“Are you warm enough?”
“Hmm.” I melt into his side. “I am.”
“Good. Now let’s get you inside so you can take a warm bath.”
“Are you going to take it with me?” I cock a flirtatious brow.
“You better fucking believe it. You’re stuck with me now. You understand that, don’t you?”
“I do.” I smile.
He pulls my chin up to look at him, such tenderness in his eyes that my knees go weak.
“You’ve really done a number on me.”
“Good. Because you’ve done the same to me.”
I’m left without words yet again when the boyish smile that tugs to his lips lights up his whole face, making him look younger than he is.
“Let’s go before I change my mind and fuck you again right here in the snow. I won’t be the reason why you get pneumonia over Christmas.”
I hide my smile in his chest as we both make our way back to the cabin. There is a certain perverse and forbidden thrill in feeling his cum leaking down my thighs. I almost stop to beg him to lick me clean and make me cum again on his tongue, but I know he’s right in getting us back inside before I do get sick. Of course, when we enter the cabin, reality pokes a hole in my plans of taking James upstairs and having my way with him.
“You are something else, aren’t you?!” Val yells at me the minute we pass through the living room's threshold. “First, you flirt with my husband, and then you go and fuck his dad? I’m ashamed to call you my sister. You are nothing but a repulsive slut!”
James takes a step in her direction, ready to rain hellfire on her, but I hold onto his arm preventing him from moving.
“Please,” I whisper beside him. “Let me handle my sister.”
He offers me a hesitant nod, his glower locked on Valerie.
I take two steps towards her, the snarl at her lips making her look just as grotesque on the outside as she is on the inside.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Val. But before you start throwing stones at me and disowning me as your sister, I need to clarify some things for you. I did not flirt or make a pass at your husband. He’s nothing to me, and he’s been nothing to me since you married him. I have no idea what lies he’s fed you, but I’m here to say that’s exactly what they are. Lies. And when it comes to my relationship with James, you dear sister, have no say on the matter. It’s my decision and mine alone who I decide to be in a relationship with.”
“You’re shameless! What will people think?” she spouts with a scoff.
“Says the girl who stole her sister’s boyfriend behind her back,” I counter with a smile.
“That’s different. We were in love. You never loved Knox the way I did. He was miserable with you.”
“If that’s true, then there would be no reason for you to feel so insecure. Face it, Val. Knox is not a good man. He fooled me just as much as he’s fooled you. His wholesome act of boy-next-door is just that, an act. And now he’s putting us against each other.”
“The only one who has ever fooled me is you. Always acting high and mighty and making me feel less than.”
“If that’s the way I made you feel, it was never my intention. “There is a small gleam of sadness in her eyes gives me a sliver of hope that maybe my sister isn’t lost to me. “Val, no matter what, you are still my sister. The only family I have. I love you,” I tell her in earnest.
“Well, I hate you,” she seethes, nostrils flaring.
James takes a step closer, and I know he’s dying to step in front of me and shield me from all the hate and pain Valerie is throwing at me.
“You probably think it’s naïve of me to tell you how much I care for you considering all the things you’ve done and said to me. But it doesn’t change my heart. I do love you, Val. And I hope that maybe one day we can be in each other’s lives.” I take in a breath and look her dead in the eye. “Although right now, this person that you’ve become is a stranger to me. One that I hold no affection for whatsoever. When my sister, the one who held my hand when she was frightened, the girl who used to crawl into my bed whenever there was a thunderstorm, the one whose hair I braided and styled anytime she felt insecure, when that sister comes back, come find me. I’ll always love you, Val. That won’t ever change. But right now, I don’t like the person you are and therefore have no room for you in my life.”
Val’s eyes widen in disbelief, and if she was a cartoon character, I’m almost positive there would be steam blowing out her ears.
“If you didn’t understand what Nicole just said, that’s your cue to get the fuck out of my house.” James chimes in, his lips thinned into a scowl.
On a huff, she rushes past us, stomping her feet up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door with a loud thud. Instantly, James wraps his arms around me, knowing how much I need him to keep me together after kicking my sister out of my life. But just as one painful altercation ended, a new one ensues.
“Isn’t this fucking rich?” Knox says when he catches his father and me hugging in the middle of the living room.
Instinctively, I place my open palms on James’ chest to push away from his embrace, but he refuses to let me go.
“No,” he whispers, shaking his head at me. His green-blue gaze softens, silently reminding me that there is nothing to be ashamed of.
He kisses my temple the minute I relax in his hold, and only then does he face his son.
“Knox, before you say anything you might regret afterward, let me make it clear that Nicole and I are together, so tread carefully with what you’re going to say next.”
“Oh, I saw how together you were.” He spits to the floor like some kind of animal.
James’ form immediately tenses, squaring his broad shoulders.
“Is that going to be a problem for you?”
“My father fucking my girlfriend is a big fucking problem, yeah,”
“Ex!” James shouts. “Ex-girlfriend, son. Or do you need another mental reminder?” James shouts, referring to the little show Knox got outside.
“You are such a piece of shit, old man.”
“What I know is that I’m not so old that I can’t give you the good ass-whipping you deserve.”
If looks could kill, the one that Knox is throwing at his father would have burned him asunder.
“So, it’s like that, huh? You’re going to choose this bitch over your own flesh and blood?”
In a flash, James lets me go and rushes over to Knox, holding him by the lapel, slamming his back against the nearest wall.
“Since we came up to the cabin you’ve been making googly eyes at her, and now you’re calling Nicole names? The only reason I don’t break your face right here and now for disrespecting my woman is because you are my son, Knox.”
“A lot of good that ever did me. You’ve been the worst father anyone could ever have. I wish you would fucking die already. The world would be a better place for it.”
Even though James looks unaffected by his son’s comment, I know by the way his jaw ticks that his words cut him deeply.
“And you, son, have always been a spoiled brat. Wanting only the things you can’t have.”