Raging Hard: A Stepbrother SEAL Romance (With bonus novel Based!) (18 page)

“She was a hungover mess yesterday morning. Today, too.”

“Seems about right.”

“She was so normal at the beginning of the summer.”

“This is her pattern.” I sighed, not at all surprised we were having this conversation. “She gets comfortable with her new guy and starts to act like her normal alcoholic self.”

“I don’t like it.”

I snorted. “You’ll get used to it. Or not, and you’ll leave to join the fucking Navy because you’re a kid and you can’t handle being around your psychotic, self-destructive mother anymore.”

“That’s why you joined?”

“Nah. It was mostly for the dental plan.” I smirked at her and she laughed.

“What about your dad?” she asked.

“What about him?”

“You never bring him up.”

“Can’t say I know much about him.”

She looked frustrated. “Okay, how about you pretend like we’re having a conversation and try that again?”

I laughed. “Relax there, princess. My dad died when I was just a kid.”

“Was he like your mom?”

“An alcoholic? Yeah, so she says. He was a hard man with a hard life before he met my mom. I think that was what attracted her.”

“What happened?”

“Cancer, actually. Though the drinking wasn’t too far behind, according to my mother.”

“That seems hard.”

“Not really. I buried that demon a long time ago. I got new demons now.”

“Like, from the army?”

I looked at her for a second, not saying anything. She could be blunt, but also a little naïve at times.

“You can talk to me, you know,” she said.

“Not interested in having a cry fest with my stepsister, but thanks.”

“You don’t have to be a jerk about it. I was just saying, I can try and help if you ever want to talk about it. Or just listen.”

“There are ways you can help.”

“How?”

I leaned in close to her. “Wrap those perfect lips around my dick and suck slow and hard until I come in that pretty mouth.”

She blushed. “Not what I was thinking.”

“But a lot more fun. You can help me fuck the demons away any time.”

The image of Claire beneath me, her back arched, her tits perfect, her nipples erect, came back to me. I wanted to fuck her on the pool chair so bad it almost hurt. I could feel my cock grow rock hard, and I was sure she noticed it, too. Tough not to see it through the damn running shorts. She didn’t mention it, though, as I decided to get the fuck out of there before I did something stupid.

“Have a good day,” I said. “Don’t get too burnt.”

“Sure. Will do.”

I turned and walked away. I couldn’t let myself get sucked into her shit. She was already trying to be all maternal and crap, as if she could somehow help me deal with all the shit I’d seen. She didn’t know half of it and never would. The United States frowned on any SEAL that talked about classified mission info, to put it lightly.

I could already tell I was in a fucking pickle, to put it mildly. On the one hand, I wanted to fuck her raw and fast, sweat out all my aggression and anger, punish her pussy so hard that she screamed for more. But I knew I couldn’t do that, not when she was my stepsister, and not when she was so damn innocent. Yeah, that was part of why I wanted her to suck my cock, because I wanted to dirty her up, corrupt her. But I shouldn’t lead her down that path. Besides, I didn’t want her getting any more attached.

Still, attached or not, there was something going on with her family, something dangerous involving the Broken Hearts, whoever they were. I couldn’t let that issue fester, couldn’t let something bad happen to Claire.

Inside, sitting at the kitchen counter, Lucille was drinking what looked a lot like a Bloody Mary, and she looked like a wreck. All in all, an average morning for her.

“Mother,” I said.

“There you are. I was wondering where my useless son had gone.”

“Anything that isn’t alcohol is useless to you, Lucille.”

“There’s that asshole wit of yours,” she snapped. “When will you grow up?”

I heard a floorboard nearby creak but decided I didn’t care if we had an audience.

“You forget, Lucille, you have absolutely no bearing on my life. But you are involved with Claire and her father.”

“What’s it matter to you? You’re going to do whatever you want and then disappear at the end of summer.”

“Maybe,” I said, shrugging. “But you shouldn’t be a bitch to Claire.”

Lucille rolled her eyes. “That girl is such a weak little brat.”

“She doesn’t deserve your psycho bullshit.”

“Oh, sure, she’s nice. So nice and cute. Too bad she’ll be all used up by the time she’s my age.”

“Not everyone is you.”

Just then, Jonathan stepped into the room, a fake-as-hell smile plastered on his face.
You clearly heard all that,
I thought to myself.
You know she’s crazy. Why are you still with her?

“What are you two talking about?” he asked, the annoyance barely hidden behind his fake smile.

“Nothing, dear,” Lucille said, perking up. “Just talking about what he was doing for the summer.”

“Yes, about that,” Jonathan said, looking at me. “Still going to run the boats for me? Tommy said you two didn’t show up today.”

“Actually, I need to talk to you about that.”

“Go ahead, Nathan.”

“Alone.”

He stared at me for a second. “Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of your mother.”

“No, sir, I can’t, because my mother is a harpy and will tell the first reporter she can find.”

They both gaped at me. “Nathan,” Jonathan said, “you can’t talk about your mother that way.”

“Yes, I can,” I said quickly, stifling whatever Lucille was about to say, “because you want to hear about this.”

Jonathan looked at me for a long second.

“You can’t be serious, Nathan,” Lucille said during the silence. “Are you this desperate for male attention? I know your father died when you were young, but this is pathetic.”

I had to clench my fists to keep from smacking her across the face. I knew she was my mother, but that was a low blow, even by her standards.

Jonathan seemed to agree. “Lucille, leave the boy alone.” He gestured at me. “Follow me.”

I walked next to him as my mother glared at me. I ignored her, following Jonathan out the front door. We walked in silence until we reached the path that led back around toward the beach.

“What’s so important that you’re risking my marriage?”

“Something happened yesterday. You may not believe what I’m about to tell you, but it’s the truth.”

He frowned at my serious expression. “Go ahead.”

And so I explained to him what went down. I started from the beginning. However, in this version, me threatening them with a gun was enough to scare them off, and getting a local drunk was enough to find out about the Broken Hearts. I wasn’t sure Jonathan needed to know about them, but I decided anything that could get him to take me seriously was worth divulging. But he sure as hell didn’t need to know that I had killed two men and had threatened to kill a third.

When I was finished, he looked thoughtful, though not as worried as he should have been.

“Pirates, huh?”

“Pirates. Real deal, no bullshit pirates. But I don’t think they were after the boat.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“The Broken Hearts are locals. They wouldn’t bother a local boat, even one owned by an outsider.”

“Besides,” Jonathan added, “Tommy works for me. He’s lived here his whole life.”

That was an interesting bit of information. I couldn’t help but tuck it away in my mind for later, even though none of this was my problem.

“You should hire security, just in case,” I said.

“Well then, it’s a good thing you’re here.”

“I don’t do private security.”

“I’ll pay you. A lot of money, actually. More than the SEALs ever paid you.”

“It’s not about money.”

He looked at me thoughtfully as we walked down the beach. “I heard what you said earlier,” he said finally.

“I know. My mother can be a bitch.”

“Yes, she can. But she has a good heart, believe it or not. Still,” he continued before I could argue, “the important part is what you said about my daughter. You clearly care for her.”

“She’s my stepsister, and she’s a good person.”

“Yes, she is. If you won’t run security for everything, please at least act as her bodyguard.”

I stared at him for a second, and it felt like my heart skipped a beat. I didn’t want anything to do with this. Hell, he could easily hire a guy to protect Claire.

But he wasn’t going to find anyone like me. I doubted very many SEALs did private stuff, let alone SEALs that would act as security to one spoiled rich girl. This would be the opposite of what I wanted, though. I wanted to put distance between her and me, hopefully let her get the message that what had happened was a one-time thing.

Except I did genuinely believe there was a threat to their lives, and I could never live with myself if I let that happen to her. When I said it wasn’t about money, I wasn’t lying.

It was about honor. And my honor demanded that I see this thing through, at least to keep Claire safe.

Besides, it was going to be fun. She clearly wanted to play some games with me, and although I was trying to avoid that, maybe I could spend a few more weeks riling her up.

“Okay,” I said finally. “I’ll do it. Just for Claire.”

“Very good. We’ll work out the payment later. But for now, consider yourself officially her bodyguard. I’ll tell her as soon as we get home.”

“Actually,” I said, “maybe that should come from me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? She can be very willful sometimes.”

“I can handle it.”

“Very good.” He clapped me on the back. “I’ll hire some men for Lucille and my businesses. This is a very inconvenient time to have something bad happen, you know.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because of the big land deal I’m involved in. Boring business stuff, but it’s important.”

“Sounds like motive to attack you right there.”

“Yes. You may be right.”

We walked back toward the house, and although I could smell something wrong with the whole “land deal” thing, I decided not to press. I didn’t want to spook Jonathan, and besides, it wasn’t my issue.

My only job, my one and only mission, was to act as Claire’s bodyguard. And to mess with her as much as possible.

And to have her sweet pussy wrapped around my cock at least one more time.

Because as much as I wanted to pretend otherwise, I was addicted.

I
was lying in my bed scrolling through my Facebook feed, waiting for my hair to dry, when I heard a knock at my door.

I assumed it would be my father. After my conversation with Nate earlier that day, I figured things were through between us, which was fine by me. It may have been true that I couldn’t stop thinking about his tall, ripped body, or the way he tongued my clit until I came over and over, but he was too much of an asshole, too cocky.

I was beginning to understand why my dad kept bringing around those rich guys all the time. At least they had manners. Maybe they were boring and stuck up and douchey, but at least they didn’t say the dirtiest things they could think of to me whenever they felt like it.

At least they didn’t make me soaking wet every time they were around.

Nate was a brainless Neanderthal. He was an ape. True, he was an ape with an incredible cock and a strength I’d never seen before, but still an ape. He was never going to change.

“Come in,” I called out.

The door opened slowly and there he was, my asshole stepbrother.

“Hey, Claire,” he said, grinning at me.

“What do you want? I figured we were done talking.”

“I don’t know,” he said, coming inside and closing the door behind him, “I think I had some interesting things to say.”

I tossed my phone away and sat up. “The only thing I kept hearing was how much of an asshole you are.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Please, little sis. You know you love it when I tell you how bad I want you to slide down my thick cock.”

“No, thanks. And don’t call me ‘little sis.’ That’s gross.”

He crossed his arms. “What would you prefer? Princess?”

“My name is fine.”

“Okay, princess it is.”

“What do you want, Nate?”

“I have some good news for you.” He walked over and sat down on the bed. I reluctantly made room for him, though I couldn’t help but remember the last time we were in that bed together, our arms wrapped around each other, our naked bodies pressed together.

“I’m not sure I want to hear it.”

“Trust me, you do.”

I sighed, not in the mood to go back and forth for another twenty minutes. “Okay, spit it out.”

“I told your father about what happened to us on the boat.”

I raised an eyebrow, surprised. “I thought you said we couldn’t tell anyone?”

“I changed my mind. Plus, I told him I scared the guys off with a gun.”

“So you lied to him.”

“I left out some incriminating details.”