“Time for bed, Rosie,” my father says in a steely voice.
Rosie keeps her hands over her mouth as she slips off the chair and scrambles up the stairs to her bedroom.
I sit back in my seat and cross my arms over my chest. “She wasn’t done eating.”
My father leans an elbow on the table as he makes eye contact with me. He grabs his wine glass, studying me with his head tilted to the side as he brings it to his mouth as if daring me to turn this into a fight. And why not? Arguing seems to have replaced all of the usual family activities we used to have before the Sloanes arrived.
“You know, she could do to lose a few pounds,” Diana says. “We should dish up less carbohydrates for her tomorrow, Wayne.”
I stand up so fast, my chair tumbles to the floor behind me.
Diana gasps, a hand fluttering to her chest as if I’ve just taken out a fucking assault rifle.
“Time you went to bed too,” Dad says.
“Exactly where I was going.”
Diana is up in an instant. “I’m going to watch my show. Harper, clean the table.”
A cruel smile plays on my mouth as I watch my stepsister’s face fall. “But Mom, I—”
“Don’t worry, Jude can help,” Dad says.
My smile evaporates.
Of course I can. My only mission in life is to make Harper more comfortable. We watch as my dad and her mom leave arm-in-arm, taking the bottle of wine and their glasses with them.
Harper reaches for her wine glass, but I snatch it away before she can grab it. Gone is the attentive, perky little smile and glittering eyes. She’s scowling like a demon, her true face revealed now that our parents aren’t in the room anymore.
“You’re underage, you know.”
“Go to hell, loser.”
I grab a few of the plates and stack them haphazardly in my arms as I head for the dishwasher. “Meet you there, Sis.”
Chapter 2
Harper
I can’t remember exactly when the dreams first began, but it was near the end of summer break when me and my mom moved into Dearth Manor. The first one shocked me so much, I woke up gasping like I’d had a nightmare. But that was not the case.
I’ve had sex dreams before. I’d never been able to work up the courage to ask Mom if they were normal or not. Fuck it, I’d barely been able to tell her when I got my first period. We’re anything but close. More acquaintances than mother and daughter. It’s always been like that. Maybe because she was always working, and when she wasn’t working, she was always with a man. Boyfriend, lover, husband. Mom made a point of never being lonely after Dad left us a decade ago.
The only lonely person in the house was me. We’d move before I got around to making friends. Eventually, I stopped trying. I’d always been independent, resourceful. What did I need friends for anyway?
But now that I’m getting older and all these weird things are happening to me—like the dreams—I kinda wish I had someone to talk to. As much as I hate technology, I’m actually considering opening a social media account just for that human connection.
I’ve missed a lot of school over the years while Mom hopped from job to job, lover to lover, husband to husband. Maybe things will be different at Cinderhart High. Maybe we’ll even stay here long enough for me to finish out the year. God, I hope this is the last one before I graduate.
Not just that…for the first time in a long time, I’m hoping I can actually make a friend or two. Maybe they could tell me if these dreams are normal.
I fall down into the passenger seat of Jude’s Range Rover. I’ve never been inside a truck this fancy in real life, and maybe that’s why everything’s a little blurry. Everything except Jude Dearth, of course.
The rolled-up sleeves of his crisp white dress-shirt bare tanned, well-defined arm muscles. Narrowed eyes the color of dark wood regard me for a heart-pounding moment before he turns his attention forward, puts the truck in gear, and drives.
“Put some fucking clothes on, Harper. Or do you want everyone in school to know you’re a slut?”
I gape at him, shocked. But when I look down, I see I’m only wearing my school blazer, my bra and panties underneath. No shirt, no skirt.
What the fuck?
“Go back!” I yell, trying to wrap my blazer around my nakedness. “I need my clothes!”
Jude lets out a dark chuckle. “I think you look pretty like that. So will the other guys.”
“What guys?”
“My friends.” Jude’s dark eyes twinkle when he glances at me. “Wait until you meet them, Harper. They’re gonna eat you up?”
“Jude, stop the car.”
He slows down and then stops, but when I grab the handle, the door is still locked.
“Let me out.” I’m frightened, confused, and yet disembodied.
Jude grabs my thigh and pulls my leg toward him. “Come on, Harper. It’s just us now. I know you’re a freak like me. You don’t have to pretend anymore.”
I shrink away from him, but he slides over the console like a snake, impossibly fitting his tall, muscular body over my seat. The hand on my leg slides between my thighs.
An explosion of sensations erupts through me. Tingles in my clit and pussy, an aching in my core. I start squirming, distantly aware of the feel of satiny sheets against my body. I want to close my eyes and lose myself in his touch, but something keeps my gaze locked on Jude’s handsome, chiseled features as he strokes me through my underwear.
“Stop,” I breathe, grabbing his hand, trying to pull him away. “You can’t…”
“Why not?” he says, cocking his head and watching me like I fascinate him. “Don’t you want someone to fuck you? Fingers on your clit, a dick in your pussy. Tell me you don’t want to know what it feels like, and I’ll stop.”
His deep, rough voice fills me with hedonistic urges I’ve never had in real life…only in these lurid dreams.
I open my legs and push against him, mentally willing him to slip his fingers inside me, to feel how wet I am.
He groans deep in his throat and drops his head to kiss the side of my neck. I moan, bucking my hips to force harder pressure against my pussy.
One of his fingers starts stroking my clit, then massaging it.
Waves of ecstasy spill through me, but I’m no closer to an orgasm. It just keeps building, and building, and building. Impossible, incredible, intense as fuck. Something else slips between my legs. It’s not his fingers—it has to be his cock. But his body is flush with mine now, and we’re in the backseat, and there’s nothing for me to look at but his dark, malicious eyes.
“See…” he murmurs. His head stays still as something thick and hard and hot rams into me. I whimper, and he grabs my jaw, keeping my focus on him. “You’re a freak…just like me.”
I moan, writhe, squirm. I’m soaked, slippery and hot. Every inch of my body is alive with sensation, and it feels like there are a thousand hands on me, touching everywhere all at once. I hear myself, moaning so loud that I’m sure someone standing beside my bed will hear me.
“You love it,” Jude says. “You love me.”
My eyes fly open, and I’m in my dark room, a gasp rattling through my throat. I still feel the shock of his words reverberating through my mind like a ghostly echo.