Truth & Consequences: The Novel

by Leilani Harvey

  “Dance with me,” his commanding timbre seized control of her thoughts and her body.

  As if on cue, the pulsing beat slowed to a crawl and a sexy R&B track took its place. Her desire to be near Jayson urged Aneisa to move in tighter against him. She laid her head on his sculpted chest, and the soft murmur of his thudding heartbeat echoed soothingly in her ears….

  … If he believed in luck, she wouldn’t see him at all and would continue on with the rest of her day and her life; if he believed in miracles, she would see him and would experience the same heart-pounding thrill that was racing its way through the center of his chest…

  Quick Note from Leilani

  When I was younger, I was a fanatic fan of daytime soaps. Almost a year ago (October 2010), as I was thinking up a new series to kick off, I wondered how I would write out my own version of the frantic ups and downs of love and the affairs of the heart. While I was first penning I Wonder How You Taste (Hunger #1), I never thought this storyline would develop into this mini-epic of love, lust, and lies. My characters have been through some very naughty encounters while discovering how falling in love can easily become the most fulfilling and the most frustrating experience for a person. All things come to an end – eventually – and it has all come down to this final episode…hence its novella format. I wanted to give them all one more jaw-dropping send-off into romance history.

  My suggestion for anyone who decides to take this tale for a spin is to have already read Aidan’s Return & Summer Frenzy (Hunger #3 and 4) and Consequences Never Hurt (Truth & Consequences #1). Those two stories will help the reader become well acquainted with the overall storyline that bridges these two series together, as well as helping them to become familiar with the burgeoning passions that are driving the motives for the main characters of Burn, which serves as the last installment for both Hunger and Truth & Consequences.

  Because I want everyone to get the best experience from this drama (I’m sure some newcomers will decide to skip straight to the end and some fans haven’t read every detail in between), I have written a character appendix (included at the end of this novella). Fair caution, it’s only a very brief overview of the characters and their relationships to one another, and will only give you a tiny – but enticing – taste of all that has conspired before the events of Burn take place. It all started with one fiery kiss and now it all ends with one blazing affair…

  Happy Reading…lh.

  Burn

  A Truth & Consequences Novella

  By

  Leilani Harvey

  PART I

  Memories & Lovers

  1

  It was too early to go home and too late for regrets.

  Less than an hour ago, Jayson had fucked one of his best friend’s fiancé right in the middle of the couple’s cute little house and he would do it all over again in a heartbeat. His sudden fixation on having a second sampling of Aneisa’s hot little body was what drove him to this shitty little bar in the first place. There were still a few hours to kill before the old gang met up for dinner, dancing, and some awkward stares across the table. He was determined not to spend that time moping over a woman he should have been trying to forget about. The deed was done and it was time to move on to his next fling.

  The first thirty minutes of sitting inside of the hole in the wall bar were filled with him wallowing in his own dark thoughts. The pain and stress from having his heart ripped right out of his chest by the two people he loved most – the woman he wanted to make his wife and the man who had been more like a brother to him than his real flesh and blood – wasn’t easy to shake off. A year had passed and the jagged memory of how they had abandoned him in a hotel room and disappeared into the night remained a haunting piece of every waking minute in Jayson’s life. The bitter experience left him with no shame about passing on a touch of his own misery to Aneisa and Shane.

  While Jayson cradled an untouched vodka and tonic in his hand, the blond minx slinked up next to him and eased into the empty stool on his right side. He turned his head toward her and she smiled, her bright red lips parting to show two rows of perfectly straight teeth. He didn’t even bother to acknowledge her silent greeting. By ignoring her, Jayson added fuel to her flame. The more he overlooked her desperate attempts at seducing him with batting lashes and pouting lips, the more she insisted on trying to capture his interest. It was a disturbingly sick game he had come to enjoy, if only to shake off his own gloom for a few humorous moments of watching her act the fool for him.

  For someone who was once merely a shoulder for heartbroken women to cry on, Jayson had made an easy transition into this reverse role as a blond haired, blue-eyed bad boy. His dark persona, combined with his towering height – well over six foot – and short spiky hair, sent women of all types and ages to their knees for him without hesitation. There wasn’t a woman within five feet of him who had ever neglected to direct a lusty gaze his way. He knew what they saw and what they wanted from him and he had no problems giving it – hard and fast – as many times as they could take it. After the dirty session was concluded, he was gone – no attachments, no feelings – just a fun time and a thank you ma’am – maybe, depending on how intense his cum shot was. Once only. That was the one rule he swore by since he had seen the error of his boyishly silly ways. Fidelity and love – what a joke. He had decided a long time ago he was tired of being at the center of that bad prank. Never again, not for anyone.

  “I’m Sharon.” Her tiny voice was practically mute under the heavy drums of whatever rock back was blaring through the speakers.

  He nodded his head and continued to stare blankly ahead, never turning to offer his own name.

  “I’ve never seen you here before,” she made another attempt at getting a conversation going.

  Leaning forward on the bar top, Sharon moved so that her creamy cleavage was pushed forward under her red spandex top. Her goal was probably to look at sizzling as possible. It might have worked on someone who hadn’t already seen a dozen other women use the same move, but not on Jayson.

  “Jut got back in town.”

  Jayson decided to play along. He had a goal in mind, too. Thoughts of Aneisa were an unnecessary distraction that he wanted to be rid of as soon as possible, and there was only one cure he knew of for forgetting about a woman.

  “Really? Are you from Twin Rivers or did you just go to school here?”

  Sharon obviously wasn’t very good at flirting so Jayson wouldn’t even try to give her his best effort.

  “Listen, doll, I have to meet some people in a few hours, so if you came over here to make a new friend, I’m not the right one.”

  From the corners of his eyes, he saw her bottom lip tremble. Wow, she really was a newbie at bar pickups.

  “No need to pout, sweetie.” Jayson’s soothing bass did the trick.

  He flaunted a charming grin at her and Sharon’s cheeks immediately flushed a deep rose. She covered her mouth to giggle at his compliment. This was too easy; only minimal effort on his part would be needed to convince her to service him.

  He slid a long and burly arm around her thin shoulders and pulled her in a few inches closer.

  “Maybe we should step in the back and talk a little more privately.”

  Ten minutes was all that was needed to convince cute Sharon to take him between her little red lips. When he pushed back the bar stool and stood up tall, the female clamped her mouth tight but her glimmering eyes spoke volumes.

  He walked toward the rear of the darkened arena and she quickly jumped down from her stool and followed. When they stopped in a blackened corner just pass the doors leading to the male and female restrooms, he didn’t have to say a word for her to understand how this scene was going to play out. While he wrapped himself, she went down in front of him and propped her lips open wide to receive his rock hard dick into her mouth.

  His deep blue eyes watched her do her magic. Soft lips, painted in a bright red shade of lipstick, worked their way
along the long length of his cock. Jayson pushed his hard-on further down her throat and the pretty blond gagged a little.

  He closed his eyes and delighted in the sensation of her wet mouth closing around his hardness. She sucked on the head and he sucked in a small breath of air. When he looked down at the top of her head, Jayson couldn’t quite remember what her name was…he was thinking it was Susan or Sheri or something else with an S sound in the front. Right now, with his swollen cock shoved in her mouth, it honestly didn’t matter which one it was as long as she finished the job to his delight. He wanted her to help him to forget about all of his hurt and anger.

  Summer. Aidan. Summer. Aidan.

  Over and over again, for the last year, those names had taunted his frenzied thoughts. Their mutual betrayal had ripped him right open and emptied him completely out. There was nothing left to start over with except blackness, an empty void swirling inside of a burning and crushing dejection.

  How the hell had he missed what was going on behind his back?

  Better question – How the hell could two people who he loved so much and would have trusted with his life do something so shitty and lowdown to him and then just disappear under the cover of darkness? They ran off to live a happy ending and left him behind to wallow in a mire of doubt and frustration.

  A picture of his beautiful Summer was burned into his memory. Fleeting moments of lust with other women were the only times when he could get her perfect face to fade from the forefront of his tortured mind. The effect never lasted long, though. Her hold on him remained as strong as it ever was. Even after what she had done had turned him into this monstrous and cold man, he still loved her with all of his heart. There would never be another woman for him to love, not the way he had adored Summer. Never. And Jayson liked it that way. He wasn’t going to risk having his soul ripped in two for a second time around. He wasn’t that stupid, not even close. Jayson Ferria didn’t want or need a best buddy or a girlfriend or any connections to anyone. All that bullshit is what had driven him to this twisted place in his life.

  While the woman kneeling in front of him used small pale hands to stroke him while her tongue worked over his sensitive shaft, Jayson vigorously matched her mouth thrusts with his own, plunging his cock to the back of her throat. Before he knew it, his usual fantasy was playing out in his mind again, yet something was different this time around. To his startled surprise, instead of seeing Summer’s face on the girl bent before him, who was sucking him into a pleasurable oblivion, he saw a vision he wasn’t quite ready for. In place of the Sharon-something’s features and eyes staring up at him with glee, a mocha shaded face with sweet brown eyes looked back at him.

  It was Aneisa Kane’s face reaching out to him with steamy eyes while gobbling down his fat dick. The face suddenly switched back to his beautiful Summer, then over to Aneisa’s heart shaped features. It was as though Jayson couldn’t decide which female he wanted with him here and now, acting out his sexual fantasy with. Which one was tugging harder at his buried yearning for an ever-faithful woman to spend his life with?

  When his hot cum gushed toward the other girl’s throat, Jayson’s stomach crunched down and spasmed. His milky stream shot out with insane intensity; it was probably the hardest he had spilled his seed in a very long time.

  What had changed? Jayson’s fast paced mind immediately went to considering the possibilities. Could envisioning Aneisa here really have pulled that forceful explosion out of him?

  He pulled his cock out of Sharon’s stretched mouth. Impossible¸ he thought as he tucked his throbbing tool back into his pants.

  He hadn’t expected this sudden turn of events, or this disturbing change of heart. His raging emotions were drawing his mind deeper into thoughts of reclaiming Aneisa for one more slippery round. Watching her plump ass jiggle while her tightest hole gripped his cock had been one of the best experiences he had felt in far too long.

  No, not again. He fought back the urges racing through his brain. Once only. It was his rule and he needed to stick to it without hesitation.

  This – mix-up – couldn’t be repeated. There was only enough room in his frantic mind for one woman. She had already succeeded in twisting him into nothingness and then abandoned him, so there was no point in getting attached to any one else then awaiting his heartbreak to happen all over again.

  Without looking down, he stepped around the female, who was still kneeling, probably waiting for him to lift her to her feet and fill her pussy up. Unfortunately for her, he had other appointments to keep.

  Jayson thought he heard her call after him but he pressed on anyway. He pushed through the early evening crowd that was packed into the rundown bar. Once he stepped out into the thick air of the late spring afternoon, a sense of agitation started to pull at his mind again. Memories of his scorching session with Aneisa were starting to run circles around him. He needed to push her out of his brain as soon as possible before these silly feelings became to deeply embedded. Only a fool breaks his own rules but Jayson was already starting to envision a second and more in depth taste of Aneisa’s sweetness. Next time around – if there was a next time – he was going to make sure he sampled both holes.

  2

  From inside the master bedroom, Aneisa heard keys jingling in the front door.

  Suddenly feeling the need to hurry her dressing routine along, she yanked a pair of straight leg jeans and a yellow tank top from off of the blue bedspread and quickly tossed the clothing on. It wasn’t unusual for her to have a short workout after her morning grad school courses so she doubted Shane would question her reasons for a mid-afternoon shower. All the same, her guilt was wearing on her conscience and making her paranoid. Would he sense what had transpired in their living room less than an hour ago? Would the shame be written all over her worrisome face?

  Even after having scrubbed herself thoroughly more than once, Aneisa could still feel Jayson’s big hands all over her skin. His forceful voice and demanding commands remained echoing in her mind. Despite her desperate need to remove every shred of their encounter from her thoughts and wipe her body clean of his touch, there was some small part of her that wanted him to take her again – harder and more intensely this time. She delighted in how rough he had been when handling her. It was wrong that she secretly wanted him to claim every piece of her existence, to break her down and make her into his devoted lover. Her nipples pebbled hard at the thought. A warm pool of personal lubricant started to gather in the hot space between her thighs. She quickly locked her legs together, knee to knee, trying to fight back the impish urges that were pulsing inside of her.

  “Aneisa, are you up there?”

  It was Shane. Why had Aneisa been wishing that it weren’t? Why had she been toying with a waking fantasy that Jayson had made an unexpected return so they could resume their twisted sex position on her living room floor?

  Stop it, Aneisa! She scolded herself and rubbed her knees together once more. It was a last ditch effort to permanently shake off the buzzing after-effects of her lusty afternoon with an old acquaintance.

  Just as she reached for a bra in the top drawer of her bureau, a pair of pale arms slid around the curve of her hips. She didn’t have to guess who the owner was. The feel of her fiancé’s warm breath on her shoulder was no comfort. It only set her nerves on edge and made her teeth clench. If she didn’t hold herself in check, he was sure to find out something wicked had conspired earlier today. Mere chance had probably delayed Shane’s return home and prevented him from arriving in time enough to catch Aneisa on her hands and knees while partaking in her adulterous and torrid sexual act.

  “Hey, babe.” When he spoke, his breath trickled over her shoulder. He followed up his greeting with a polite kiss on the cheek.

  Aneisa shifted uneasily in his hold. The greeting was customary but his scent was different. The essence of his usual cologne drifting up her nostrils was accompanied with the slight hint of a muskier smell. It was an aroma that was very s
imilar to…

  He broke his hold on her and walked away before Aneisa could turn in his arms.

  “Shit, I didn’t realize what time it was. If I don’t get changed now, we’re going to be late for dinner.”

  Shane talked as he backed out of the bedroom and headed toward the bathroom at the end of the hall. His statement was true but it might have also been an excuse to separate their two bodies. Had he realized she noticed the change in his body chemistry?

  Aneisa followed him up the hall at a casual pace. Thoughts of her own earlier mishap were temporarily put on hold.

  “It is a little later than you said you would be back,” she said and then stopped just outside of the bathroom door.

  Shane had closed the door behind him, something neither one of them ever did, unless they wanted absolute privacy.

  She pressed her back to the whitewashed door and crossed her arms. A bundle of curiosities floated across her mind, one after the other. Her suspicions were raised though she tried her best to keep from making any hasty conclusions.

  “How was it?” She baited him with a test.

  “How was what?”

  Fail. He answered her question with another question.

  “Your tutoring session. That’s where you were all afternoon, right?”

  The sound of the heavy water cascading from the showerhead sounded through the door.

  “Oh…it was fine,” he had to raise his voice to drown out the water drizzle. “I’m a little pissed that I missed meeting up with Jayson.”

  He hit a nerve with that name. She wondered if he had done so on purpose to distract her attention away from where her inquiries were headed. Or, was it possible he did know that something devious had happened between her and his close friend. Had Jayson called Shane and confessed everything to him? Impossible. If that had happened then Shane wouldn’t have given her such a causal and calm greeting.