by L A Cotton
“IT’S ME.” I PEEKED my head around the door. Macey sat on the edge of the bed, her arm curved protectively around Kiera’s shoulder as she quietly sobbed. When she saw me, she quickly dried her tears, avoiding my eyes.
“Laurie said you wanted to talk to me?” I directed the question to Macey.
“Can you lock it?” She nodded to the door.
I did as she asked and moved further into the room. “What happened?”
“He called her.”
“He did? But I thought—”
“Yeah, well it would seem that fucker can’t help himself.” Macey’s eyes darkened with anger, and she reminded me of a bear protecting her cubs.
“What did he say?” This time I asked Kiera, who had finally lifted her broken gaze to mine.
“Things he had no right saying.” Macey answered for her. “He was drunk as usual. But this shit has to stop, Lo. Jack already suspects something.”
“Nothing happened.” Kiera’s head whipped up. “I haven’t seen him in months. I just don’t understand what he wants from me. He walked away. I asked him to choose me, and he walked away.” Her lip quivered, a fresh wave of tears streaming down her face. “So if he doesn’t want me, why can’t he let me go?”
I suspected Trey couldn’t let her go because what he felt for Kiera exceeded a forbidden crush. But hearing that would do nothing but upset her more. So I remained quiet.
“It’s obvious,” Macey growled. “He found out you’re with Jack now and he doesn’t like it. Guys are idiots like that.”
“Kiera.” I kneeled in front of her, giving her no choice but to look at me. “Do you want me to talk to Maverick—”
“No, please, don’t do that. If Kyle knew he would—”
“Okay, okay. I won’t talk to him. But maybe if Trey knew he was hurting you every time he does this, he’d stop.”
“That’s actually why I asked Laurie to find you.”
“It is?” I glanced at Macey.
“You know Trey. He’d listen to—”
“Mace, come on. I’m not sure I should get involved like that.”
“Please, Lo,” Kiera sobbed. “I need him to stop. He broke my heart once. I can’t keep letting him do it. He’s with... her. He loves her.”
I didn’t believe that for a second, but it didn’t change the fact Kiera was right. Trey wouldn’t be with her because of who she was—who her brother was.
“You could get a new cell phone, change your number?”
“I did that already.”
“You did? I didn’t know that.” My eyes slid to Macey in question. It was apparent I was only party to some of the Kiera-Trey story. But did I want to go behind Maverick’s back with this? Trey was Maverick’s friend.
“I know it’s putting you in the middle, Lo, and I hate to even ask, but I can’t keep feeling this way. Trey will never be mine. I accepted that the day he chose her, but I can’t move on if he won’t let me.”
My heart ached for her.
Ever since Kiera came into our group, a lost, guarded young girl who hated the world and the hand she’d been dealt, she’d let few people into her heart. She and Macey had formed a strange friendship. Even stranger, she’d fallen for Trey Berrick, player with a capital P, and a guy three years her senior. It didn’t seem so bad now she was seventeen, but when they’d first met, she’d been only fifteen. A fact I knew Kyle would struggle to forgive.
“Please.” Her eyes pleaded with me. “I know Jack isn’t... well, he’s Jack. But he treats me right and makes me forget...”
I reached out, pushing a damp strand of hair from her face. “Okay, if you’re sure this is what you want, I’ll call him.”
“I... I want him out of my life.” Hesitation flickered in her eyes as she swallowed. “For good.”
Kiera wasn’t fooling me, but I nodded all the same. “I’ll need his number.”
“I have it,” Macey said, handing me her phone.
“You want me to call him now?”
She shrugged. “It’s as good a time as any. I’d do it, but we all know that won’t end well.”
“Fine.” I shook my head. “But there might be no coming back from this.” My eyes landed on Kiera and she smiled weakly.
“It doesn’t matter.” Sadness laced her words. “It’s for the best.”
Chapter 4
Maverick
“You’re quiet,” I said, pulling Lo closer as we rode in the sleigh. Thankfully, Laurie and Kyle had decided to get their own too, and the others were riding together which meant I had Lo all to myself.
“Just enjoying the view.”
Sliding my finger under her jaw, I angled Lo’s face to mine. “What happened, Lo?”
She rolled her lips together, and I saw the torment in her eyes. “I promised I wouldn’t say anything.”
“And that makes you a good friend, Lo. But you don’t need to keep secrets from me.”
“Maverick...”
“I don’t care about the ins and outs, I only care about you, and whatever happened is bothering you. I know you, Lo, better than anyone.” I leaned in, grazing my nose over hers. “You can trust me with anything.”
Easing back, giving me her eyes, Lo smiled. “I know. But it’s complicated and I don’t want to make it any worse for her.”
“If Jack did something—”
“It’s not Jack, Maverick. It’s...” She swallowed the words.
I felt like a dick, pushing her to tell me. But I knew Lo, and whatever it was, it was weighing heavily on her. If I could unburden my girl, I would. Even if it meant knowing some girl-drama I probably didn’t want to know.
“It’s Trey.”
His name hung between us.
“Trey?” I asked, dread pooling in my stomach. Trey was a good friend, and although we hadn’t seen much of each other since college, he was still one of my guys. Last I heard, hell had frozen over, and he’d gotten himself a steady girlfriend.
“God, I shouldn’t be telling you this.” Lo buried her face in her hands, but I pulled her fingers away.
“Lo...”
“Something happened with them, over the summer.”
“With Trey and Kiera?” My spine straightened. “But she’s just a kid.” And Trey was a twenty-year-old guy.
“Why do you think I didn’t tell you?”
“Fuck, Lo. Did he sleep with her?” I asked through gritted teeth, imagining the fallout if Kyle found out Berrick had laid a hand on his kid sister.
“No, nothing like that. But they kissed. You know they’ve always had that weird chemistry.”
“I figured Trey was just doing it to mess with Kyle. You mean he’s really into her?”
“Is it so wrong if he is?”
“She’s a kid, Lo.”
Lo huffed at that. “She’s seventeen, she’s hardly a kid.”
“Yeah, but it’s weird.”
“This is exactly why I never said anything.” She let out an exasperated breath. “Forget I ever said anything.” Lo turned away from me, staring out at the snow-capped mountains.
“Hey, come on.” I found her hand and slid my fingers against hers. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just shocked. You can talk to me. I’ll stop being an asshole.”
Lo twisted her body back to me, her eyes sliding to mine. “I think she’s in love with him.”
“Fuck.”
“I’m not sure exactly what happened over the summer, but I know Kiera asked him for more and he let it slip he had a girlfriend. She was devastated.”
“That’s why Macey is so protective of her? She knows, doesn’t she?”
Lo nodded. “Trey chose Callie, and Kiera got with Jack. I didn’t realize he was still calling her.”
“He called her last night?”
“Yeah. He’s playing games. He’s with Callie. Kiera thinks he loves her, but I think he’s just too scared to do the right thing.”
“Which is?”
“Tell Kiera how he really feels. He’s you
r friend. He’ll always be Trey the player to you and Kyle. Like you already said yourself, he’s older.”
Lo wasn’t wrong. Trey was a good guy, a loyal friend. But he wasn’t the kind of guy you would want your kid sister to end up with.
“People change, Maverick,” Lo said as if she could hear my thoughts. “Kiera asked me to call him, to tell him to stop calling her.”
“How’d he take it?”
“I just told you I called your friend behind your back, and all you have to say is, how’d he take it? Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?”
“London,” I growled, fighting a smirk. Was I pissed that she’d called him without telling me? A little. But Lo was her own person.
“He didn’t say much. I think I caught him by surprise. He said he didn’t know why he kept calling her but promised he’d stop.”
“Do you think he will?”
“Time will tell, I guess. But I’m not sure either of them will move on until they deal with whatever is between them.”
“You did a good thing, Lo.” I tucked her into my side. “Thank you, for telling me.”
“You’re not mad?”
“I’m not mad.”
“I hope they work it out,” she whispered.
But I didn’t reply. Not when I knew how Kyle would react if the truth ever came out. So, for as much as I didn’t like to think of Kiera upset and my old friend being torn up over a girl he couldn’t have, maybe it was better this way.
AN HOUR LATER, THE horses drew to a stop, and the guy came around to help us out. “Maverick?” Lo asked, her eyes wide as she drank in the sight before us.
“I’ll be back in two hours. Don’t wander too far and stick to the trail.”
“Thanks.” I grabbed the picnic hamper and blankets from under the bench and grabbed Lo’s hand. “Come on.”
“What is all this? Where are the others?”
“They can fend for themselves for a couple of hours. I wanted you all to myself.”
“Maverick,” she chided, but I caught the hitch in her voice.
“Are you warm enough?” My eyes swept down her body. So many fucking layers. Not that I had any intentions of getting her naked here. That could wait until tonight.
Lo pulled her knitted hat down over her ears and beamed at me. “I’m good.”
“Come on then. I’m starving.” We followed the snowy trail through clusters of trees.
“Look at the icy cobwebs on the branches. It’s so beautiful.” Lo reached out, tracing the delicate patterns.
My girl made me smile with her excitement. “I figured we should make the most of the snow.”
“I love it. We had a white Christmas once, when I was a little girl. I remember waking up and being so excited when I saw the blanket of white covering our back garden. I woke up the whole house, demanding we go straight outside and make snowmen. Mum and Dad insisted on coffee first, but Elliot got dressed and came outside with me. We spent the morning building a family of snowmen, making snow angels, and having snowball fights. When my mum finally dragged us inside, I couldn’t feel my fingers.”
“Hey, come here.” I placed the hamper down and pulled Lo into my arms. The padding of our winter coats made it difficult for us to be as close as I wanted to be, but I held her, nonetheless. Needing to comfort her.
Even now, Lo still didn’t talk about her family much. So whenever she did, I savored the words and memories, snippets of her life before Wicked Bay.
Before me.
“One day,” I said. “That’ll be us, Lo. You, me, and a house full of kids waking up on Christmas morning.”
“It sounds nice,” she answered, but I knew her mind was elsewhere.
“No, it sounds fucking perfect.”
I could imagine it now. Lo smiling with a rosy-cheeked baby on her hip while I chased our son around the house, pretending to be a monster. We didn’t talk about it much—but I hoped she knew I wanted it with her.
Releasing her, I glanced at my feet, raking a hand through my hair. “We should eat. You’ll need plenty of energy for tonight.”
“Tonight?” she asked. “What’s tonight?”
My eyes snapped to hers. “You, me, and that ridiculously big bed.”
“Hmm, I hate to break it to you, but I think the others want to go out dancing tonight.”
“Dancing?” I groaned. Dancing wasn’t in my plan of acquainting myself with every inch of Lo’s skin.
“Come on.” Lo smiled coyly at me. “It could be fun. You can get me drunk and then you can take me home and—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” It came out gruff as my mind wandered to places it didn’t need to be right now.
Lo’s soft laughter filled the frigid air as she went up on her tiptoes and fixed her lips on mine. “Thank you, Maverick.”
“For what?” I stared back at her with lust and love in my eyes.
“For just being you.”
EIGHT HOURS LATER, and true to her word, I found myself sitting in some bar watching Lo and Laurie dance with Macey.
“We should go dance with them,” Kyle grumbled beside me.
“Nah, they’re fine. Besides, our girls can handle themselves.” Lo had gotten pretty good at fending off unwanted attention at SU. Although I’d soon put the word out she was off-limits. Lo was mine. And no one touched what belonged to a Prince.
“Douche alert, three o’clock.” Devon cocked his head in the direction of a group of guys greedily watching from the sidelines.
I scoffed. “They don't have the balls.” Lo outshone every girl in the bar. So maybe I was a little biased... okay, a whole lot biased, but there was something radiant about her. She didn’t need heaps of makeup or barely-there outfits. She owned her body and wore her jeans and sweater to perfection as she rolled and popped her hips to the sultry beat. I leaned back against the booth, watching her every move. I knew she felt my hungry gaze on her because her moves grew bolder. Sexier. As if she was putting on a private dance just for me.
“Seriously, Prince, you’re going to let her dance like that in front of those—”
I lurched forward as one of the guys advanced on her.
“Guy’s got a death wish...” But Kyle’s words were drowned out by the thud thud thud of my pulse against my skull. There was a time when I’d have stormed straight over to them and laid it out for him, but Lo didn’t appreciate the possessive-alpha routine. Not unless we were alone, and I was buried deep inside her and she was screaming my name, at least.
Jaw clenched, spine ramrod straight, I watched on as two guys moved in on Lo and Laurie. At first, the girls paid them no attention. But when one grabbed Laurie’s wrist and tried to pull her away from Lo, they both narrowed their eyes on the guys.
“Motherfu—” Kyle breathed as he began to shuffle out of the booth. I clamped a hand down on his shoulder and said, “Wait.”
“Who are you right now?” He gaped at me like I’d grown a second head.
“They can handle it.”
He shook his head, disbelief glittering in his eyes. “You are so whipped, it’s weird.”
“Lo can—” I was out of the booth in a second, storming over to where one of the guys now had his hands on Lo. She was saying something to him, her eyes dipping from his face to where his hand was touching her.
“Get your fucking hands off my—”
“Maverick,” she warned. “I have this under control.”
Anger simmered beneath my veins as I imagined crushing my fist into the guy’s face. But I forced it down. I wasn’t that guy anymore. I didn’t let my temper get the better of me. The guy’s eyes swung from me to Lo and back again, challenge glittering there.
“I said get your hands off me.”
“It’s all good, baby, I just wanted to—Fuck!” The guy grunted as he went down like a ton of bricks.
“Holy shit, Lo. That was amazing.” Laurie clapped, bouncing on the spot as we stared down at the guy cupping his junk.
“Come on, Rocky.” I hooked my arm around Lo’s waist, pride swelling in my chest.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.” She buried her face into my arm. “But he was touching me and...”
“And you had too much to drink?”
“I’m not drunk.”
“Of course you’re not.” But she was buzzed enough to knee some guy in the balls for getting handsy.
“Are you mad at me?” Lo asked as I guided her away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd.
“Mad at you?” I crowded her into a dark corner. “I’m not mad, Lo. I’m proud. Real fucking proud.”
“You are?” She grinned up at me, her fingers twisting into my sweater. “See, I’m not some delicate flower you need to protect.”
“Right now, protecting you is the last thing on my mind.” I leaned in, grazing her lips with mine. Her breath hitched, her fingers twisting harder.
“Maverick,” she whispered, a slight slur to her voice. “Take me home.”
I stole another kiss before pressing my lips to her forehead. “That I can do.”
Chapter 5
Kyle
“Shit, babe, it’s freezing out here.” I stumbled after Laurie as she headed for the hot tub, a trail of discarded clothes behind her.
“You almost killed yourself on the snowpark and you’re scared of it being cold?” She smirked over her shoulder at me, slipping her bra off her shoulders and dangling it in the air.
I lunged forward, grabbing the lacy material. “If anyone comes out here...” My eyes dropped to her tits and all reason and logic flew out of my brain. “Fuck, babe. You’re perfect.”
“I’m freezing,” she giggled. “Last one in makes breakfast.” Laurie shoved me away and ran the last few steps to the tub and hopped inside. Water splashed around her, the sound of her soft moans filling the air.
My dick grew painfully hard, and I pushed off my boxers, needing in my girl.
“I still can’t believe Lo did that.”
Sliding into the tub, I let out my own groan. Christ, it was fucking good.
