The Rules We Break (The Alphaletes Book 4), page 15
I can’t stop myself from smiling at that, hating that my stomach does backflips in response to his words.
“Yeah?” I question coolly.
Trevor adopts my same tone, and I feel his shoulders shrug slightly, but he doesn’t move away or release his hold on me as he does.
“I mean, it just makes sense. We both go to the same place for work most days. We travel together, and you make me food.”
“All true. And you make me come,” I point out.
He grins at that as he places a gentle kiss against my skin.
“That I do.”
“Well, sounds like a pretty decent setup,” I say as if I was weighing my options.
“Yeah?” he questions, a soft lilt to his voice.
I do my best to bite back my smile. I’m showing too much emotion. I’m feeling too much emotion. I need to lock shit down. Get out of here and run like hell. I’m not safe here, not long term, and anyone around me won’t be safe. It’s best that I leave soon, keep moving, keep hiding.
But as Trevor’s grip on me tightens, like he can practically hear my thoughts, the fear inside of me dims out until it’s nothing but soft burning embers. It’s stupid to say that I feel safe with him. We can barely tolerate each other most days, but something inside me tells me that if anyone was going to protect me, in more ways than one, it would be him.
Sage
The next two weeks practically fly by. Between games, practices and pretty much nonstop sex, we’ve been busy. Not that I’m complaining or anything. The Crusaders were undefeated up until last night’s game. We played the Philadelphia Cougars again, and unfortunately, this time they bested us. I think the guys went in a little too cocky and got dealt a nasty piece of humble pie.
The Cougars are one of the best teams in the NFL for a reason. Their defense is practically unmatched. Trevor was taken down again and again, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to get very many points on the board before we ran out of time. Despite losing yesterday’s game, things are looking good for the Crusaders’ postseason, but we’ll see for sure soon enough, I guess.
I’ve reached out to Calista a few times over the last few weeks, and I’ve gotten radio silence. It’s typical for us to go a week or two without talking, but it’s been closer to three weeks with no communication, and it’s making me uneasy. If I had a way to reach out to Hammer I would, but for now I guess I just have to wait.
I send another text to Calista asking her to send me some kind of message indicating she’s okay before I slip into the shower. Once my hair is combed and my face is washed, I decide to just wrap a towel around myself before heading downstairs. Practice is canceled for today, apparently there is some rat infestation at the training center, which means a day off for Trevor and me.
Days off and no plans usually translates to a naked day full of fun, so I don’t really see the point in getting dressed when Trevor would no doubt rip it to shreds the second I step foot in the same room as him.
Smirking to myself, I saunter downstairs, noticing that he isn’t up yet. Lazy bum. I could be nice and make him breakfast in bed or something. Then again, I could just grab us a couple of protein shakes, and we could stay in bed.
Yep. I like that plan better.
I open the fridge, grabbing two of the chocolate shakes before I hear the front door open and shut. Huh, maybe he did already get up. Not unlike him to cheat on his meal plan and get some biscuits and gravy from this little dive diner across town.
“Where have you been?” I ask with a smile that drops as soon as I turn.
An older blonde woman dripping in designer clothes is standing in the foyer with a well-dressed bald man in his late fifties by her side, both donning disapproving sneers toward me.
“Who exactly are you?” the woman asks, her obviously fake nose practically pointed to the sky as she somehow still maintains eye contact.
A weaker woman would probably wither under her glare, but I’m way too desensitized to a rich asshole’s disparaging looks and remarks.
Thanks, Daddy.
“I’m Sage,” I say with something that is closer to a snarl than a smile as I very plainly let this rich bitch know I’m not intimidated.
Her eyes narrow on me, and she opens her mouth to speak when a voice comes from the stairs.
“Mom? Dad?”
Trevor comes down, only wearing a pair of boxers as he runs a hand through his very obvious sex hair. Just because we don’t sleep in the same bed doesn’t mean we don’t fuck right before bed and first thing in the morning if we can swing it.
“Trev,” the bitchy blonde who is apparently his mom says, her eyes tracing over him in the same distasteful way that she did to me.
Well, at least I’m not special. That just appears to be her lovely personality.
“What are you guys doing here? How did you get in?” he asks as he makes it to the bottom of the stairs, his eyes coming to me for a split second. I watch as he catalogs what I’m wearing, or more so what I’m not wearing before he comes to stand in front of me, almost like he’s trying to shield me. It’s sweet but totally unnecessary. I’m more than covered, and I have no issue standing butt-ass naked in front of his snooty parents.
“Like the date of your first Super Bowl is such a complicated security code,” his father draws out with a roll of his eyes.
I watch as Trevor’s back muscles tense instantly as his father takes a step forward.
“The gala is tonight, remember? I assume you still plan on attending.”
Trevor pauses for a moment before his voice comes out a little more strained than before.
“Of course, sir.”
“Good.” His father nods, his eyes coming to me, his own version of a judgmental lookover scraping against my bare skin before his face pulls into a distasteful frown. I wonder what is so repulsive about me. Is it the tattoos? The nose ring? Or maybe the fact that I’m just some younger naked girl standing in the middle of their son’s kitchen.
“Sweetie, who are you bringing as your plus one?” his mom asks. She casts me the fastest glance before facing Trevor again. “I was thinking Erica. She’s always such fantastic company. I’ll call her and make sure she’s free,” she says as she pulls out her phone.
“No,” Trevor says.
His mom’s head lifts, staring at him with a perplexed look.
“Why on earth not?”
Trevor blows out an aggravated breath as he shakes his head.
“Because she’s married, Mom. With two little girls. She doesn’t have time to drop her family and come be my date at a gala for your company. It’s inappropriate, and neither her nor her husband would appreciate her being put in that situation.”
I’m surprised at how outraged Trevor seems to be. With how obviously in love with Erica he is, you’d think he’d jump all over a chance to have her on his arm for the night. Then again, maybe that’s the sadder part. He’s resigned to the fact that doing something like that would only hurt everyone involved, so instead he suffers in silence. Honestly, though, I expected them to talk more. I thought they did at least. Maybe they do when I’m not around, but I feel like before I moved in Erica was always getting lunch with Trevor or texting him. Now whether I’m with her or him, I never really see any communication between them, and it has my nosy ass all the more curious.
“Her husband,” Trevor’s mom laughs. “If you can even call that degenerate such a name. The fact that she had children with someone like that still makes me sick to my stomach. She was such a good girl.”
Sebastian? A degenerate? What the fuck is this lady talking about. Caldwell is one of the most stand up guys on the team. He’s never in the tabloids, he’s not caught partying, doing drugs, or getting speeding tickets. He shows up, kicks ass on the field, and races home to his family. If that’s so disgraceful, I’d love to know what she thinks about me or honestly her own son.
“Mother, enough,” Trevor says curtly. “I will not be bringing Erica. Sage will be my plus one for the night,” he says, pulling me more to the side of him as he wraps his arm around my shoulders.
Her eyes narrow into slits as she takes a closer look at me, scraping over me from head to toe as if she was looking to find anything salvageable in me. Well, whatever she was looking for, I don’t think she finds it because she shakes her head and crosses her arms.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart. You need to set a good image with the board and the media. We don’t want you getting mistakenly attached to…her type.”
“And what, pray tell, is my type exactly?” I ask sweetly, stepping out of Trevor’s grasp just enough to come toe to toe with the blonde viper in front of me.
She gives me a sneer that could curdle dairy.
“Sweetheart, I don’t think you should ask questions you don’t want to hear the answers to,” she says haughtily.
“Hm,” I smile so hard, my cheeks hurt. “And I don’t think you should keep shooting your face up with Botox. Can you even feel anything anymore? Blink twice if you can understand me.” I shrug unaffected as I continue.
“I guess we both have opinions the other doesn’t give a fuck about,” I shrug.
Her mouth drops open in outrage, smoke practically billowing out of her ears as a pair of arms quickly slip around me, practically lifting me into the air as I’m moved through the kitchen and up the stairs.
“See you tonight. Please let yourselves out.”
“Are you seriously going to let your little plaything talk to me like that?” his mom shouts from downstairs, but Trevor ignores her, taking the steps two at a time before carrying me into his bedroom. He kicks the door shut before tossing me onto his bed.
My towel almost comes off at that, but I right it in time when I sit up.
“Well, that was fun,” I smile.
Trevor just looks down at me, an unimpressed look on his face.
“Do you have a cordial bone in your body?”
“I think that’s number 207, and I only have 206, sorry.”
To my surprise he laughs, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry about her, both of them really. They are…”
“Snobby, entitled, arrogant, pretentious?” I guess for him.
He cuts me a sad smile and nods.
“All of the above, but they’re my parents,” he shrugs.
I nod at that, settling back onto my hands on the bed.
“Parents suck.”
A dry chuckle escapes him as he scrapes his hand over his jaw.
“Yeah. Sorry about dragging you into this. You don’t have to come. I just wanted her to drop the whole Erica thing.”
“Why?” I ask with a tilt of my head.
“Why what?”
“Why didn’t you just agree to have her come? Or at least try to have her come?”
He crosses his arms over his chest, clearly trying to close himself off. I’ve spent too much time with him, though. I know all of his tells, and this is the one that he uses when he gets uncomfortable about being vulnerable.
“I’m tired. Tired of putting her through shit, putting Seb through it. Fuck, putting me through it. I’ll always love her, but I can’t live my life like this, you know?”
My eyebrows raise in surprise as I nod in agreement.
“Well, good. There are plenty of other women in the world that can hold your interest. Ones who are a lot less married and a lot less off limits,” I tease lightly.
He smirks at me in amusement as he cocks his head slightly.
“Yeah? Like a smart-mouthed, raven-haired pain in the ass?”
My smile drops as his words catch me off guard. Trevor’s smile disappears seconds later as we just stare at each other for several seconds. I don’t know why it takes me so long to react. We can just chalk it up to it being early because I don’t know what the fuck I’d say otherwise. I quickly roll my eyes and give a sarcastic laugh as I stand.
“Definitely not. I like to be the girl who has your attention for the night, not your whole life.”
“Why though?” he pushes.
A face I haven’t seen in months flashes to the forefront of my mind, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Being someone’s obsession can only end in disaster.”
Trevor’s blue eyes are drilling into me, practically prying my defenses back to read more into that statement. Or at least, he’s trying to. Fuck, why did I even open my mouth?
Horribly switching topics, I brush past him as I go to open the door.
“Do I have to wear a dress to this thing?”
I don’t turn around to look at him, but I can feel his eyes on me.
“Well, yeah. It’s fine, though, Sage. I can call someone or—”
“Nope,” I cut in a little quicker than I need to. “I’ll go. Any chance to irritate some old rich pricks,” I say with what I hope is a mischievous smirk over my shoulder at him.
I still see the curiosity in his eyes, and also maybe something close to concern before he shakes his head and gives me half a smile.
“Fucking hell. My mother will have you thrown out before the night is over, won’t she?”
“Probably,” I shrug. “Will there be booze?”
“As much as you can drink,” he says as I turn to face him a little more.
“How long do we have to go?”
He shrugs. “Probably a few hours at least.”
I groan at that. “Alright, well can we at least sneak into the coat closet and have some hot, almost-gonna-get-caught, public sex or something?”
Trevor’s smile spreads into a wicked grin as he nods. “Fuck yes.”
“Fine. I have to go get a dress, though,” I say as I turn away from him and step out the bedroom door.
“Send me the bill,” he says.
“You know it!” I call out.
Sage
How I find myself in a fancy-ass dress store, playing dress up while Erica drinks champagne and laughs, I’ll never know.
“You can’t be serious,” I say with a scrunched nose as I come out in the one she insisted would look perfect on me.
“Oh my god, you look amazing,” she squeals as she looks over the baby pink gown.
“I look like a pack of Hubba Bubba bubble gum,” I say dryly.
Erica tosses her long hair back as she laughs. I, however, am not amused as I continue to give her a deadpan look. She tries to get it together, smothering her laughter as she runs her fingers over the material.
“It’s not that bad. It—”
“It is,” I scowl. “I told you. I’m wearing black.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Fine, whatever. Black is so boring, though.”
I wave her off as I slip into the changing room, taking off the pink monstrosity and tossing it to the side like it will attack me any moment. I pull on the silky robe they left in the room for me before I’m back out on the sales floor and scouring through the black section of dresses. A sales lady was trying to help us, but one flash of Erica’s smile and a couple hundred dollars, and they all took an early lunch, closing the store down for our own private shopping.
Even though I come from a pretty wealthy family, my dad sure as hell never did shit like this for me, and I haven’t lived a lifestyle like that in years. Obviously Erica was born into this life, though, and it’s just what is done.
“What about this one?” I ask as I pull out a simple satin black sheath dress.
Erica wrinkles her nose up as she looks at me.
“Sweetie, you have a gorgeous body, why the hell are you not trying to show off those curves?”
I roll my eyes as I put it back and keep looking.
“I don’t mind showing off curves, I just don’t want to look like a barbie doll.”
She shakes her head as she begins thumbing through the dresses as well.
“So, you met Trevor’s parents,” she says, her eyes still on the dresses.
“Oh yeah. They just loved me,” I laugh.
Erica smirks. “They are a little much, but they do love Trevor. They are a lot like my parents. Very…particular.”
“Yeah, and they particularly don’t like me,” I snark.
Her eyes come to mine, curiosity practically drowning her bright green eyes.
“Does that bother you?”
I shake my head and scoff. “Hardly. I’ve been disappointing rich assholes since before I could say my first word. I could give a flying fuck about his parents.”
Erica nods as she keeps her eyes on me.
“So, why are you going tonight?”
“What do you mean? I told you. Trevor volunteered me,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
“You also said he offered to find someone else.”
I narrow my eyes slightly. “So?”
“Sooo, just curious what made you want to come down here, bitching and moaning about wearing a dress to spend an evening with two people who you obviously will not align with.”
“I’m just being nice, and it’ll be funny to fuck with his mom,” I say as I pull out another dress, showing it to her and causing her to shake her head once more.
Fucking hell this woman is picky.
I’m aggressively flipping through the dresses now, Erica’s incessant questions beginning to grate me as she speaks again.
“Or you got jealous.”
“What?” I laugh.
She shrugs. “It’s okay to admit that you like him, Sage. No one is going to blame you for it. He’s a great guy. He’s obviously gorgeous and funny and has the softest sweet side of almost anyone I’ve ever met.”
“And he’s madly in love with you,” I point out.
Her head moves from side to side as her mouth twists up in thought.
“Maybe not as much as you think he is.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I can’t tell you how many times he’s asked me to be his date to one of these things just over the last few years. It’s been a lot. Obviously out of respect to Sebastian, I never go with him, even as friends, because I know there is that blurry line. But this time, it’s actually local, last minute, and he didn’t even entertain the idea of asking me. Instead he assumed you would go with him. It’s just…different. And then you volunteering to go after he says he will find someone else—”
