Broken Rules (Love Storm series Book 2)

by Victory Storm

  "Jake, please take it easy," she worried.

  “ No guarantees. If I find him as drunk as the day I returned, I will no longer answer for my actions."

  "I know, Jake. I understand. I'm just asking you to be cautious and kind to him. "

  "I'll try," Jake said as she left the room to go on her date.

  I quickly hid around the corner so as not to be caught eavesdropping and, as soon as I saw her leave the house, I flew into Jake's room.

  The time had come to stop him!

  26

  EASTON

  "I was waiting for you!" exclaimed Jake cheerfully, when he saw me enter with a determined step.

  I did not let myself be fooled by his amused smile. I knew how sneaky and manipulative he could be. Besides, I was too angry with him.

  Within hours he had managed to destabilize me, steal Alice's heart, and throw me into hell.

  Overcome by the heat of my fury, I threw him against the wall, grabbing him by the shirt.

  "Stay away from Alice," I snarled angrily.

  "Why?" he asked me, still smiling happily. It was as if he had waited for me at the gate and I had just fallen into his trap.

  "She is mine."

  "Yours? Are you sure?"

  "Yes," I hissed, trying to curb the anxiety that caused my insecurity, because in reality I knew that Alice had never really been mine. I had wanted her, had her, but then I had lost her before I could stop it.

  “ You think differently. She didn't tell me you're together or that you’re in love with her." His words were sulfuric acid on the skin.

  Of course, I knew it! We weren't together but she was mine anyway. It had to be. It could not have been otherwise, if I didn't want to get lost in that nightmare in which I had fallen the night she asked me for a break and to distance myself from her. It had taken away my oxygen, the will to live, the strength to keep going.

  "She ... she wants me," I managed to say, trying to hold back the dragons who wanted to destroy me. “Alice told me. She wants me! She wants to be with me, not with you," I repeated, trying to convince myself as well as him.

  "Then why aren't you with her, huh? Easton, answer!” Jake roused me as soon as he caught that moment of weakness that was slowly killing me.

  "She wants more," I admitted, trying to drive away the darkness that I felt swallow me every time I thought about it. She wanted to be loved but I didn't know how. I didn't know how to love.

  "What does she want?"

  "She wants me to love her."

  "So what?" Jake asked almost furiously, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt in turn.

  “ I can't love. You should know that,” I hissed in anger, the only emotion that still gave me the courage to stand.

  "You know how to love, Easton!"

  "No ... no ... I don't."

  "Why?" Jake exploded Jake in frustration, causing me to go haywire. "Why do you refuse to be happy?"

  "Alice ... Mom ..." I stammered, trying to reconnect my brain instead of wishing to get drunk again.

  “ Easton, Alice isn't Mom. You have to stop thinking about the past and start living! Dad told me you were changing. You know, he phones me every week to tell me about you and he informed me that Alice was helping you a lot. For months, he never received a recall because of you. He couldn't believe it, so much so that he asked one of your friends, Logan, what was going on. "

  "Logan?!"

  “ Yes. Our father did him a big favor in the past and in return asked him to keep you under control. It's Logan who told your father that Alice was changing you for the better, that you were fine, that you had stopped drinking and doing crazy things, but then something happened, right? Alice asked you to love her and you pulled back?"

  "Shut up!" I shouted, shaken by his words and the news of having a spy among my best friends.

  “ Of course, the truth hurts. It's your fault, Easton. You lost Alice and for what? For the memory of what our mother did to us? Easton, that wasn't what I wanted for you. You are not like that. You know how to love. You just choose not to. "

  "And that's fine with me!" I growled, unable to face that speech with him or anyone else. I didn't want to, couldn't remember the past and what had happened to us. I didn't want to think that I had just lost everything for someone who hadn't been in my life for years.

  "Then give up Alice, because if that's what you think, then I am telling you that you've already lost her," Jake threatened me, without the smile on his lips anymore.

  "You took her away from me!" I accused him.

  "Me?! No, you did it all by yourself. I only took what you refused. "

  "She doesn't want you!" I tried to convince him.

  "She will want me," he replied in a tone so firm and determined that my knees were bent.

  "You will only use her and then you will throw her away like you have always done with all the others."

  "So? What do you care?"

  "You're going to make her suffer ... I ... I don't want that."

  "Why not?"

  "I already made her feel bad and I don't want it to happen again because of you. Please, leave her. Please, Jake,” I found myself begging him.

  "Give me a reason. Just one. And I'll leave her alone. "

  "I ... I need her. I want to be with her," I confessed. It was difficult to admit certain things to my brother, but I had no choice.

  "Ok, and will you be willing to fall in love with her by promising to be faithful and to truly love her?" Jake provoked me, knowing he was touching a delicate button. With that question I saw how he was trying to make me leave behind the armor that I had built in all those years away from him.

  “ You know me. You know that I am not made to keep promises, just break them. Love will never be part of my world," I said, determined not to show myself weak before him. I hated the vulnerability that I had just exposed, and I would never allow him to rage at me again.

  "Then you have no hope of getting Alice back."

  "You don't have any hope of being with her because you're like me," I said, hitting him in the stomach, hoping to provoke him to the point of losing his temper, but he burst out laughing.

  “ My God, Easton, you're worse off than I thought! Just be careful because you'll soon regret it. I just wanted to help you and ... "

  "Help? By taking Alice for yourself? You're just a bastard!” I railed, interrupting him, and hitting him again.

  "Hey guys! What the hell are you doing? Easton! Jake! Stop!” Our father intervened, stepping between us. "Maybe we should have a chat."

  27

  ALICE

  "Come home. Easton has gone mad and is drunk again after arguing with our father about his excessive drinking. We are worried about him and we can't calm him down. "

  With those words, Jake had pushed me to abandon Felicity in the middle of the film, run home and end Easton's self-destructive phase.

  I immediately found Mitchell arguing with Jake, accusing him of setting a bad example with all those times he had come home drunk and didn't want Easton to end up the same thing.

  I let them argue and, without interrupting them, I went upstairs.

  I went straight to Easton's room but didn't find him.

  I went to mine and to my surprise I found Easton lying on my bed, drinking whiskey.

  "Isn't it a little early for drinking?" I began, seizing the still full bottle, luckily.

  "You're back," he said, getting up and coming to me.

  “ Do you know what happened?" I asked him, but he took me in his arms and immediately took possession of my lips.

  It had been so long since I kissed him that for a moment, I let myself be carried away and I answered the kiss.

  "I’ve missed you so much," he whispered, kissing my neck and hair.

  "Easton, you're drunk," I pointed out, smelling the alcohol on his breath.

  "Not as much as I would like."

  "I wish you would stop turning to the bottle when something is bothering you."
>
  "Leave my brother and I will."

  "Really? If I leave Jake, will you stop drinking until you get drunk?” I jumped at the bait.

  "Yes," he replied, continuing to kiss me and hold me close.

  "Do you promise me?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay, I’m telling you that from this very moment I am no longer with your brother," I informed him, taking from him the huge burden that was tied to that lie.

  Easton stopped abruptly and looked me straight in the eye in search of the truth.

  "Seriously?"

  ‘ Yes, I swear to you. It's over,” I confirmed.

  "What about Jake?"

  "I just want you, Easton."

  From his breathlessness I understood how much the thing was destroying him.

  "Come with me," I whispered, taking him by the hand and taking him to bed. "Do you want to be together for a while?"

  "Yes," he replied weakly, lying down and next to me.

  "I missed you too, you know?" I confessed, resting my head on his chest.

  "Why are you doing this?" he asked me at some point.

  "This?"

  "This. You and me. Together. Like old times."

  "Don't you feel like it?"

  "I did not say that."

  "I just want to be with you, Easton," I confessed, feeling the huge knot that I had been carrying inside me too long melt away.

  It's time to throw yourself into the void and love without knowing what awaits me.

  I kissed him. Luckily, he had drunk only a little and it the smell of alcohol didn’t bother me.

  He immediately repaid.

  In an instant, I felt his body above mine as his hands ran over me feverishly.

  ***

  EASTON

  Was I going crazy or was it all true?

  I looked at Alice. She was staring at me. There was a shadow of sadness in her eyes, but she was sincere, I felt it.

  She wanted me. She really wanted me.

  I kissed her lips, sucked them, nibbled them, and finally let my tongue make room for her, while my eager hands sought contact with her skin, hidden under layers and layers of clothing.

  "Easton," she groaned beneath me when my fingers reached the most sensitive center of her femininity.

  "Tell me you're mine," I pleaded when I felt her reach the peak of pleasure.

  “ I'm yours, Easton. Forever,” she replied, trembling with the intensity of her orgasm.

  After weeks, I felt my heartbeat again.

  I had come back to life.

  I kissed her, drinking from her, her light, and her energy.

  I got out of my clothes and did the same with her.

  I needed to feel her skin, her warmth.

  I was still cold, and she was the only one who could warm me to the soul.

  "I want to make love to you, Easton," she confessed, resuming kissing me, and holding me close.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, just promise me you won't abandon me tomorrow like you do with the other girls."

  Abandon you?! I won't let you go later. You will be mine forever.

  "I swear to you," I promised.

  "Teach me how to ... love you," she whispered shyly.

  She had used a term that generally caused me to immediate look for an escape, but the sweetness I read in her gaze made me so ill that I only wanted to penetrate her even more. In all senses. I wanted her to belong to me completely.

  "I don't have a condom," I remembered, checking my trouser pocket. Ever since Alice had told me she was a virgin, I hadn't brought any with me.

  "I take the pill to regulate my menstrual cycle, so we don’t have to worry."

  I had never had sex without a condom, but I didn't tell her that.

  The thought excited me even more and, when I leaned over her, between her thighs, as soon as I collided with her, I felt an unknown sensation that was so intimate it made my heartbeat wildly.

  When I entered her, I was tense as a violin string, worried about hurting her or that she would stop me.

  "Alice," I whispered, leaning over her, and holding my weight on my elbows.

  She clung to my back and when I slipped completely inside, I felt her panting and moaning.

  It was so warm, enveloping, and welcoming. I had never felt so good inside a girl.

  I kissed her and slowed the pace, but as soon as I felt her contractions of pleasure, I could no longer control myself and let myself go to what I could call the most incredible orgasm of my life.

  I collapsed on the mattress but did not detach from her.

  "Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

  "Yes. It was beautiful, Easton,” she assured me, kissing me.

  I stayed in bed with her that night.

  Nobody came to disturb us.

  At midnight we woke, took a shower together where she provoked me until I came and finally devoured the entire supply of Alice's cookies.

  "You didn’t put anything in them, right?" I asked amused.

  "You mean mayonnaise or toothpaste?" She remembered. "I don’t know. Taste them and then tell me. "

  "You are so devious ... I like it," I joked, biting a cookie under her fake malevolent gaze.

  How I missed our skirmishes!

  I still couldn't believe Alice had come back to me so easily and wanted to make love!

  There was something still unsaid, but I felt that she too wanted to take a moment's respite. It was as if she wanted to tell me that she wanted to start over and leave all the quarrels behind.

  28

  EASTON

  When I woke the following morning, I felt in seventh heaven.

  I had slept very little but felt more refreshed than ever.

  I reached for Alice but found an empty space.

  I opened my eyes wide.

  “ Alice!” I called her, feeling a suffocating and corrosive anxiety rise up all over my body.

  I swung into the private bathroom, but she wasn't there.

  I looked around.

  Even her belongings were gone.

  My head was spinning, and I couldn’t breathe.

  It was as if I had suddenly run out of oxygen.

  I sat on the bed, and then saw a note with my name written on it.

  I opened it.

  “ I’m sorry if you don't find me by your side when you wake up, but I was afraid. I threw myself into the void with you and for you, giving you all of myself and taking the first step towards what I really want, your love. But then I thought about your refusal when I asked you if you were in love with me and I preferred to leave because, now, I have come to a point of no return with you. Facing another of your refusals would kill me. Therefore, I beg you to do one thing for me: go to the bathroom, look in the mirror, see if I am reflected there and then, if you want, come back to me. But if what I did goes too far beyond what you want, then please don't look for me anymore. Alice. PS: Remember that you swore to never drink again. "

  What the hell did the note mean?

  Was she asking me to forget her?

  I reread the letter, but I couldn’t understand what she was really saying with that story of looking in the mirror.

  Determined to clear up that situation, I quickly dressed and went downstairs.

  "Where's Alice?" I shouted furiously at my brother who was having breakfast.

  "She's gone."

  "Where?" I whispered, feeling my lungs shrink, unable to fill with air.

  "I don’t know."

  "Tell me," I said. I was sure he knew where she was.

  "Sorry. Did you look in the mirror?"

  "What?" I asked confused. "Did you read the note she left me?"

  "No, but she gave me this before she left," he replied, handing me an indelible marker. "She told me that what you write with this remains forever."

  "What does that mean?"

  "Come on," he invited, accompanying me to the mirror at the entrance. "Now look at yourself," he said, pulling my shirt away from my ch
est.

  I immediately looked at myself.

  I was the portrait of despair and my arms trembled with tension.

  Then I glanced over my chest, in the direction of the heart and there I saw ...

  Alice!

  "I love you, Alice!" was written on my left breast that rose and fell frantically with each breath.

  I ran my fingers over the writing.

  Alice had written it backwards, in mirror writing.

  Alice loves me. She loves me.

  I felt my heart burst in my chest.

  I felt like there was a tornado inside. My whole world was overturned and suddenly it a new shape and new life.

  "You found someone who loves you despite being a real mess," Jake complimented, patting me on the shoulder.

  "You knew it?"

  "Yes, and you would know if you hadn't gotten drunk two days ago to forget about it. That night you were so sick you started saying that you didn't want, and you couldn't love Alice because then she would abandon you as mom did. "

  "Oh God…"

  "Alice was there and very frightened, but when you said those things, she came up to you and said she loved you and that she swore she would never abandon you."

  "You ... did you say she loves me?" I stammered, unable to believe what I had just heard.

  "Oh yes. Actually, that night she repeated it a lot of times, even while sleeping with your head on her legs. She kept you with her all the time and didn't stop caressing your face and shoulders for a moment. I have never seen anyone love someone else like her so much. But unfortunately, she too is a mess and your detachment led her to a crisis, to the point that she asked me to help her. She suffered a lot, but that night, seeing you in that state made her feel awfully bad. And she wasn't the only one. I was in pieces too. "

  "Is that why you went with her? To help her?” I tried to understand, holding Alice’s note in my hand.

  “ No, I just pretended to be with her for you. Alice wasn't the only one asking me for help that night. You did too. "

  "Me?"

  “ Yes. Alice doesn't know, because I asked her to wait for us in the bedroom, but in the bathroom, after you vomited your soul, you started crying and begged me to help you because you love that girl but didn't know how to tell her. You said that you were afraid of losing her, that she would find another and forget you. Later I chatted with her and she told me everything, even about your strategy of making her put up with Ant just to keep her busy and away from other guys. I put two and two together and I understood that you had to be forced to overcome your fears. That's why I pretended to be in love with her. I knew you were afraid of losing her, and I tried to take you to the limit and then get rid of whatever was blocking you, but I did not succeed. Alice was extremely angry with me for the lie. She didn't send me to hell only because I'll be leaving for Seattle shortly and she didn't want to lose my help then.”