by Jenna Jacob
Fighting the revulsion rising inside her, Ivy reached inside the man’s boxers and pinched the flaccid flesh with her finger and thumb. After fishing the unimpressive worm out from between the teeth of his zipper, Ivy took the ring and shoved it down over the crest. Admiring the sparkle of the diamond adorning his pathetic little cock, she draped it out over the side of his zipper and stood.
“That’s it. You have lost your damn mind,” Celine admonished. A short second later, she started to giggle.
Ivy flashed her a mischievous grin. “I have not. I’m simply making a statement.”
“A statement?”
“Yeah, this little prick is never going to degraded belittle, or verbally abuse the sister I love.”
“Oh, god…I love you, too.” A tear spilled down Celina’s cheek.
Ivy bent and gathered the rest of her things off the floor. She quickly lifted her head at the sound of footsteps charging down the hall. She smiled and flashed Celina a wink as their dad and a security officer arrived.
Their father took one look at Harvey, passed out on the floor, wearing the expensive cock ring, and burst out laughing. “I’ve got to give you two props for ingenuity.”
He quickly sobered when he took in the shell-shocked expression lining Celina’s face. Tucking a finger beneath her chin, Jeff tilted her head back, forcing his younger daughter to meet his worried gaze. “Are you all right, baby girl?”
“I-I don’t know yet,” she murmured.
“W-what the…” the security guard stammered. “Is that a wedding ring?”
“Engagement ring,” Ivy corrected dryly. “The wedding’s off.”
“I’d say so. I think this guy needs an ambulance.”
“Ask someone else to take care of that, please,” Jeff instructed as he plucked Celina’s suitcase from her fingers. “I need you to escort us to my daughter Ivy’s room. You might think about placing a call to the LVPD. That man is definitely deranged.”
The guard nodded and led them down the hall, casting curious glances between Ivy and her sister.
“So, who knocked him out?” Jeff asked.
“I did,” Ivy replied without remorse. “He deserved it.”
“I don’t doubt that for a second. Did you decorate the dick’s dick as well?”
“Yes, I did. I think he’s smart enough to figure out the wedding is off once he wakes up and has to take a pee.”
Pride and relief swam in her dad’s pale blue eyes. Pausing, Jeff hugged her tightly and pressed a stout kiss to her cheek. “We’ve missed our little tiger. It’s damn good to have you back.”
Tears stung her eyes. Ivy quickly blinked them away. She knew protecting her sister had picked the lock on the last cell of her emotional prison, and knocking the verbally abusive bastard out had felt damn liberating. Still, Ivy wasn’t quite ready to throw a welcome home party for her bruised and battered psyche.
As they stepped into the elevator, Ivy nibbled her bottom lip. “When you tell Mom what happened, can you maybe skip the part about the engagement ring?”
Jeff frowned. “Why would I do that, pumpkin? It was an epic way to break the engagement, not to mention hilariously funny.”
“You know how Mom is. I don’t want to have to listen to another lecture about proper southern women and how they never touch a man’s private parts.” She rolled her eyes.
He waved a hand dismissively. “Ignore her. If she starts in on one of her lectures, I’ll simply remind her how often she uses her proper southern hands to touch my private parts.”
Ivy blanched and pressed a hand to her stomach. “Dad! We are not talking about this anymore.”
She wrinkled her nose as Jeff tossed his head back and laughed. Ivy glanced at her sister. Bewilderment and sadness etched Celina’s face. She was so lost in her own turmoil she didn’t appear to have heard their conversation.
Leaning over, Ivy kissed her cheek. “Hang in there, sweetheart. Everything is going to be fine.”
A tear trickled down her sister’s cheek. “No it’s not.”
“Yes it is. You’re an Addison. We have your back. I know from experience, in times of crisis, our clan is a force to be reckoned with.”
“Damn straight we are,” Jeff assured. “The grief you’re going through now sucks. There’s no way around it, baby girl. You’re going to have to drive straight through it, but we’re right there with you…all the way. The heart does heal…it just takes time.”
Yes it does and so does the soul. It just takes a long, long time.
When they reached her room, Janice stood in the hall, wringing her hands—suitcases at her feet. The second she saw Celina’s tear-streaked face, Janice wrapped her daughter in a comforting hug. That’s when Celina fell completely apart.
As her sobs echoed down the hallway, Ivy retrieved her card key and jammed it into the reader.
The fickle lock didn’t disengage.
Slide it in slowly…then ease it down…all the way down…nice and deep. Noble’s whiskey-smooth voice and sexually charged words coiled through her like a snake. She could still feel the heat of his delicious body rolling over her. Clenching her jaw as emptiness and grief consumed her, Ivy slid the card in as Noble had taught her. The green light flashed as a tear slipped down her cheek. She quickly brushed it away, gripped the handle, and pushed the door open.
As she entered the room, the bed snagged all her attention. Sadness stabbed deep.
Let it go. It’s not helping, and mooning over a man I’m never going to see again is definitely not healthy. It’s time I find some semblance of normalcy again…whatever that might be.
Blinking the images of Noble from her mind, she focused on packing up and getting the hell out of Vegas.
As Ivy threw her belongings into her suitcase while describing the ugly confrontation with Harvey, Janice held Celina and rocked her inconsolably sobbing daughter gently. Jeff was on the phone with the front desk, checking out and securing a shuttle to take them to the airport.
Celina’s cell phone chimed. She dragged the device from her purse, but before she could wipe her tears and check the caller ID, Ivy snagged it from her hands.
“Hey,” Celina protested.
Ivy ignored her and scowled at the name on the display. “You had your chance, asshole. You blew it. Go fuck yourself.”
Janice frowned at her vulgar language but didn’t bother with a reprimand.
“I-I need to tell him the wedding is off,” Celina sobbed.
“I’m sure he’s figured that out already, sister.”
“How could he? You knocked him out before she got the chance to tell him, right?” Janice asked.
“Trust me. Harvey knows. We left her engagement ring behind. He’ll find it.” Ivy avoided telling her mom where she’d left the ring. “Dad will fill you in all about that later.”
Jeff shot her a knowing smirk. Celina raised her head, wiped her tears, and sent her a watery smile. Ivy bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from laughing.
Like convicts breaking out of prison, they rushed though the massive lobby, looking over their shoulders. They all exhaled a collective sigh once seated in the shuttle and heading to the airport. By some miracle, Jeff managed to exchange their tickets for a nonstop flight to Dallas, scheduled to leave in thirty minutes.
As the plane taxied down the runway and lifted into the sky, Ivy stared out the window, watching until the grand hotels and casinos were nothing but specks on the distant desert floor.
Closing her eyes, she laid her head back and let the sadness wash through her. Noble was gone forever. And though it had only been one night, she knew she’d carry a part of him with her until the end of time. He might not have said goodbye, but he’d set her free in ways that mattered most. His touch, his kiss, his words…they’d made her feel desirable, alive, and blessedly whole again.
It was after one in the morning when her father pulled into the driveway. Ivy was glad she’d moved back home during the trial. She was too exhausted to spend twenty mor
e minutes driving to her former apartment. After climbing the stairs, she stepped inside her old bedroom, tugged off her clothes, and crawled into bed.
Closing her eyes, Ivy was ready to slide into the oblivion of sleep, but her brain wouldn’t shut down. It wasn’t so much the heartbreaking sounds of Celina sobbing in the next room that clawed at Ivy’s brain. She knew one day her sister would find a man deserving of her sassy, sunny, impulsive spirit. Of course, if he turned out to be Harvey 2.0, Ivy would have no compunction about knocking his punk-ass out, too.
No, Celina’s drama wasn’t what kept sleep at bay. But it was pointless to waste time dissecting and compartmentalizing the real issue. Still, that didn’t stop her from tossing and turning long after Celina had cried herself to sleep. After glancing at the clock for the umpteenth time, Ivy exhaled a heavy sigh. It was after three in the morning and she was no closer to dozing off than she’d been when her head hit the pillow. Yanking the covers off, she got up, slipped on her robe, and quietly padded to the kitchen to fix a cup of tea.
Mug in one hand, Ivy opened the sliding glass door and stepped onto the deck overlooking the expansive backyard. Growing up, she and Celina had hosted dozens of sleepovers on the massive wooden structure. Ivy walked to the smooth stained railing, set her cup down, and tilted her head back. The billions of twinkling stars blanketing the night sky made her feel small and insignificant.
Where did she belong in this grand scheme of life? Or was there an actual scheme to it at all? Those were just two of the millions of thoughts dancing around the periphery inside her head. They were filler…fluff…far from the bull’s-eye of what she really needed to be asking herself. But if she ever wanted to sleep again, it was time to come to terms with the aftermath of that mystical, magical one-night stand that had her tied in knots and finally put it all to rest.
She wondered if she’d crossed paths with Noble in Vegas by chance or by fate?
Ivy shook her head. Why was she wasting time obsessing over a man whose last name she didn’t even know? A man who was out there somewhere in this vast universe but was forever beyond her reach. She didn’t know a damn thing about him, besides the fact that he hated to bale hay in a thong.
A bittersweet smile spread over her lips.
She’d heard it said that life threw you challenges so you could learn and grow from the experiences. Ivy didn’t know if she truly believed that, but Noble had definitely reintroduced her to the woman she’d once been. He’d breathed life into her again. Maybe he’d simply been meant to give her an oxygen boost so that she’d be less reluctant to give commitment another try.
She chuckled at her sudden philosophical contemplations.
Bottom line, her time with Noble boiled down to one thing. He’d given her one night of spectacular, life-altering sex. But it was over. The odds of her ever crossing paths with him again were astronomically higher than if one of those twinkling stars in the heavens fell from the sky and landed at her feet.
No, it was time to scrub Noble from her memory banks and quit clinging to furtive fantasies that would never come true.
The man wasn’t a regal king who had come to rescue her anymore than she was a rejected maid clinging to a glass slipper.
Fairy tales and happily ever afters were nothing but fiction.
She had to let Noble go.
Ivy took a sip of tea before lifting her eyes to the heavens and the great beyond to acknowledge the gratitude inside her.
“Thanks for letting us rescue Celina from a horrible situation. She’s hurting, and it’s crushing the rest of us, but we’ll prop her up. Help her persevere and grow stronger. I’m grateful that I’m growing bolder, stronger everyday. Packing up tomorrow and moving to a new town to open my own business terrifies me. But staying here, rooted in the safe and predictable, growing stagnant terrifies me even more.”
She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. A pang of sorrow pierced deep, but this was the right and only thing she could do.
“Noble…wherever you are out there, I just want you to know I’ll never forget, the night we spent together, the things you did to me…made me feel. You’re the first man who’s ever rocked the foundation out from under me and I’ll cherish every spectacular moment. But I can’t waste my life obsessing over a ghost. You touched my life in wonderful, thrilling ways, and each breathtaking way is branded to my soul. Goodbye, Noble…whatever your last name might be.”
A tear slid down her cheek. Ivy didn’t bother brushing it away. She simply drew in a ragged breath and let the rest spill onto the deck beneath her feet.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Noble stood on the driveway along with his brothers, camp employees, and a throng of smiling children, anxiously watching Norman pull his beefy Suburban to a stop next to the barn. Excitement hummed in the air.
Nate was finally home.
While his return didn’t change the extra work Noble and his other brothers had been putting in over the past two weeks to keep the camp running smoothly, it was damn good to have Nate home. Damn good that Noble wouldn’t have to make the two-hour, round trip, trek to Abilene anymore. Thank god! The long drive gave him entirely too much time alone to fixate on Ivy—which he did religiously, whether he wanted to or not. Reliving the astonishing night he’d spent with her, over and over again, was driving him crazy. The fact that he couldn’t go a day—hell, couldn’t go a fucking hour—without her image popping into his head annoyed the piss out of him. He couldn’t forget the feel of her nails digging into his flesh as each orgasm rolled her under, the sensation of her plump lips on his mouth, his cock, his balls, or anything else about the delicious minx.
For the love of… Stop thinking about her, numb-nuts!
Noble shook the memories from his brain and watched his dad unload a wheelchair from the rear hatch. His mom and Gina stepped from the car in unison, blatantly ignoring one another but smiling brightly to the group assembled around the driveway. The tension between the two palpably pulsed in the air, like it had each day at the hospital. Thankfully, their animosity hadn’t escalated into a scratching, clawing catfight. But Noble knew an unstable powder keg when he saw one. It was probably only a matter of time until one tiny spark incited an explosion of biblical proportions.
The back passenger door opened, and Nate stuck his head out, flashing a sheepish grin. A cacophony of cheers, whistles, and applause burst through the air.
Having Nate back on Grayson land filled Noble with a sense of peace he’d lost the second he’d read Sawyer’s text in Vegas. The memory of feeling so gut-twistingly helpless had no more fluttered through his mind when…bam…images of Ivy writhing beneath him, whimpering and screaming in ecstasy, plowed him under, like a fucking wrecking ball.
With an inward curse, he pushed the memories down deep and rushed to his twin. Gripping the armrest of the door, he dropped to his haunches alongside Nate. Noble didn’t have to see the pain straining across his brother’s face; he could feel the spikes of agony screaming along his own extremities.
“Let’s make your hello short and sweet so we can get you inside and pump you full of pain meds.”
A mixture of relief and gratitude flitted over Nate’s face. “Thanks, man.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t started moving you. Dad’s got the wheelchair. Do you want to go up to the house that way, or would you rather I just carry—”
“No. I’m not an invalid. Hoist me out of the car and set me in the damn chair, but first…I need to feel the ranch beneath my feet.”
“You got it.”
Norman eased the wheelchair in closer.
“Careful…don’t move him too fast,” Nola cautioned, sliding in behind Noble.
“I’ve got him, Ma,” he replied. “We’re doing fine.”
Nola nervously nodded and brushed a hand through Nate’s hair. “We’ll get you into the house and tucked into your own—”
“Actually, Ma,” Nate interrupted. “I’m only staying long enough to gra
b some clothes. I’m going to recuperate at Gina’s place.”
Nola reared back as if she’d been slapped.
“In a bar?” She narrowed her eyes, pinning Gina with a hateful glare. “I suppose you talked him into this, didn’t you?”
“No,” Nate barked before Gina could reply. “This was my choice…my decision.”
“Why?” Nola asked, her voice quivering.
Nate’s expression softened. “Because you have enough to deal with around here…the camp…the family. I won’t add to that. I love you, but I don’t want you hovering over me night and—”
“I don’t hover.” She bristled and quickly softened. “I just want to take care of you. Gina can’t do that and serve booze.”
Gina cocked her head as if ready to square off with their mom. Nate sent her a subtle shake of his head, warning her off. Crossing her arms over her chest, Gina’s lips thinned in an angry, tight line. Nate shot her a wink before turning his attention back to Nola.
“I don’t need her waiting on me hand and foot. I’m quite capable of doing a few things for myself. The things I can’t, Gina will help with before she opens the bar. If it doesn’t work out…” Nate shrugged. “I’ll come back home.”
Nola almost managed to bank her fury. “Well, you two have certainly worked it all out, haven’t you?”
“Yes, we have.” Nate nodded firmly. “I love you, Ma, but I’m a grown man, capable of making my own decisions.”
“Yes, I know. You reminded me every day you were in the hospital.” Her words were clipped in irritation and edged with insult.
“Let’s finish this conversation inside, shall we?” Norman’s tone was firm but calm as he jerked his head toward the welcoming party.
Embarrassment crawled across Nola’s face as she realized everyone was watching the heated exchange. Forcing a tight smile, she nodded. “Forgive me, son. I’m sure she’ll take good care of you.”
“I know she will.” Nate and Gina exchanged loving smiles.
“But how on earth is she going to get you up the stairs to her apartment?” Nola continued in a soft but terse whisper.
