The Eastwood Series

by M. E. Clayton

  Everything that made me a male had risen to claim Mackenzie as my own. I knew, mentally, that she was mine. I knew she was solid, and we were in this together, but another guy had wanted her. Another guy had gone after her. Another guy had wanted to take her from me. Hell, that same guy still wanted her. I was sure of it. There was no way my parents, her mother, my brother…anyone was going to keep me from spending the night inside her. Even her brother, the Marine, had he been here.

  I stared down at the beautiful sleeping girl in my bed and I suddenly viewed my father in a different light. Mackenzie and I had only been dating for a few days, and even if I have been in love with her for over a year, she hadn’t been mine during that time. We didn’t have twenty years of history. We didn’t have two children together. We had four days and a year of pent-up emotions, and I’d been ready to commit murder for her.

  I ran my hands down my face and took a deep breath. I needed some space before I woke her up and buried myself inside her sore body again.

  I climbed out of bed, threw some sweats on, and padded my way to the kitchen for some water. What I really wanted was something stronger, but I wasn’t about to drink like I was legal with both my parents at home.

  I was surprised to find my dad sitting at the kitchen island in the dark. There was enough light filtering through the window from the security lights outside but that was it.

  His eyes followed me as I headed towards the fridge to grab a water. “Do you want one?”

  “Sure,” he said lightly. “Although I could use something stronger.”

  I grabbed the waters and sat down next to him, placing his in front of him. “I’m down.”

  My dad chuckled. “And I’d seriously offer if I didn’t think your mother would kill me for getting you drunk.”

  I uncapped my water. “Who said anything about getting drunk?”

  “I’m willing to risk a lot of things in life, but upsetting your mother isn’t one of them,” he replied.

  The kitchen was silent for a few minutes before I said, “I used to hate how much you loved mom more than you loved us.”

  Still facing forward, he asked, “Used to?”

  “Let’s just say I have a new appreciation for the dynamics of serious relationships,” I replied dryly.

  “Well, to be clear, I don’t love your mother more than I love you guys-”

  I turned to face him. “Bullshit,” I shot back.

  He turned to look at me. “Samson, you and Duke are my sons,” he replied calmly, not reprimanding me for my word choice. “Everything I have and everything I’ve worked for, and continue to work for, will be yours one day. Even if you make it into the NFL and Duke makes it into the MLB, and everything is sold off at my death, every dime would be divided among you and your brother. You boys are my legacy. I love you every bit as much as I love your mother. I just love your mother differently.”

  I cocked my head. “Oh, do tell.”

  He smirked, not bothering to pretend he couldn’t hear the sarcasm. “I don’t know how to put this in words without sounding cold and callous.”

  “Just say it.”

  He let out a deep sigh. “Your mother could have given me a million Samson Jr.’s and Dukes if we had been so inclined. But those millions of Samsons and Dukes could never give me another one of your mother, son. There is only one Clara Maddox in this world. Only one, Samson. That…that fact never leaves the back of my mind. I love you boys like I’m supposed to. I love you guys like you will grow up one day, leave this house, and start your own lives with your own families someday. I love you like I know you won’t always be here. I love you with all my heart, but with the respect and independence you’re supposed to give your children, so they don’t end up crushed under the realities of life.”

  “Dad, you guys practically neglect us,” I pointed out. “That’s taking the independence thing a bit far, don’t you think?”

  He gave me a tight nod. “I can own that mistake,” he said. “And, yeah, I could have done better. But, Samson, I won’t ever apologize for the way I love your mother. I can live without you and Duke in my life, because, one day, I’m going to have to. I’m going to have to make do with random phone calls and video chatting with my grandchildren. But I cannot live without your mother.” He shook his head. “I can’t. And if I have to drag her all over the country with me to keep me from losing my fucking mind because I can’t spend one night without her, then that’s what I’ll do. That’s what I’ve been doing.” His voice was getting darker and stronger with each word. “If I have to keep my hand on her ass every time we’re in public, so no other motherfuckers get any ideas, then that’s what I’ll do. And if I have to make a fool out of myself by scheduling every move I make around my wife to prove to her how much I love her and that nothing or no one will ever come before her, then that’s what I’ll fucking do, son.” He leaned in and the hazel eyes that matched mine and Duke’s were alive with fire. “And if you don’t feel the same way about that sweet girl upstairs, asleep in your bed, then cut her loose and let someone else who can love her like that take care of her.”

  I stood up with enough force to send the barstool flying backwards. “Mackenzie is mine,” I seethed into my father’s face. “She’s mine, Dad.”

  He stood up and he were practically the same height. “Criticize me for being a shitty father, because I mostly deserve it, but don’t criticize me for something you should be doing, too,” he remarked. “If that girl is yours…if you are truly claiming her as yours, understand what that really means, Samson. Understand the responsibility that entails. If that girl has given herself to you, then you better be man enough and mature enough to guard her like the entire world is working around the clock to take her from you. Because it is.” He clapped me on the shoulder before heading back to bed. I didn’t want to think it or acknowledge it, but I knew he was going to wake my mother up when he got to their bedroom.

  My head dropped back, and I closed my eyes, letting out a deep breath. After a few seconds, I reached down and righted the barstool. I sat down and drank my water, letting my father’s words bounce around in my head.

  I tried to think of what I’d do if Mackenzie ever left me and I could barely breathe with the thought. I tried to imagine what it’d be like if we carved out a life together, and she gave me children and a home, only to have her taken away from me, and the pain in my chest was real. I let out a harsh laugh and shook my head at how I felt when I thought her mom might not let her spend the night with me tonight, and Dad’s words were bouncing around in my head with more clarity now.

  Did I think it was healthy to be so wrapped up in another human being? No. It was dangerous and could be self-destructing. Could I stop it from happening with Mackenzie? That’d be another no. Not if I was already feeling like I was drowning whenever she wasn’t around. Could there be a happy medium? I sure as hell hoped so, or else I was going to owe my father the biggest apology when I had children of my own one day.

  Children with dark purple eyes.

  I finished off my water and emptied Dad’s before throwing them in the recycling bin under the sinks. I made my way back upstairs, and Mackenzie was in the same position I had left her. She appeared to be in a deep sleep, and I supposed that was expected, considering everything she went through today.

  My mind wandered to Charlie and how she was holding up. It probably made me a bastard that I kept Mackenzie here with me instead of letting her go home, so she and her cousin could comfort each other, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel too badly over it. I knew Charlie probably needed her, but I needed her more.

  Then I started feeling for Raiden. I knew he wasn’t in love with Charlie the way I was in love with Mackenzie, but the guy cared for her, and that was big. Raiden, Ford, and Duke have always been laxed with their bodies, but not their emotions. For Raiden to care about Charlie, however that came about, I knew he was climbing the walls being away from her tonight.

  I undressed until I
was completely naked and climbed into bed with Mackenzie. She moaned and shifted, and I slid in to get comfortable behind her. My arm wrapped around her waist and she moved closer until we were spooning.

  I pushed my thigh against hers until her knee was closer to her chest, creating an opening for my cock. I reached down and my release was leaking from her body, and that’s all I needed.

  Chapter 25

  Mackenzie~

  Was I dreaming?

  It felt like I was dreaming. Heat enveloped my back and comfort existed everywhere.

  But then, I felt that delicious ache I was beginning to get used to. My back arched as sleep left me and I felt Samson’s fingers filling me. It stung, but desire blocked out the pain. I was pretty certain desire for him will always block out the pain.

  His breath was hot on my neck when he asked, “Why were you crying earlier, baby?”

  I knew the answer, but it would sound so stupid saying it out loud. I’d just found Samson, I didn’t want him thinking he was in love with a nutcase. So, instead, I pushed my ass back and pressed it up against his groin. I could feel his dick, hot and hard against my ass.

  He knew what I was doing because he chuckled in my ear. “Nu uh, baby,” he cooed. “That’s not going to work.” All the while, his fingers were easing in and out of my sore channel.

  “Samson…” I moaned. He stuck another finger inside me, and the stretch made me wince, but my breaths were also coming out in short, excited pants.

  “Why were you crying earlier, Mackenzie?” He softened his command with a kiss on my neck.

  “I was feeling too much,” I finally admitted. “You were making me feel too much and it just all came pouring out.”

  His voice took on a gravelly quality and his fingers sped up in tempo. “Tell me,” he demanded. “Tell me what I was making you feel.”

  I could barely think with him playing with my body the way he was. I was so sensitive, he was quickly bringing me to the cusp of heated pleasure. But I answered him through my moans and harsh breaths. “Like there was only you and me,” I rasped out. “Like…like the only thing I need to feel for the rest of my life is you buried deep inside me, Samson. Like I would die without you.”

  “Fuck,” he groaned, and his fingers came out only to quickly be replaced with his hard heat. One hand slipped underneath my neck and latched around the column, and the other slid upward until it was cradling my breast. He held me close as he began slamming his length into my body. It felt…weirdly more possessive than the other times. It was like was shielding me from anything that might sneak up behind me, while claiming me with his entire body.

  My hands twisted in the sheets as Samson worked to take me to the edge. I pushed back, encouraging him, and wondering how my life led to this…yearning, all in a matter of a few days. I’ve only known this boy for days, and now it felt like a future wasn’t possible without him.

  Soon, the angle wasn’t enough. His thrusts weren’t hard enough, deep enough. Soon, I was flipped over, opened for him on my hands and knees. His hands were like steel on my thick hips and Samson was ramming himself in hard and deep. My body was protesting, because no matter how wet I was, Samson’s size was significant, and my body was sore. But, this time, I kept my mouth shut. I let him use me to satisfaction, and I used him to make the reality of my situation fade away, if only for a night.

  “Harder,” I begged. “Please…”

  I felt his hands slide back to my ass, and he grabbed each globe and pulled me open. He slammed every inch inside me, and he held still. The torment was brutal. “Like that? You want me to fuck every inch into your wet, tight pussy?”

  “Yes,” I mewled, not caring how it made me sound. Not caring how much it might hurt, or how sore I was going to be in the morning.

  And then, Samson did something I wasn’t expecting. I felt a cool drop of wetness fall in between my ass and his thumb started rubbing the wetness across that other hole. He must have felt me tense because he said, “Not tonight, not next week, and maybe not until next year, but I’m going to get inside here one day, baby.” My entire body relaxed, but my moan could be heard throughout the room. “You may hate it, or you may love it, but I’m getting in there, Mackenzie. There’s no part of you that I’m going to leave untouched.”

  “I’m…God, I’m going to cum, Samson…”

  He pulled back and slammed forward again. He headed my pleas and was working to bring me to that pleasurable pain that would block out everything else around me. I felt the pressure building and I knew it wouldn’t be long until my body exploded.

  “Cum for me, baby,” he growled.

  “Samson…”

  “Harder?”. His thumb left my ass and gripped my hip. Samson was railing into my body with enough force to shake the heavy bed.

  My body began that ascent to Heaven and I wondered how it could do that when each thrust brough pain with it also. I trusted Samson, though. I trusted him to see me through it all. I trusted him with my body, my mind, and my heart.

  “I’m cumming,” I panted. “I’m…oh, God.” Every part of me tingled with a starburst of explosion, coating every nerve ending I had.

  Samson was losing control behind me. “Fuck, Mackenzie,” he grunted. “My cock is covered in your cream.”

  A part of me thought I should be embarrassed, but I wasn’t. I wanted Samson to know what he did to me. I wanted him to know how he made me feel, and the amount of pleasure he brought me. I wanted him to know it was all for him. I wanted him to see that what we had was real. That my desire for him wasn’t fake. That my feelings for him weren’t fake.

  “Goddamn it, baby,” he hissed right before he slammed into my one final time, holding him still as he fed every drop he had into my body. We stayed attached until Samson began to soften, and when I finally collapsed on the bed, he came with me.

  We were both sweaty and sticky, but I didn’t mind. Nothing could ruin this moment. Maybe I was still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, and still dazzled by my introductory to sex, but nothing felt dirty or gross. I wasn’t uncomfortable that Samson had his arm around my sweaty body or that he was leaking from my legs.

  “Is it is always going to be like this?”

  I felt him stiffen behind me. “Is what always going to be like what?”

  “The sex,” I clarified. “Is it always like this? Consuming? Absolute?”

  He was so quiet, I wasn’t sure he was going to answer me. But then, he did. “It’s not the sex that feels like that. It’s us who feels like that,” he said. “And since I can’t imagine not ever loving you the way I do, then, yeah, it’s always going to be like this.”

  “It feels…overwhelming sometimes,” I whispered.

  “That’s because it is,” he replied, wrapping his arm tighter around my waist. “I something think I’m going to splinter into a million pieces with what I feel for you, Mackenzie.” The beat of my heart skipped. “I’ve loved you forever,” he hissed in my ear. “I finally have you, and there’s nothing I won’t do to keep you.”

  “This is the real thing, then?”

  Samson rolled us over until his body covered mine. His hazel eyes were on fire with all the emotions that were swirling in there. His brows were drawn low and he looked like he was deciding the rest of his life in this moment.

  His eyes flickered towards my lips, and then back up again. “Mackenzie, this was the real thing the night I stood in the center of the football field and was ready to take on an entire school to get to you. It was real the second you were close enough to flash those purple eyes at me. And it’s been real for me every day since.” He sounded like he was speaking facts not opinions or emotions. “You and me is as real as it gets. I’d marry you tomorrow if I didn’t think our parents would flip out and if we still weren’t in high school.”

  I lifted a hand and ran my fingers across his jaw. “Samson…”

  “Mackenzie, I love you,” he continued. “I’m in love with you in a way that I f
inally understand why my father was a shitty parent. I used to think he was ridiculous with the way he never let my mom out of his sight, but I get it now. I get it now, because the idea of you going home tomorrow to sleep in your own bed fucking tears me up inside. And knowing that you’ll be sleeping there Saturday night, and Sunday night, and that I can only see you sporadically throughout the school day because I won’t be able to convince the school to mirror your schedule to mine is driving up the fucking wall.”

  That drew a laugh. “Samson, seriously.”

  The gorgeous boy above me smile. “Seriously.”

  We stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like forever. This was our moment. This was our commitment. This was our solemn vow to each other.

  “I love you, Samson Maddox,” I whispered.

  “Thank fuck,” he replied. “Because there was no way I’m ever going to let you go.”

  What more could a girl ask for?

  Epilogue

  Ford~

  It’s been a little over a month since all that shit went down with Brayden Mahoney and those Ridgeview fucks, but life was still far from normal. Very few people knew that Charlie had been actually kidnapped, but practically everyone had seen the video of the fight. A lot had changed since that day, and that included the rivalry between Ridgeview and Eastwood.

  The rivalry no longer felt like good, old-fashion, teenage angst filled with testosterone.

  No.

  Now it felt like a fight to the death.

  Brayden Mahoney’s dad hadn’t been able to buy him out of serving time for assault and kidnapping, but he had been able to buy him a great fucking attorney who had gotten his sentenced reduced to a joke. There had been one very important thing that had slipped our minds in the midst of everything that had happened, and that had been that some of us had been only seventeen-years-old at the time of the fight, putting Samson, Raiden, and Ridgeview’s Bryant Mitchell and Trent Mercer in the hot seat. Samson’s parents and Raiden’s parents had to swallow that bitter pill when Mackenzie and Charlie had begged them to work out a deal.