Systematic Siege: Provocative Tendencies #2 (SSPT #2) Read online

  25

  Drew’s father once worked with my father. To be more exact, my father was hired to work at Drevlow Systems, Inc, thirteen years ago.

  A huge achievement. Just what we needed at the time to give us a better life.

  The pay would also allow him to work less hours, have more time to develop his prototype.

  And he did. ‘Til this day, I have no idea what he built, but it was his life’s dream. The thing he wanted most out of life.

  Ronald Drevlow found out about it, decided he wanted the prototype so he could make money off of it. My father refused. It was his invention.

  No one refuses Ronald Drevlow anything. Over a period of three years, he systematically terrorized my father, broke our lives apart bit by bit, until there was nothing left.

  My father had no choice but to sell the prototype to Mr. Drevlow.

  My mother didn’t find out about it until shortly after my father’s death.

  He killed himself and left us every dollar he’d gotten on the sale as part of our inheritance.

  I was ten years old. That same week, my mother urged me to stop speaking to my best friend, the son of the man that ruined our lives.

  Of course, I refused.

  That is, until I realized that Drew had distanced himself from me.

  He hadn’t died like my father did, but losing him hurt almost as much.

  “You don’t want to talk about her with me, do you?” There’s sadness in Drew’s eyes, but also understanding.

  It’s not his fault what his father did. But I have to ask him the one thing that’s been eating at me for almost eight years. “Why did you stop talking to me when your father told you to?” He never let me know that, yet I know his father had something to do with it.

  If my mother asked me to stop talking to him, there’s no way his father didn’t ask the same of him.

  Drew runs his hand across the top of his head, back and forth in an agitated manner.

  This is a wound between us that neither of us wanted to explore.

  He opened the door to this discussion by asking about my mom.

  “My father—” He stops abruptly and looks out into the dark field in front of us. “He warned me that if I didn’t stop talking to you, he’d go after you and your mom since he was done with your father.”

  Anger vibrates through him. His lips are tense with strain, and his free hand clenches and unclenches. He throws back the rest of his wine and refills his cup before looking at me. “I was ten, and . . .”

  I place my hand over his; immediately, he turns his hand and intertwines our fingers. “I get it.” I really do. He was just a boy and his father is a scary as hell son of a bitch.

  I wish I could say his bark is bigger than his bite, but it’s not. The man has no qualms about destroying people.

  Drew lowers his wine and cups my face.

  I can’t control my reaction, and nuzzle his palm, soaking in the feel of his skin.

  His eyes plead with me for a forgiveness I’ve already given him. “Lexi, I was scared out of my fucking mind he’d make good on his threat. And then time passed, and we’d already grown apart, you know.”

  “I know.” I stare at our hands, my heart aching from the memory of those years.

  My mom never told me why we stayed in town, why she used the money my father left us to keep me in the same private schools as Drew.

  Yeah. Thanks to that inheritance, we’re well off.

  Not that it changes anything.

  Things got hard for us regardless. My father’s death altered us in a twisted way. My mother was never the same again.

  And I . . . sometimes I don’t recognize myself in the anger I keep trapped inside me. It makes me want to do things. Things I know for a fact I shouldn’t.

  I love Drew, but I’d have no problem ending his father’s life if I could.

  What type of person does that make me?

  “Drew . . .” The fear is back, making it hard to speak. I don’t want to voice the question going through my mind, but how could I not? “How are we supposed to make this work between us? Let’s be realistic here. I don’t think—I . . .” I let go of his hand to cover my face. “We can’t.”

  26

  I’m a fool.

  I was a fool seven years ago when I convinced myself I could be with Andrew Drevlow of all people.

  A fool the day I decided to work for Stephen.

  I’m still a fool today, sitting in this damn office.

  I’m a fucking idiot who’s yearning to kiss Andrew again, even after I jerked back hard enough to send my chair skidding feet away from him.

  His chest is racing.

  Mine is, too.

  He’s staring down at me with that challenge in his eyes. Like he knows what I’m struggling with and he’s daring me to face it.

  Fuck him.

  I glare at him with all the loathing I feel.

  “Drew . . .” His uncle watches him warily. I’m sure he’s realized how insane his nephew is. “I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

  Drew’s body coils, a slow tightening of muscle. “You’re not the boss here, Uncle Richard. I am. You made sure of that. So I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” His eyes remain on mine the entire time.

  What a fucking bastard. “I want you to leave. How about that?”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  I remember that hard determination. Last time I saw it, he’d stared at me in that dark field, swearing he would never let his father hurt me again—and swearing he would never let me go.

  All lies. He hadn’t been determined to protect or have me.

  He’d been determined to pull off the prank he and his friends had come up with.

  “If you don’t leave my office, Mr. Drevlow, I will get up and walk out of this building right now.”

  “You’re under contract, you can’t.”

  I grind my teeth together. “I did it with Menahan. Watch. Me.”

  “I’m nothing like Stephen,” Andrew enunciates slowly.

  “Oh, really? What do you call grabbing me against my will and kissing me?” I realize way too late what I’ve just said.

  His eyes go dark. Absolutely black within the span of a second. Fast enough to warn me.

  Scare me.

  This isn’t the same Andrew I knew years ago. This is a madman. A possibly deranged man that’s ready to harm somebody.

  “What did he do to you?” His tone sends a cold shiver through me.

  “Nothing!” My heart is beating painfully and I’m trembling.

  I’m scared. So scared of what I see in Andrew’s expression.

  This man is capable of murder. Every instinct in my body screams it at me.

  “Lexi, I will not ask you again.”

  “And I will not ask you, Mr. Drevlow. Please leave me to my work or I’ll leave.” I can’t look at him. His eyes are drilling me, and if I don’t look away, he’s going to rip every secret out of me.

  Maybe I should let him. I should tell him everything and let him ruin his life by hurting Stephen.

  But who would help my mother then?

  I stand up, restless, trapped by the nervous energy I feel.

  Andrew moves closer to me.

  I’m so jumpy that I practically leap back. “Sta—stay away from me.”

  “That’s why you want to ruin him, isn’t it? He hurt you—WHAT THE FUCK DID HE DO TO YOU LEXI?”

  I slap my hands over my ears at that roar.

  Stephen lied to me.

  Tricked me.

  Raped me.

  Infected my mother.

  Kept me prisoner under his control for years.

  Eventually, he raped me again.

  Andrew is obsessed with getting an answer.

  Possibly obsessed with me.

  Oh, God, he is like Stephen. Both of them want to own me even though they’ve both hurt me.

  What Andrew did was despicable; what Stephen did, all of i
t, falls under the definition of heinous.

  I have to pick one devil to battle another, and in order to win, I have to keep the truth from one of them. Shaking, I cross my arms and face Andrew.

  A monster’s fury stares back at me.

  “I’ll—I’ll tell you.” Not the whole truth. Never that. But enough to placate him. “But you have to leave this office now.”

  “Lexi.”

  “Leave now, or I will!”

  27

  “I don’t blame you for thinking that.” Drew places the blanket back in his trunk. The bag with the leftover food and wine goes next.

  I’m so stupid. I fucked it up. He barely spoke after I muttered that dumb sentence, and now he’s cutting our date short. Just because I had to open my big fucking mouth.

  It’s a logical thought. Us being together is an impossibility. A chasm full of obstacles stands between us.

  I don’t care. Right now, it feels like he’s shutting down on me, listening to the logic behind my statement. Distancing himself.

  A taste. That’s what tonight has been. And it’s not enough. I’ll never have enough. I need more of Drew. So much more. I can’t lose him. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

  Definitely not tonight.

  He comes to me, placing his hand on the small of my back, leading me to the passenger side. “I’ve thought about it, Lexi. I don’t even have the power to protect you from my asshat of a father.” Staring off into space, he opens the door for me. “I don’t have the power. Not yet.”

  My body freezes over as he turns to walk to the driver’s side.

  I can’t let him shut down on me. Can’t let him walk away.

  He’s walking around the front of his car by the time I snap out of it. “Drew!” I run to him.

  He jerks to a stop, turning in surprise.

  I jump up into his arms. “I don’t care. I don’t care, Drew.”

  Drew groans my name, hugging me tight. “Lexi, you’re right. He can hurt you. He will. I knew this when I decided to come after you.”

  “I don’t care, Drew. I just want you. So bad.”

  Another groan. He grabs my hair, nuzzling my face roughly.

  He’s hard again, throbbing against me. Calling me.

  “I want you, Drew. Please. Take me. Make me yours. I don’t want to belong to anyone else.”

  “Fuck, baby.” Yanking me back, he stares into my eyes.

  Panting, I try to bring him closer, knowing that my eyes are pleading with him.

  “God, Lexi. I fucking need you.”

  “Take me. Take me, Drew.”

  He exhales slowly, his body tensing more and more. “Baby, I’m losing it here. I can’t . . . It’s not time, yet. I—I need you too bad.”

  “Yes.”

  His lips crash onto mine, roughly. Painfully. His tongue pushes into my mouth, not giving me a choice.

  I open for him without hesitation, his tongue a wet slide against my own. It drives me crazy, leaves me clenching and unclenching desperately.

  Drew clutches my ass, rolling his hips into me. I lift my leg up on his hip, opening myself to more of his thrusts. His cock presses right where I need it. Pleasure zings, and I go light headed, almost coming at each slide of his erection along my clit.

  “Drew. More, please.”

  He kisses me again, turning me, leading me backwards. The back of my knees hit the hood of his car. Hands wrapped around my waist, he lifts me up onto the hood, laying me on it. I spread my legs and pull him between them, circling my hips up to meet his.

  His teeth sink softly into the side of my chin. “You turn me on so fucking much.”

  I tilt my head back to give him more access. “Take me.”

  Moaning, he works his hand between us, his fingers skimming my wet panties. The fingers of his other hand curl into the top of my dress. He already broke the straps back at the gym, so when he pulls on my dress, it slides down without issue.

  He wastes no time, lips latching around one nipple, his thumb and forefinger squeezing down around the other.

  I cry out into the night, arching, my nipples even more sensitive than the first time he played with them.

  Drew thrusts into me in circles. Last time, I rode his thigh, and the pleasure was indescribable. Feeling his hard dick nudging my pussy with each thrust makes me even more light headed. “Drew. Oh God, Drew. More. Faster. More.”

  “Fuck Lexi!” Snarling, he bites the side of my breast, then moves to the other and does the same, his fingers playing with both my nipples. “You get me so fucking riled up. I just wanna come all over you. In you.” His fingers find my pussy again, pulling my panties aside. “I want this pussy wrapped tight around me.”

  I bite down on my lip, mewling, nails digging into the back of his head. “I want it, too, Drew. It hurts. In there. I—” My voice breaks on a scream as one of his fingers slide into me.

  “Oh God,” he breathes frantically, staring up at me, thick lips parted. “Fuck, baby. Fuck.”

  “Yours. All—yours—Drew,” I keen, my body wanting—no, needing to be fucked by him. My hips rock back and forth, riding his finger, my body soaking in the pleasure each thrust brings.

  “Fucking, hell. Look at you.” His teeth bare on a growl, his eyes eating me alive. Leaning down, he slowly wraps his lips around my nipple, then sucks hard, his thumb circling my clit languidly.

  I scream, coming, coming so fucking hard that I can’t breathe, can’t see, can’t think. The pleasure ripples through my clit, my inner walls, my nipples as he sucks and licks on them.

  Drew pulls back, breaths practically wheezing, his eyes wild. “So wet. So luscious. I need that in my mouth, baby. Need to eat you while you come.”

  28

  I stare up at the night sky, my vision winking in and out, completely out of breath.

  Drew wants to come inside me and it turns me on like crazy.

  He crawls down my body. I feel his hands on my knees, drawing my legs up. He parts them. His words register.

  Was he talking about kissing me? There?

  My panties are shoved aside.

  “Drew? Drew, wait.” I scramble up onto my elbows. The sight of him between my legs stops every single thought in my head.

  He’s staring at me, at my spread, bared pussy, his expression tight with raw lust. “Holy fuck, Lexi. You’re perfect.”

  I moan.

  Drew reaches between my legs, smoothing his thumb over my clit softly.

  My nails scrape into the hood of the car. “Oh . . . my . . . God.”

  He nuzzles my clit with the tip of his nose. “Look at that little clit tremble for me.”

  I’m choking. This is too intense. Too intimate. He’s too close.

  His breath ghosts over my sensitive flesh with his next words. “All I want to do is eat you.”

  I need him to. Why was I even nervous about him doing that to me? Forgetting about everything but how horny he makes me, I lean back and spread my legs wider for him.

  “That’s it baby.” He parts my lips open with his thumb, his touch gentle. “Just lay back. Let me take care of you.”

  I do as he tells me, but lift up my head to look down at him. No way I’m missing this.

  He bites the corner of his lip, eyes flashing with hunger. “Such a pretty pussy.” Looking up at me, he lowers his head and gives me a wet, soft kiss.

  A fierce shot of pleasure arches my back.

  Drew eases away a bit. “Like that, baby?”

  I grab onto the back of his head and try to push him back to me. “More.”

  Smiling, he gives it to me. Another light kiss followed by a quick flick of his tongue.

  “Jesus, Drew.” I can’t believe the intensity of this. The pleasure.

  His tongue slides over me again, lazily circling my clit. He hums, tasting me, sucking me into his mouth.

  “Baby. Don’t stop. Please.” My hips rock up to meet every glide of his tongue. The look on his face only makes me burn hotter. Rotating my hips f
aster, I whisper, “I’m going to come. Can’t hold it.”

  He licks me harder, sucks on my clit, his low growls vibrating through me.

  I never knew it could be like this. Pleasure bordering on pain. I should feel ashamed at the indecent way Drew’s sucking on my pussy, but the dirtiness of it is too fucking delicious not to love.

  I writhe on his tongue, chasing more of that sensation. We’re alone on this stretch of road, and it makes me even more uninhibited.

  Drew strokes me with his lips, his tongue, sliding it down, teasing my opening. “Fuck, Lexi. Your pussy’s luscious. I’ve never tasted anything like it.”

  A fresh wave of wetness slicks my sex; he laps it up, humming again. “Drew. Your tongue. It’s so good.”

  He smiles against my pussy and the sight of his plump, wet lips rips a cry out of me. “Yeah? You like my tongue, baby?”

  I nod breathlessly.

  His tongue pierces me.

  My body clenches, trying to keep him there. I don’t want him to stop. Don’t want to let him go. Ever. I need more of this pleasure, want him harder, deeper.

  He takes his tongue from me. I groan, feeling like I’m about to go mad. “I feel you throbbing on my tongue.”

  I bite the inside of my cheek. My tight nipples hurt so bad that I don’t stop to think or question my impulse. Reaching up, I pinch them between my fingers. Pleasure rushes straight to my pussy.

  Drew watches me throb, then his eyes freeze on my nipples, watching me play with them. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you. Especially not my father.” He stares into my eyes. “You’re mine and I’m never fucking letting you go.”

  “It’s all I want, Drew,” I moan, squirming on the hood. “Take me. I need to be yours.”

  “You remember that, baby. Remember how much you need me to own you. When it gets tough. When shit gets impossible. You. Remember. That.”

  I nod at him. At this point, I’ll promise him anything, swear to anything. Whatever he wants. I don’t care.

  Seeming pleased, he licks over my clit—slow, hard pressure. He does it one more time, leaving me shaking. On the brink.

  Sweat drips down the side of my face despite the cool breeze. I mumble his name, too weak to do anything else.