by Nikki Ashton
“Ellie is always okay,” Carter replied. “Don’t you worry about her.”
“You’re not concerned he’ll report her?” I asked.
Carter shook his head. “Nope, you saw Miss. Watkins face when you called them out about being together when we were at school. Dominic knows if he reports Ellie either you or me will tell the school authorities about them.”
“Yeah but we can’t prove anything. It was only the fact she went as white as a sheet when I said it. He could still decide to go to the hospital board.”
Carter slapped my back. “Hunt, I have no idea why you’re worrying about this. Ellie isn’t, I’m not, so don’t you.”
I couldn’t believe how damn cool he was being about it. I knew if it was my sister, I’d be doing everything I could to make sure nothing came back to bite her on the ass; but then Ellie wasn’t my sister and Carter wasn’t exactly the best of big brothers.
I was about to ask him if we should make sure somehow, when I saw his face change. The grin dropped from it and his lips moved into a thin line. I looked over his shoulder to follow his gaze and saw Ellie and Bronte moving through the crowds and greeting people with kisses on cheeks and hugs. I knew he had a thing about his ‘little sister’ hanging around with him, but Carter’s attitude toward Ellie being at the party seemed a little off by the way he was looking at her with narrow eyes and clutching his beer bottle so hard I thought it might break.
Carter shifted a little and I got a better view of Ellie as she started to move towards us.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath as my mouth went dry and I swallowed hard.
She looked as sexy as hell. Every guy in the place had their eyes on her. She was wearing a cheerleader costume covered in fake blood. The tight top, which stopped just below her tits, was slashed and gave glimpses of her tanned skin, while the skirt rested on her hips and just about covered her ass. Even her hair, in two pigtails high on her head looked sexy as they swung with each step she took.
“What the hell is she wearing?” Carter mumbled and took a step forward.
I stepped in front of him; Ellie’d had enough public humiliation for one week. I glanced over my shoulder at her brother while Ellie turned around and immediately saw me. She stopped dead still, both hands flew to her mouth, and she began to actually shake. Her legs shook uncontrollably, tears sprang to her eyes as her breathing got heavy.
“Ellie?”
I reached out a hand, but she screamed loudly and tried to back away from me, stumbling as she did.
“What the hell?” Carter pushed past me. “Ellie.”
I moved with him and as he reached out for his sister, Bronte turned around. “You damn idiot,” she spat at him.
As a sexy female version of Freddie Kruger in a real short red and black sweater dress that covered less of her ass than Ellie’s outfit, she stormed toward me. I didn’t have time to be confused by what was going on. Bronte had a face like thunder and Ellie was shouting at me to keep away.
“What the hell did I do?” I cried. “I only—” Bronte’s foot stamped down on mine and then a hand came up and slapped my face.
“Shit, Bronte.” Carter reached out a hand to pull her away. “It was just a joke. I didn’t think she’d be so upset.”
Bronte rounded on Carter as I cupped my stinging face.
“You, absolute dick, Carter Maples. How could you?” Bronte screamed in his face.
“What the hell is going on?” I winced at sharp pain shooting up my foot, pretty sure that Bronte had broken one or more of my toes, never mind left a handprint on my cheek.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know, you… you… dickwad.”
Bronte then turned back to Carter and without any hesitation kneed him in the balls.
“Will someone please tell me what I’m supposed to have done wrong,” I begged as Carter collapsed on the ground cupping his junk.
“She’s petrified of cows,” Bronte roared. “As if you didn’t know.”
I looked over at Ellie who was being comforted by a couple of girls who she’d been friends with at high school. Her shoulders heaved and she glanced my way, distress still written all over her face.
“I swear, Ellie,” I called across to her. “I didn’t know.”
Bronte stared intently at me and then looked down at Carter who was curled in the fetal position on the floor, his cries of agony far louder than Ellies scream had been.
“He knew,” she snapped and kicked at Carter’s foot. “He told you to wear it didn’t he?”
I thought about the Joker costume that I thought I’d bought online.
“I knew it.” I’d evidently paused too long as Bronte gave Carter one last kick and then stormed back over to Ellie who seemed to be calming down.
I looked down at Carter writhing around and felt the need to give him another kick to the balls, but Alaska came over and placed a big hand with pearly pink fingernails on my shoulder.
“Wow, you really are a douche sometimes,” he said with a grin.
“I didn’t know.” I held my hands in the air in exasperation. “I swear.”
“You idiot,” Jennifer, Alaska’s girlfriend, growled and poked me in the chest. “How can you not know that the girl you’ve known since she was a baby is petrified of cows.”
Alaska laughed, Carter groaned, and I looked down at the plastic udders that were hanging from my stomach and felt the hood I had on which was shaped like a cow’s head.
“Oh fuck,” I muttered and scrubbed a hand down my face. Then I tipped my beer over Carter.
Ellie
Watching everyone enjoy themselves, whilst I hung out on the sidelines hugging a bottle of beer, I realized why I never went to parties—I damn well hated them.
At least my pulse had slowed down after a quick shot from the hip flask Alaska had tucked in the leg of the granny pants he was wearing. Now, I felt stupid. So stupid that I couldn’t find it in myself to join in with the fun and had chosen to sit alone, on a wall in the yard, while everyone else stayed inside.
Bronte had gone missing almost a half hour ago. I guessed she was using some poor idiot’s tongue and fingers to try and forget her crush on Jefferson. I mentally rolled my eyes and thought about my plan to hook her up with my dick douche of a brother. The wisdom of it was in severe jeopardy. Why on earth would she want to date someone who couldn’t father children? When I got hold of him his nut sack would end up well and truly empty after the stunt he pulled with Hunter’s costume. I shuddered at just the thought of it. Shit, my brother really was a Weiner head as well as a dick douche.
“Can I sit?”
I looked up to see Hunter, minus his hideous costume and in ball shorts and a tee, holding two bottles of beer.
“I come in peace, minus cow titties,” he said, offering me one of the beers.
I nodded and took the bottle from him, placing it on the wall next to where I was sitting.
“I should also point out, I raided Belinda’s folks’ medicine cabinet and your brother should be getting the shits in round about…” He looked down at the big sexy watch on his wrist. “Ten minutes.
I grinned but then winced – how the fuck can a watch be sexy?
“Thanks. He deserves it. Where is he anyway.”
Hunter shrugged. “No idea, but let’s hope it’s close to the john. Those laxatives were extra strength and I put two into the hot dog I got him from the grill.”
Eyeing him warily, I took a swig of my beer.
“You’re forgiven. You don’t have to lie about the payback on Carter.”
“Oh, I ain’t lying.” Hunter smiled and tapped his bottle to mine. “It’s the least the fucker deserves.”
We lapsed into silence, both giving a quiet laugh as Jennifer ran past, chasing a squealing Alaska shouting, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Hilary. It’s mayo.”
“So, how come you never told me you were scared of you know whats?” Hunter asked once they’d disappeared back in
side.
“I just figured you knew.” I shrugged. “My friends and family know, so…”
Hunter blew out a breath. “Well I guess that’s my bad, for not paying you more attention.”
The words made me feel a little strange in my belly, but I decided to ignore it and kept silent. I glanced up at him and couldn’t help but think how handsome he looked with his disheveled hair brushing against his eyelashes. It wasn’t that I’d never noticed how hot my brother’s best friend was, I’d spotted that at the age of thirteen when he’d given me my first lady boner. The problem was he was fifteen and while he was Zac Efron High School Musical cute, he was a person with a dick, who acted like a dick, talked like a dick and basically was a dick. He hung with my brother, so no mystery why he was so dickish. I gave up on liking him after the first time he made me cry, by ignoring me at the town fete and French kissing Bettina Mercer in front of me. It was then that I decided that Hunter Delaney would no longer have an inch of my time or brain space. Him getting hotter as he got older made it a whole lot more difficult, but I’d succeeded – well on the surface, he did have his uses during my self-pleasuring sessions.
“I do feel bad for not knowing,” he added. “But I guess that explains why you never came out to the ranch much.”
“Nope, not really. That’s mainly because I thought you were a dick.”
I nudged him with my shoulder and winked. Even so, Hunter snorted a dismissive laugh as if it’d be impossible for anyone to think he was a dick.
“Oh, come on, Hunt, you must know you are.” He wasn’t entirely, but it didn’t hurt to yank his chain a little.
“I am not a dick,” he argued, turning to face me. “How can someone who takes their aunts underwear shopping be a dick?”
I turned to face him, a huge grin on my face. “You do not.”
“Scouts honor.” He gave me the correct salute, but he didn’t have me fooled.
“If you were a scout how come I never knew?”
“Well it never really came up,” he replied with a wink. “Just like I didn’t know you were scared of cows.”
His wink created a little party action in my panties, worryingly.
“So, we both have secrets,” I said with a clearing of my throat as I pushed my thighs together. “Who knew?”
Hunters eyes grazed down my body and then back up again. It wasn’t hard to see the want in them. Problem was with Hunter, he might have been hot, and probably packing more than a quarter pound of best beef between his legs, but I wasn’t in the market to be the next Hoagie roll of many that he laid it in.
“You look amazing, by the way?” he said, around the neck of his bottle. “Although I was a little surprised to see you here.”
“Yeah, well, we’re supposed to be getting Bronte and Carter together, so I figured it’d be a good opportunity. And I can’t hate Belinda forever. Although there doesn’t seem much fun in it now; getting Carter and Bronte together I mean. It’s still hilarious hating Belinda.”
Hunter grinned and shook his head. “Does that mean you’re giving up on the Bronte and Carter project.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. Especially as what I really want to do is string him from Archer’s tree by a rusty chain from his nut sack.”
Hunter visibly winced, making me laugh.
“What was it that mentally hurt, Archer’s tree, the rusty chain or the nut sack?” I asked.
“All of the above. The last two would be fucking painful, but if I had to be hung from my nuts with a rusty chain, Archer’s tree is not where I’d want to be.”
Archer’s tree was right on the edge of Archer land and somehow looked like a witch. The branches grew to a point for the hat, there were two gnarly old knots in the trunk that looked like eyes, and a big hole below them for the mouth. Legend also had it that Archer land was haunted by old man Archer. He told his son on his deathbed that if he ever married one of the Perkins girls, the daughters of his old enemy, he’d haunt him and the land forever. As Willie Archer knocked up Dotty Perkins and married her just three months after his dad died, everyone was convinced old man Archer had kept his promise.
“Chicken,” I muttered.
“You get yourself hung up from it then. See how you like it.”
“Ah and that’s where you’d fail,” I said, smirking at him. “I don’t have balls you can hang me from.”
Hunter’s eyes immediately went to my girls, earning him a back hander in the stomach.
“Shit, Ellie. You sure you don’t have balls? That hurt.”
“Good,” I replied, shivering as a wind gusted around us, blowing the front of my tiny skirt up.
I quickly smacked it down, but I knew it was too late when Hunter’s eyes lit up.
“Never realized that white panties could look so hot.”
I lifted my hand to hit him again, but he quickly stood up and moved at least three paces away from me.
“Like I said, chicken.”
Hunter laughed and lifted his bottle. “You want another?”
I shook my head. I’d barely drunk any of the one in my hand and still had a full one on the wall next to me. I’d had the one shot of Alaska’s bourbon and two mouthfuls of beer and just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe it was the cow fright earlier that had put me off.
Hunter disappeared and I wondered whether I should go back inside and join the rest of the party. Looking through the open terrace doors, I could see there was still a game of beer pong going on, and some dancing in the middle of the room. Over in the kitchen area some guy was being held upside down while Belinda’s two brothers emptied the keg into his mouth via a funnel – the male of the species never really grew up.
When a roar went up from the beer pong, I lifted slightly to get a better view to what had caused the excitement. To be faced with Mindy Larkins putting her own nipple in her mouth was not what I expected. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great skill, but not one I wanted to be a party to. As I sat back down Hunter appeared with a beer and what looked like a cover of some sort.
“Got you this.” He put his bottle down and then shook out what I realized was a throw. He reached behind me and draped it around my shoulders. “Better?”
I snuggled into the thick wool and nodded. “Yeah, much.”
When he sat down next to me, he was a little closer than before and I could see the goosebumps on his arms. It had gone chilly pretty quick.
“Come on,” I said holding out the throw. “I’d be cruel to leave you out there in that wind.”
Hunter raised a brow. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” I replied on a sigh as if I didn’t really want to—total lie.
As fast as a rattle snake, Hunter was under the throw and squeezing himself close to me.
“Thank fuck for that. My balls were about to freeze off.”
“Can’t have that,” I said, putting my bottle on the floor. “What the hell would I hang you up by?”
Hunter laughed and poked my side. “As if you would, who’d help you with your plan if you did?”
“Yeah well like I said, I’m not sure it’s a good idea now. Why would I push anyone with him?”
Hunter inclined his head like he was thinking hard and then shrugged. “You might have a point. But, to be fair to him, he’ll be better for her than any of those guys on that dating website, or my pop.”
“So, you’ve come around to my way of thinking.” I nudged him with my shoulder. “That she’s in danger of embarrassing herself and making a real shit storm if she continues with this obsession she’s got.”
“Yeah, I do. And, mainly because I don’t want to either hear my pop bringing it home with her or have to start calling her Mom in the future.”
I felt the color drain from my face. “He wouldn’t get that serious about her, would he?”
Hunter laughed and brushed my bangs from my eyes, his hard, calloused fingertips feeling amazing against my skin.
Shit, I was losing my head over him and alcohol had barely passe
d my lips. Speaking of which, his were looking pink, pouty and soft.
I closed my eyes to block out how damn inviting they looked, and then without any announcement, they were on mine and Hunter’s tongue was pushing for me to open up. I blame it on the shock, because I opened up straight away. Lips, tongues and teeth created a heady and wild kiss, and when his fingers whispered against my neck and jaw, the quiet little party in my panties turned to a full on kegger with fireworks.
“Shit, Ellie.” Hunter groaned and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
I couldn’t speak because the kiss was the kisses of all kisses. It was soft when it needed to be and hard when it needed to be ramped up, it was the absolute bomb. Without considering the consequences of what we were about to do, I pushed myself forward. My legs practically straddled his thighs when something started to vibrate in his pocket.
“Hunter, there’s something in your pocket.”
He groaned and smiled against my mouth. “I’m just real pleased to see you.”
“Hunt, it’s vibrating.”
“Ah fuck.” He pulled away from me and let his fingers linger on my cheek before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell. “Shit, it’s my pop.”
As Hunter talked to Jefferson, I ran a fingertip along my puffy bottom lip, wondering what the hell we’d just done. I couldn’t blame alcohol, and really had no excuse. Glancing at Hunter I thought about just getting up and leaving, to go and try to find Bronte, but I might have been a lot of things, but certainly not a coward. So, I patiently waited for him to finish so I could tell him it was great, but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I knew that there wasn’t any real reason why I shouldn’t be with him, if it was what we both wanted – oh except, he was my brother’s best friend and a dick by association.
“Sorry about that,” he said, and pushed his phone back into his pocket. “We’ve got a cow struggling to calf and Pop needs my help. I’m going to have to go.”
