by Nina Levine
I felt the need to put some perspective on it. “It takes two to tango, Kick. Your father wasn’t the only one at fault.”
His hard gaze met mine again. “Evie, your mother had just lost a child, for fuck’s sake, her marriage was crumbling under the strain of that as well as your father’s gambling, and she was in pain... My father knew she was vulnerable and he went after her knowing full well she wasn’t in her right mind. Don’t make excuses for him.”
I took a long swig of my drink. These memories sucked, and I wanted the alcohol to blot them out.
Before I could say anything, Maree asked quietly, “Your mother lost a child?”
I nodded, sadness enveloping me. “Yeah, my sister, Shelly...” My voice cracked and I stopped talking. Shit, this never got any easier. Not even after nineteen years.
Because the guilt still tears me apart.
“Our families were on our yearly holiday that we took every summer when Shelly fell out of a tree,” Kick explained, watching me carefully, his eyes full of concern.
All three of us sat in silence, lost in thought. Our fun night had quickly turned sombre. I stared at my glass, absently running my finger around the rim while Shelly occupied my mind. When I looked up, I found Kick watching me intently, his shoulders and body tense.
Eventually, he said, “I need a drink. Either of you want another one?”
Thank God.
We nodded, gave him our orders, and then sat watching him walk to the bar. My gaze shifted over his white t-shirt that loosely skimmed his muscles, and then moved down to the black jeans and motorcycle boots. I’d never known another man to wear sexy the way Kick did.
Maree cut into my thoughts. “Babe, he’s hot. How the hell did you walk away from him? I don’t know if I would ever let him out of my bed if he was mine.”
She was the best kind of friend a woman could have. Always able to read my needs, I knew she’d deliberately changed the subject. She’d known I didn’t want to talk about my family shit anymore. I smiled at her and then winked. “I can tell you now, if Kick was yours, you definitely wouldn’t want to let him out of your bed.”
She grinned. “You’re a dirty, dirty woman, Evie Bishop. But seriously, what happened between you two?”
I sighed and leant my elbows on the table. “We argued a lot. And on top of that, Kick’s got a darker side he won’t share with me. Like, he would just shut down and disappear for days at a time. I know he’s trying to protect me but he’s never understood that there’s nothing he could do that would stop me from loving him. He’s always been there for me, every single time I needed him, so I would always be there for him.”
“So you still love him?”
“I never stopped loving him, but I walked away because there’s no future for a couple where one of the partners won’t give themself completely.”
Her eyes twinkled again. “So a little sex on the side would be okay then.”
I laughed, the alcohol in me softening my resolve a little. “It would be a bad idea.”
“What would be a bad idea?” Kick asked as he placed our drinks on the table.
His voice slid right through me. When I met his gaze and found heat there, the alcohol buzzing through me collided with my desire for him and caused the kind of need no woman could deny. Against all my better judgements, I flirted with him. “Sleeping with you,” I said.
He didn’t skip a beat. “No, that would be the best fuckin’ idea you’ve had in a long time.”
I cocked my head to the side. “You don’t think it’d be a good idea for us to get to know each other again before we had sex?”
“Baby, you and I know each other better than we know anyone else.” He moved so our faces were close and whispered, “Some days I think I know you better than I know myself.”
The air whooshed out of me and I reached my hand out to the table. “I need a drink. Quick,” I muttered, and once he’d passed it to me, I gulped half of it straight down. Placing it back on the table, I said, “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“That thing where you say something sweet that makes me want to forget everything we’ve been through and let you back in?”
“There’s nothing sweet about me, Evie.” His eyes flashed hardness for a moment before reverting back to the softer gaze he usually reserved for me.
“Not true. You just gave me sweet.”
“No, I just gave you the truth. Don’t mistake that for sweet,” he said with the hard tone I knew so well. It was the tone he used whenever he was about to shut down on me.
“You two should totally get a room. Or maybe you should schedule a date for Valentine’s Day and work your shit out,” Maree said.
I answered her without taking my eyes off Kick. “He doesn’t do Valentine’s Day. Kick’s not your hearts and flowers kind of man.”
“She’s right, but I do make sure my woman is satisfied in other ways on Valentine’s Day,” he said, eyes still on me, a promise held deep inside them.
As lust roared through me, I gulped the rest of my drink down. When I’d drained the glass, I asked Kick, “Jesus, was that a double? It was strong.”
“Yeah.”
I raised my brows. “You trying to get me drunk?”
He smirked. “Don’t need to. You’ve already taken care of that.”
I decided I needed a moment away from him so I hopped off my stool. “I’m going to the ladies’, Maree. You wanna come? Kick can look after our table.”
“No, babe, you go. I’m gonna interrogate your man while you’re gone.”
I laughed. Maree was the queen of interrogation but what she didn’t know was that Kick was the king of evasion. “Have fun, you two,” I said and left them to it.
I wobbled my way to the ladies’ room. Kick was right when he said I was drunk. Time to slow the drinks down or else tonight would go way past messy.
The line at the ladies’ was long, and I started chatting with some of the women, so it took me twenty minutes to get back to the table. As I’d suspected, Kick must have evaded most of Maree’s questions because she looked frustrated. “How did your interrogation go?” I asked her with a grin.
She poked her tongue at me. “You knew I’d have no luck, didn’t you?”
“Totally, but who knew, maybe you would be the one to break him.”
She stood and grabbed her bag off the table. “I’m done for the night, guys.”
I frowned. “Really? I thought we’d catch a cab together.”
“I got a call while you were gone.” She grinned mischievously. “I’ve got a sure thing waiting at his house for me. Sorry, babe, but I can’t pass him up, and Kick said he’d take you home.”
Of course he did.
Smiling at her, I said, “Okay, go. I wouldn’t expect you to give up a sure thing.”
She blew me a kiss and turned and left. When I shifted my gaze from her to Kick, I found him watching me intently. “How did you know I’d be here tonight?” I asked.
He slid another drink across the table to me. “How do you know I didn’t go to more than one place looking for you?”
God, he was killing me tonight. I drank some of the bourbon he’d gotten me. Shit, another double. When I placed the glass back down, I said, “How many did you go to?”
He didn’t hold back. “Six.”
Fuck.
I took another drink. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why now, Kick? Why all of a sudden do you want to try this again, and what makes you think it would be any different to the two times we already tried to make it work?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s not all of a sudden for me, Evie. I’ve never stopped thinking of you, never stopped thinking I fucked it all up by letting you walk away. But I didn’t want to fuck your life up any further so I stayed away. I think deep down I always thought we’d find each other again when we were older. Jeremy’s death hit me hard and made me realise just how short lif
e can be. I don’t want to wait till we’re older. I don’t want to fuck around anymore.”
I emptied my glass, taking a deep breath as the bourbon burnt on the way down. “Just because you don’t want to fuck around anymore doesn’t mean it would work. Not unless you’ve changed your idea of what being a couple is,” I said softly.
He leant his face close to mine. So close I could almost taste him. “Let me in, baby. Let me show you how I’ve changed.” Kick had never been the best at expressing his emotions but his eyes laid it all out for me.
Vulnerability, want and hope.
I placed my hand on his cheek.
One night wouldn’t hurt.
Surely.
“Show me,” I whispered.
Chapter Eight
Kick
19 years old
I pushed Evie against the wall and reached my hand under her dress to trace a pattern up her thigh. Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment and she moaned when my fingers found their way into her panties.
“Fuck, baby, you’re wet,” I growled as I dipped into her.
Her eyes opened and she threaded her arms around my neck, pulling my mouth to hers. Before she kissed me, she said, “I’ve been wet for you for years, Kick.”
Eager lips met mine and when her tongue found mine, I grunted my approval and ground my dick against her while my fingers fucked her pussy.
When she ended the kiss, she said, with a lick of her lips and a fucking sexy smile, “Best birthday present ever.”
Fuck, I needed in.
With my dick, not my fingers.
“How do you like to be fucked, baby?”
Hesitation flared in her eyes and she whispered, “I’m still a virgin, Kick.”
Fuck me.
My eyes widened. “What the hell? You had a boyfriend all last year.”
“I did but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna give it up to just anyone.”
She’s going to give it to me.
I pressed my finger deeper inside her and picked up the pace. At the same time, my lips crashed down onto hers and I devoured her mouth, all the while pushing my erection against her.
I fucking need that pussy now.
She groaned and curled a leg around mine, trying to pull me closer. We couldn’t get any fucking closer, but I knew what she craved because I craved it, too.
Skin.
I needed her skin against mine.
I pulled away from her and moved my hands to the bottom of her dress. In one swift movement, I had it up and over her head and on the floor. My gaze dropped to her tits, and fuck me if she didn’t have the hottest fucking bra on I’d ever seen.
“You like it?” she asked.
I flicked my eyes to hers. “Like it? I fuckin’ love it,” I rasped as I reached around the back of her to undo it, “but it’s gotta come off.”
She hit me with that sexy goddamn smile of hers, moved her hands to the top of her panties as if she was about to remove them, and asked, “What about these?”
“Off,” I commanded, eyes glued to her pussy, waiting for it to be revealed to me.
She pushed them down and flicked them aside. Without waiting another second, I knelt in front of her, placed my hands on the backs of her legs and ran them up until they cupped her ass. I pressed my mouth to her pussy and licked my tongue the length of her slit.
She tastes so fucking good.
One of her hands landed on my head and I vaguely heard her moan but it was like it was coming from a distance because, at that moment, I was lost to her cunt.
Lost to every-fucking-thing I’d dreamt of for years.
My tongue circled her clit before I pushed it inside her.
So goddamn wet.
I chased her orgasm with my tongue while my fingers dug into her ass. When I moved one of my hands around so I could work her clit, she shuddered and cried out my name.
I fucking loved the sound of my name crying out from her lips.
“Oh god . . . Kick . . . I’m gonna come . . .” Both her hands were in my hair now, pulling and pressing as if she needed me closer and then needed a break.
And then she came, and I experienced a feeling like I’d never experienced in my life.
Utter fucking happiness.
I was straight up and her hands went straight to my clothes, frantically tearing at them until they all lay in a heap on the floor.
Our eyes met, and greed shot through me like never before.
I grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to mine. “I fuckin’ need your cunt, baby,” I growled before roughly kissing her.
She hungrily kissed me back, and I pulled her with me to the bed.
“Lie down,” I ordered, “I’m just gonna get a condom.”
When I came back to her, she was spread out like fucking heaven on my bed. Her eyes searched mine and I saw vulnerability there. Positioning myself between her legs, I leant my face down and kissed her before pulling away and whispering, “I’ll go slow and try not to hurt you.”
Fuck, I’d never fucked a virgin before and I hoped to fucking God I wouldn’t lose control and hurt her.
“I trust you, Kick,” she said softly, her eyes gazing at me with all the trust in the world.
Once I had the condom on, I moved over her and she wrapped her legs around me. Keeping hold of her eyes while I did it, I slowly entered her.
Oh, fuck.
Feels so fucking good.
“You okay?” I whispered, our faces so close.
She nodded. “Yes.”
Her hands slid around my neck and she pulled my face to hers so she could kiss me. Gentle at first, and then she kissed me harder.
I pushed my cock further in, still slowly, in an effort to not hurt her too much. A pained noise escaped her lips, though, and I pulled my mouth from hers to stare down at her with concern.
She gave me a small smile. “I’m okay, please keep going,” she insisted.
I stilled. Searching her face, I asked, “Are you sure? I can stop if you want to.”
Shaking her head, she pleaded, “No, I want this, Kick. Please don’t stop.”
Her eyes conveyed the truth in her words so I pushed all the way in.
Fuck me.
Amazing.
“Okay, baby, I’m gonna keep going,” I said, giving her notice.
She smiled again and lifted her head to meet me with a kiss. Her arms wrapped around me and she held on tight, ready for this to happen.
I pulled out, and eyes still focused on Evie’s, I pushed back in, all the way. But not hard. Not yet. Her eyes widened but she squeezed her legs tighter around me as if she was telling me to keep going. So I did. This time I pulled out and thrust in a little harder.
Fucking hell, Evie’s pussy was tight. This could be over fast.
I pulled out again and thrust hard. My release teased the edges of my consciousness and I dropped my head into her neck as I continued to pump into her.
She moved her hips with me, and fuck, I was so fucking close. “I’m gonna come, Evie,” I grunted through hard breaths, almost at the point where I wouldn’t be able to hold back any longer.
She didn’t say anything but just squeezed her legs around me tighter, her pussy squeezing tighter around my dick. I took it as another sign to keep going and a minute later, I came. Harder than I’d ever come before.
Once I’d wrung every drop from my orgasm, I lifted my head to look at her. She smiled up at me, and I apologised, “I’m sorry you didn’t come.”
“I did earlier so it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not, but I promise the next time you will.”
Surprise flared in her eyes. “Next time?”
I frowned. “You thought this was a once off?”
“I thought this was you showing up to help me celebrate my eighteenth and then taking me home for a one night stand.”
“Fuck no,” I said as I pulled out of her and pushed up off the bed to dispose of the condom. When I came back from t
he bathroom I brought a cloth with me to clean her up, but she’d pulled the sheet up to cover herself.
I sat on the bed next to her and frowned. “Why did you cover yourself?”
Her face flamed red. “You turned the light on.”
“Yeah, cause I want to clean you up so I need to be able to see for that.”
“Oh my God, Kick, I can clean myself up!” She seemed embarrassed and I couldn’t figure out why.
“Evie, we just fucked . . . I just had my mouth on your pussy, and you’re embarrassed for me to clean you up?”
She covered her hand with her face for a moment and then she sat up so our faces were level. “It was dark and you couldn’t see my body,” she whispered, her eyes reaching out to me, to understand.
And I did fucking understand, and it made me fucking angry.
I moved her hand, the one clutching the sheet to hide her body from me. When the sheet fell, I ran a finger across the top of her breasts. With my gaze fixed to hers, I said, “Don’t let those bitches from school make you believe you’re not beautiful. Just because they told you you’re ugly or whatever the fuck they told you, it doesn’t make it true. And it’s not fuckin’ true, Evie.” I leant my face down to whisper kisses over her breasts. When I’d finished, I said, “You’re the most beautiful woman I know.”
Tears threatened to fall, but she held them back. Swallowing hard, she said, “Thank you. I’m such an idiot for believing them.” Her voice drifted off as she spoke so that the last few words were almost a whisper, and she hung her head.
I placed a finger underneath her chin and tilted her face up with it. “You’re not an idiot, you’ve just had so much shit thrown at you that you’ve started to believe it.”
As I sat and watched her take that in, my chest tightened. Evie had been through so much and yet she was the best person I knew. Even though people had been so mean to her, and nasty, she was still the kindest and most caring person in my life. And I’d been an idiot last year after I finished school. While she finished her final year, I’d joined Storm and focused all my attention there, neglecting our friendship.
I was fixing that mistake now because if I was truly honest with myself, I’d wanted Evie for years.
