Kings of Anarchy (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #3) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,20

much he meant them with that act, making love to me instead of fucking me. Our souls collided and merged, and my heart swelled with that feeling of being worshipped as he built me up and up until I was seeing stars and coming apart beneath him in a galaxy of colour and heat.

He continued to kiss me long after we were done, holding me tight in his arms and promising me the world without any more words passing between us and I felt safe there in a way I’d longed to for so damn long that it hurt.

I couldn't say that I loved Blake Bowman. Maybe I did, maybe my heart was a traitor that had fallen for its tormentor. But deep down, I knew that if I fell for one of the Night Keepers, I would fall for all of them, no matter how terrifying that truth was. It meant the legend would come true. That I really was the Night Bound. They would own me in every way imaginable. I was afraid of letting that happen after everything that had happened between us. And I wasn’t sure I ever could.

T he O'Brien estate was only forty miles from Everlake, so I had no real excuse for how infrequently I visited my family home aside from the fact that I fucking despised everyone who shared blood with me. So there was that.

We'd taken my black, limited edition Harley Davidson, a couple of saddle bags loaded up with clothes for a couple of days on the back of it and my girl riding pillion behind me with her arms wrapped tight around my waist. I almost could have enjoyed it if I hadn’t been dreading reaching our destination so damn much.

It was a picturesque ride down through the mountains and though it was cold, the sky was a bright and endless shade of blue, so we hadn't had to deal with much in the way of weather. The bike made it easier to travel through the city too, though with lockdown still in force, the roads were fairly clear.

We’d left at five in the morning which meant we were a lot less likely to be spotted by the cops, but Liam would have paid them all off anyway, so I wasn't really worried about getting caught breaking lockdown regulations.

We turned down the private road where my family pretty much all lived and started passing the O'Brien houses one after another. They were all huge, white monstrosities with multiple extensions, perfectly manicured lawns and ridiculously expensive cars parked on the drives. Every single one of them was trying to out do the others with their obnoxiousness and yet not a single one even came close to competing with the main estate where Liam O'Brien lived alone, lording it over all of them in his eighteen bed mansion. My darling Grandpa, head of the family and all out King Bastard, living up on top of his hill like he ruled the fucking world. And I guessed he did. At least my version of it anyway.

Of course all nine of his children were eyeing him with hopes of taking his place as the head of the family when the old fucker finally croaked it. Well, all aside from Niall who didn’t seem to have the slightest bit of interest in ruling an empire, though I was pretty sure that just made Liam more likely to select him for the role. But despite the fact that my grandpa was well into his eighties, I knew there was no way he was going to die any time soon. That said, conniving bastard that he was, he'd refused to publicly state which of his children he was naming as heir to his title as head of the family when he did up and die.

In fact, now that I was eighteen, it was technically possible that he might choose me for the position too. But I seriously doubted that. Because unlike every other adult member of this shit show they called a family, I spent absolutely none of my time trying to lick his ass and buy his favour. So there was no way in fuck he'd be picking me out of the ranks. Which was a damn good thing as far as I saw it. Maybe when he died I really would be able to cut ties with this horror show of freaks and fuck ups. The problem was that in the meantime I was