Brothers South of the Mason Dixon

by Abbi Glines

  Picking her up I backed her against the truck. Her knees came up to squeeze my waist and I was there. With one deep plunge, I was inside her. The shout that came from me I hadn’t expected but every nerve in my body was alive. Like a man that had been starving and was just given a fucking steak.

  “AH! GOD!” Scarlet cried out and her head fell back. I hadn’t even taken the time to get her naked. Her breasts would be in my face right now if I had. She’d made me lose any control I thought I had. I should hate her for it. But damned I was willing to beg her for it.

  “You ran from this,” I reminded her rocking back into her as she moaned. “We could have this all the time.” I was going to follow her if she left. This was too good.

  “Bray,” her reply was my name in a breathless whisper.

  “Tell me what you want.” I demanded.

  She blinked trying to focus and her eyes finally found mine. The desire in her gaze had me pumping harder. Faster. This would be over too soon. I needed to make it last.

  “Fuck me, don’t stop fucking me. I just want this. Don’t stop.” She trembled and her eyes rolled back in her head.

  That was my answer. We’d just keep going. There wouldn’t be an end. I’d fuck her then we’d go again. No need to stop.

  “Bray,” she cried. “I’m coming!” her body jerked in my arms.

  I clenched my teeth and tried like hell to keep from going off inside her. I wasn’t wearing a condom. I’d have to pull out, but she would get hers first.

  Every muscle in my body was tense, waiting as she came apart and floated back down to earth. As she sighed and opened her eyes again, I pulled out and shot my release on her inner thighs and stomach while she watched.

  When I could speak again I looked at her. “Take off your dress, Scarlet. We’re just getting started.”

  Scarlet

  I DESERVED TO be the queen of bad choices. If there was a title for it, then I would definitely wear that crown. Even though I knew the choices were bad I chose them anyway. For example, lifting my arms and pulling my dress up and over my head because a man told me to—bad choice. Wrong decision.

  I did it anyway. Just like I had become a raging ball of lust when he’d kissed me. No matter how many times I told myself I wasn’t going to do this with Bray Sutton I found myself doing it. Sex up against a truck should not feel that good. It should be uncomfortable.

  My head knew better but my body was in control here. I was standing naked in front of Bray while he openly gazed at me with a hungry expression that made me shiver. It wasn’t cold out here, but I knew what that look meant. What it was going to lead to.

  His tux jacket came off and was tossed aside in the grass. His shirt followed. I watched as he undressed until neither of us were wearing anything. There was no going back. I’d passed the point of right and wrong. I was firmly on the wrong side and apparently enjoying it over here.

  I was expecting some action when he turned and walked to his truck. Confused I watched him and saw he had a blanket in the back that he took out and brought over, spreading it on the ground.

  “Lie down, Scarlet,” his voice was husky.

  I did as he instructed and felt vulnerable under his watchful gaze like this.

  The sun was setting, and I knew Dixie had to have noticed we were missing by now. But the tingle between my legs and the blood pumping through my veins didn’t seem to care.

  “Bend your knees and open your legs,” he said still standing over me.

  This was Bray. It was how he did sex. He ordered you around then made you want more of it. There was no questioning him. The way he looked at you made you his puppet. Or I was more unstable than I realized and needed therapy instead of just the meds I’d been prescribed the last time my “father” had me evaluated.

  He lowered himself to the ground between my legs and kissed my left knee before trailing kisses down the inside of my thigh. My hands made fists at my sides and I began panting. I knew where he was headed and how well he knew what to do when he got there.

  His tongue darted out to tease me. I gasped and lifted my hips silently begging for more. “You’re trembling you want this so bad,” he said as his mouth hovered right where I wanted him to kiss.

  “Please,” I begged not needing to be reminded that I was weak when it came to him. Weak for the euphoria I’d only known with Bray.

  He didn’t make me continue the limbo of anticipation. That was unusual for Bray. Normally he drew it out. Made me crazy. Instead, he pulled my clit between his teeth and had me screaming his name. My hands were in his hair and I was desperate to hold him there.

  The talented tongue played along my sensitive folds and I cried his name, pulled his hair and crashed through another orgasm as his hands left marks on my inner thighs. Before I could come down off the cloud he’d sent me to, I was flipped over onto my stomach and his hands were on my hips jerking my bottom up. I sucked in a breath just as he entered me hard and fast. The wetness he’d created made it easy.

  “Jesus, I missed this pussy,” he growled as he began pounding into me from behind. “Fucking dreamed about it. Nothing compares to this.”

  His words and thickness were sending me toward another blissful explosion. I held onto the blanket with both fists and took the rough sex that hurt and excited me at the same time. To say I hadn’t dreamed of it to would be a lie. Being with Bray was always this perfect. I wondered if other girls enjoyed him this much or if it was my psychotic tendencies that reacted to this.

  The pleasure came before I realized it and crashed down over me so quickly I rocked back into him and screamed his name. He gave me two more pumps then he was out of me.

  “Fuck!” he yelled as I felt the warmth from his release on bottom.

  I stayed there like that out of breath. Completely wiped out. Unsure what this meant. If I was going to be able to recover from this. Just how badly this choice would affect me. Closing my eyes, I tried to remember this was worth it. Not to regret it.

  Bray began to clean off his semen and when he was done, I relaxed and rolled over to my side so I could see him moving to sit down beside me. The after-sex talk. What did we say now?

  He stayed naked, completely comfortable with his body. Leaning back on his hands he turned his gaze to me. “You’re not leaving after that.”

  This was where I got a backbone and didn’t let a man tell me what I would and wouldn’t do. My choices, however, as I already knew were not the best ones.

  “Staying will never be an option,” I replied. I wouldn’t come back to this life.

  He frowned. “What does that mean? It’s over with Brent. He’s moved the fuck on. You’re not his. Hell, Scarlet you never were.”

  I had never loved Brent the way he deserved. I was ashamed of the way I had used him. That girl and her sins couldn’t be explained by my whacked-out head. I knew it was over with Brent. That was done. My coming back had never hinged on them. But Bray could never know the real reasons. “I don’t deserve to stay here. To be happy. Not after what I did.” He expected that kind of response.

  “What we did,” he corrected me. “And that’s bullshit. It’s over. Let it go.”

  His taking part of the blame was nice but I was the one who used Brent to make him jealous. To get his attention. I’d wanted Bray so badly I hadn’t thought of anything but myself. That girl was gone. I never wanted to be her again. She was like my mother. I wasn’t going to be like my mother.

  “I used Brent. I don’t deserve to be here.” And you don’t know me. That was the biggest part. We could never have anything more than sex.

  “Scarlet you’re being ridiculous. The whole talk in the barn was bullshit. You don’t regret this. You want it as much as I do. You missed me . . . and damn it, I missed you too.”

  The last was hard for him to admit. Bray Sutton didn’t show weakness. At least not often. My heart jumped and there was the wish. The desire to be normal that I shouldn’t get attached to. His missing me was not enoug
h to fix the secrets. In the end, more pain would come if I didn’t cut this off.

  “Bray,” I paused then took a deep breath sitting up, pulling my knees up and wrapped my arms around my naked body. I wasn’t as comfortable in my skin as he was. I wanted to reach for my dress and slip it on before finishing this. I was already emotionally vulnerable. Nudity didn’t help. “I can’t care too much again. It hurts. Being here . . . being with you but not with you . . . the kind of relationship you want with me. That’s not enough.”

  I expected him to say something to persuade me to agree to his idea of a relationship.

  “What do you want from me? Just ask.”

  I hesitated. Confused. Those weren’t words Bray Sutton would say. To anyone.

  “Tell me Scarlet. What do I need to do to get you to stay?”

  I opened my mouth and closed it several times. Unable to form words. He’d shocked me. Bray rarely shocked me. The real answer to his question was nothing because he couldn’t erase my past or change who he was. Instead, I said the word I knew would scare him off. Shut this down. “Commitment,” I said firmly. The one word that wasn’t in Bray Sutton’s vocabulary.

  He raised his eyebrows at my outburst then grinned. “Okay.”

  Blinking, I replayed that in my head several times. Did he know what that word meant? Or was he agreeing to something else.

  “No other women. Only you,” he confirmed.

  “Really?” I asked, studying his face to see if there was any sign he was joking. He couldn’t be serious.

  “Yes. Really. Now get your dress on before one of my brothers sees your naked ass. Because someone’s coming. And I would bet on my life it’s one of them.”

  Panicked, I jumped up and grabbed my dress getting it back on quickly while Bray took his time dressing. I didn’t have time to pull my panties on before Steel drove into the clearing. I kicked them under the truck instead. Bray was buttoning up his shirt and smirked at my attempt to hide them.

  “Ain’t like he don’t know what we’ve been doing,” Bray drawled then winked.

  My cheeks flushed as Steel stepped out of his truck and walked to us cautiously. “Jesus, Bray! You couldn’t keep it in your pants long enough for Asher and Dixie’s reception?”

  Bray lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Don’t look like it does it,” was his response.

  I wanted to hide under the truck with my panties.

  Bray

  “GET IN THE truck, Scarlet,” I said, turning my back on Steel.

  She didn’t need to be asked twice. This was embarrassing her and damned if that didn’t make me furious with my brother. He knew what was going on, why the fuck did he have to come out here and be an asshole. Walking over to the truck after Scarlet was inside I got on my knees and retrieved her panties then stuck them in my pocket before getting back up and going to get in the driver’s side.

  “They’ve all noticed you’re gone. Both of you. Dixie looks concerned. She shouldn’t have to be worrying about Scarlet on her wedding day dammit!” Steel called out.

  “Fuck off,” I replied as I climbed into the truck.

  I got that today was about Dixie and Asher, but damn. Did we have to bend over backward to make sure they were fucking happy. Shouldn’t they just be happy they were hitched and shit. What did our fucking have to do with Dixie’s happiness?

  Scarlet was sitting quietly with her hands tightly balled together in her lap. Steel had reminded her that our absence at the wedding would be noticed. In the midst of our hot sex she’d forgotten. Or just didn’t care like I hadn’t cared.

  “It’s okay. No one is out looking for us. Steel just needed an excuse to leave. He used us as his excuse.”

  She barely glanced at me then nodded.

  “Don’t do this, Scar. Don’t you go and get all silent on me. That was amazing, and you know it. Completely worth taking off from that boring as hell party going on. We both wanted that, and you can’t tell me you regret it.”

  Scarlet sighed and laid her head back on the seat. “I don’t regret it.”

  Of course she didn’t. She’d screamed my name too many times for me to believe she did. Denying she enjoyed what we’d done was pointless.

  “I just . . . don’t want to make a mistake. I’m good at those,” she said in a soft voice.

  I wanted to promise her that we weren’t a mistake. But I couldn’t. Because fuck if I knew. Did anyone ever really know? Right now, she was all I wanted. That’s what I did know. That was all that mattered.

  “Can’t see the future, baby. You have to enjoy the ride and live for the present.”

  Scarlet frowned. I watched as she finally turned her head my way. “You don’t know me, Bray Sullivan. All we did was have sex.”

  With a grin, I leaned over to her and got close enough to kiss her but didn’t. “I know you, Scarlet. I know you’re softer than you appear. Tough when someone you love needs you. Smart although you try to hide it. And fucking sensitive right inside your left thigh.”

  Her cheeks flushed, and she inhaled sharply. If I wanted, I knew I could have her again right here in the truck. Steel, however, would end up banging on the door and potentially seeing Scarlet’s naked ass as she rode my dick. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  I traced her jawline with my finger, then leaned back in my seat and started the engine. “Let’s go back to the damn party. Dixie can relax, and everyone can look at us and wonder if I’ve been fucking you for the past hour.”

  Scarlet covered her face with both hands. “Oh God,” she groaned.

  Chuckling, I backed out of the grassy spot where I’d parked the truck and followed Steel who had been sitting there waiting on us like a douchebag. He was going to escort us back it seemed. How valiant of him. If he was honest with himself he’d admit this wedding was hard for him to witness, but he never would.

  “Dixie is going to wish I hadn’t come.” Her voice was sad.

  “No, she won’t. Dixie is your best friend. She knows you wanted to leave with me.” At least I hoped so. If Dixie said something to upset Scarlet, I wasn’t going to care that it was her wedding day or that she was my sister-in-law now.

  “She puts up with a lot from me. I don’t deserve her.”

  “Fuck,” I muttered. “Dixie hasn’t been an angel. She had Steel and Asher so damn torn up they were a mess. Stop beating yourself up. You left, Scarlet. Took the hell off. Alone. Tell me why you did that.” I already knew why. Accepting her reasons and understanding them had been what got me out of the damn dark room I was locked in after she left. Her leaving meant she cared. It took me a while to understand that. It had been very Asher of her.

  “If I had stayed it would have gotten worse. I had to go.”

  “Exactly. A selfish, heartless female doesn’t do that. So stop claiming you’re so damn messed up.”

  My eyes were on the road, but I could feel her gaze on me. I didn’t meet it. I just let her look. She was thinking. I remained silent and continued toward the house behind Steel. He would let Asher know where he found us. I’d get scowled at by Asher. Possibly questioned. More bullshit. At least he wasn’t coming home tonight. He was headed to Hawaii on his honeymoon. When they got back they would be moving into their apartment in town.

  “Okay,” Scarlet said simply.

  I wasn’t sure what she was saying okay to. Taking a quick glance at her, I asked, “What is okay?”

  “Okay, I will think it through,” she said softly. Her eyes didn’t say the same thing. There was sadness there. She didn’t trust me. This. Us.

  The grin that spread across my face was because I had a chance to change everything. That’s what I needed to hear. Because I didn’t have the time to take off work and chase her ass to Robertsdale. And if she tried to leave me that’s what I was going to do. She was saving me the trouble.

  “Good,” I replied

  “Are you sure it’s good?”

  I reached over and grabbed her thigh, then pulled her toward me. Sh
e laughed and scooted over until her body was against mine. “Want to suck me off before we go back to this shit?” I teased.

  “We don’t have time for that.”

  I shrugged. “There’s always time for that, Scar.”

  With a giggle, she laid her head on my shoulder. The empty hollow dark hole that was always in my chest wasn’t there with her beside me. I wasn’t controlling any anger that always seemed to be just under my skin ready to explode. She centered me. Calmed me.

  Was that love? Probably not. I’d know love if I felt it. She was something I needed. I knew that. I’d known it since the moment she came sauntering up to me two years ago wearing a mini skirt and high heels, asking me if I would buy her a beer at Jack’s. I’d seen Scarlet before with Dixie. But she’d grown up and somehow, I had missed it. Until then.

  I had told her I’d get her a beer if she’d pull her skirt up one more inch and show me her panties. Then she’d suggested we go out to my truck and she would do more than that.

  And she had.

  Just like many girls before her.

  But Scarlet had been different.

  Scarlet

  BRAY HAD STAYED with me on our return to the party. It felt as if everyone was watching us when I knew most people hadn’t even realized we disappeared. Asher had scowled at Bray, and Dixie had looked relieved. Other than that, I was not making eye contact with anyone.

  The way Bray kept his hand on my lower back as we moved through the crowd felt too possessive. It made me nervous. I had given him some hope knowing I’d leave. My chest was heavy.

  “I need a drink. What can I get you?” Bray asked.

  I turned my gaze up to meet his. There was a twinkle in his eyes. He was happy. This was what he’d set out to do and he thought he’d won. He didn’t love me. But he wanted me. It didn’t matter. Not even his love could hold me here in this town.

  “Water,” I replied.

  “You okay?” He immediately noticed my mood. His brows drew together as he studied me for an answer.

  Telling him my thoughts was not in the cards. So, I shook my head and made my smile bigger.