“OK,” I say, allowing a genuine smile to form on my face for the first time today.
“I really wish you’d do that more. You’re so beautiful, Sugar.” He kisses the corner of my mouth once more before we walk back to where the crew and Matthew are waiting with champagne for us.
* * *
I barely have the door to my room closed when there’s a knock, and I know it can only be one person. I open it with a big smile on my face and jump into his arms without him expecting it, but he catches me, holding me tight. He takes the few steps forward to enter my room and closes the door before his lips find mine.
I’m getting addicted to his kisses. His expert lips, the way that metal piercing feels running along my lips and tongue. He tastes like salt and energy drinks and victory. He sucks on my lower lip, sliding his tongue along it. I moan from the feel of his mouth on mine and our bodies pressed so closely together. My skirt is now pushed up around my waist since my legs are wrapped around his middle, and I feel his hard dick between us. My hands are in his hair, arms wrapped around his head pulling him closer to me, wanting to kiss him deeper and deeper.
“Sugar, are you ready for this?” he asks, surprising me by asking and not taking.
I lean back a little to look at him. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly, “but I know that this feels good. You feel good.”
He slowly sets me on my feet, and I feel confused. I awkwardly pull my skirt down to cover my exposed ass and then harden my face again to look up at him, arms folded across my chest.
“Don’t do that,” he says roughly.
“What?” I snap.
“Don’t shut off from me. Talk to me.”
“Congratulations on your win, Mr. King,” I reply with a quirked brow and pursed lips. My signature look, the one I’ve perfected through the years.
“Tatum…”
I huff a laugh. “That’s the first time you’ve called me by my name,” I say, walking over to get a bottle of water. I throw another one at him that he catches when it smacks him in the chest.
“Thanks,” he sighs.
“No problem. Glad I could help fill the void for you here. You can go now. There will be more girls at your next stop, and the one after that, and the one after that. I’ll see you around, Benton.” With that, I walk to my bathroom and slam the door behind me.
The door swings open, and he’s standing there looking ready to attack. “What the fuck?” he grits out.
We have a stare-off for what seems like hours before he softens and relaxes. “I really like you,” he admits. “I don’t want this to be over, but I understand that I’m traveling on and you aren’t. That’s why I stopped.”
“Yeah. So, I guess we’re done,” I say, turning around to wash my hands.
“Tatum, please. Don’t completely shut me out,” he pleads with me. I look up to meet his gaze in the mirror.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. I leave tomorrow. My job is done. I won’t see you again. I can’t do this more.”
“That’s a fucking bullshit reason and you know it.”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “But it’s the truth.”
“We aren’t done yet. I promise you there’s more to come. You’ll see,” he says as he leaves my room.
When I hear the door shut, a sob instantly bursts out of me. I didn’t want to be done with him, but I needed to be the one to push him away before he left me broken. At least this way it’s on my terms. I can’t blame anyone but myself.
I told myself before I got here that I wasn’t making friends or getting close to anyone. But here I am, again. And not only that, but I’ve been an idiot to get so close to Benton. It does—did—feel real, but also fast and confusing. He’s leaving to travel, with girls throwing themselves at him and I’ll be home.
* * *
The next day I had one last meeting with Matthew. He told me how much he loved my work and asked me to come back next season. He wants me to not only continue being the face of Royal King, but would also like me to travel with them around the circuit for the season. It’s a contract and more money than I could have dreamed of this early in my career, and an opportunity I can’t say no to. I signed on the dotted line and agreed to be back next year.
I wanted to ask if it was Benton’s idea but decided I didn’t want to know. I needed to look at it as a job and nothing more.
I packed up the room that had been my home for the last three months and boarded the plane to take me back home to Graves. The last few months have been filled with so many emotions and experiences, but I’m grateful to get back to my family. I miss them so much. I’ve talked to them all periodically, but it’s not the same as seeing them. I’m also excited to eat a real meal for the first time in months. My mouth is watering just thinking about pizza.
* * *
“We missed you around here, Tate,” Travis, my brother’s best friend and stepdad, tells me when he picks me up at the airport.
Penny, my little sister, jumps into my arms. “Don’t ever leave me again,” she sniffles into my neck, making me feel bad that I will, in fact, be leaving again.
Travis updates me on what I’ve missed, and it’s mostly about my brother, Ollie, and his girlfriend, Bexley. They are coming to stay the night, and Travis thinks they’re engaged. I don’t think there’s any way my brother will ever settle down, so I take his bet.
I lost.
The five of us spent the night, playing games, gorging on pizza and dirt pudding. This. I missed this. They’re the only people I trust and can be myself with. At least they were the only ones until I met Benton. I wonder what he’s doing but then push the thought out of my mind.
“Who’s the dude who was hugging on you and saying dirty things in your ear?” Ollie asks me after everyone else goes to bed. We finished cleaning up and are having a nightcap of hot cider spiked with Fireball. Ok, so, sometimes I drink.
“Yeah, I got your message,” I say with an eyeroll. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
“Didn’t look like nothing.”
“We became friends, but I cut it off before it turned into something more.” I shrug. “Nothing else to say. He’s racing and traveling, and I’m here.”
“Until you leave for next season and travel with him,” he says with a smirk.
“Just come out and say it, penis breath.”
“That’s a better name for Bex, than me,” he says, making me gag. “But seriously. You like him. I could tell.”
“He was alright,” I say, not wanting to give him any more information.
“Tatum, I trust you. Just be careful. I worry about you.”
“I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time, Ollie. I’m fine.”
He watches me for a minute, waiting for more, but I don’t give him more. “You know I’m always here if you need anything. Love you, Tates.”
“Stop being so mushy. It’s gross, Ollie.”
He laughs and smooshes a wet kiss on my cheek as he gets up and goes to bed.
Against my better judgment, I send a quick text to Benton and then head to bed myself. I crawl under the sheets, but my mind won’t shut up. I don’t know why I sent Benton that message. Now it’s like this thing dangling in the space between us. I’m such an idiot. It’s probably just going to make things even more awkward when I see him next season. Talk about a major palm-to-face moment. Well, it’s out there. Can’t take it back now.
Chapter Seven
Benton
I should be so damn happy right now. I should be out celebrating and getting shitfaced but instead, I’m sitting in my hotel room staring at the text message I got from Tatum a few weeks ago.
After that first race, I was on a high like never before. I’d competed in my fair share of races throughout the years, but none of them felt like that. It was incredible. I wasn’t expected to place above tenth. I showed everyone exactly what I was bringing to the track when I took sixth as my starting position and made it to the podium in third. Talk about an adrenaline rush! I
came into the bay and all I wanted was her. The second our eyes met, it was like the icing on the cake. Her blue eyes collided with mine, and it set off the fire in me.
I couldn’t wait to get to her after the ceremony. Everyone wanted me to go out, but all I wanted was to see her, claim her, celebrate her. She looked so damn sexy all day, and not being able to touch her and talk to her was torture. Then, I got her and she pushed me away. Maybe I came on too strong, pushed too hard too fast, but I couldn’t help it. I’d had a small taste of her, and now I want more. Not just her body, but her mind and her heart and her fucking smiles. I know I have to earn each and every one because she doesn’t give them out freely, but I’ll gladly put in the effort.
Is that it? Is it the challenge I can’t walk away from? Maybe. I do love a challenge. I think it’s more than that, though. I’m just not sure exactly what.
So, here I sit, alone, after placing second in the last two races since seeing her, staring at my phone.
Sugar: I’m sorry I pushed you away. It’s better for my heart this way. Good luck!
Good luck. Psh! Does that mean with racing or with getting her? I suppose it works in either instance. I’ve read this stupid message over and over in the weeks since she sent it and still don’t know how to respond. Or if I even should, for that matter.
This is stupid. She didn’t want anything more. She pushed me out, quite literally. I need to move on.
Picking my phone back up I call Alfie to see where he’s celebrating. He’s always up for a pint or two after a race. When he answers, I can tell he’s already a few in. After getting the name of the bar, I grab my jacket and head out, joining him and some other mates from the circuit.
I’m going to enjoy myself and not think about her anymore. Racing. That’s where my focus will be.
* * *
TATUM
Travis has let me stay with him and Penny since I got back. Originally, the plan was for me to get my own place, but since I’ll be leaving again in a few months, he told me not to worry about it. He and Penny moved into a smaller house while I was gone. It’s not my house, but it still holds the people I love most inside.
I help with Penny as much as I can when she’s not at school, and during the day I help him at Pretty Girl Garage. Travis has worked there for as long as I can remember and bought it a while back. Ollie and I helped him rename and rebrand it to Pretty Girl Garage before I left. I mostly answer phones and do scheduling and order parts, but since I’ve been back, I’ve asked Travis to start teaching me basics. He laughed in my face at first, but then he realized I was serious.
Hell, Penny probably knows more than I do, and she’s only six. I don’t think I’ll ever trade in my heels for coveralls, but I like knowing how to take care of myself if I needed to.
“Penny, can you hand me that order pad over there?” I ask her. She’s here after school with me while I finish up the parts order for the week. I order everything online, but Travis still fills out on paper what he needs me to buy. That guy will never know how to use a computer, I swear.
“Is this one for the new neighbor?” she asks, looking at the name. This girl is so smart, already reading way more than she should for her age.
I look at the form and read the name, Tilly Lane. “Yep, that’s her. She seems nice. I haven’t talked to her much. Have you or your dad?”
“We say hello sometimes. She brought us those cookies, remember?” she says as she puts her hands on her stomach. “They were so good!”
I grin a little watching her excitement. “I didn’t get one. You and your dad ate them all, you little turd.”
“Maybe if I ask, she’ll make more. She seems kinda lonely,” she says, going back to coloring her picture.
“What makes you say that?” I ask while watching her.
She shrugs her shoulder. “Just seems sad like daddy does sometimes.”
I watch my baby sister, who isn’t a baby anymore, color in her own happy world. She has no idea what she’s missing not having our mom in her life. Yet I envy her for not feeling the same amount of pain we all do since she died.
Travis is amazing with Penny, and I’m so happy they have each other. I know life hasn’t always been easy or kind to him. He had a crappy childhood, then once he and Mom got together, she was diagnosed with cancer. Once she beat it, they got married and Penny came along, but then the cancer came back and she left us. I know it broke Travis in such a way that he’ll never fully heal, but I also know that where there’s Penny, there’s joy and love.
“You bring the sunshine, you know that, Pen?” I ask as I sit down next to her on the floor.
She smiles over at me big with her wild hair that keeps getting redder and her freckles and big blue eyes. “You want to color with me while we wait for Daddy to finish work?”
“Only if it’s a princess picture,” I tell her.
* * *
The months went by fast and before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to my family again. This time I’m traveling the world, not just to Las Vegas. At the airport, Ollie gave me the usual big brother speech about all guys thinking with their dicks so I better be careful. To which his fiancée, Bexley, agreed was true. Gross. Travis told me how much he’d miss me and appreciated all the help with Penny and the garage. When I got to Penny, I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. Her tears were enough for both of us, and she clung to me when I stood up. I blew them all kisses as I headed to security.
Landing in the Las Vegas airport this time was different. For one, I didn’t have some big, tatted guy throwing me off. I get my bags, find the driver taking me to the hotel, much like last time, and get checked in to the same one as before. It’s a little like déjà vu except that the room I’m in this time is a suite and I have a huge gift basket sitting on the table filled with everything from Royal King swag, to number thirteen souvenirs, to pricy chocolate and champagne and fruit.
I open the card on the table from Matthew greeting me. Inside contains a schedule for the next few days and the race schedule. I take the next hour to plug everything into my calendar and also send it to Ollie. I know he’ll worry if I don’t.
Once I feel settled in, my stomach growls and I realize I haven’t eaten all day. I go down to the restaurant in the hotel to eat before I sleep. I know the next months are going to be so fun, but a lot of work and a lot of really long days. Food and sleep are going to be vital parts to keeping myself at my best.
I take a sip of my water when I see him. Benton. He’s at the bar with another guy I remember, Alfie. They’re laughing and from the looks of it have been drinking for a while. I sink down into my booth a little lower, holding up the menu to both decide what I want to eat and also hide from him.
But then the inevitable happens. I order my food and the waitress takes my menu, leaving me exposed. It doesn’t take long before Alfie spots me, hitting Benton and nodding in my direction. Benton’s head turns toward me, and I give him my perfected look of I fucking dare you. He responds with his stupid smile that starts as a smirk and grows into a lopsided grin. I roll my eyes and pick my water back up, half as a distraction from watching him and half to cool my heating body.
Returning my glass to the table, I watch as he walks my way. Or maybe stalk is a better word because he looks more like he’s stalking his prey as he moves toward me. His eyes haven’t left mine, and his smile has only grown more. I shift in my seat, feeling the heat of his stare hitting me everywhere.
“How’s it going, Sugar?” he asks me. I didn’t even realize how much I missed his raspy voice until this second.
“Good, thanks. You?” I counter with a raised brow as he sits across from me without an invitation.
His lips twitch again, wanting to smile more. “You just got in, yeah?”
“Cut the shit, Benton. Can we please act like mature adults? We have to be around each other a lot over the next months, and I’d rather not have them filled with your leering looks.”
“Tatum,” he
sighs my name and seems to drop the tough-guy act. “I...” he starts but pauses and lets out a breath as he runs his hands through his hair.
“If this is you convincing me that we “aren’t done,” you aren’t doing a very good job.”
His eyes fill with fire as they meet mine again and narrow. “Oh, Sugar, you have no idea how much we aren’t done yet.” He gets up then and leaves me, alone.
My dinner arrives a minute later, but I don’t seem to be hungry anymore. Why did I just challenge him like that? I ask for a box, charging my food to the room, and go back up to my suite.
I need a bath to rid this day from me. I feel emotionally spent after saying goodbye to my family this morning, and now seeing Benton, I just need to wash all of this off of me. I sink into the bath full of bubbles and oils. Closing my eyes, I think about everything from the day. Why do I let this cocky asshole get to me every time? This is the time I can let myself go, when it’s just me and no one is around to see that walls still break. My tears start to slowly build and fall, but within seconds, my body is shaking in sobs.
Chapter Eight
Benton
You would have thought that with almost a year going by since I’d last seen her, she wouldn’t still get under my skin, but she does. Oh, how she does. I’ve had girls from literally around the world throwing themselves at me, I’ve even fucked a few, but that sweet taste of Sugar left me hooked. It was like going on a diet and having your favorite food taken away, then, seeing it on the table in front of you, mouth-watering and delicious. The smell alone enticing you, making your senses go wild. I’ve been starved of her, and now she’s here again. I can only be tempted and stay away for so long. I gave her space, but now I intend to make good on my promise to her. This time, I’ll have her. This time, I won’t let her push me away. We have all season, and I will take my time savoring her.
Always Series Box Set Page 39
