Breaking Even (The Sterling Shore Series #5)

by C. M. Owens

  “He has tons of advice. But his kid is much, much younger and loves him. His new one will love him, too, when it’s born. But he can’t help me build a relationship with an estranged daughter. No one can. It’s on me, and I’ll figure out a way to fix this, because I want to make this right. And I really, really want to get to know her. She looks at her mother with such pride and adoration. But she looks at me with disappointment and the same resentment Allie has. I paved the road, now I have to try and drive down it despite the damn crater-like potholes that are on it.”

  I smile weakly in an attempt to seem encouraging. Angel sits down next to Ash, eating her cake, and we both watch.

  “I should get her out of here. Her mom only gives me so long to keep her without supervision. It’s sad that she trusts me that little. But she doesn’t know me. I guess that’s on me to change.”

  I frown as he ruffles his hair and sighs.

  “She can’t stop you from seeing your daughter. You have rights. You should talk to your lawyers.”

  He shakes his head. “I don’t want to do anything like that unless I have to. The more amicable this thing is, the better. She’s raised Angel on her own because I never gave her my name. The least I can do is take it at her pace. If she insists on continuing this limited time thing after I’ve proven myself, then I’ll involve the lawyers.”

  I’ve seen guilt—struggled with it for most of my life. Still struggle with it.

  His guilt is different than mine, but I see it.

  “I’ll come back after I drop her off,” he says, clapping my back on his way over to his daughter.

  “Are Wren and Angel leaving?” Brin asks, suddenly beside me, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders to bring her closer.

  I wish Wren had someone to help him through this right now. I wish it was me, but I don’t know what to say. But I’ll be there as much as I can, just like he’s always been for me.

  “Yeah,” is all I tell her. I’m not sure how much Wren wants divulged to everyone. He just announced he had a kid to our entire group a few days ago, and then he brought Angel over to introduce her to all of us at the last barbeque.

  Until then, it was only a few of us who knew. No one is asking him a lot of questions right now, out of respect.

  “You want a beer?” I ask Brin, smiling down at her wearing the white sundress I bought her.

  “I do, but I’ll get my own,” she says, eyeing me like she still doesn’t trust me.

  I don’t blame her. I have three bottles of green food coloring in my pocket.

  She walks away to grab us both a beer, and I watch her with the same amount of suspicion as she watches me. I really love this girl.

  Kode and Tria are hugged up, lost in each other—as usual. Tag and Ash are playing with Trip, and Tag reaches over to rub his wife’s small, barely pudgy stomach. Dane and Rain are trying to convince Carrie, their daughter, to eat the vegetables on her plate. And Kade and Raya are walking through the gate, their eyes locked as though they don’t need to see the world around them.

  Brin comes up and tugs at my shirt, prompting me to bend so she can kiss me, and I smile while taking my beer from her hand. Before I drink it, I push it to her lips.

  “You first,” I order, eliciting a soft chuckle from her.

  “No trust,” she mocks, sipping the beer and then handing it back.

  I inspect her mouth, and then sip the beer as we walk toward a table. I really don’t like dark beer, but I needed it today to hide the food coloring. It’s only natural that I would want to celebrate our one-week anniversary with a recycled prank.

  Maggie and Carmen are eating the burgers I made as I sit down, and she points to the two plates in front of the two vacant chairs.

  “I made your plates. Eat before it’s too cold.”

  I smile at her, and she grins while rolling her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m too damn sweet,” she says dryly.

  I laugh while sitting down, and Brin snickers softly while joining me. Ash calls her name, and she turns to answer her. I capitalize on my opportunity, and empty all three small bottles of the food coloring into her beer.

  Maggie chokes on her bite, and I glare at her in warning as I discreetly toss the bottles far, far away. I manage to finish just as Brin turns back around.

  “You okay?” she asks Maggie, who nods while sipping her own drink.

  Brin shrugs as she takes a sip of her beer, and I turn just as Tag comes up beside me.

  “Poker next week?” he asks.

  I really don’t feel like hanging out with the guys all night. Not now. But I gave them immortal hell for the same thing for so long that I don’t have a choice.

  “Sure,” I say noncommittally, not naming a day or time.

  “Good. No Raya,” he says, glaring at her just as she opens her mouth to speak.

  “Why not?” she asks, affronted.

  “Guys only.”

  Her glower grows, and she shakes her head. “Hell no. My girls’ night was invaded by all of you men, so I’m coming to poker if I damn well choose.”

  “My wallet will lose some weight,” Dane grumbles from behind us, and I smirk while turning back and sipping my beer.

  “I think Raya should only play a few hands because we’ll all be broke otherwise,” I say, laughing, but everyone is wide-eyed and staring at me with horror seconds before their cackles break free.

  What the hell?

  Then I hear her laughing, and I turn to glare at her. But her green mouth is too funny for me not to start laughing at.

  “You two are incorrigible,” Maggie says, coughing on her own laughter.

  Brin frowns when she sees everyone is laughing at her instead of me. She grabs Maggie’s purse from the table, and searches for a mirror. The second she has it, she turns it on her face, and I’m rewarded by the shocked intake of air.

  “You bastard!” she says in a whisper.

  I just laugh that much harder, and Tag says, “Don’t know what you’re laughing at, Dracula.”

  My laughter ceases immediately as Brin’s lips curl up in a green-stained smile. I grab the mirror, and groan when I see the red coating my lips and teeth. My tongue looks like it caught on fire or something.

  “Fuck,” I grumble, and everyone only laughs that much harder, including the two of us.

  “Twisted minds think alike,” Brin says mockingly.

  “Are you two even yet?” Rain asks, amused.

  Brin looks at me with a challenging glint in her eyes, and at the same time, we both say, “Never.”

  As the laughter continues, I pull her to my lap and kiss her, letting our mouths turn to Christmas colors as the red and green mingle together. She smiles against the kiss even as her devilish tongue provokes scandalous images of things I want to do to her.

  I’m going to love spending the rest of my life trying to break even.

  The End

  A Redo is the next book of the Sterling Shore Series, and it will be followed by Triple Dare—Corbin Sterling’s book.

  Get a glimpse of A Redo right now, set to release in 2015.

  A REDO

  Chapter One

  WREN

  When the hell did my mother start locking her front door on a Sunday afternoon? I’m already running late, and she promised me she’d have all the groceries bought that I would need to feed a child. I apparently suck at being a father, because I can’t even manage to buy food the kid likes.

  “Mom?” I prompt when I walk in, but there’s no answer. The massive house doesn’t exactly carry sound very well, and I don’t have time to track her down.

  If I’m late, Allie might damn well cut my balls off before cutting me off from Angel. But if I bring Angel over here to get the groceries, my mother will never let us leave. I need to figure out a way to bond with my estranged daughter if I’m ever going to be in her life. And my mother hogging her attention isn’t the way to do it.

  Jogging toward the kitchen, I make a mental note to get a new phone.
Mine has been freezing up all the time, and I didn’t even realize it had gotten so late until I was rushing around. My phone was still stuck on one even after it was past two. Stupid piece of shit.

  Large canvas bags are still resting on the counter in the kitchen, and I sigh in relief. I grab the first two and... drop them both back to the ground as my jaw falls unhinged.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I ask the man who is walking into the kitchen with my mother’s robe on—her pink, far-too-short, satin robe.

  “Oh, Wren. Sorry. Didn’t know you were here,” Ray Fucking Drivel—or Capperton or whatever in the hell he’s calling himself these days—says on his way to the fridge, acting as though I shouldn’t be shocked out of my damn mind right now.

  I watch, unable to form anymore words that can possibly relay how confused I am in this moment. After he opens the door on the fridge, he bends over way too far, revealing much more of his body than I’ve ever wanted to see, and I whirl around to fight back a gag.

  “Why are you naked under my mother’s robe?”

  “Because my clothes are in the wash,” he says as though it should be common knowledge.

  “And your clothes are in the wash because?”

  “I got them dirty when I was crawling under the house.”

  The more questions he answers, the more confused I become. But before I can truly interrogate him, my mother walks in, her eyes widening as she tightens the strings on her long, black satin robe.

  Oh hell no.

  “Wren,” Mom says in surprise. Her hair is ruffled, her face is flushed, and her lips are swollen. I’m going to be sick. “I would have thought you’d be here sooner.”

  I gag silently when I think of what I might have heard if I had gotten here earlier. Mom reads my horrified expression and shakes her head vigorously. “I meant much earlier. I thought you’d go shopping with me so you could do it on your own next time.”

  Ignoring the man who is pouring a glass of orange juice, making himself entirely too comfortable in my childhood kitchen, I take a steadying breath before trying to answer.

  “My phone messed up again. Lost track of time,” I say through clenched teeth, feeling my body tense all over when Ray slides his arm around Mom’s waist and tugs her back against his front. When she giggles and leans against him before stroking his face, I gag out loud.

  “Oh, Wren. Stop it. I’m a grown woman.”

  “And he’s a fucking con artist! Last I checked, you’re exactly the sort of woman he targets.”

  Ray cocks an eyebrow at me, but doesn’t act offended, which only pisses me off all the more. But Mom... Shit. She looks like she’s ready to beat my ass.

  “Wren Prize, I love you, but you don’t get to judge people for making mistakes in the past.”

  I glare at her when I hear her underlying meaning. “I fucked up one night. He fucked up for years. He’s a—”

  “A man who served his time and now works for the FBI, a security designer for highly reputable businesses, and a very wealthy man on his own who doesn’t need my money.”

  I wasn’t going to say any of those things and she knows it.

  “I should probably leave the two of you alone,” Ray says with smile while leaning down to kiss her cheek. “I deserve what he’s saying, dear. I’ll see you upstairs,” he adds.

  Bile rises to my throat upon hearing that oversharing tidbit. My eyes are already burning from the images my mind is producing against my will.

  Ray walks off, and I immediately start back in. “When the hell did you start... dating Ray Drivel?”

  “Capperton. He prefers Capperton because of his daughter. And we’re not dating... exactly. We’re just two people who happen to enjoy the physical company of each other.”

  I’m going to be sick for days. Did my mother just confess a friends-with-benefits arrangement?

  “I have to go,” I groan, darting out of the house even as my mother says something my ears can’t hear. Apparently they’re scarred as much as my eyes are.

  It’s not until I get almost to Allie’s house that I realize I never did get the groceries I dropped in the kitchen floor when I saw the con in my mother’s robe.

  Not a good day.

  Chapter Two

  Cancun — Seven Years ago...

  ALLIE

  “Allie Thrash. I’ll be damned. In Cancun and drinking,” Chris says, assaulting me with his toxic breath when he stands too close.

  Only in Mexico and under the influence of a lot of tequila would the captain of the football team suddenly recognize me. Small towns are terrible for having some stupid hierarchy, and I’m sure as hell on the bottom.

  “Nice ass, nice tits, nice... share,” he slurs. I think he meant to say hair.

  “Thanks,” I grumble, doing what I can to peel myself away from him. I never should have agreed to this stupid senior trip, but I know Bella wanted to come. She hasn’t ever been any more popular than I am, but she sure as hell has blossomed and turned into a girl the guys want. Too bad she no longer wants any of them.

  “Hey, Allie. Over here,” Bella calls, waving me over toward two guys who look a little older, and I gratefully skip toward her and away from Chris Peterson.

  I stumble to a halt when I see the guys up close, because they’re sure as hell not from here or back home.

  “Hey, these guys are from Cali like us. This is Tag Masters and his friend Wren... Um... Sorry, I don’t know your last name.”

  “Jacobs,” the guy with dark hair, soft lips, and a delicious smile says as he sticks his hand out for me. Wren Jacobs. I really like that name.

  “I’m Allie Thrash,” I mumble shyly, prompting his grin to grow.

  “How drunk are you?” Tag asks Wren, though I don’t know why.

  Wren grins at me before giving me a wink that makes my heart flutter almost too painfully. No one has ever looked at me like that. I’ve always been the foster girl who lived in Mr. and Mrs. Johnson’s home. My identity has always been as lost as me, but right now, I feel like someone is looking at me for the first time without any judgment, pity, or discomfort. I feel... like a normal person.

  “Tequila is my best friend,” Wren tells Tag, prompting the guy to laugh. Tag seems thoroughly interested in Bella, fortunately. Which leaves all of Wren’s attention focused on me.

  “Want to grab a drink?” Wren asks me.

  This trip finally feels like it’s worth it.

  ***

  ALLIE

  “You’re drunk. We shouldn’t do this,” Wren says in forced protest, but his lips continue to stroke mine, just as his tongue returns to explore my mouth. I could kiss him all night, but I want more.

  I refuse to leave here without doing this. For me. I need to feel wanted. Wren’s hands feel like medicine on burned skin, and his lips taste like heaven saving me from hell. I’m tired of being old before my time, and I want to be as free and wild as everyone else my age for a change.

  “Please,” I whisper. “You’re drunk too. I swear I’m sober enough.”

  Never thought I’d have to beg.

  He gives me a lopsided grin while leaning back, his fingers toying with the strings on my bikini top until he pulls them free, exposing me to his hungry eyes. I’ve never felt so good about myself.

  “Baby, if you really want this, I won’t refuse, but you don’t have to,” he says again, nibbling my bottom lip while grabbing my hips a little rougher.

  A whimper escapes me, and my heart grows heavy in my chest, pounding as though it might escape at any moment. This is more exciting, more passionate, and far more desired than my first time where I stupidly trusted the wrong idiot with my virginity.

  I’ve only known Wren for one night, but I’ve never had anyone look at me the way he is. It’s as though I’ve gotten a redo here. A fresh start. He doesn’t know me or my baggage, and he just wants me.

  “I really want to do this,” I whisper against his lips.

  His grin returns, and he stands with me s
trapped around his waist, staggering lightly and snickering when he catches his balance. When he drops me to my hotel room bed, my grin only grows. A drunken night in Mexico. Just what the doctor ordered.

  Wren doesn’t waste time shedding his clothes, and I follow his lead. Instead of going with any foreplay, he pushes me up on the bed and settles between my legs.

  “I’ve wanted to do this all night. Last chance to back out,” he says as he produces a condom from the pocket of his shorts that are discarded beside us on the bed, his body swaying off balance when he tries to sit back on his haunches.

  I shake my head, licking my lips when I see his body fully naked and poised to take mine. Unable to look away, I watch as the rubber sheathe rolls down the hard flesh that is making me flush from head to toe.

  “I want to do this,” I say in a rasp whisper.

  He grins as he drops back down, putting a hand on either side of my head, and he pushes in, slowly sinking into me with a burning, stretching feel. This feels so much better than last time.

  “Damn,” he murmur softly. “So good.”

  I reach up to touch him just as he pulls back and thrusts forward a little harder, eliciting a moan or a whimper from me. Not sure which. I want to kiss him, but his head is back as he thrusts in harder and harder, building something inside of me like I wasn’t expecting.

  I’ve had orgasms—most self-induced. But this... Something powerful is building inside me, claiming me with a power that promises I’m going to be in pain when it explodes. It takes me a minute to realize those terrible sounds are coming from me, but I can’t stop them any more than I can stop the powerful eruption that rolls through me, shocking me, my scalp tingling all the way down to my curled toes.

  Wren grunts loudly before thrusting in once more, and I lay there panting as he slowly pulls out, smiling as he unsheathes himself from the rubber he’s wearing. He tosses it in the trashcan without a backwards glance and moves to put on his shorts again.

  “What are you doing?” I ask breathlessly, wondering if my legs are ever going to stop shaking. I feel... boneless. Incredible.

  “I have to go find Tag. I’ve been missing for a while. I’ll catch up with you some time.”