The Complete Tempest World Box Set
Page 38
“Bry,” I said, tilting my head to look at him.
Staring at me, he stroked my cheek. “Yeah?”
“Come inside with me,” I said, and felt the sudden tension in his body.
“No, Lace,” he whispered after a long moment. “I can’t.”
Rejected.
Again.
A sharp pain sliced across my breastbone. I squeezed my eyes shut and blindly reached for the door handle.
His hand closed over mine. “Lace, listen.”
“No,” I choked out, my throat on fire. “Just tell me this. Why Missy Rivera?”
He cursed under his breath. Taking my chin in his hand, he gently tilted my face back. “Because I can never have the one who really matters to me,” he whispered, then brushed a soft apologetic kiss across the side of my mouth.
So this was about War.
Seeing the determined set to Bryan’s jaw, the steeliness of his stare, and knowing that once again he would do the right thing, my heart sank.
“Let me walk you inside,” he said.
Bleakly, I nodded.
Outside on the sidewalk, I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to ward off the chilly air that made my teeth chatter. He took off his tuxedo jacket and draped it around my shoulders. His warmth and the crisp pine and smoky scent of him lingered in the material.
I fumbled with the key at the front door, and he took it from me. Once we were inside, he dropped the key into the glass bowl next to the phone. It rang with a tone of finality.
“Good night, Lace, I . . .” He trailed off as he caught a glimpse of the disappointment I hadn’t been quick enough to hide. He reached out and drew me to him, his gray-green eyes intently searching mine. “You’re not going to cry, are you?”
“I never cry.”
“What’s this,” he asked softly, running a fingertip under my eye.
“I’m just tired. The cold wind . . .”
“You’re lying.”
“So are you, Bryan Jackson.” My hands fisted. I’d had enough. “Denying what’s between us.”
Handing him the tuxedo jacket, I kicked off my shoes. I tossed my hair back and took a deep breath for courage, deciding I could be determined too. As my heart pounded, I slipped off the thin straps of my dress, first one shoulder and then the other. Holding my breath, I looked him straight in the eye, daring him to resist me.
Bryan didn’t move. But the dark flash of his eyes and the flare of his nostrils emboldened me.
I reached back and released the hook of my dress, then lowered the zipper. The fabric puddled at my feet, a black and pink pool of chiffon and lace.
With my shoulders back and chin lifted, I stood before him, completely vulnerable and nearly naked in a strapless corset, matching panties, and gartered stockings.
Bryan stood still a moment longer, and then he reached for me. His eyes full of fiery intent, he claimed me, crushing his lips and his body to mine.
• • •
Present day
“Lace.”
“Huh?” Dazed by the past, I turned toward the sound of Bryan’s voice in the present. In only a pair of boxers, he stood right beside me.
How could that be? How long had he been there? Had I been so lost in the memory that I hadn’t heard the door to the sleeping section open?
“I called your name twice,” he said, his voice a delicious rumble.
“I didn’t hear you. If I had, I would have responded.” Mesmerized, I stared up at him from my seat at the banquette.
His lids lowering, Bryan came closer, looking sexy as sin with his brown hair all tousled from his bed.
“What were you thinking about that had you so absorbed?” His expression soft, he took a strand of my hair and rubbed it between his fingers. The subtle yet coveted touch made my scalp and everything else tingle.
“You,” I whispered, and his eyes flared. “And prom night.”
“Lace. Babe.” He swept his appreciative gaze over me, swallowed, and glanced behind us. The door to the sleeping section remained closed.
“It seems to keep coming back to that for us,” I said softly.
For me, prom was never far from my mind. How could I forget the most magical night of my life? And to know now that it had been incredible for him as well changed everything.
Those same thoughts seemed to be in his eyes as he looked back at me.
My heart racing, I reached out. “Are you real?” I needed to touch him. I had to. “Is this real? What we shared . . .”
“Was the best night of my life,” he said, filling in where I’d left off.
“Oh, Bry.” Tears in my eyes, I laid my palm against the smooth skin at the center of his bare chest.
He covered my hand with his. The air crackled with heat like my blood did.
Bryan tugged me out of the banquette, and I stumbled into him. My breasts to his chest, I could feel the rock-hard strength of him through the thin material of the button-down shirt of War’s that I’d worn to bed. My nipples tightened.
When Bryan lowered his head, I lifted mine. His breath bathed my lips with smoke and heat, and then his mouth was on mine. I parted my lips at his urging.
A flood of fire swept through me as his tongue touched mine. One firm stroke, then another, and my legs went out from under me. Bryan held me tighter, crushing me to him with his hands now on my back. I needed him to remain upright. The intensity of my longing after all this time was almost too much to bear.
I whimpered as he pressed me back into the partition, the wall a hard surface behind me. His chest, his hips, his thighs, and his erection were even more unyielding. Insistent, he devoured me everywhere his mouth could reach. His lips, his tongue, and his teeth did wicked, wonderful things to me that made me moan.
“Yes, Bry. Yes,” I whispered, begging for more.
He yanked my arms up by the wrists, raising them over my head. My hands pinned to the wall in his tight grip, I felt the cool air caress my skin as the oversized sleeves of my shirt slid down to expose my arms all the way to my elbows. He pressed impassioned wet kisses across my cheek and then down my arched neck.
“Dammit, Lace, stop me,” he whispered in a raw voice, yet he drew my earlobe between his teeth. “We shouldn’t be doing this. We can’t.”
“Don’t stop.” I trembled as he traced the shell of my ear with his talented tongue.
Breathing heavily, he eased back and stared down at me with lust-filled eyes. “How am I supposed to get over you when you respond to me like this?”
He’s not over me?
That was news to me. It seemed all our previous conversations had been past tense.
“I don’t want you to get over me,” I whispered, angling my hips forward and rocking over him. My needy body took over, ignoring the faint protesting voice in my mind.
He groaned, then went completely still.
Certain we’d been discovered; I glanced back over my shoulder. But no one was there. The door was still closed.
Confused, my gaze returned to his. Only he wasn’t looking at me—he was staring at my arms.
“Fuck.” He yanked them down and flipped them over, his grip tight on my wrists.
My fevered blood ran cold. When his head came back up, his hair was in his eyes, and his gaze was bright. The fury on his face almost made me wish War had discovered us instead.
Dropping my gaze, I tugged my wrists free and pulled down the sleeves of War’s shirt. But it was too late. The damage had been done. Cold shame doused the raging desire that had consumed me only a moment ago.
“Whatcha shooting up, Lace?” Bryan’s hot breath rained condemnation on me. “By the looks of those track marks, I’d say you’ve got an expensive daily habit.”
“Bry, please, don’t be angry. I can explain.” I lifted my chin to discover that the evenness of his tone was at complete odds with the fire blazing in his eyes.
“Don’t want an excuse,” he gritted out. “I want to know if War is doing that with you.
Is he giving you that shit?”
Not answering, I tried to twist away, but Bryan caged me in with his arms.
“I can’t believe you’d do something like this. Not after all you went through with your mom.” Exhaling heavily, he dropped his forehead to mine. “Oh, Lace.” His eyes were so close, I could make out the pixilated variegation of gray and green, as well as read the concern that filled them.
His gentleness crumbled my resistance. I couldn’t shut him out.
“What is it, Lace?” he said again, gentling his voice. “What are you shooting up?”
“Heroin,” I said softly.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bryan
The air brakes on the bus hissed, jostling Lace and me as the tour bus lurched to a stop. I was tense as fuck, struggling to process what she’d just revealed.
Heroin. Could it be any worse?
“What the hell?” War exclaimed from behind us.
Yes. Apparently, it can.
I released Lace and took a step back. I’d been so out of it that I hadn’t heard the door to the sleeping section open, and it seemed that Lace hadn’t either. Her eyes wide, she pulled the gaping neckline of her shirt back together. Looking guilty as shit, we both stared at War.
War obviously had no trouble putting two and two together. Not hesitating, he came right at me, his eyes narrowed and his hands tightly fisted.
Lace slid in front of him. “War,” she purred seductively, her pretty eyes lowered to a placating half-mast. “It’s not what you think. Bryan saw my arms and was just getting up in my face about my using.”
“That true?” War’s gaze returned to me for confirmation.
“Yeah.” I nodded, though I was sick to my stomach. My mind and guts swirled with the toxic mess of it. The drugs were a game changer with Lace. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—just stand on the sidelines any longer.
War leaned down and gave me a pointed look before laying a wet one on her, ravishing the mouth I’d just thoroughly explored.
“Go on to the back,” he told her after breaking the kiss. He snapped his fingers like an authoritative ass, and she hustled to obey. “Bullet and I need to talk.”
His focus on me, he didn’t see the furtive glance she shot me.
“But I want to go into the hotel,” she said. “Get a shower in a real bathroom.”
“You will, babe. I promise. Just give me a minute with Bullet, all right?”
She nodded and headed to the back without glancing at me again.
Good plan. Though I appreciated that her shower request was likely an attempt to throw him off in some way. But there was no throwing off this confrontation. I wanted it as much as he did.
More, maybe.
War pressed the button to close the door as soon as she passed through. The atmosphere between us instantly supercharged with toxicity as he turned to face me.
“We’ve been through a lot together, brother.” His eyes narrowed. “So I’m having a difficult time understanding why I should find you alone with my woman again, only this time her mouth tastes like fucking cigarettes.”
Shit. I scrubbed a hand over my face.
“I get that she’s beautiful. And I’m not blind. I know you’ve had a thing for her since high school.” War’s voice was low, his expression menacing as he took a step toward me. “But you know the code. She’s”—he gave me a hard shove—“off”—and another hard shove—“limits!”
I took what he dished out, standing my ground while my body vibrated with restrained anger. The only reason I didn’t retaliate was because I felt that I probably deserved that much.
But not more.
My nostrils flaring, I pulled in air and leaned in, my hands balled into fists. I was revved up too, just as furious about the drugs as he was at finding out that I’d kissed her.
We stared each other down. The physical contact between us seemed to have taken his anger down a notch, but a wall of distrust had risen in its place.
“War.” I wanted to explain, believing I owed him an explanation after all we’d been through, so I forced my hands to relax. Violence would make me feel better, but it wouldn’t help her. “Listen, I—”
“No. You listen to me, Bullet. Next time you’re feeling horny . . .” War’s face twisted into something ugly. “Go and get your own pussy.”
He turned and stalked toward the back but stopped in the doorway.
“Tell me this, though.” His head dipped, turning slightly in my direction, but not all the way. It was like he didn’t want to look me in the eye, see the validity of my answer. “You come on to her, or did she come on to you?”
“It was all on me, brother.”
“Okay.” Some of the tension drained from his rigid stance, and he turned to fully face me. “Then know this. I’m serious about not wanting to find you alone with her again. You feel me?” He let those words hang in the air between us for a minute before hitting me with a hard look.
“I feel you,” I said with a curt nod. But I didn’t make any promises. I was done making any of those to him.
Breathing hard, War said, “Don’t hassle her about the drugs anymore. You gotta know she beats herself up enough about it. I’ve got the situation under control.”
I had major doubts about War’s control of the situation. In fact, I had some major concerns about a lot of things now, but I decided for the moment to keep those to myself. To do so, I had to clench my jaw so tight that my teeth ached. I just needed some time to think things through, and then I needed to talk to Lace.
War stepped into the sleeping compartment, but before he slid the door closed behind him, he paused. His voice dangerously low, he said, “Don’t fuck with me or her, brother. Or I promise you, friendship aside, I will mess you up.”
• • •
Lace
Inside the back bedroom on the tour bus, I watched War throw some things into an overnight bag, his movements abrupt. His muscles were taut beneath his white T-shirt. He’d yet to look at me.
I wondered what had happened between him and Bryan. The door to the front lounge had been closed, so I hadn’t been able to hear. My nerves frayed, I pulled on some jeans, but left War’s button-down shirt on. A little uneasy, I figured things would go better if I was wearing the team colors, so to speak.
“Come on, babe.” War’s voice sounded jarringly loud after the protracted period of silence.
He grabbed my hand and led me off the bus. I didn’t see Bryan or any of the others. Their curtains were open and the bunks vacant. Apparently, everyone was as eager as I was to be off the bus for some downtime and a bit of space.
War didn’t say anything as we picked up our hotel key and headed to our room. He slid it in the reader, and I entered ahead of him, walking straight through to the sliding glass door on the other side of the room. The surrounding Virginia forest was almost completely shrouded in fog. In the early dawn, the Appalachian foothills were a fuzzy purple shadow in the distance.
The door clicked shut behind me, and then I heard a thump as his overnight bag hit the dresser. I wrapped my arms protectively around my waist. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I’d had enough of this tension and imagining the worst.
Turning to face him, I asked, “What’s going on, War?”
“I know what happened,” he said with narrowed eyes. “Bryan told me.”
My stomach did a major flip at the sight of the hurt on War’s face. That wasn’t what I wanted. I was a screwup. When it came to Bryan, I just couldn’t control myself.
“I can’t believe he would pull something like this with you while I was sleeping just a couple of feet away,” War said, moving across the room until he was standing in front of me. Reaching for me, he threaded his fingers in my hair.
Wait, back up the conversation. What exactly was he talking about? I’d been afraid Bryan had told him about prom night. Was this only about the kiss today?
I reeled at that. It had been a long time since War had said those words to me. Not since high school, when he’d been keeping the RCA deal secret from me. Looking back, I’d seriously doubted he’d ever really meant it. Could I trust that he meant it now?
“Maybe I should have said something as soon as we started up again.” He gave me a long, searching look. My disbelief must have been visible. “I do love you. You must know I do. And after all that’s happened, I need for you to tell me that you feel the same, because I have a feeling that this is gonna come down to choosing sides. And if it does, I want you to know, right here, right now, that I’d pick you over anyone else.”
My eyes closed, and I leaned my cheek more firmly into his hand.
This was why I’d fallen for War. The surprisingly demonstrative things he could do, like apologizing in front of everyone before we’d started dating. Like revealing his plans and including me in them after showing me his mom. Like taking me back after our first breakup, and again after Martin.
And now this.
I’d be an idiot to screw this up. War had said exactly what I needed to hear. He didn’t seem to have any problem putting me first, before his friendship with Bryan.
It was time I did the same.
I covered the hand War had in my hair with mine. Pulling it down toward my lips, I turned it over and kissed his palm. Then I told him that I loved him too, and stood on my toes to press my lips against his.
War took my hand and walked me to the bed, moving my hands out of the way when I started to unbutton my shirt. “Let me.”
Intent on his task, he slowly worked his way down to the last button. His warm hands brushed softly against my bare shoulders, and the shirt, his shirt, fluttered to the floor. He bent down and took one of my breasts into his mouth.
Staring at the landscape painting on the wall across from me, I held his head to my breast, both my hands entangled in his silky hair. I loved him, sure, but wished I felt more than I did.