Chapter 35: Hot Splinters

“Fine, I'll play dead in this game. But we can't just sit and do nothing. We have to figure something out.” Abby said.

Kevin’s face softened. He nodded, slowly, like a man agreeing to a truce with himself.

Then it happened so suddenly that my mind barely caught up with what my body was feeling. One second, we were locked in that heavy, broken silence, and the next, his mouth was on mine—urgent, desperate, like he was trying to make up for all the lost time between us. I could taste the salt of my own tears on his lips, feel the tremor in his hands as they cupped my face like he was terrified I’d cease to be in front of him again. My heart thudded painfully against my ribs, too fast, too wild, as if it didn’t know whether to burst or to break.

The edge of the counter pressed cold and hard against the back of my thighs when he lifted me up, but I barely noticed. Everything inside me was heat—his breath, his touch, the way his fingers slid against my skin like he was memorizing it. For a moment, the noise, the betrayal, the tension—all of it vanished. It was just us, suspended in something reckless and real, something that felt like forgiveness and fire all at once.

I didn’t mean to moan, but it slipped out anyway, soft and helpless, drawn from that place inside me that still ached for him no matter how much I wanted to deny it. It felt wrong and right all at once—wrong because we were standing in the middle of chaos, wrong because this wasn’t the time or the place, but right because every part of me had missed him so damn much.

His lips slowed, and I could feel him trying to steady himself, his forehead resting against mine, his breath uneven. My fingers trembled where they clung to his shoulders, not wanting to let go, not wanting this fragile, impossible moment to end.

So I slowly reached out to undo his buttons and ignored his gaze that lit fire on my skin. No doubt I was clumsy with his buttons but I didn't care because I craved him, desperately.

But then he grabbed my slightly trembling hands as I looked up into his dark eyes.

“Stay still.” He mumbled softly as he cupped my face with one hand and immediately pulled my lips to his again. His other hand gripped my waist and I circled his neck with my hands to deepen his kisses.

Then he wasted no time to quickly undo his buttons, my heart slammed heavily against my chest as I immediately pushed his shirt off revealing his toned muscled arms and his bare chest that was beautifully adorned by a small crafted pendant.

God… his sexiness.

Kevin grabbed my butt, pushed back my skirt and caressed my thighs. I gasped softly at his touch and the sensual imprint it left on my skin. I shamelessly let out a soft giggle when he nibbled on my neckline.

“So beautiful…” I heard him say as he immediately pulled my top over my head and claimed my lips again. He caressed my body in such a unique way no one ever could and maybe that's why I felt helpless, shitty and depressed without him for a whole damn week!

His kisses could be likened to a drug. My drug. The kind of drug I swore I could live forever on.

It felt like nothing else mattered. Our mouths moved in sync like they were meant to be. I was brazen enough to unbuckle his belt and undo his zipper. Then he pulled away from me a little and got rid of his trousers, followed by his boxers and my heart skipped a bit at the sight of his dangling junior. I blushed. Red.

Kevin smirked before pulling me back in again for his sweet kisses, before he worked his hands from my waist to unhook my bra. That slow gesture sent fireworks to my brain as I let my bra fall off to the side revealing my full and tender breasts.

My heart was on fire.

Then he reached and tugged at my pants with his lips still on mine. He pulled it off of me entirely and slowly parted my thighs to let him in.

I circled my arms around his neck as I brazenly drowned in ecstasy.

His lips slowly left mine and I was so eager for him to claim its fullness back again. But he grabbed my body tighter as his palm instantly covered my breast and gently massaged it and in turn, it caused my eyes to roll back into its sockets.

I pushed my head back as it gave him more room to plaster kisses on my neckline. Then he pulled me up against him and I immediately wrapped my legs around his torso.

He pressed my back against the wall and my body was flush against his—and at the same time came his first sensual thrust. I gasped in excitement before I heard a soft moan that escaped from the back of his throat. Then he continued his unrelenting thrusts inside of me.

I gasped and moaned with every thrust as my nails dug into his sweaty back for support. I screamed a little and rolled my eyes like a fucking idiot.

“Want me to stop?” Kevin growled into my ears like he wasn't sure of his own question. He continued his quick thrusts inside of me regardless.

I shook my head. “No p-please, don't stop.” my voice cracked at the edge, it came out with an ounce of baritone and I bit my lower lip in embarrassment.

My upper body danced against him with every sensual thrust and I was unfortunate to scream for him to thrust harder and harder like a brazen fool. Each thrust was void of caution and I could swear I'd lost my mind.

My eyes dilated with ecstacy, one that brought about every gasp and every ache and every breathless sigh.

Then my skin prickled before I even heard him — a sense so sharp it made my spine go cold. Then the clap came, slow and mocking, and the world snapped back into focus with a cruel, bright clarity.

Stephen.

Fuck.

He was standing in the doorway like an accusation, arms folded, lips curled into that awful, satisfied smirk I’d always hated. I felt my body go rigid, then hot, then suddenly ridiculous with shame. Kevin and I separated like we’d been burned; I scrambled to pull my shirt down over my bare chest, fingers clumsy, heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst through my ribs.

“Wow,” Stephen said, and the word was all too theatrical. “That was quite entertaining to watch.” His eyes flicked to me, slow and deliberate; they landed on Kevin with an almost predatory curiosity. “And who would have thought you’re shamelessly fucking your stepbrother, huh?”

The cut of his words was cleaner than any blade. I could hear my own breath like a soundtrack to shame. My cheeks burned; my mouth opened and closed against words that flooded and vanished.

“I just discovered that you’re the boss of the gang,” he continued, mocking as if he were reading from a script, “and guess what? I’ve already lost my respect for you!” Hurt laced his voice in a way that made my stomach twist. “You pushed me away when I kissed you but what, you go around and fuck him instead? How long has this been going on for, huh?” He stepped forward, and every step felt like an accusation.

Kevin looked like a coiled thing about to snap. He hadn’t even finished pulling his boxers up before he was adamant, furious, incredulous. “Wait, you let him kiss you?” His hand ran through his hair like he could rake the world right into order.

I couldn’t make a sound. Words fled me; shame folded into fresh hurt. Tears I hadn’t given myself permission for pricked my eyes and blurred the room into smudged light and angry faces.

“That’s not the point here!” Stephen barked, and I wanted him to be right. I wanted the world to reduce to one clear, correct outrage and let me breathe. But there were too many wrongs all layered on top of each other.

I shoved my arms into my shirt the way someone scrambles for a life-preserver, fingers fumbling, cheeks slick with the heat of crying. I tried to pull something like dignity back over me.

“Raise your voice at me again and I’d rip off your tongue!” Kevin snarled, raw and close enough I could feel the hot air of his threat. His eyes were dangerous in a way I’d never felt before—like I was standing at the lip of a cliff and he held the rope.

Stephen’s laugh was ugly and hollow. “I dare you. And watch all this go up in flames.” He jabbed a thumb practically at the door, at the darkness beyond it. The implication sat in the room—threats nested inside threats—poisonous and real.

“No, no, no, Stephen… Don’t do that. I can explain…” I practically ran to him, clinging to some foolish belief he’d listen now, that maybe my touch could anchor him back to me. “Please—Stephen, wait—”

He shoved me away so hard my heart felt like it slammed into my teeth. “Get the fuck away from me!” He spat, voice ragged and cold.

The ground rose up too fast. I hit the floor hard enough that the breath left me in a shocked, jagged sound. For a second everything was a muffled rush — the smell of sweat and smoke and the metallic aftertaste of fear — and my cheek burned where it met the concrete.

I lay there with my hands splayed beside me, air leaving me in shaky little bursts, watching both men through blurred vision and feeling like a small, broken thing between two storms.