Chapter 127
-ROMAN-
Ethan knocked on the window again.
Harder.
:
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I knew how bad this looked. Olivia in my car. Two minutes ago she had been on my lap. My hands on her thighs. Her dress shoved high enough that one more inch would have let me seen her panties.
I had been a breath from pushing that fabric up and dragging her panties down in a parked Mustang behind a club, not knowing her brother was nearby.
The fact that Ethan was here said plenty. He must have seen the videos. Damn it.
I could not hold back anymore. I opened the door and stepped outside.
He took one look at me and then back at the car.
“Where is my sister?”
Olivia got out on the other side before I could answer. Chin up like she was ready to fight both of us.
Her hair still looked like a man’s hands had been in it. Mine had not gotten that far. Luca’s had. The thought put more heat under my skin that I had no right to feel while Ethan stood three feet away.
I had never seen him look this serious.
Ethan Monroe joked. He clapped shoulders. He introduced women. Tonight his face was stripped of all of that. He looked like his father. He looked like a man who had watched a video of his little sister and decided
her fun night was over.
“I just saw the videos,” he said. “They’re everywhere. I want to know what you’re doing here. Why you came
here.”
Fuck.
I tried to stay calm. The guilt was already there, like I was betraying him just by standing this close to her. Like he could smell her on me. Like if he opened the passenger door, somehow he would know she was just straddling me.
“I was in the area,” I said. “I was supposed to meet Eden here. I saw Luca getting touchy with Olivia on videos and I stepped in before it turned into a bigger scandal.”
It was a lie. I hoped he couldn’t tell.
Ethan looked pissed.
Then the anger turned, slowly, toward her.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
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“I am not exactly the overprotective brother,” he said. “You know I am not. I let you live. I let you go out. I do not tell you if your dress is too short.” His voice sharpened. “But when you start putting yourself in danger and liming with F-boys like Luca-men with that reputation, I have no choice but to step in.”
My jaw clenched.
I did not like the tone he was using with her.
That was saying something. I was losing it. My hand tightened into a fist at my side. He was her brother. He had a right.
Olivia opened her mouth. Ethan did not let her get far.
“You think dad wants these videos attached to the Monroe name?” he asked her. “This isn’t like you. I don’t know why you’re suddenly acting out but if you truly like Luca, please forget about him. He’s no good for you.”
“I can handle myself,” she said.
“That video says otherwise.”
She flinched. I almost told him to watch his mouth when talking to her. I almost stepped between them the way I had stepped between her and Luca.
I did not.
Because I was supposed to be the supportive friend. Because if I defended her too much he would look at me the way I looked at myself in the rearview.
Ethan dragged a hand over his face. When he looked at me again, the seriousness switched into gratitude I did not deserve.
“Thank you for coming to her rescue. You’re a great friend. I am lucky to have you.” He said. “And one day Olivia would realize you saved her from making a mess out of her life.”
Fuck. That just made it worse.
If he knew the thoughts I had about his sister.
If he knew I had pulled her onto my lap two minutes ago with every intention of ruining that dress. If he knew I had wanted her panties down and her mouth on mine and the club noise far enough away that I could finally take what I had been denying since she was nineteen.
If he knew about the showers I spent groaning her name. More times than I wanted to admit.
He didn’t know that seeing Luca kiss her felt like someone had reached into my chest and stolen something that was never mine to own.
He would not be thanking me if he knew the truth.
He would be putting me through the same wall I wanted for Luca.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
He did not know anything.
“Yeah, I said. “Anytime.”
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Olivia glanced at me. I had no idea what she was thinking. I could not look at her long enough to find out. If I looked, I would see the girl who had been breathing against my mouth. I would see the girl Ethan was scolding like a child. I would see the girl I had used as a reason to almost commit assault in public and then used again as a reason to drag her into my car.
Ethan was already steering her toward his car, still lecturing, still calling me a great friend over his shoulder.
“You’re going home. You’re going to talk to Dad in the morning. And you are done with Vescari. I mean it, Olivia. I do not care if you think I am overreacting. I am not watching another video of you with a man who treats women like a toy.”
She did not look back at me.
I stood by the Mustang and watched them go.
A great friend.
Yeah, right.
I got back in the car alone, slammed the door, and sat there with Ethan’s thanks in my head and Olivia’s perfume scent still in the car.
The passenger leather was warm. I could still feel her thighs under my hands. I could still feel how close I had been to pushing that dress up and taking what I wanted.
I hated Luca.
I hated the video.
I hated myself more.
The reason I had come was not the one I had given her brother.
I started the engine and did not drive anywhere. Not yet. I sat in the dark with my hands on the wheel and the sound of Ethan calling me a great friend still ringing in my ears.
Great friends did not think about his best friend’s sister like that.
Great friends did not almost fuck her in a parking lot after playing hero.
I pulled out of the lot anyway, toward a house that would still expect me to look like I belonged next to Eden.
A woman I knew nothing about. A woman I found it hard to even be in the same room with.
“Damn it.” I growled.
Why was it so hard to stay away from her?
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.