by Unknown
"It’s good to see you too." Drake said, and then nudged me forward. "This is my girl, Will."
Will thrust out his hand and I took it. His shake was warm as he took my hand between both of his hands. They were softer than I expected. "It’s good to meet you, Birdie."
I raised an eyebrow at Drake. "It’s nice to meet you too."
Will chuckled. "This idiot hasn’t shut up about you since the day he saw you at the gym."
"Is that right?" I glanced at Drake as I stifled the twitch that was trying to curve my mouth.
He glared at Will. "Go inside, darlin’, it’s freezing out here."
I walked up the ramp to the diner, past a sign that proclaimed all day breakfasts. The two men went back to leaning against the railing, and I settled into the red vinyl seating of the central booth that boasted a view of the street through the large glass windows. A waitress approached and I ordered coffee for us all before turning my attention to the window.
Drake’s head bowed and his hands moved as he talked. I wanted to take his hands in mine and kiss each fingertip and each knuckle, but he needed something I couldn’t give him and Will could. They’d been there for each other through the ups and downs of an addiction I had no experience with, and I was thankful for that. Will patted his shoulder and then thrust his hand into his pocket to hand something to Drake. They continued to talk as the waitress came back and distracted me while she poured coffee into mugs, and I doctored mine with sugar packets and milk.
The door to the diner opened and Drake walked in ahead of Will. Will’s steps were slow with a pronounced limp, now I had time to focus on him, but it was Drake’s face that made me want to jump to my feet. I grasped the coffee cup and sipped on the scalding liquid. His brow drawn tightly together over stormy eyes, he didn’t look up from the floor until he was beside me, and when he gazed at me, I sucked in a breath. I wondered if the comfort he found when I wrapped myself around him would be enough to wipe the pain from his eyes. He slid into the booth beside me and clamped his hand on my leg. The way his fingers grazed my inner thigh, I kind of thought that maybe he was thinking along the lines I was. Will began to doctor his coffee, and I counted the sugar packets as he tore into each one and stirred them into his coffee. Drake’s fingers sunk between my thighs, and I adjusted in my seat.
Will nursed his coffee between both hands.
"When are you going back to Lanston?" Drake asked him.
"I’m not." Will grinned.
"What?" Drake relaxed against the back of the booth. "Are you going to hang around for a visit?"
"No." Will put his cup down and leaned his elbows on the table. "I’m moving to Reverence."
"Are you sure that’s a good idea?" Drake asked.
"There’s nothing for me in Lanston, and I’ve got a job lined up here."
"But, what about…"
"I know what you’re going to say, Drake, but I’ve been sober for ten years now, and I know what I need to do. I’ve already arranged to go to a few meetings."
Drake’s fingers tensed on my leg.
"I think you should come with me, man."
"I don’t think so." Drake’s voice was harsh.
I laid my hand over his and squeezed it. He gazed into my eyes and blew out a breath. "Yeah, okay, maybe."
"Good, man, good."
The conversation seemed to dry up as we drank our coffee.
Will pushed his empty cup to the middle of the table and stood. "It’s been great seeing you. I’ll be in touch soon." He dumped some change onto the table and gazed at me. "If you’re ever finished with our boy here, come find me."
Drake’s grip on me tightened, and Will chuckled as he turned and walked out of the diner.
Drake pulled me closer. "If he wasn’t my closest friend, I’d fucking deck him for that."
I swatted at his chest, and he caught my hand effectively imprisoning me against him. He bent his head, his lips caressing the shell of my ear as he growled. "I need to fuck you now."
I giggled and tilted my face to his to dart my tongue along his lips.
His gaze bored into me. "Do you think I’m joking?"
The slide of his fingers between my thighs told me he wasn’t. "Let’s go."
He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the diner. I hurried to keep up with him as he lengthened his stride. At the bike, he didn’t slow down. Pushing my helmet down over my head, he did up the strap for me before straddling the bike and ramming his own helmet over his head. I climbed on behind him and we zoomed out of the lot.
Chapter Nineteen
Drake
Getting off the bike, I hauled her into my arms and owned her mouth. She pressed against me, her hands tugging on my jacket to pull me as close as two people could get fully clothed. It wasn’t enough for me. It was never enough where she was concerned. Given time, I would convince her she belonged in my bed every night, and every day, preferably naked, always naked. Perhaps, I’d institute a no clothes rule in the apartment. I wanted access to every inch of her skin, wherever I wanted it, whenever I wanted. She squealed as I threw her over my shoulder, holding her in place with a palm to her tight ass. While she wriggled, trying to get free, I strode to the elevator.
"Put me down, Drake."
"Not going to happen."
"This isn’t funny." She giggled and slapped at my back.
"No. It’s not." I stepped into the elevator and swung around to press the button to my floor. "It’s taking too fucking long to get inside you."
She gasped, and I felt her thighs clench.
I watched the numbers change. "From now on you only wear skirts."
"But…" She whimpered as I ran my hand up the inside of her denim-clad thigh.
"I don’t want to have to wait to have what’s mine." The lift jolted and the doors slid open.
I stepped out into the hallway and froze.
"What is it, Drake?" Her soft voice seemed to come from far away, and I let her slide down my body as I stared at the man who leaned against my door, his thickly muscled arms crossed against his chest. His sleeve tattoo, not dissimilar to my own, had been added to over the years, but while mine stopped short at the elbow his now ranged down his wrist and over the back of his hands in menacing black ink. Stepping away from the door, he pressed his lips into a thin line and ran his gaze over my girl. I pulled Birdie against my chest with a growl that reverberated in my throat, and he leered as he brought his gaze back to me. "So this is what’s been keeping you from coming home, Drake."
Grabbing her hand, I tugged her behind me. The years hadn’t been kind to my brother. I could see it in his swagger as he strode to meet us, and the flatness in his gaze.
"Leo."
Birdie didn’t say anything. She gripped my hand a little tighter and stayed tucked behind me. I glanced at her to see her staring at Leo with wide eyes.
"Is that any way to greet your brother after ten years?" Leo thrust out his hand, forcing me to drop Birdie’s hand in order to shake his. He clasped my hand and tugged me forward to slam a meaty hand to my back and his face split into a shark like grin. "Mom’s going to kill you."
"You haven’t told her?" My heart dipped at the disappointment she’d feel knowing I’d moved from Lanston to live fifteen minutes from home and had yet to visit her.
"So who’s this?" He brushed past me to take Birdie’s hand, and she flinched as he closed the gap between them. "Aren’t you a pretty one?"
"Birdie." She stumbled over her name, trembling slightly before she straightened up and stared into his eyes. In that determined manner she’s used the first time I met her, she thrust out her hand.
I jolted forward when he lifted his hand to run his fingers through a lock of her hair and tucked it behind her ears. "You’ve changed your taste, brother, but you always went for the quiet ones. He lowered his head, and I barely heard him whisper. "What makes you so special, sweetheart?"
I clenched my fist. This man who was touching my girl was not the broth
er I remembered.
She snatched her hand from his. "Have you always been such an ass? She must have been one hell of a woman to break you."
He stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest again, and with a chuckle announced, "I like her."
I pulled her into me and glared at him. My jaw clenched as I fought the urge to knock out my only brother. Any other man and I would have. "Let’s take this inside."
Opening the door to the apartment, I led him inside. He took a seat on the sofa and spread out, his arm resting along the back, and I pulled Birdie onto my lap on the armchair. My lips pressed to her hair, I glared him down. I’d never let him get that close to her again. "What are you doing here, Leo?"
He glanced at Birdie, and back to me. "Maybe you don’t want to discuss this in front of your girlfriend."
She shuffled in my lap and laid a hand against my chest as she pulled me into her gaze. "Do you want me to go?"
I tightened my hold before I let her go. "We’re going to pick up where we left off as soon as Leo leaves." I leaned in to whisper in her ear, "you know what I want."
She nodded and got up. "It was nice to meet you," she said over her shoulder as she walked into the bedroom and shut the door.
"Right." I rested my palms on my knees. "What do you want, Leo? You want me to visit mom? Or, has Lou been in your ear? I can only assume that’s how you knew how to find me."
He sat up straight, keeping his voice low. "She thought I should know you were back."
"Fucking hell, so now I have no choice."
"None."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "When are you going to tell mom?"
"Tonight. She’s going to be upset. You haven’t seen her in years. She’s aged, Drake. She’s not the way you remember her."
I pinched the webbing between each finger. "I know."
I could hear it in her voice each time I called her.
"Why didn’t you come home? Why has it taken you so long?"
"I couldn’t let her see what I’d become. I guess we all changed."
He pondered it for a moment before giving a slow nod. "I guess so, but not Lou, and you know she’s going to get what she wants."
"She always did." I smiled.
Leo stood up and paced over to the window. "You have a great view."
"Yeah." I shifted in my seat. How long would it take him to leave?
"Look…" he shoved his hand through his hair and huffed. "We all lost when Hailey died. It wasn’t just you. Mom, the Harpers, me, we lost Hailey, but we lost you too. You need to do this for them. You need to let them stop mourning the loss of two of their children."
"By going to an anniversary party and reminiscing over old times? Do you really think that’s going to help any of us?"
"I don’t know." He turned his back on the window. "Taking off seemed to work for you."
I jumped to my feet, my hands forming fists. "You know nothing of how my life’s been."
"No. I don’t." He tossed up his hands. "My brother walked away, and I only hear from him once a year at Christmas. I don’t know about your life, but I know about theirs."
I crumpled, my shoulders slumping. He was right, but it was still a kick in the guts to hear him say it.
"So what’s it going to be, Drake? Are you going to pull your head out of your ass and give them this?"
"Shit." I linked my fingers behind my head and blew out my breath.
"You’ve got a week to decide. If you’re not there…" he shook his head and stalked over to the door. I trailed behind him. He glanced back at me. "If you come, bring her." He tilted his head toward the bedroom. "They’ll be happy to see you’re doing so well."
I watched him march to the elevator and disappear behind the steel doors, before I shut the door firmly and slumped against it. The day had been brutal on my patience. Taking a deep breath, I pushed off and strode over to open the bedroom door. She lay naked on her stomach, her gorgeous back curved while she rested on her elbows. Every dip and notch of her spine and the curve of her ass were on display for me. The small dimple on the left cheek had me wanting to stroke my fingers over it. My pulse sped up as she looked at me over her shoulder with those eyes that begged me to lose myself in them. Everything she did made me want her that much more. My cock surged with need and I staggered over to her. Hovering by the side of the bed, I drank her in before I placed my palm on the small of her back.
"You…" I inched my palm up over her spine feeling the bumps under her satiny skin. "...are the drug that runs through my veins. The high that surges through my blood each time I’m with you…" I twisted my hand in her hair and ran my lips over her throat. "…obliterates me. I need that."
She moved onto her knees and reached for my belt. Inch by inch she pulled it free from the loops on my pants. "What was your brother doing here?"
"After."
She nodded and sucked in her bottom lip as she pushed me down onto the mattress. Her fingers working to slide down the zip on my pants.
"I can’t wait," I growled, pushing her back down on the bed. "I need to be inside of you."
I tugged my shirt over my head and tossed it at the floor as she scooted up the bed. My hands on either side of her, I crawled up her body to claim her mouth, and she opened up to my need, her tongue meeting my demands with her own. A fistful of her hair in my hand, I tugged her head back. "I want you on your hands and knees."
Her lips parted on a greedy gasp, and my throat constricted at how willing she was to do what I wanted her to. Climbing off the bed to shuck the rest of my clothes, I watched her move into position. The blood rushed through my cock giving it its own pulse at the way she curved her spine, her legs parted for me. I liked to pretend I owned her, but she had and always would own me. It was her who had the power over me. She let me fuck her however I wanted, but if she turned to me when all I wanted was to be deep inside her and asked me to love her in every way, I would worship her body and whisper those words I never thought I’d say again. I would give her anything she asked of me.
Kneeling behind her, I ran my fingertips up the line of her slit. Her arousal coated my skin, and I eased into her. She bit back a whimper, her pussy gripping my cock, joining us, and making me want to pump into her until I came. Sliding my hands up to her hips, I pulled her back to me and nibbled her neck. Fingers tangled in my hair she held me to her as she ground into me.
"God damn it, darlin’."
I kissed her neck, sunk my teeth into that tender flesh as I lifted her up and down my cock. My balls tightened with each moan she suppressed. She turned her head, and I took her mouth, devouring her, capturing her moans as they turned into a prayer. My name on her lips as my cock jerked, and the way she spasmed around me, was the highest of highs. In her arms, I was more than I was. I was a god.
Slowly she settled on my knees, her breaths coming in short sharp bursts, and my heart jack-knifed. This here was my future, the only one that mattered. I eased out of her and pulled her down onto the bed beside me.
She touched my face, ran her fingertips along my jaw as I tucked her into my side. Her gaze steady on mine was full of the questions I hadn’t let her ask. "I have to go see Hailey’s family."
"Oh." She tucked her head beneath my chin. "That’s why your brother-"
"I’ve put off going home for too long." I didn’t want to talk about him. Not after the way he had ogled her and how he had spoken to her. He was more damaged than I'd thought, and I didn’t know how much of that was my fault.
"Then you go." Her breath hit my chest in a puff of warmth that had me burying my mouth in her hair.
"I want you to come with me."
She pulled back to stare at me as she stroked her fingers through the hair on my chest. "Always."
I held her a little bit tighter, my breath hitching in my throat. She was so willing, so utterly and absolutely beside me. The parts I’d closed off over the years cracked opened, flooding me with pain but also suffusing me with warmth that was
hed away the hollow ache of everything that had come before her.
"I… I need to tell you something."
A soft sigh escaped her as she nestled in closer, but didn’t reply. I pulled the sheet up over us and settled my arms around her. With her, I had time. She wasn’t going anywhere and neither was I. Resting my chin in her hair, I smiled. "It can wait."
Birdie
"Did you call Will?"
"I called Will." He crossed from the bedroom to my side. Wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath, he looked edible, and I licked my lip as I ran my fingernails over the edge of one sleeve. Maybe we could just stay here, and I could peel the layers off him slowly.
He chuckled, as though he could read my thoughts. "I think we have time for one last round."
The halter of my black dress dropped free when he pulled the tie around my neck, and I held it up against my chest. "We’re already running thirty minutes late after the last time you did that."
"Okay," he backed up a step, his palms up. He twirled a finger and I turned to let him do the halter up again.
"Are you...okay?" I waited for him to reply. He pressed his lips to my shoulder.
"Honestly?"
I nodded.
"I don’t know. I haven’t seen her family in almost ten years. The anniversary is tomorrow, and I couldn’t get out of my own way to see them after they lost their daughter. Louisa said they wanted to see me." He ran a hand through his hair. "I don’t know how to be around them."
I squeezed his hand and placed it on my chest. "They’ll forgive you for leaving and for staying away. You know that, right? They’re your family."
"I just left. I walked out on them and never looked back."
"You’re going back now."
"A little late." He glanced at his watch as though it would tell him he was ten years too late.
