Damaged Locke (Locke Brothers,1) Read online

  You never know what to expect at one of these, so you always need to come prepared.

  Once we are all out of the vehicle, we head inside. The stench of mold, age, and decay surround me. I take in the waste, the despair and toxicity.

  It’s exactly the kind of place a person with a black heart—and one cold motherfucker—would live.

  Guess that’s why I feel so at home right now.

  The guy in front of us looks shifty as fuck. He has two other guys with him, maybe scared being in our presence.

  Good, he needs the backup if he decides to fuck us over.

  “You can do this?” the guy asks, shifting on his feet, looking around the room, maybe thinking the cops will bust in or some shit.

  “Yeah, you want the guy who fucked your sister up real good to get the message,” Sterling says, cocking his head to the side. “That’s our fucking specialty. But you already know that shit, so don’t question it.”

  “You can’t fuck him up yourself?” I’m never one to keep my mouth shut, but then again, all the Locke boys are this way.

  We get it from our uncle. There’s no doubt about that.

  “We don’t want our hands dirty in this, and I don’t want my sister in danger anymore. If they know it’s us, it’ll be an all-out war. I just need this prick to walk away from her. I need him to know there’s someone out there that has the ability to fuck him up and hurt him worse than he’s hurt her.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Sterling says and looks at me. I can see in his expression he wants me to shut the fuck up.

  Nothing new there.

  Hell, it doesn’t matter to me, so I shrug. I want this asshole to pay as much as the dick hiring us does.

  “You know where to find him?”

  Sterling nods. “We got all the information already.”

  “We’ll handle it,” Ace adds with a wicked grin.

  Yeah, we’d handle it all right. I have some aggression to let out, and a motherfucker who doesn’t know how to treat a woman seems like the perfect outlet.

  Without another word Ace snatches the envelope from the dude’s hand and shoves it in the front of his ripped-up jeans. “Let’s go show these motherfuckers who they’re dealing with so little brother here can get some damn beauty rest.”

  “Fuck you,” I say with a grin while twirling my knife around. “I’m always down; let’s just do this shit.”

  Really, I just want to get back to Kadence.

  My brothers and I pile into the SUV again and head toward the address Sterling was provided with.

  I’m surprised as hell to see this asshole lives in the rich part of town. Hell, he probably lives in his parents’ basement and gets off on beating his woman, knowing she won’t run because he has money and connections to keep her around.

  That’s some twisted-ass shit.

  Sterling slows the vehicle down, creeping in front of the house as we scope it out.

  There’s no doubt the residents in his neighborhood are nosy as dick and will call the cops the second we step foot out of this thing, looking as rough as we do.

  “Well fuck . . .” Sterling punches the steering wheel and turns the SUV around. “We can’t do this shit here. That asshole should’ve known that before he wasted our motherfucking time by sending us to a damn subdivision.”

  Feeling the frustration and anger beginning to creep in, I pull out a cigarette and take a long drag before slowly exhaling.

  It’s shit like this that makes me want to go after the idiot that hired us for the job.

  I close my eyes and lean my head back on the seat, getting lost in thoughts as we head to the house.

  The thought of Kadence instantly gets my cock hard, which considering I’m in the SUV with my brothers, makes me feel awkward as hell. But I don’t give a shit when it’s all said and done.

  What I want to do is get out of the vehicle now, go to her place, and fuck her so she knows that she’s mine.

  But I’d be an asshole to show up at her house at four in the damn morning, not knowing if she has to be up soon for work.

  I have no doubt in my mind I already wore her out for the night. She’s going to need as much sleep as she can get to make it through today.

  And all the strength she can get for when I claim her again.

  Once we pull into the long-as shit driveway leading to the middle of nowhere we call home, my gaze immediately sets on an old Buick parked in the grass.

  My brothers must notice it too, because it has Sterling speeding up, now in a hurry to make it to the house.

  Whoever the hell is stupid enough to be creeping around our property in the middle of night must not know shit about who we are and what we’re capable of.

  I’m guessing the asshole never made it inside to break in before we pulled up because King, that big bastard of a dog, would be tearing at the front door right now, ready for a late-night snack.

  “I got this fucker.” Before Sterling can stop the vehicle, I jump out the back and chase down the stranger who’s now running and weaving his way through the trees behind the house.

  He has another thing coming if he thinks this little hunt is something he’ll get away from unscathed.

  Fuck that. Not happening.

  The adrenaline pumping through my veins has me catching up with the guy and dragging his ass over to the river.

  With force, I throw his body down into the dirt and drag him down to the dirty water. “I guess you don’t know what happens to assholes who think they can fuck us over.” Growling out, I push his head down into the water and hold it for a few seconds, feeling the darkness consume me as he struggles in my arms.

  He sucks in a burst of air the second I yank him up by his hair. “You gonna tell me what the fuck you’re doing here, or are you still thirsty?”

  “Fuck you,” he coughs out. “Not telling you shit.”

  I tilt my head and smile. “All right, your choice.”

  Before my words can even register, I have the dick’s head back under water, holding it there as I pull out a cigarette and light it, which is harder than hell seeing as the asshole is struggling.

  I have all night to do this shit.

  “What ya doing, little brother?” Ace walks fast down the hill, grinning like a maniac when he sees the scene before him. “You get more and more like me every day. That shit is scary as fuck. Leave the twisted shit for me. It’s all I have left.”

  Exhaling, I release the back of the guy’s hair and give Ace what he wants. We all know he needs this twisted shit to survive more than we do.

  “I’ll go find Sterling,” I say stiffly.

  “Don’t bother. He found out where the boyfriend was and took off before I could stop him.”

  I toss down my cigarette and punch the tree, the skin breaking open, the pain lacing up my arm.

  “He’s alone. Sterling can handle it.” He smiles down at the asshole crawling his way out of the water. “And I’ll play with my new friend here.”

  I have no doubt about that.

  These two assholes will be lucky if they survive my brothers tonight.

  KADENCE

  The coffee shop I work at is small, family owned, and older than I am. But I like the owners and feel like I’m part of the family.

  They also work with my schedule and allow me to make up my own hours because I take some classes at the community college.

  The pay might not be the best, but it allows me to help Melissa with rent and all that shit, and makes me feel like I’m at least contributing.

  “Can you clean off the corner table, honey?” Cheryl, the wife of Bryon, and the other owner of this place, calls out from the back room, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “Sure,” I say, grabbing a rag and heading to the table she’s referring to.

  All I can think about is Aston, what he’s doing right now, if he’s thinking of me . . .

  God, I am still sore in the best of ways. His passion is unlike anything I’ve ever experien
ced, unlike anything I can even think about.

  Even my thigh muscles protest as I lean over the table to clean it off. A flash steals over me, the images of what we did last night, of how he fucked me . . . and that’s exactly what he did.

  Another hour passes, and I clock out, anxious to get out of here. I don’t know if I’ll see Aston tonight, or again really. He was vague about it all, just up and leaving, making me wonder.

  I need a run, need to get this anxious energy out of me. It’s still light outside, and I’m not stupid enough to go running at night after what happened.

  Once I’m back home, changed into my running gear and my phone shoved into my pocket, I take off. I have no particular place to go, no destination in mind. I just need to run as far and as fast as my feet will take me.

  I need to be covered in sweat, my heart racing, the blood pumping through my veins. I need a distraction to keep my mind from being stuck on Aston.

  I don’t know how long I run, but I end up finding myself at the edge of town, the dirt road that leads to the Locke brothers’ house in front of me.

  I only know of this place because Melissa made me very aware, when I moved into town, that this is the road I needed to avoid at all cost.

  My heart is thundering, and as much as I know I should leave, go back home before it’s dark, I still stand here, wanting nothing more than to take the forbidden trail.

  It’s the sound of tires on gravel that have me glancing over my shoulder to see a dark SUV, the windows tinted, coming right toward me. I move to the side, unable to run back home, knowing this is fucking stupid. Melissa was right; I’m insane.

  And when the SUV comes to a stop right beside me, the window rolling down, my heart jumps into my throat.

  I know the man in the driver’s seat . . . Sterling Locke. The middle brother.

  He stares at me, his gaze unwavering, his dark eyes and hair making him seem ominous, dangerous. Hell, he can look like an angel and still be known as the devil himself.

  I take note of the tattoos covering his neck, his chest, arms, and hands. But that’s not the only thing I notice.

  Blood on his knuckles, splattered on his shirt, his skin.

  And then he grins at me, this demonic-looking expression that has my blood going cold.

  “I’ve seen you,” he says. “Get in.” That smile is gone, his voice hard, sharp.

  I should go, could probably lose him in the woods. But I’m not that stupid. They live out here alone, away from everyone for a reason.

  To think he can’t find me, that he probably doesn’t know where I live, is fucking dumb to even contemplate.

  “I don’t hurt women,” he finally says. “Besides, I know Aston saw you last night.”

  This surprises me. Maybe that realization flickers over my face, because he laughs, low, amused.

  “If you think my brother and I don’t know what the fuck is going on with our youngest, you must not know us very well.” He unlocks the passenger-side door. “Get in. Aston is at the house, and I’d like to know what the fuck is really going on with you two.”

  And I find myself walking over to the door, opening it, and climbing in.

  God, did I just accept an invitation into hell?

  ASTON

  Fuck. I wish my asshole brother would hurry the hell up and get his ass back home.

  All I want to do is go see Kadence, to put my hands on her sexy little body and possess her. I’ve been itching to since the moment I left her alone, but there’s no way I’m leaving this property until I know Sterling is safe, until I know the job is done.

  He hasn’t been back since he left last night to take care of that douchebag, and apparently his phone is dead because it’s been going straight to voice mail since early this morning.

  I don’t like this shit. Not one bit.

  It has Ace’s crazy coming out as he paces around the porch with his precious hammer, randomly slamming it into anything within its vicinity.

  He’s going to bust the whole damn house down soon if Sterling doesn’t show his ass.

  Hell, I’m even anxious as fuck right now, playing my damn guitar as a distraction, something to keep the demons at bay before I lose it like our eldest brother.

  “I’m going to kill that asshole myself,” Ace grits out while practice swinging his toy. “Hope he likes the taste of titanium, because if he does make it home, I’m knocking his motherfucking teeth out for making us worry.”

  “It’s not the first time he’s left us sitting around with our thumbs up our ass,” I say stiffly while carefully setting down my vintage guitar. “If it were me out there, you fuckers would be searching the streets for my ass, knocking down doors to find me. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if your crazy ass burned down every house just to get to me.”

  Ace swings his hammer around and then leans against the old porch railing, his dark eyes landing on me. “Damn straight. We almost lost your ass once already. You don’t know what kind of fear that puts in a man. It makes killing an easy fucking decision, little brother.”

  Headlights coming down the dirt road have both me and Ace standing tall, anxious to see if it’s Sterling pulling up and not another idiot who thinks he can pull one over on us.

  King’s silence as he watches the vehicle get closer lets us know that it’s Sterling and not a stranger approaching. If it was anyone but one of us, King would be barking and ready to attack.

  “Lucky bastard.” Ace growls and jumps over the railing, walking to stand in front of the vehicle, not giving two shits if he gets run over.

  The tinted-out SUV gets within a few inches of hitting Ace before Sterling stops it and kills the engine.

  I stand back with a smirk and watch as Ace swings out, punching Sterling in the face the moment he steps out of the vehicle.

  “Calm the fuck down, big brother.” After wiping his thumb over his bloody lip, Sterling cracks his neck before head butting Ace, sending him stumbling back a bit. “I had a rough damn night, brother. It took longer than I expected. Had to make sure that motherfucker knew to never lay his hands on a woman again.” He holds up his bloodied, broken-up fists. “He got the message loud and clear.”

  Blood covers his shirt and neck, a testament to the violence that he delivered, the violence that runs in all of us.

  Everything goes silent, every one of us Locke brothers freezing the moment the passenger-side door opens and Kadence steps out, looking unsure.

  I feel King move beside me, but I quickly put my hand out, silently commanding him to stay.

  He won’t hurt Kadence—hell, he’d hurt us before going after a woman—but I’m doing this for her peace of mind. To let her know she’s safe.

  Closing the door behind her, Kadence leans against the Expedition and takes her time looking us over before speaking. “Hi.” I can tell she’s trying to be strong, act brave even. But the tiny signs of her nervousness are clear. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I should leave. I . . . I should go . . .”

  “Stay,” I command as I watch her chest quickly rise and fall. “Don’t fucking move.” The sight of her has my damn heart pounding out of my chest, eager to get to her and claim her before one of these assholes get the idea that she’s available.

  “Well fuck me . . .” Ace says while looking her over with a side smirk. The asshole has charm when it comes to women, with his clean pretty-boy looks, but the dick is the most twisted of us all.

  And that’s pretty fucking twisted.

  Before Kadence can even react to my brother’s gaze on her, I’m coming up beside her, pulling her tight little body against me to let my brothers and her know she’s mine.

  This has my brothers smiling, reminding me how much they love a challenge.

  Too bad for them, because after the way I fucked her hard last night, filling her tight little pussy with my cum, there’s no way they’re going to touch her.

  Or that she’s going to want them to.

  Kadence is mine in every fucki
ng way, and we both know it.

  I just need my brothers to know that shit.

  As much as I was wanting to see Kadence tonight, to feel her fucking skin all over mine as I claim her, having her here at the Locke house was the last thing I expected or wanted.

  Not this damn soon.

  KADENCE

  Every single one of the Locke brothers has their eyes on me, taking me all in. I can’t hide the fact that it has my legs shaking below me, about ready to give out and send me to my knees before them.

  Not from fear but from the raw intensity these brothers possess. They have the ability to bring any girl to their knees with just one look, and to be honest, I can barely handle Aston looking at me that way, let alone all three of them.

  Holy hell . . . what have I gotten myself into?

  “If one of you motherfuckers so much as breathes on what is mine, I’ll cut your little peckers off without batting a damn eye.” Aston’s harsh tone has his brothers looking surprised.

  As if they’re not used to him staking his claim on something—or better yet, someone.

  I look over at Aston, my heart beating wildly in my chest, my palms sweating. I was so nervous when I got in the car with Sterling, and even more so when I got out, not knowing what to expect.

  I hope like hell I’m at least playing my calm well enough, so I’m not standing here looking like a terrified little girl in front of the three bad wolves.

  Aston has me partially behind him now, his hard body blocking me from his older brothers as he stares them down, standing tall and firm.

  The possessiveness is coming from him like a damn wrecking ball, about to tear down any asshole who gets in his way, family or not.

  I can’t help but feel this thrill rush through me at that.

  I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but I have a feeling that trying to exert my independence, maybe making everyone know I can handle myself, can take care of myself, is not the best route to go.

  These men are a breed of their own, dangerous and powerful, dominating and territorial.

  I need to tread lightly.

  “Shit, little brother.” Sterling leans against the dark vehicle, looking amused as he takes in Aston’s body in front of mine. “It looked like your girl needed a ride, so I gave her one. That’s all. I didn’t touch her, so calm your dick.”