Grace POV
“Come on Grace, it’s your birthday,” Amber says as she pulls me out of the bed and I groan in frustration. I hate celebrating my birthday. My birth is nothing to celebrate honestly. I never thought birthdays were that special. My parents always threw me massive parties, but barely any kids showed up. We would always end up with large amounts of food, and the grownups would always look at me with pity plastered all over their faces.
“Seriously Amber, all I want is to go for dinner, and then come home and watch a film with a large bucket of popcorn,” I say as I adjust my glasses that are sliding down my nose. Amber stares at me, shaking her head and resting her hands on her hips.
“Okay, dinner, and then a couple of drinks,” she says, and I take a deep breath. I guess I will have to compromise on this. She won’t stop annoying me if I don’t do the drinks. “After all, we’re all legally allowed to drink,” she says and I couldn’t care less. Alcohol is not something I enjoy. I always order one cocktail and by the end of the night, someone else has finished it because all I do is take tiny sips during the night.
“Okay, okay,” I say, not bothered to fight with her anymore. I have spent all day in bed today. I am tired and I honestly only wanted to stay there, but I guess Amber, Hannah, and Jamie have another plan for me.
“Okay, go have a shower because you fucking stink,” she says and I frown as I sniff under my arms and shake my head.
“Liar,” I say and she smiles, opening my closet and disappearing inside. My parents paid for my apartment because they knew I would never be comfortable in the dorms, besides, they could pay for it. I never really asked for anything while growing up, but this was the only thing I asked of them.
Dad owns a shoe factory and let’s say we never had to count any pennies. Money was never a problem for our family. My mother always enjoyed the status that it gave us in New York, but I never really cared. Mom grew up as an Upper East Side princess and she thought I would be just like her, but I guess I am more like my father than we care to admit. I like the quiet and to be alone. After obeying to my best friend and having a shower, I walk out to find her putting loads of makeup on the vanity.
“No, I am not wearing that,” I say, and I hear someone laughing coming from the living room. I look at Amber and she shrugs as Jamie walks into the bedroom and stares at me as I wrap my towel tighter around my body.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” she remarks as she winks at me. I shake my head, trying to push away my shyness as I grab my glasses from the vanity and Amber smacks my hand. “Nope, not today sunshine,” she says and I widen my eyes and she points at the bed.
“Put that on,” she says and I walk to the bed to find the smallest skirt I have ever seen in my life and a tube top that only covers half of my torso. They must be shitting me right now.
“I am not wearing that,” I protest, but they both ignore me as Amber answers the phone. After a lot of arguments and tears shed by Amber, I am dressed in my jeans and a small tank top that leaves my belly button out.
I am being dragged into our local restaurant, the place where we spend most of our Friday nights before we go back to my house and watch film after film. They like to go out dancing, but they spend their Friday nights with me while they dedicate their Saturdays to dating and hooking up. I never really understood their desire to party so hard. We celebrated my birthday with our usual food and drink orders. We even got a small cupcake with a candle for free. The lady that owns the restaurant knows us and threw that at us.
“Come on, it’s only down the road,” Jamie says while she pulls me. They blindfolded me, saying they had a surprise for me at my house and they wanted me to have my eyes closed. I don’t know what they managed to pull off in such a short time, but hey, who am I to doubt their will to surprise me?
I can hear loud music booming and my insides twist. I stop walking and rip the tie that was tied around my head and I can see we’re arriving at someone’s party. I stare at Hannah who shrugs and then Jamie smiles as she hugs me tight.
“Happy birthday,” she shouts when she opens the door and I can see a banner with my name. The banner is bright pink, a color I absolutely despise and my name is right at the center with a big Happy Birthday on top. I close my eyes for a few seconds, trying to process what is happening right now. There are dozens of people scattered around the living room and no one even glances at me. I watch as my friends pull me down the sea of people towards the make-pretend bar and I scrunch my nose. I am not happy about this.
“Come on, let’s drink and celebrate,” Hannah shouts, lifting a beer and I shake my head. I don’t know anyone here and I doubt very much any of those people know who I am. I tend to keep to myself and I don’t really interact with anyone I don’t know.
“I’m going home,” I let out through my greeted teeth and Jamie shook her head, wrapping her arm around my shoulder. “Oh, no you’re not, you’re legally an adult, so you will drink this, and you will have fun,” Hannah says and I shake my head before they put the beer bottle in my hand.
I decide to take the beer just so I can shut them up and go home. The more they drink, the more they will forget I am here and I will be able to get away. I live two buildings away and I know who’s the responsible person for this party.
Angelo Parker, as soon as his name crosses my mind, he walks past me, wrapping his arms around my best friend’s shoulders, pulling them away from me. Jamie looks back over her shoulder and I wave her off, raising my full beer bottle as I offer her a shaky smile. Angelo Parker is the sexiest quarterback in the world.
I have never seen anyone as beautiful as him. His eyes are captivating, and his smile is intoxicating. Some might say I have a crush on him, but who doesn’t? I bet you every girl in this room is about to make a comment or stare at his ass while he walks past.
I decide to sit on the couch and watch as everyone mingles, and I am left alone. This is what I wanted anyway, to be alone. I just never realized how lonely I am. I am in a room full of people and I feel like I have been abandoned by everyone. I have never felt so alone in my life. This feels like my birthday parties growing up.
Once my parents even had a petting zoo brought to our backyard and only two kids showed up. I think I was so excited to have kids my age at the party that I didn’t even worry about the animals, but obviously all they wanted was to play with the baby goat and the baby donkey. I try to push away those memories because right now I have friends. Friends that throw me surprise parties even though they know I will hate them.
“This is a party. Shouldn’t you be having some fun?” Angelo says as he sits next to me. I stare at him blankly as my brain tries to process his words and then I see my friends giving me the thumbs up right behind him. They are all grinning and I, for once, don’t know what to do. I grip the beer bottle in my hand and, without thinking about what I am doing, I drink some of it.
The horrible taste of the beer makes me scrunch my nose and Angelo smiles and then chuckles. His voice sent a chill down my spine. “Come with me, I’ll give you something sweeter to drink,” he says, and I nod slightly as he grabs my hand and pulls me from the couch. The way his fingers lace around mine sends a chill down my spine, and I smile as he pulls me to the kitchen.
“Here you go, beautiful,” he says, offering me a red cup with something inside. I stare at the cup and then at him and he bumps his cup against mine cheering and then he leans closer and whispers a soft happy birthday in my ear, and I decide to let loose just for once. When will I ever have the chance to party with the hottest guy in college, and when will he ever look at me again? It might be a charity conversation and dance, but I am okay with it.
We spend the next couple of hours dancing and drinking together, his body pressed against mine while I grind against his body. I can feel the erection, but I try to push away the feeling. I have never known a guy to be turned on by me and just the thought of that makes me want to hide away.
Angelo’s hands move up and down my body, while we dance to some R&B song I have never heard before in my life. Every time his hands go to my breasts, I pull them down to my stomach or my hips. Just because we are dancing and I am grinding my ass against his frontal doesn’t mean he can move his hands wherever he wants.
“Here,” Jamie passes me a red cup with something inside and I drink the entire thing without taking a breath. I am sweating and the air is getting hotter and stuffy with the amount of people in the same space dancing and breathing.
Angelo’s hands move and he spins me around. I wrap my arms around his shoulders while his lips meet my neck and he drops sloppy kisses down my neck and I shiver. I always thought neck kisses were supposed to be a turn on but they are just making me cringe. “I need to go to the bathroom,” I say in his ear and pull away from him. He nods as he watches me walk away from him. My friends follow me as soon as they see me alone and we all walk to the bathroom that has a big line outside.
“So? Is it today? Are you going to do it?” Jamie asks and I shake my head, passing my hand on my neck, trying to erase the feeling of Angelo’s lips on my neck.
“No. I would never do it like this,” I say and Hannah nods but gets easily distracted when a guy she has been hooking up walks past her. “That’s my sign,” she says, winking at me and walking after him. I love my friends, but we are all so different. I don’t even know how we became so close.
Dash POV“Seriously? A college party?” I let out and Jagger shrugs. Usually, he is the one who does this type of job, but today I am the unlucky bastard who has to deal with kids. I owe him. I promised I would do something for him. That’s what happens when your twin brother gets shot saving your fucking life.Jagger is the enforcer in our fucked up world. We belong to the MOB and I am the boss’s right hand. So usually Jagger needs to deal with this situation, scare some people, and beat them up, but today is my turn. I hate doing these types of jobs, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy beating some people and violence is always the answer, but when it comes to parties like this… I hate doing it, there’s too much to lose and I usually tend to get into some girl’s bed.As I said before, we are twins. I can’t see anything similar between us, but everyone says we look ex
Grace POVI open my eyes and immediately regret doing so. I flinch as the pain in my head strikes like a football to the head. “Oh God,” I murmur as I sit up on the bed and frown, taking in the room. I look around, not recognizing the furniture. The large black chest of drawers with a huge TV hanging on the wall above it, a navy blue arm chair on the corner with a round table with a modern design next to it. The walls are light and the bed is huge with fluffy white covers. I look down at my body and my eyes widen and I jump out of bed to find myself wearing clothes I have never seen before. I lift the band t-shirt I am wearing and immediately smack my forehead with my hand. Fuck. Fuckity fuck, what have I done? I look around, trying to find my clothes, but all I can see is the nicest bedroom I have ever seen. Oh shit. I look down again, not recognizing the clothes. It’s a black T-shirt and some black male boxer shorts. No. That can’t be true. Where the hell am I? I can’t believe I
Grace POV“Oh my God, where were you? I even considered calling the cops.” Amber says as soon as I call her back after getting home. Lying on the couch with my arm covering my eyes, I listened to how worried she was and how she got everyone, including some of the guys from the football team, to look for me. “I’m fine, I’m home,” I say and she takes a deep breath after filling my ears with the amount of worry, especially after what happened last night. “Okay, wait up. What happened last night?” I sit up straight on the couch and Amber takes her time. “Amber…” I say in a warning tone. “Someone walked into the party and broke loads of stuff and beat the crap out of Angelo when he tried to stop them. They stole some of his stuff,” Amber says, and my eyes widen. “Is he okay?” I ask, and she takes a deep breath. “He’s got a broken nose, and a broken arm, he was asking for you, he was worried about you when we couldn’t find you, everything happened in his room, where you were sleeping,”
Dash POV“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say as I watch my brother sit next to me. His eyes scan my face as I take a deep breath, cradling the drink in my hand. “Can you please stop staring at me?” I let out in frustration. If there’s one person who can get under my skin is my twin brother. Jagger is my best friend and sometimes I feel like he is a part of me. It’s freakishly frustrating when he looks at me and I feel like I can read his mind. “I just think it’s weird you’re sitting here instead of being down there grinding your cock against some random bimbo,” Jagger says, and I shake my head. “Can’t I have one night of peace?” I let out and he offers me his biggest grin and I know I’m in for shit. “I haven’t forgotten the girl you took home with you. You haven’t told me what the fuck happened,” he says and I roll my eyes as I empty my glass, raising it above my head. “Who’s the girl?” I wish I fucking knew. She got out of my house so fast I didn’t even get a chance to
Grace POVI look at the dress my mom got for me, and I can’t help but scrunch my nose. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful dress, but it’s not something I would wear. The green fabric matches my eyes and I stare at myself in the mirror with the dress in front of me.“It’s an Ellie Saab,” my mom announces and I look at her over my shoulder, not really knowing what she means by that. I know nothing about fashion. It never really interested me, anyway. That’s why I allow my mother to buy the dresses she wants me to wear to these types of events.“It’s beautiful, Mom,” I say, and her smile widens. I hate breaking their heart and I always pretend to love everything they do, and all the clothes they buy me. They always end up staying in the back of my closet, forgotten.“Good, the glam team will be here soon, so come on, go have a
Grace POV“I finally found you, Sleeping Beauty,” he whispers against my ear. His breath caressing my skin and I could feel every hair on my body rising at the feeling. Oh, God. Why are you doing this to me?“Sleeping Beauty?” I ask and he nods, smiling. It’s not the first time he has called me that, and I know he is using it as an endearing term, but I really don’t agree with it. Sleeping Beauty is one of the films I can never watch. The fact she would only wake up with the prince kissing her always made me think it was wrong. True love’s kiss should’ve been from her parents, not from a guy.“You were the most beautiful girl I have ever seen while sleeping, so I thought it was a good way of describing you, especially coz I didn’t know your name, you ran way too fast,” Dash says and I can feel my cheeks burning. Me, the most beautiful girl?&l
Dash POVThe way Grace’s legs tighten around my waist as she grinds against my cock is driving me wild. My head is spinning with the way her body is moving and the way her hands are digging into my air slightly, pulling as I move my mouth down her neck, leaving small kisses on her bare skin.I move my hand from her ass, caressing her leg that is exposed by the huge slit on her dress, and slowly move to the inside of her leg, caressing her pussy through the thin fabric covering it. I can feel her wetness and as my fingers move slowly, her breath hitches and she moans slowly.“Fuck, you’re so wet baby,” I whisper into her ear as I leave a small bite on her neck sucking. Grace moans with her mouth on my shoulder, then her hips keep bucking against my cock. Her hands gripping my jacket to keep herself in place. I pull her underwear to the side, coating my fingers with her juices, and Grace bites my
Grace POV“How was the party?” Amber asks as we sit at the table in the coffee shop we usually meet before class. I shrug and she looks at me, frowning. “You looked so good,” she says and I offer her a smile. Thinking about the party makes my stomach flutter. Thinking about Dash makes my entire body of work on an overdrive. I feel my cheeks burn as Amber frowns, looking at me.“Okay, what happened there?” She asks before she takes a bite of her Danish. I shrug once more and she is not having it. Her eyes scan my face and as the heat creeps up to my cheeks, she points at my face. “Aha,” she lets out, and I take a small sip of my coffee.“It was weird, okay? My parents kept introducing me to different guys. My mom’s obsession with getting me married is unreal,” I say, shaking my head. Amber takes a deep breath, putting her coffee cup down and looking
Jagger POVEntering the elevator, I press my key card to the reader and the doors close immediately. I hate sharing the elevator with people, so I like to come early, before everyone is supposed to start. Today is a bad day for me. It’s been ten years today since my life changed and made me the man I am today. The elevator doors open and Janet looks at me with a wide smile. I look at her, shaking my head slightly as I walk to her desk and she offers me a cup of black coffee. “Good morning boss,” she says and I raise an eyebrow, looking at her and her shoulders slump as she looks at me. “What? Can’t I try to make your day a little better? Today is your dark day after all,” she says and I nod slightly, offering her a small smile. I don’t smile a lot lately, I don’t have a lot of reasons to smile, anyway. “Every day is a dark day,” I correct Janet, and she crosses her arms in front of her chest giving me her sassy attitude and I nod “Thank you for the coffee,” I tell her and her entire
Dash POVStanding at the altar waiting for Grace to walk up to me is making me more nervous than I have ever been in my life. Waiting for her to walk to me in her wedding dress, ready to make me her husband, is the weirdest feeling ever. The past year I have spent showing Grace how much I love her and how important she is to me. The Bridal March starts playing and I look at my brother, who is standing next to me while I adjust my jacket. Fiddling with my hands seems to be helping with the anxiety of seeing Grace.Everyone stands up and then I see Grace walking towards me next to her mother. The veil is covering her face, but I can see her smile underneath. Once they stand in front of me, Marie kisses me on the cheek before offering me her daughter’s hand. I hold Grace’s hand, bringing it to my lips before I remove the veil from her face and her eyes shine with happiness, but it soon disappears when her eyes move from me to my brother standing behind me. “What happened to Jagger?” Gr
Dash POVOne year laterOpening my eyes as I feel the sweat dripping down my face and my heart beating fast makes me sit up straight immediately. I look around the room, remembering I am in Jagger’s house. Today is my wedding day and Grace came up with the whole shit. I am not allowed to see her before the wedding kind of crap.I tried to explain to her that superstition made no sense, not when we lived together and shared a life already, but she made me promise I would respect what she wanted. What can I say? The girl says jump and I ask how high. I am entirely in her hands and she can do whatever the fuck she wants with me that I will allow her to. Pulling up a pair of shorts that I left on the chair, I walk out of the room towards the living room to find my brother with an ice pack against his lip. I raise a single eyebrow as I step closer to him and chuckle as his bruised face appears behind the ice. “Holly shit, Grace is going to fucking kill you, and those bruises won’t be any
Dash POVI open my eyes and immediately regret doing so. My mouth is dry and my vision is blurred. I move my hands up and down my face, trying to wake up, but the headache makes me flinch. I groan in frustration and when I move; I feel something next to me in bed. No, no… Fear strikes and I stand still, not wanting to look at how much I fucked up last night. Getting drunk is one thing, but hooking up and ending up fucking a random girl is an entirely different kind of fuck up. A fuck up, I will not forgive myself. Gathering the courage to look after taking several breaths, I move slightly to see Grace sleeping next to me. I look up and then look at my side again, sitting up on the bed in one movement. Not believing my eyes, I smile, but at the same time freak out a little. How the fuck did I end up in bed with Grace?I look around the room, not recognizing it, and then look down at my body to find a pair of green boxer shorts I have never seen in my life. What the fuck? Looking arou
Grace POV“Grace, dinner is ready, sweetheart,” Mom says as she opens my bedroom door. I nod my head slightly without lifting my head from the pillow. “I’m not hungry,” I whisper back as I feel a single tear roll down my face. I have been crying on and off since I left Dash’s house. Everything he has told me, plus everything else that happened, has taken a toll on me. It’s like my brain has gone into overdrive and shut down. Refusing to cope with what is happening.Mom takes a deep breath as she sits on the edge of the bed, resting her hand on my legs. I look at her and I can see the concern plastered all over her face. “I am worried about you,” Mom says, and that is the last thing I want. She doesn’t deserve to be feeling this. She has gone through so much, I hate putting another thing on her back. Mom looks like she has aged years in the last few days. The betrayal, the divorce, my dad’s death, and my kidnapping have taken a huge chunk of her life away. “Sorry Mom,” I say, sitting
Dash POV“What do you mean, you do things that would make my skin curl? What do you mean by that?” Grace asks and I close my eyes for a few seconds and when I open them, her eyes widen as if she is finally understanding everything. “I am innocent Grace, and I will make sure no one comes back to hurt you,” I say, and she stands up so fast it makes my head spin. “Careful, you can’t do that,” I say, but she ignores me as she paces around the living room. “Are you telling me you are like Parisi?” Grace asks and I stand walking to her. I place my hands on her neck and her eyes meet mine as I caress her skin lightly with my thumb as I shake my head. “I am nothing like that fucker, I don’t traffic women, I don’t rape women, I don’t force them to do things they don’t want, and I sure as hell don’t hurt innocent women,” I add and Grace’s eyes widen again as her hands fly to touch mine. Her hands gripping mine but she doesn’t push away. “I am not like him, but I am not innocent,” I say and s
Grace POV“I can walk by myself,” I let out with a giggle as Dash lifts me from the car. His arms holding me bridal style as he carries me to the elevator. His eyes meet mine and he plants a small kiss on my lips as we wait inside the elevator. The doors open, taking us into our apartment and when we are inside, I look around trying to find my furry friend, but disappointment takes over as I can’t see him anywhere. “Where’s Crow?” I ask Dash and he smiles as he puts me on the couch. His eyes follow my every move as I adjust to my position. “So? Where is he?” I ask and Dash sits next to me, smiling. “Jagger has him, because I was spending so much time in the hospital with you he offered to stay with him, shocking I know,” Dash says and I widen my eyes, nodding. “I never thought I would see the day the big bad wolf would become a teddy bear and decide to offer his help with a dog,” I say as I laugh, and Dash smiles. “Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat,” he says and I sh
Dash POVI walk straight into the room where all the instruments are kept. Things here are different from the safe house. The cells are like rooms and we can’t keep the stuff inside because otherwise they could use it against us or against themselves. Gathering my favorites, I smile as I grab the baseball bat, the knife, and the nail remover. I shove them into my pocket as I rest the baseball bat against my shoulder and I walk into Amber’s room. Her eyes meet mine and she immediately moves against the wall. “Please, don’t do this Dash, I can give you more information,” Amber says and I can’t help but laugh at her poor attempt at getting out of this. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Amber says, and I shake my head as I grab my phone from my pocket. I log into the security camera feed and show the bitch she is not alone anymore. Amber gasps, covering her mouth with her hand as she sees her pile of shit boyfriend or whatever Parisi is in the other room. He is tied to the wal
Jagger POVWatching my brother almost go through everything I went through has become my worst nightmare. The way he was barely breathing while we tried to find Grace was killing me. I don’t wish that pain on anyone, especially not on my twin brother. He is everything to me. He is the only person I can rely on. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Ghost asks and I nod as he wraps my wrists and hands. Ghost has become a good friend in the last few months. “You can still leave,” he adds, and I shake my head. “Are you trying to get into my head?” I ask, looking directly into his dark eyes. and he shakes his head, cocking his head to the side slightly. When I am done, I walk out of the changing rooms straight into the cage where I am about to have my first underground fight. Ghost introduced me to this world and I come here every time I want to distract myself. There’s something therapeutic for me watching people bleed. “Remember what I told you,” Ghost says and I nod. This is an under