’m not going to sit around and let you keep being one.”
I grabbed her hand, holding her in place. Rage poured out of me. I deserved
every word she’d said, but I would never admit it. “You don’t get to walk
away from me.”
Her words were soft, but they landed on me like bullets. “I’m not the one
who walked away. You were. I’m not willing to let you come and go from
my life because you need a fix or whatever.”
“I…” I cleared my throat. “I just remembered…” I gnawed on my bottom
lip, my heartbeat pounding in my ears as my palms began to sting with a
thousand needles. “I’ve gotta go.”
I caught the look of sad confusion on her face before I split down the path
in the opposite direction. Her disappointed eyes followed me like a cloud
until I was obscured in shadow. Right where I belonged.
I eased my steps, my thoughts spinning away as I sucked in cool breaths of
air, thankful to be out of her web of complicated emotions.
No one had ever been able to draw me in like Devlynn Price. She was a
dangerous road that would eventually ruin me.

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 Chapter 12

D evlynn

I tword
had been two days since I’d seen Elis. He’d walked away without a
and disappeared from my life once more. I was determined never to
see the asshole again.
If I was honest, I’d enjoyed every second of our time together. I didn’t think
about my dad or my fucked-up life. All responsibilities and worries melted
away, leaving me in orgasmic bliss until Elis threw ice water in my face.
I was due at class in an hour—the one Elis had magically found his way
into weeks after the beginning of the semester. I walked out of the
registrar’s office after trying to drop that class, the fear of combusting after
another minute with Elis Brooks all but oppressing me. But the university
told me I needed the credit, and I wasn’t about to mess up my future for
him.
“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Price?” His voice startled me from
my thoughts.
“Brooks,” I grumped as I clutched my backpack to my chest and walked
down the sidewalk. “You smell like paint. If you’re going to tag walls on
the way to class, you may want to bring a change of clothes. Your dirty little
secret will be blown for sure.”
“I’m not worried.” He grinned, catching my arm and spinning me softly
into a limestone wall in a small alleyway crowded between buildings that
led to the central courtyard. “I’d like to tag this.”
I focused on his large, tattooed hands framing my face against the wall
behind me. His breath on my neck was beyond arousing. I cursed him
inwardly for being so…alluring and myself for being pressed so close to his
body yet again.
“Why can’t you leave me alone?” I found my voice.
“This wall. You know how hard it’d be for them to cover it? They can't
paint it. It’s natural stone. They’d have to clean it. It’d take weeks and an
entire crew.”
“Is that what you want to talk to me about? How you’re jonesing to
vandalize property?”
He winked, and the right side of his lips turned up to form a lopsided smile.
“You offering to let me vandalize you?”
I shove passed him. “Maybe I should report you for harassment so they’ll
kick you out.”
He shrugged as he gripped my hand, stealing all the air from my lungs.
“Hard to get kicked out when I don’t belong here in the first place.”
My heart ached at his words. Even now, the man had me wanting to make
everything better for him. Devlynn Price, the dumb girl who always
sacrificed her needs for those she cared about. “Why wouldn’t you belong
here? Everyone deserves an education, even you.”
“Maybe I’m not a student. I slip into class to keep you on your toes, Price.
Wanted to see what kind of education you’re getting in this fine institution
of higher learning, and it turns out I have a right to be concerned. This place
releases robots into the free market. Little money makers who push buttons
and learn how to pass their wealth onto the next generation. You could learn
way more by spending a few nights with me than half a decade wasted in
this place.”
His lips dusted mine so briefly that I wasn’t sure he meant to do it. But this
was Elis… He never did anything he didn’t mean.
“Stop playing with me, Elis. I’m a fucking person.”
“You’re more than just a person, Princess. A beautiful, sexy temptress who
turns me into an animal.” He nipped at my earlobe, sending currents of
electricity through my body.
His lips edged mine, hovering out of reach. He pressed me into the jagged
slabs of limestone at my back, his breath washing over my skin and sending
tingles erupting in every sinful place.
“You like pretending to be a good girl,” he whispered, a low lullaby
caressing my ear. I missed how the low octave of his voice would make my
skin tingle and the butterflies in my stomach flutter. “But we both know you
want to be very, very bad.”
“What do you want from me, Elis.”
His palm cupped my neck, and the pad of one finger dusted across my
cheekbone in tender strokes. He gazed into my eyes with such brooding
intensity that he made me want to run away and have his babies.
I hated him for that.
“I want you to hang around me and get dirty.” His eyes flicked to my mouth
once before he pressed his lips to mine.
His fingers wove into my hair as his hips swayed against mine. The cool
limestone at my back did nothing to quell the inferno he created inside me.
He nipped around the edge of my lips, his tongue trailing the seam as small
breaths gasped past my lips. His tongue traveled inside again, searching me
out slower this time, his hands crawling my neck and sending razor-edged
goose bumps around my skin.
“You make me crazy, Price.” His chilly words against my hot lips made my
heartbeat triple and beat in a chaotic rhythm. “But against my better
judgment, I can’t get enough of you.”

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 Chapter 13

E lis

S he tasted like my bitter past and my hopeful future. I couldn’t get

enough of her lips or how she felt wrapped in my arms. All those years
hurled back at me, the memory of her now a reality.
The other night was about my anger and resentment toward her, all bullshit
lies I’d twisted around my heart like a gnarled vine. But this…this was
about more. This was about the love I’d harbored for this woman my entire
life. A love that had made me a prisoner to the memory of her touch.
She pushed me back, holding me at arm’s length. She gazed at me with eyes
that had haunted my dreams for five years. “I can’t keep playing this game
with you.”
“Who’s playing games?”
“Come on, Elis. Everything with you is a game. I’m just another way for
you to give the elite the finger.”
“I want to give you the finger. Maybe two or three. How I remember it, you
liked feeling full. Airtight, as they say,” I spat.
The anger raged out of me. I wanted to hurt her because I wanted her so
fucking bad that I couldn’t think straight.
Shock sprang into her eyes before she cast them down. Her hands dropped
to her sides and balled into fists.
I knew I’d hit a nerve. I knew I’d hurt her, and I felt like a fucking prick. I
never wanted to hurt her. When I was with Devlynn, it was the only time
the pain died and left me alone. She silenced all the anger and lulled the
voices in my head.
When I was with her the other night, I felt it, the undying need for her.
When I was with Devlynn, I was Elis, a guy with the girl he loved. Not an
angry, bitter dick with a chip on his shoulder.
We had a history—a fucked-up, tangled history filled with pain and
humiliation, and no matter how much I wanted that not to matter, somehow,
it always did. The past was a tornado, and no matter how hard or fast I ran
from it, it managed to catch up and swallow me whole.
I wanted to kill the ache in my heart for her. I wanted to scare her, make her
so disgusted that she’d never let me back into her life again. It was a
mistake to abandon her. A mistake that I’d spend the rest of my life making
up to her if she’d let me.
I was tired of running. I was tired of hurting. For one second, I wanted to
forget it all.
“Why won’t you let me go? Why do you keep this hold on me when you
don’t want me? I’m not a toy for you to play with until I break.”
“I have a hold on you? You’ve got to be kidding me. You fucking moved on
with your life and didn’t look back. Nothing changed for you, Princess. You
were in your tower, high up in the city, untouchable and carefree. I was the
one in Brooklyn trying to pick up the pieces. You lost your high school
boyfriend. Some guy you were fucking. I lost my father, my home, my
mother's sanity, and the beat of my damn heart!” I yelled.
I was angry that she dared to say she loved me. She hadn’t thought twice
when we’d ended things. She hadn’t given a fuck about me, about us. She
was angry that her degenerate mother had a thing for any man who wasn’t
her father.
“You know nothing about what I went through, Elis. Nothing. I couldn't eat.
I couldn’t sleep. I almost flunked out of school. My mother was a horror
story. I had to fucking put the pieces together. Some days I wish she had run
off with your father like she intended. Instead, she decided to be a money-
hungry bitch.” She spat the words quickly, and tears streamed down her
face.
I couldn’t help but smile, remembering how every time we fought and
Devlynn would get riled up, she would start to cry. She never cried when
she was sad, but when she was fire-spitting angry, she could cry so hard that
she would start hyperventilating.
“Why are you smiling? This isn’t funny.”
I took her hands in mine. She flinched but didn’t pull away. “I miss you.”
And I did. I missed her. I missed every fucking thing about her, and I was
tired of being a lonely, miserable son of a bitch. I didn’t want to live my life
without her anymore. “I want you, princess. I’m tired of denying it.”
“I’m tired of the games. It’s over,” she said before walking away.
The hell it was. I moved quickly, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward
me. “I like this skirt.”
“Get your hands off me, Elis. I never want you to touch me again.”
Ignoring her request, I slid her pretty pink skirt up her shapely legs. “Why
do you keep lying?” My fingers brushed past her panties, and she hissed
when I connected to her warm slit. “Your lips keep saying no, but your
pussy will never deny how much you want me, Princess.”
“I’m more than my pussy.”
“Oh, baby, I know you are.” I grabbed her high ponytail and yanked her
head back before pushing down on her shoulder. “You’ve also got a hot
fucking mouth that talks too damn much.” I pulled the zipper of my pants
down, unleashing my cock, enjoying the stunned look on her face as I
tapped her on the face with it. “You know what your problem is, Devlynn?”
Her eyes focused on my dick, and she licked her pretty lips.
When she didn’t answer, I tapped her face again, but this time harder.
“I asked you a question, Princess. Do you know what your problem is?”
“You.”
I smirked at her smart mouth and shoved my dick between her ruby lips.
“Oh, Princess, I’m not your problem. I’m your salvation. I’m the man
who’s going to show you it's okay to be what you want to be. You’ll
graduate from a dirty good girl to a downright filthy whore.”
I groaned as I pushed further into her warm, wet mouth. Her tongue swirled
around the tip of my dick, making my head fall back in ecstasy. “You’ve
always been a world-class cock sucker, Princess. I’m sure porn stars have
got nothin’ on you.”
She growled and used her teeth against my dick in a clear warning that
she’d go down fighting.
That just egged me on. I gripped the back of her head and rammed my cock
deep into her throat. “That’s it, Princess. Relax your throat and take in every
single inch.”
Gagging sounds surrounded us as saliva poured from the side of her mouth.
Her eyes ran with tears, and her expensive designer mascara turned into
black smudges down her cheeks.
“You’re so pretty, Princess. You look like a goddess on your knees for
me.” I held her down on my cock, obstructing her choking sounds before
pulling out.
Saliva trailed from her mouth, and she gasped for breath as her spit fell to
the ground. “Why did you stop?”
She looked like a beautiful disaster. A perfect dream and a vision from
heaven. Only Devlynn could be on her knees like a leading porn star and
still look like a fucking angel.
At that moment, I knew I’d never stop craving her or wanting her to be
mine. I wanted to own her, to have her tethered to me for all time. “I’m not
going to cum in your mouth, Devlynn. Not this time.”
She squeaked as I lifted her by her throat, turned her, and bent her forward.
I trailed my hand from her lower back to the hem of her skirt. “I think you
should always wear a skirt for me, Princess, so I have access to this pretty
little cunt whenever I want.”
She braced her hands on the wall, parting her legs for me. “Please,” she
begged.
I didn’t prolong anything. I lined up the head of my cock to her entrance
and pushed in with one full thrust. Fucking heaven. That’s what being in
Devlynn had always been: heaven. Going home to my maker. “Still so
damn tight, Devlynn.”
“Oh, god.”
I yanked her back, and her face turned crimson as I squeezed her throat.
“You don’t call anyone’s name but mine, Princess. God doesn’t have
anything to do with my cock splitting you open. God can never make you
act like a common whore for him. Don’t give credit that belongs to me to
some deity. I’m your god, Princess. I’m the one who will take you to
heaven.”
Her eyes rolled back as her ass backed into me, matching my thrusts.
I pushed her ass apart and spat on her anus, rubbing it in with my thumb
before pushing it in. “I’ve got you. Let go of the wall and pinch your
nipples for me. Pinch them hard, Princess. I want you to scream from how
much it hurts. If you aren’t in pain, you aren’t doing it properly.”
Her slender fingers moved to her breasts, and she pinched through her bra.
“Take your tit out, Devlynn,” I ordered.
She followed directions and did as she was told.
“Good girl. Show Daddy how much you like being his fuck toy. Let me see
you pinch those nipples, Princess. Show me what a good whore you can be
for me.”
She moaned as she twisted and tugged on her nipples.
I moved my thumb out of her ass, and she whimpered as the smack of my
hand on her supple flesh echoed around us. “Harder, Princess. I want to
hear you scream.”
“Fuck!” she shouted as she pulled her nipples away from her, twisting them
in the process.
“Good fucking girl. I want everyone on campus to hear you getting railed
like a good little whore. All those guys staring at you need to understand
that this hot pussy belongs to me. That it’s me who makes you cream like
the slut you are. Who does this pussy belong to, Devlynn.”
Smack. “Whose pussy is this?’
“Yours. It’s yours. It’s always been yours.”
I crushed my mouth to the nape of her neck and bit down. “I’m going to
come, Princess. I’m going to fill this pretty pussy.”
She screamed as we both came, completely lost in each other.
I held her, refusing to let go, when I heard a slow clap and a loud whistle.
“That was some show, Price. This will get me a pretty penny with the
tabloids.”
My head turned to see some preppy fucker, with painted-on pants and a
polo shirt smirking.
I let go of Devlynn, adjusting myself. “Get yourself presentable.”
Blood splattered from my first punch to the asshole’s face. He sputtered, his
hands cupping his nose, so he didn’t see the blow that followed. He fell
back, and his head hit the cement. I got right on top of him, one hand
holding the fucker’s collar as my fist pummeled his face. The artwork I was
creating on his mug was so extensive that his own mother wouldn’t
recognize him once I was done.
I grabbed his phone and sent the video to myself before I deleted it off the
fucker’s phone and crushed it under my foot with one heavy stomp.
“I-I’m going to press charges. I’m going to fuck up your life,” he sniveled
before turning his eyes to Devlynn. “I’m going to ruin hers too.”
That set me off. I flung my fist into his face violently and quickly, bashing
him repeatedly. I pulled the switchblade from my pocket and held it against
his throat. “If you so much as look at her again. I’ll kill you. You might be a
rich bitch, but I’ll get to you. One way or another. So this is what’s going to
happen. You’re never going to come near here again. If you do, this knife
will slit your fucking throat.”
I stood, dusted myself off, and smiled. “Have a nice day.”
Devlynn was visibly shaking. “You almost killed him.”
“Nah, he’ll be fine. Probably some broken bones in his face.”
“How are you so calm about this?’
“Would you rather I let him post that video for everyone to see?”
She shook her head no, her hand nervously fixing her hair. I smiled as I
pulled her to me. “Then it’s settled.” I kissed the top of her head. “Now, you
better go to class.”

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 Chapter 14

D evlynn –Five Years Ago

I hadn’t heard from Elis in five days…something that hadn’t happened

since we started dating two years ago. We would text back and forth or
chat on the phone daily. Not only had he not returned any of my messages,
but he hadn’t been in school.
I heard about his father through the newspaper. I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t
telling me. I wanted to be there for him. I knew he must feel horrible. I
didn’t know what I could do, but I would be there, holding his hand, giving
him whatever he needed.
“I’m leaving you, Phillis. I’m leaving you and taking everything. You can
get buried with that fucking trash you decided to cheat on me with!” my
father yelled so loudly that I could hear him down the hall. My father didn’t
raise his voice. Not ever.
I cracked my bedroom door to make out what he was saying. My parents
getting divorced wasn’t the be-all or end-all. Most of my friends came from
broken homes. It was almost fashionable in our circles. My parents were
one of the few couples still together. The Prices were the exception, not the
rule.
“You can’t do that to me. I gave you twenty years of my life. That entitles
me to half of everything. You wouldn’t risk that!” my mother yelled back.
“What did you expect, Miller? You were always on those business trips, and
if you were home, you were locked up working in your office. The only
person you gave a second of your time to was Devlynn. I just wanted to be
seen.”
“I saw you. I was working day and night to keep you in the life you were
accustomed to. Let me tell you something, sweetheart… That little piece of
paper you signed before we got married, the prenup, states that you would
end up with nothing if you cheated. You think I’m going to give you a cent
after what you did? It’s not like you have anything in your name. You were
a nobody from nowhere when I met you. I should have listened to my
mother when she said you were a white trash whore. It’s not bad enough
that you couldn’t close your legs, but you had to fuck my lawyer… our
daughter’s boyfriend’s father? What kind of piece of shit does that? So now,
I’m going to leave you alone, penniless, and miserable.”
I heard a slap and my father’s shoes on the marble floor, followed by my
mother’s sobbing. My father’s last words hit me the hardest. My mother
was having an affair with Elis’s father. My legs gave way as I collapsed to
the ground. I sat on the floor for hours in shock. Confused. Angry. Hurt. All
I wanted was Elis, but he wanted nothing to do with me, and I couldn’t
blame him.
I stumbled to my phone and texted Elis again.
Devlynn: I know what happened. Please talk to me.
I sat on my bed, staring at my phone, willing a message to pop up, but
nothing. I crawled into a fetal position, cradling my cell phone. I didn’t
want to miss Elis if he tried to contact me. I tried to sleep. I closed my eyes
and willed it. But my whole world was crumbling around me, and the only
person I wanted to see was avoiding me.
At three in the morning, I finally heard a ping. My fingers fumbled with the
phone, and I dropped it several times before I studied it in my hand.
Elis: I can’t do this. It’s over.
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 Chapter 15

E lis

“H ands up, you little fucker!” They drew their weapons at the same time
I heard the words.
Two police officers with handguns and their eyes on me.
I broke into a sprint, tossing the near-empty can of paint into the nearest
trash can, and bolted down a slim alleyway. I slipped between two
buildings, leaped on top of a garbage dumpster, and prepared to launch
myself across the fence when a baton landed on my ankle. The sound of
crushing bones filled my ears.
Fuck. This is it.
“Little fucking punk. You the guy we been lookin’ for?”
I didn’t say a word, training my eyes on the ground as they handcuffed me
and ducked me into the back of a cop car. My eyes were fixed on the water-
streaked windows outside, and my heart sank when the cops started the
engine and turned toward uptown.
I’d been tagging walls obsessively for the last few nights around the park,
but off Fifth too. I’d spent some time in the East Village and Washington
Square, but tonight was my riskiest move. Tonight, I’d tackled Wall Street.
Wall Street…my dad… All the excess it’d come to represent had
culminated in my attempt to tag a window of the New York Stock Exchange
—an amateur move.
By the time we reached the station, and I was tagged and booked and
offered my first call, I did the only thing I could think to do. I called the
woman who’d been there for me through everything.
Mom.
But she didn’t answer, and the officer cackled when I passed the phone back
through the window. Then, I waited, annoyed at myself most of all. I curled
up with the thin wool blanket, my head on the painted concrete bench, and
planned my next move.
A cold voice rattled me from my sleep. “Brooks.”
“Yeah?” I shot up, instantly on alert, when I realized I was still behind bars.
From Park Avenue prince to criminal.
“Someone made bail. You’re out for tonight. Don’t miss your hearing
tomorrow morning, or your ass will be right back with me tomorrow night.”
I huffed, nailing him with a glare when the door swung wide, and he swept
his fat arm to his side to gesture me out.
“Nothing but a rich little punk,” he gritted as I passed him.
“I’m not rich,” I seethed, my fist twitching with the need to show him how
wrong he was. I pushed open the bulletproof doors and found myself at the
front of the station.
“Elis?” I heard her voice before I saw her.
“Devlynn?” My eyes cast around until I found her. Drops of rain soaked her
hair and made it cling to her shoulders like a drowned rat. She held her wet
coat in her arms, her lips pressed together as she watched me with a
concerned gaze.
“Are you okay?” She launched herself at me, and I had no choice but to
hold her in my arms.
“I’m fine. Why are you here?”
“Your mom called me—she saw the caller ID when you called after
booking and knew you were at the 5th Precinct. She said she couldn’t leave
work. She apologized for interrupting my night but said I was the only one
who could help you. I must admit, it was a little jarring when she called, but
I’m glad she did.”
“Well, she was wrong.” I held her a little tighter. She was warmer than any
blanket inside that concrete cell. “I don’t need anyone, but I’m glad you’re
here.”
She held my face in her palms and shook her head as tears hovered in her
eyes. “I couldn’t stop thinking there’d been some kind of accident or
something horrible, but now I’m here”—she assessed my dirty clothes—“I
can smell you from a mile away.”
I looped our fingers, bringing the underside of her wrist to my lips and
breathing. “Caught red-handed.”
“It was bound to happen.” A small smile twitched on her lips before the
receptionist thrust a stack of paperwork at me, along with my time to appear
before the court tomorrow morning. “You should have a lawyer with you
tomorrow.”
“Not worried about it,” I answered honestly.
I pushed the door of the police station open wide, and rain doused us in
sheets before we lucked out and caught an empty cab passing by. We
slipped inside the leathery cracked seat and huddled together for warmth.
“What’s it gonna take to get this out of your system, Brooks?” Devlynn
finally breathed, tucked into my shoulder, exactly where I fucking loved
her.
Where I’d always loved her—anywhere with me.
“You.”
She smiled softly, shaking her head. “You’re either an impossible romantic
or an epic asshole, depending on the day.”
I laughed. “Depending on the minute.”
The silence lingered throughout our drive as we warmed up together. The
city nightlife flowed by us in technicolor rivers, and her concern for me
dulled the chaos of it all.
I was still thinking about it when we got out of the cab at her building
fifteen minutes later. The doorman nodded at us once and didn’t say a word
when we tramped through the lobby in soaked clothes, leaving a wet path as
we went.
We dripped our way into the elevator.
And by the time we passed the threshold of her apartment, my need for her
was already obsessing me.
“Why did you come for me tonight?” I asked, nearly accusatory.
“I’ll always come for you, Elis. I told you that.”
“But why? Your last name means something in this city. You risked
tarnishing it when you hit Lower Manhattan to bail me out.”
“I’m pretty sure I showed you I didn’t care about my reputation when I let
you defile me on campus.” She advanced on me, hands cradling my jaw.
“Not sure I would’ve taken no for an answer,” I finally replied.
“You would have had I said it.”
Without thinking, I closed the distance between our lips, kissing her softly
with gentle touches and strokes before pushing my tongue past the barrier
of her lips.
Her arms went around my neck, and her body swayed against mine.
Cupping my hands under her ass cheeks, I pulled her into my arms and
carried her across the room with heavy strides. I tugged her shoes off
clumsily and kicked mine to the side, leaving streaks of city dirt on her
pristine white fur rug. Guilt momentarily stalled me until soft little moans
curled past her lips, and I lost my fucking mind.
I sucked at her bottom lip, dragging across the pink flesh with my teeth to
tease her.
She gazed at me with a puzzled expression, and her fingers trembled as they
stroked my bottom lip. “What’s that?”
Fuck. The truth etched on my skin. I played dumb. “What’s what?”
She tugged at my lip, turning her head slightly to get a better view. “Elis.”
Her hand flew to her heart, and a single tear cascaded down her cheek.
“That’s…That’s my name. It says Devlynn.”
“I wanted to carry a piece of you with me, but it hurt too much to see it.”
“Elis.”
“I love you, Princess. I’m fucking tired of denying it. You’re it for me,
Devlynn. No other person on this planet could hold a candle to you. I’m not
an easy man to love. I’m demanding, a prick, and I’ll get you dirty, but I
promise no one will worship you more than I will.” I stroked my fingers
down the line of her neck. “I can feel every shudder, every wave of
pleasure. Your body betrays you when my hands are on you, begging me to
fuck you.”
“Only with you, Elis. Only ever with you. I couldn’t think straight without
you. I hated you so much when you left, but missing you set in after the
pain wore off. I couldn't stand being without you some days.”
I kissed along the edge of her lips, tracing my fingers on the skin of her
waist and teasing under her thin sweater. “Then say it.”
“Say what?” Her hips writhed and rocked against mine.
“Say you’ll be mine. Forever.”

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 Chapter 16

D evlynn– Five Years Ago

I hadn’t slept in two days.

When I shut my eyes, I saw Elis’s staring back at me, sparkling and full of
love. And then the smile would twist and turn sinister, laced with venom,
causing me to wake up with my pillow drenched in tears.
Every. Single. Night.
I never in a million years thought Elis and I wouldn’t be together for the
long haul. From the moment we met, there was a surge, a spark, an
inexplicable pull drawing us to each other.
He understood me on levels I didn’t know were possible. He got the real
me, not the Barbie my mother had cultivated for show. With Elis, I wasn’t
an upper-class princess or a socialite. I was Devlynn.
The pain of not being with him was so overwhelming that it hurt to breathe.
I glanced at his name on my phone, almost willing him to text me. To tell
me he didn’t mean it and it was all a mistake. To let me know the love he
had for me could overcome anything. But I knew that was too big. Our
parents had ruined their lives and our chance of happiness. I knew there
would be no one else but Elis for me. Ever.
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 Chapter 17

E lis – Five Years Ago

T he funeral was nice. A closed casket and a bunch of hypocrites who

wouldn’t hire my father after what the Prices did to him, telling my
mother how he was a great man and they would miss him very much. My
mother stood there, shaking their hands and saying thank you on repeat like
a damn broken record player.
Sarena was the only one who really looked broken. She was holding onto
her teddy bear, an old rumpled brown thing, completely disheveled and
mangled. I hadn’t seen that thing in years, but she had been holding it the
last week and crying herself to sleep every night. I’d started sleeping on the
floor because I was so worried about her. Being an adult and suffering a
loved one’s suicide wasn’t easy, but at twelve, it was incomprehensible. I
looked at her crouched beside the casket, looking so small.
“Hey, Sarena, want to come with me and get a few snacks?” I asked,
offering her my hand.
She gazed up at me. Her eyes were red and swollen as she tried to hold back
the tears floating in them. She shook her head as I crouched down beside
her.
“It will be okay,” I whispered, putting my arm around her frail shoulders. It
broke my heart how she crawled into me and started sobbing
uncontrollably.
“We have to move,” she whispered into my chest, her small body shaking.
“Moving isn’t bad. It’s a new adventure,” I lied. “New friends. New house.
I’m sure Mom will let you decorate your room any way you want.”
“You know I’m twelve, right?” she asked, looking up at me, her nose
scrunched up in disgust. “I’m not some baby who thinks everything will be
okay. Our lives are about to change. Say goodbye to everything.”
“Well, shit, if you aren’t a baby, why are you carrying that ugly old thing?”
I pointed to her decrepit stuffed bear.
“It doesn’t change. My whole life, the one thing I’ve always been sure of is
this bear.” Her eyes cast down as she mindlessly rubbed what was left of the
stuffed animal’s nose.
“Look at me,” I demanded. Her gaze moved from the bear to me. “No
matter what, you will always have me.”
“You’re gonna be too busy with Devlynn.”
“I ended it with her.”
“What? Why?” she asked, her eyes startled and wide.
“Her mother is the reason our father is dead. Her father is the reason we
have to move. I don’t want anything to do with her or her kind. Not
anymore,” I lied again.
I would always want something to do with Devlynn Price, but I knew that
to keep myself and my family safe, I had to walk away. Forever.

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 Chapter 18

D evlynn

H isoureyes flashed before he hauled me to him in an even tighter embrace,

bodies pressed against my apartment windows with the drapes
open.
His sweat slicked my skin as his lips met mine, and our tongues tangled in
an erotic dance. He tasted sinful and sweet, a combination I could die for.
I melted instantly in his arms like I always did, pushing my hands into his
hair. Our lips smashed together so tightly they’d be swollen in the morning,
and I didn't care. His hands caressed my back, ribcage, breasts, and ass. He
slammed me against the floor-to-ceiling windows and held me firmly
against his lean body.
I pulled his shirt off, and a flood of arousal hit me between my thighs. My
heart thudded in my ears as we stared at each other, lost in a lust-filled gaze.
“I could go insane thinking about anyone else's hands on you,” he muttered.
He claimed my lips with his, sliding his hands up my thighs and lifting me
against the door with a thigh in each hand. I hung suspended, his hips snug
between my legs and my arms around his neck. We kissed, and I tugged his
hair, whimpering into his mouth and rocking into his arousal. I panted as he
held me high on my hips, his cock pressed against the thin fabric of my
panties.
“Mine. This pussy is mine and only mine.”
He angled his body into me and rubbed with deft strokes. Lust consumed
me, causing my hips to move in rhythm with his of their own volition.
My brain was foggy with need as I confessed, “You’re the only one who’s
ever been there, Elis.”
“Baby,” he grunted, his big, strong body sinking against mine with my
admission. “You don’t know what that does to me. To know you haven’t
been with anyone but me, that it’s only ever been us, even after all these
years…” He kissed me with determined strokes. “I couldn’t bring myself to
even look at anyone else. I saw you everywhere. There’s never been anyone
for me but you, even when I hated to admit it. Even when I was running
from us, I was only running from me, Princess. And I’m sick of running
from you.”
His words sent me into another universe of pleasure and pride that we’d
waited for each other, even after all that time.
Our fates had always been sealed.
I wrapped an arm around his neck, kissing and nipping his ear before
tugging with my teeth. He heaved a noisy breath when I scraped along the
sensitive flesh, and he hooked a hand in my panties, tearing them from my
body. I heard the zipper of his pants come down, and he sank into me.
He held my thighs tightly, his fingers digging into the supple flesh as he
rocked into me. His jaw clenched tight, and my moans echoed off the walls
around us. “How many people do you think are watching you get fucked?”
“When did you become such an exhibitionist?”
“I like showing off my art.”
“What?”
“I want the whole world to know that I own the most perfect work of art
ever created. They can watch you get fucked by my cock and know to stay
the fuck away.”
He angled into me, hitting a new and delicious spot somewhere deep inside,
every thrust hard and fast and erotic. Reckless, lustful abandon echoed off
the four walls surrounding us.
“I feel you everywhere. When you’re not with me, I feel you. I need you. I
fucking need you so much,” he whispered between pants.
I moaned and tipped my head back. His tongue traveled the line of my
throat before nipping at the flesh. He sucked at the base of my throat as he
powered into my body, and an orgasm overtook my senses, traveling from
my head to my toes. Fire burned through my system, and I shuddered and
moaned his name, my breath heaving in my chest.
Elis slowed his assault as I came down from my release but kept pushing
into me in a slow and gentle rhythm that prolonged the delicious sensations
rolling through my body.
I panted and clutched at the straining muscles of his biceps as his tongue
trailed down my chest. He pulled away for an instant, angling his hips into
mine to hold me against the window, and lifted my dress over my head,
tossing it to the floor. He unhooked my bra with a flick of his fingers, and it
hit the ground at his feet.
I bowed as his lips attached to my nipple and sucked fiercely, elongating the
pebbled peak. He slowly built up a steadier rhythm with his thrusts as he
sucked, nipped, and teased with his tongue.
“These nipples would look so good pierced, Princess. Perfect for weights. I
want to watch you crawl for me, baby. I think you’d like that, Devlynn.
Remember when you came for me while twisting your nipples?”
My eyes rolled back at the thought. I never thought I would be into pain,
but when Elis made me hurt myself, I’d never come so hard in my life.
There was something freeing about it. It was a big “fuck you” to the world
and its expectations. Maybe that was why I liked letting Elis control me so
much. With him, I didn’t need to think. All I had to do was follow. The
filthy sex with Elis was like a key to my cage, opening the door wide and
freeing me.
My body begged for more of him, even though my nerves were so sensitive,
I wasn't sure my body could withstand it. He pulled at my nipple with his
teeth, and the pain shot through my body, landing in a new and delicious
sensation of pleasure at my clit. My eyes focused on his beautiful lips as he
pulled away and sucked his lower lip between his teeth, his eyes trained on
the point where our bodies were connected.
His thrusts were a perfect rhythm. “Look at how well we fit, Princess. Look
at how your pussy works my dick.”
“More. Give me more. Make me forget my name. Please.”
He continued to slam into me methodically with one hand gripping my
throat, his fingers pressing into my flesh and taking my breath away. He slid
a palm down my leg to reach my clit, massaging and pinching as his fingers
roamed my swollen flesh. Choked groans escaped my throat as he played
my body like an instrument.
I bit into his shoulder, sinking my teeth into his skin. Another even more
powerful wave of pleasure cascaded through my body, and the sensations
racked every nerve ending. The metallic taste of his blood flooded my
mouth. I cried out as his body held mine tightly, and he came with a
shudder. I soothed him as he shook and emptied into me.
Our breathing came back to normal as we clung to each other. I was still
wedged against the window with his head tucked firmly into my neck. His
skin was sweat-slick beneath my fingers, and his damp hair tickled my
cheek as our bodies pressed together skin to skin.
Hard and soft. Dark and light. We were a contradiction in every way.
I ran my fingertips along his back, my fingernails raking over his muscles.
“You know, Princess, on the worst days, I hated you for making me love
you.” He kissed me slowly and with a tenderness I'd forgotten he possessed.
“Same, Brooks. Same. Now take me to bed. We have court in”—I glanced
across the room at the clock on the wall—“six hours.”
“Baby, I might be in jail soon. I’m not wasting a moment.”
My eyes roamed down his body, and his cock was hard again. “How is that
even possible?”
“I’ve been starving for five years, Princess. I plan on fucking you until I’m
full.”
He held me close, our bodies still locked together, as he carried me to the
kitchen. He placed me on the counter as his eyes roamed the counters. A
seductive smirk formed on his lips.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
He walked to the counter. “Like what?”
The water ran, and he rinsed the butternut squash sitting on the counter. He
turned to me, holding it in one hand with a bottle of olive oil in the other.
“You plan on cooking me dinner?”
“After I put this squash to full use.”
He placed the squash on the island in the middle of the kitchen, holding the
olive oil in one hand. Gripping me by the throat, he dragged me toward
him. His eyes flashed on my mouth before his lips were on mine. His kiss
was aggressive, passionate, and all-consuming. It was a kiss given by a man
who was drowning. A kiss given by a man obsessed.
“I’m going to fuck that asshole, Princess,” he whispered against my lips.
“You trust me?”
My breaths came in jagged waves, intoxicated by his presence. I nodded.
“Use your words, Princess. Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” I whimpered.
With the force of his fingers on my throat, Elis turned me, pushing my head
onto the marble island. His breath was hot on my ear as he softly kissed his
way down my back to the top of my buttocks.
“What are you doing, Elis?”
“Open your mouth, Princess.”
My lips parted for him, and he inserted three fingers into my mouth. He
moved slowly at first before increasing his rhythm until I gagged.
“You talk too much, Devlynn. Next time, I’m going to have to shove your
panties in your mouth to keep you quiet. Open up your ass for me. Spread
those cheeks nice and wide so Daddy can get a better look at his property.”
Without hesitation, my hands moved to my ass, and I did as I was told.
Submitting to Elis was so natural as if that was what I was made for. His
tactics were depraved, but I knew this man wouldn’t hurt me. I knew that
even with our fucked up past, he’d lay his life down before he let anything
happen to me.
Elis Brooks loved me. It might not be the love people read about in fairy
tales because it was darker, deeper, and seeped into the bloodstream,
contaminating the heart and mind in turbulent ways. But at the end of the
day, it was love in its purest form. It was visceral and demanding. Volatile
and all-consuming.
Elis spat into my ass, and my pussy gushed. It was the same the last time he
did it. The act was depraved and dirty, and I shouldn’t have liked it as much
as I did. I was raised in a world that was all illusion, and Elis was helping
me break down the mirage around me through sex. I craved more like a
junkie with a needle in her arm.
“Good girl, Devlynn.”
My body jolted as his tongue dipped into my anus. The whole thing was
naughty and forbidden, and it threw me completely out of my comfort zone.
I went to speak, but his fingers muffled my words. Instead of moving them
to allow my voice, Elis inserted one more finger to make speech even more
difficult.
“Is there any part of you that isn’t delicious, Princess? Even your ass tastes
like heaven.”
I wanted to protest, but what he was doing felt so good. It was both
titillating and relaxing.
Lick. “I love seeing you like this, Princess.” Lick. “You look like such a
whore.” Lick. “My perfect slut.” Lick. “You ready to be my fuck toy,
Princess?” Lick. “Don’t know why I asked that.” Lick. “Truth is, I’m going
to use you like my fucking cum dump, and you’ll take all of it while
begging for seconds.”
He stopped licking, and I instantly missed his tongue, desperate to have him
back there. Until I felt the smooth liquid between my cheeks.
“Olive oil. You know what that’s for?”
My eyes widened as I stared at the squash. He couldn’t be serious. He
wouldn’t shove that in my ass. The thing was huge.
He laughed, lifting the squash. “Relax, princess. I’m a sick fuck but not that
sick”
He inserted one of the fingers in my mouth into my anus, followed by
another, slowly working them into my asshole with the olive oil. He
allowed me to adjust before fucking me slowly. The sensation was gentle,
and just when I was subdued into thinking everything was okay, I felt it.
“Oh god!”
I screamed as his teeth worked their way into my flesh. “I warned you about
saying anyone else’s name while I was fucking you. You say my name,
Devlynn. You can call me Daddy too. I like the idea of being your daddy. A
girl like you needs one.”
“I’m sorry.”
He kissed the wound on my ass. “Good girl.”
Elis started to force the smaller end of the squash into my pussy. He moved
with much more force compared to his fingers. “I want to see how much I
can stretch my pussy, Devlynn. I want you gaping for me. Wouldn’t it be
lovely to see it wide and pouring with my cum. Maybe I’ll let you pour it
out in a glass and drink it with dinner.”
My eyes rolled in ecstasy at his crude words. My pussy was full, and I
thought I would come right then and there. Then the tip of his cock lined up
against my asshole. “Elis.”
“Shhh, Princess. Relax. Daddy is going to take good care of his property.
You’ll like being full.”
His finger moved to my clit, and he rubbed gently while his dick moved
further into my ass, and he pressed the squash into my pussy. It was
amazing—pain mixed with pleasure. I was in a different realm where all
that mattered was the intense pleasure Elis was providing me.
He moved his hips, thrusting his cock into my ass while he fucked my
pussy in rhythm with the squash. “Are you my good little whore, Princess?”
When I didn’t answer, he shoved the squash in my pussy, stretching me.
“You better not keep me waiting. I would hate to have the thick end go in.”
“Yes. I’m your whore. Please fuck me. Don’t stop fucking me.”
A kiss on my shoulder, his warm breath by my ear. “Good girl. Let Daddy
know how much of a slut you are for me. You’ll let me fuck you any way I
want, won’t you, Devlynn?”
“Yes.”
He pinched my clit as he worked his dick and the squash into me. “Who
does this pussy belong to?”
“You!” I screamed in my kitchen as another orgasm blasted through my
body.
“I’m going to cum in your ass, Devlynn. I’m going to cum in every one of
my holes, Princess. I’m going to drown you in my cum so you never forget
who owns you, baby.” He slammed into my ass. “Mine. You’re all mine. If
anyone else touches you, Devlynn, I’ll fucking go insane.”
With those last words, he released within me, and we stayed still in the
kitchen, wrapped up in bliss.
“Elis?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Can you take the squash out of me now?”
He burst out laughing, removing the squash from my vagina and placing the
glistening vegetable at eye level. “It’s a shame we can’t eat the skin. That’d
be the most flavorful part.”
I liked hearing him laugh. “We should get to bed.”
He lifted off me, cradling me in his arms and moving me to my bedroom
before tucking us both under the duvet. “I love you, Princess. No matter
what happens in life, I’m yours and always will be.”
He looked at home and comfortable with me—with us. And what surprised
me even more? I liked him there with me—I loved him.

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 Chapter 19

E lis

I couldn’t sleep. I knew I had to go to court tomorrow, but all I wanted to

do was stare at Devlynn. Her hair was fanned out on the pillow, her lips
slightly parted, and her little snores were the cutest thing I’d ever heard.
She still slept like the dead. Completely immobile. I was sure she’d sleep
through the most dangerous earthquake.
I’d turned up the heat in the middle of the night when she kicked off the
covers and exposed her sexy body to me. I always liked watching her. She
was the unattainable art. No matter what I created, I knew I’d never make
anything as beautiful as Devlynn. If she’d lived during the time of the
masters, they would’ve fallen at her feet to capture her beauty with marble
or on canvas.
My hand slid up her soft skin. Skin so soft that it seemed almost ethereal in
its texture. Her puckered nipples were so delectable that I sucked one into
my mouth, savoring it.
Her legs parted, and I took the opportunity to glide my fingers through her
slick slit. There was something incredibly sexy about touching her while
she slept. Knowing I had all the control to do with her as I wanted. But I
also knew I wanted her to see.
Rising off the bed, I grabbed my phone and set it up on the nightstand on
her side, positioning it where it would be optimal to record.
I looked at the camera and spoke. “I own you, Devlynn. That means I’ll
take you any way I want. Whenever I want.”
She moaned and rubbed her legs together in her sleep as I squeezed her
perfect, round tits in my hands. Fuck I’d missed those tits. I dreamed about
touching them too many nights to count. I would fist my cock, making
myself cum with Devlynn’s name on my lips.
I pushed her legs further apart, my eyes focused on her wet cunt. Even in
her sleep, she responded so easily to my touch. I inhaled her pussy, my
mouth watering for a taste. “Daddy’s going to eat that cunt, Princess. I’m
going to tongue fuck you until you come in your dreams.”
I liked using the word “daddy.” There was something depraved about
making her call me by the name she used for the man who helped ruin my
life. I knew it was fucked up and twisted, but that was what trauma did if
you let it fester. I’d spent five years not confronting it, hiding it under rage
and humiliation. I let it wait for me until it became an infection, a full-
blown disease with only one cure.
Her.
My Devlynn. Being with her was like the sun rising after perpetual night. I
didn’t know what happiness was or how she was the pure joy lacking in my
life until I saw her again. Maybe that was why I couldn’t bear to look at
another woman for the past five years because once I’d had Devlynn,
everyone else paled in comparison.
I inhaled her, my nose pressed down on her clit. She was so wet. My tongue
lapped at her, and her legs opened wider for me as if inviting me to have my
fill. “Even in your sleep, you’re a little whore, aren’t you, Princess?”
Her cream invaded my mouth, sweet, salty, and distinctly Devlynn. I
wanted her to gush on my face, drowning me and allowing me to get my fill
of her. I inserted two fingers in her sweet fuck hole, curling my fingers to
hit her g-spot. Her hips rose, but she remained sound asleep. “Always a
horny slut, aren’t you, Princess?”
I gripped my cock and rubbed my pre-cum on her soaking wet cunt. Slowly,
I pushed into her tight pussy and hissed. Fucking heaven. It was wild being
this depraved and fucked up but knowing you’d entered the pearly gates to
heaven. “You’ve made me a madman, Devlynn. I’ll never tire of you, baby.
Never.”
Latching onto her nipple, I bit down, and she bolted up as I came deep
inside her sweet cunt. “Thatta girl. Scream for Daddy. Let him know how
much you love being fucked like my cum dump.”
She sighed. “We can’t keep being this irresponsible. I'm not on the pill.”
“I hope the baby looks like you.” I pulled out of her, working my way down
to her pussy. I spread her legs, opening up her cunt for my view. “Look how
pretty your pussy looks with my cum leaking out of it.” I pushed the cum
back in with my index finger before removing it and licking it clean.
“Oh god. I don’t remember you being this filthy.”
I finger fucked her again and spread our cum on her lips. “I think this is the
only lipstick you should wear going forward. I like the idea of any guy
sniffing around you smelling my spunk.”
“Like a dog marking its territory.”
I chuckled. “Something like that.” My hands twisted in her hair as I pulled
her head back and kissed her mouth. “Now, let’s get in the shower and fuck
some more. Who knows if I’ll be a free man by this time next week.”
“I know the best lawyer in Manhattan. You’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want you pulling strings for me, Devlynn.”
She nodded and wrapped her limbs around me. “We can worry about that
later. Right now, I’d like another orgasm, please. One where I’m awake.”

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 Chapter 20

E lis

“E lis Brooks,” the bailiff called.

I stood, my eyes on the judge.
“Sebastian Vaughn for the defendant, Your Honor,” a tall, older man
interjected, appearing out of nowhere at my shoulder.
Annoyance radiated through me. I’d told Devlynn I didn’t want her help—
my integrity was now in parallel because I had money to get me out of a
jam. I was a fucking hypocrite.
I was about to open my mouth to object when I felt a touch on my hand. I
turned to see Devlynn, her eyes sad and begging me to stay silent. At that
moment, I knew I didn’t want her to be hurt any more than she already was.
My love for her was greater than my pride.
“Permission to approach?” the lawyer said before walking up to the judge,
followed by the Assistant District Attorney.
After what felt like an eternity, the men returned, and the lawyer nodded at
Devlynn. A look of relief washed over her face.
“Care to clue me in?” I asked, slightly annoyed at his dismissal.
“The case is about to be dismissed. You’re lucky, kid.”
“Mr. Brooks, I suggest you refrain from gracing the city’s buildings with
your so-called art in the future. Please use a store-bought canvas. The DA
and the defendant’s counsel have come to an agreement, and there is no
need to waste any more of the taxpayers' dollars. This case is dismissed.”
“That’s it?” I asked my lawyer in complete shock.
“Yes.”
“I don’t get community service or anything?”
“The Prices are pretty powerful,” he said before shaking Devlynn’s hand
and walking away.
“Thank God that’s over with,” Devlynn said, tugging my hand and lacing
her fingers through mine.
I shook her hand away, needing a little room to breathe. I couldn’t help
noticing the hurt look in her eyes before she averted them. I was an ass.
I moved closer and grabbed her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Are you mad at me?” she asked once we were outside, the cool air
enveloping us.
“I’m not mad. There isn’t anything to be mad about. It’s just hard, you
know? For the past five years, I’ve been against people like you—rich,
privileged, and above the law—and here I am, bailed out by one and only
you.”
“What’s so bad about me?” she asked, her bottom lip quivering a little. I
wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or her trying to control the tears forming
in her eyes.
“Nothing,” I said, pulling Devlynn beside me and kissing the top of her
head. “I just can’t have you bailing me out. This way of life doesn’t work
for me.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. What—painting some stupid building in
the city? Brooks, what kind of justice would it be if your future got ruined
because a bunch of rich people didn’t want to face their hypocrisy and
privilege? In the grand scheme, that isn’t worth any kind of real
punishment.”
“So let’s celebrate.”
“What are you thinking?”
“How about we head to your place, and I can show you.” I winked at her.

A sandsoonkissed
as the apartment doors closed, I pushed her up against the wall
her. I was desperate—a man starved and out of my mind.
She was everything, and she was with me, saving my ass and showing up
when I least expected it.
She wasn’t a dream, stalking me at night. She was there, flesh and blood, in
my arms. Her lips touching mine, her hands roaming my body wildly like I
was touching hers. My Devlynn. Mine. Always and forever.
“I’ve dreamed about you every fucking night. Longed for you every
fucking day. I’m so sorry,” I whispered as I trailed kisses along her neck
and collarbone.
She shivered, and a sweet sigh escaped her mouth. I pulled her shirt over
her head, exposing her to me, and pulled the nude bra off her body. Her tits
were fucking fantastic, ample and soft, and I buried my face in them,
inhaling. Desperate to taste her, my tongue flicked out of its own accord.
My hand trailed to the button of her pants, and I undid them. I pushed past
her panties to her sweet cunt, swirling my finger in her wetness.
“Does that feel good, baby?” I asked as I drenched my finger in her sweet
cum before bringing it to her cherry-red lips. “Open up,” I demanded.
With her eyes closed, she opened her mouth and sucked, licking her
wetness off my finger.
“Look at me.”
She slowly opened her eyes, and her hesitancy was endearing.
“Does that sweet pussy juice taste good?”
She nodded, her eyes lit up with need and desire, her breathing ragged and
desperate.
“Do you want me to taste that pussy?” I asked, needing her to let go but
wanting to show her I could be gentle. That it didn’t always have to be
rough. That, this time, sweet and dirty was on the menu.
She nodded, but that wasn’t good enough. I wanted to hear the filth from
her mouth, the filth I knew she was capable of when the two of us were
alone in bed without the pressures of the rest of the world on her.
I dipped my head and met her lips, kissing her softly. I looked up at her,
making sure she kept eye contact, and slowly thumbed her nipple. A perfect
handful with a berry-pink nipple that begged to be sucked.
I slowly moved my hands down her torso, enjoying the hourglass I’d
dreamt about so many times. When I heard her inhale, my cock sprang to
attention again. I went down on my knees, and like an animal, I brought my
face close to her center and inhaled.
I wanted her so badly. I could taste her scent on my tongue. I pulled her
pants down, exposing her pretty pink pussy. She shuddered when I brought
my lips to her sweet flesh and kissed her there.
“You are so fucking sexy,” I whispered against her clit.
“Elis,” she begged.
“Yeah, baby? Tell me what you need.”
“I want you to suck on my pussy and make me cum so hard.”
I smiled against her cunt. “There’s my dirty little slut. Hold on to my
shoulders.”
Lifting her legs, I locked them around my shoulders and parted her folds
with my fingers. I gently lapped at her slick flesh, taking long, deliberate
licks from her entrance to her clit.
I kept licking, increasing pressure, circling her clit, and gently sucking. She
tilted her head, and I heard it gently hit the mirror. Seeing Devlynn like this
was enough to have my dick throbbing. She started moaning, softly at first
and growing louder as my tongue continued to explore her. I wanted her
screaming and dirty and vulgar. I wanted every fucking thought that came
into her mind while I was eating her out. I wanted us to be free and do
whatever we wanted.
When I slipped a finger into her cunt, her muscles contracted around it. She
was so fucking tight that it made my balls draw up. I finger fucked her
while I lapped at her clit. Her legs began to shake, but I couldn’t pull myself
away. I continued lapping and licking at her, probing her ass with the index
finger of my other hand as my tongue continued lapping at her clit until she
was convulsing.
Once her orgasm started, I tongue-fucked her like a crazy man and slipped
my whole finger into her ass. I ran on instinct alone and did whatever my
body was inclined to do, massaging her deftly until I brought her to orgasm.
She arched into my tongue, fucking and rubbing her clit on my upper lip.
Looking up at her like that, with the under-cleavage of her tits and her head
tilted back in lust-filled abandon, was the sexiest sight I’d ever seen.
“I can be gentle. I can be rough. I can treat you like my whore or my good
girl. But know this, Devlynn. No matter what I do, you’ll always own me.
I’m yours.”

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 Chapter 21

E lis- Two Weeks Later

“S o,timeDevlynn, how is your mother doing? She can’t be having a good

of it, especially with the press constantly looking for new
angles.” My mom sipped her after-dinner drink, eyes on my girl.
She squirmed at my side, her nails embedding into my thigh under the
dinner table. “She’s been struggling. I stop over most mornings and deliver
coffee. She has good nights and bad nights.” Devlynn’s smile was strained.
“Thank you for asking.”
Mom’s eyes moved from me to Devlynn and back again. I swallowed,
hearing the unspoken words, thick like butter, hanging in the air between
the three of us.
The truth was, I’d had to convince Devlynn to come to dinner at my mom’s
house. It’d been mom’s idea, and Devlynn had refused at first, but she’d
softened the more I told her how forgiving my mom was. The past was in
the past. It’d taken a lot of rough years, but my mother finally believed that,
and she never harbored any ill will toward Devlynn’s family.
I hoped tonight would prove that to Devlynn once and for all, and I think
that was exactly what Mom had in mind when she’d asked us here—
clearing the air between our families.
“Devlynn…” My mom covered Devlynn’s hand with hers. “I can’t lie and
say I didn’t wish for a different outcome for our situation a hundred
different times.” Mom’s eyes were wet with emotion. “But spending the last
hour with the two of you has me so—” she trailed off as she wiped at the
corner of her eyes “—so grateful that we’re all right where we are today. I
hope your mom heals and can overcome the loss of your father—he was a
great man.”
“He had so many shortcomings,” Devlynn whispered, wiping her tears.
“Mom says he worked too much, and that’s what—” Devlynn shook her
head, and her lips snapped closed. “Well, she’s told me so much about that
time. I know she has regrets.”
“We all do, sweetheart. Trust me when I say everyone does, and anyone
who tells you differently is plain lying to themselves.”
I laced my fingers with Devlynn’s, bringing her knuckles to mine for a kiss.
“I have a million.”
Devlynn's smile cracked. A tear rolled down her cheek, forcing me to catch
it with my thumb.
“All of my regrets begin and end with you, Devlynn. Our past.”
“That’s one of my regrets too, kids.” Mom patted her eyes with a napkin. “I
see the special love you share, and I’m so sad it was put on hold because of
that other bullshit.”
We sat silently, her words lingering before I cleared my throat and stood,
stacking our plates and carrying them to the sink.
“Hey, loser!” Sarena burst through the dining room doors with a crooked
smile aimed at me. “Oh, did I miss dinner?”
Sarena scanned the room, seeing Mom wiping her tears and Devlynn
rubbing her back soothingly.
“Leave those dishes, Elis. Sarena and I will do them later.” Mom waved a
palm at me. “We’ve had enough fuss for one night.”
“Wait… I didn’t even get to eat dinner, and I have to clean up?” Sarena
scrunched her nose. “I need to find a job—I had an interview this morning
at the shoe department of Bergdorf’s, but the manager didn’t look too happy
by the time I left.”
“Oh, dear…” Mom bit down on her lip.
“Why the hell would you want to work there?” I shot from the kitchen.
“Shut up, Elis. Not everyone can live off paint fumes and angst. I need
some cash flow as soon as freakin’ possible.”
“Language, Sarena.” Mom stood from the table, a small smile twitching on
her lips. We’d been through a lot over the years, and my mom’s attitude
pulled us through every one of them.
“Wait. I might know someone who’s hiring.” A grin lit Devlynn’s lips. “Let
me text someone. Hang on.” She dug into her bag, and her fingers sped
across the screen.
“Anything but waitressing.” Sarena popped a piece of crispy broccolini into
her mouth from the bowl left on the table. “I’m a horrible waitress. I’ve
been fired from three places.”
“Three? I thought it was two.” I frowned.
“Third was the coffee shop. I fucked up the orders daily. It was awful.”
I laughed, thinking my sister’s talents were few and far between. She wasn’t
talentless, but she was a free spirit and an artist. Her skills on the piano and
violin were unmatched by anyone in our family, but short of being a music
teacher, it was hard to monetize a skill like that.
“I need…something…”
“Easy?” I offered unhelpfully.
“Low-key.” Sarena rolled her eyes at me.
“Yes! He is looking for someone. His last lady died, so he’s been—”
“Wait, what kind of job is this?” Sarena’s face dropped.
Devlynn’s laugh warmed up the room. “No, his nanny was like a hundred
years old. She passed a few weeks ago, and he’s been dragging his feet
hiring someone new.”
“Who is it?” I went to Devlynn’s side, trying to peek over her phone. When
I saw the person she’d been texting, my eyes widened. “Are you shitting
me?”
“Elis!” Mom chastised.
“No way. You’re not working for him. He’s probably a scam artist or—”
“Elis, stop. He’s been a family friend for years. I think he went to college
with my dad. Plus”—Devlynn shot me an annoyed glare—“he got you off,
didn’t he?”
“Wait, who got what off?” Sarena quizzed, her eyebrows angled up.
“My lawyer,” Devlynn breathed. “My lawyer is looking for a part-time
nanny.”
“Sarena is horrible to children. I wouldn’t let her near mine with a ten-foot
pole,” I said.
“I love kids!” Sarena’s eyes lit up. “I was a counselor at music camp four
summers in a row!”
“Perfect.” Devlynn ignored me, dodging my hands when I tried to snatch
her phone. “So, I’ll tell him you’re interested?”
“Very.” Sarena nodded enthusiastically, popping another broccolini between
her teeth. “I can start as soon as he needs. Like, yesterday.”
“You can’t work for the enemy,” I deadpanned, stealing the bowl of
broccolini from the table so she couldn't eat any more. I walked it to the
kitchen, dumping the rest in a storage container and placing the bowl in the
sink.
“He’s not my enemy, Elis, and he’s not yours. Stop being so weird about
successful people.”
“I'm not weird about success—”
“He’s totally weird about it,” Devlynn said to Sarena. “And Sebastian
Vaughn just confirmed. He’s wondering if you can meet him for an
interview?”
“Yes!” Sarena beamed. “Give him my number.”
“What? You should keep that private—” I tried to interject.
“Elis, please. I’m nineteen. Chill the fu—”
“Kids, language!” Mom shook her head, bringing her empty glass to the
sink, smiling with every step.
“Devlynn and I should get going.”
“Oh, okay, honey. It’s been so nice having everyone in the house again.”
She pulled Sarena into a hug. “Please, let’s make family dinners a weekly
thing.”
“Weekly?” I scowled.
“Monthly at least, and please bring Devlynn with you.”
“What she means is don’t bother coming without Devlynn.” Sarena
pretend-slapped my cheek. “Love looks good on you, dude.”
I shook my head, prepared to defend myself against sappy things like love
and happiness, but I couldn't. They saw the difference in me, and I felt it.
Devlynn was good for me, from sunup to sundown. I thought about nothing
but her.
“Ten-four, baby sis.” I laughed before a rap song sang through the dining
room.
“Oh, that’s me,” Sarena darted across the room and picked up her phone.
“And look at that. It’s my new employer.”
“Not yet,” I grunted.
Sarena only shrugged, responding to a text on her screen, a grin darting
across her face.
“Lord knows what’s going on over there,” I bristled.
“She’s in good hands.” Devlynn tucked herself into my shoulder.
I looped my arm around her, snuggling her and pushing my nose into her
hair. She smelled so delicious. I couldn't wait to get her home tonight and
make her cry out my name as she creamed on my face again.
“Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Brooks. It means more than you know.”
I couldn’t help my sense of pride when the two women who meant the most
to me hugged.
“Anytime, dear, and feel free to come over even without Elis. We girls
could pour afternoon cocktails and have some real fun.”
“Mom,” I husked, “behave.” I kissed her on the cheek.
“Thanks for leaving me leftovers, fam. It’s been real!” Sarena waved from
the kitchen, a forkful of broccolini in one hand and the thumb of the other
working the keyboard on her screen.
“She’s crazy,” I whispered.
Mom waved me off, and Devlynn laughed.
“Crazy awesome,” my girl said. “She dances to the beat of her own drum. I
think she’ll make the perfect nanny.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” I kissed her on the nose once, pulling the hat on
her head.
By the time we stepped out into the cool night air a minute later, the cloud
that constantly seemed to hang over my head had nearly evaporated. The
warmth radiating from the house behind me was something I hadn’t felt in a
long time.
Maybe not ever.
“The moon is bright tonight,” Devlynn commented, her gaze tipped to the
navy sky.
I grinned, pulling her into my arms and thumbing her cheeks. “You are
bright tonight and every night.” I placed a kiss on her lips under the starry
night. “You’re like the sun and moon in my life—you shine brightness and
warmth without even realizing it.”
“You’re awfully romantic tonight,” Devlynn teased before succumbing to
my kiss, her body swaying against me.
“I can’t wait to get you home and bend you over the kitchen island for
dessert.” My cock throbbed with the visual of her ass in the air, soaking for
me.
“There’s the filthy man I love.”
She shrieked when I swung her into my arms and carried her off down the
sidewalk, hell-bent on getting back to her place as fast as my feet could
carry us.
I could already hear Devlynn’s screams of pleasure in my ears.

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 Chapter 22

D evlynn

“I 've been thinking about this pussy so much I swear I can taste it on my
tongue,” Elis mumbled against my lips as we crashed into my
apartment.
It wasn’t the first time he’d carried me across the threshold of my
apartment, and I hoped it was far from the last. Being with him, our
future…it’d been on my mind a lot lately.
I hadn’t known what to expect from dinner at his mom’s house tonight, but
it’d been so warm and welcoming. They’d made me feel a part of their
family—even Elis’s sister was good-natured and funny. I could see myself
spending more time with all of them.
“Love the way this pussy quivers against my fingers,” Elis hummed as his
fingertips danced across the seam of my pants.
I groaned, arching into him as he kicked the door closed, one hand already
unbuttoning his pants as he strode me into the kitchen. He plopped my ass
on the counter, our lips connecting as the unzipped teeth of his zipper dug
into the cotton covering my pussy.
Everything inside me ached for him. Waves of pleasure were already
sparkling to life inside me with his lips and hands on my skin.
“When I first moved here, it was so cold and modern, I hated it,” I
confessed between kisses. “But when you’re here, everything feels like
home.”
His grin cocked to the side, his kiss pausing as he trailed a hand up to tweak
my nipple. “Is that your way of saying you like having me around?”
My eyes caught his. “I love having you around so much, and I want you to
move in with me.”
His eyes flared for a moment, and the bite of his cock against my core
unfurled sparks of desire in my belly. Elis fucked me so thoroughly—my
heart, my mind, my body—I wanted to wake up to him every day and close
my eyes to his kisses each night.
“I’d love to move in with you, Price.” He brought his lips to mine in a
commanding kiss, his hands working at my nipples, twisting and kneading
until he elicited tight gasps of pleasure from my lips. “I’ll fuck this pretty
mouth every day for the rest of our lives, beautiful, as long as you agree to
let me make an honest woman of you.”
He dropped to his knee and pulled what could only be a ruby red family
heirloom from his pocket, slipping it onto my ring finger. “I let you get
away once, and it was the worst decision of my life. Marry me, Devlynn
Price, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you're drunk on
happiness”—his grin turned sideways— “and my dick.”
“Elis Brooks!” I squealed, my grin growing wide. “Yes, yes, oh my god,
yes!”
He pulled me into his arms, hugging and kissing me as our hearts
hammered against our chests.
“You just made me the happiest man alive, Price.” His eyes grew dark with
need. “Now bend over so I can show you how much.”
I nodded, heart lodged in my throat as I turned over on the counter, my
pussy dripping wet as his fingers hooked in my waistband, and he stripped
me of my pants.
I was a hot and needy mess by the time his tongue stroked me once, and I
was crying out with my first orgasm by the time he swirled and nipped at
my clit with his teeth.
“I love you, Elis Brooks. I’ve always loved you, even when I wished I
didn’t.”
He landed a swift crack on my ass as his tongue darted back to my pussy
and swirled with hungry intent before one of his fingers sank swiftly inside
my body.
I called out, crying his name when he hooked his finger and massaged
deeply. Wave after wave of intense pleasure rocketed through my system.
“That’s it, sweetheart. Cream all over me. Show me how much this sweet
cunt drips for me.”
He pulled me back on the counter, impaling me with full force onto his cock
and thrusting eagerly. With every plunge of his cock, he spat filthier and
filthier words at my ear. “I love you spread so open for me, wrapped around
my dick like a sexy Park Avenue whore.”
His hands worked between us, a thumb fingering at my asshole as the pads
of his fingers swam at my clit. His thumb pushed passed the first ring of my
backside when he pinched my clit, and my body shuddered and shook apart,
the sheer force of him nearly too much for me to take.
“You’re so beautiful coming around me like that.” His release pulsed
through him, his muscles bunching and twisting tight as his cum poured out
of him, soaking down my thighs as he stroked and hummed at my ear.
“Can’t wait to make you my wife.” He sucked my finger into his mouth, his
lips sinking to the glimmering ring. His dark eyes danced as his cock still
pulsed with release inside me, our cum mingling and dripping onto my
expensive kitchen floors.
“I love you, Elis Brooks. I love you so much.”
His cocky grin turned sideways. “You’re the best thing that ever happened
to me, Price. I was just too much of a punk to see it before now.”
He latched my ankles behind his waist, his cock still inside me as he carried
me down the hallway and deposited me into the mountain of pillows on our
bed.
He pressed his lips to mine. “Thank you for saying yes. Now, I plan on
eliciting at least a few dozen more yeses from you tonight alone. Hang on
tight, baby.”
He grasped my thighs, yanking me to his face. I pushed my hands into his
hair as he drew out more yeses than I’d ever thought possible.
Elis Brooks—the most talented man I’d ever met and soon to be my
husband.
I was his, and that made me the luckiest girl in the world.

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 First Epilogue

E lis –Three Months Later

“M m, my sexy wife, so fucking hot in this dress. I can’t wait to peel it

off you.”
“Elis, you’re not even supposed to see me. Your mom is going to kill you,”
Devlynn breathed, trying to shut me out of the tiny changing room she was
sequestered in at the church.
Her mother had insisted we get married at one of the most iconic churches
in the city and had pulled some strings to do it. Apparently, marrying the
Park Avenue Punk and his princess would be a media circus, especially
since we’d insisted on getting married so quickly after our engagement.
Devlynn’s mother had orchestrated the venue, even though she wasn’t
happy we were getting married. In fact, Devlynn had spent more time
planning the details of the wedding with my mom and sister than her own.
“She’s right. I am about to kill you.” Mom placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Now go wait for your girl at the end of the aisle. I need a minute with her.”
I frowned, not liking that she hadn’t been in my arms for more than twenty-
four hours. I fucking hated traditions.
I’d begged Devlynn to elope with me after I heard both of our mother’s
plans for our wedding. But Devlynn had been so patient, as always, and
we’d managed to make this uniquely ours, even with their influence.
“Elis!” Sarena called, waving her expensive bouquet of fresh flowers from
her place near the aisle.
“Wait, honey.” Mom straightened my bowtie as a smile whispered at her
lips. “I’m so proud of you. I wanted to pass down something of your
grandfather's, but I know you don’t have much use for stuff. So I decided…
well…” She pulled a small sapphire necklace from a pouch. “This was your
grandma’s, and I thought I’d give it to Devlynn to be her something blue.”
“It’s great, Mom.” I kissed her cheek, wishing Grandma and Grandpa could
be here to see me marrying the girl of my dreams. They’d passed in the
years since Devlynn’s and my breakup the first time around in high school,
but they’d known and loved her then.
Just like everyone had.
“I love you, Mom. Thank you for being so accepting and supportive
through everything,” I whispered, nearly overcome with my emotions.
“Anything for my babies. I love you so much, sweetheart. You make me
proud every single day.”
We hugged for a long moment before Mom slipped into the room with
Devlynn, and I trailed up to the head of the aisle. Sarena’s fingers danced
across her screen the entire time. She’d gotten the job as nanny to
Devlynn’s lawyer, but I suspected there was a whole lot more going on by
the way her face lit up every time she talked to or about him.
I couldn't be sure, but my sister looked like a young woman for the first
time in, well, ever, and I didn’t like it one little bit.
I was about to stomp over to her and shut down whatever conversation had
her so distracted, but the organ music started, signaling my girl’s entrance.
One of the stipulations of our church wedding was that we kept the
ceremony small and the guest list to close family and friends only. Devlynn
hadn’t wanted a bridal party, only her mother to walk her down the aisle.
Untraditional to the core, my girl.
And while my mother and Devlynn’s hadn’t talked much, they’d shared a
few dinners and come to a quiet agreement to forget the past in favor of the
future.
“Elis,” Sarena whispered from the front row.
I glanced up to find Devlynn waiting, a large sparkling sapphire at her neck
and a smile on her face.
My eyes traveled her form, getting my fill of her for the first time in the
expensive wedding gown my mom had insisted on buying for her.
And no wonder… She was radiant.
And she was mine.
By the time she reached me at the end of the aisle, my heart was battering
my rib cage as I fought the need to haul her over my shoulder and steal her
away for some privacy. I hated sharing her and having other eyes on her.
The only thing that made me feel better was that she was mine and only
mine.
Devlynn Price had only ever been mine.
“Hi.” Her eyes clung to mine.
“You look beautiful,” I uttered, pulling her close enough to hear my words.
She nuzzled into my chest. “Are you sure you want to marry me?”
“Are you fucking kidding? I want to wake up to this smart mouth every
morning for the rest of my life.” I grinned and placed a kiss on her lips. “I
want every Christmas with you. Every birthday. Every memory. I want it
all.”
“And here I thought you only wanted me for sex.” Her eyes swam with
amusement.
“I want that too.” My lips curved up in a cocky smile. “You sure you want
to marry me? I’m a demanding, controlling asshole.”
“You’re my demanding, controlling, loving asshole,” she whispered. “Those
are only a few of the things I love about you.”
“And here I thought you only wanted me for the sex.” My lips curved down
into a pout.
“Oh, I definitely want that.” She slithered her body against mine, driving
me nuts, like always.
“Can we skip to the wedding night?” I groaned as I nuzzled my nose into
the soft skin on her neck, inhaling her scent.
“And miss seeing you all handsome in a monkey suit? Not a chance.” She
threaded her fingers through my hair.
The officiant cleared his throat, his disapproving eyes on me. “We welcome
everyone here today…”

I held Devlynn in my arms as we swayed on the dance floor at the

reception an hour later. The wedding had gone off without a hitch, much
to our mothers' pleasure.
I didn't care about any of the hoopla, only her. Devlynn made me so fucking
happy, and I owed her everything. She was my entire fucking heart.
Sometimes it seemed like the waves were crashing and the stars were
falling all for us. I couldn't wait to be with this woman forever.
I’d almost lost her once, and that had haunted me for years.
I pulled her tighter against me as we danced, engulfing her with my body,
reassuring myself she was here, this was real, and we were each other’s
forever.
Devlynn pressed her body against mine, her eyes flashing before she
stretched on her toes and whispered in my ear. She pulled away, eyes
twinkling as an entertaining smile lifted her cheeks with her little surprise
reveal.
I pulled away, my mouth dropping in shock as I processed her words. Her
eyes gleamed with mischief as she watched me.
“How about a few words from the groom?” The DJ chose that moment to
press a mic into my hands.
Was it all planned?
I sucked in a few deep breaths as Devlynn watched me. Her curves were
perfectly encased in all that lace, her soft waves curling around one
shoulder and begging for my fingers, and those beautiful lips turned up into
a sexy smirk. She'd gotten one over on me, that was for damn sure.
I shook my head and ran my hand over my face. “Sorry. Devlynn’s just…
dropped a bit of a bomb on me. Apparently, my wife is…we’re expecting a
baby.”
Tears burned behind my eyelids as I struggled to hold back the
overwhelming emotion. I thrust the mic back into the DJ’s hands as guests
cheered. I blocked everything out except her dark gaze locked on me.
I pulled her into my arms, held her tightly, lifted her off her feet, and kissed
her like she was my reason.
My reason for breathing.
My reason for living.
My reason for it all.
My life began with her, and it would end with her and our baby.
“I love you so fucking much,” I muttered against the soft flesh of her neck.
“I love you too,” she whispered.
My heart clenched in my chest, and tears pooled in my eyes. I ran one hand
up her red waves and inhaled her soft scent. “I can’t wait to get you home
and show you how happy I am.”
“I think that’s what got us here in the first place, Brooks.”
“Princess…”

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 Second Epilogue

S ECOND EPILOGUE

D evlynn –Six Years Later

“C an you change the baby's diaper?” I called from down the hall.
“I had the last one,” Elis yelled as he watched the football game.
“Babe, I can’t change the diaper. Seriously, it will make me sick,” I whined
as I stepped into the room with Brady wiggling in my arms in only a diaper.
“Shouldn’t he be potty trained by now,” Elis groaned as he stood from the
couch.
“He’s only eighteen months old, so no.” I thrust our boy into his arms.
“Jesus.” Elis held Brady’s stinky self at arm’s length. “Come on, buddy.
Don’t you want to use the toilet like a big boy?”
“No.”
Ah, there it was. No. One of the few words he knew and used excessively.
“What a bum deal if you’re going to be like this the whole pregnancy,” Elis
grumbled good-naturedly as he headed down the hall and into the nursery.
“It’s only at the beginning that my nose is so sensitive.” I rubbed my tummy
softly as I followed after them.
“Mommy! Look at our paintings!” the boys called as they entered the
nursery with Aunt Sarena in tow.
“My little artists. So much talent. Future New York City Gallery owners
just like your Daddy.” I bent and caught them both in my arms, hugging
them tightly. The boys were just like their father, creative types, they
preferred to be hanging out at The Brooks Gallery instead of at the law firm
with me.
I thought about quitting the firm with baby number four on the way but my
work was too important and the office was always understaffed as it was.
Not many people wanted to make peanuts as a lawyer or work pro bono
cases.
Welcoming Kellen and Harrison into our lives had been a whirlwind. Twins
had been the last thing we were expecting, but neither of our mothers had
been surprised when we broke the news.
I looked back at Elis as he lifted our one-and-a-half-year-old son into the air
and spun him around until he was giggling wildly. My heart stuttered to a
stop, looking at all the men in my life who made my heart beat.
“Hey, Mama.” My gorgeous husband pressed a kiss to my lips.
I held his cheek as I kissed him. “Hey.”
“You look extra beautiful with that smile on your face,”
“Thanks for putting it there.” I took his lips with mine again.
“Daddy! Show me how to paint with the sponge again, please!” Harrison,
the smaller of our twins, demanded.
“He’s ready, Daddy.” I smiled sweetly.
“After I set them up, can I get some alone time with my girl?” Elis quirked
an eyebrow suggestively.
“Maybe at nap time, Mr. Brooks.” I rubbed my tummy, watching with
dreamy eyes as Aunt Sarena and Elis set the boys up with painting sponges
at their craft table overlooking the park.
It's funny how I almost hated this place. It was so lonely upon moving in,
and now it was jam-packed with life.
Elis returned, wrapping his arms around my waist and swaying me back and
forth as he tucked his nose into my neck.
I sucked in a contented breath and relaxed against his chest. “Thank you.”
“For what?” His lips tickled the skin beneath my ear.
“For everything. All of it. From the beginning to the end, thank you.”
“Mmm, my pleasure, ma’am,” he said in his sexy, throaty voice.
I turned in his arms and caught his gaze with mine. “Every minute I’m
thankful for, even the hard ones.” Tears pricked behind my eyelids as I
looked at the beautiful boy who had been stopping and restarting my heart
from the moment I met him.
“Oh, baby.” He kissed me softly. “Thank you for bringing me back to life.
For making this beat.” He put my hand on his heart. “It beats for you and
them.” He gestured toward our babies.
I patted his head, fresh and happy tears welling in my eyes as pregnancy
hormones surged through me. I tucked my head into the crook of my
husband's neck, inhaling deeply and soaking up his fresh paint scent that
had made my knees weak from the start.
His lips whispered along my jawline as he placed soft kisses across my
skin.
“I love you,” I murmured.
“I love you so much more,” he replied before his lips took mine in a
reverent kiss, stealing my breath.
He owned my heart. We owned each other. From the beginning, our lives
had been set on a course, fated no matter what life threw our way. There'd
been no deviating. Despite the bumps in the road, it had gotten us here, and
here was so good.
Here was the best.
Here was right where we were meant to be.
Mrs. Elis Brooks, wife of the Park Avenue Punk and the happiest woman in
the world.
“Now, back to that alone time, beautiful…”
“Any more alone time with you, and we'll have enough kids to populate a
baseball team, Brooks.”
“That's exactly my plan, gorgeous. The Park Avenue Punks has a nice ring
to it. I'm glad we're finally on the same page.”
“The same page? I'm not even sure we're on the same planet some days,
Brooks.”
He laughed, pinching my bottom discreetly as he pressed our lips together
in a sweet kiss. “As long as we can still practice making that baseball team,
I'll take it.”

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