by Sienna Skye
“Don’t stop, Morgan! Fuck, it’s so good!” She rested her forehead against mine.
“You are so fucking perfect, Jules.” I could feel her tightening around me. “That’s it, baby. Come for me.”
She came hard, her scream echoing loudly over the water. I didn’t fucking care. She was mine. I kept fucking her hard as she came all over my cock. I cried out as I went over the edge, emptying myself deep inside of her.
She went limp against me. A soft sigh escaped her lips and I could feel the puff of breath on my neck. I kissed the side of her head. She was so still that for a moment I worried it had been too much for her.
“You okay, baby?”
“Better than okay. That was amazing.”
“Yeah, it was pretty incredible.” She lowered herself off of me and I immediately missed her warmth. I handed her cover up to her and grabbed my swim shorts. When we had finished getting dressed, I took her hand and led her out of the water.
We spent the rest of the day just hanging around. My mind kept going back to my earlier thoughts of a future together. Married. Kids. A house. Maybe a dog. Every time my thoughts wandered there, I would take her again. Like I had some base primal need to claim my mate.
I made her dinner. I liked doing things for her. Taking care of her. Then we had dessert…which I ate off of all my favorite parts of her delectable body.
Later, I set a blanket out on the grass so we could watch the fireworks. The overwhelming need to be inside her burned through me again. My hips moved in slow, languid movements as I stared into her eyes, ran my fingers through her hair. I couldn’t get close enough to her. Afterward, I stayed inside her. Not willing to lose that connection. I whispered words of adoration. Told her how amazing she was. How much I loved her. That she was my whole world.
Looking back, I wonder if the universe was giving me one last chance at happiness. Or maybe it was just laughing in my fucking face. Letting me know I couldn’t have what I wanted most. Because it was all going to change so quickly.
Chapter Seventeen
Morgan
I had spent the night in her room. Our parents were coming back late morning, but I slipped out early just to be safe. Usually, it didn’t faze me much that my father and Victoria were gone. We all preferred it actually. But, I needed to talk to him to set my plan in motion, so I could start working on my future with Jules.
They were home for about half an hour when I went into his office to see him. I walked in and sat in the chair across from his desk.
“Morgan.” He looked up briefly and then returned to what he was doing.
“I want to talk to you about something.”
“I gathered that.”
“A friend of mine has offered me a position in his company.”
“Well, I paid for you to have an education. Might as well put it to good use.”
“It’s a great opportunity. I’ll be able to carry that experience over when Hunter and I are ready to start our company.”
“So what is it that you want, Morgan? My approval? You’ve never wanted that before.”
He was wrong about that. I craved it for years. Even more so after my Mom died. He just never gave it.
“The company is in North Carolina. I’ll be moving there and getting an apartment.”
“Interesting. Do you know what I am looking at here on my desk right now? A tuition bill for a school Julia is transferring to. It just so happens to be in North Carolina.”
“That’s what makes this even better. She could live at my apartment and not worry about dorming. I will be paying rent either way. I wouldn’t mind her being there.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t since it would make it a lot easier for you to keep fucking her. Wouldn’t it?”
For about half a second I thought to deny it. But the shock of what he said made me speechless. Did he know or was he suspicious and trying to feel me out?
“Don’t even try to insult me by denying it, Morgan. It’s been going on at least as long as the gala last year.”
Well son of a bitch.
“You are just dying of curiosity, aren’t you? Let me enlighten you. Guess who had the suite next to yours at the hotel that night? Victor. The same gentleman who you pulled your caveman routine on when you pissed in the sand around Julia. He saw the two of you go to your room.”
That proved nothing. We had done that a million times before.
“It seems the two of you are rather loud when you fuck.”
Shit.
“He was pissed about you not allowing him near Julia.”
“She did not want him anywhere near her. The man is a predator.”
“Regardless, he told me all about it. I started to pay more attention and soon realized it was true. No matter how careful the two of you thought you were, if you look hard enough, the signs are there. I understand the appeal. She is a hot piece of ass and no doubt a great fuck for you to have kept her around so long.”
I gripped the chair to keep myself from going over the desk and pummeling him. “You need to watch your damn mouth. You do realize that is not some whore you are talking about. That’s your step daughter.”
“And do you realize that is your step sister that you have been fucking? I have kept quiet up until now because you have done a good job of not being overly obvious. But I strongly suspect this move now is part of your plan to start coming out from hiding. I simply can’t have that.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not your choice to make.”
He laughed then. A sound so fucking cold, I felt it in my bones. He held up a piece of paper. “Do you remember what I said this was? It’s Julia’s tuition bill. You either end this now or she does not go to school.”
Fuck. I had not planned on that. My mother had left me money in a trust…
“Your trust fund does not kick in for two more years.” It was like he could read my mind. How long had been waiting for this day? I wanted to beat him senseless.
“Do you really want to try and take me on, boy? Give it your best shot.”
As tempting as that idea was, I stood up to leave. I needed to figure a way out of this.
“Just to make this a little more entertaining for me, you will need to break this off and let her think you want it this way. Otherwise, no tuition.”
The man was pure fucking evil.
I had to figure a way out of it. Hunter still had a year before he could touch his trust, or I would have borrowed the money for Jules to go to school and then paid him back. Her not finishing college was not an option. I knew what it meant to her.
I also needed to find ways to stay away from her. Not an easy task. She could read me far too easily. She would know I was hiding something. Besides, I didn’t want my father catching us even in the same room together. I spoke in half-truths, so she wouldn’t suspect anything. What a fucking mess.
She had found an apartment in North Carolina that she wanted to look at. She was so excited and couldn’t wait to go see it. I told her another partial truth or maybe partial lie is more accurate. I told her that I couldn’t go because Jace was coming home on leave and I needed to pick him up. That much was the truth, but I could have worked around it. I asked Hunter to take her, but told him not to agree to anything because I would want to see it myself. I was spinning like a top just trying to buy time.
When they left for their road trip, I gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. I purposely waited until Hunter was standing there, so that she wouldn’t expect more. I felt her uncertainty in her hug and it tore me up. She was putting the pieces together and I was torturing her by trying to postpone the inevitable.
I did pick up Jace as planned but didn’t tell him what was going on. I didn’t want to drag him into my fucking mess. I really missed my mother. She would know how to guide me.
For days I ran through every possible scenario I could think of. I couldn’t sleep for shit and I was running on fumes. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find
a way around my father’s threats. Finally, the only plan I could come up with (I did mention that my muddled brain was running on fumes, right?) was to break it off with Jules. Let her think I wanted it over. Then in a year, when Hunter’s trust kicked in, I would borrow money for her to go to school. After she was gone for six months and settled in, after my father would have thought it was over, I could tell her what happened, and my father would never know. Go to her on my knees and beg her forgiveness. Beg her to take me back. And hope and pray that she didn’t fall for someone else in the meanwhile. Someone who didn’t come with a whole giant package of fucked up situation.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I would be planning a way to rip the heart out of the woman I loved. But that is exactly what I did. I knew Jules, knew what made her tick. She would need the visual to believe it. God help me. I was sick just thinking about it. I needed someone to help me pull this off. Not just anyone. Someone outside our joint circle of friends. Someone who wouldn’t think they stood a chance with me, who could pretend without going through the motions.
I had a friend Jackie who went to college with me. She was very beautiful and very much a lesbian. Jules had only met her a couple of times and wouldn’t know she was gay. I called Jackie and spun another web trying to get her to agree to my plan. She refused multiple times until my desperation won her over.
“Morgan I can’t entirely figure out what is going on, but it sounds like a majorly screwed up situation.”
“You have no idea. Jackie, I wouldn’t be asking if there was any other alternative. I don’t know what else to do. I’d rather rip my own damn heart out.”
“You sound like you already have.”
“I am fucking miserable. Fucking sick over this whole damn thing.”
“Yeah, I can tell that. I don’t agree with what you are doing Morgan, but I can tell that you don’t think you have another choice. I’ll do it. Shit. Why do I know I am going to regret this?”
Jules texted me when they were almost home. I purposely hadn’t answered. Hunter was literally dropping her off and heading out with Kyle for a few days. That meant it would just be me and Jules in the house. And Jackie of course. Nobody else to witness the destruction I was going to cause.
I heard her excited voice calling my name. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to call the whole damn thing off but reminded myself there was no other way. I had played it out a thousand different ways. Maybe instead of six months, I’d tell her in three. Fuck my life.
Jackie and I were in position. Both of us naked from the waist up and wearing just our underwear. Our discarded clothes were strategically thrown about on the floor.
Please Jules, forgive me.
Running footsteps came closer.
I am so fucking sorry.
She called out my name.
I love you so damn much.
The door knob turned.
You are my entire fucking life.
I heard when my door opened…the incredibly loud silence that followed. I imagined what she saw. My body positioned over Jackie’s, my mouth kissing her neck, my hand on her breast.
I looked up as if in shock.
No matter how many times I tried to prepare for her reaction, steel myself against her emotions, I couldn’t have prepared enough for what I saw. She went from shock to devastation. She skipped right over anger. I would have preferred anger. I deserved whatever she threw at me….literally. All the air seemed to have escaped her body. Her eyes overflowing with tears. I wanted to jump out of that bed and explain it all to her. Tell her it wasn’t what it looked like. That I was trying to save us. But, I couldn’t.
“Morgan?” Fuck, her voice sounded so empty.
“Damn, Jules. I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
She shook her head. “Find out?”
I blew out a breath and tried to make my tone icy while I ignored the acid pouring into my stomach. “This was never going to work, Jules. There was just too much stacked against us. It’s become too much of a hassle. And let’s face it, you know I’m not really meant to commit myself to one person.”
She grabbed the corner of my desk for support and the most horrific sob tore from her throat. She tried to speak but couldn’t. Turning on her heel, she ran out of the room. I heard her barrel down the stairs and prayed she wouldn’t fall and break something. A moment later, I heard the front door slam shut.
“I can’t believe I agreed to this! I don’t know what I was thinking! That was disgusting, Morgan. You destroyed that girl. We destroyed that girl. I’m out of here. I feel sick over what we did.”
Well that made two of us. If I thought I had lost sleep planning that whole deception, it was nothing compared to what the guilt and pain afterward had caused me.
I managed to avoid her for a few days. Then, one afternoon, I couldn’t help myself. I went to her room just to feel something. Maybe catch the scent of her perfume. Panic rose quickly when I realized most of her room had been cleared out. I didn’t even know when she had been there to do that. It was the result I had intended, but once again reality was a lot tougher to swallow. A few minutes later, I heard heavy footsteps behind me.
“Hello, asshole. Just came to pick up the last few items that were left.”
“Is she okay, Jace?”
“Is she okay? Did you really just fucking ask me that? What do you think? No. She is not ‘okay’. I don’t know what the hell was going on in that brain of yours, but you fucked up big time. That girl is a hot mess.”
“You don’t understand.”
“You’re right about that. He nudged me out of the way and grabbed the last two boxes. “She’s with me for now. I will look out for her. When you get your head out of your ass, call me.”
I spent the next couple of months not responding to her texts. Eventually, I ignored them completely because they made me even more miserable than I already was.
Three months later, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had been spending another sleepless night missing her like crazy, when I got up at two in the morning and jumped in the car. I drove all the way down to that school in North Carolina. I spent the next three days searching that campus for her. Asking people if they had seen her. Nobody knew her. Or at least they weren’t giving that information to a half-crazed stranger. I texted her over and over, but she never responded. I called her, but the calls went to voicemail.
When I got home, I went straight for where we kept the liquor. I drank all that night and the following day. Just when I was starting to feel numb, I got a visit from Dear Old Dad.
“I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done, Morgan.”
I couldn’t even care enough to fucking ask.
“You not only ended your relationship with Julia, prompting her to go away to school, but Victoria just shared some news.”
“About Jules?” I was desperate for any piece of information I could get. Anything at all.
“Yes. It seems she has someone new in her life. She has moved on. She is quite happy from what I hear.” Well, anything except that.
Once again, my fucking father had won.
Chapter Eighteen
Julia
I ran out of the house and called the only person I could think of. Thankfully, I had my purse in my hand, because I didn’t take the time to grab anything else.
“Jace.”
“Julia. What’s wrong?” I could hear the concern in his voice.
I could barely speak through the sobbing. “I need you to come get me.”
“I’m on my way. Where are you?” I could hear the sounds of keys jingling and his footsteps as he hurried across the floor.
“Home. I’m home. I have to leave. Please Jace.”
“Just stay there. I’m in the car.”
“I’ll wait on the corner.”
“Julia, stay there!”
“I can’t I have to go. Now. I need to get out of here.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you at the corner. I
’ll be there in two minutes.” When Jace’s Grandmother died, she left him an apartment. He used it when he was home on leave. It was just two blocks away.
I realized I lucked out that Jace was actually home. For all I knew Morgan could have lied about that. By the time I got to the end of the street, Jace’s truck came tearing around the corner. It barely stopped before he jumped out.
“Julia! What happened? Where the hell are your shoes?”
I hadn’t even realized I was barefoot. “I just ran. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Okay, let’s get you in the truck. Are you good with coming back to my place?”
I nodded, and he handed me into the truck. When he got in, he sat for a moment looking at me.
“Who upset you, Julia? Was it Parker? I really hate that bastard.” I shook my head and started to cry harder and he figured it out. “Are you kidding me? Son of a bitch. What could Morgan have done to make you cry like that? I can’t believe I am even asking this, but did he hurt you? Because if he did, I will go right back there and kick his ass.”
“He didn’t hurt me like that.”
“Okay. I just had to check because I’ve never seen you like this. What did Morgan do?” He must have seen it in my eyes or written on my face. Or maybe it was just Jace being Jace. “No way. Do not even tell me. What the hell is he thinking? Come on. You are staying with me. We can buy you some shoes and clothes later. Or I will go back and get yours for you if you want.”
Jace didn’t push me to talk. We rode in silence to his apartment and then he invited me to sit on the couch. He made me some tea and then ordered a pizza for dinner. I sat there sipping my tea and replayed what happened.
Morgan had been acting oddly since right after July 4th. He seemed to be avoiding me, but I had told myself I was being paranoid. I loved the apartment we saw, and Hunter gave his stamp of approval too. When I texted Morgan that we were almost home, he didn’t answer me. That was odd, too, but I never imagined I would have walked in on Morgan having sex with someone else.
Sure, it was a strain not being able to tell people we were dating. When our friends were all doing couple things, we had to pretend we weren’t together. But, I thought the move was supposed to help.
