Share
CHAPTER 78
Related chapters
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 79
Was I really this weak with Martin?Am I really so afraid and run-down that knocking on a door was fear-inducing?Dammit all to hell.I slapped my hands against my cheeks hard. “Pull yourself together, Elena!” I whispered.“Talkin’ to yourself is the first sign of insanity,” a voice behind me said.I turned and looked at Bray. Or was it Titus? Dammit, they looked so alike. I dropped my eyes to his left arm. A pocket-watch tattoo peeked out from beneath the sleeve of his tight-fitting shirt. Bray.“Then I’m probably already halfway there.” My lips twitched.“Did you just work out who I am by my tattoo?” He pointed to his inner bicep.My cheeks heated. “Um. Yes.”Bray’s lips formed a wide grin, and his eyes glimmered with amusement. “Smart. It’s kinda awkward when a girl can’t tell you apart from your twin.”My face got even warmer at his insinuation. “I didn’t want to be rude and ask, but I guess that was kind of rude anyway.”“It was cute.” He winked. “For the record, I’m the better lo
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 80
AIDEN She was a pretty fuckin’ firecracker all wrapped up with a demure little bow. One minute she was wiping her sweaty, trembling hands on her legs, and the next she was staring me down and twisting my balls so tightly with her words that they had turned blue from blood loss. And, sweet fucking Jesus, where the hell did it come from? Shoulda leaned over the damn seat and kissed her when she dared me to. To hell with being her boss. To hell with Chloe’s damn stupid-ass rules. To hell with Elena’s sassy little smart mouth. Next time she so much as glances at me with a hint of her sass, I’m gonna kiss it right out of her. It ain’t my fault she’s got pretty, pouty pink lips just begging for it. She went from shy to confident faster than a damn yo-yo spins on its string. And I didn’t understand it. Or her. A single fucking bit. I shouldn’t want to, but I did. From the point of view of her employer. If she was gonna be all bipolaresque on our asses we should know. I rolled my shoul
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 81
My fingers teased the guitar strings endlessly. The music flew through my veins, a rush and comfort. An exhilaration and a soother. A total contradiction, but one that made sense nonetheless.Song after song it went, one after another, beat after chord, chord after lyric, lyric after scream, scream after blackout.We set our instruments down softly and walked back into the wings. Elena was standing in mine, clasping a bottle of water. I closed my fingers around the neck of the bottle, my pinkie barely an inch from hers, and pause.“You did good,” she said softly, swallowing before she looked up and met my eyes.I stared into her dark eyes, the color of dark chocolate, of a black coffee after a night of no sleep, and I replied, “I know.”I took the bottle from her, unscrewed the cap, and tipped it up, walking past her. I didn’t need my cute-as-fuck assistant getting into my head tonight.No, I needed some fangirling, groupie-ass bitch to bend over for me so I could relieve this stress.
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 82
ELENANote to self: next time Aiden calls you to his room, make sure he has pants on before you go.I didn’t know what annoyed me more, the fact he wanted me to get rid of that girl like she was a bag of trash or that he didn’t put his pants on before he called me.Worst thing was that I didn’t exactly hate that he wasn’t wearing pants.Maybe that was why I was annoyed. Why I still freakin’ was. He pulled an asshole move, something totally disrespectful to the girl and to me, and I was still marginally attracted to him.Marginally. Just a tiny bit. Because, you know, it’s easy to find someone that looks, like, that incredibly attractive. With the selection of tattoos snaking up his arms and onto his chest, not to mention his lean, defined physique, he was like a . . . I don’t know. A walking wet dream.I covered my eyes with my hand. Boss, Elena. No men, Elena. Find yourself before an orgasm, Elena.“Okay,” I whispered to myself. Sheesh—here we go again with the talking to myself. May
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 83
I inhaled slowly when he opened the trunk and placed the shopping bags in. “I’m not lying.”“Mhmm.” He pushed the cart to the security guy, who wheeled it over to the cart shelter. Then he walked to me, slowly, and reached around my body to the car door. With his fingers curled around the door handle, he leaned his face towards mine. “Then why,” he whispered, “don’t you look at me when you tell me?”I averted my eyes to the side, saying nothing. He was standing so close to me, and he smelled good. Like, really good. Like coffee and cinnamon—warm and comforting. Nothing like the harsh cologne Martin used to wear, and definitely nothing like the whiskey and cigarette smoke he occasionally smelled like.“Huh?” he prompted, his voice still a gentle breezing whisper. “That’s what I thought.”“Leave it alone,” I replied, finally bringing my eyes to meet his. They were burning into me, thrilling and scary, and it was all I could do to ignore the shiver that cascaded its way down my spine. “P
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 84
AIDENI packed the guitar into the case and carried it out to the bus. Another city done. Next stop: Atlanta, Georgia. Where the girls were hot and the sexy was hotter.With any luck, I’ll find a chick to fuck Elena out of my system.For real, this girl has been our assistant for six days and I was going stir-fry motherfucking crazy.I could see her now, standing in the lobby of the hotel, a notepad and pen in her hands, laughing and smiling with everyone. Despite her initial shyness, she was fitting right in. Everyone seemed to love her.She was gorgeous, she was quiet, and she was sweet.She was a fucking walking dream, if you like that shit.She was soft and gentle—even down to her laugh. I swear to God that when she laughed, the clouds part, like something out of the Bible, and every giggle was accompanied by an angel singing.Shame about the shadows in her eyes whenever I asked her why she was here. It was the ex—of that I was damn well sure. She clammed up when I asked about him
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 85
ELENAI stared in the mirror. It was faded. In fact, it was almost gone. Sure, I froze my butt off lying in an ice-cold bath for an hour last night, and I was pretty sure I had a cold coming, but the bruise was better.Aiden walking in yesterday had ruined everything I planned. I didn’t want anyone to find out about my hellish past. I just wanted to come in, do my job, find myself. It seemed so simple before—but before, I didn’t know Aiden James.I didn’t expect him to push. I didn’t expect the James brothers to be so . . . immature, at times. Of course, if I didn’t have Martin’s voice whispering in the back of my mind so often, if I weren’t a victim-turned-survivor of both mental and physical abuse, I wouldn’t have been so bothered by their words. I’d have simply laughed and maybe said something snarky back in response.Instead I clammed up, got scared, and ran.And now my past wasn’t so secret.He knew. I was not stupid. I denied it until I was lacking in oxygen, but Aiden knew. The
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 86
I smiled. “Because you had to?”“That’ll be it.” She laughed again. “How are you feelin’?”I looked into my glass and ran my finger across the base, wiping up the condensed drops. “I’m all right.”“You don’t look it.”I shrugged. “I guess I just feel kind of bad that Tate’s bad mood is because of me and now it’s affecting everyone.”I did. Being honest with him really wouldn’t have hurt anyone. Why was it so hard to admit that I had a crappy relationship that I ran from? Why wouldn’t the words fall from my mouth?Even to Chloe, I had to add in “maybes” and “might haves” like they softened the blow.“It ain’t your fault, you know?” she prompted. “He’s not happy because he isn’t getting his own way. He’s a big old baby, Aiden is. He can’t get inside your pants because you work for him, and now you won’t tell him stuff he wants to know.”“You didn’t tell him?” I snapped my eyes up.Chloe shook her head. “Elena, no. It ain’t my place to tell him. I told Conor your ex was an asshole and yo
Latest chapter
