by T L Swan
We are going clubbing, and Brock has just come to pick me up. They have been and collected Meredith and Callie already. I’m last on the pick-up list.
I open the door in a rush and he stands before me.
His broad shoulders are covered in a black T-shirt, and he’s wearing dark blue jeans that fit snugly in all the right places.
I grin in greeting and purposely bend to pick up my bag. I might even try some of those slut snaps his secretary does tonight. It couldn’t hurt. I need all the ammunition I can get.
I put my hand on my waist and wiggle my hips. “Do I look okay?” I ask innocently.
He tilts his jaw, and his annoyed eyes drop down my body and back up to my face. “You’ll do,” he replies flatly.
I smirk, and Brock narrows his eyes at me, as if sensing I’m up to something.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
I grab my clutch and smile sexily. “Sure am.”
He opens the door and we walk down to the elevator in silence. I make sure I walk in front of him so he can see my behind. I walk with an over exaggerated sashay.
He stays silent as he lingers behind.
What the hell is he thinking back there?
We make it to the car, and Callie and Meredith are in the backseat. “Hello, my friends.” I laugh as I climb in and kiss them both on the cheek. Ben is driving, leaving Brock to climb into the passenger side. “What’s been happening?” I ask.
“Brock and I have been watching House Flippers all day,” Meredith says.
My eyes widen. “Really?”
“Yes, we watched six episodes today, didn’t we, Brock?”
“We did,” he sighs.
Ben smirks over at him and I see Brock mouth the words, “Fuck off.”
For the rest of the trip, Meredith continues to explain to us all in great detail why she loves House Flippers. So much so that Ben is continually looking over and smirking at Brock who is just staring through the front windshield.
We arrive at the Ivy and climb out of the car. The boys briefed us earlier today. We are to act natural, as if we’re on a regular night out, and then we should casually throw questions to Meredith and see what information she lets slip. We need to find out if she knows about this memory stick they think that Wendy Woo had in her possession, or if she actually did see who killed Peachy Sue. Any answers are good answers.
We walk into the club and one of the doormen smiles at me, looking me up and down with hungry eyes. Brock glares at him and I feel a flutter deep in my stomach. It’s working.
Game on.
Brock, Jes, and two other men from his work are with us, standing just to the side. Ben is downstairs parking the car.
“Let’s go to the bar and gets some shots.” I smile mischievously.
“What are you going to do?” Callie whispers.
“Whatever it takes.”
We buy Meredith three shots, getting only one for ourselves as well as a round of margaritas, and then we head back to the spot where the men are standing around.
There’s a smoky glass mirror on a nearby column and it’s perfect. I can see Brock with my back to him without him even knowing it. I stand, talking to the girls, moving my hips to the beat. Every now and then, I see Brock’s eyes flick down to my behind as he watches me.
A guy walks past us and stops to say something cheeky. I laugh and put my hand on his bicep as I speak to him. I’m being way touchier than I normally would be. I mean, I have to make it believable.
I glance up to the mirror to see that Brock is glaring at me. There’s practically a red glow around him.
“Do you want to dance?” the guys asks me.
Oh, it’s a little bit early yet. Brock will be onto me. “Can we dance in an hour?” I ask. “I just got here, and I want to talk to my friends first.”
“Sure.” He smiles. “It’s a date. I’ll be back in an hour.”
Three hours later, and the three of us are on our way to being very drunk indeed. We have been talking and talking to Meredith, but I honestly don’t know if she does know anything more that can help us.
Would the call girls have told her if they knew something? I know that she hinted about a memory stick but she’s so cool and relaxed now. I don’t know if it was ever really a thing? The more that I think about it, the more I’m confused. She can’t keep a secret at all. If she had a secret, she would have blurted it out by now.
The guy from before comes back. “Do you want to dance yet?” he asks.
My eyes flicker over to Brock, and he glares at me as he sips his drink. He’s openly angry now. I’ve danced with just about everyone in the club.
I smile up at the poor, unsuspecting fool in front of me, and he puts his hand on my behind.
Eek, I don’t know about that. I don’t want to start World War Three here.
I frown when I feel a hand grab the top of my arm.
“A word?” Brock growls in my ear.
Before I know it, he’s dragging me up the corridor towards the bathroom.
I try to remove my arm from his grip. “What are you doing?”
“What the fuck are you doing?” he snaps.
“Dancing,” I answer innocently.
“I’m not fucking stupid, Tully.” He sneers.
“It’s okay, Brock, I know. We’re done with. Never going to happen. You told me. I get it.”
He lifts his chin defiantly.
“Hence why I’m going to go out there and I’m going to dance with that man, and if he wants to, I’m going to let him kiss me.”
His eyes widen. “Don’t you fucking dare!” he growls.
I step closer to him. “The thing is, Brock, I want to kiss somebody tonight.”
My eyes drop to his lips, and then back up to his eyes.
Contempt drips from his every pore, but he grabs a handful of my hair, jerking my head backwards with force, our faces nearly touching.
I moan softly at our close proximity and stare up at him.
“Don’t fucking threaten me, Tully.”
“Or what?” I whisper.
The air crackles between us and he inhales sharply. I can feel his erection up against my stomach. His eyes drop to my lips.
Kiss me.
He stares at me, and I slowly put my hand up and cup his erection through his jeans. “Show me how angry you are with me,” I whisper.
His eyes flicker with arousal and he jerks my hair again. I whimper, my head pulled back and now only millimetres from his face.
He blinks and regains control, his composure sliding back into place. He suddenly let’s go of my hair and walks back out into the club without saying a word.
I close my eyes. Fuck. My heart is thumping hard. I stand for a moment as I try to work out what the hell to do. I’ve come too far to back down now.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I walk back out into the club and grab the guy from before, leading him out onto the dancefloor. I glance over and see Brock and Ben glaring at me from the side.
Oh shit, now Ben is going to hate me, too.
Ah, what the hell am I doing?
I slowly put my arms around the guy’s neck and smile up at him.
Just do it, just fucking do it.
My heart is beating so fast, I feel like I’m running a marathon. This could be the worst mistake I’ll ever make, but I have no idea what else to try. I lean up and kiss the guy on the lips. He smiles against me and slips the tongue in, his hands dropping to my behind.
We kiss again.
Shit, Brock where are you? Don’t tell me this is for nothing.
We kiss again, and his tongue is really working my mouth.
Suddenly, I’m pushed from the side and thrown off balance.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” Brock yells at the top of his voice.
“Who are you?” The man frowns, his face falling while mine lights up.
I don’t have chance to respond. I’m being dragged by
the arm out of the front doors of the club, then marched through the parking lot. Brock has completely lost his shit, and, oh God, I may be found in the trunk of a car tomorrow, too.
Have I gone too far?
We get to the car and he opens the door, shoving me in and slamming the door shut.
He goes around to the driver’s side, gets in, and he starts the car like a maniac.
“You are fucking infuriating.” He punches the steering wheel and I jump in fright. He tears down the street, and I hold on for dear life.
“What the fucking hell do you think you’re doing, Tully?” he screams as he pulls to the side of the road to try and clam himself down. “You don’t kiss anybody else.” He punches the steering wheel again. “Do you hear me? You belong to me. Is that fucking clear?” He’s yelling so loud and so angry that veins are popping in his forehead and neck.
I’ve never seen him like this.
His chest is rising and falling as he fights the adrenaline. Then he turns to me and he grabs a handful of my hair, dragging my face closer to his. “You belong to me,” he whispers again.
I nod. “I know, baby.”
The electricity crackles between us.
Then he is on me, his lips taking mine and his hand painful in my hair. He jumps out of the car and comes around to my side, opening the door and dragging me out. I’m thrown into the backseat, and all I can do is watch as he climbs over me.
We kiss like animals. Brock undoes his jeans frantically and slides them down. He wastes no time in taking off my trousers, pulling my panties to the side, spreading my legs, and impaling me in one hard slam.
“Ah!” I cry out. “Careful, Brock,” I whimper.
“I will not be fucking careful,” he growls as he slams into me. “You’ll take it how I give it. Tonight, it’s fucking hard.”
He pulls out and tears my panties all the way off, lifting my legs so they are around his chest, and then he pushes himself back in.
My body instantly contracts around him, and I cling to his shoulders.
He’s furious, like an animal that needs a release.
And I’m in Heaven.
His smell, the weight of his body over mine, the burn of his large cock stretching me wide open—it’s perfect. My hands roam up and down his back and I kiss his neck, but he isn’t kissing me.
“Kiss me,” I whisper.
“No.” He slams into me again.
“Brock,” I whimper. “Kiss… me.”
He stills, and in a perfect moment of clarity, his lips take mine softly. Emotion creases my face.
Oh, I’ve missed him.
His eyes close as he holds me tight and we kiss tenderly for a moment. Then, as if remembering that he’s still angry, he slams me hard again, and I know that the short window of intimacy he gave me has now gone.
He lifts my legs higher so that they are over his shoulders, and he buries himself deep inside, coming in a rush. That sets me off, and I shudder as I cling to him.
He pulls out and rises onto his knees. His haunted eyes hold mine and he drops his head. Without a word, he gets up, fastens his jeans back in place, and he gets out of the of the car, slamming the door.
I lie alone in his backseat in the dark.
What the fuck just happened?
Chapter 25
The drive home is spent in complete silence. My sex is still throbbing from the beating he has just given it. I stare out the window as the night races by.
No foreplay.
No lube.
No emotion.
It all leads to me feeling like one sore and sorry girl.
He takes the turn off towards his suburb, and I close my eyes in relief. He’s taking me back to his place. Maybe this isn’t so bad, after all.
He parks the car in his driveway, getting out before he walks around to open my door in complete silence.
My eyes search his, but he just looks back at me flatly. Eventually, he turns and opens his front door. I tentatively follow him inside and so many happy memories immediately flood back. I feel like I’m at home here.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I tell him quietly.
“Okay.”
I watch him for a moment, not knowing whether to push for a conversation or just leave it.
I don’t want to fight with him. I’m here. I’ll just see what happens.
I climb the three flights of stairs to his bedroom and bathroom, and I take a long hot shower. He doesn’t come in at all. I have no idea where he is or what’s going through his mind.
Just get into bed and go to sleep. Don’t push him tonight, I tell myself.
I dry myself and hop into his bed, knowing it’s late. Half an hour later, he walks through to the bathroom and showers. Then he comes out of his bathroom in boxer shorts and climbs into bed beside me, turns his back to mine.
I stare at the ceiling, my heart dangerously close to breaking.
“Are you not talking to me?” I whisper into the darkness.
He stays silent for a moment. “Just go to sleep, Tull,” he sighs sadly.
I cuddle his back and kiss his shoulder blade. I feel him exhale heavily as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Maybe he does.
Brock
“Want to get some lunch?” Ben asks as he pokes his head around the corner of my office.
I glance up at him. “Yeah, okay.”
We go to our favourite pub and I order two beers—something I never do on a weekday during working hours. Ben watches me for a moment as he sips his. “What’s going on, man?” he asks.
I shrug. I haven’t told him anything that’s been going on. I haven’t wanted to talk about it at all.
“You came back here from London a month ago and you’ve been in a filthy mood ever since. Then you and Tully act like you don’t know each other, and she kissed someone else last night before you dragged her out of there. What the fuck is going on?”
I shrug. “We’re not together anymore.”
“Why not?”
“She went back to her boyfriend.”
He frowns as he watches me. “When?”
“When he was in hospital.”
He narrows his eyes. “Is she still with him?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
“What do you mean, you don’t think so? What did she say?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it with her.”
“Why not?”
I shrug. “What’s the point? I went to London, she dumped me and told me she was too busy caring for him to be with me. She cut me to the bone, and then I came home alone.”
He watches me for a moment. “And you fucked her last night?”
I sip my drink and clench my jaw. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Did you talk to her this morning about it?” He frowns.
“Nope.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” he snaps angrily. “You’re in love with this girl, and whether you like it or not, she did the right thing by staying with him while he was sick.”
“Don’t,” I warn him.
“What kind of a person would she have been if she didn’t give a fuck about him? Nine years is a long time, man. They’re friends.”
“So, it’s okay that she just dumps me on a whim?” I snap. “I’m nobody’s fucking back up plan.”
“No. It’s not okay. But did she get back with him?”
“I don’t think so. She said…” My voice trails off.
“She said what?’
“She said she still loved me but didn’t want me to wait for her while she was at the hospital.”
He stares at me for a moment as he processes her words. “And then she came back and said she wanted you back.”
I bite my bottom lip. I’m not even answering that fucking question.
“Did she?”
I nod. “She sat out the front of my house the other night in the rain for an hour crying. She keeps crying and
shit, telling me she loves me.”
“Why didn’t you just ask her in and talk about it like a fucking man?”
“What am I going to say, Ben?” I throw my hands up in the air. “What the fuck could I possibly say that will make me feel any better?”
“Why don’t you just listen?” He frowns. “You don’t need to say anything. Just listen, you hot-headed prick.”
“You know, Brock, Bridget forgave me when I left. She made a decision to try and work it out because she knew I loved her, and she loved me.”
My eyes rise up to his.
“Being stubborn will only hurt you.” He sips his beer. “Nobody else gives a fuck if you go back to her or not. But you’ll be the one who loses a life with her if you don’t at least try to work things out.”
I sip my beer and stare off into the distance.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” he says. “It doesn’t go away. Once you’ve met her, nobody else will do. Trust me, five years I pined for Bridget. Five fucking long years.”
I sip my beer again.
“And it won’t go away, so you can listen to her now, or you can wait five years and then have the conversation.” He raises his brow sarcastically. “But you will have it, because if you don’t, you’ll go insane,” he adds.
I shake my head in disgust. “Just shut the fuck up, will you?” I sigh. “What are you, a fucking marriage councillor now?”
He smirks as he sips his beer. “Yeah. That’ll be two-hundred and fifty dollars, thanks.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not paying for your shitty advice.”
“Suit yourself. Stubbornness will get you nowhere, my friend.”
Tully
“See you.” I wave to my co-workers as I head for the bus stop.
I’ve been flat today. Brock and I hardly spoke this morning when he dropped me off at work. He wasn’t screaming at me, but it was an icy wakeup. Especially since I woke up in his arms, lying on his chest, our legs tangled together and his erection up against my hip. I thought I may have pushed a few of his buttons last night, but obviously not. I’m going to have to find another way of reaching him. I make my way to the bus stop and take a seat on the bench. My phone beeps.
