Malicious, p.1
Malicious, page 1
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Rinna Ford
Copyright © 2021 by Rinna Ford
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Quirah Casey of Temptation Creations
Editing by Dani Black
Formatting by Gina Wynn
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without express written permission from the author. Any unauthorized use of this material is prohibited.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales are completely coincidence.
For those who are struggling to keep things going.
You got this.
Chapter One
Viviana
I closed my eyes and swayed my hips to the beat, letting the sound of the club’s music wash over me in waves and take away all thoughts of tomorrow. The beat was more than hypnotic; it was life. At least for a few more hours.
The night before my college graduation should be a night to celebrate, and it was, but not because I was looking forward to what my life would bring because of it.
No.
I earned my degree, and for that, I was proud, but the night was more about feeling… just one more time before my life was no longer my own.
Large hands slipped over the black sequins of my mini dress at my hips, followed by the warm breath of a stranger in my dark hair, as he pulled himself closer to my back. I parted my legs and leaned forward, letting my ass push back against his already hardening package. I grinned to myself at the possibility.
The stranger’s hands roamed down to the front of my thighs, and he began rolling up the hem of my tight skirt, all while keeping the beat on the dance floor only the way someone who knew how to move his body could. I let him roll it up another fraction of an inch before turning in his arms to see who I might let fuck me later. I wasn’t disappointed.
His hands went to my lower back while mine roamed his white t-shirt covered chest and over his shoulders. His sultry eyes stayed on mine for only a second before they drifted down the deep V of my dress that cut over the swells of my breasts perfectly and stayed there. The off the shoulder deep V was why I picked it for the occasion, and it seemed to be paying off.
This stranger wasn’t the only guy to approach me, but, for the first time all night, I felt like I’d found the one who might make me scream with pleasure, the one to make me forget it all for just a bit longer. He slid his jean-clad right knee between my legs, effectively brushing the sensitive skin of my inner thighs while keeping the hypnotic beat of the music that continued to feed my soul.
His large palm slid over my shoulder and down between my breasts boldly, seductively, before finding its place on my hip once again. I pushed up on the balls of my feet. I leaned into him, touching the shell of his ear with my lips, and parted them to whisper my desire, but then my eyes locked onto a familiar pair of light brown ones and I stopped cold.
The brown eyes were hard, but not uncaring. Oh no, they cared a little too much, which was evident by how they stared into mine with passion, longing, and possessiveness, even though they had no right to show any of those emotions. The eyes belonged to someone who I’d thought was my world, someone who I thought would want me to be his forever. But then…
Nope, he was too late.
He had no right to ask me to walk away from the stranger, not after the way he ended things. But, if he wanted to watch, I was glad to give him a show.
I ground my body into the stranger’s larger one, making him move his hands over my ass. With eyes still locked on my lurker, I bit into my dance partner’s ear, making the man hiss in excitement before pulling away. I stared into Gian’s brown eyes for only a second longer and then made a show of looking away and into the eyes of the stranger, smiling seductively. He melted into my gaze and took my outstretched hand as I began leading him off the dance floor and into a dark hallway, away from the crowds and the one I wanted to escape from the most.
The stranger was on me again the moment we stepped into the hallway, his heavy arms wrapped around my waist and his face back in my hair.
“God, you’re so fucking hot,” he whispered, making me wince. Men always said the dumbest fucking things when they were drunk and turned on.
Well, most of them did, anyway.
I pushed open the men’s bathroom door and locked it quickly once we were both inside, not caring if we were alone. Turning on my partner, I gripped the back of his messy blond hair and crashed my mouth into his. The kiss was hungry, desperate. Seeing Gian in the club put a damper on my excitement for the moment, but I was determined to get it all back. I needed to get it back because I didn’t know when I’d ever be able to have that again with what awaited me the next day and every day after. Gian had his chance to be my everything, to be the one I could get lost in…
Our lips and teeth clashed together as we fought for control of the situation at hand. Still, I could tell that even though this man was as dumb as a box of rocks, he knew what he was doing when it came to a woman’s body, so I gave up and gave in.
He reached in the front of my dress, under my tit, and slid it out, revealing a pebbled nipple, waiting for his hungry mouth. I didn’t have to wait long because his lips left mine and wrapped around it, biting it not-so-gently.
It was my turn to hiss hungrily, and my palms found their way under his t-shirt and slid down a set of tight abs to the waistband of his jeans. While his mouth was busy, his hands were busy too, pushing up my tight skirt to my waist and tugging on the thin straps of my panties.
I unbuttoned his jeans and slid the zipper down before reaching into the front of his boxers and wrapping my hand around his stiff cock, pumping it up and down. After several seconds of this, he decided he needed more and moved his hands away from my hips to push the jeans down over his own hips, letting his cock spring free.
I slid away from the countertop and turned around, giving him easy access to what we both wanted at that moment, what we both needed. Still, when I saw his hungry expression in the mirror’s reflection. It was sexy and powerful and all the things I desired in a partner whenever I was hot and ready, but it didn’t belong to him. It never would, no matter how much I wished it didn’t matter.
Fuck.
“Stop!”
The words slipped from my lips in a rush, and I pushed him away, turning back around and gripping the counter behind me.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart? I thought you wanted this?”
He frowned and raised his hand to smooth down the hair on the side of my head, but I knocked it away with my own.
“I said no! Can’t you fucking listen?!” I screamed and shoved him away again. I was angrier at myself than the hot stranger who only wanted a good time. I couldn’t believe I was turning down good dick.
His confusion morphed into anger, and he turned to the side, tucking himself back in his pants almost violently. Watching him try to right himself made me think I probably should also. I quickly tugged my skirt over my hips and walked quickly toward the bathroom door, turning the lock in one quick motion without looking back.
“Fuck you, you fucking tease!” he slurred, but I was already out the door, walking past a stunned-looking guy who was going to enter the men’s room.
Angry tears filled my eyes as I let my hands drift over my body and hair to make sure everything was in place before I stepped out into the bar. Fuck! I was so mad at myself for letting my ex get to me like that, for keeping me from the one thing that would have helped me forget… no matter how short-lived it would have been.
I stopped, wiped my fingers under my eyes to catch any stray tears that dared to spill, and took a deep breath before stepping out into the bar. I bypassed the dance floor and went in search of my friends, finding Lyla at the exact table I left her at.
“That was fast,” she smirked.
I knew she had watched me take that random into the hallway, and even though I wanted to spill all the details right then, it wasn’t the time or place. My fingers slipped around the stem of her margarita glass and brought it to my lips, letting the liquid flow down my heated throat until there was nothing left. I lowered the glass back to the table, and my eyes fluttered open, locking on one of my two best friends.
“It was that good, huh?” she laughed, making me wince. Her smile dropped, and her hand landed on my forearm. “Babe, what happened?” she asked. Instantly, her tone was full of worry.
I parted my lips to tell her as my eyes drifted back to where I saw him earlier, finding nothing but an empty space. He was gone.
“Oh, you know,” I replied with a grin, trying to hide my true feelings. “Nothing happened. Nothing worth mentioning, anyway. Just ready to get out of here.”
Lyla must have seen my anger and disappointment before I had the chance to conceal it behind a smile because she changed her grip on my arm and stood, pulling me up with her.
“Come on,” she told me and began pulling me toward the bar where her twin, Iris, was standing.
When we reached Iris, who was cheerily talking with another woman there, Lyla whispered something into her ear, making Iris whip her face toward me and frown.
Before I could attempt to stretch the truth to my friends and tell them I was fine, Iris gave the woman a kiss on the cheek and told her that she’d call. The woman blushed and smiled brightly at my friend, earning her another grin from Iris before we were ushered toward the front door of the club.
Iris had her phone out and tapped away on it, calling for her car, while her sister walked behind me, making sure I didn’t get lost along the way. They were in protection mode, something I was sad to say they had to do more than once in my life, and we were out the door.
We only had to wait for thirty seconds or so before Iris’ car, complete with a driver, showed up, and we all got in the backseat, leaving me in the middle.
“You ladies have a good night?” Mitch, the driver, asked us with a kind smile on his face.
“It was fine,” I said, answering because that was true for the majority of us.
I’d never been good at telling lies, so I learned to tell fibs that were not outright false. I blamed the twins’ mom, Nina, for that.
“Lying will get you nowhere, sweetie. It’s beneath you.”
All three of us had heard that so many times that telling the truth, or the almost truth, all the time became second nature.
“I met a nice girl, Mitch,” Iris piped up and winked at me. “You and Mom would approve for sure this time!”
Mitch chuckled. “That’s what you said last time.”
She reached forward and hugged her arms around Mitch’s shoulders when we stopped at a red light. “Yeah, well, I mean it tonight! She was so cute!”
He chuckled again, and the lightness of the atmosphere made some of my anxiety slip away. I lay my head on Lyla’s shoulder and let myself grin as the two went back and forth about Iris’ newest acquisition.
The twins were my rocks, my best friends, and I just hoped that after tomorrow, they’d still be in my life. I didn’t think I could survive if I was never able to spend time with them.
Chapter Two
“Later, Mitch!” “Thanks, Mitch!” Iris and Lyla called out at the same time.
Iris’ driver dropped us off at the front door of our apartment building and sped off down the nearly empty street to park in the garage for the evening since we were in for the night.
To say that the twins were loaded would be a gross understatement. I was, too, if I wanted to get technical, which was part of the reason we were always together. Our families ran in the same circles and attended the same events, even though they made their money differently. The twins’ family, the Hardings, was in the automotive industry, and mine was in banking. Hardly similar, and the fact that their attitudes and temperaments were wildly different always confused me as to how they got so close. The Hardings were kind and compassionate, full of life, and always having fun, while my family was cold and stuffy.
My mother died during childbirth with me. Finnigan Berkshire was far from the father of the year material, so my older brother, Alden, and I spent a lot of time with the Hardings. Iris and Lyla just happened to have an older brother named Cephas, who was also two years older than the twins and I, like Alden, so it worked out well for both of us. Alden and I experienced a semi-normal childhood with the Hardings, even though we always had to go back home to our father. Arthur and Nina Harding never complained about Alden and me though. In fact, they were like parents to us.
When the twins and I graduated from high school, we all moved out to attend college in the city, which meant moving out on our own. I was ecstatic at the thought of living away from my father, to be beholden to no one. I should have known that it was only a pipe dream.
Finnigan Berkshire, my sperm donor, made it perfectly clear when I moved out to go to college that my life wouldn’t be mine after earning my degree. I would be involved in the family business whether I wanted to or not, and I really didn’t want to. It wasn’t that I was horrible with money and numbers; the opposite, in fact. I just didn’t want to spend more time with my family than I absolutely had to.
So, I lived it up while I could. The twins and I loved life, and it definitely showed. While they weren’t rebelling against their futures like I was because their parents had the same expectation of them as mine did of me, they definitely felt the need to be independent for whatever time they had left.
Lyla, Iris, and I were all incredibly different people, but we worked. Lyla was the kind, caring one. She was always taking care of Iris and me, always making sure we were safe. Lyla never judged, never criticized anything we did, and was always there with fresh advice when we needed it.
Iris was more of the free spirit. She loved everyone, and I mean, everyone. She didn’t discriminate when it came to finding her one and only, so she equally dated both men and women. She loved to be in love and experiment with new things, from hairstyles to tattoos to body piercings to adventures.
Me? I was the rebellious one. The hard bitch, walking sexpot kind of girl. I used my body as a weapon, even though my mind was just as sharp. But that didn’t matter when it came to my father. I was the disappointment, the one who killed his wife and left him alone to raise their children, so I rebelled. Hard and often. It didn’t matter that I was graduating with honors in the morning, earning my business degree plus a minor in accounting. He didn’t see it, and I doubt he ever would.
Lyla and Iris were really the only ones I let my guard down for. They were my rocks, the only people I could trust completely, and I loved them so freaking much.
Iris stumbled halfway through the lobby, tripping over her blocky heeled shoes but caught herself on a chair and stood up straight. She was drunker than I thought and immediately threw her thin arm over my shoulder.
“Pshaw, I’m fine,” she said but didn’t move to pull away.
“I’m sure you are.” I grinned down at her.
“I swear, I’m just tired.”
“Uh-huh.” She was much drunker than I thought.
Lyla pushed the button to the elevator and smiled sweetly at the two of us.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open, letting us inside. I stiffened when the doors closed, holding Iris closer to me, and I nearly held my breath while the metal box we were in whooshed up to the eighth floor. Elevators always made me feel tense, and it was getting harder to not let it show. The three of us stepped out, and I immediately took Iris down the hallway to her bedroom and dropped her on her bed.
“You’re a good person, Viviana Berkshire,” she mumbled, and I stiffened again. I tried to ignore her because talking like that made me uncomfortable, even with her and her sister. I lifted her left foot and began unbuckling her shoe. “I love you, you dumb bitch.”
Slipping off the last of her shoes, I pulled the covers over her lower body and kissed her forehead.
“I’ll be back with some water, okay?”
“I’m not drunk!” she belted out as I walked through her door and into the hallway. “I’m just tired!”
