5 Years Later_a second chance romance novel

by London Casey

  “Do you know what time it is?” he whispered.

  “What?”

  “What about your date?” he asked.

  I gasped.

  Fuck.

  I was supposed to be on a date with Darryl.

  Instead, I had Aiden on top of me.

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  “Oh well,” he said. “I’m not done with you yet, my flower…”

  Chapter 23

  (Enjoy the Free Meal and Boring Sex)

  FIVE YEARS AGO

  (AIDEN)

  I’d never admit jealousy, especially to Lily. But she could sense it. With what we had, it was no lie that jealousy ran thick between us. The second I heard that phone ringing, I thought about her on some date with some guy. And that pissed me off.

  I grabbed her by the hips again and pulled, bringing her to her knees. I eased back and just stared for a second. She was the picture of perfection. Her hair sprawled across her back. The way her back slightly arched, making a wide U-shape. Her round ass sticking up at me. Her legs spread. The beautiful sight of her delicious slit, wet folds open, waiting for me.

  I moved my right hand to the small of her back and held her in position. I grabbed my cock and lined myself up. Like a missile hitting its target, I thrust forward and entered her again. My left hand grabbed her hair, seizing a handful and tugging her a little more than playfully but definitely not so much as to hurt her.

  My thrusts were hard and deep, and I started to speed up when I thought of her on a date again. I knew the reality that waited, and I knew there was maybe no avoiding it. But damn, did it drive me insane for a little while.

  I finally cleared my mind and settled my hands at her sides. I gripped tight, pulling back as I fucked forward, making sure she felt every inch of my body. And I wanted to feel every inch of her depths. That tight clinging, clenching, pulsing when she came for a second time. Only I didn’t let up. I just kept going. Feeling her come, hearing her voice cry out and crackle into nothing but a whimper. Her body easing lower and lower to the bed. I was soon hovering over her, pumping harder and faster. My body hitting her with a wet noise that was louder than her groans. Her hands slowly crept out across the bed as she grabbed for the sheets again. I put my right hand around her body and held her up a little, making sure I had her where I wanted her.

  Grunting, hissing deep in my throat, I felt my balls tight and begging to be relieved.

  “Fuck, sweetheart,” I groaned. “I need your fucking tongue. Right now.”

  I lowered myself down, pinning her to the bed again as she turned her head to look at me. The position was fucking sloppy and dirty, but that was us. It fit us. I kissed her wildly as I felt myself ready to let go. And when I did, the kiss paused and our eyes locked tight. I fucked hard and held there, pumping myself into her. Spilling everything I had, grunting each time my cock pulsed. The look on her face told me everything I needed to know. I was still her favorite. I was still her best.

  And she was the fucking same for me, too.

  I stayed there until I was done and then eased my way out of her before I fell to the bed next to her. I reached and started to run my fingers up and down her body, feeling her skin shiver and prickle.

  We just stared at each other, soaking up the peace of the silence. Because everything else around us was nothing but a mess of war. Madness that sucked us in, threw us around, and quickly spit us out like we were nothing.

  There were a lot of things to say in that moment. How beautiful she was. How much I loved her. How I wished I could go back and change everything, readjust the course of time to fix all the broken bullshit between us. I could have said how great her ass looked. How the sweat on her body was turning me on. How her messy hair made me want to take a handful again. How I was just waiting to give my dick a chance to breathe before I planned on fucking her again.

  But instead, I wanted to do the right thing.

  “Lily…you need to go on that date tonight.”

  Lily popped up out of her sex-slumber as I rolled off the bed and grabbed my jeans. I put them on and tossed my shirt over my shoulder. She scrambled to grab the comforter off the bed and wrapped it over her shoulders. We now had the bed between us, and she looked confused and mad.

  “What?”

  “You have a date tonight. You should be there.”

  “Are you kidding?”

  I grabbed her pants and took her phone out. “Tell him you got held up at work because of a customer situation. Then go on the date.”

  “Aiden…”

  “Enjoy the free meal and boring sex,” I said.

  I tossed the phone to the bed and left the bedroom.

  Wow, what an asshole, right?

  I had a good reason for wanting her to go on that date. And yes, I was well aware that my jealous side was showing through, and that wasn’t exactly a proud moment for me. But whatever.

  Lily was never afraid to chase after me, though. She came through her apartment like a jet taking off and flew around me to block my path.

  “What is this?” she asked.

  “What is what? We haven’t seen each other in five years! Think about what happened then.”

  “Aiden…”

  I grabbed her shoulders. “Five years ago, I told you not to fuck up your job for me. Because of me. And you did. You fucked it up. There was no reason for you to lose that job. And everything exploded from there. I’ve spent five goddamn years trying to erase your memory, and there’s no way for me to do that. Here I am again, in your apartment, in your bed. But if you think for a second I’m going to let you ruin things again in your life because of me…”

  “So what, I fuck you and then go date someone?” she asked. “You realize how fucked-up that sounds?”

  “I know,” I said. I put my hand to her face. “But what if this guy is the one for you? Honestly. You’ll never know. I’m not asking for your hand in marriage, Lily. I’m not even asking to spend the night here. I just know that when you and I get together, something explodes between us. It’s not just sex and we both know that. But we also both know that something keeps ripping us apart.”

  That’s when my heart swelled too full. See, I had been harboring a nasty little secret for some time. Nobody knew my secret. Nobody at work. Nobody that I considered a friend. Nobody at all. I never meant to fall into that dark hole, but I did. There was a good reason I needed Lily to get out of the apartment. Or at least, I needed to leave. My mouth was dry. My arms were starting to shake. My insides were curling up and screaming.

  I needed my demon. I needed her fang to graze my skin, and I needed her venom to balance me out.

  I stared into Lily’s eyes and wanted to tell her my secret but I knew if I did she would be the one to try and fix it. She would fight my demon. But I didn’t even want to fight my demon. My demon and I had a mutual agreement of sorts.

  “You want me to go out with Darryl,” she said.

  “Just in case,” I said. “I’ll be here waiting for you, Lily. Unless something happens then you let me know, and I’ll disappear. But you are not going to have that hole in your heart again because of me. You haven’t worked a decent job since last time, I bet.”

  “Aiden…that job…”

  “You were good at it. I know it. You fucking let it all go for me. And I ended up getting arrested. I lost my band. I lost my music. I lost everything after that, Lily. I lost you. This time…maybe we’ll try this different. If there even is something to try for.”

  Lily reached up and touched my cheek. “Aiden…there’s always something to try for. It’s us, Aiden. It’s us.”

  My right leg twitched.

  No, sweetheart. It’s us…and my demon. My beautiful, sweet demon. You’ll hate her, and I don’t blame you for hating her. I won’t let her touch you either. She’s all mine to deal with. Her fiery venom. I never want you to feel it. You can’t taste it, but you want to. You can only feel it. I hate that it feels good, too.

  I leane
d in and kissed her. “You’re going on that fucking date, Lily.”

  “I don’t get it. Where do you live now? What do you do? Are you… you’re not married or something, are you?”

  “No,” I said.

  Liar. You’re married to the demon. That ugly fucking demon.

  “You go on that date, and if it doesn’t work out, then you come back to me. And we’ll talk for hours or fuck for hours. Or both. But I’ll call that damn restaurant and get your schedule to make sure you don’t fuck around again.”

  Lily laughed. “This is insane.”

  “Yeah, it is. It’s really fucking insane.”

  I spent the next thirty minutes waiting for her to emerge to leave. My hand held my phone tight. Even when she left, I still had a decent ride home to take care of some stuff and then fly right back.

  The second Lily appeared from her bedroom, I lost my breath. For the first time in three long years, I didn’t think of the demon. I didn’t think of the biter venom. I didn't think of the high and how bad I wanted it. Because I was staring at my ultimate high. I was staring at Lily.

  She was in a black dress that worked all the rights curves in all the right spots. I was no longer jealous of this guy she was going on a date with. I was now jealous of everyone with a set of eyes that could see her.

  I made fists and clenched them tight. I was starting to tweak a little. I knew there was no longer the option of getting home to get my fix. I’d have to figure out a different plan. Or just take Lily back to bed and let her be my drug tonight.

  “Do you approve?” she asked, teasingly.

  “Is he picking you up?” I asked.

  “No. I’m meeting him. So I don’t have to rely on him for a ride.”

  “Have fun, Lily. Don’t let me fuck anything else up. I can’t fuck anything else for you in your life.”

  “Aiden, are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I whispered. “Perfect.”

  Lily walked to the door.

  I called to her as she opened it.

  “You look stunning,” I said. “I would buy you every flower in the world and the most expensive dinner, and that still wouldn’t be good enough for how good you look right now, Lily.”

  I saw the way her cheeks flushed. Just like the first time I met her and told her she was pretty.

  She left the apartment.

  I collapsed back to the counter and fumbled for my phone. My knees felt weak. I felt pathetic, a person being eaten by a demon.

  But I couldn’t control it.

  And I should have left the apartment and left Lily for good.

  Instead, I called my brother, Gabe.

  “How bad?” he asked when he heard my voice.

  “Bad,” I said. “Can you help me?”

  There was a pause.

  Then he said, “Text me the address—I’ll be right there, brother.”

  Chapter 24

  (Water Into Wine)

  FIVE YEARS AGO

  (LILY)

  I had to hand it to Darryl. He looked good. He looked really good. He waited for me outside the restaurant, gave me his arm, and walked me to a table in the corner of a restaurant that I could definitely never afford to eat at. By force of habit, I looked at the menu price and started figuring twenty percent gratuity and instantly hated all the wait staff, estimating what they made on a decent night compared to the beer and wing sauce-smelling money I got where I worked.

  Our waitress came right away, and Darryl ordered a bottle of wine.

  He said something fancy, and I raised my eyebrow.

  “Can I tell the truth?” he asked.

  “Sure.”

  “I have no idea what I just said,” he said with a smile. “I just picked the easiest one to pronounce. Hope it tastes good.”

  I laughed.

  “I like your laugh,” he said.

  “I like that you’re sober,” I teased.

  “Yeah…that…uh…”

  “Hey, it happens,” I said. “We all have shit moments.”

  “I was thinking about the past, and you were my easiest target. Not saying that you’re easy, but you were right there in my phone.”

  I couldn’t get comfortable. I changed the subject by talking about the food. I wondered just what the hell I was actually trying to prove. Aiden was in my apartment. And I actually left him there. To prove…what? That I could listen to him? That I wouldn’t let him barge into my life and throw everything around like he always did to me?

  Fine.

  I could live with that.

  But across from me at the table was a guy who thought he was on a real date.

  The silence became awkward and then got worse when we had the wine.

  “Want to see a magic trick?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Weird.

  I hadn’t seen a magic trick since my friend Stephanie’s seventh birthday when a magician turned a dove into a lump of coal.

  “I can turn water into wine,” Darryl said.

  He took my glass of water and put a napkin over it. I clearly saw there was a glass of wine behind the glass of water.

  I got it, though.

  Anything to break up the weirdness between us.

  He made some weird magic noises, calling attention to us. He quickly moved the cloth and the glass of water, leaving just the glass of wine.

  “Bravo,” I said with a smile.

  “Thanks,” he said. “I know plenty more magic. I have magic hands, actually.”

  “Oh, jeez,” I said. “Are you really going there? Cheap lines like that?”

  “We’ve already been together, Lily. This is just a formality, right?”

  “Wow. So, you try to do magic and call me a slut, all in the same two-minute time span. Bravo, again.”

  He laughed.

  So did I.

  Our dinners came.

  That’s when it all really settled in on me.

  Darryl was about to drop well over a hundred bucks into a night he had intentions on being something that I didn’t want. My night was already predetermined.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked me.

  “Darryl…”

  “Ah, fuck,” he whispered. “Is this because of what happened?”

  “No.”

  “Then why’d you agree to go out with me.”

  “Look, I had every honest intention of going out with you.”

  “You are out with me.”

  “But I should be somewhere else,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt you. Let me pay for-”

  “Nah, it’s okay,” he said. “The risk I took. I’m not as fucked-up as you think I am, Lily.”

  “I know,” I said.

  And maybe that’s the problem, Darryl. Because fucked-up is what I do best. And fucked-up is waiting for me at my apartment. He sent me on this test. He fucked with me. I purposely chose this dress so that when he saw me he’d throw me back into the bedroom and rip it off me. But he didn’t. And I could tell he’s hiding something. How do I know that, Darryl? Because I love Aiden. I’ve loved Aiden for 15 years. I can tell, sense, see, everything about him.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  “You were ignoring my calls, weren’t you?”

  “What?”

  “Before. I called you a few times in a row. You knew it was me. You had your phone. You just ignored it.”

  “Darryl…”

  “Yet you came out anyway. Why?”

  “I really don’t know,” I whispered. “I’ve had a really weird day.”

  “And I’m having a really weird night,” he said.

  I apologized two more times before I could slip away from the table. I was a bitch. I knew it. I left Darryl sitting at the table alone. All alone. With a whole lot of people watching. I’d be free of the awkwardness soon, but he wouldn’t.

  But I couldn’t help myself.

  I needed to get back to Aiden.

  It had been over an hour since I left the apartment. He left me blu
shing.

  I needed him.

  Even if forever wasn’t real for us, we had for now.

  And for now, I wanted all of him, good and bad.

  Chapter 25

  (My New Demon)

  FIVE YEARS AGO

  (AIDEN)

  Nine days. Twenty-three hours. Seventeen minutes. Eight seconds.

  I stared at Lily’s nude body next to mine, and those numbers collided in my head like cars on a narrow road traveling at high speed.

  That’s how long it had been since I’d last gotten high.

  The night she went on that fucking date.

  The night, I had Gabe come over and hook me up, right in the hallway of her apartment building. A quick pinch, a deep breath, and I was fucking good to go.

  Since then, it didn’t even bother me all that much. I had a few issues that I was able to hide from Lily by taking long, hot showers or telling her I was going for a run and then I’d find the closest public bathroom and curl up and do everything I could not to scream.

  But it was working.

  She was my drug.

  My new demon.

  And her fangs were always welcome in my skin. Her venom was sweet like the honey that poured from between her legs.

  “What are you thinking about?” Lily asked me.

  “Truthfully? I’m thinking about fucking you again.”

  Lily giggle. “Well…”

  She rolled to her right side, her front facing me. Her beautiful breasts visible. The side-view of her body, with its peaks and valleys of curves. She moved her left hand up to her hair to move it out of the way, exposing her bare shoulder to me. My eyes just scanned. Up and down. Up and down. Her left leg gently crossed over her right, making the cut of her slit sexier, teasing me even more.

  She reached for me, running her index finger from my chest all the way down my body to my cock. With that same finger, she ran it along my shaft, making me jump, activating another rush of blood between my legs, making me hard.

  When she slowly gripped the pulsing head of my cock, she let out a groan.