Nic's Devotion: An Endless Series: Book One

by Sara Hess

  I never knew Landon had it in him to joke with a girl, but I appreciated him for it.

  So we’d stayed though not to play poker. Carrie said the only way she’d play poker again is if they played for fun. Landon had looked horrified at the idea. So we’d just hung out and mingled. Amanda had introduced Carrie to some of her friends and Carrie had looked liked she’d relaxed and had a good time. There’d been some staring but it hadn’t been malicious or leering, just curious.

  After a couple of hours when I noticed she’d had enough I’d taken Carrie upstairs, locked the door, and then proceeded to molest her for hours. The first time I’d made love to her face to face and covered her mouth with mine as she’d moaned out her orgasm long and loudly.

  We’d fallen asleep quickly after, worn out, but I’d woken an hour later probably from some noise downstairs and hadn’t been able to fall back to sleep with the feel of Carrie’s naked body sprawled on top of me. So I’d carefully rolled her sleeping form over onto her back and worked my way down her body kissing her everywhere until I’d gotten to her sex where I’d woken her gradually with oral foreplay. After she’d come holding her fist to her mouth I’d flipped her over onto her stomach feeling like I would explode if I didn’t get into her as soon as possible. Pulling up her hips I’d plunged my painfully hard dick into her still contracting sex. She’d let out a muffled ‘oh god’ into the mattress and clamped around me tightly, but hadn’t resisted. This had given me all the encouragement I needed to pound into her hard. I remembered having a concerned hazy thought that I might be thrusting too roughly, but then she’d started pulsating around me obliterating all thoughts. Her screams had been muffled by the mattress, but my grunted ‘holy shit…fuck, fuck yeah’ followed by an almost roar was sure to have been heard by someone if they were upstairs. I’d never been so vocal during sex before Carrie, but then it had never felt this good before.

  I’d worried that Carrie would be all upset at how loud I’d gotten but she’d passed right out after it. She had a habit of doing that. I liked to think I sent her into oblivion with the great orgasms I gave her. It might be conceited, but hey…I was a guy. What guy wouldn’t want to believe that?

  In a better mood now I considered snuggling up to Carrie and wakening her for some morning play. However, I decided against it. It was only 8:43 and I didn’t want to be selfish waking her up for sex. She needed her sleep with all the stress she was under.

  Getting carefully out of the bed I pulled on some sweats and a t-shirt, and not forgetting my shoes because it was bound to be a damn mess downstairs, I slipped from the room. All the bedroom doors were closed, but that didn’t tell me if anyone was up or not. I did hear some unmistakable Evan snoring. Couldn’t mistake it for anyone else’s as it had a long rumble with a sort of whistle at the end.

  Tripping down the stairs I was pleased to see the freshman already hard at work cleaning up and doing it quietly. They knew to keep the noise level down so we could sleep in. I gave them two thumbs up signs and I cocky grin. They gave me some one finger salutes and eye rolls.

  Minus jagoff this year of freshmen weren’t that bad. They realized their first year of hazing wasn’t as terrible as some of the other sports initiations. Cleaning up after a night of partying was cake walk compared to what some fraternities had some of their pledges do. Why guys or girls would allow others to humiliate them for the sake of belonging to a club was beyond me.

  I walked into the kitchen to see Seth, unsurprisingly, at the stove cooking.

  “Is that for you, me, them, or us?” I walked up to the frig and grabbed a water at the same time eyeing the mound of pancakes, eggs, and toast taking up the counter.

  “First come, first serve.” He answered, flipping a cake off the griddle.

  “Well, I’m definitely calling first after you.” I retorted. Bread popped up in the toaster and as Seth was pouring more mix onto the griddle I went to butter it, and ended up buttering the next ten.

  I helped Seth finish up the breakfast as the freshmen concluded their cleaning. We had wooden floors so there was no noise from a vacuum when all they needed to do was sweep and mop. They hauled the ten or so trash bags out of the house to pile in the back of each of their cars or trucks to dispose of them in some random trash bin somewhere.

  They came tromping back in to partake of the ready breakfast that Seth and I had already sampled. In ten minutes the four of them plowed through what was left…after all they were growing boys…and then they headed out with satisfied smiles.

  I went to help Seth wash up the pans he’d used to make breakfast. He washed while I dried.

  “Carrie okay?” Seth asked, swirling a sponge around one pot.

  “I think so. When she first heard about the rumors going around about her she looked like she was going to be sick.” My jaw clenched in recollection. Her eye’s had flown to mine wide in horror and her face had paled considerably. I’d been unable to hold on to my pretense of detachment, I’d had to move to her side. “I’d never wanted to hit a girl as badly as I’d wanted to hit that chick.” Except for Carrie’s mother and aunt. “Knowing Carrie’s aversion to blood has been the only thing holding me back from pounding on people left and right.”

  Seth snorted handing me the pot to dry. “I’d make an innuendo about that but you’d probably take a swing at me.”

  I couldn’t stop the grin as I dried and put the pot away. “Yeah, keep that shit to yourself.”

  Grabbing the other pot he started scrubbing. “Although, after last night I see why you spend your nights at her dorm.” Seth grunted out a chuckle. “I hope her walls are thicker than ours.”

  I wasn’t embarrassed about anyone hearing me, but I didn’t want other’s hearing Carrie in the thorough’s of a climax. “Shit, what the fuck did you hear?” Disgruntlement was clear in my voice.

  Seth shook his head in amusement. “Just you at I’m assuming was the end, jackhole, so don’t have a hissy. I have to say if I had heard the both of you I wouldn’t have been waking up alone, because that would have sent me out looking for relief. Shit, it’s been weeks since I’ve gotten laid.” Seth ended on an actual forlorn note.

  His comment had me wondering if he was still dealing with feelings for Carrie, but as he’d already made it clear to me he was happy about Carrie’s and my relationship I wasn’t going to keep dredging it up just because I was slightly jealous. If he was showing amusement at our sex life I didn’t think his feelings were that deep.

  “I noticed a few girls trying to climb you last night. Were they not up your alley?” I asked curious to why he was holding back. Seth wasn’t a man whore, but he liked sex just as much as the rest of us.

  Seth handed over the last pot for me to dry. He sighed looking down into the sink as the water drained. “Groupie’s just aren’t doing it for me anymore. I think that’s why I was so interested in Carrie. You could see right away that she was real…wholesome. I want that. I don’t want to fuck indiscriminately anymore.”

  “You never really did that anyway, not like I did.” I commented a little shamefully. I hated that two of my past hook-ups had caused problems for Carrie.

  Seth chuckled deeply throwing down the sponge. “You were hard to keep up with but I’ve definitely had my fair share of easy.” His face went suddenly grave. “Hey, have you talked to your lawyer lately about what’s going on with your trust fund?”

  I heaved a sigh leaning back against the counter. With my truck disappearing yesterday I’d had to inform the guys about what my dad was doing and why. They couldn’t believe that he was making such a big deal out of it and said they’d cover the utilities and rent for me for however long it took. I told them I appreciated the thought but that I should be able to keep up with my bills until the end of the term. They’d agreed to keep their mouths shut about it to anyone else, especially Carrie.

  “Yeah, we have an appointment with the bank Wednesday. He said they don’t have a leg to stand on, but with my father contesting
it they could make the process of me getting to it longer.”

  “That such bullshit.” Seth grumbled. “If your dad met Carrie, actually knew her, he’d see that she was the sweetest girl and completely undeserving of everything happening to her.”

  I laughed in scorn. “He wouldn’t care if she was up for sainthood. The man has zero sentimentality. He’s like a robot. The last time I went to see him I told him her real story and all he cared about was the bad publicity attached to her name. He warned me what he was going to do if I didn’t break it off with her and I basically told him to go fuck himself. Hell, I knew it would make him more revved up to assert his power but I didn’t give a shit. I’m not going to be his bitch.” I bit the words out bitterly. I was so done with his controlling behavior. It might have been different if he did it out of misguided love, but the man had no love in him to give.

  Movement in the entry way had my angry thoughts scattering. Carrie stood there in sweats and a t-shirt her hair falling down around her face; a face that held a multitude of emotions. The prominent one confusion if the frown was any indication. Shit! What had she heard?

  “Carrie! Hey you’re up.” I pushed off the counter giving her a bright smile.

  Her frown remained fixed and there was a hint of distress in her eyes. “I wasn’t eavesdropping but I couldn’t help overhearing what you just said. What did your father do because of me?”

  Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I should never have let myself go off on a rant with Carrie in the house. I walked towards her keeping my smile. “It’s nothing. I’ve told you how controlling my father is. He’s been putting some pressure on me in an attempt to get me to come to heel.”

  I went to grab her hands but she shuffled sideways her face still distressed and now suspicious… and thoughtful. Damn!

  She looked over at Seth who smiled but it couldn’t completely cover up the ‘oh shit’ expression underneath it. He really needed to work on his guiltless visage.

  “The truck.” She swung her gaze back to me accusingly. “He took your truck away.”

  Her accusation actually had me breathing easier; she only thought he took my truck. “Yeah,” I admitted. “His name was on the lease so he had it canceled.”

  Carrie narrowed her eyes and I realized that I gave in too easily with my confession. “That’s not all though, is it?” She accused.

  Did I say I liked having a smart girlfriend, because it sucked right now? “Carrie…” I said taking a step toward her. I needed to distract her before she figured it out.

  Carrie sidestepped again, her eyes moved back and forth in thought before zeroing in on me again. “When you talked about him before you said he would cut off your credit cards and other stuff, even your trust fund. Did he do that?” She was wringing her hands tightly in front of her.

  Shit, what do I tell her? If I told her the truth she was going to blame herself and who knows what she’d do. There was no fucking way I’d let her break us up. “Carrie…” I repeated in a placating voice.

  Her distressed blues suddenly crackled with anger, something I wasn’t accustomed to seeing from her. “Don’t you lie to me. You already did once saying something had gone wrong with your truck. There should be no lies between us. There’s already a surplus of other stuff going on around us without adding those.” She cried angrily.

  Was it wrong that my cock was getting hard seeing her like this?

  “You’re right.” I said my shoulder’s slumping in regret. And she was. She was my other half, the most important person in my life, and I shouldn’t be keeping secrets from her. “Let’s go up to my room and I’ll tell you everything, okay?”

  She looked like she was wavering between complying and yelling at me more. I wisely held my grin at how damn adorable she was. This was serious.

  “Okay,” she acquiesced with pursed lips. Her gaze flickered over to Seth and her face flushed further. “Morning Seth.” She said softly walking out the door.

  “Morning Carrie.” He returned loudly with a grin my way since she was already out of the room. “You are one lucky bastard.” He said in a softer grumble shaking his head.

  “No argument there.” I stated following Carrie upstairs.

  She walked in my room and sat on the bed with her hands clasped in her lap. Stepping in I shut the door behind me and went to squat down in front of her setting my hands on her knees.

  “I’m sorry for lying to you. I never should have done that. My first thought is to always protect you, even if it’s from bad or upsetting news.”

  The anger in her eyes softened but she still held herself stiffly. “My first thoughts are to protect you too but I wouldn’t lie to you. There are already so many outside forces pulling at us that we need each other that much more. Lies will only hurt us. I can see that you might have thought I would step away to protect you because I’ve talked about doing it before, but I spoke to you about it and we discussed it. I hate that you’re going through difficulties with your father because of me, I hate that he’s cut you off, but I wouldn’t freak out or run away because of it…again.” She grimaced faintly. “I want to be there for you.” She looked at me pleadingly.

  I felt about three feet tall right now. Her words were humbling. I thought I was protecting her, and I had also been a little afraid that she might run to protect me, but instead she was just showing me more of her determination.

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and laid my head on her lap. “Babe, you humble me. All I can say is that I’m sorry again. I admit I was afraid you would want to put distance between us in some misguided attempt at fixing my problem.” I raised my head to give her a stern look. “Not that I would have let you. I also wanted to keep this from you because you didn’t need any additional stress in your life.”

  She smiled and raised her hands to my hair, smoothing her fingers through it. “You wouldn’t believe the reservoir of strength I have inside of me knowing that you stand beside me and love me. I could take on the world” Her smile dimmed. “I don’t like that I’m causing problems with your family though.”

  I shook my head firmly. “This thing with my father is more about a power struggle than you being in my life. He’s been doing this my entire life. But I’m not going to let him control my life. The man’s an unemotional robot who only cares about himself. So I don’t want to hear any more thoughts about you causing problems for me. They were there long before you came into my life.”

  I leaned forward to kiss her and she met my lips in a profusion of emotions neither of us could contain. The kiss started out rough as we exorcised our fears and stress over everything happening in our live. I gripped her head firmly and her fingers tightened in my hair as we bit and sucked at each other aggressively. After a time it gradually gentled as our love for each other prevailed over the fear.

  I pulled away grudgingly, knowing if we kept going I wouldn’t be able to stop. And it would end up being really loud. Still gripping her head I gazed into her eyes intently. “I love you, and I make you this promise that I will never lie to you again.” At least not anything big.

  She smiled and there was a wicked lift to it. “And I promise I won’t break up with you just because you don’t have any money.”

  I grinned at her jab. “You are the best girlfriend ev-er.”

  Chapter Forty-three

  Carrie

  It was Monday afternoon, and I was back in my dorm room after my first therapy session. It had gone well and I liked my new therapist, Dr. Cynthia Vane. I’d unloaded everything I’d been dealing with all week from the article to the Curt incident. I’d even told her about the problems Nic was having with his father. I had to get another perspective on the thoughts running around in my head.

  Dr. Vane had listened and given me some good insight and said that what I’d proposed could be good for me, but told me that whatever I did decide to do I needed to do for myself and not for someone else…and that was the sticky part.

  Was what I was thinking of doing for
myself or for Nic? There was no guarantee that what I did would change Nic’s circumstances, but could it help me in my healing?

  I lay back on my bed and closed my eyes trying to recall my father. I had no pictures of him, and I had a hard time evoking his image…unless I went online for news pictures. All I had were the emotions he stirred up; fear, love, anger, resentment, youthful adoration, guilt. It was a collection of mixed feelings that left me confused. Would I ever be left with just one instead of all of them, or would I just have to reconcile that they might have to coincide together.

  Most likely it would be the later. I truly believed my dad had loved me. However, he also had a dark and ugly character flaw that I was coming to believe…or hope…he had tried for a long time to repress, but during a night of heavy alcohol consumption he lost the battle and ended up attacking me. That night I’d done the only thing I could; I protected myself. If he loved me like I think he did he would have wanted me to do that.

  Whether any of it was actually true I’ll never know. My feelings told me it was and that’s all that mattered.

  Silent tears rolled down my face at my loss, but also because of the freeing of some of my soul.

  Sitting up I reached for the phone.

  Chapter Forty-four

  NIC

  “Hey, is that Carrie on our porch?” Evan asked from the front seat.

  I frowned looking out the window as Seth pulled into the driveway. Sure enough that was Carrie sitting on our front steps. She stood up as we pulled in and I was jumping from the vehicle even before it stopped.

  “What happened?” I asked rushing up to her.