Every Which Way (Sloan Brothers)

by Calia Read

  He shifted closer and placed his body in between her legs. “I hope I’m the only Sloan brother you get in trouble with.”

  “You are.”

  Macsen eyed her baggy t-shirt. “Are you really gonna swim in that?”

  “No.” If she watched him carefully, Severine could see crimson stain his cheeks. “Macsen, am I making you nervous?” she crooned softly.

  “I’m hardly nervous right now,” he said deadpan. His eyes kept staring at her t-shirt with such concentration. It was like he was hoping to make it disappear if he glared at it long enough.

  Severine gripped the hem of her shirt in her hands and lifted it above her head. Her yellow halter two piece, with black ties on her bikini top and bottoms stole all of Macsen’s attention. His response was exactly what she wanted.

  She collected swimsuits like a regular hoarder. It was a healthy addiction. Because of her obsession, she was able to see Macsen enchanted. His eyes stayed focused on her chest.

  Quickly, she took the plunge and submerged her whole body in the water. Even though the pool was heated, the water still felt cold to her skin. It was a rush to her body. Her head reached the top, and she took a deep breath. Macsen waited with a grin on his face. “Glad I brought us here?”

  Severine waded toward the deep end and floated above the water. “Mayyybe.”

  “I used to swim in high school,” Macsen admitted.

  This was the first memory he was sharing with her. They’d been together over a month, but she was getting to know him slowly and effortlessly. Severine loved the pace they were keeping. She switched her position and moved closer to him. “So you’re a lover of water?”

  “In high school it was my only obsession.”

  “Were you nerdy?” Severine asked jokingly.

  Macsen snatched her around the waist. “As nerdy as I am now.”

  “Clearly, I should’ve been scoping out the library in school,” Severine whispered.

  He looked at her with an expression filled with craving. For the two of them, it was the same—they were each other’s propensity.

  “You’re trying to kill me with this suit, aren’t you?” His fingers traced the edges of material covering her breast, drifting from the middle of her chest and back toward her straps, repeatedly.

  Her skin became covered in goosebumps, and Severine tightened her grip on his forearms. “That’s exactly my goal.” Her voice was confident. It completely covered up the crazy feelings pounding inside her, making her heart rate escalate.

  Her feet could touch the bottom. Wrapping her legs and arms around Macsen was what her body chose. Immediately, she settled her cheek next to his neck. “So you swam in high school.” Severine glided her hand across the still water around them. “I wanna know more about you.”

  His fingers linked around her thighs, keeping her firmly to him. “Germany, New York, Virginia.”

  Severine raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been everywhere.”

  “Can’t stay in one place too long.”

  “And your brother...” his muscles tensed underneath her cheek. “He probably loved it all.”

  His shoulder moved upward. “Didn’t affect him in the least.”

  “Tell me more.”

  “Everyone in my family is tall,” Macsen answered instantly.

  Severine dropped her feet to the bottom, and she looked up at him. “Come on,” she prodded.

  With fingers dripping wet, he brushed a few strands sticking to her neck, back into her braid. “I wanna just focus on you. There’s no other reason than that.”

  “Too complicated?” Severine asked.

  “They’re just memories.” His head ducked down, to her lips. “I like the path I’m on now.”

  “The one with me?”

  “The only one.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I love this look on you,” Lily admitted happily.

  “Stress? Blood shot eyes?”

  Classes were kicking Severine’s ass. Hard. She was keeping up as best she could, and from her haggard appearance, it was her body that was taking the toll. Thanksgiving break was coming up, less than a week away. She kept repeating those words in her head. A break from school was what she needed so much right now.

  Lily hip-checked her and adjusted her bag slung around her shoulder. “No, you in a relationship. You’ve been so quiet and content.”

  “It’s something new for me, that’s for sure.” Severine looked down at the ground. She needed a break from all the books. And if she read one more note card, she was going to flip out.

  Ben walked toward them and kissed the top of Lily’s head. “Hey, baby.”

  Thayer was with him. He looked close to bolting. Severine wanted him to stay.

  “So have you decided if we’re going tonight?” Ben asked excitedly.

  Lily smiled back at him. “Not yet.”

  Now Severine’s curiosity was piqued. She walked back in step with everyone. “Where?”

  Ben’s head peeked around Lily. “I want to try a new bar out near The Ville. Lily was supposed to ask you to come.”

  “I’m getting ready to ask, psychopath. You just snuck up on me like a ninja.” Lily flashed Severine a small smile. “You up for going?”

  Severine was opening her mouth to say no. Thayer laughed lightly. It was acerbic, filled with bitterness.

  Looping around Lily and Ben, Severine walked in step with Thayer. For a quick second, her body brushed against Thayer’s. He clenched his lips tightly and kept his gaze forward. “What, Thayer? Enlighten us with your words.”

  “Macsen? Going to a bar willingly?”

  “Who said I was taking him?” Severine sniped out. She was still talking to his profile.

  It was theatrical of her, but he seemed different in her eyes. A sharper edge was laced within his words and expressions. Maybe Severine was really seeing how it was to be hated by him.

  “I assumed since you’re attached at the hip he’d tag along like a puppy dog.”

  “You realize that’s your brother, right?”

  Thayer barely looked interested in their conversation. “Severine,” he sighed out, “that means nothing in our family.”

  “What does that mean?” Severine pounced on his words with eager determination.

  When he kept walking without answering her question, Severine reached out and grabbed his arm. It got his attention immediately.

  “Tell me,” Severine demanded. “What makes you two so hateful with each other?”

  His hand grabbed each of her fingers, one by one, extracting them away from his arm. He stared at her the whole time. At the end, her hand was cradled inside of his own. Severine felt paralyzed. “Am I with you?”

  Thayer’s words made her feel empty. Instead of responding, Severine stayed silent, keeping her hand enclosed in his.

  “You just answered your own question,” he said as he broke their contact. His fingers brushed her skin as he retreated back. “Ask the one you chose.”

  He walked away, and Severine watched him. She was a coward for saying nothing back, but her pride stopped her from admitting he was right. Everything he said was the truth.

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Severine jumped and answered it without looking at the screen.

  “Hello?” Her voice sounded raw and unused.

  “What’s wrong?” Macsen asked on the other end.

  Severine stared at Thayer’s back as he extended the distance between them further and further. “Hey, let’s go out tonight.” It wasn’t a question, but a demand. She wanted to prove to Thayer that she and Macsen could mix their two worlds together, and that he didn’t know his brother as well as she did.

  “Ah...” Macsen said slowly. “What are you thinking?”

  “Ben and Lily are going to a new bar that’s just opened.”

  “That seems fun to you?” Macsen teased.

  She wasn’t smiling. “Yes.”

  “That’s not really me, Sev.”

&nb
sp; Severine leaned against a tree and glanced up at the bare limbs. “I saw you at that frat party, and you got drunk with Thayer and Chris a while ago,” she pointed out.

  “I think I’ve only been to about four parties in my entire college life.”

  “So that’s a no?”

  “You can still go,” Macsen offered. “I’d rather see you, though.”

  “I’m not studying. My brain is about to explode,” Severine warned.

  Macsen laughed. “We won’t study. I promise.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Walking,” Macsen said evasively.

  “Walking where?”

  “Toward you.”

  A big hand pushed her into a body. Macsen. “Yuck! My face is in your armpit!” Severine’s anger slowly disappeared as she looked up at Macsen.

  “Then it’s probably bad I forgot deodorant?”

  Severine made a face as she dropped her phone into her coat pocket and peered back at him.

  Macsen looked almost anxious as he smiled at her. “Come over instead. I’ll let you watch some stupid reality show or whatever you want to do.”

  “Why are you in such a chipper mood?”

  “It’s almost break. I know we’re both ready to leave this fucking campus.”

  Severine mussed up his windblown hair. “You sound so torn up over being apart from me.”

  His arm wrapped around her shoulder. This time, he kissed her head. “That will be the only shitty part about break. I’m hoping you’ll send me lots of sexy texts.”

  “Sexting? Yeah. That’s not gonna happen.”

  “Video chat?”

  Severine bent her arm back to link their fingers together. “Maybe. Between turkey day and listening to my mom, grandma, and Aunt Rachel bicker about things, it might be hard to squeeze you in.”

  “Then I should probably make the most of my time with you now?”

  “Uh, you should always do that. Every day you should be kissing the ground I walk on,” Severine teased.

  “I should just quit studying and follow you around everywhere?”

  Severine reached up and nudged the bill of his cap. Sunlight shone brightly in his eyes, and he squinted at the light and immediately lowered it back down. “I’d love for you to follow me everywhere. You can sit behind me in class and give me all the answers to my test. I won’t have to study so freakin’ much.”

  “I can’t do that. But I can take you somewhere tonight.”

  “Where?”

  “Do you always need to know what I have planned?”

  “Yes, all the time.”

  Macsen rolled his eyes and wrapped a hand around her waist. “It’s a fun place. Trust me, you’ll enjoy yourself.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Everything was quiet on this side of town. What did Macsen consider fun?

  “Come on, let’s go.” Macsen held his hand out. Severine anxiously took it and slammed the door behind her.

  “Where the hell are we?” Severine asked him with an antsy tone. Her eyes flicked around the streets. The buildings they passed were boarded up and closed. Most of the neglected spaces had their windows broken out and expletives spray painted on the sides. “I don’t want to die, Macsen. I happen to like my life.”

  Macsen gripped her hand tighter and smirked at her. “You’re not gonna die.”

  “Then why are we practically running?”

  “You’re not gonna die out here. But I definitely don’t suggest that you shuffle across the street with what you’ve got on.”

  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

  He lifted a black brow and gave her a once over. She could count on the fact that his cheeks were probably tinged red. They had been together for weeks, and he still acted nervous around her. But for Severine it meant that she had authority over him. It felt good. Any more power and she’d become drunk off of it.

  “It’s a lot of skin.” Macsen motioned to her sweater.

  Severine didn’t have to look down. Her coat was buttoned up practically to her neck. She was tempted to unbutton it. Just to tick him off. “Are you secretly taking me to meet your parents? Are they Amish and will shun you when they see me?” Severine teased.

  Macsen chuckled and shook his head. “No. But I think even if I introduced you to my parents, they’d shun me for my thoughts.”

  “I’ve shown more in my bathing suit,” Severine pointed out.

  “Yeah. But that was just in front of me. Right now, it’s torturing me.”

  “Yeah?”

  He loosened their fingers and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. His mouth moved to her ear right as his hand crept past her shoulder and past the edge of the collar on her coat. “Like right here.” His index finger touched the edge of her breast. The feel of it zinged through Severine. It burned past her shirt and bra. “I know there is a mole there, and it’s driving me crazy that I can’t see it.”

  Her heart slowed, and her steps followed suit as his finger drifted closer to her nipple. When he was a second away from making her collapse in the middle of the sidewalk, he moved his hand back to her shoulder. “I swear,” he whispered, “my fingertips could sink right into you.”

  The resistance she had painstakingly constructed to ward off foreign emotions swayed around her. It wasn’t as solid as she thought. Severine wasn’t used to feeling unprepared.

  Macsen hummed a tune as they walked down the street. He seemed lost in his own world, unaware that she was proclaiming to herself repeatedly that she had the jurisdiction to control her life. A part of her wondered if she’d ever be able to unclench the ropes holding her back.

  “Here we are.” Macsen’s hand found hers. He pulled her to a bar slammed in between two brick buildings that had both seen better years. The sign above the door flashed on and off. After a few tries, Severine finally made out the name—Kasser.

  “You’re taking me to a bar?” Severine let out a dramatic sigh and pretended to fan her face. “If you keep spoiling me, I don’t think I’ll be able to resist you tonight!”

  Macsen picked up on her sarcasm and let out a deep breath. He smiled widely as he opened the door for her. “You’ll get why I brought you here,” he explained as he walked closely behind her into the bar.

  For a weekday, it was busy. It wasn’t packed body to body, but many of the seats were filled with people talking. No one looked up as they walked down the open space in between the bar and stage.

  They picked a seat close to the stage. Severine noticed the instruments and people testing out the three microphones placed around the stage. Macsen’s face beamed with contentment.

  Severine smiled at his happiness. He was close to bouncing around like a young child. “Why are we here, Mr. Sloan?”

  His palm positioned itself to its most favorite place: the back of his neck. He rubbed it a few times and nervously moved his feet up and down. “A buddy of mine found Kasser a few months back. I try to come when a certain band plays.”

  Severine turned in her chair and glanced at the stage. “What’s their name?”

  Straight, white teeth came into view, and Severine discovered the small dimple on his left cheek. “Skinned Knees.”

  His grin was contagious and made Severine’s lips turn up into a wide smile of her own. “Skinned Knees. That sounds rocky. Are they going to be screaming out all their songs? Should I have brought some earplugs?”

  “Easy with the questions. No—to the earplugs. And a massive hell no to the screaming.”

  “Will I like them?”

  Macsen leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. With a thin gray t-shirt paired on top of a black long sleeve thermal, his style was comfortable, but hot. Severine looked down at his arms. The fine dark hair that coated his arms shone against the bright lights of the stage.His arms shifted to rest on his stomach. Severine lifted an eyebrow at the sinew of muscle that became easy to see. Thank you, bright lights.

  “Wait to hear them, will ya?
”

  All the lights in the room turned off. Severine couldn’t see her own hand in front of her. “Oh God. Did this place lose electricity? Are we going to get slaughtered by the village idiot?”

  “Relax. The band is coming out.”

  “And they need complete darkness? Because I have to say, that kind of gives me the creeps.”

  “Just wait,” Macsen whispered.

  A second later a spotlight came on and illuminated the stage, and nothing else. A guitar started to strum, and the drums picked up soon after. In total, there were four guys on the stage. The attention was directed on the lead singer. He grabbed the mic and held it between his hands as he started singing a song unknown to Severine.

  The tune was catchy, and soon Severine’s foot moved up and down to the beat. She leaned over to Macsen and cupped a hand to her lips, “They’re a lot like OneRepublic.”

  He nodded his head and focused back at the stage. “They’re great, right?”

  For two hours they listened to Skinned Knees, and Macsen’s smile never left his face. Severine could’ve stared at him the whole night.

  When they left the crappy bar, Severine sighed and looked up at Macsen’s profile. “I didn’t know you had this side to you.”

  “What side?”

  “A love for music. Do you play any instruments?” Severine asked.

  “Ha. Fuck, no. My mom pushed me into piano lessons as a kid. It’s definitely not my niche. I’m better off being a spectator.”

  “What other part of you have I yet to discover?” Severine teased.

  He shrugged, trying to appear shy. When his arms reached out, he snatched her up easily and dangled her in the air. Macsen made her feel as light as a ballerina. Severine yelped and let out a laugh.

  He kept walking, and her elbows lightly rested on his shoulders as he slowly walked them further from the bar. “I’m thinking about taking you in between one of these buildings,” Macsen admitted.

  Many factors should stop her from smiling at his declaration. They were in a dangerous part of town ranked up there as number one. But she could think of nothing else. Her one good reason escaped her mind as Macsen turned to the left and guided them into the dark alley, away from the streetlights.