She leaned in again. “Now what about you? I don’t see a ring on your finger.”
I smiled and shook my head. “If I wasn’t seeing someone, I’d take you up on it.”
“It’s her, isn’t it? His fiancée? I saw the way you looked at her and ran after her when she was upset.”
“Yeah, it’s her.”
“Lucky girl.”
“I’m feelin’ pretty damn lucky myself,” I said, opening the door. “Take care.”
When I got back to the campground, Drew was standing at the stove in the camper.
“Just in time,” she said, smiling. “I made us omelets and toast.”
“Smells great. I’m starving.”
She made us each a plate and carried them to the table, sliding mine in front of me as I sat down. Other than Colby, she was the only person who’d ever eaten in here with me. Memories of him were wound into so much of our lives. Would it ever feel like me and her instead of me, her and his ghost?
“I went back to Sneaky Steve’s and saw Brandi,” I said, needing to tell her before I started eating.
She furrowed her brow and responded with uncertainty. “Okay.”
“I asked her about that night last year, when I saw Colby go somewhere with her.”
Drew paled and stared into her plate. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I know. But when I saw how much it hurt you…I wanted to know. I needed to know. Like you said, you’d be married to him right now if the accident hadn’t happened. And he was my best friend. I didn’t want to wonder what kind of guy he really was anymore when I could find out for sure.”
She nodded solemnly.
“Nothing happened, Drew. She took him into the kitchen and showed him her tattoo.”
Her face reddened and she rolled her eyes. “That sounds like code.”
“No, her brother was there, too. He said the same thing she did and I talked to them back-to-back and separate from each other. Fuck if I know why, but he told ’em he was gonna get the word ‘lush’ tattooed on himself. I mean…it sounds fucked up, I know…”
I stopped. Drew’s hand covered her mouth, and she squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the emotion that was overtaking her.
“Hey,” I said, reaching for her hand. “What is it?”
She squeezed my hand and opened her eyes, tears falling to her cheeks.
“It’s true,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “What she said is the truth. No one but me or him would have known that.”
“That he was a lush? And sometimes a dumbass?”
She smiled at me. “Apparently he was. But ‘lush’ is something he used to text me when he was away. It meant ‘love u, sweetheart.’ ”
“Oh.”
She stood and walked over to me, wrapping her arms around my neck, her body relaxing against mine.
“I didn’t think I needed to know. But hearing that…it’s a relief. It’s not okay that he flirted and grabbed and checked out tattoos in kitchens, but…this means the last woman he made love to was me. And that does comfort me.”
I nodded, my chest tight. The truth was painfully clear. Colby would always be the man she’d dreamed of marrying. The one she lost. Her great love. I was just the guy who dulled her pain with sex.
She pulled away and smiled gratefully. “Okay, I’ll let you eat.”
“Actually, I’m not all that hungry.”
A flicker of something passed over her face. “I’m only hungry for one thing, and it’s not an omelet.”
She licked her lips and my cock hardened.
“Is that right?” I said in a low tone.
“You said you’d do your worst,” she said, her cheeks turning pink. “So do it.”
Tonight I wouldn’t just be dulling her pain with sex, but mine, too.
“Get up,” I said, leaning back against the island with my hands.
Drew shot up, looking at me expectantly.
“Take your shirt off,” I said. “Bra, too.”
She pulled the shirt over her head, dropped it to the floor, and then unhooked her bra and did the same with it.
Her tits were so fucking gorgeous. I rubbed my hand over my cock as my eyes roved her hard, pink nipples.
“Undo my pants,” I ordered.
She dropped to her knees, looking up at me with pure lust in her eyes. I’d never seen anything hotter.
“Do what I told you,” I said, my arousal making the words come out harsher than I’d intended.
She reached for my fly, unbuttoned, unzipped, and pulled out my hard cock.
“You want to suck me?” I stroked a hand over my cock and she licked her lips. Fuck.
“Yes.”
“Better suck me good,” I said, gripping the island counter as I forced myself not to let her see how worked up I really was. “Or you go to bed with an aching pussy.”
She worked her lips up and down my shaft, giving me a wet, slow blow job. I clenched my muscles, trying not to let the sight of my cock in her mouth do me in.
When she sped up and put a hand on my balls, I groaned deeply. The sight of her pretty red nails stroking my ball sac was just too damn much. And the feel of it…Christ, it was heaven.
“Get up,” I said.
She pulled back on my cock and stood up. I moved her so she was standing in front of the island, and then I reached around and undid her jean shorts, sliding them off with her pale pink panties.
The first hard smack on her ass made her jump with surprise. I wasn’t sure she liked it, but then she pushed her ass back toward me in a silent plea for more.
She leaned over and gripped the counter of the island, her back arched as I spanked her perfect round ass.
“You like that,” I said, sliding my other hand between her legs. “Fuck yeah, you like that a lot. You’re so goddamn wet.”
Without warning, I thrust myself into her and grabbed her hips. I wouldn’t be slow and tender this time. What she’d said about Colby had me feeling anything but tender.
She cried out as I pounded her, but I could tell this was both pleasure and pain for her. I was relentless, taking out my bitter feelings with every hard stroke.
“Aiden,” she said, her voice a whimper. “Don’t stop, I’m coming.”
She moaned and cried out my name. I gripped her hips tighter and thrust myself balls deep, unloading inside her with a hard shudder.
Laying her upper body on the island, she breathed hard for a few seconds before letting out a deep, sexy laugh.
“Aiden, you’re definitely not all talk.”
I looked at the bright red marks on her ass and hips. I’d gone hard on her. She’d be feeling it tomorrow. And wasn’t it just my luck that she thought my punishment sex was more like a reward.
One way or another, this woman was going to be the fucking end of me.
Chapter 24
Drew
I chanced a glance at Aiden, hoping his jaw wasn’t still set in the same tense line.
It was.
Usually the silence between us was comfortable, but today it was filled with tension. And the worst part was not even knowing why.
“It has to be about impossible to get the probes into the tornado every time,” I said. “The way it moved…I don’t think anyone could’ve hit that mark.”
He grunted his acknowledgment, still staring out the windshield. I considered taking off my shirt to see if that would get his attention.
“You know what I like?” I traced a fingertip on his thigh.
“Hmm?”
“I like it when you kiss me slow and sweet sometimes.”
This time his grunt was skeptical. “There’s nothing sweet about me, Drew.”
“That’s not true.”
He reached for the dial on the radio and turned it up a little. I turned it back down.
“What’s gotten into you?” I asked. “Everything was going so well until you went and saw Brandi. Do you wish Colby had cheated on me?”
; “Christ, Drew.” He glared at me. “Why the fuck would you think that?”
“I’m just asking. What’s going on?”
His brows shot up. “Nothing’s going on. This is just how I am. If you don’t want to fuck anymore for our last two weeks here, no hard feelings.”
I recoiled, feeling a physical ache in my stomach. “Our last two weeks? You don’t want to see me anymore after this trip?”
“I’m traveling for the next three months. I’ve got classes to teach and a climb to lead. After that I’ll be busy with the cabin.”
“Too busy for me,” I said bitterly.
He shrugged. “We hooked up. It’s been good. But I’m not boyfriend material. I told you before I ever touched you that I’m the opposite of Colby. The thought of marriage gives me the shakes.”
“Why are you being such an asshole?”
“Just being honest.”
“So you think I want another man like Colby? Who paws other women?”
“He was more than just that. He was sweet and sappy and delirious about the thought of settling down with you.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, because he knew he’d still be feeling up other women on the side.”
“No matter what we do, everything between us will always come back to him. I can’t keep my best friend’s fiancée on my list of no-strings girls. You don’t want that, anyway.”
“Do you actually have a list?”
“In my phone, yeah. I’m about sex and nothing else, Drew.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything.”
I folded my arms protectively around myself. “Thanks for making me feel like a whore. That’s all I want to say.”
Something flashed across his face, but he pressed his lips together, saying nothing.
I slumped against the truck’s passenger door, wishing I’d stopped pursuing Aiden when he told me to. Now I felt hurt and used, which I’d never expected from this thing with him. I hadn’t been expecting forever, but I also hadn’t thought I was the only one who felt something.
We rode the rest of the way back in silence. I slammed the truck door and went into the motorhome. Aiden wouldn’t be getting any more no-strings sex from me.
I had a clear vision of what I didn’t want, but I was more lost than ever about what I did want. All the time I’d spent on the road on this trip left me feeling like I was searching for something I still hadn’t found. It wasn’t Aiden. It wasn’t any man. I wanted to find something within myself that gave me a purpose. I’d proven I could storm chase, which gave me a sense of pride, but what did that tell me about my future?
So far I’d come up empty-handed in my search for something more. I ate a sandwich and went to bed early, hoping the answers might come to me as I slept.
Chapter 25
Drew
“Trouble in paradise?” Tex asked from the passenger side of my truck.
“Fuck off.”
“What’s she mad about? I could tell when she asked me to switch with her that she was really pissed.”
“None of your business, you nosy bastard.”
He cracked his knuckles. “Is she still pissed about the waitress? That’s a load of shit. It was never your place to tell her about that.”
“Shut up about it or I’m dumping you on the side of the road.”
He leaned back and tipped his hat over his face. Hopefully he’d sleep the rest of the way to Alabama, where we were chasing today. We’d be on the road for hours and would probably end up staying there, where I’d room with Tex and Murph. The last thing I felt like doing was talking to either of them about Drew.
I’d fucked things up bad with her. Seeing her get emotional over Colby making love to her for the last time had tipped me into a dark, angry place.
When she was with him, I’d never even hoped she’d give me a second look. I’d accepted that I was meant to worship her from afar a long time ago. But Colby’s death had upset the equilibrium. Then she had looked at me, and I’d gotten even more hooked on her.
But Colby would never really be gone. He’d always live in her heart as the man she wanted to spend her life with. I was second choice, and even though I told myself that was enough, it wasn’t.
I hadn’t meant to start something with Drew, but jumping on top of her in that ditch had led me to a place I couldn’t look away from. My feelings for her had spiraled out of control. In the back of my mind, I’d been rearranging my class schedule to work in some time for us once we got back to Lipton.
But then she’d brought up making love to Colby and my hopes had been stomped to death. I wanted her to feel the same way about me that I felt about her. Consumed. Helpless.
I was just a sex partner to her, though. Ironic that I was being treated the way I’d been treating women my whole life. I deserved this, but it still fucking hurt.
We chased in one big group, ending up in the middle of a nasty thunderstorm that never spawned a tornado. Drew wouldn’t even look at me.
I took the couch in the motel room, closing my eyes before I was asleep to avoid conversation with Murph and Tex. My misery would only get worse if I tried to put it into words.
Chapter 26
Drew
Murph furrowed his brow at the GPS unit in the Funnel Finder.
“I did turn left back there,” he said to the automated female voice.
We were lost in the middle of nowhere, but Murph wouldn’t acknowledge it.
He gave me a reassuring smile. “Just got turned around a bit. We’ll be back on the highway in no time.”
I forced myself not to cringe. He’d been taking a “shortcut” to a town with a gas station so I could go to a bathroom, and I really had to go.
“I did turn left back there, didn’t I?” he asked me.
“You know, I don’t remember.” I squeezed my thighs together and stared at the Funnel Finder’s maroon dashboard.
“Hmm,” he grumbled. “These dang GPS devices aren’t worth a hoot out here in the country.”
“I’m sorry, Murph, but I have to pee now. Can you pull over so I can run into the woods?”
“We’ll be back on track here in a sec and I’ll take you to a place with toilet paper and a sink,” he said, punching buttons on the GPS.
“It’s been almost thirty minutes. I had two huge iced teas this morning. Please pull over.”
“Okay.” He edged the station wagon over to the side of the road. “Do you want me to come with you in case of snakes or anything?”
I held back a smile. “No, I’ll be okay.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t watch or anything…I didn’t mean it like that.”
I squeezed the door handle, waiting for him to stop talking.
“I think I’ve got some napkins in the glove box,” he said, reaching over.
I opened the car door. “I’m fine. I’ll be right back.”
He was calling something after me but I didn’t hear him because I’d broken into a run.
As much as I didn’t want to be around Aiden right now, Murph was worse. Today was my second day with him, and he talked nonstop. Yesterday I’d at least had Millie and we’d taken turns pretending to listen, but today she’d stayed back at camp to take an exam for her online class.
It was me, Murph, the open road, and the knowledge that Aiden was right behind us. I’d been back and forth between sadness and fury all day. When Murph had slowed on the highway and motioned Aiden to go around us so we could take the “shortcut” to the gas station, I’d glanced over at Aiden as he passed us. I’d tried to give him an impassive look, but he was focused on the road.
Had he been arrogant and horrible all along? I didn’t think so. Something seemed to have set his feelings for me in a new direction, and I still hadn’t accepted the shock of his sudden change of heart.
Once I got past the edge of the woods, I had to push through an area of trees too thick to allow me room to pee. Then I found a clear
spot, but saw poison ivy just as I started to unbutton my shorts.
I groaned, my bladder at its breaking point. Looking around frantically, I dashed into another dense group of trees until I came to another small clearing.
No poison ivy. No creepy crawlies in sight. I did my thing, sighing with relief.
As soon as I stood and pulled my shorts back up, I checked the pocket where I kept my phone to make sure I hadn’t lost it. And sure enough, it wasn’t there. I scanned the ground to see where it had fallen.
I bent down to look closer, really hoping I hadn’t just peed on my phone. But all the dead leaves I searched through turned up nothing.
Damn. My phone had lots of photos, including the selfies Aiden and I had taken on this storm-chasing trip, and the video I’d taken of him shooting his probe launcher. And with the bad turn things between us had taken, those photos were more precious to me now. We wouldn’t be snapping any more pictures of us on an old wooden bridge, bright green trees our backdrop as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and smiled the happiest grin I’d ever seen from him.
I had to find it. Murph would just have to wait for me. I headed back to the poison ivy clearing, knowing I’d dig my phone out of poison ivy if I had to. Happy memories were too few and far between to let go of so easily.
As I was searching the ground for my phone, I realized something was off. There was no poison ivy. I looked up and turned, scanning the forest in all directions.
Just great. I was lost. Or as Murph would say, turned around.
How big could this forest be? I chose a direction and started pushing through the branches and weeds.
It turned out to be bigger than I thought. My internal clock told me more than half an hour had passed, and I was no closer to getting out of here. I wondered if Murph would come looking for me. Then we’d both end up lost.
Instinct told me to stop and wait. Murph knew I was in here and he knew something was wrong. Help would eventually come. But it was late afternoon, and I couldn’t stand the thought of darkness falling while I was in here. I already felt like the trees were closing in on me, surrounding me from all sides. A clawing need to escape rose inside me, and I kept moving.
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