Hate Me (The Fox Family Crime Syndicate, #2)

by Summer O'Toole

I’m only frozen for a moment, and then I’m melting into him, fisting the collar of his shirt and breathing him in like he’s the only pure oxygen in the air.

I move to cross my arms over my chest, but he pulls them away and pins them at my side. “Don’t ever cover yourself in front of me. Not when you look like Aphrodite herself.”

He chuckles dryly behind me, “Are you telling me: Don’t. Stop. Or is my needy, plaything begging me not to stop.” “Goddamn you, Finn,” I sob. “Please. Please don’t fucking stop.” I feel myself break like a crack in an icy lake. Brittle. Cold. Irreversible.

“Oh god, fu—fuck!” “My name, princess. Scream my fucking name.” “F—F—Finn,” she cries in pure rapture, and it’s a sound I will remember for the rest of my life. One I never thought I’d hear again.

I pound on his back with my fists and try to flail my legs, but he has his arm like a steel bar across my thighs. “Finn, you goddamn caveman, put me down!”

The yellow sundress flowing over her curves is way too sweet for the things it makes me wanna do to her.

“But you’re worth it.” He cuts me with a deep stare, and it strikes a part of me that has been told my whole life I am not worth it. Not worth respect and standing because I wasn’t born a son. Not worth a voice or say because I’m just a pawn.

“Oh, princess,” I sing-song as I step out of the office unhurried, hands in my pockets. There’s no need to rush. She’s not going anywhere. This is always my favorite part, knowing my prey is trapped and just waiting for me to find them.

“So long as we’re clear…” She pauses and looks back at me. “Whatever happens next: you only have yourself to blame.”

“Do you—Do you remember when you made me promise to—to call you and you’d—” “And I’d be there.” He finishes my sentence and a weighty sense of relief I don’t quite understand settles in my chest. I hear rather than feel myself heave a gulp of air. I think I’m crying? “Effie, where are you? Are you at the apartment?” I nod as if he can see me and somehow he infers my silence as a yes. “I’m on my way.”

“It will when you have friends in the right places.” Luciano fixes me with a smug, sleazy smile. “All that’s left is to consummate it. Better get to it, lovebirds.”

At least not when she’s like this. Shut down. Dejected. Like being married to me is the worst fucking thing in the world. I know how to handle her when she’s pulling my hair and screaming my name as she comes apart on my tongue. I know how to handle her when she’s full of venom and spite. But this? This isn’t a version of Effie I ever want to see.

I keep my eyes closed a moment longer, scared to open them. Scared to see the one person I was supposed to protect and treasure, bent over, used and leaking my cum.

He doesn’t hear me as I approach him from behind. He moves fluidly and light, his lean back muscles dripping with sweat. Each punch radiates raw power, and I swallow a humbling breath. It’s not until this moment, watching the strong, sinewy muscles of his arms flex, that I realize how much rage and violence he’s been holding in, taking it out on the bag.

“Finn,” I breathe. “I’m here.” He rocks into me, and I feel his erection slide up my stomach. I reach out for it, and he bites into my shoulder when I twist up and down his shaft. “Fuck, Effie. If I’ve ruined you, you’ve obliterated me.”

“Fuck me and tell me how lucky you are.” He stills his thrusts and breathes heavily, taking in my words. “How lucky you are that after everything that’s happened, everything you’ve done, I’m still here, still wanting you.”

The shower is cramped, and our bodies are forced to shuffle against each other. I use both hands to brush the hair out of her face as I take her in. Truly fucking stunning.

The next thing I know my gun is drawn and the man is shaking, hands in the air. I throw my credit card on the counter. “Just charge it for three thousand, that should more than cover it.”

I brush a tear at the corner of her eye with my thumb. “Princess, you’re crying.” Her mouth cracks in a small smile. “I’m just surprised is all.” She wipes at her eyes and fixes me with a warm stare. “I love it. I promise.”

I pull the sunflower out of my pocket and— “Fuck, it’s all wilted.”

“Finn, would you calm the fuck down?” My eyes snap to her. “You’re the only person I know who gets more frazzled giving someone a flower than disposing of a body.”

“Look at you, a fucking masterpiece.” I stand behind her and skate my hands over her shoulders and down her arms.

“You made me feel like I wasn’t worthy of gentle love.” I pound back in, my heart cracking at her confession.

“I hate that I can’t hate you,” she cries and shatters. “I know. I’m so sorry.” I groan as her pussy contracts and demands. This moment of raw vulnerability is seared in my mind forever.

I pick her up and cradle her tight to my chest, soaking up these last moments of her warm skin against mine. I set her on the bed and pull the quilt over her. She’s curled up on her side, and I kiss her temple, breathing in her addictive scent. When I walk away, a hand reaches out and stops me. And she says one word that has me carving out my heart and handing it to her, bloody and beating: Stay.

“You look like a goddamn chicken, loosen up a bit.” Stella laughs and my jaw clenches,

“Christ, lady, I’m married.” “Boy, please.” She purses her lips. “I love you Foxes, but y’all are batshit crazy, like if someone gave a bunch of toddlers guns instead of a nap. Now, do you want to learn how to dance like a fucking man, or like you’re attending a catholic middle school dance, leaving room for Jesus?”

“Of course. Do you have one of those things for your hair?” He waves his hand in a circle above his head. It takes me a second, but then I laugh. “Do you mean a hair tie?” I flick the elastic around my wrist.

When I walk outside, the side of the big house is lit up in a glowing indigo. I turn the corner and feel my stomach drop at the same time my heart somersaults. The bed of Finn’s truck is layered in quilts, knit blankets and throw pillows. There’s an old, metal camping lantern on the edge and half-lit up string of Christmas lights dangling off the side view mirror. On the top of the cab is the projector, pointed right at the broad, white side of the big house.

I don’t make it through half the movie before my eyelids start growing heavy and Finn’s warm chest with the rhythmic beat of his heart seems like the world’s best pillow.

“Yeah, she’s a real one. She certainly matches Cash’s crazy, and she’s proven she deserves her spot at his side.” I nod along, trying to imagine someone equally as crazy as Cash and thinking only his brothers compare.

“Yes,” Finn says gruffly, then gives me a mischievous smirk. “He stops other people from killing us, Stella keeps us from killing each other.”

“I’m not a good person, and I’ll never be able to atone for all my sins. But if there’s one sin I’ll pay penance for every fucking day, it’s ever putting you in danger.”

The smile on my face feels good and right, and the man in front of me feels good and right.

“We’ve been playing a sweet game of house lately, but you’re dancing with fire. Do I need to remind you the kind of man I am?”

“The moment you became my wife is the moment you stopped letting anyone or anything else dictate your life. The car will wait. The gala will wait. And the governor? He can kiss your fucking feet.”

“I want you to wear this tonight.” He twirls the butt plug so I can see its size and shape and the jeweled base. “And every time you feel it, I want you to remember what happened here tonight. If you get anxious or overwhelmed, come back to this place where nothing matters but me and you.”

door opens, I shoot Finn a testing stare. “If you mention anything about your cock near my father, I will saw it off with a rusty blade. Do you hear me?”

“You have nice hands.” “Thank you?” I cock a brow at her. “They would look good around my throat,” she says hushed over her glass as she takes another sip. “Jesus Christ, Ef…” I breathe. “You’ve told me plenty of times where my hands would look good. I’m just returning the sentiment.”

“I can’t believe you’re my wife.” Her hand drops to my thigh and ghosts over my groin, she looks up at me with a pouty bottom lip and hooded eyes. “To do with as you please…”

“Fucking you is a gift, calling you mine is an honor.” I stroke her cheek as I lower her leg and whisper against her lips, “Now get on your knees.”

“I love your fire. Christ, it makes me wanna burn alive. But your submission? There’s nothing sweeter.”

“Has another man ever had you like this—” I stop myself, “Doesn’t matter, I’m erasing all those memories tonight.” She hisses as I pull it all the way out. I apply more lube to her ass and nudge the tight hole with my tip. “Say sunflower if it’s too much. Other than that, don’t make a sound until I give you permission. Nod that you understand.”

“I wish I could live in this moment forever,” she says, sinking back against me. “Then forever it is, princess. You and me, forever.”

I wish I could live in this moment forever. What I thought was the start of forever, was just a spoonful of sugar before the poison.

My wife belongs at my side, and I belong at her feet.

“Did we already get to the ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ part? Because I object on account that Euphemia Fox is already married. To me.”

“Did we already get to the ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ part? Because I object on account that Euphemia Fox is already married. To me.”

“Good morning.” Her voice is husky and sweet, thick with sleep. “I’m asleep,” I mumble with a small teasing smile. “You’re drumming on my hip,” she laughs, and I squeeze my hand on her naked hip, unaware I was tapping, but not surprised. “Have you noticed how often you do that? It’s like you’re trying to communicate in morse code or something.”

“I love you, Finneas Fox.” My lungs somehow find a way to breathe, despite the weight of her words slamming into me with the force of a thousand comets. My jaw clenches painfully and my throat tightens into a tight ball. I can’t look away from her, my entire world between the palms of my hands. She reaches out and brushes her thumb across my cheek. “I hope those are sunflower tears.”