“Take it, Aspen,” he insists, placing the cash in my hand. “It’s the least I can do.”

I start to protest again, but he curls my fingers around it. “Let me take care of you.”

Those words unleash a surge of agony that’s so visceral, I have to clutch my chest.

I can feel my heart physically breaking into a thousand pieces.

My father is dead.

He’s never coming back.

I’m on my own.

Heart lodged in my throat, I run out of the room, desperate for air.

The moment I stumble out the back, I lean against the building and drop my head, forcing myself to breathe so I don’t pass out.

God, I’m so angry with him for being a thief.

So angry with him for leaving me.

The tears finally fall, and for the first time since I found out he was gone, I give myself over to the heartache and cry.

It hurts so bad. Like someone plunged a dagger straight into my sternum and twisted it until I finally bled out.

A wave of sorrow washes over me and my knees buckle, hitting the ground. I’m so lost in my grief; I don’t realize I’m not alone.

Not until a pair of black boots comes into view.

I don’t even have to look up to know who they belong to. I always feel his presence…kind of like how some people’s bones ache right before it rains.

“What do you want?”

I peer up at him when he doesn’t answer.

He’s wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans. The full moon illuminates the sharp lines of his face as he takes a cigarette out of a pack and brings it to his mouth.

Silently, he studies me…like I’m some strange new specimen under a microscope.

A puzzle he can’t quite figure out.

Narrowing my eyes, I stand.

“What do you want?” I repeat, harsher this time.

Frustration claws its way up my throat when he doesn’t respond, and I shove him.

“Why the hell are you here, Knox?”

I go to shove him again, but he backs me against the building, his arms caging me in.

I freeze, my insides seizing up when long fingers curl around my neck and he dips his head.

His rough voice is a menacing rumble in my ear. “Because I knew you’d be in pain.” A cold sweat breaks over me and a weird twist goes through my chest when his tongue darts out and he licks my tear-stained cheek. “And I wanted to see it.”

His cruel words punch into my heart. “I hate you.”

I mean the proclamation with every fiber of my being.

His dark laugh is every bit as callous as he is when he pushes off me and stalks away.

Chapter 1

Aspen

One year later…

Grimacing, I adjust the spaghetti strap of my peach chiffon bridesmaid dress, wishing I was anywhere else but here.

My lips twist into a scowl as I watch my mother and her new husband careen around the dance floor.

People smile and clap when he dips her and plants a lingering kiss on her lips.

They look so happy it’s nauseating.

Peeling my gaze away from the train wreck, I walk over to the bar stationed in the corner.

“What can I get you, pretty lady?” the bartender asks.

Hoping he takes mercy on me and doesn’t ask for my I.D, I say, “Vodka and Sprite.”

He looks me up and down, assessing me. “Do you have I—”

“My mother’s the bride,” I whisper. “I could really use a drink.”

Make that twenty.

He fills up a glass and winks. “Okay, but if anyone asks, you didn’t get this from me.”

Giving him an appreciative smile, I pick up the glass he sets in front of me. “Thanks.”

I wander over to the back of the large room, trying my hardest to blend in with the wall. My mother doesn’t have a big family and neither does her new husband, so thankfully it’s not a big wedding. Aside from my senile grandmother and an annoying aunt I haven’t seen in years, the guests mostly consist of the men he works with and a few friends my mom made at the country club she recently joined.

Annoyed, I run my tongue over my teeth—teeth that no longer have braces because my mother demanded they be removed three months early for the wedding.

God, everything about this marriage is sickening.

My father’s body wasn’t even cold before she moved on.

Closing my eyes, I take a sip of my drink, hoping the alcohol quells the anger in the pit of my stomach and makes being here a little more bearable.

I’m about to go back to the bar and ask for another one when my phone vibrates.

I smile when I see his name flash across the screen.

“Hey, you,” I answer. “Shouldn’t you be dancing?”

I hear him chuckle over the line. “I’m too busy looking at you.” His voice turns serious. “You look beautiful.”

I scan the room but don’t see him. “Very funny. This dress is hideous…and itchy. I can’t wait to get it off.”

“Interesting,” he muses. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

I bet he was.

I amble to the other side of the room, hoping to spot him. “Where are you hiding?”

“I just slipped out the back door, and now I’m headed toward my car…waiting for a beautiful redhead to come out here and join me.”

“Is that so?” I tease, placing my empty glass on a table.

“I need you, Aspen,” he croaks, and I can’t help but picture him stroking his cock as he waits for me. “I’ve been hard as a goddamn rock since I saw you.”

Pinning the phone between my ear and shoulder, I head toward the exit. “Guess I should do something about that then, hu—”

I startle, nearly dropping my phone when someone grabs my wrist.

A surge of animosity flows through me like hot lava when I look up and realize it’s Knox.

The asshole isn’t just my bully and enemy anymore…

He’s my new stepbrother.

Tightening his grip, he escorts me to what appears to be a coat room.

“What the hell?”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” he snarls, cornering me until my spine meets a row of coats. “Your whore mother marrying my father changes nothing between us.”