by Magan Vernon
It started in my toes and a full wave of pleasure flowed through me until I cried out his name, shivering underneath him.
“Look at me,” he demanded in a husky voice.
Opening my eyes, I looked to his gorgeous smile then his brilliant blue eyes. He leaned in and kissed me deeply, continuing with his thrust. Then he moved slightly so that he put the weight on his right arm and used his left to move between us and run his thumb over my sensitive flesh.
“Oh, Jay,” I moaned into his lips before falling back onto the bed, another orgasm taking hold.
Even through the latex between us I could still feel his stilling body as he finished inside of me, moaning my name before he laid on top of me.
His breathing matched mine.
Our hearts beating to the same rhthym.
I never wanted to leave that moment.
I never wanted to leave him.
Then Lady Gaga's “The Edge of Glory” started crooning from somewhere.
I raised an eyebrow and Jay leaned up, smiling and reached for phone
"It's my FaceTime notification."
My eyes widened. "Shit. Is that my mom?"
He pulled out of me and I found myself whimpering, wanting him back there.
Grabbing his phone off the dresser next to us, he turned the phone toward me.
Yep. That was Ma’s number.
"Crap. Double crap." I grabbed my shirt from the floor and threw it on. I wasn’t sure where my bra or pants were so I just pulled a blanket over me. Jay smiled and put his shirt on, sliding next to me under the blanket.
"Can I answer?" he asked.
I sighed. "I guess she'll just keep calling until you do."
He nodded and pressed "accept."
Ma's face was close up on the screen. "Rosalia! She's here! A beautiful girl! Giselle Marie Conti. Eight pounds. Two ounces. Mama and baby are doing great!"
"That's awesome! I'll be there as soon as I can."
Ma passed the phone off to someone else and started talking to my dad. Sonny's face came on the screen. "Hey, new auntie. Whoa, and hey Jay! Did we interupt you two having sex? I told Ma you two weren't answering because you were screwing but she didn't believe me."
I felt all the color drain from my face and then Sonny's forehead hit the camera. "Ow, Ma! What was that for?"
"For asking stupid questions!" she said from the side of the screen.
I laughed, shaking my head. "We'll be there soon, okay? Give my niece a kiss for me."
"Will do, sis," Sonny said and hung up the call.
I looked at Jay and raised an eyebrow. "Still want to go back to the hospital with my crazy family?"
He smiled and put his arm around me. "As long as I'm with you, Lia. The rest of the world doesn't matter. And I'm always going to be on the edge with you."
Epiloge
One year later
When your boyfriend is an Olympic swimmer and has a competition in your family's home country, your entire family plans a trip to watch said boyfriend swim.
"It's hot in here. Is anyone else hot in here?" Dana fanned herself with a program.
"I know my balls are sweating," Sonny said, fanning his crotch.
Ma smacked the back of his head. "Mama Mia, Santino, can you ever behave?"
"Nope. Especially if some of these girls in one pieces are looking for a Sicilian man that can speak English."
I rolled my eyes, but secretly smiled. Since I started at USC, I'd only seen my family at Christmas and Thanksgiving. It wasn't the ideal spring break to spend with all of them, but as long as I had Jay, I knew I could survive anything.
And, surprisingly, it was his idea to invite them and fly them out.
I assumed he would regret it after his first swim.
"So what are we supposed to do? Do we cheer? Boo against the other swimmers?" Nicky asked, holding up little Giselle who was the cutest little thing in her red, white, and blue baby sweat suit that Jay got her for Christmas.
"You just watch. Just watch and cheer when he wins gold," I said.
"Cocky about your boyfriend aren't you?" Sonny asked.
"There's a fine line between cocky and confidence and I can get both sides."
Sonny laughed, putting his arm around me. "Damn, little sister got some balls in California, and hopefully just not holding Jay's."
Dad was the one that smacked Sonny in the back of the head that time.
Dana was the only one that knew I was staying at Jay's more than my dorm, but she was sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone.
Of course I didn't belive that for a second.
"Oh, here he goes!" I pointed to the pool and watched Jay dive off the blocks and glide through the water.
I'd seen him swim hundreds of times, whether he was practicing at the USC aquatic center or at one of his meets. Each time I held my breath and silently prayed.
I didn't stop until he finally got to the edge of the pool and the announcer boomed that America's Jay Morningstar had received gold in the 200M individual medley.
My whole family erupted in applause so loud that I swore everyone in the stadium was staring at us.
But the only eyes I cared about were Jay's, looking right at me.
I had to wait, for what seemed like forever, until he finally changed and was going to take the medal's stand.
The national anthem played and he stood there, looking at the hanging flags above.
Each one of my family members had their eyes glued to the display, but my eyes looked to Jay.
It was the first time I'd seen him nervous on the stand. He was actually shaking and kept fidgeting with his pockets, pulling his hands in and out over and over again.
When the national anthem ended, he practically jumped off the podium and didn't even shake hands with the silver and bronze medalist but made a beeline toward us.
We stood behind a small gated area, but Jay's arms were around my waist and pulled me over.
I squealed. "Jay! Are you supposed to do this?"
He laughed. "I can if I'm about to propose."
What?
I blinked once then twice and finally looked down as Jay dropped to one knee, pulling out a small black box from his pocket. "Rosalia Conti, will you stay on the edge with me?"
I stared at the large diamond sparkling from the box and then at the blue eyes of the man I was completely in love with.
"Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes!"
My family cheered from behind us and camera bulbs flashed as Jay put the ring on my finger and then hugged me, kissing each tear that fell from my face.
Jay said he would never let me cry again, but these were happy tears. The happiest.
A little over a year ago, I thought I was going to forever be a waitress at a restaurant in Texas. I never thought I'd be standing at the edge of a pool, watching a professional swimming event.
But sometimes, when you tear down walls and let people in, the most wonderful things can happen.
"You sure you want to marry me and into this family?" I nodded behind me.
Jay smiled. "For you? Anything."
Rumor Has It
Friendship, Texas #2
Magan Vernon
Prologue
Eddie
“Oh, yeah, harder.”
The slapping sound of my girlfriend sandwiched between two of New York’s finest played on repeat in my mind.
At least the online video was getting blurrier with the more whiskey I downed. I ran my hands through my hair and closed my laptop before turning on the radio and stumbling to the bathroom.
The familiar last chords strummed through the speakers.
“And that was Eddie Justice’s latest hit ‘Brokenhearted’,” the announcer bellowed in a terribly fake Southern accent.
“I bet he’s singing that right now. Did you see the video of his longtime honey, Mary James?” another announcer piped in with a laugh.
“Who hasn’t? What a way to break up with someone. Streaming your sex tape all over the Int
ernet. It already has over three million views the last I checked.”
I turned the radio off. I was the butt of everyone’s jokes. A PR nightmare. Now, I was the guy drowning my sorrows in a bottle, like half of my songs started. I was the brokenhearted cowboy cliché.
The last time I was this drunk was the night I left Friendship, Texas—the small hometown I vowed I’d always leave when I hit it big.
All it took was for me to drive into Dallas and sing for a radio competition. After that, I headed to Nashville, and soon, I had dozens of hits under my belt.
Staring down at the bottom of that bottle, I remembered the girl I left behind. Technically, she wasn’t my girl but my best friend. She never knew I wanted something more or that half my songs were about her.
I wondered what Brooke Carrington was up to now. She was probably married to some theater guy and living a life outside our small town. She’d laugh in my face now if I tried to contact her after all these years. That or punch me.
Now that I’d hit rock bottom, I couldn’t crawl back and see if she’d take me. I had to live with my misery. It was time to pack my bags and take a break from the music industry—the place I thought was my solace. Now, it was time to go back home.
Chapter 1
After ten years of being gone, Eddie Justice was finally home and staring me in the face.
Okay, so it was actually a tweet from TNC saying that Eddie Justice was spotted back in his small hometown. I hadn’t actually seen him yet.
“Brooke, stop with the twatting,” Mom hissed.
My brother, Clay, laughed, shaking his head. “Mom, it’s called Twitter.”
“Twatter, Twitter, whatever. This isn’t the place to be staring at your phone,” Mom said, pushing my phone down and out of my vision.
I rolled my eyes and slid my phone back into my pocket.
All four of us stood at the front of the Watkins Family Funeral Home in Friendship, Texas. My mother stood in her black dress, Clay was in a suit—he’d tamed his bright blond Mohawk down for the occasion—and my youngest sister, Violet, who at twenty years my junior, was a surprise to all of us. Almost more of a surprise than my dad’s sudden death.
He was barely sixty and had just retired from his high-profile sales job five years ago. I thought he was healthy and thriving, so I didn’t expect the middle of the night phone call from Clay or the sound of the ambulance in the background.
“Don’t worry, this town isn’t that big. After an hour tops, we’ll be out of this visitation, and you can get back to your phone,” Clay whispered.
“Shut up,” I snapped, the only comeback I had.
I’d been back in Friendship for an entire two days, and I was already ready to leave. But really, at this point, I had nowhere else to go. Okay, I mean I could go back to my boyfriend’s place in Austin, but I didn’t exactly leave on the best terms.
“Your dad died? Oh, babe, I’m sorry. Let me just call work, and we can take off in the morning.”
I shook my head, not looking up from my suitcase. “No. It’s fine. I’ll just go. You don’t need to take off work for me.”
Drake put his hand on mine. “You’re my fiancée. I’m going to be here for you.”
Jerking my hand away, I zipped up my bag. “I haven’t said yes.”
“Are you going to?” His bright blue eyes met mine.
Drake and I had been together since college, where we met while both working in campus dining. I was a theater major, and he was an accounting major with a lackluster social life. I was it for him. When he got the great job out of college in Austin, he took me on expensive trips and supported me when I started a writing career. Even though I was a published author today, I was still failing at the making money part. Drake had been supporting me emotionally and financially. He deserved a girl who could commit and wasn’t still holding out for her best friend, and forever crush, to come back for her.
Mr. Watkins, the funeral director, buttoned the last button of his suit coat then unbuttoned it again. “We’re ready to open the doors, Mrs. Carrington.”
Mom grabbed my hand and squeezed it before nodding at Mr. Watkins. We’d never been close. There were girls in my high school whose moms did their hair for every dance or spent weekends with them riding horses. I was never that kind of girl. I usually spent my time with my nose in a book or hanging out with my best friend and neighbor, Eddie.
Eddie and I vowed to get out of Friendship together. He would make it big in music, and I’d be a big actress in L.A. Our plan was to head out as soon as we graduated, but then he won a contest on the local radio show. When he left, a big part of me left with him. What remained lost the fight with my mom to finally apply to colleges and go to Baylor the following fall.
That was ten years ago. A lot had changed in ten years. For one, I now had a little sister. My brother had joined the Army and came back home even more distant than he was before. And now, I was standing beside my father’s casket, holding my mother’s hand, as the people of Friendship walked in to pay their respects.
It felt like I spent hours shaking hands and listening to someone talk about how great of a guy my dad was, and then moving onto the next person. Everyone was starting to blend until a Middle Eastern accent hit my ears.
Tameem Jahid came to Texas to get his college degree over thirty years ago. He met Lydia Edwards and fell in love with her, and her parents’ ranch. The ranch that was next door to my parents’ house. Edward Tameem Jahid was their only son, born just days before I was. Our mothers bonded and became fast friends when they were both stuck in the house on maternity leave.
“Eryn,” Tameem said, kissing my mother’s cheek before he turned to me.
“Brooke. I didn’t know you were back in town. Even under these circumstances, it’s good to see you,” Tameem whispered before embracing me in a hug.
Lydia followed suit with the same kiss on the cheek and hug. While it was nice to have the old family friends here, someone was missing from their trio. Someone I couldn’t help but look for in line.
“You know if your mom wouldn’t kill me, I’d take you to Nashville with me,” Eddie said, taking a swig from the Friendship High School water bottle that I’d filled with Dad’s whiskey and lemonade.
“Sure you would. I’m sure every country music star wants to take his neighbor with him for their first recording,” I muttered, snatching the water bottle.
“You know you’re more than just a neighbor to me, B. You’re my best friend. Hell, if you hadn’t driven me to Dallas, I wouldn’t have even gotten this audition.”
I shook my head. “I’m sure you would have gotten there sooner or later. Everyone knows you have talent.”
He laughed slightly. “Yeah, but when you’re the only boy in the choir and not on the football team, it doesn’t say much for high school talent.”
“And now, you get a pass on your senior year, leaving me with the cowboys and beauty queens,” I muttered.
Eddie hopped off the tree branch we were sitting on. The low-hanging desert willow, and the pond at the end of both of our properties, had become our hangout spot. At one point, we talked about building a treehouse, but neither of us were very handy with tools. We settled for sitting in the tree and watching the longhorns roam over his property. Sometimes, they poked their head over the fence to get the grass on my family’s measly two acres.
“How about I make a deal with you, Brooke?” he asked, stuffing his hands into the back pockets of his Levi’s.
“What’s that?” I arched an eyebrow.
He took a step closer so I could practically feel his warm breath on my lips. I’d been waiting for Eddie to admit that he’d had feelings for me for years. He’d had his fair share of girls and gone on a few dates, but none of them stuck. Part of me wondered if it was because we were meant to be together. Like we were soul mates. But neither one of us acted on it, and I wasn’t going to make the first move.
Eddie smirked as he pulled out a small white guitar
pick and held it between us.
“Your guitar pick?”
He laughed. “Not just any guitar pick. This is my lucky guitar pick. I had this in my pocket when we won State in chorus, when I passed my driver’s test, and when we went to that radio audition.”
“Okay?”
Eddie took my hand and placed the guitar pick in my palm. He wrapped my fingers around it and put his hand on mine. The warmth from the alcohol was already burning in my stomach, but Eddie’s touch made butterflies flutter all around it.
“I’m giving it to you. So that you know I’ll always come back. If things fail in Nashville, then I have to come back and get the pick, and you.”
“And what if they don’t?” I whispered.
He smiled, squeezing my hand before he let go and took the seat next to me. “Then I guess you’ll have to come and bring it to me.”
I thumbed the guitar pick in the pocket of my dress. I never went anywhere without it, hoping he would come back for it. He wasn’t back yet, but maybe, just maybe, I’d see him soon.
***
The last time I was at the Friendship Cemetery, Eddie dared me to pee on the old chorus teacher’s grave. That was also the last time I was arrested, and my parents never let me live that down.
Now, as I sat between my mother and Clay, I kept my hand in my pocket, running my fingers over the guitar pick as I’d done so many times before.
I had no idea what the hell I was going to do now without my dad. My mom was still teaching, and Clay was in town, but as much as I thought my mother needed me, I needed her too. I had nowhere else to go.
That thought left my brain as soon as it entered when Noah Riley approached the casket, strumming some notes on an acoustic guitar. My breath caught in my throat as soon as I heard the melodious voice of a person I never thought I’d hear again in person.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,” Eddie bellowed.
My heart beat wildly in my chest, and I could hear my own shallow breathing. As soon as I saw the bottom of his brown boots hitting the grass below, my eyes followed up the line of his dark pants and the suit that molded to him. The Eddie I remembered was a tall, lanky guy with shaggy hair that hid his brown eyes. Now, Eddie, the country music superstar, had obviously spent a lot of time in the gym. He had the ass and arms to prove that one—not that I was checking him out at my father’s funeral. He’d also cut his hair, and a slight stubble adorned his cheeks. Time had been good to Eddie’s looks and his voice.
