AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s okay,” she says softly. “I just want to know what’s going on.”
I let out a short sigh. “And you will. I promise. I just—I have to figure out how to word it. It’s a lot to explain.”
It’s quiet for a few seconds. Sophie is content to let the silence hang. I promised her an explanation, and she seems to trust that she’ll get it.
At last, I begin. “Growing up with my dad wasn’t the best.”
She snorts. “No kidding.”
I can’t help but smile. The whiskey helps, but nothing takes the edge off like her sarcastic little comments.
“My mom got pregnant,” I say, “and my dad married her because of it. He was wealthy, she wasn’t, and when things turned sour—because, you know, they were always going to—he decided that she had entrapped him. He resented her through their whole marriage.”
A look of understanding dawns on her face. “So when he told me that—”
I nod. “Yeah. Total projection. He just thinks that any time a wealthy guy is in a relationship with a normal girl, it’s because she’s after his money. He’s a miserable old motherfucker.”
I take another sip of whiskey, relishing the way it burns in the back of my throat.
“He belittled her,” I continue, my voice hoarse. “Constantly. He was always insulting her. Never showed her any affection. My whole childhood, I think I saw them kiss once. And even then, I don’t think he was very happy about it.”
“That’s awful,” Sophie says in a small voice.
“His love was conditional.” I shrug, trying to soften what I’m saying. “He tried to turn me against her—wanted me to be a ‘true’ Wright, whatever the fuck that means. But I sided with my mom, of course, and that pissed him off. He turned on me too.”
There’s a pause as I move on to the next part of the story, forcing the words out past the lump in my throat.
“Fucking asshole,” I mutter thickly. “He cheated on her constantly, through my whole childhood. He was cheating on her while she was going to cancer treatments, dying.”
Sophie’s eyes widen. “Why did your grandmother even let him into the party?”
“I haven’t told her the whole story,” I admit. “I don’t want to add to her grief. Mom died while I was in college, and it fucked both of us up. I think she’d feel even worse if she knew how terribly my father treated her daughter.”
Sophie nods. Her eyes are sad, but understanding. She nestles her head against my chest.
“I always hated that asshole,” I tell her, leaning my head back against the couch cushions. “So once my mother was gone, it was easy to just cut him out of my life altogether. No point in pretending anymore.”
“You stopped talking to him?”
“I stopped everything. Refused all of the family’s money. Told him I didn’t give a shit about his businesses, about the family name, about any of it.”
“I bet he took that well,” Sophie says dryly.
“Not particularly.” I close my eyes, breathing in the scent of her hair. “After I was out of college, I built Dynasty on my own. From the ground up. To stick it to him—to show him I didn’t need him. I never needed him.”
When I finish speaking, there’s a few moments of silence as Sophie processes everything I just told her. The room is filled with the gentle, quiet tick of the clock up on the mantel.
Then she looks up at me, her eyes brimming with emotion. She shifts her position, moving to straddle me. My dick throbs, and I’m rock-hard almost immediately.
She grinds against me as we kiss, and I place one hand on the back of her neck, my fingers twining into her hair. Her breaths are hot against my cheek as I suck on her jaw, then plunge my tongue back into her mouth.
I pull her closer to me. I need her closer. She’s mine, and god, I can never get enough of her. I can never be close enough to her.
Her dress is lightweight, and it’s easy for her to wriggle out of it, then toss it across the room over my head. She’s biting her lip in anticipation. The desire that I see in her eyes—it’s the same thing I feel in the pit of my stomach, like a hunger that a feast couldn’t satisfy.
I slip my hand between her legs, alternating between sliding my fingers into her panties and tugging off my belt. Once it’s undone, I free my cock, letting it brush against her folds.
She’s already wet. I can feel it through her panties. Of course she is.
