After the Dust Settles (California Dreaming Book 3)

by Stacey Johnston

  She is amusing me, and I don’t like the way it is making me feel. My body’s reaction to her shouldn’t be happening; it’s wrong. I shouldn’t want this girl in the way that I currently do, especially after what has happened today.

  I don’t like the tug of war pull that’s going on with my emotions right now.

  “I’m going at your pace, waiting for you to open up to me. I won’t rush you. Take your time,” my brunette friend casually informs me.

  She has curled up at the other end of her sofa, just watching me, waiting for me to talk.

  “I lost a friend today, a very close friend... She was murdered.”

  Fighting back the emotion, those few words are all I can get out. The realization of what has happened feels like it is finally taking its toll. As much as I’m fighting it, I can feel the tears pooling in my eyes, my vision becoming blurrier by the second. I know how pathetic I must look, being reduced to tears in front of a complete stranger.

  Without warning, arms hug me tightly, and a warm face buries itself into my neck. I don’t know what to do, or how I’m supposed to react.

  Is she looking for me to do something or what, because I can’t move?

  Pulling away, her hands find their way to my face and she pulls me toward her. “You have to let it out, holding it in will only destroy you. I won’t make fun of you, or stop you.”

  I’m in awe of this girl, she knows nothing about me, or what kind of a person I am. She is accepting me on face value, consoling me, as though we are old friends.

  “Why do you care? You don’t even know me,” I quietly ask, holding her stare.

  Those eyes of hers have me hooked, I couldn’t turn away even if I wanted to. They make me want to drown in them. I find I’m becoming lost in the trance she is drawing me into.

  Gripping my hands, she pulls them into her lap, releasing her breath at the same time to reply to my question.

  “Because there is something about you that makes me feel safe.” Pausing, she catches her breath once more. “It’s like I already know you, even though we have only just met. I can’t stop myself.”

  I don’t understand her words, but they make me lose control all the same. There is no way I can stop my hands from gripping her face, pulling her closer until our lips are barely touching. Her breath is heavy on my lips, but it only matches my own.

  Closing my eyes, I smash my lips to hers, kissing her like I have never kissed anyone before. The more I get, the hungrier I become for her taste. I can’t get enough of her mouth.

  With my palms gripping her face tighter, I force my tongue through her lips in time to catch the moan she releases. I don’t know what it is about this girl, or the situation I’m in, but reality seems to be slipping away as I get lost in the moment.

  Pulling away, this beauty in front of me flops back on the sofa, struggling to find her breath. I know how she feels because my own body feels as though it’s just run a marathon. I’m fucked, and we have only been kissing.

  What the hell was that?

  Sitting back up, she creeps closer again grabbing my hands in hers.

  “Please tell me your name.” I hear ask, her voice broken, her breathing heavy.

  Should I give her my real name, or should I create something else?

  “Sean,”

  Oh hell…

  “Hello Sean, I’m Hadley.”

  “That name suits you,” I admit, and honestly, it does.

  A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Well, fuck, listen to me going all pussy.

  “I shouldn’t want you, but my cock has been hard since I walked through the door. After everything that has happened today, does that make me a bad person?”

  Where the hell did that just come from?

  Will she reject me?

  Who the fuck do I think I am?

  Now, if it were Luke, he could get away with saying shit like that, and no doubt Hadley would have fallen at his feet. Me, on the other hand, I have no idea how to do this stuff.

  A chuckle brings me back to earth. Her hands are still in mine, but she has inched even closer so that her leg is crushed up against my thigh.

  “No more wrong then me wanting you to use that hard cock to fuck me right now.”

  Wait … what?

  I must be hearing things …. I have to be.

  Who says shit like that anyway?

  “From the look on your face, you weren’t expecting me to say that, were you?” she giggles.

  Well that would be a no, but now my other concern is, should I?

  “I won’t lie, that’s the last thing I expected to come out of your mouth.”

  She is still smiling at me, and her eyes are nothing like I have ever seen. There is amusement behind them as she moves herself over me, sitting on my lap. Resting her arms on my shoulders, her fingers find their way to the hair on my neck. Excitement shoots through me and my cock is the hardest I think it has ever been. It’s fucking killing me having it confined behind all this material. What isn’t helping my cause is the warmth I can feel coming through the flimsy cloth of her shorts. The source of that heat is what I want to explore, but she is torturing me by rubbing her mound over my bulge.

  I thought inexperience was supposed to make you feel awkward when you’re about to lose your virginity, but I haven’t felt that way at all. If anything, I just want to maul her, and get under her skin like she has mine. She is bringing something out in me I never knew existed. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pull her in closer so that I can bury my face between her tits.

  I can feel how badly I’m affecting her, because her legs are squeezing my thighs so fucking tightly. The moans flowing from her mouth is driving me crazy, only escalating my need for her, as that pussy of hers rubs along my already throbbing cock.

  I know what I want, and that’s obviously to be buried as deep as humanly possible in the warmth I can feel.

  “Fuck the foreplay Sean, get your cock out and fuck me with it already,” she moans, pulling my head in even closer.

  She is holding on as if her life’s depending on it and if she grips any tighter, she will fucking suffocate me.

  Without giving me a chance to respond, or anything for that matter, she jumps up and strips. I wish I could say it was slow and sexy, but this was fast and desperate. Not wanting to disappoint, I quickly follow her direction.

  “Tell me you carry condoms,” she demands, halting her movements as she waits for my response.

  “I don’t carry them around babe, I wasn’t planning on getting laid today.”

  That probably came out harsher than I would have liked, but for fuck’s sake, what was she expecting. She found me wallowing in self-pity after coming from the hospital, where Sherlyn had just died. I never anticipated finding myself in a position like this.

  Shit! What am I thinking?

  I shouldn’t be doing this, not now, not so soon.

  “Are you questioning yourself?” Hadley murmurs, startling me.

  I am, I can’t deny that, but my cock seems to have a mind of its own.

  Refocusing, I glance up at the body cautiously heading toward me and all thoughts of Sherlyn start to drift away. I’m an asshole and I will suffer in hell for wanting this girl in front of me as badly as I do.

  “I was, but a part of me wants you too much.”

  She halts her advance and just watches me momentarily. When I think she is backing out, she picks up her pace and kneels before me.

  “I get it, I do,” she starts, while eagerly looking at my cock. “But this pull between us is too strong to resist. If that makes you a bad person for wanting it, then I am one too, because I can’t explain how desperately I want you right now.”

  Her touch on the tip of my cock as she smooths the condom over me has me bucking off the sofa. I could have fucking exploded right now.

  “Not yet,” she scolds, and I watch as she places herself, once again, over my cock, kneeling above me.

  My attention is solely on h
er body, it’s edible, making my mouth drool. Fuck, she is hot. Placing my hands on her hips, I look up to see her watching me … Watching her…

  “Do it,” and that’s all the encouragement I need.

  Gripping her hips tightly, I yank her down onto my cock, pulling her onto me as far as she would go. Hadley’s grip on my shoulders tightens, but she doesn’t flinch. Her warmth is engulfing me, lulling me into a false sense of reality, making me hold her still.

  “If that pussy of yours grips my cock any tighter, it’s going to cut it off,” I spit through gritted teeth. “You are so fucking tight Hadley, I fucking love it…. Now move,” I demand.

  She doesn’t miss a beat, just picks up the pace, riding me like she doesn’t have a care in the world. I have nothing to compare this to, but the way her muscles grip my cock as she slides up and down is sending me on a high.

  It’s like I’m here but I’m not, if that makes any sense. My mind is wandering, erotic fantasies flooding my head. I feel as though I’m watching what’s happening from above us, gliding in my own little state of euphoria. The closeness I have with this girl at this exact moment is not like anything I’ve ever felt before.

  She is edging her way under my skin.

  My balls feel like they are starting to creep back up into my body, they are tightening and the strangest sensation is building. I can’t say this is anything I have ever experienced masturbating on my own. My whole body is on fire.

  “I can’t hold this,” I call out. “I need to let go,” my voice straining as I fight this feeling building inside of me.

  “Don’t wait for me babe, I’ll be right there with you,” she replies, and just like that, my body tenses and I have to grip her hips to stop her movements as I start crashing down from my high, my orgasm taking over.

  My cock convulses inside of her, not once, not twice, but three fucking times and I’m in heaven. Her insides are gripping me even fucking tighter than before as she finds her own release and I swear if I died right now, I’d die fucking happy.

  Finally slumping over me, her tits smother my face once again.

  Our breathing is labored, but my body is relaxed, my mind a state of bliss. I don’t know what to say, maybe I should wait for her to say something first. We are still joined, but my cock is starting to soften inside of her and I really need to urinate.

  “I’d love nothing more than to stay buried inside you, but I need to move, gorgeous. This bladder of mine needs relieving.” I can feel her laughter before I hear it, as she starts cackling, sitting up straighter.

  “All right lover boy, that’s normally a chick thing, but I’ll move and let you do your business. Just don’t be long, I want a repeat performance.”

  Laughing along with her, I rise off the sofa and pull her into my arms, kissing her roughly. Releasing her, I don’t even need to ask, she lifts her arm to point in the direction of her bathroom.

  “I’ll be waiting in the room next to the bathroom, don’t be long,” I hear as I walk away.

  Fuck, I need to be back in that warmth of hers, just the thought is causing me to harden again. Baseball stats, that’s what I need right now. That’ll help soften me up so that I can at least take my piss.

  The door to her room is ajar and I expected to find her dressed again, but she isn’t. She is laying across her bed scrolling through her phone butt naked.

  Fuck me, what a sight.

  That ass of hers is so fucking tight, but it’s her movements that are amusing me. Smiling, I lean against the frame of her door and watch as Hadley swings her legs back and forth, engrossed in whatever she is reading. It’s like a game, moving them so that one leg hits the bed as her other foot taps her ass.

  Fucking adorable, that’s what it is.

  “Are you just going to stand there and stare at my ass or are you going to come over here and pound it instead.”

  Well that grabbed my attention.

  Moving my eyes to her face, she is smirking at me, her eyes mischievously twinkling at me. Fuck, this girl is something. Her words shot straight to my cock, which is now at full mast again, bobbing against my naked stomach.

  “I think that needs my help,” she motions toward my cock, her finger curling toward her as if to say come here. I don’t need to be told twice as I make my way to her bed.

  *****

  God damn, it’s warm in this bed.

  Where the hell am I?

  Oh shit… Hadley.

  Carefully untangling her from my body, I slip out of the bed. There isn’t an inch of her that isn’t beautiful and my memories from last night will stay with me always.

  Fuck, my clothes are still near her sofa.

  Moving away from her bed, I take one final glance back at her.

  “Slipping out without a goodbye?” she murmurs, adjusting herself so that she is now propped against her pillows.

  Leaning with my back against her wall, I sigh loudly. I know I’m an asshole for trying to leave without waking her.

  “I’m sorry Hadley, I need to head back to my family. There will be a search party looking for me since I haven’t made contact,” I admit dejectedly.

  The look she is giving me is one of disbelief, but if she knew my family, she would understand. “I can’t even describe the trouble I am in right now.”

  Fuck, I need to find my phone.

  “If you came back to bed, you’d be in trouble. You’re making me horning watching you fidgeting against the wall. You do realize you’re naked, right?”

  What. The. Fuck?

  Looking down, I smile as I take in that I am standing against her wall, naked. I’m glad she finds this amusing.

  “I’d love nothing more than to crawl back into that bed and fuck you stupid, but I can’t. My father is going to be furious with me for not making contact sooner.”

  What smile she did have disappears, her gaze at me questioning.

  “I’m only seventeen Hadley, I probably should have mentioned that sooner,” I answer, assuming that was what her look is for, considering I mentioned my father.

  “I don’t care about your age, lover boy. I’m just wondering why your father is troubling you.”

  She’s a godsend, this girl. It’s a shame I won’t have the opportunity to better get to know her.

  “This isn’t me. I don’t disappear like this,” I quickly reply.

  I’m the reliable one, the good son, the one who doesn’t take anything to chance. The loss of a friend will change your prospective on life though, and Hadley provided me with an escape I couldn’t turn away from.

  “That may be true, but things change, God, people change. That shouldn’t define you. We all need an outlet, and you Sean, are no different.”

  I can’t speak, she’s amazing. How is it, this girl I have only just met, can see me in this way, but no one else does? All I can do is stare.

  “Your phone is with your clothes on my sofa. I put my number in it while you were using the bathroom last night. Don’t lose it.”

  And then I’m being dismissed. Just like that, she turns back over, pulling her bedding up to her chin, closing her eyes.

  Pulling her door shut as I leave, I move toward her living room to retrieve my belongings. What I wouldn’t have done to meet this girl when we first moved to Brooklyn.

  I could see myself falling for Hadley if we had the chance.

  Checking my phone, I can confirm that yes, I am in trouble… deep trouble.

  I silently say goodbye as I let myself out of Hadley’s apartment, willing myself to move to where I have been instructed to meet my family.

  Time to face the music.

  Chapter Two

  Today…

  “I think I’ll go,” I declare loudly, to no one in particular.

  Currently, I’m in Hawkes communications room, going over the Intel he has given me for our next mission.

  “And where would that be, son?” My father responds almost instantly.

  “Soph wants me to come out
west… I think I'll go,” I tell him.

  Lifting my head, I focus my sight on my father, only to find him watching me intently in return. He will be wondering why the sudden change since every time he has brought it up previously, I have ignored him, changing the subject. Before, I believed that losing myself in my work was all I needed, but I was wrong, because right now, my head is fucked. It’s nowhere near where it should be for a guy in my position, or the missions I find myself a part of.

  By now, though, it's not just my father staring at me, it's Hawke as well and I don't like how it's making me feel. Why are they staring at me like that, like I’m under a microscope, some kind of organism for them to study?

  “I think that's a wise idea, Sean,” Hawke finally voices, breaking the silence.

  He is still watching me, but not as stringently as my father.

  “Why now?” my father asks.

  That's a fair enough question I guess, but I don’t know if I can answer it honestly. I don’t want to admit that what I really want is to go back to Brooklyn and find a certain brunette? A girl who takes away my pain, and gives me respite from my demons. If I admit to that, there will be no way he will let me leave. Technically, I don't turn eighteen for a few more months, so he still tries to instill some authority when he can, but he is nothing more than a hypocrite. You can’t enlist your fifteen-year-old son to help with dangerous government missions, teach him to handle all kinds of weapons over a space of three years, and then try to enforce discipline.

  It doesn't work.

  You can't take them seriously.

  If I tell him I’m going to Sophie’s, I can detour to Brooklyn first. A distraction is definitely what I need, but my sister is not the kind of distraction I am chasing. Surely, my father can understand that, but I know he won’t.

  “It’s time, and I’m no good to you as I stand today.”

  Now that… he will understand that, because it’s time for me to say goodbye. Now that the dust has settled, it's time to finally let her go.

  “I’m sure your intentions are not as clear as you would like us to believe, but I will grant it.”

  See what I mean, he is trying to insert some authority.