He moves to return the bubble bath to where he got it. This time I watch from under my lashes as his manhood points straight at me. He stops right in front of me and scoops me into his arms. I yelp and wrap my legs around his waist as he lifts me in the air like a small kid when I’m anything but.
He steps into the tub and sits us both down in the warm water. I suck in a breath and wince a little as my tender flesh meets the liquid. Brick slides his hands down my back and cups my ass. He kisses my nose and looks into my eyes.
“My childhood was fucked up,” he begins. “Your daddy saved my life. If it weren’t for Cage, I probably wouldn’t be alive and I damn sure wouldn’t be where I am.
“My family just ain’t shit, darlin’. My father beat the fuck out of me and in the trailer next door his sister allowed her boyfriends to do whatever they wanted to my cousin, Jemma.”
“Oh my God,” I breathe.
He nods tightly and continues. “When your daddy took me with him, I didn’t look back. Jemma was a bitch to me. I hadn’t known what was going on with her to know she had a reason for it.
“I found out when she showed up on my doorstep one summer after having the shit beat out of her. I handled shit for her and gave her a place to stay until she turned eighteen and took off on her own.” His eyes are distant as he speaks and massages his hands over my cheeks under the water.
“I sort of felt like it was my fault. I believed that shit for a long time. Jemma has used that against me again and again. The fact that I was right next door and did nothing, knew nothing. I was a kid too. Took me a long time to accept that as truth. There was nothing I could have done differently.
“We’re only a year apart, but the things Jemma has been through have damaged her deep and added years. When she returned to my doorstep with a friend and a sob story, I fell for it.”
“Mags?” I ask and furrow my brows.
He nods and his lips thin. “Jemma and Magdalena came to me with a tale that sucked me in. I was full of guilt, young, and dumb. Mags was a gorgeous girl in need, and they suckered me right into being her knight in shining armor.
“I had no idea Mags was already in a relationship with my crazy as fuck cousin. I didn’t know until after I’d been married to Mags for over a year. I came home to find my cousin, Jemma, fucking my wife.”
Brick frowns and shakes his head. “That shit fucked my head up. Jemma was eating the same pussy I’d been fucking for more than a year. I knew I wasn’t in love with Mags, but that shit still crushed my ego.
“I wasn’t even turned on by the shit because Jemma is my fucking cousin. The two came clean and told me they were always lovers. They just needed me to keep Magdalena out of Brazil for good.
“Sad part is, Jemma doesn’t realize Mags uses everyone until they’re of no use to her anymore. It’s only a matter of time before Jemma finds out who Magdalena really is. She’s manipulative…” He stops talking, realizing his voice has started to rise and his chest is heaving.
I dip my head and kiss his pec, then lift to kiss his lips gently. He glides his hands up my back, crushing my breasts to his chest. His mouth hovers within inches of mine, he flicks his tongue out to sample my bottom lip, disintegrating the tender kiss I just pressed to his.
He places his forehead to mine and starts talking again. “I did everything they asked of me back then, but Mags decided she wanted more. She fought me tooth and nail on the divorce even after I used my connections to give her a new identity and new life.
“Mags is a liar, a cheater, and a virus of the worse kind. Trouble follows her and Jemma is always there to get her out. I was never married for love. I was married to help her get a green card and to have a safe place to stay.
“I didn’t value love and a relationship like I do now. You feel me?” He finishes as he looks right through my soul.
“I feel you,” I whisper right before he seals his lips to mine.
We remain in a heated kiss before he breaks it and looks me in the eyes again. His expression is impassive. I can’t get a read on him.
“One more thing, darlin’,” he says firmly. “Just like when we’re fucking, when it’s just you and me, I’m Owen to you. Brick is who I am to my brothers, not my woman.”
“Okay, Owen.” I smirk.
“Now turn around, I want to know everything I don’t know about you and you can ask me anything you like,” he commands.
I turn and settle between his legs. “Well, where do you want me to start?” I look over my shoulder to say.
I reach for his legs and run my hands over his powerful thighs that are beside me. “I’ll be needing to feed you soon, so how about you start with what you like to eat? You still make those pancakes?”
I freeze in his arms and blink up at him. I know I must be looking at him with a stunned expression on my face. I search his eyes, not comprehending how he remembers such a thing.
“You remember that?” I say in awe.
I can’t believe he does. One summer, when Brick was home from college, he and King had stayed out late partying. The next morning—because I knew it was the only way I could hang out with them—I made them breakfast.
He snorts. “Best damn pancakes I’ve ever had in my life. How could I forget?”
I made pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I recall they both devoured every last crumb. I was so proud of myself that day. I never in a million years would have thought he would remember that.
“I was like fourteen.” I wrinkle my nose at him.
“Yeah, so, do you still make ‘em, cause it’s been that long since I had good pancakes,” he says with a sparkle in his eyes.
I nod and give him a small smile back. “Yeah, I do. We may need to go to the store.”
“No problem.” He nods and starts to massage my shoulders. “Now, tell me what your plans are after graduation.”
Chapter 9
Forgotten Kings
Mix
Somewhere in the Georgia mountains…
“King thinks you’re in New York checking on things?” the old man in the wheelchair asks. His voice is raspy and strained, not at all what it used to be.
“Yeah, I have my boys in New York seeing to things until I get there,” I reply.
“He’s running a tight ship, I see,” he says with a firm nod and pursed lips.
“Yeah, the kid is doing well. I’m proud of him,” I say and nod my head. I am proud of King even if I have a suspicion he’s keeping something from me. I guess we’re about even there.
In the end, it will all be a matter of who’s willing to forgive who. I’d say I’ve had more time to deal with what I have been suspecting. King is going to be blindsided with this completely.
“Does he know trouble is headed his way yet?”
“No.” I shake my head with a grim frown on my face. “I’ve kept a lid on things. I think his iron fist has held things off for this long. No one can find a way in. Too many are scared to come after the Lost Souls. They know about the Squad and are scared shitless of them.”
The old man grins as much as his scared face will allow. “I would fear them if I didn’t know the face of death for myself,” he says. His grin falls as quickly as it appears. I know the conversation is about to take another turn. The same turn it takes every time I’m here. “Any change?”
“No brother, not yet.” I don’t have the heart to say there never will be. I know hope of there someday being a change is the only thing holding this brother up.
He swallows hard as he looks off into the distance. “How does an old son of a bitch like me get so lucky…” He doesn’t finish the rest of his thought, but I’ve heard it enough to know what comes next.
“I’m hoping we all have your luck. Squad or not, this is coming for us all. He plans to finish what he started, and he has leverage and timing on his side this time. I think our clock is running out,” I reply gruffly.
The old man nods. “I’ve been readying myself for this day. I think I’ve been read
ying myself long before I knew this day was coming. The bones in my closet are ready to rattle. We’re going to see if the boy lives up to his name.”
I snort. “King won’t go down without a fight.”
“Good, cause neither will I.”
Chapter 10
Just a Man
Eva
With yesterday forgotten, I find myself laying on Owen’s chest. Yes, I have mentally started to call him Owen after he has growled at me a few times for slipping and calling him Brick.
After our bath, he called his housekeeper to get the things I needed to make us pancakes, as well as a few other things I asked for. By the time Owen had me dressed and we returned to his place in the old warehouse, everything I asked for and then some was stocked in his kitchen.
I made us pancakes for lunch and since he couldn’t keep his hands off me long enough to allow me to cook, we had takeout for dinner. The beginning of yesterday had started off rocky, but it ended on a sweet note. Today has started off the same.
We only moved out of bed to relieve ourselves and freshen up. Then we ended up right back in bed cuddled up and have been that way since. It’s been about two hours now.
“What were you thinking?” Owen chuckles as he runs his fingers through my hair.
“I don’t know, I wasn’t thinking.” I giggle. “He pissed me off. I reacted.”
“King has mentioned that temper of yours,” he says with laughter in his voice.
“I’m working on it.” I shrug. This is the millionth story I’ve shared with him. We’ve been trading stories about ourselves since last night. I think at this point, he knows me better than Misty does.
“He was only trying to cheat from your paper.” He laughs. “Did you have to kick him in the balls?”
“Yes, yes, I did. I asked him to stop,” I say with a sage nod of my head.
“I’m never looking at shit over your shoulder.”
“I have a question,” I say and pop my head up to look at him. “The apartment at the office is amazing. Did you design it all?”
“Every last detail. I didn’t think we’d get those plans approved. We tried for this place, but no matter how deep my pockets are, it was too much glass for this structure, and they weren’t willing to take the risk.
“I would have had to compromise on too much of the structural design to get approved. The office is exactly what I envisioned,” he says proudly.
“You have a brilliant mind. We have to go back. I didn’t get to take it in fully,” I say in awe of his work.
“Anytime you want, darlin’.” He chuckles again as he glides his fingertips up and down the center of my back.
The sound of my stomach growling takes over the room. I blush and bury my face into his chest. His chest rumbles with laughter.
“Come on, baby, let’s see if we can find some leftovers,” he says through his laughter.
“Do you cook?” I ask as we walk to the kitchen stark naked.
“Not often. I suck at it,” he says with a shrug.
I laugh and wipe my sweaty palms on my thighs. You would think I would be more comfortable by now, but Owen is… Owen. Huge, sexy, and imposing. I feel so small as I walk beside him.
His body is perfection. I’m still trying to get used to the fact he’s my man and he likes to see me walking around his place naked as the day I was born.
In the back of my head, I keep asking myself if I’m dreaming. I can’t believe I’ve slept with this man, that thought alone is enough to continue to make me nervous. He has told me he can’t get enough of me, but I still don’t know if I’m doing all I can to please him like he pleases me.
“Well, how do you eat?” I ask and wince at my lameness.
I swear, I have a little more confidence around other people. I’m not claiming to be one of the cool kids, but I’m not normally this bad. Well… at least that’s what I try to tell myself. Maybe it’s being around Misty that gives me any confidence at all. I know I’m way out of my league here.
“There’s a great Tai place that’s close to the house and they deliver. There is also an Italian place by the office I go to a lot with my clients,” Owen says with a smirk as he looks down at me.
“You always eat takeout,” I say in disbelief. That can’t be possible with a body like his.
“It’s that or suffer through my own cooking,” he says and pulls a face.
I giggle and shake my head. “Well, as long as I’m with you, I’ll make sure you’re fed properly.”
He stops in his tracks and backs me into the wall behind me. He gives me a smoldering look as his nostrils flare. Placing a hand on either side of my head on the wall, he looks down into my eyes.
I squeeze my thighs and place my palms on his bare chest. Licking my lips, I peer up at him. He follows my tongue with his eyes.
“Keep saying shit like that, darlin’,” he says, his voice dropping a few levels. “I may forget I’m trying to give your tight pussy a break.”
“Owen,” I whimper.
“No.” He shakes his head. “I took you way more than I should’ve in the first place. I’m keeping my hands off you for at least twenty-four hours. We’re still getting to know each other. It’s your turn.”
He pushes off the wall and turns to walk off into the kitchen. I’m left to melt against the wall in a pool of my own desire. I watch his hard, perfect ass walk away from me and groan. I don’t know if I can wait another hour before he touches me again. I have to figure out how to seduce him or something.
I shake my head at my own thoughts and follow him into the kitchen. “I can make us pancakes again,” I offer as I think of the way he devoured them yesterday.
He turns around with a boyish smile on his face. How can such a big man be so adorable and so rough at the same time? He nods his head emphatically. I burst into laughter.
It’s right in this moment, I realize Brick is just a man. I’ve made him into something so much larger than life in my mind, but he is a man. My man.
Owen
“Out of the way,” she giggles with that sweet voice.
My heart swells as it dawns on me that I have Eva Kennedy naked in my kitchen, getting ready to cook for me. After lusting after this young girl, who was too young for me when I first started to notice her, she is finally mine. My girlfriend is making me breakfast.
Girlfriend, I sound like a pussy to my own ears. I’m thirty-one, I’ve never had a girlfriend in my life. Never wanted one. Even when I was married, I knew in the back of my mind my wife was somehow unfaithful.
Hell, three months in, Mags had offered me an open marriage. She said I could fuck whoever I wanted. In her words, ‘You’re doing me a favor, I won’t hold you to anything.’ Yet, every time I came home late or smelling of another woman, Mags was in my face.
For the first year, I hadn’t done anything. I would smell of other women because of some club bunny sitting on my lap or a stripper giving me a lap dance when I would hang with the brothers. I would look, but I wouldn’t touch.
After finding Jemma and Magdalena in my bed, I fucked anything that walked. I didn’t care who and I didn’t care where. I spent a year and a half feeling bitter and used. I wanted to make someone else feel that same way.
When I saw it was never going to make anything better, I threw myself into work. Now, looking at Eva as she bends over to grab something from the bottom shelf and her ass and pussy peek out at me, I only want her.
I can’t even imagine placing my dick anywhere other than inside her. Her ass jiggling in the air has his full attention. I want her, but I promised I’m not touching her again until she’s had a chance to heal from my bastard ways.
Eva straightens to her full height and turns to look over her shoulder to ask me something. I’m caught in the act of staring at her ass. Eva looks down and then looks back up at me.
“You’re a dirty old man,” she teases.
I give a deep belly laugh. I love when she has these little moments when she l
ets her humor peek through. Moments when she isn’t analyzing everything she says to me before she says it.
I wink at her. “You have no idea how right you are,” I say through my laughter.
Eva shakes her head. “So, it’s my turn for questions,” Eva says almost to herself as she places items on the countertop. She looks at me shyly, once again analyzing her words before she speaks.
“Just spit it out,” I encourage her.
“You stopped coming to the clubhouse as much as you used to. I mean, I know you live all the way over here and all, but you used to come to the clubhouse at least every other weekend, then you just stopped. You show up when obligated from what I know…” her voice trails off as she chews on her lip.
“Do you remember when I stopped coming?”
I watch her face and see she’s embarrassed because she knows the answer right away. “Well, yeah. It was right after my graduation BBQ. I waited all summer for you to come by before I had to leave for college. I….” She stops talking and tries to make herself busy with making us something to eat.
“You what, darlin’? Don’t be shy. Come on and tell me,” I coax as I try to hold back a smile.
“I heard that you lived here in Georgia. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I had thought I’d worked up the courage to ask you to hang out sometime,” she admits in a shy quiet tone. “I know, you were like twenty-seven and all, but I had hoped…”
She lets her words trail off again. I run my hand through my hair and snort. “I stopped coming around because of you.” I let my words hang in the air. “I’ve wanted you for a long time, Eva. Way before you should’ve had my attention. When I saw you at that BBQ, I knew I needed to keep my distance.”
Forever Page 7
