Rebellious: A Best Friends-To-Lovers Romance

by Kristy Marie

  “His therapist thought it would be a good idea if he came out here.”

  Finally, Aspen tears her eyes away from where Theo holds my father tight, not allowing him to hit or pull away. Her hands reach out for me.

  I blink at the gesture. “I thought you hated me.”

  She rolls her eyes and grabs my hand. “Your bad attitude can’t drive me away.” Pulling me into her arms, she hugs me there on that hill while our parents cry. She stays strong, being the anchor and the lifeline I need by simply chanting softly, red rover, red rover, send Bennett right over.

  It wasn’t until we were back in the car, Theo driving while my dad slept on my mother’s shoulder, did I use the marker we had used to play Tic Tac Toe. Grabbing Aspen’s arm, I bunch up her sleeve and write, We can be friends but with rules.

  Her wide eyes sparked as she nodded in relief. We could do this. We could have our friendship back and with the right rules, I wouldn’t fall in love with her.

  “Bennett.” Aspen shakes me awake.

  “Yeah?” I wipe at my face, hoping I didn’t drool.

  “I need to pee.”

  I look at her confused. “Okay?”

  She laughs, looking at my hand clenching her hip. “You’re holding me down.”

  Right. Shit.

  I smile and release her. “I’ll walk with you and make sure none of those water rats grab you.”

  Swatting at my arm, she stands, holding her hand out. “Come on, smartass.”

  I grab her hand and lead the way back through the woods and away from our brothers. “Why don’t you just pee in the water?”

  “Ew, no. I swallow that water sometimes.”

  Gross. “But how are you going to… you know?”

  She laughs. “What? Wipe? Since I don’t have a handy dandy wiener to shake dry?”

  I shouldn’t have brought it up.

  She shoves me playfully when I just stare at her. “Don’t worry, I brought Fenn’s shirt.”

  “Ah hell, Aspen.” I turn away and grimace.

  “I’m joking,” she says with a chuckle, holding up a package. “I brought wet wipes. I’m used to hanging with you dudes.” She hands me her phone. “This is good, turn around.”

  “You don’t want me seeing you pee?”

  She manhandles me, turning me around herself. “No, I’d rather you not. And if you didn’t scare me with the snakes and man-eating turtles, you wouldn’t need to stand guard.”

  I believe I offered, but I wasn’t going to take a chance with turtles or visitors who might have found their way here, lurking in the woods.

  “Ugh!” she shouts.

  “What?”

  “I can’t pee with it so quiet.”

  Heaven help us. “Sing while I go and distract me?”

  I turn around. “What?—”

  “Turn around!”

  I flip around quickly. “I didn’t see anything,” I confess.

  “You better not have.” Her voice is whiny. “Hurry, sing.” She doesn’t ask, just demands like she’s always done.

  “This is ridiculous,” I tell her, but I’m already trying to think of something distracting.

  “You’re ridiculous,” she snaps. “You’re the one who always has to stand guard. Bodyguards need to learn to improvise.”

  I laugh at her rationale. “I wasn’t aware I needed a hymn ready.”

  “Now you know.”

  This whole thing is absurd, but in order to get through it, I start, “Red rover, red rover, send Aspen right over.”

  “Oh, my gosh!” Her laugh seems to come from everywhere. “That’s what you came up with to distract me?”

  I shrug, she once used it to distract me, and I never forgot it. “You put me on the spot.” I chuckle. “It was the only thing I could remember.”

  “Bennett.” Gone is the whine from her voice. This Aspen, even if she’ll never admit it, knows this rhyme and when her arms circle my waist, I know she’s done playing.

  “I’m tired of waiting, Jameson.” Her palms drift from my waist to my crotch, cupping me.

  My cock stirs and her hand tightens. “See? He agrees.” I can hear the smile in her voice. “We both think you’ve been far too stingy this summer.”

  I turn in her arms, my mouth finding hers. “Stingy, huh?”

  She nips my bottom lip. “Downright hoarding.”

  This woman. I brush her hair back and lean down, allowing my lips to brush hers when I say, “Tell our brothers goodbye. You won’t be seeing them again for a couple of days.”

  She thinks I’m stingy?

  I’ve been waiting years for this moment.

  Dick showers are amazing

  Aspen

  I couldn’t get on the back of the jet ski fast enough.

  Bennett, however, was a total tease, slowing down, pretending to see oncoming boat lights. I would have been mad had I not slipped my hands under his life vest and felt his heart racing against my palm.

  He wanted this too, and after a month of being together without rules, I was ready to have every piece of him. Was this a terrible idea? Sure. But I’ve never been one to make great decisions around Bennett. He’s been the one for me for as long as I can remember, and no pain or heartache will scare me off.

  “Come,” he says, pulling me down the hall to his bedroom. We haven’t talked at all since saying goodbye to our brothers.

  But really, what’s there to say?

  Bennett pulls me into the bathroom and lifts me onto the counter. “Stay,” he orders, leaving me with a firm look as he moves to the shower and turns on the water.

  “Honestly, I don’t need a shower,” I tell him. “I’ll take you dirty.” Really, drawing this out is nothing but pure torture.

  “Patience, Asp,” he chides.

  I flash him a bored look and rip off my t-shirt, leaving only my bathing suit top on.

  He narrows his eyes and I shrug. “If you don’t speed this up, I’ll take off the rest before the water warms.”

  That seems to hasten him as he walks over, standing between my legs. His hands go to my cheeks, tilting my face ever so slightly. “Shower with me?”

  His voice is so calm, so serene, I hate to argue, but I do because I just wouldn’t be me without at least some backtalk. “We’ve showered without barriers already.” That was one of the first things we did. A shower door will never get in my way of his incredible body again.

  Placing a gentle kiss to my lips, he leans back. “Humor me.”

  Fine. “If you must be romantic, I suppose I can endure.”

  A grin, wholly boyish, crosses his face as he steps back, raising his arms and bending ever so slightly so I can reach the back of his shirt.

  Stripping him out of his clothes, I can get into. Unceremoniously, I tug his shirt over his head. It isn’t super sexy or gentle in the least—it’s hungry and pent up from years of waiting for this moment.

  I grab the back of his head and kiss him hard, my body sliding off the edge of the counter, standing in front of him. Catching his gaze, I wink. “I sort of want you naked… like yesterday.”

  His deep, rumbling laughter is all I need to work his board shorts off his hips and down the fine dusting of hair on his legs.

  “Wait.” His one word stops me, and I throw my head back with a heavy sigh.

  “What now?” For Heaven’s sake.

  Bringing my head forward, I hold his stare.

  “We can’t come back from this,” he whispers, his dark head bowed.

  I take his hand and press his palm over my heart, answering, “I can live with that.”

  Those murky eyes of his raise until they meet mine. “Can you?”

  I nod. “I won’t regret loving you.” I swallow, focusing on his clenching jaw. “Even if it can only be for the summer.”

  He exhales a pained sound. “Aspen.”

  “Don’t, Bennett.” I shake my head. “Not tonight.” Moving my hand to his cheeks, I smooth the harsh line. “Just this once, let�
��s not worry about tomorrow.”

  His eyes close. “On one condition.”

  I almost groan. “Which is?”

  He pulls my hand away and kisses the top, before dropping it at my side and opening the drawer.

  “What are you doing?”

  At first, I think he’s getting a condom or something super responsible. Instead, his hand emerges with a marker.

  “Ugh. Really? Do you have these stashed in every drawer of the house?”

  He smirks and, with his teeth, pops off the cap.

  “Whatever you write, I’ll ignore,” I threaten.

  Only one brow raises as a smug look comes over him. “Doubtful.”

  I shrug. “I don’t care what you said about the rules. This is different and you—”

  “Shh…” He presses the end of the marker to my mouth before dragging it past my chin and in between my breasts. With his head cocked to the side, he eyes the tops of my breasts as they ache within the confines of the swim top.

  “Are you reconsidering?” I ask after a moment of him just staring, his gaze thoughtful.

  “No.” Inhaling, he flips the marker around, pressing the tip to my skin. I close my eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain of his rules.

  Before long, the tip rises from my skin, and Bennett’s forehead drops to mine. “Take it,” he says, pressing the marker into my hand.

  I swallow, wrapping my fingers around it, my eyes drifting down to my chest. “Read it to me?” I ask him in a whisper.

  “Not yet,” he smiles sadly, bringing my hand to his mouth, kissing the top. “Write your last rule, Asp.”

  His words ache inside my throat as I swallow their meaning. The rules end here. As the summer rushes toward the end, we have no need for more. This is our final stand.

  I inhale and close my eyes. How can one moment feel so heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time? On one hand, Bennett is finally giving in—loving me when he once promised he wouldn’t. On the other hand, a longstanding tradition of creating rules meant to keep us together, yet apart, is ending.

  Who will Aspen and Bennett be without their rules? Will they be able to look each other in the eyes? Hug and congratulate each other on their nuptials? Or when they look each other in the eyes, will they only be able to remember this moment right here? When they gave up everything.

  “I will never stop loving you.” He breathes against my skin.

  A tear drops onto my hand. Not his, but mine.

  I nod, my voice cracking. “And I will never get over you.”

  My hand trembles as I write my last rule onto his skin; beautiful cursive letters stare back at me, bitter and final. Slowly, Bennett removes the marker from my hand and tosses it to the floor. Lifting my chin, he smiles. “How does it feel to be free?”

  I frown, looking into his eyes. “Tragic.”

  He leans down and captures my lips with a kiss. “Beautifully tragic,” he agrees, pulling away and turning me around so we both face the mirror.

  There, in our childhood vacation home, the once little boy I curled into bed with, stares back at me with those same green eyes—brilliant and sad. He moves the hair from my shoulder, allowing the rule to show fully along my skin.

  I suck in a breath, reading his last rule.

  Forgive me.

  Tears well in my eyes as I fight back the emotion. “Always,” I tell him. “Always.” Then I step to the left, revealing my rule on his chest—it’s my truth and my last request.

  Don’t forget me.

  His nostrils flare, his jaw pulsing in that way it always has, angry and tense, as he absorbs my rule. “Never,” he whispers, bowing his head to my hair. “I’ll never forget you, Asp.”

  This is us: raw, desperate, and madly in love.

  But amongst all of that, somewhere deep, lies hope. Pesky little hope. That same hope I thought I’d squashed years ago. But I didn’t. Instead, a piece lingered—and bloomed.

  It started with the rules.

  The rules, as obnoxious as they were, told me Bennett could change his mind. It wasn’t that long ago I thought he wouldn’t have anything to do with me, and then came the rules. I could keep a piece of him I thought I’d lost.

  The same as today.

  Him writing these rules is a warning; no matter what happens tonight or the rest of the summer, we will never be together. He won’t allow it.

  I should be angry.

  I should walk away and find someone who will love me with no barriers.

  But I don’t want anyone else.

  I want Bennett.

  We stare at each other, marked in ink, our fears on our skin, vulnerable and full of wonder.

  “I’m so sorry,” he grates out, his voice full of emotion.

  I turn in his arms. “I’m not sorry,” I tell him, cupping his cheek in my palm. “I’ll never be sorry for loving you.”

  His eyes pinch shut as he lowers to his knees. His arms wrap around my waist as he holds his face against my chest, tight and unyielding.

  “Look at me, Bennett.”

  Slowly, he pulls up, those emerald eyes full of love.

  “Love me,” I say, knotting his hair in my hands, “until the summer ends.”

  I don’t want to think about anything past that. All I know is, I’ve wanted Bennett like this my entire life. And nothing, not even heartbreak, is going to stop me.

  That dark head nods in my hands, drawing up to kiss the rule on my chest. The last one he’ll ever write on my skin.

  Forgive me.

  Closing my eyes, I savor the press of his lips and the heat of his body as he stands, untying my top, watching as the fabric flutters to the floor.

  Never leaving my gaze, his fingers curl under my bottoms, placing a kiss below my belly button. “May I?” he asks, gazing down at the last bit of fabric keeping me from his gaze.

  I nod. “Please.”

  He doesn’t need another word as he slips his fingers under my waistband, tugging the bottoms down my legs until they pool on the floor.

  Inhaling, his eyes sweep over my body as he takes in every inch. “I’ll never get enough.”

  I push my fingers through his hair. “Ditto.”

  I don’t think anything more needs to be said. We have four weeks left of this summer and it won’t be enough. He and I both know that.

  “We can take this to the bed.”

  I lean in and place a kiss to his lips, eliciting a moan. “It started with a shower,” I agree. “It should end with one.”

  I don’t mean this is the last time I’ll have him, but I see the parallel and, frankly, it gets me all kinds of tingly.

  Without indulging me in more banter, Bennett grabs the backs of my legs and slides me back onto the counter, his arms locking around my thighs as he pulls them open for his viewing. I can feel his breath as he hovers, his lips lowering gently to my center before his tongue takes over, licking tortuously over the bundle of nerves.

  My back arches and I reach for him, not intending for his hand to intertwine with mine. Over and over, he works my body into a puddle of mush, stretching and tugging.

  “Bennett,” I say, trying to pull him up. His mouth is amazing, but I want all of him.

  He pushes my hand up my stomach, his free hand slipping in between my legs, his fingers finding my center wet and aching.

  “Oh hell,” I mumble as he pushes in a finger, the bite of pain a delicious tease. My hips move on their own, desperate to get closer to the man who’s breaking me apart with only his mouth and two fingers.

  “Please,” I beg.

  His head rises, and he drops my hand, leveling me with a hazy gaze. “You promise, no regrets?”

  I shake my head. “No regrets.”

  With my promise, his fingers slip out, my body feeling cold and empty as he opens the drawer. Pulling out a foil package, he rips it open and tosses it to me.

  “I figured you’d want to do it.”

  I sit up, straightening my legs and letting them
dangle over the edge. “You figured correctly.” Any chance I get to touch that dick, I’ll take it.

  Bennett smiles, and it’s boyish and adorable as he grips his cock, giving it a few rough tugs. I scoot to the edge and ease my feet onto the floor while Bennett stands stock still, anticipating my touch with every labored breath. I don’t make him wait long. Grasping his heavy length in my hand, I lower to my knees, the cold tile hard and unrelenting as I kiss the rounded head, dripping for me. I linger there just a moment, admiring the jump and pulse of his cock, finally slipping him between my lips, the velvety skin soft against my tongue.

  “No,” he says, grabbing my shoulders. “I won’t last this way.”

  I grin, talking around his dick. “No one said we could only do it once.”

  He rolls his eyes.

  “Fine,” I agree. “We’ll save that for later.” Smiling, I take the wrapper and slide out the latex, rolling it onto the greatest cock in the world.

  I know it’s the only cock I’ve ever seen, but it’s Bennett’s, so that makes it pretty freaking fabulous.

  Bennett grunts when I’m finished, looking down at me with nothing but want. “Your turn,” I beckon, hoping the playful tone distracts him from the trembling in my hands.

  “Hold on to me.” Leaning in, he slips his hands under my arms and pulls me up. I go onto my tiptoes, wrapping my hands around his neck, feeling him grip me under the ass as he hoists me up, guiding us to the shower.

  The warm water rains down onto my back as he situates me against the wall, his foot propped on the lower shelf.

  I take a breath, my gaze drifting between our bodies. Our chests are rising as he pulls back and stares in my eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  My hands go to his face. “You won’t.”

  His face is tense as he swallows hard, hesitantly nudging at my entrance.

  “Kiss me,” I tell him, wrapping my legs around his hips and pulling him closer. “I promise. You won’t hurt me.”

  In this beautifully broken moment, Bennett Jameson, the love of my entire life, crashes his lips to mine, his tongue slipping inside just as he pushes in, stealing my breath and my heart.