by Cora Brent
He touched my arm, running the back of his thick knuckle over my skin. Why did he have to do that? It took every ounce of willpower to overcome the shudder of desire that coursed through me. It was becoming familiar. We’d spent three nights together, ravaging each other until we both passed out. In that tiny upstairs bedroom we shook the walls so hard the house was lucky to remain standing. Beyond that we bantered and flirted and then had more sex.
“Whatever it is,” he whispered seductively as he licked my earlobe, “I can fix it.”
Soap suds were about to spill over the edge of the sink. I shut the water off. “Did you tell them? Did you?”
“Who?” he asked, peeling back the strap of my shirt and kissing my shoulder.
“Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber.”
“Rocco and Getty? What in the hell would I tell them?”
“That we fucked, you moron.”
He groaned and grabbed my breasts, massaging them roughly. “Shit baby, you should talk like that all day every day.”
That was it, I couldn’t think with his hands all over me. I could barely even breathe. “Stop. We’re in my father’s kitchen and it’s still daylight.”
“You think dicks only come to life after dark?” Easton seized my hand and pressed it against his bulging crotch. “I’ll show you otherwise.”
“Oh will you?” I made a pretense of trying to wiggle out of his grip. That only made him harder. He held me tighter.
“So we fucked, huh?” he asked sarcastically.
My body was moving against his, my ass grinding against him and my panties utterly saturated. “Yeah, we fucked,” I said through clenched teeth. “Twelve times so far.”
“Twelve!” He was delighted. “Jesus, you counted! You actually fucking counted!”
I felt my face getting hot. Why in god’s name had I counted? “Be quiet and let’s go someplace more private than the damn kitchen.”
He was smiling broadly.
“Forget it,” I muttered and tried to push past him.
Easton responded by lifting me onto one powerful shoulder and proceeding to the stairwell. It was no effort at all for him to carry me all the way up.
“Wait,” I said before he closed the door. “They’ll figure out pretty quickly where we are.”
He pressed the lock. “So what?”
“So right now those two ding dongs only have suspicions. But if this crazy thing is common knowledge I’ll never be able to show my face here again.”
Easton ignored me. He shoved his hand between my legs. What he found there pleased him.
“Oh man, you’ll need to wring these things out and put them through a spin cycle.” He carelessly yanked my panties down and I moaned, settling back into the bed and forgetting any objections.
I used to read a lot of romance novels. I would routinely skip most of the plot and just find the juicy parts, inhaling all the lyrical drivel about being ‘so wet, so ready’ or ‘quivering with want’. Now I really understood where all the flowery prose came from. I was so ready. I really did quiver.
Easton wasn’t exactly romantic. He appeared to tote around an endless supply of prophylactics and was always ready to shove one on. He’d already stripped and was impatiently sliding the rubber down his shaft, stroking the hard length of himself as he hungrily stared down at me.
“Say it again,” he demanded as he climbed between my legs. “Tell me how we fucked.”
“We fucked,” I said, feeling stupid for immediately obeying.
“Now tell me to fuck you again.”
“Fuck you again.”
“Say it the right way, Claudia, or I won’t stick it in.”
“Easton!” Sometimes his maturity level was really in the toilet. Not that I was much better these days.
He smiled and thrust hard. I pulled my shirt and bra over my breasts, craving the feel of his bare chest sliding against mine. Easton Malone may not be the most sophisticated or patient lover but he was damn good. Apparently this was what I’d needed all along, what I’d never been able to find in the more genteel and hesitant beds I’d spent time in. It was raw and basic. It might be ruining me forever.
And I knew it wasn’t mine to keep.
The climax seized me and forced me to forget about everything but surrendering to it. I clutched his strong shoulders and pushed my knees all the way back so he could get really deep.
“Thirteen,” Easton panted as he finished and collapsed beside me.
I pushed my shirt back down. I shouldn’t have blurted out the number, shouldn’t have let him know that I’d counted. It sounded pathetic.
When I tried to leave the bed, Easton pulled me back. “Give me five minutes,” he said mildly. “We’ll go for number fourteen.”
I smoothed my hair and stood up, trying to look presentable and keeping an ear out for the rest of the dinner party. “We need to get back down.”
“I can go down. You already know that.”
“Easton,” I hissed. “Come on, can you just try to behave for a little while?”
He pretended to think carefully. “I don’t think so. No, definitely not.”
“Fine. Then just sit up here and play with your dick by yourself until you can reach up to the curb and find adulthood.”
Easton scowled. He grabbed his shirt and pulled it irritably over his head. “Cut the condescending crap, would you?”
I sighed. “Look, I’m not blaming you. You think I’m proud of this? I’m the one who let it happen.”
He sighed and glowered at me. “You know what I do think, Claudia? I think you’ve tortured yourself long enough and now you’re torturing me too.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Nothing. I know you’re bummed about the whole ugly episode with that lawyer fucker but are you really going to let one shitty experience rule the rest of your life?”
There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence between us.
“I wasn’t bummed,” I said quietly and went to the door without looking at him. “I was disgraced. Humiliated. Even heartbroken on some level.” I turned the knob with a sigh and rested my head against the smooth wood of the door. “You can’t understand that at all, can you?”
“Claudia.”
“Not now. I need to go downstairs.”
Easton waited a bit before following me down, either because he didn’t want to make the timing look too obvious, or because he was angry.
In the backyard, Rocco and Getty were hunkered down with giant plates of fat and cholesterol. Papa was sitting comfortably in an old hammock that swung between two maple trees. It had been there forever, at least since I could remember.
My uncles had been talking quietly. They both looked at me when I entered the backyard. I ignored them and fixed myself a hamburger.
Getty washed his food down with a long swallow of beer. Rocco glanced at him and then at me as I sat down at the table.
“Jack called,” he said.
“Something wrong?”
“No. He said he tried to reach on your cell phone twice. He just wanted you to know that he and Anya checked out of their hotel this afternoon. They hung out at the beach for a while and now they’re on their way out of Atlantic City. He says they should get in about ten.”
The news wasn’t unexpected, but it still unsettled me slightly. I’d avoided giving much thought to how I would keep a straight face when I was in the same room with Jack and his new wife again.
Easton picked that moment to stroll into the backyard. He didn’t seem particularly ruffled about our lusty banging session moments earlier. He grabbed another hot dog and nudged Rocco to make room on the bench.
Easton would have to understand that what had happened between us had been incredible. But it was also careless and foolish. It needed to be over.
After all, Easton wasn’t just some guy I’d picked to screw around with. It was pretty much guaranteed that we’d be seeing one another again. We were in each other’s lives
now in a permanent way. We would need to be civil, courteous.
And nothing more, not ever again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
EASTON
Rocco seemed like he was trying to do me a favor since there was a weird vibe going on in the backyard. He kept chattering away about bringing me on at the shop for the summer. I’d be grateful for the work. In fact I’d been on the lookout for some ways to earn cash before I needed to take off for South Carolina but summer jobs were scarce these days.
“You got anything to say about it?” he asked Getty.
“Nope,” Getty answered his brother. He nodded at me. “Just don’t go thinking we’ll take it easy on you because you’re a kid.”
“He’s not a kid,” Rocco argued. “And he’s family.”
“I guess,” grumbled Getty. Then he glanced at Claudia for a moment, shrugged and started in on another hamburger.
Claudia was quiet. She’d gotten a little grouchy up there in the bedroom but that seemed to be par for the course with her. One minute she was wet and wild and the next she was all, “Oh, this is wrong! I’m wrong. You’re wrong. Everything is wrong.”
I didn’t know why she was so uptight. We were having a hell of a good time. Why pick it apart?
Claudia started to fuss with the paper plates. “I’ve got a lot of cleaning to do before they get home,” she said.
“No you don’t,” I said, rolling my eyes. “The house looks fine.”
“You can come clean our house instead,” Rocco offered. “Looks like a cross between a zombie apocalypse den and a Bronx Zoo habitat.”
“That’s your fault,” Getty scowled. “You hoard shit.”
“I hoard shit? How many cans of motor oil you got stacked up by the side door? Why don’t you keep that crap at the shop?”
“There’s no room at the shop. Big brother shits bricks every time he thinks the place is even slightly cluttered and I don’t feel like listening to him scream.”
I heard the two of them going back and forth but I wasn’t really listening. I was watching Claudia. She wasn’t listening to them either. She was watching me.
Suddenly she looked away and shook her head. “You guys will have to clean up your own mess,” she muttered and then walked over to where Papa was dozing in the hammock.
I was trying to have serious thoughts so I could start a serious conversation as soon as these guys took off. Obviously something was bothering Claudia and it seemed a fair bet that it had to do with me. But instead, all I kept thinking about was whether she’d put her wet underwear back on. I’d been with a lot of girls but never one who responded to me the way she did. Every single time she was literally soaked before I even touched her. Damn, she excited the hell out of me. I was so into her I could hardly breathe.
Claudia was helping Papa into the house while Rocco and Getty argued over whose dirty boots had been littering the foyer for the past six months. I got a garbage bag and started throwing shit away so Claudia wouldn’t feel like she had to do it.
“Easy there, ace,” Getty commented when I squashed a beer can between my palms.
“Just cleaning up,” I grumbled and shoved a paper plate into the bag.
“It’s angry cleaning,” said Rocco and exchanged a glance with his brother. “Looks like you’ve got this covered so we’re gonna take off, okay?”
“Yeah, fine.”
Getty was already strolling toward the gate but Rocco seemed like he wanted to say something else to me. He lingered while I tied the sides of the plastic bag together in a savage knot.
“We’ll talk more tomorrow,” he said, “about what kind of hours you can put in at the shop.”
“Good. I’m all yours tomorrow.” I felt a little hollow as I realized it was true. Claudia was planning on taking a flight out in the early afternoon. This was my last night with her.
Rocco slapped me on the back. “See ya, buddy.”
“Later.”
He left the backyard and I was alone. I pushed the bag of garbage into the can and sat down on the bench for a minute, staring at the house.
What did I think was going to come of this? Claudia was flying back to Arizona tomorrow. I’d be leaving for school at the end of the summer. There was no way she could fit into the world of frat parties and freshman English. There was no place for me in her world either, not that I was even sure what her world was like because she didn’t talk about it much. This wasn’t love, but it wasn’t casual either. I hated the idea of giving her up.
I waited in the living room while she bustled around the house, fluffing pillows and scrubbing toilets and doing a whole bunch of other bullshit that didn’t have to be done during the last few hours we had together. When she finally stepped into the room she looked surprised to see me sitting there.
“Why don’t you take a break and pull up some upholstery?” I said, patting the couch.
Claudia pushed her hair behind her ears and crept to the edge of the couch. She sat gingerly on the edge, like the cushion might pop underneath her weight. She cleared her throat and pressed her lips together. I said nothing.
“They’ll probably be home soon,” she finally sighed.
“Probably,” I agreed.
“Easton,” she began and then trailed off. She took a deep breath. “So we agree no one has to know about this week, right?”
“You said you would know.”
Her brown eyes were sincere. She was so beautiful. “I do know.”
“You say that like you want to forget.”
“Maybe. No,” she corrected herself. “I don’t want to forget. I mean, it’s crazy but I really had a great time.”
“Yeah, I noticed, Claudia.”
Her face fell. “You’re angry. I don’t want you to be angry. There’s obviously a deep physical attraction there and we both had things to get out of our system so we used this opportunity to do it.”
I wasn’t really mad before. Now I was. “What the hell are you talking about? You think I used you?”
She bit her lip. “We used each other. Didn’t we?”
“You’re right. After all, I’m just a giant walking dick looking for a warm hole to shove it into.”
“You don’t have to be crude.”
“You don’t have to be mean.”
Her mouth turned down. “I’m not trying to be mean. I’m really trying to be your friend.”
“By letting me know I was good for a few pokes before you pat me on the head like a puppy and send me on my way?”
“Dammit Easton, what do you want me to say?”
I got to my feet. “Say I was the best fuck you ever had. That’s all I care about anyway.”
“You’re impossible,” she decided, crossing her arms and looking moodily away.
“Say it, Claudia.”
“No.”
“Say it and I swear on my own balls that I’ll never tell anyone a thing.”
“And if I don’t you’ll post it on Facebook?”
I was silent. Of course I would never say a thing to anyone because it wasn’t anyone’s fucking business and it would be a betrayal. I didn’t know why I hinted otherwise, other than it gave me a little bit of sick joy watching her squirm after she’d been batting me around like a cat with a ball of yarn all week.
“Fine.” She stood up. Her voice shook. “You were the best fuck I ever had, Easton Malone. Nobody ever made me come so hard or get so wet.”
I must really be a perverted son of a bitch at heart because every word she said got me harder. But things had already gotten ugly enough. I left her standing there near tears in the living room, stopped in the garage long enough to get my keys, and then skidded out in the Malibu.
I only drove around the block. I sat there in front of the house I’d grown up in. After the foreclosure, a young Asian family had purchased it. I was glad that a family was living there again. I was glad even as I envied them.
The sky was rapidly darkening by this point. The kitchen window curtains
at my old house were open and the mom was standing at the sink, patiently washing the dinner dishes. I imagined her humming to herself and feeling happy as she completed just one of a thousand daily tasks required to care for her family. She looked young. She looked healthy.
After a while her husband came into the room. He put his hand on her shoulder and they kissed. Then the light was turned off and they disappeared together.
Two hours had passed and I couldn’t really sleep all night in the car in front of someone else’s house. When I got home Jack and Anya were there.
“Hey,” my sister greeted me, hugging me happily before I even got through the door. I was glad that at least someone was thrilled to see me.
Even Jack said a warm hello and shook my hand. Claudia was nowhere in sight.
The two of them looked tired but happy as they stood there in the kitchen with their arms around each other. I didn’t ask many questions about the honeymoon. It was enough to know that my sister was in love and had everything she deserved.
I didn’t hang around long before heading to the garage, even though I wasn’t tired. I rolled around on top of the sheets for a while but it only made me sweat my nuts off even more. I felt like a total dick for what I’d said to Claudia earlier.
Jack and Anya bustled around the house for a while. I kept an ear out for Claudia’s voice but never heard it. Even after every sound had faded and there was only the ring of silence and the loneliness of my heart, I still couldn’t sleep. I stared at the dark ceiling, shut my eyes once, and when I opened them again morning was well underway.
In the kitchen, Jack was sitting at the table behind a newspaper and Anya was drinking a cup of coffee.
“You should thank me,” he said without looking up. “Your sister wanted to haul you out of bed two hours ago to eat an egg sandwich. I told her she should have some mercy on a Saturday morning and let you sleep.”
Anya smiled at her husband sweetly. Her new wedding ring glinted in the morning light. “East, your sandwich is in the fridge.”
I wasn’t hungry but I didn’t want to hurt my sister’s feelings so I took the plate out and popped it in the microwave. I was trying to figure out a nonchalant way to ask if Claudia was awake yet. Not that I’d figured out how in the hell I was going to get a private moment with her now that the house was full again. I only knew that I had to straighten a few things out before she took off on that plane this afternoon.
