Only the Truth

by LJ Bradley

  I finished drying off and pulled on a pair of black basketball shorts and a threadbare white t-shirt. The holes in the hem and the neckline meant it wasn’t fit for wearing outside the house anymore, but it still occupied a place in my closet because Sadie had borrowed it one time and I couldn’t seem to let it go.

  We’d been sitting around the dining room table with a group of friends devouring the Mexican food Andy had just brought back with him. I’d made a joke, no idea what it was now—probably something completely asinine—but Sadie had found it funny enough. She’d tried biting into a soft taco and laughing at the same time, only to end up wearing half of it down the front of her.

  While she disappeared with Claire to repair the damage, I ran off and grabbed a t-shirt from the pile of folded clothes in my room.

  I found the two of them in the laundry standing beside the washing machine. Claire faced the doorway, Sadie with her back to me as she pulled her unbuttoned shirt down her arms. Just before I closed my eyes and held out my offering, I caught a glimpse of slender back, smooth skin, and a pair of bright red bra straps that, as basic as they were, had given me a head rush with the not-so-innocent thoughts that kicked in.

  When Sadie laughed and assured me it was safe to look, I did.

  The way she clutched her shirt to her chest and reached back to take mine, that grateful little smile she sent me over her shoulder instead of insisting Claire lend her one of her shirts instead… I should have known right then and there, but I was a clueless idiot. Too focused on the way I felt around her to pay attention to the subtle changes in her behaviour toward me.

  She’d wanted to wear my t-shirt.

  And she had.

  For the rest of the day.

  I remembered checking her out every time her attention was elsewhere, feeling warmth spread through me at the sight of her swamped in my clothing, the shape of her crimson bra showing through the material. I spent an embarrassing amount of time wondering if the fabric would smell like her afterwards—and it did, all clean and floral and feminine—and whether she wore that kind of thing to bed.

  Sadie only gave it back to me when she left, even though the clothes dryer had beeped a couple of hours earlier signalling hers was ready to go again.

  Like I said. Idiot.

  Should have figured it out a long time ago.

  With a shake of my head I threw last night’s clothes in the hamper and opened the bathroom door. When the raised voices in the living room registered, I turned and headed in the opposite direction. As much as I loved both those women, it would be smarter to stay out of the way for now. If I walked into the middle of it I’d be too tempted to defend Sadie and potentially make it worse.

  I sat on my bed and flicked through a dirt-bike magazine to pass the time, but as far as distractions went it sucked. My mind kept drifting to the action on the other side of the door, and I had trouble focusing on the pages for more than three seconds. What would happen if they couldn’t come to some kind of a truce? Would I end up stuck between the two of them while Andy hovered somewhere on the periphery, friendships and relationships fucked no matter which way we turned?

  How were we supposed to get past that?

  I slapped the magazine shut and checked the time on my phone, wondering why Andy hadn’t come back yet. Judging by the sounds drifting from the living room, Claire needed some pointers on grovelling instead of yelling her head off, and no one had the ability to calm her like he could.

  Just when I’d made the decision to get involved after all, the door to my room burst open and a brunette whirlwind came flying in. Flushed cheeks, wild eyes and cute as all hell, Sadie flung the door closed behind her and glared at me. No need to confirm if her anger was meant for me or Claire, though. As soon as our eyes met the heat in hers cooled and she let out an audible breath.

  “Well, this just fucking sucks.”

  My mouth twitched but I wouldn’t smile, not when I didn’t know for sure how she’d take it. Sadie rarely swore. Whenever I heard that normally sweet voice of hers hurling curses it hit me like a one-two punch. Humour first, followed by hot, bone-deep lust.

  Without warning she launched herself at me, barely giving me time to slide the magazine out of the way before I was surrounded with soft, warm, sweet-smelling woman. She planted herself sideways on my lap then twisted her upper body and threw her arms around my neck.

  “What the hell did she say to you?”

  Her grip on me intensified, like she was trying to stay grounded while her anger or whatever other emotions were crashing around in there wanted to send her flying. “Everything. I’m not done talking to her yet. I just need to be with you for a minute.”

  With a gruff sound I pressed my lips to her cheek, hard, letting them linger there while her breaths quietened. For a while I just enjoyed the closeness with her, then I eased back enough to look her over.

  Her fingers must have run through her hair a couple of times because the dark strands were all tousled like she’d just climbed out of bed. Her eyes were troubled, her lower lip swollen and pink, tempting me even now to give it some attention. I had no idea if the bright spots on her cheeks were from her shouting match with Claire or the contact with me, but she looked so soft and appealing I wanted to put all this frustrating shit behind us and just be with her.

  “Talk to me.”

  Sadie rubbed her forehead and sighed. “She told me about the pregnancy,” she said. Her hand dropped to her lap then her gaze shifted somewhere on the other side of the room. “I didn’t know, Mason. I had no clue. Not back then, not now. I just wanted to hug her.”

  Pretty much how I’d felt when Claire had told me the story. If big sister had spilled all the secrets like I’d expected her to, the next part wouldn’t come as a surprise. I still had to ask. “And then…”

  Sadie’s eyes searched out mine again, a faint look of amusement filling hers. “We both know she spread those stupid, hurtful rumours about you.” She reached up to touch my face but then pulled back before she had the chance to make contact. “I can’t believe she did that. I’m so sorry.”

  “What?” Talking to her profile suddenly frustrated the shit out of me. “Come here, I need to see you.” I gripped her hips and hoisted her up, repositioning her so she was facing me. Although she made a sound of protest, the heat crawling up her neck told me she didn’t exactly hate being man-handled. “Why are you sorry?”

  Sadie shifted on my lap and arranged her thighs either side of mine. “Because I feel like I’m partly to blame. She only did it because of me.”

  Making excuses for Claire suggested she wanted to move on just as much as I did. I slouched against the headboard and bent my knees behind her, using my thighs to tip her closer. “So, you’re responsible for her fuck ups now?”

  “No… yes. Kind of.” She shivered and leaned into me, her fingers bunching in the material of my t-shirt.

  With a smile I cupped her face and touched my lips to the underside of her jaw, the pulse in her throat. My attention earned another tremor, a soft sigh. I lifted my head and swept my thumbs over her cheeks, watching her lips part and a storm brew in those grey eyes of hers. Her tongue slipped out to moisten her lower lip and her thighs squeezed either side of mine. Then she gave herself a little shake as if to break the spell and wrapped her fingers around my wrists.

  “You’re way too distracting.” She pulled my hands down into the space between us. “I can’t think when you touch me like that.”

  “That’s kind of the point.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she took in my features, then she released my wrists and sighed. “I can forgive what she did to me, but I can’t handle what she did to you. How you can just sit here and act like it doesn’t even matter? I’m starting to question your sanity.”

  I rubbed my hand down my face and tried to put into words something I didn’t fully understand myself. Claire had been my closest friend since we were ten years old, the nearest thing to a sister I’d had as an
only child.

  I loved her.

  Not in a romantic or sexual way.

  Not as a friend.

  She was my family.

  We’d built our first treehouse together, been grounded by both sets of parents for too many ideas suggested by me and agreed upon by her. We’d spent our summers together and holidayed with each other’s families. She’d even been hauled into a couple of detentions with me before she figured out how to resist the lure of my kind of fun.

  Claire had pissed me off in a major way last night—and we weren’t even close to being done with that conversation—but it would take something serious enough that we had no chance of coming back from it to have me cutting her out of my life for good. “Being calm doesn’t mean I’ve just rolled over and accepted the situation.”

  Sadie rested her hand on my chest, her fingers splayed over my heart. “What does it mean then?”

  “I’m concentrating on what’s more important.”

  “Which is?”

  I raised my brows. “If you have to ask it looks like I need to up my game.”

  She bit her lip and smiled around it, but then her expression sobered and she pulled in a breath. “When I heard the first part about her pregnancy, it broke my heart. I might have been too young to understand back then, but I still would have tried to help.”

  “I know.”

  “But when she admitted to starting those rumours about you, it made me see her differently. I’ve looked up to her my whole life and now it’s just not the same anymore.”

  “You still love her,” I said. “That hasn’t changed.”

  Sadie bumped my chest with the side of her fist. “So, what? It doesn’t make any of this okay.”

  “You’re right, but it’s a pretty good reason to get back out there. Don’t you want to wrap this thing up and move on?”

  She sent me one of those looks, the kind that said I was either a fool or way too generous with my forgiveness. “She made everyone think you were a player for years,” she reminded me. “No one could take you seriously, and women only saw you as someone to fuck for fun. You couldn’t have a proper relationship because of her.”

  There she went with the swearing again. A rush of need and the urge to smile hit me at the same time. “Are you complaining about me being single all this time?”

  Her lids drifted closed and she let out a long breath through her nose. When her eyes opened again she didn’t answer me but the look on her face said it all. Claire’s interference had resulted in one big upside for us, and that just gave Sadie one more thing to feel guilty about.

  “Just think—”

  She sat up straighter and clasped my face in her hands. “No. Don’t say it. Don’t you dare! You’re going to try to put another positive spin on a crappy situation, I know it.”

  “Just think,” I repeated, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands out to the sides. “We won’t be able to spend time at your place when your parents get home. Not the naked kind, anyway. If you go back out and talk to her, I won’t have to find somewhere else to live. We can be together here.”

  The mention of sex had her cheeks turning pink. “If I try to fix things it’ll be because it’s the right thing to do, not because it makes an orgasm more convenient for me.”

  “Multiple orgasms.” My quick grin had her fighting a smile. I kept hold of her wrists and drew her in close, leaving soft, sucking kisses on her throat that made her sigh and lift her chin to invite more.

  When she spoke again her voice sounded breathy and distracted, her hands tugging against my grip like she wanted to free them and put them on me. “One thing I don’t understand is how Claire found out about your, you know?”

  “Hmm?” I nibbled her ear then gave the lobe a lick.

  “About your man parts.”

  My head lifted, and a laugh burst from me. “My what?”

  She gave me a patient look, all that breathiness gone now. “You know what I mean.”

  “No.” I guided her hands behind her back and clamped them together at the base of her spine. “Why don’t you spell it out for me?”

  I’d only teased her to watch the fire ignite in her eyes. When she got worked up it did things for me, made me want to earn that look from her again and again. I should have known not to underestimate her, though.

  Rather than giving me the heat I expected, she flashed a sweet smile and pressed her chest closer to mine, rocking her lower body in a rolling motion that had my man parts straining against my basketball shorts. Then she trailed the tip of her tongue up my neck and spoke in a husky murmur beside my ear. “That big, beautiful cock of yours, Mason. The one I haven’t gotten to know nearly well enough.”

  Need slammed into me, an immediate, visceral reaction I had no control over. I dumped her on the mattress where she landed on her back, legs splayed. The woman pushed my buttons like no one else, and I had no clue which one of us loved it more. I climbed over her and grabbed her wrists again, holding them in a firm grip above her head—and then I saw that fire I’d been looking for. Combined with the barely-there smile hovering at her mouth, she had me close to losing it. My hips pushed between her thighs and I gave her a couple of grinding thrusts. “God, the things I want to do to you when you talk to me like that…”

  She stared up at me with turbulent eyes, all eagerness and challenge and soft, pouting lips. Instead of continuing with the banter like I’d thought she would, her hips lifted from the bed and she made a whimpering sound in the back of her throat. “Do it. Now. Please.”

  There was a distinct possibility she’d kill me. Just when I thought I had her all figured out she went and changed the rules on me. I let go of her and rested my arms either side of her head, leaning down so she was cradled between my elbows. I touched my mouth to hers, smiling at the way she tipped her chin and tried to claim my lower lip. “There’s nothing I want more right now.” I kissed her again, softly, not lingering long enough for either of us to take it any deeper. “But you need to finish what you started with Claire.”

  Sadie closed her eyes and sighed. A series of emotions played across her face while she worked on pulling herself together, then she opened them again and searched my features. “You didn’t answer my question before.”

  “Which one?”

  “How did she know? Was it a lucky guess or…?”

  And then it clicked into place.

  It never occurred to me that she might get the wrong idea when she found out who’d started those stories. I rubbed the frown line between her brows, trying to keep my voice even so she wouldn’t catch on to the frustration building in me. Freaking Claire. She still had the power to cause shit without even lifting a finger. “When I said nothing was going on I meant it. Only the truth, always.”

  Her hopeful expression wavered then fell. “But you’re still not answering the question.”

  The accusation in her tone felt like a punch to the gut, but after everything she’d learned over the past twenty-four hours I couldn’t blame her for doubting me. I rolled off her to give us both some space, landing on my back beside her with a sigh. “Because it was a complete non-event. It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  Sadie rose up on one elbow. “So, tell me.”

  Her hair hung over one shoulder, the ends brushing my chest as she gazed down at me. I slid my fingers through the strands as I recalled the one and only time Claire had copped an eyeful of my junk.

  I’d gone for my Saturday morning run down to the football ground three blocks from here, where I liked to do laps of the oval followed by sprints until I couldn’t breathe. When I got home I jumped straight in the shower, failing to check beforehand if there were any clean towels in the bathroom. I stepped out to find there weren’t.

  Naked and dripping wet I’d headed down the hall to the linen closet, not caring about being exposed since Claire and Andy had been on their way out to do grocery shopping when I left. While I alternated between scrubbing my hair and checking to
see where I was going, I heard a weird little squeak just before I made it back to the bathroom. I lowered the towel to find Claire standing there, open mouthed in horror.

  I’d have a hard time deciding which one of us moved the quickest after that. I yanked the towel down in front of me while Claire turned away and sprang into action. In her hurry to leg it out of there, she smacked her big toe against the doorway and let out a pained howl like an injured animal. Instinctively I reached out to make sure she was okay, but it turned out to be a mistake. She hopped back from me and screeched, “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” then overbalanced and hit her head on the fucking wall.

  I watched the emotions play over Sadie’s face while I told the story. Curiosity, surprise, then humour. When I finished she let out a little huff of amusement. “Okay then.”

  I laughed at the memory despite not feeling a trace of humour at the time. “No. Not okay at all. She wouldn’t make eye contact with me for about a week after that. Every time I went near her she flinched like she expected me to whip it out again and ask if she wanted to take another look. It would have offended me if I hadn’t been just as traumatised as her. I felt like I’d flashed my sister.”

  Sadie gave me a half smile. “Awkward.”

  “Yeah, awkward doesn’t begin to cover it. I’ll never walk through the house naked again.”

  The humour disappeared from her features and a pensive expression took over. She toyed with my hair for a minute while she appeared to think something through. “I know it sounds possessive,” she said slowly, as if she didn’t know whether to share the next part with me, “but I don’t want anyone else seeing you naked.”

  We’d already slept together and exchanged I love yous. Neither of us needed to spell it out that we were exclusive and had no interest in dating anyone else. Even so, I loved hearing her stake her claim. It made me want to do some staking of my own. “No one will,” I told her.

  Sadie leaned in to kiss me, her lips lingering for a while before she finally straightened and sat back. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, shooting a glance over her shoulder in resignation. “All right. I’m heading out there again, but I’m doing this for you and me—not her. And only because I don’t want anything else holding us back.”