“Fine,” he tells me, moving over to where I am, pinning me to my door before strapping himself in with the flimsy middle seat belt. “This works too.” And again, he throws that heavy limb over the back of my seat, resting his hand on my shoulder, tangling his fingers in my hair. “Good?”

  “You’re relentless,” I whisper, gazing up at him through my eyelashes.

  He angles his face closer. “Rebel, sugar, if I weren’t, you wouldn’t have had ten orgasms today. So, let’s not play games or tell untruths. My relentlessness has been more of a bonus for you than me. Now, get those lips over here and give me a kiss.”

  I glare at him, trying to pretend I’m pissed, but sitting this close to him feels right. His brown, honey-flecked eyes are trained on me, and all I can see are those thick lips that sent me over the edge so many times I lost count. “No,” I snap. “I get a break. And when I say break, I mean break. Ten minutes. No lips.” I turn my face forward, crossing my arms over my chest, trying to make my body rigid.

  He slides his thumb across the sensitive skin near my ear where it meets my jaw. “You sure about that?”

  My pussy convulses because the dirty whore living between my legs clearly hasn’t been sedated. “Five minutes,” I plead, feeling my resolve slipping. “Just five.”

  What the hell is wrong with me? Can’t I resist this man? Damn it.

  I’ve never been so attracted to someone so quickly. And then there is the chemistry, which is un-fucking-believably off the charts and makes completely no sense.

  Carrie and Carmello get into the car sometime during the exchange, and she slides over to the middle, wrapping her arm around her man like Rocco did with me.

  She is purring in his ear as he fires up the engine, tearing out of the gravel driveway and spinning the tires.

  I stare straight ahead, trying to keep my eyes off the hot piece of ass next to me. Plus, I am trying to stop myself from thinking about all the pleasure he gave me earlier and has promised to deliver again later.

  Instead of seeing the road pass by, all I can see is Carrie as she nibbles on Carmello’s neck, giving no shits who is watching.

  “Carrie, seat belt, babe,” Carmello tells her, but doing nothing to push her away.

  “No,” she whines, moving her hand to the back of his head and sinking her teeth into his neck.

  He moans, giving up the seat belt fight pretty fucking quick. I can’t see her other hand, but I am pretty fucking sure it is somewhere in his lap, probably stroking his cock through the tight-ass blue jeans he has on.

  Rocco takes my hand in his, lifting it to his lips, rolling his tongue around the tips of my fingers.

  I close my eyes, knowing the battle isn’t winnable, and right as I am about to cave, the car jerks to the right.

  My eyes fly open.

  A scream tears through my throat as Rocco’s right arm slams into my chest, pinning me to the back seat.

  Oh God.

  Oh no.

  No. No. No.

  The tires screech as Carmello swerves, and Carrie’s scream matches my own, only louder.

  Please don’t let this be happening.

  “Fuck,” Carmello hisses as the car jerks again, going the opposite direction from the first time.

  All I see is the line of trees heading our way. All I feel is Rocco pinning me to the seat. All I hear is the yelling and the deafening squeal of the tires.

  But before I can brace myself, everything goes black.

  4

  Rocco

  My body jerks, and my eyes snap open.

  Reality hits me a few seconds later.

  I blink, trying to clear the haze from my vision. Something heavy is in my lap. I bend my neck, seeing it’s not a something, but a someone.

  Carrie.

  Her body is bent over the front seat, her head resting against my legs. Her back is clearly broken. No one is meant to twist that way, not even the most flexible human being.

  “Carrie,” I whisper, lifting my fingers to her face.

  She gurgles a response. Blood oozes from her mouth, spilling onto my jeans, and making it impossible for me to understand her words.

  My eyes flicker to the right, finding Rebel with her head resting against the window of the car. Blood is dripping from her chin, plopping onto her T-shirt and seeping into the material.

  I grab her wrist, pressing two fingers below her palm, looking for a pulse. I exhale when I find it, strong and steady, beating normally.

  “Mello!” I yell.

  He doesn’t move.

  No one does.

  Carrie and I are the only ones awake, and in this moment, we’re totally alone.

  “Stay with me, baby. Don’t talk,” I beg her as she struggles to breathe. “Help’s coming.”

  But none is.

  The road near the cabin is as empty as it always is. No one will find us for hours out here in the middle of nowhere.

  “Mel!” I yell again, lifting my hand from Carrie’s face and placing it on his shoulder, giving him a shake.

  He stirs, not speaking right away. As he blinks, his eyes soak in the reality, despite the air bag blocking most of his view.

  “What the…” he says as his voice drops to a whisper when he turns his head, noticing Carrie’s body not where it was a few moments ago.

  “Call 9-1-1, brother. Call fast.”

  “Is she alive?” he asks, lifting his ass and retrieving his phone from his back pocket.

  “She is,” I whisper, going back to softly brushing my fingertips over her forehead, soothing her.

  But she won’t be alive for long. That much I know. Not with the amount of blood she’s losing and her inability to breathe.

  The ambulance is useless, but I don’t want her to know that or my brother.

  “Make the call, Mel,” I tell him, keeping my voice low and even for Carrie’s sake. “This is so fucked up,” I mutter to myself, wishing I could make everything different.

  I am powerless and helpless, knowing she’ll die in my arms.

  Mello’s on the phone, talking to someone and rambling about what happened.

  Tears are streaming down the sides of Carrie’s face as she stares up at me with her green eyes.

  She says something, words I can’t make out but wish I could.

  “Shh, baby. Don’t talk.” I continue stroking her face as gently as possible, hoping she knows I’m here. “Just stay with me. You’re going to be okay,” I lie.

  Our eyes are locked, saying all the things that can possibly be said in a moment like this without speaking a single word.

  Fear.

  Remorse.

  Sadness.

  Anger.

  Worry.

  Pain.

  Terror.

  Suddenly, her body stills, her eyes still fixed on mine but no longer filled with life.

  Mello’s girl has taken her last breath and died in my arms.

  “Is she…” he says as the phone drops from his hand.

  “Yeah, brother. She’s gone.”

  His eyes widen, and the color drains from his face. “This is my fault. I killed her,” he whispers.

  “Mello, none of this is your fault.”

  He grabs his head, rocking back and forth. “I was driving. Oh my God. I killed her. I killed her.”

  “Stop,” I demand, pinned by Carrie’s body, unable to shake sense into him. “You can’t control nature.”

  Fucking wildlife.

  Three deer ran into the middle of the road, and Carmello swerved, trying to avoid hitting them but smashing into a tree instead.

  No matter who had been behind the wheel, the outcome most likely would’ve been the same.

  “Rebel?” he asks, his gaze moving to her body next to me.

  I reach to my side, wrapping my fingers around her wrist to find her pulse again. “Alive,” I breathe.

  My fingers are still stroking Carrie’s forehead. I know she isn’t here and can’t feel what I’m doing, but it doesn’t matter.

  I can’t stop myself from repeating the movement over and over again until the faint sounds of sirens fill the air.

  “Rocco?” Rebel whispers, finally coming to.

  She’d been sedated. Too distraught to sit still and crying uncontrollably. The medical staff thought it would be in her best interest to keep her calm and still until they knew the extent of her injuries.

  I lift my head from her bed, touching her hand, and I see her confusion. “Reb, you’re okay, baby,” I reassure her.

  “What happened?” She tries to sit up and winces, collapsing back into the hard mattress. “Where’s Carrie?”

  My fingers tighten around hers, sweeping my thumb across the soft skin on top of her hand. “We were in an accident. There were deer, and Carmello swerved.”

  “Where’s Carrie?” she asks again, but this time, there’s more panic in her voice. She moves her gaze around frantically, searching for her friend, but there’s no one here but us.

  “She…” My voice drifts off, the words stuck in my throat.

  Fuck. How do you tell someone their best friend died? I’ve never had to deliver that news. Never thought it was something I’d do at my age.

  “She’s what?” Her eyes widen, and she tries to move again.

  I raise my other hand to her shoulder, guiding her back down to the bed. “Reb, she’s gone, baby. She didn’t make it. I’m sorry. So, so sorry,” I whisper.

  “Don’t lie to me. Where is she?” Rebel asks, squirming underneath the pressure of my hand.

  “Stop moving, Reb. You have some bruised ribs from the seat belt, and you messed up your wrist. The doctor said he’ll be back in with the rest of your test results soon while we wait for your aunt to get here.”

  Rebel’s eyes fill with tears as she stares at me, her gaze looking right through me. “She can’t be gone. She can’t be gone. She can’t be gone.”

  “She is,” I tell her, not knowing if I’m doing the right thing by telling her the truth.

  She’s already in physical pain, and now I’m adding mental anguish to the mix.

  Her mouth opens and I think she’s going to howl, but no sound comes out. Tears pour from her eyes as she cries in silence, the noise stuck in her throat.

  I stand and insert myself into the bed, placing my arm on the pillow above her head. She curls into me, pressing her face into my chest.

  I stay still, rubbing her back, letting her work through her grief and the sad reality that someone who was with us an hour ago is no longer breathing.

  I haven’t fully processed Carrie’s death myself, and I am the one who watched her life drift away right in front of my eyes.

  Rebel tips her head back, her water-filled blue eyes staring into mine, my T-shirt fisted in her palm. “Maybe they were able to bring her back. Maybe they…”

  I shake my head. “They couldn’t, honey.” I stroke her hair, brushing it away from her damp cheeks. “She died in my arms. There was nothing anyone could do to save her.”

  I don’t have the heart to tell her they didn’t even try when they arrived on the scene. Carrie had been dead too long and had lost too much blood at that point for them to go above and beyond, trying to bring her back to life.

  Rebel moves her face back against my chest, her body shaking with silent sobs as I rub her back, giving her time to grieve.

  “I demand to see my sons.” My mother’s voice carries through the emergency room, and I immediately stiffen.

  Izzy Caldo is intense on a good day, but knowing we were in an accident will no doubt take her to a whole new level.

  “Carmello and Rocco,” Ma says to someone. “Where are they?”

  Rebel’s too lost in her grief to notice my name, too busy sobbing against my chest, her limbs tangled around my body.

  When my ma storms through the curtains, her mouth is open and she is about to say something until her eyes lock on me and then slide to the small woman curled in my arms.

  “Hi,” I mouth to her. “I’m fine.”

  Ma’s shoulders slump forward in relief. “She okay?” she whispers, her chin dipping toward Rebel.

  I give her a little shrug. “Not really.”

  “Hey, sweetie,” Ma says in a soft and sweet tone, moving toward the other side of the bed. “You two okay?”

  Rebel’s sobs change, turning into a sniffle before her head comes up from my chest and she sees my mother. Her fingers tighten around my T-shirt again, but she does nothing to move out of my embrace.

  “Rebel, this is my mother, Izzy,” I tell her.

  “Are you okay?” my mother repeats, not really reading the room. “What can I do?”

  “Carrie’s gone, Ma.”

  My mother’s face pales. She knows Carrie. She met her a few times when she came to visit Mello.

  They weren’t exclusive, but they’d seen each other enough over the last year to be on my mother’s radar.

  “Carrie’s gone,” Rebel repeats my words before collapsing back against me, clinging to me like I am her lifeline.

  My mother’s frown is immediate and severe. I can only take the sadness of one woman at a time, and right now, I have to focus on Rebel.

  “Go check on Carm, Ma. We’re okay. I need a few more minutes with her.”

  Ma reaches out, placing a hand on Rebel’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

  Rebel doesn’t respond or shrug off my mother’s touch. Her tears fall faster and harder than before as the reality of losing her friend seeps deeper into her soul.

  “Can I do anything?” Ma asks us.

  “I’d like to stay with Rebel until someone comes for her, Ma.”

  My mother only nods before finally leaving us alone.

  Rebel peers up at me, and I glance down, meeting her sad blue eyes. “You can go. I’ll be fine,” she says flatly.

  “No,” I tell her, not moving or releasing my hold on her.

  “Go, Rocco. I’m not your problem,” she says through a sniffle and releases her grip on my T-shirt. “Go with your mother.”

  “No.”

  She shakes her head, pushing against my chest to get me gone. “Go. Just go. I want to be alone. I need to be alone,” she begs.

  “I refuse to leave you alone.”

  “Are you going to stay at my side forever?” she snaps.

  “Sugar… Shut it.”

  “Fuck you. Right now, I want you to leave,” she tells me, wiping the tears still flowing down her cheeks. “Please just go. Don’t make me beg. Your family needs you.”

  “They can wait.”

  “Get the fuck out!” she hollers, hitting my chest as hard as she can with her one good hand.

  I’m off the bed a second later, wanting her to be calm and knowing my presence isn’t what she needs or wants anymore.

  “I’m a big girl,” she spits. “I can and always do take care of myself.” She turns her back to me, curling into the fetal position.

  I watch her for a moment, barely breathing, waiting to see if she changes her mind.

  But she doesn’t turn back around.

  She doesn’t call my name.

  She does nothing.

  I no longer exist, and she makes it perfectly clear.

  I stalk out of the room a second later, and my mother is plastered at my side, checking me over like she did when I was a kid.

  “Are you okay?” she asks in a rushed voice, placing her hand on my stomach as she guides me down the hallway.

  “Physically I am, Ma, but mentally…”

  “Your brother has a broken leg from the damn pedal. But you’re going to feel like shit tomorrow, and so will he. Your mind will take longer to heal, baby.”

  She pulls me closer, snuggling into my side.

  “Come on, baby, your dad’s waiting for us. He took Mello to the car already. You two are staying with us tonight so I can keep an eye on you.”

  I’m not about to argue with her.

  There is no point.

  You can never win an argument with Izzy Caldo. I know that better than anyone.

  “Whatever you want, Ma,” I tell her, happy as hell to have a mother who cares so much about me and even happier to be alive.

  “Ma.”

  She tips her head up and smiles. “Yeah, baby?”

  “I’m never falling in love.”

  Her smile fades. “Never is a long time, Rocco. You’ll feel differently tomorrow.”

  “I won’t,” I promise her.

  She ignores my statement, muttering something under her breath as she walks me toward the car.

  5

  Rebel

  Ten Years Later…

  I peer up at the cabin, shielding my eyes from the afternoon sun, and push down the way my stomach twists with the memories.

  Ten years have passed since I stood in this very spot, laughing in Rocco’s arms as he nibbled on my neck. But then my world shifted, and in a blink of an eye, Carrie died.

  I’d known tragedy before.

  Hell, my entire life had been a train wreck. My father overdosed when I was in kindergarten, and my mother ran off soon after, preferring the feel of a needle in her arm to being a single mother.

  My aunt got stuck with me since she was my only living relative. My mother left me on her doorstep with a note pinned to my T-shirt, taking off without ever looking back. There wasn’t a day that passed afterward when my aunt didn’t make it clear I was more of a burden than a blessing in her life.

  She didn’t have to remind me—although she did every damn day—because people can feel when they’re unwanted…even at a young age.

  My grades were good enough to earn me a full ride to college. After graduation, I didn’t wait until August to head to campus like most teenagers. I left the first second I was allowed to enter my dorm, leaving my aunt and the toxic environment behind me.

  That’s where I met Carrie. She was the closest thing I had to family in my life. We had two years together, and in that time, we loved each other like sisters. The day she died, I truly became lost again.

  I was destined to be alone.

  Life had taught me that hard lesson.