“I gathered that, love. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to escort you out, the management don’t tolerate violence in any form, even from a…. woman.”
“What?” Em shouted over the thump of the music, my hips swaying involuntary to the beat. I shrugged and walked towards the exit, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
“Carrie!” Emily shouted but I waved her off.
“I’ve had enough anyway, chick. Work tomorrow!”
She chased after me, tucking her own bag under her arm to slip her shoes back on. The bloke she’d pulled scurried after her. “Em, I’ll be fine, there’s a line of taxis outside, I’ll text you when I’m home.”
She peered at me. “I don’t know, Carrie.”
I rolled my eyes, “Chick, I’m thirty one, I’m quite capable of getting myself home. I promise I’ll text you.”
She flicked a glance between Robostud, whom I found quite difficult to see what she saw in him and his huge biceps, and then back to me. I was sure I spotted a sliver of drool chase down her chin when she eyed her conquest for the night. “Go, go.” I shooed her away before winking at her.
“Text me!” She pointed to me as Stud pulled her back across the floor. Nodding, giving up on trying to be heard over the music, I breathed a sigh of relief when the warm night air slapped me in the face.
It was raining heavy, the beat of the downpour matching the thumping beat coming from behind the clubs closed doors. And as was fashion for me, no taxis sat in a line, nor did one solitary cab sit waiting just for me. “Fuck!” Puddles were already forming and I curled my lip at my tiny little open-toed sandals, sighing as I balanced my bag over my head and made a dash for it.
The smooth paving slabs topped with warm rain water were quite treacherous in my heels but I refused to remove them as I ran across the streets on my toes, my heels sliding dangerously the heavier the downpour became.
I swallowed, noticing a car alongside me. Shit, maybe going home alone hadn’t been such a good idea. Speeding up, I took the alleyway behind Sainsbury’s, diving through the carpark and taking the break in the fence I knew was at the back that led to my house.
Just as I was about to run across the road and be home safe, the car that had been following me screeched to a halt in front of me, a huge puddle by the side of the road swelling up and covering me from head to toe in water.
Squealing at the cold shock, I shook myself off and opened my eyes. Then squealed again when Adam stood glaring at me, his nose an inch away from mine.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I stared at him, still spluttering and attempting to wipe the water from my eyes. “Eh?”
“Out! At this time on your fucking own! Are you stupid?”
“Apparently so,” I retorted as I looked down at my ruined dress and shoes. “I was going to marry you!”
He laughed, the bastard laughed. I yelped when suddenly I was hoisted over his shoulder, my feet bare when my shoes dropped off and plopped into the puddle he’d driven through. I thumped him in the back as he carried me across the road. “Will you put me down!”
Ignoring me, I gasped when he delved into his pocket and pulled out a tiny gadget, then slipping it into my front door lock it beeped and a green light flashed before the door swung open. “Oh my God!” I gawped at him, shaking my head when he had the audacity to smirk.
“Just think, babe,” he whispered as he kicked shut the door behind us, “I can come in anytime I want and watch you sleep.”
My eyes widened on him. “What”? I choked out, my heart hammering at speed as a shiver racked my cold body.
His eyebrows furrowed. “You’re cold.”
“Well of course I am, you’ve just showered me in the middle of the damn street. Idiot!”
Without saying another word, or releasing me, he took the stairs two at a time, kicking open my bedroom door. I narrowed my eyes wondering how he knew which was my room and not Emily’s. He didn’t stop to take in my bedroom as he carried me straight into the bathroom, bending and making me squeal when I slipped down his back precariously as he twisted the taps on the bath and started to run the water.
“What are you doing?” I giggled when I hiccupped, my upside down position making the alcohol in my system flow into my brain.
“Running you a bath.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re wet and cold,” he whispered as his eyes found mine in the small vanity mirror above the sink. He paused. I stilled. For the briefest moment the last thirteen years ebbed away and we were eighteen again, Adam’s domineering side making my belly throb and my heart swell with how he always used to take care of me.
“Why do you have to be so fucking beautiful?” he breathed. The pain in his eyes made my breath still, my emotions balancing on the edge just like my cold, wet body. My voice caught as I attempted to swallow. He refused to release my gaze, his need and ache mirroring my own.
“Why did you leave me?” I winced, hating my own choked question. Adam frowned and tipped his head slightly.
“After what my father did, what I did, how can you even question why I left?”
“But,” I licked my lips, determined to ask what I had wanted to ask for so, so long. “But I needed you, Adam. Your father was to blame, not you.”
There, I’d said it. I had always felt deep down that Adam wasn’t to blame, yet it had been easier to hold him responsible because if I was honest with myself, it had been the only way I could cope with him leaving me, the only thing that made the pain of losing my brother and my lover in the same day bearable.
He slid me slowly down the front of him. I blinked up at him when his large hand framed one side of my face. His thumb caught the stray tear that slid down my cheek. “Babe, I thought…”
“You thought leaving would make the grief tolerable.” I answered for him but shook my head frantically, hating the way my brain wasn’t coping with the vast amounts of vodka racing through my bloodstream and making my mouth loose and my thoughts open. “But it didn’t, Adam. It never could. I felt the loss of you as much as I did Gabe. I needed you, I needed you to hold me, to tell me that life would get easier. But it didn’t, it couldn’t because you weren’t there.”
He looked confused, his head shaking from side to side.
“I couldn’t find you,” I revealed quietly, my cheeks blushing with the revelation that I had searched for him. “I looked for you, to tell you I didn’t blame you.”
He frowned harder. “Cole,” he stated bluntly. I flinched at his name but luckily Adam didn’t appear to notice. “Cole knew where I had gone.”
It was my turn to look confused. “Eh? He told me he didn’t know. He said you just took off. I don’t understand.”
Adam blinked at me then reached past me and shut off the taps, picking up my bath crème to poor in a huge amount. My whole body froze when he turned back to me and grabbed the hem of my top. He quirked a brow, daring me. Slowly I lifted my arms, begging him to strip me down but also terrified of what he would see.
Pulling my top over my head his eyes dropped to my chest and I closed my eyes when his breath caught. Without saying a word, he extended a finger and traced along one of my scars. “What the fuck are these?”
I lowered my eyes, guilt making me hate myself once again. “Carrie?” He was angry with my silence.
“It was a long time ago, Adam.”
“Then it’s about time you told me what they are.”
“They’re scars.”
“Really?” he growled making me tense. “I thought some fucker had drawn train tracks all over you.” Catching my guilt his face softened as did his touch. “Tell me, babe.”
“I had an accident.”
“An accident?”
I hated how I stood in skirt and bra, his inquisitive eyes on my face waiting for my shame to be revealed. “I tried to… follow Gabe. I drove myself off… French Point.”
His eyes widened. “What the fuck, Car!”
Shrug
ging, I grimaced when he tilted my head back with a gentle lift of his finger under my chin. “Did Cole tell you what he did?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t seen Cole since I left.”
“He was good to me, Adam. He… have you never wondered why you never heard from your father when you left?”
“Not really, I told him if he killed Gabe then we were done and I was out of there. He didn’t listen… obviously, and when Cole told me he’d done it anyway, I never saw him again. I never wanted to.” When I didn’t say anything else, he narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean ‘he was good to you’?”
I gulped directing my gaze on the bath, the steam rising heavily and steaming up everything in the room. I wanted it to impede Adam’s gaze on me but nothing could stop this man delving deep inside me, he’d always had the ability to read me and the years hadn’t lessened his gift. “We… we had a thing.”
The steam was nothing to the sudden thickness in the air, the atmosphere choking with Adam’s fury. “What?”
“Before Ben. It was nothing, just a fling. But he was there Adam, you know. I needed… something, something that you were unable to give me when you left.”
His voice was high and tight and I watched as he tried desperately to control his rage. “And what does you screwing Cole have to do with my father?” The way he spat the question made me flinch.
“You’ll… you’ll have to ask him that.”
His fingers curled around my chin, his hold almost punishing. “No, I’m asking you, babe.”
My chest heaved. How the fuck did I tell him? I had been unable to believe what Cole had done for me but to tell Adam what his best friend had done was even harder. “He, uhh, he took him out.” I whispered, hoping in a way he hadn’t heard me but equally hoping he had so I didn’t have to repeat it.
I knew he’d heard when his body stiffened. He blinked at me. I could see his mind trying to decipher what I had just told him. “When?”
“A few days after you left. He said he owed it to you and me, and Gabe.”
I hated this, hated how devastated Adam looked but I had a feeling it wasn’t through grief, it was through regret that his friend had done what he felt he should have. Quickly, taking his hand in mine, I shook my head, attempting to halt his turmoil. “I would never expect you to do that, Adam. Whatever he was, he was your father. To do that, to your own blood is… impossible.”
He scoffed, pulling out of my hold and turning his back on me. “Get a bath, you’re cold.”
That was all he said before he walked out, the slam of the front door making my heart weep.
Six
Adam
I closed my eyes for a moment, relishing in the burn of the whisky but after all I could see was Carrie and Cole writhing about, the alcohol and the bile in my stomach made for a swift exit and I snapped them back open before the contents of my stomach decorated the gloss white finish on the counter top.
How the fuck could they? For one, Cole. How could he move in on my Fiancé so quickly after he’d known what it took for me to leave her? And Carrie, I thought she’d loved me. Obviously not as much as I thought if she was fucking my friend before I’d even hopped off the train in London.
I sighed, my body shivering in need as the image of her stood in front of me in just her snug little blue bra brought on a new groan, this time my dick throbbing instead of my heart. She’d always had an exquisite figure, but now it had matured… Holy Fuck, was she stunning, her curves beautiful and taunting. She’d always been a looker and I had been the envy of everyone in our school when I’d proudly made her mine. I saw the way people looked at her now¸ the want in their gazes, even the women. I knew she’d feel just as good, if not better, beneath me, her tight lithe body contoured especially to form to mine perfectly.
The whisky jumped in my glass when a bang echoed round the apartment, another bang swiftly following it before another louder succession of knocks came quickly.
“Okay!” I shouted as I peered through the glass in the door at the figure on the other side. As always, I was alert and ready when I opened the door but a furious Carrie stunned me silent when she pushed past me, her face bright and glowing with anger.
“How dare you just presume then leave… again I might add,” she snapped angrily as her long finger poked me hard in the centre of the chest. “Why do you always do that?” she raged. “You always did run instead of listen.”
I quirked a brow, amazed at her audacity but it was her boldness that astounded me. I wasn’t sure why I had expected different, she’d always been one to tell it how it was but her fearlessness made my cock hard. It was a shame she was so straight-laced because she’d have made a remarkable asset to the Devine Company.
“I didn’t screw Cole, or anyone for that matter, for two years after you left. He was a friend for a long time, a friend I needed, Adam.”
My eyes widened and for the first time since she’d told me she’d fucked my friend, my heart rate slowed a little, my gut calming a little with her admission.
“I know you just assumed I bedded him as soon as you left but it wasn’t like that. We both missed you and Gabe, we both hurt and we were there for each other! And as far as your father goes, I wish I had done it but I wasn’t brave enough. I’m sorry but I wasn’t.”
I opened my mouth to argue but she saw the bottle of whisky and snatched it up with a glass from the drainer and poured herself a double shot, spinning to top up mine as I stood mesmerised by her.
“I would never expect you to hurt your own family, Adam, not after everything I went through with mine, but fuck, I don’t hold anything against Cole, and if I’m honest, you shouldn’t. He took care of his friend’s girl when you didn’t.”
“When I couldn’t Carrie,” I rectified. “Not when I didn’t.”
“No Adam,” she glowered, “When you didn’t. I was right the first time!”
Why was my cock so hard? Why did her fury always turn me on? It always had, that was one of the things I fell in love with, her feistiness and confidence. There was no wonder she became a judge because she’d always had the ability to tell it exactly how it was, whether you wanted to hear it or not, she was always honest and frank.
Taking a step towards her when she finally paused and took a mouthful of whisky she glared at me but stood her ground, her back already pressed against the worktop so she had nowhere to go.
“Don’t you dare prowl on me!” She pointed at me and I couldn’t help but smirk. She’d always called it prowling when I’d stalked towards her, the heat in my eyes as well as my pants.
“Then stop making my dick hard.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “You always did used to think of sex when we were arguing.” Her voice was a little lower, the husky tone giving away her arousal. I knew her inside out and back to front and I couldn’t help but smile knowing all her old little ways I’d fallen for were still there.
“No babe, you always used to argue with me knowing it led to hot, hard sex.”
Her throat bobbed and she coughed slightly to cover it up, but she knew I’d caught it when she placed her glass on the top and grabbed hold of the edge of the worktop to steady herself. “Adam, stop it, we need to talk.”
Slowly, I shook my head, taking hold of her knees and prising them open easily so I could slot between them. Her unique scent surrounded me and I groaned at the familiarity of it. “No talking now,” I whispered. “I need to kiss you.”
Her breath hitched but no sooner had I said it than her fingers were in my hair and her mouth was on mine, her tongue pushing inside greedily to taste me. In unison, we both moaned at the joining, our breaths and souls merging once again. Her body pressed to mine, the outline of her tits pushing into my chest as she pulled me harder to her. Her thighs clamped around my waist when I hoisted her up on the counter. Her hunger was insatiable and I couldn’t hold back when I grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and yanked it over her head. Her own fingers fumbled with the buttons
on my jeans until she gave in and just slipped her hand inside, her fist grabbing my hard cock and making my balls shrivel with a need I hadn’t felt in such a long time.
I was struggling to breathe. I needed her with an overwhelming hunger, a yearning inside me that I hadn’t experienced for thirteen years. My legs wobbled slightly and I clamped my teeth into her lower lip to hide my vulnerability from her.
Helping her, my appetite to be inside her as intense as hers appeared to be, I undid the buttons and pushed the denim down my legs, giving her easily what she needed. I ripped my own shirt over my head as she let go of my dick and swiftly undid her own jeans, lifting her bottom to push them down and off her legs.
Not waiting for her to take off her knickers, I pushed them aside and slammed my cock inside her in one delicious thrust, my body singing with the feel of her warm, wet pussy around my dick once again.
“Oh fuck!” she groaned when her forehead fell to my shoulder, her hands reaching round to grab my arse and her nails already digging into the sensitive skin. A rumble in my chest gave away my exhilaration at being buried deep inside her once more.
“My god, you still feel so fucking good,” I growled as I started to pound her hard and deep. She took it, like she always had, my need for fast and gruelling matching her need for cruel and deep. She’d always been insatiable, her unquenchable passion for sex matching my own and making us the perfect fucking partners.
“Harder,” she choked out as she clenched around me, pulling me even deeper as her hips lifted to slam against mine. “Fuck my soul Adam.”
Those memorable four words had the cum shooting up my cock, my balls squealing furiously with the need for release as a white fire ripped up my spine and exploded ecstasy into my brain. The memories swirled as my teeth found her neck and I latched on, a small smile playing on my lips when she gasped and came on me, screaming my name like she always had. Her body bent, her spine arching perfectly as her body tightened around mine and a single tear trickled down her cheek.
Loyalty Page 3
