by L. P. Maxa
“Forced is a little harsh.” Cash moved me around until I was clinging to his back. “We were doing our best to keep you company and keep you entertained.” The rest of his cousins kept talking, reliving stories of Landry on bed rest and how they all did their part. Cash backed us away from the group and pulled me around to face him again. “Sorry our movie date just got hijacked.”
I kissed the tip of his nose. “That means when we make out, it’ll be even more like hooking up in a real movie theater.”
***
Cash and I were alone for the first time in hours. We hung out with his cousins, we ate dinner, and then we hung out some more. It was well after ten o’clock, and Halen and Beau had just now left. She and I had cleaned the kitchen while Beau and Cash had cleaned up outside. I liked that no one here was spoiled. They didn’t act like they were above anything, even simple chores. That was how Kasen and I were raised too.
“You ready to cross off your next activity?” Cash was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his bare chest and his navy swim trunks slung low on his hips.
“I marked off pool party before we got here.”
“I’m not talking about that one, Katie Baby.” He shook his head slowly.
I cocked mine to the side. “What then?”
“Skinny dipping.” He grinned as he reached out and hit the long row of light switches. Suddenly the whole place went dark, the only light coming from the oil-burning lanterns outside. They were placed on every table to keep the mosquitos to a minimum. I felt him behind me before he even took my hand. “I’ll stay on one end of the pool, you can stay on the other. I’ll even keep my back turned the whole time if that’ll make you feel more comfortable.”
I took a deep breath, and then nodded with an unexpected smile on my face.
Chapter Seventeen
Cash
I was naked in the pool with my back to Katie, but I was no saint. I wanted to turn around so bad I was shaking. I wanted to touch her skin. I wanted to feel her wrapped around me. More than anything though, I wanted her to feel safe. So I kept facing the pasture, looking at the moon.
“I’m not going to lie to you, the water feels even better when you’re not wearing any clothes.”
I swallowed past the giant lump in my throat and clenched my fists. “It’s official, you can mark this off your list.” Part of me wanted to rush her out of the pool, get her dressed and take her home. I knew I’d be able to walk her to the door and kiss her goodnight. And in that moment, I really fucking wanted to kiss her.
“Well, really, this is more than one first for me.” Her voice sounded like she was moving closer to me. In equal parts, I wanted her to, and didn’t. “I’ve never been naked with a guy before either.” Yeah, she needed to stay on her side of the pool. My dick was rock hard.
“Katie, I, uh—”
“It’s okay.” She was right behind me now. I could almost feel the heat from her body. “The water is really dark. You can turn around.”
I closed my eyes for a second, trying to gather some composure. She was floating in the water, only her head and neck visible. I sank down further, covering more of my body as well. “I wanted to make sure you were comfortable, that you felt safe.”
She moved toward me. “I do.” She reached her hand out and gripped my neck. “Thank you.” She kissed the corner of my mouth, like I’d done with her. Then she whispered, “Touch me.”
And my brain exploded and I floated lifeless in the pool.
Just kidding. I did what she told me told me to do; I touched her. I ran my fingers across her collarbone, down her arms, and over her hips. I gripped her ass under the cool water and picked her up, kissing her as I moved us through the pool. I sat down on a step, keeping her in my lap. “Tell me what you want, baby.” I’d give her anything she asked for.
“Don’t stop.” She wrapped herself around me tighter, craving the friction she’d learned she loved in the dugout earlier today.
I pushed her hair back out of her face, my teeth grazing her jaw. “I won’t, not until you tell me to.”
I kissed her neck, her breasts, and when I took a nipple in my mouth, she let her head fall back. Her little moans and whimpers were making me impossibly hard. But tonight wasn’t about me. None of this had been about me. I wanted to take care of Katie. I wanted to give her exactly what she needed—if she’d let me. One of my hands trailed down between us, while I kept the other one on her jaw. I covered her pussy with my palm, adding pressure to her clit with the heel of my hand.
She rested her forehead against mine, her arm tightening around my neck. “Keep going.”
When Katie was unsure, she made her statements sound like questions. But tonight, every statement came out like a demand, and I fucking loved it. I slid a finger inside her tight center, keeping the heel of my hand where it was. “Move for me, do what feels good.” I could probably make her come in about three minutes, but I wanted every experience we had to be different. Because Katie was different, she was special, and I wanted to treat her that way.
Her head dropped to my shoulder, her breath coming out in little pants against my chest. I moved us up a step a little further out of the water, so she didn’t have to fight the waves so much. “Cash…I…”
I knew she was getting close—her movements were no longer hesitant and slow. “Just let it all go.” I kissed the swell of her breast, letting my teeth graze her flesh. “Be wild for me, baby.” I took her nipple in my mouth and her head dropped back as she bucked against my hand. Calling my name as she came.
***
“Was that on the list?”
I lifted Katie into the window of her bedroom then crawled in after.
“It was on this list.” I tapped the side of my head, smirking. It was after midnight, and the parents should be home soon. Katie and I had walked back from the pool house, holding hands and talking about nothing.
“Do you, um, want to stay and hang out or something?” She was standing in the middle of Halen’s room, her arms at her side and a nervous smile on her pretty face.
I stepped up to her, cupping her still flushed cheeks. “I would love nothing more than to stay here with you until the sun came up.” Which is what I would do if it was any other night. “But, even our parents check up on us when they get home at one a.m.” I kissed her sweetly. “I’ll see you first thing tomorrow though.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
I kissed her again, this time not so sweet. I backed her up until her knees hit the bed and she fell onto the mattress. Then I hovered over her, grinning. “Goodnight, Katie Baby.”
“Good night.”
I really didn’t want to leave. Like, not at all. I sighed with displeasure, and then climbed back out the window…and immediately landed on my twin.
“Ow, Cash, what the fuck?”
I got to my feet, brushing the dirt off my still damp swim trucks. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, looking from me to the window I’d exited, a smirk on his face. “Have you two been here the whole time? Or are you just now bringing her home?”
I started in the direction of our house. “We stayed and cleaned up the mess at the pool house, since most of you assholes left.” I threw a scowl over my shoulder, but when I faced forward again I couldn’t help but smile. The memory of tonight in the pool with Katie would stay with me till I was old and grey.
“For three hours?” He was beside me now.
So I reached out and punched his arm. “Stop fishing. I ain’t biting.”
He held his hands up. “All right, all right. I’ll quit.” He bumped his shoulder into mine. “I like Katie, man, I think you two are good together.” When I glanced at him out of the side of my eye, he shrugged. “I like seeing you happy, okay? I know I basically ruined the last year and a half of your life. And even though I joke about it, I feel really fucking guilty. I hate what I asked you to do for Avory and me. If I could go back in time…�
� He sighed. “I don’t know, looking back now, maybe I should have come clean with the ‘rents from the beginning.”
“It’s not too late, you know? To tell the parents.” I kicked a rock on the ground. “You’re headed to UT in the fall, and Avory is almost eighteen. We’d all cover for you, say that it just started.”
“Yeah, maybe.” He sounded hesitant, and I guess in a way that was understandable. He and Avory had been living a lie for so long, the truth probably terrified them at this point.
I wanted to say more, but in the distance I saw headlights. “Shit.” I’d been sure we had another hour or so, but it looked like we were out of time. “Our house is first, and they always check on us when they get home late.” I started walking faster. “What’s our story? We were with the girls, making sure they were okay? We were afraid we left the oven on at the pool house?” We were both power walking like old people at the mall by that point.
“Nah. Let’s just beat them home.” He shoved me to the side, then took off in a full sprint. I followed suit, although after I caught up to him we were laughing too hard to really do our best. He jumped the fence into the backyard and raced up the back steps. I threw opened the door and then Crue slammed it shut. We rounded the corner, and I leapt over the loveseat in the living room. We ran down the hall and into our separate rooms.
I heard the front door open as I kicked off my shoes, wincing when one hit one of my trophies. I jumped into bed, damp trunks and all. I turned on my side, facing the window so when they opened my door to check they wouldn’t notice how hard I was breathing. Or that I was seconds away from laughing out loud.
It’d been a really long time since Crue and I had been like that, since we’d acted our age, I guess. We ran through those fields like we did when we were kids, and it’d felt good.
About thirty seconds later, my door opened, my room flooding with soft light from the hallway. My dad whispered, “Good night, son, I love you.”
And I was no longer smiling.
Emotion clogged in my throat, and I suddenly felt like I could cry. We all gave him such a hard time, kept him in the dark and lied to his face.
When we were little, he was our hero. Now, mostly, we treated him like nothing more than a fixture in our house. A secondary character.
Beau was right, as much as it pained me to say it. “Us against the world” should never have come to this.
My parents loved me; they trusted me.
I closed my eyes and made a vow to start being a kid worthy of them.
Chapter Eighteen
Katie
It was tattoo day. I stood at Halen’s old dresser, searching through the clothes I’d brought with me. What did one wear to receive permanent ink? I tapped my chin, contemplating dramatically even though no one was around to see. My phone was resting on the dresser and I smiled when I saw my brother’s face light up the screen.
“I was beginning to think you’d been eaten by a bear.”
He snorted. “I think wolves would be most likely.”
“I miss you. How’s camp?” My brother and I were five years apart, which was a big age gap for siblings. We were close, though, due to years of being tucked safely away together. I wasn’t used to being apart from him like this.
“Camp is good. I was calling to check on you. Mom said you were spending the week at the Devil’s Share compound?”
I abandoned my clothing search and perched on the end of the bed. “Yeah, dad pretty much banished me here after he saw me talking to a man while I had a bottle of gin in my hand.”
“First of all, how did it feel? Rebelling for the first time in eighteen years? Did you pass out?”
“You’re funny.”
“I know.”
I could hear the smile in his voice, and it made me smile in return. “I’ll have you know that I’ve done plenty more rebelling since I’ve been here at the compound.” I got up and closed the bedroom door quietly. “These kids are crazy, Kase.” Images of being in the pool with Cash last night flashed in my mind. But that was crazy in a hot way. A new way that I wanted to do again and again and…
“I’ve heard that about them.”
“What? How? Their parents keep them out of the media more than ours do.” I’d never heard so much as a peep about the Devil’s Spawn, as they called themselves.
“Baseball. A few of my friends’ older brothers have played with some of them. Luke Matthews’s boys all play, I think.” There was a slight pause, like he was trying to remember exactly. “Either way, they all said after tournaments the boys would always want to party. Girls, booze, the whole thing.”
I nodded, more to myself since Kasen couldn’t see me. “Sounds about right.”
“I’ve gotta go, it’s time for practice.”
“I love you, kiddo.” I felt tears lodge in my throat. I really did miss him.
“You too, bye.”
I tossed my phone on the bed beside me and turned my head to look out the window. The window that Cash kept climbing through. Last night had been intense, amazing, and more than I’d ever imagined it would be. I wondered if the fact that I was so inexperienced bothered Cash? Or did he get a thrill from it? He was a player, but not. He’d been with a lot of girls masquerading as Crue. I wondered how many Cash had been with as himself?
“If you want to skip tattoos and keep wearing nothing but that short t-shirt all day, I’m game.”
I sat up and smiled. Cash was leaning against my once again opened bedroom door. His eyes were trained at the dangerously high hem of my shirt. “One little pool escapade and you’re a horn dog like your twin?” I got to my feet and skipped over to him.
He caught me when I jumped into his arms and backed into the door, shutting it as I kissed his lips. He chuckled. “Who’s the horn dog now?”
“You’re rubbing off on me.” He crossed the room and lay down on my bed.
“I would love to rub off on you, baby.” I shoved his chest playfully. “How’s Kasen? He liking camp?”
“He seems to be. But the kid eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball.” Cash ran his hands up my bare thighs and I fought the urge to grind against him. “I doubt there is a camp out there he wouldn’t like.”
“I’ve been to that one in Colorado. It’s a really good program.” His hands moved under my shirt and up my back. He pushed down, bringing me close enough that he could kiss my lips. “What’s it going to be, Katie Baby? You staying pant-less all day, or are we getting you tatted up?”
After last night, pant-less sounded tempting. But I’d wanted to do this for a long time. “Tatted up.” I hopped off him, grabbing some clothes from the dresser and then going into the bathroom to change.
“I’ve seen you naked.” Cash was speaking against the door, like his forehead was touching it.
“Not in the daylight, silly.” I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me.
“I’m adding it to the list.”
***
Cash drove us into Austin, maneuvering the early morning traffic beautifully. I had my driver’s license, but the only place I really ever drove was to school. And that was like ten minutes from the ranch.
“Okay, we’re here.”
Cash parallel parked the truck, which was an amazing feat in my opinion. When he turned off the ignition I opened the door and hopped out. He came around the front and took my hand. “Are you getting one too?”
He opened the shop’s front door for me. “Nah. Today is all about you, Katie Baby.” He palmed my ass as I walked past him. I liked the new handsy Cash Matthews.
The parlor was called Revival Ink, and at first glance it appeared to be exceptionally clean. Which I assumed was a major plus when it came to a tattoo shop. When we walked in, a heavily tattooed man came around the counter. His button-down had the sleeves rolled up and his grey beard was on point. He was older than I’d expected of a tattoo artist, maybe in his mid-fifties? But he was really freaking handsome.
“How can we help you to
day, folks?”
“I called the other day. We have an appointment.” Cash kept his hand on the small of my back and I barely resisted the urge to lean into him. Now was not the time to convince him to make out with me in the bathroom.
“Ah, then you must be Katie.”
I nodded. “I need to cross tattoo off my list of rebellion activities.” I held out the piece of paper I’d scrawled on last night when I’d gotten home. “This is what I want, but in a less chicken-scratch-looking font.”
The man read the lyric I’d handed him, his eyebrows rising. “I can honestly say, I’m surprised. Cute young girl like you? I expected an anchor, a heart, an arrow. Maybe a nice quote about living your best life.” He shook the slip of paper. “But this? This is a good tattoo, kid.”
I smiled. “Thanks.” The reassurance that what I was getting permanently placed on my body wasn’t utter crap was nice.
“Give me a few minutes to get set up.” He walked away and I sat down on the black leather couch in the waiting room.
It was a Tuesday morning, so it wasn’t surprising that we were the only two people in the shop. Who wanted tattoos with their cornflakes? Cash sat next to me, turning so he could see my face. “What did you pick?”
“But here in my heart, you get the best of my love.” I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. Never in my life had I touched a guy like this. Held hands, cuddled, kissed. This was all so new to me. But I think I loved it. “It’s a quote from an old Eagles song, ‘The Best of my Love.’ We have this old record player at the house. Apparently, when I was little my parents said that listening to the Eagles Greatest Hits album over and over was the only way to calm me down sometimes.”
Cash stood and helped me to my feet when the bearded man walked back into the room. “Okay, kiddo, I’m all ready for you.” He stuck his hand out—“I’m Waylon by the way”—and I shook it.
“I’m Katie, this is Cash.” They shook hands as well.
