Free Jerked: A Stepbrother Mob Romance (City Series) by B. B. Hamel

getting married by a Justice of the Peace, and I was officially Brenna Fabrizio. On paper, at least. Vince hadn’t gotten permission to marry from his family, which was why we had to hide the whole thing. The plan was to eventually win them over, then have a big ceremony.
    In the meantime, though, we’d live as a married couple. As man and wife. Until the truth about him had slowly become obvious to me. I should have seen it from the start, I should have realized he would end up being an abusive psycho cheater, but I didn’t.
    And Colin didn’t know. Neither did my dad, but for some reason I felt less bad about that. As much as I hated to admit it, I did need Colin to protect me. It was the reason I had come home to begin with. I couldn’t expect him to keep me safe if he didn’t even know the whole story, right?
    I sighed, adjusting myself, and decided I’d tell him everything. As soon as I saw him, I’d tell him the whole story. It was the right thing to do.
    Almost as if on cue, the doors pushed open and Colin walked out onto the deck. I looked up startled.
    “Hey, you scared me.”
    He shrugged. “Sorry about that.”
    I blinked and took him in. He was a little sweaty, but he looked incredible; muscles bulging through his tight white dress shirt, his slacks perfectly conformed to his muscular thighs. But his usual carefree grin was gone, replaced with a serious mask. I hadn’t seen Colin give me that look in a long time.
    “What’s up? You seem a little off,” I said jokingly.
    For half a second I wondered if he could smell the cum on my fingers. Maybe he knew I had gotten myself off to the thought of him. But no, of course not, that was totally paranoid. He couldn’t read minds—at least I hoped not.
    “Had a rough day.” He sat down in a chair across from me.
    “Some thugs give you trouble? Their knees wouldn’t break, I bet.”
    He didn’t even crack a smile. “Something like that.”
    I frowned, not sure what else to say. He wasn’t normally so angry.
    “You want to talk about it?”
    “Is Fabrizio in town?” he asked suddenly.
    I stared at him, surprised. “Yeah, he is.”
    “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
    I looked away, biting my lip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be a burden.”
    “Don’t be stupid, Bren. It’s the reason I’m here.”
    I looked back at him. “Yeah, that’s the only reason?”
    He nodded. “Because your father asked me to.”
    “Speaking of him, where is my dad? He’s hardly been home.”
    Colin waved his hand. “He sleeps out a lot since he got his promotion. Don’t try to change the subject.”
    “Fine. I’m sorry, I should have told you.”
    “How did he contact you?”
    “He sent me a text.”
    Colin held out his hand. “Let me see.”
    I made a face. “No way.”
    “You don’t have to give me the phone, just let me see the message.”
    I sighed, pulled it up, and tossed the phone over to him. He snatched it out of the air despite it being an awful throw and gave me a look. After a few seconds of staring at the screen, he stood and walked it over, handing the phone back.
    “That’s it, there’s nothing else.”
    He sat back down, leaving one chair between us. “Tell me next time.”
    “Okay, I will.”
    “Do you want a new phone?”
    “Why?”
    “So he can’t message you. I can take care of that.”
    “It’s fine, I blocked his number.”
    “He’ll get other numbers. Last chance.”
    I had no clue why he was being so short with me, but it was starting to piss me off. I may have withheld some information, but it wasn’t like I did something horrible.
    “It’s fine, whatever.”
    He looked away and was silent for a second.
    “Look, Colin—“
    He interrupted me, not looking over. “I know about the marriage.”
    I stared open mouthed at him, completely surprised. “I was just about to tell you.”
    “It’s fine, just another thing you decided to withhold.”
    “It didn’t seem important.”
    He looked back, his expression