Heart of Stone

by Tess Oliver

  I arched my back and pushed myself harder against his mouth. With strong, callused fingers, he grabbed my legs and dragged my ass closer to the edge of the bed. He dropped my knees over his shoulders and pressed his face against me. His mouth devoured me as his thumb massaged my throbbing clit with just enough pressure to coax me close to the edge of an orgasm.

  “Hunter,” my voice floated through the dark room, “God yes, don’t stop. I’m almost there.” I squeezed my thighs around his face as his tongue stroked every deep, intimate part of me. “Yes!” I cried out as my body split apart into a million pieces. His mouth continued with a stream of soft kisses until my breathing slowed.

  I stretched back with a luxurious sigh and gazed up at him as he pushed to his feet. He reached to the back of his neck and yanked off his shirt. A finely chiseled sculpture of muscle, ink and the thin scars of his brutal childhood, there was nothing more beautiful than Hunter Stone without a shirt.

  I propped up on my elbows. “Do you want me to return the favor?” My words sounded long and lazy as if I was still drunk with it all.

  “Nope. As much as I love that mouth of yours, Street, the only place I want to be right now is between your thighs with my cock buried deep inside that hot pussy I just had the good fortune to taste.” He grinned as he licked his lips. “Can still taste you. I might not wash my face for awhile.”

  “You’re such a pig.” I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. He deflected it easily with his rock hard forearm.

  “Yes, I am and you love me for it.” He’d said the words with a laugh, but they pierced my chest like an arrow. A cold, lonely feeling swept over me. Love. How the hell could he tease me about loving him when he knew I was completely crazy about him? It was all so damn lopsided. Hunter hadn’t noticed my change in mood, and I decided to mask it with a fake smile.

  I sat up and kissed his hard stomach as I unbuttoned his fly. His massive erection was straining to be free of his jeans. I slid my hands along his waistband. As I pushed his pants down, something soft and silky, and very not Hunter-like, rubbed my palm. I stopped. As I reached for the pink silk in his pocket, he tried to grab the panties first. But my small hand reached under his. I plucked the pink fabric and yanked the underwear free. Someone, the owner, I assumed, had scribbled her phone number on the crotch with a black marker. I scooted back on the bed and dangled the panties from my finger.

  I swallowed hard and stared at the underwear.

  “Street, those— those belong to some girl.”

  “Well, that’s fucking good to know. At least now I know they don’t belong to you.”

  I flung them across the room. “I guess she didn’t have a cocktail napkin handy so she just yanked off her panties to make sure you had her number.” I kept a cool exterior, but inside, my heart was splitting. I knew he was sleeping around with a lot of girls, but, for sanity’s sake, I always just pushed it out of my head. Otherwise, it was too much to bear. But the panties had felt like a slap back into reality.

  I scooted toward the end of the bed and reached for my own panties and t-shirt.

  “Street, c’mon, you know this kind of shit is going on. Why are you getting so bent out of shape about it?”

  Tears threatened but I blinked hard to keep them back. I pulled on my t-shirt.

  “You know you’re my ‘go to’ girl. You’re the one I always want.”

  “In between other fucks, you mean?” I sucked in a wobbly breath and reminded myself again not to cry. “Hunter Stone’s ‘go to’ girl. What a grand fucking title I’ve earned myself.” I stood up.

  He reached for me but I stepped out of his reach. It took all of my courage to look up at his face. His face was always my breaking point. I could never say no to his face, but tonight, I had to place my own heart ahead of that damn face.

  I shook my head. There was a flicker of hurt in his expression. Or at least that was what my aching, tender chest wanted to believe. “I can’t do this anymore, Hunter. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve inherited my mom’s lunacy. Why the hell would I put myself through all this?”

  “Street— Amy— you know how I am?”

  One sob escaped, but I tamped the others down. “No, see you don’t get to use the fact that you’re an asshole as an excuse for shoving girls’ panties in your pocket. You have fun with panty girl and every other girl you want, but I can’t do this anymore. I need something to fill that vacancy, just like you said. And it’s not just your mouth or your hand or that big fucking cock of yours. I need you. All of you. And if you can’t give me that then I need to move on.” I grabbed my coat and slipped past him. He didn’t stop me, and I knew he wouldn’t.

  I ran outside. Slade was just walking up to the house.

  “Street, where are you heading?”

  “The asylum, where I belong,” I muttered and marched past him. I sensed that he was still watching me for a few seconds. Then I heard his front door open and shut.

  I reached my house and peeked in through the window. Mom was still busy taping shut the cupboards.

  I turned around and headed down the street toward the marina. The first raindrops fell before I reached the corner. Lightning broke through the black sky and more rain followed. I picked up my pace. Tears rolled down my face as I ran for the dock. My dad’s boat, the Ranger, had few comforts and the engine hadn’t worked in years, but the small pilot house was a place to hide away from all the madness that filled my life.

  Chapter 2

  Hunter

  The bowls were all in the sink. I grabbed the cellophane bag from the cereal box and poured the remaining milk directly into it. I squeezed the empty milk carton in my hand, and it collapsed, causing a small eruption of the last drops of milk. I threw the squished container on the table and sat down.

  I rolled the sides of the bag down and plunged my spoon inside. I shoveled in a spoonful of cereal and glanced out the kitchen window to the house next door. It looked quiet. No aliens, or spaceships, or crazy lady running around with tin foil on her head or a towel cape pinned to her shoulders.

  There was no sign of Amy either. Her car was still there, but she hadn’t come over, like she usually did, to see what we were up to. Of course, I was pretty sure she came over less to see what was happening in our house and more to avoid what was happening in hers.

  Last night had ended badly, but she’d come around. She always did. She’d known me long enough to know I wouldn’t change and that I wasn’t worth the effort. I’d fallen into bed still rock hard and was tortured by her scent for the rest of the night.

  She’d been right about everything. I was a complete asshole, and she had no chance to meet anyone local. Because of me, every guy was afraid to get near her. For a few weird seconds after she’d walked out on me, I’d told myself I had to lay off. I had to stop threatening and scaring away every guy who got too close to her. Either I had to commit or let her go free. But as I let that idea settle in my head, I knew there was no fucking way I could let her go. I couldn’t stand the thought of it. At the same time, I was a fucking coward about commitment. Colt had finally taken the plunge into the abyss, and he seemed extremely happy. But he had always been different than me. I’d been the oldest. I’d lived the longest in this hell hole when the leather strap wielding spawn of Satan was at the helm. More than once, I’d taken the blame for things my younger brothers had done just because I couldn’t stomach listening to them get a beating. I had been the oldest, the strongest, the biggest, and I’d needed to protect them. It had left my outer shell impenetrable. It was what’d helped me survive. And no one, not even the one person in the world who I cared about more than anyone, could break through the shield of armor I’d constructed.

  Slade came down the hallway and into the kitchen. He looked pointedly at my bag of cereal. “Nice bowl. Guess we could turn the water on and rinse some of these dishes.”

  I lifted my breakfast. The cereal and milk rolled to the corner of the bag. “Why bother when the cereal companies are p
roviding us with these convenient containers.”

  Slade looked at the flattened milk carton. “So, you finished the last of the cereal and the milk?”

  I held the bag up to him. “You want some?”

  “Fuck.” He turned to the refrigerator and dug out a piece of cold pizza. He pulled out a chair and sat across from me. “Where the hell were you last night? Still hanging with those low-lifes?”

  I laughed and waved my arm around the small, filthy kitchen. “Look around, buddy. We’re already at the bottom.”

  “Speak for yourself. Those guys are just fucking trouble.” He pulled a piece of cold melted cheese off the pizza slice and shoved it in his mouth.

  “Yeah? Then it would be my trouble and not yours. They like to play poker, and I just happen to like it too. Just worry about your own ass.”

  He put up his hand. “Fine, whatever.” He took another bite and didn’t swallow before he asked his next prying question. “Why did Street leave here in such a fit last night?”

  I ignored him and shoveled out another scoop of cereal.

  “I guess that answers my question. You know, she’s going to eventually get tired of you and then she’ll tell you to fuck off and then you’re going to be crying like a big fucking baby.”

  I chewed and stared at him across the table.

  He bit off a piece of the leathery pizza and stared back. “See. You know I’m right. Those eyes already look weepy.”

  “You’re funny as hell this morning. You must have finally gotten lucky last night.”

  He swallowed hard to get the chewy pizza down and hopped up to grab a soda. “What the hell do you mean finally? It’s a rare night, my big brother, when I don’t end up with some pussy on the end of my cock.” He popped the soda and sat down again. “But from that twisted look on your face, it seems that you were not so lucky last night. Did Street cut you off midstream?”

  I pushed up from the chair. “Let’s drop the subject.” I put the remaining cereal into the trash and headed out.

  “Again— that answers my question,” Slade called to me. “You’re going to be sorry the day she walks out of here for good.”

  I headed out the door. It wasn’t Slade’s usual warning that made me walk next door. It was my own conscience, something that rarely surfaced, that told me I needed to see Amy. I couldn’t stand the thought of her being mad at me.

  I walked around to the back of the house and knocked on Amy’s window. There was no answer. She knew it was me and was ignoring the sound. I knocked again. “Street, come on. Let me in. I just want to talk.” No answer.

  I reached up and pushed on the window frame. It creaked open. I shoved the bottom pane up. With the curtains closed and the sun on the opposite side of the house, the room was still dark. I hadn’t broken into her room since we were teenagers, but I still fit through the space, barely. I braced my hands on the ledge and managed to pull my top half inside. A floorboard creaked next to the window. I lifted my head just in time to see Amy’s mom, Sarah, and the glass vase she was holding.

  “Alien intruder!” she screamed.

  The vase came down over my head. The loud cracking sound that followed seemed to come mostly from the vase. My skull vibrated, and the searing pain in the back of my head was followed by a hot stream of blood.

  “Fucking hell, you loon.” I fell back out of the window and into the bristly shrub. Sarah shut the window and locked it, obviously pleased with herself for thwarting an alien invasion. I had to assume Amy wasn’t inside. Unless she was pissed enough to stand by and watch me get crowned with a vase.

  I wasn’t seeing stars, but I was definitely feeling off balance as I stumbled back out to the front of the house. The steady stream of blood had already soaked my collar. Amy was just walking up the driveway. She looked tired and puffy eyed. She was still dressed in the t-shirt and coat. Her long legs stuck out from under the coat. She wasn’t wearing any shoes. She hadn’t gone back home after she’d fled from my room. Now I wanted to know where the hell she’d been.

  Her face blanched as she noticed the red stain soaking my collar and the blood on my hand. “What happened?”

  I stomped toward her. “Where did you spend the night?” My sharp question erased the worry on her face and replaced it with anger.

  “Sorry, Street, I hadn’t meant to use such a harsh tone, but my head is splitting with pain and I, no doubt, will be spending the next few hours in the emergency room with some shaky handed intern sewing up my scalp. And I need to know where the fuck you’ve been.” Sometimes the jealousy I felt when it came to Amy nearly gnarled me up inside. It was another reason I’d always kept myself at a distance. I was afraid of what I might do if I actually allowed myself to have her.

  “I was on the boat, and, of course, there were three guys with me and we fucked like a goddamn carnival act, trapezes, trampolines, the whole fucking big top show. You should have seen the sword swallowing act.” She pushed past me but then stopped and turned back. “And just to let you know, you don’t get to ask me that anymore. I can do whatever the hell I like.”

  I gazed down at her. The image got a little blurry. My head spun and I swayed on my feet. She reached forward and pushed her hands against my chest to keep me from falling on my face.

  “What the hell happened to you?” she asked. The rage had faded.

  “I was trying to get in your room, and your mom thought I was an alien intruder. She slammed a vase on the back of my head.”

  She circled around and gasped as she saw the back of my head. “Holy hell, we’ve got to get you to the emergency room.”

  “Might as well. I mean, it’s been a great fucking day so far.”

  “Let’s go inside so I can get something to put pressure on that cut. Then I’ll can grab my keys.” We walked across the connecting yards to my house.

  “You’d better watch it when you go back to your house. Your mom is taking crazy to a whole new level. You seriously need to have her put away.” I was pissed, and when I was pissed, stupid shit came out of my mouth.

  Amy stopped halfway up the porch steps. “Have her put away?”

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. My head is ready to fucking explode. You’re twisting my words.”

  She stepped onto the porch landing and faced me. “I’m not twisting them. That’s exactly what you said. But why stop there? Maybe I can just have her put down like some rabid animal.” Her words sounded choked as if she might cry. Amy rarely cried or at least she went out of her way not to when she was around me.

  “Fuck, Street, now you’re sounding just as crazy as her.” The stupid shit was flowing like the blood pooling on my collar.

  “May I remind you that you are a menacing fucking giant, and you were breaking into the house. Most people would have grabbed something to hit you with.”

  The head blow was causing my stomach and this morning’s cereal to churn, and I was close to puking. “Your mom has known me since I was born. She called me an alien, Amy. She’s lost her last hold on reality. You can’t take care of her on your own.”

  She reached for the door, but Slade opened it first. “What the hell is going on out here?” He looked at me. “Fucking hell, bro, I think your brain is seeping out onto your shirt.”

  That suggested image was all I needed. I spun around and puked off the side of the porch.

  I braced my hands on the railing until the porch stopping moving beneath my feet.

  I heard the front door open and shut. Seconds later, Amy was pressing a cloth against the back of my head.

  I took hold of it. “I’m good. Slade can drive me to the hospital.” I lifted my fuzzy gaze to hers. The pain in her face was more intense than the pain in my head. Amy was the last person I ever wanted to hurt, and yet, I managed to do just that every fucking day of my life and I had no idea how to stop. Stopping meant letting down my guard and letting down my guard was impossible. “Go back to your house and make sure your mom’s O.K..” I’d eased up
on my sharp tone, but it didn’t erase the sadness in her face.

  She spun around, flew off the porch steps and ran home.

  “What the hell is going on between you two?” Slade asked. “I mean, I figured one day this whole weird thing between you two would just go haywire but from the look of it—”

  “Are you going to keep talking while I bleed to death, or are you going to drive me to the fucking ER?”

  Chapter 3

  Amy

  My tires chirped and I flew off the seat a second as my car jumped from the asphalt onto the gravel road leading to Colt’s house. Jade’s car was in the driveway next to Colt’s truck. I hadn’t taken the time to text her and let her know I was coming. The scene with Hunter, a second traumatic blow in less than a day, had nearly made me sick. I was worried about his head, but at the same time, I was so pissed about his usual string of careless words, that I couldn’t bear driving along with him to the hospital.

  I got out of the car. The house was quiet. Jade had worked at Lazy Daze until closing and was probably still in bed, which meant that Colt was probably still there too. They were inseparable. Their relationship was one of the reasons I’d really started to hate the one-sided relationship I was having with Hunter. In fact, I was pretty sure I was the only one even calling it a relationship. And now that I thought of that word, it sounded completely stupid in my head. God, I really was as delusional as my mom, but instead of aliens, I imagined myself being an important part of Hunter’s life. No green men involved but still just as irrational.

  I knocked a couple of times and was just about to send a text to Jade when I heard heavy footsteps plodding across the wood floor. Colt had pulled on his jeans but hadn’t bothered to button them. I looked pointedly down at the his wide open fly. “Nice look. What if I had been your grandmother or something?” I pushed past him.

  “Then that would be pretty fucking creepy because she’s been dead for about thirty years,” he called to me. “Jade’s still in bed,” he continued, but I ignored him.