by Sabre Rose
His hands gripped the flesh of my upper arms. His eyes bore into mine. My heart raced erratically, and in that moment, I couldn’t remember a single reason why I had broken up with him. The words he had said to me that morning after, raced through my mind. “Kiss me,” I dared.
Tyler didn’t need any further invitation. His hands clasped my cheeks, his mouth crashed onto mine and I lost myself in the sensations of lust that rippled through me. His hands found their way into my hair, bending and melding me to his mouth. His tongue wrapped around mine and desire burned between my legs. I needed this man. I wanted this man.
I tore away, breathless. “Take me home,” I panted. “Fuck me.”
Smiling slowly and taking my face in his hands again, Tyler said, “No.”
The word struck me like a whip. “No?” I repeated. “Why not?”
“Because you’re drunk.”
“I was drunk the other night and it didn’t stop you.”
“True,” Tyler mused. “But you weren’t this drunk and you weren’t babysitting your niece.”
Even though he was smiling, even though he was being sensible and responsible and I knew it, his refusal still pissed me off. Probably more from the alcohol flowing through my system.
“Well, fuck off then,” I said, pushing against his chest.
“No,” he said again, though this time his infuriating grin was gone.
“Leave me alone,” I ordered. “There is no need for you to be here.”
“How are you getting home?”
“I will call a taxi.”
“Don’t be stupid,” he snorted.
“I’m not being stupid. I don’t want you here, Tyler. I was doing just fine before you waltzed over here and put your hands all over me.”
“I’m not leaving,” Tyler said firmly. “I’m taking you and Madison home.”
“No!” I took a step back, crossing my arms over my chest in defiance.
“Lauren,” he warned, advancing on me.
I took another step backwards and banged into someone, sending me sprawling to the ground. Tyler reached for me but I jerked away from his touch. “Just leave, Tyler Thornton,” I shouted.
Tyler glanced around the crowd, nervous of the attention I was drawing, and waited as I found my feet. “I’m only trying to look after you, Lauren.”
I wanted to stop the words coming out of my mouth but I couldn’t. The alcohol had some strange power over my actions and words that I couldn’t control, despite inwardly cringing at my behaviour.
“I’m going to find Gabe,” I yelled. “At least he knows how to let loose and have a little fun once in a while.”
“Like fuck you are. This is why I can’t stand for you to be around him. I don’t know what you’re going to do.” He reached for my hand but I jerked away violently.
“You don’t know what I’m going to do?” I almost shrieked, then I glanced around the room, becoming aware of all the eyes watching. It was the casino opening night all over again, only this time I was the one doing the yelling.
Tyler pulled me close, pressing his body against mine. I could feel the slight surge of his hardness and I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, but I didn’t pull away.
“What are you afraid I’m going to do, Tyler?” I asked. “Is it based on past behaviour? Because I don’t recall ever once fucking Gabe after we broke up. Not once. I didn’t hold his hand. I didn’t kiss him. I didn’t do anything but love you, Tyler Thornton, and you made me feel like shit for it. You knew I had a relationship with Gabe when you pursued me and yet you never forgave me for it.”
I glared at him, anger colouring my expression. Enough was enough. Sure, I had made a mistake by not telling him about that one time I danced with Gabe, but other than that, everything had been initiated by Gabe. I had not instigated, or been a willing participant in any of it.
Tyler’s chest heaved. His eyes flashed with a mixture of anger and lust. We stood facing each other, not touching, but standing dangerously close. So close that I could feel the heat of him, inhale the scent of him.
“Fuck,” Tyler cursed. “I'm powerless against you, you know that?” And then his lips were on me again, his hands wrapping around my waist and falling to cup the cheeks of my backside. He held me against his body before tearing himself away once again.
“We’re leaving,” he instructed. And before I had the chance to respond he took my hand and pulled me after him through the crowd. Tapping Madi on the shoulder, he jerked his head towards the door, letting her know we were going. She hugged Gabe then clutched onto Tyler’s arm, looping her own through the crook of his elbow and followed him outside with me reluctantly dragged behind.
“Where the fuck is Sadie?” Tyler said. He stood in the entrance, eyes scanning the heads of the crowd with Madi and I either side of him. The surge of adrenalin the alcohol had given me before was beginning to fade. Swaying with the power of the music, I breathed deeply again, hoping the increase of air to my lungs would dull the sudden wave of nausea.
Disengaging himself from Madi’s grasp, Tyler pulled out his phone and called Sadie. After getting hold of her, he dragged us both outside. “Sadie’s staying with Jake,” was his only explanation.
Madi, still perky and bouncy, jumped into the front passenger’s seat while Tyler helped me into the back. I lay on the cold leather, counting my breaths. In and out. Slow and steady.
The rolls and sways of the ride home did little to quell my sickness and I was grateful when I looked up at the familiar streetlight outside my house. It had a piece of its cover missing and the exposed patch of light shone brighter than the rest.
Cold air blew over me as the door was opened and Tyler’s hand tugged on my legs. “Come on,” he said, more gentle than he had been at the club. “Let’s get you into bed.”
I was hoisted into the air and found myself in his arms. Pathetically kicking my feet, I told him to put me down, but he insisted I wouldn’t make it to the door, and when I saw the steps, I had to agree.
The next place I found myself was flopped onto my bed. I closed my eyes as the sound of the stretcher getting dragged across the floor faded. The bed dipped and Tyler sat on the edge, tugging his boots. The movement made my stomach lurch.
“You don’t have to stay,” I said sullenly.
“I’m not leaving you like this.”
“Where’s Madi?” I asked, aware she should be in the room with me.
“She moved her stretcher into the lounge when she realised I was staying.”
“You’re staying?” I repeated.
Tyler chuckled. “We’ve just been over this. I’m not leaving you like this.”
“You’re staying in my bed?” My voice was croaky.
“Would you prefer it if I slept on the couch?” By this stage, he had removed his shoes, socks, and shirt, and was tugging the waistband of his jeans. I twisted from the position I had been flopped down in to get a better look, and watched as his jeans slid to the floor and he was left mainly naked. The light shone in through the window and danced shadows across his smooth flesh. I moaned and Tyler chuckled again.
“Do you see something you like, Miss Greer?” he asked as he slid into the sheets. Leaning forward, he tugged the blankets out from under my body, wrestled my shoes off my feet and tossed the now freed blankets over the two of us.
I scooted across the mattress and nuzzled into his side, letting my hand roam across his chest. Tyler picked it up and removed it, placing it back next to my side. Finding a sudden burst of energy, I sat up and threw my top off then my bra, wiggled out of my jeans and left only my underwear on.
“What are you doing?” Tyler asked, his eyes glued to my chest. My nipples tightened under his gaze. I slid my hand over his chest again, caressing the smooth flesh as I trailed it over the swells of his pecs, the shadowy undulations of his stomach and followed the v-line down to the waistband of his boxers. But again, he caught my hand and held it away. “Lauren,” he breathed. But I was unsu
re if it was a warning or an invitation.
Moving to straddle him, I took his wrists and pulled his hands to my chest, squeezing the flesh of my breasts so it bulged through his fingers.
“My god, this is torture for me, Lauren.”
I bent down, hovering my mouth above his. “Please fuck me,” I begged.
Tyler moaned. One of the gloriously wicked moans that quickened my pulse. “You’re so beautiful,” he said in a reverent tone.
Beneath me, I felt the hardness of his erection press against my wetness. Tyler sucked in a breath, before shaking his head and holding my hand away from him again. “No,” he said. “I’m not fucking you tonight only to have you curse me tomorrow.”
“But I want you.” Something in the back of my mind told me to stop begging, attempting to remind me how I’d feel in the morning. “I won’t curse you in the morning.”
“As much as I want to take you right here, right now, I’m not going to, Lauren. No matter how much you beg.”
The words shot out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Gabe would’ve.”
Ice sliced through me.
“Fuck!” Tyler twisted his hips, tossing me from him. “Why would you say that, Lauren? What on earth would possess you?”
“Maybe it’s because I’m sick of feeling guilty for a part of who I am. I can’t change my past, Tyler Thornton, no matter how much I would want to. I slept with Gabe. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
Tyler was quiet for a long time. I expected him to get up and leave, but he just lay there, flat on his back, eyes glued to the ceiling, his chest rising and falling. “You’re drunk,” he said finally. “Get some sleep.”
* * *
When I woke the next morning with a wicked hangover and a throbbing headache, Tyler’s side of the bed was cold. I let my hand travel over the space, feeling more nauseated from the memory of my behaviour than from the drink. Pressing my face into the pillow, I let out a frustrated sigh. I was more confused than ever. It seemed that even though the sensible part of me, the practical part, told me to stay away from Tyler Thornton, the rest of me couldn’t. Nor did it want to.
A hot shower brought some life back into my body, but my stomach still cramped and my head still throbbed. Madi and Sadie sat at the kitchen table when I entered, a full array of food before them.
“Tyler went grocery shopping,” Madi said happily. Too loudly, and too perky, but happily.
“He’s still here?” I was surprised at the violence of the sudden lurch in my heart.
“Nah,” she said, stuffing her mouth with fresh melon that had been sliced and arranged on a plate. “But he did say he thought it would be best if Mum didn’t arrive to a house with no food in it and three hungover women.” She chewed loudly, the green flesh of the fruit visible in her open mouth. “I told him I was fine, though. No hangover for me!”
“I, on the other hand,” Sadie added, “am not quite so fortunate.”
“You and me both. What time did you get to bed?” I reached for a piece of dry toast, not yet trusting myself with anything else.
“I haven't yet,” was Sadie’s reply.
The lounge had been tidied. Madi’s bags were neatly stacked in the corner, her stretcher had been put away and the array of food on display was impressive.
Because of Tyler, my sister would never know of the indiscretion of Madi sneaking out. I must thank him sometime. If I saw him again.
My voice begging him to fuck me replayed in my mind. I wasn’t sure if I could ever look him in the eye again. I had begged and been rejected.
16
GABE
The way she looked at me. The way she leaned back into him. Her actions said it all. I had lost her. And I was foolish to think I could have ever won her back.
I was heartbroken when Lauren broke it off with me. At first, I delved into my usual response, drink. Drew sat to the side and watched as I drank and fucked my way through the heartbreak, but it was what I did next that surprised him the most. We had been friends for years, he had helped me through a lot of tough times, but when I announced I was going to the city to work for my father, he laughed. It only hardened my resolve. I would work for Dad and make my way up the rungs of the company ladder. I would prove to him, to her, to myself, I was capable. I would win her back.
Only she didn’t want to be won back, and I hated who I was trying to become. Tyler didn’t make it any easier. He despised me and I despised him. He stole my girl and now I was trying to steal her back.
Lauren had always let me down gently when I’d tried to sidle my way back into her good graces. She’d always been sweet, gentle. But last night in the club, she’d spoken to me harshly. She was sick of my advances. Sick of me constantly trying to get my hands on her, make her remember what we used to have. And it cut deeply.
I was back working at a coffee shop now. Dad had been surprisingly calm when I told him. In fact, he’d been surprisingly calm ever since the night he crashed the car and got arrested. I think it shocked him, made him realise what he’d become. A money-hungry, grumpy old bastard who cared more for Thornton Industries than his wife or children. He told me he was going to do right by Oliver. I hated him and loved him for saying it. Hated him because he never tried with me. Loved him because he was going to try for the wee dude that had never known him like I did. Hopefully, he never would.
The coffee shop wasn’t nearly as fun to work in as Peta’s, but that may have had something to do with my lack of interest in the co-workers. None of them were Lauren. It was only temporary though. After giving up my job at Thornton Industries and realising I could no longer afford the rent on my apartment, Jake let me crash on the floor at his place. There was only one condition. I couldn’t tell Tyler, even though he lived on the level above.
Then Jake had an idea. We should start up a gym together. We both excelled at sport. We both liked to workout. We could both box, and we knew plenty of personal trainers we could beg to come work for us if need be. There was only one thing stopping us. Money.
That was why I was back working at a coffee shop. Sure, it didn’t bring in the big bucks, but with Tyler footing the bill for the building and most of the utilities, we had very little expenses and the money Jake and I earned could be ferreted away for that dream. We could have asked Dad, but neither of us wanted to do that. This was for us. We didn’t need Dad getting involved on any level.
There was one problem. The way Jake earned money.
Ever since his return, he had been restless, uncertain of his place in the world. I think a part of him longed to go back to wherever it was he went. But then on the night he woke, yelling out in his sleep, begging with some unknown person to stop whatever it was they were doing to him, I knew as well as missing it, there was a part of him that feared it. Pushing himself physically became his way of escape. And fighting was his sport of choice.
He’d been fighting in the underground ring for a while now. He didn't tell me much about it, but then again, Jake didn’t say much about anything. He came home with split lips and bleeding noses, but would always fling a wad of cash onto the table, so I never really asked too many questions. I did earlier on though. After he’d disappeared from the club, leaving me with Sadie—who wasn’t nearly as much of a bitch as I originally thought—he returned home and folded over on himself, hand clutched to his side. I whistled low and long. Sections of his face were swollen, the skin broken in places, and one eye was almost fully lost to the engorged wounds on his face. When he told me he had another fight that night, I knew I had to do something. It was one thing to fight for money. It was another to get the shit kicked out of you and keep going back for more. We weren’t that desperate no matter what demons he thought he was keeping at bay.
But Jake wouldn't listen to me. He kept repeating that he needed to do it to feel alive, but I knew that was all bullshit. I was no stranger to fighting when I was pissed, both emotionally and because of drinking, but Jake didn’t have either of tho
se excuses. He drank, but he rarely got drunk, well, not that I saw. He was doing it to punish himself or make himself forget. Neither were working.
There was only one person he would listen to and that person had no idea what was going on. Jake wanted to keep it that way but I knew he needed help. I knew if he set foot in that ring tonight, he might not ever be able to set foot in it again. It was plain to see from the way he clutched his side that his ribs were bruised, if not broken. There was also a suspicious tilt to the set of his nose, and a nasty gash over his eye.
It was like he didn’t care. Like he almost welcomed it.
Steeling myself, I picked up my cell phone and dialled Tyler. It rang and rang but he didn’t answer. Can’t say I was surprised. It was no secret that there was a loss of love between us. I guess loving the same girl did that to brothers. It drove them insane. But it was time to put it aside because this wasn’t about Tyler, or about me for that matter. This was about Jake.
I left a message. It was hard asking for help, but not as hard as sitting back and watching Jake destroy himself. After finishing the voicemail and asking him to call me back, I grabbed my jacket from where it lay on the floor and draped it around my shoulders. I wasn’t exactly sure where the fights were held, but I had a rough enough idea.
Pulling open the door, I stopped short when I found Tyler, ready to knock. He looked up, no surprise on his face when he found me standing there.
“We need to talk,” he said gruffly.
“How did you know I was here?”
Tyler grunted or snorted. “How could I not?”
“So you got my message?”
“What message?”
“The one I left on your phone. The one about Jake.”
Tyler pulled his phone out of his pocket and cursed when he saw the missed call. “I had it on silent.”
“So you’re not here for Jake?”
“What’s happened to Jake?” he asked.
