by C. A. Harms
"I need to go check on Lex," she shifts, and I too scan over the area looking for the familiar blonde. She’s at the end of the bar, talking to a couple of guys, and I seek out Bennett noticing he's watching her too. "She's acting like she's okay but avoiding us, so I know that she's not."
Releasing her, I watch her walk away and again find my brother. I am wondering what's going on in his head. He looks in the direction of the two girls I know now he's been torn between for months. My stomach sours, and I want to gather up my girl and get out of here more than ever. The desire to be alone, just her and I, with no curious ex's or lovesick fools to occupy my thoughts, is powerful.
Chapter Forty-One
Sutton
* * *
On my stomach, I fist the sheets as Brantley pushes inside of me from behind. Slow and torturing, he moves, dragging out the pleasure. I have no idea what time it is; all I know is I’m already exhausted from the night and from Brantley taking me the very second, we entered his apartment.
Now I’ve been woken up by the feeling of him pushing into me as I arch up, begging for more. My body has a mind of its own when it comes to him. It knows what feels good, knows what he can offer, and the hungry bitch needs it bad.
The sound of his growling moan fills the darkness of the room, and I push back against him. His body lays over mine as he reaches around with one hand to grip my chest. Needing and pinching my nipple, rolling it slowly, I feel myself build as the heat pools low in my stomach.
“You feel so good,” he whispers, pushing in deeper and shifting his hips in the perfect motion. “I’ll never get enough of you.”
God, I hope not.
He kisses along the side of my neck, biting on my ear and sucking softly.
“You make me crazy, baby,” again I shift against him. “Damn,” I love to make him lose control. “That’s it,” he coaxes as he allows me to take over. Looking back over my shoulder, I see he is looking down between us, and there is something so incredibly sexy about knowing what he sees. With Brantley, I don’t feel self-conscious; I feel wanton and desirable. He makes me feel like I’m a Goddess… his Goddess.
“Woman, you’re killing me,” I bite my lip and keep shifting against him. Each time I take even more of him inside of me, loving the slight ache it causes. Brantley is not a small man in any way.
I moan when he too shifts, pushing in deep and holding my hips in place as he remains there. Leaning closer, he kisses my neck, and I look over at him. Our eyes lock, and something passes between us that makes my chest grow tight. Neither of us says a word; instead, he kisses the corner of my mouth and once again takes over. His movements increase, my body is reacting with each thrust of his hips. In such a short time, he’s already mastered my body, he’s found every secret spot that drives me wild, and he uses it to his advantage.
“Right there,” he whispers near my ear, “let go, baby.”
My stomach tightens as my fingernails dig into the palm of my hand. My body arches, and he continues to drive into me deep and at the perfect rhythm.
“Oh yeah,” His fingers dig into my hip, and suddenly I am lost. “Fuck,” he growls before his body stiffens, and I can feel his release. Together we spiral out of control and fall over the edge of bliss.
I smile when the first thing I see when I open my eyes is Brantley watching me. “Are you watching me sleep?”
He nods, the corner of his mouth tipping up in a grin.
“Are you having one of those moments where you think she looked so much better last night, rather than now?”
Arching his brow, he shakes his head, never once looking away from me. Sometimes I have the most difficult time trying to figure out his thoughts. He’s not the easiest guy to read. That brooding, sexy and authoritative way about him leaves me feeling all twisted up inside, but in the best possible way.
“I’m thinking I’d like to wake up like this more often,” he runs the tip of his finger along my arm, then up and over my shoulder. “The weeks are already long, but add to it that I don’t get to see you much during the week, and it’s miserable.”
He has a few more significant projects going on at work which leaves him exhausted at night. Me, I’ve taken on a few night classes, and the schedule change has me so flipped around.
“I like waking up to you too,” or being woken up by you for sexy time in the middle of the night, but I leave that part out.
“Stay over tonight,” he’s holding me close, one hand cupping the side of my face. “We can order something for dinner, find a movie to watch, and curl up on the couch. Shut out everyone else, ignore the outside world.”
“You’re gonna get sick of me.”
“Not possible,” he seems so sure and wastes no time stating the fact. “I’ve wanted moments like this since the first time I saw you, and not once has that feeling left.”
This man can be so complex and unreadable, but the sweet words and adoring looks get me every single time when it comes to me.
“I’ll need to go get some clothes and things from my place,” he shakes his head, moving in closer. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
“You don’t need anything.”
“I don’t?”
He kisses the corner of my mouth, “This is a naked sleepover.”
I can feel him growing hard against my hip, and my body instantly reacts.
“I will have to run out, though,” he shifts against me, and I bite my lip, trying to remain focused on his words. It’s so easy to lose track of my thoughts when he’s around, especially when he’s touching me and kissing me.
“Why?”
“Well, I plan at some point on being back inside of you, and after our early morning events, we’re all out of condoms.”
I smile as he kisses down the side of my neck and lowers the sheet just enough to find my nipple. Gliding his tongue over it, he sucks on the hard peek, and my back arches, begging for more.
“Or we could just go without,” I whisper, and his mouth pauses on my breast. He peers up at me. “If you trust me,” I shrug, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I’m clean and protected,” he releases my nipple and crawls over me, positioning himself between my now parted thighs. I can feel his erection pressing to me, and I fight the urge to shift my hips.
He is watching me but saying nothing, which makes me nervous.
“Or we could run out and get some,” I shrug, suddenly feeling as though maybe I shouldn’t have said anything at all.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I mean I could go get them or—,”
“No,” he leans in and kisses me softly. “I meant going without condoms. Are you sure about that?”
He watches me closely, looking over me slowly, gauging my reaction, it seems. I nod, feeling a little less uneasy now that I see the fire burning in his eyes. All it will take is one shift of his hips, and he’ll be inside of me. I want that. By the look on his face, he wants that too.
“I’ve never,” he stops short and holds my stare.
“Me neither,” but with Brantley, I want it more than anything.
He lowers his mouth to mine, offering a heated kiss. Then he slowly and very skillfully, I might add, begins to push into my body. A rumble in his chest, resembling a growl, echoes, and he fists my hair giving it a little tug. The bite is something that surprises me, but it also sends a surge of excitement through me.
“Sutton,” he whispers my name; I’m not sure he meant for me to hear him as he remains seated, unmoving as if trying to regain a sense of control.
I feel it, too, the pure desire and sense of perfection. A hunger so crippling that it leaves room for nothing more.
Chapter Forty-Two
Brantley
* * *
“Bennett says that you’re dating Sutton West,” I freeze with my back to my mother, waiting for the lecture to begin. How I’ve stolen the girl and how wrong that is of me. If Bennett is talking to her, that means she knows all the sordid details.
>
“I always thought her and Ben would end up together,” my stomach sours. “Such a sweet girl, always came here to ride with Bennett and even helped out in the kitchen at a few family functions we had.”
I turn around and place the box of apples in the bed of the truck.
Would I ever get used to hearing people say things about Bennett and Sutton?
“I haven’t seen her around in a while,” she adds, and I look in her direction to find her watching me closely. “Are things okay?”
“Are you asking me if she and I are still dating?” In my eyes, we are doing a hell of a lot more than dating, but I’ve chosen to use my mom’s choice of words instead.
She nods, waiting for my answer.
“Yeah, we are,” when she smiles wide, I feel the ache in my chest ease.
“She is such a good girl,” a flashback of last night hits me when she crawled over my lap in the cab of my truck, and I feel the heat rise in my neck. The way she moved, pulling me free from my shorts, her skirt barely covering us up as she rotated her hips and her lips parted.
Sutton has a dirty girl side; I’ll admit I was shocked to unleash.
“Are things serious?”
“I like to think that they are,” my desire to be near her, even if all we are doing is sitting in silence, is almost constant. I’m not too fond of the distance. I don’t particularly enjoy going days without feeling Sutton’s fingers threading through mine or the softness of her lips pressed to mine. I didn’t like not seeing her smile or hearing her laugh.
“You should invite her to the barbecue next weekend,” she smiles at me, hopeful. Momma has always been the meddling in her boy’s life, kinda mom. She never sits back and allows us to choose without giving us her two cents to consider. She always adds her uncensored opinion about every single girl we dated over the years. Even if it was just to a school dance, we got the rundown on all the reason’s why we should steer clear of specific girls and how others were the good ones.
Granted, she wasn’t always right; it never stopped her from telling us anyway.
“I told Bennett to invite the rest of the girls too, but I’m not sure he’ll do it, so maybe you can. He was quiet when I asked him about who he’s interested in,” my stomach tenses. “Do you know what that’s about?”
I could fill her in on everything, but instead, I shrug and continue to load the crates of fruit into the bed of the truck. I’m not sure that I will ever not feel like a prick for how things played out. Like I stole something from Bennett like I took someone important from his life that I had no right to take.
Every time I’m with Sutton, I forget about the outside world. I forget about all the things I’ve seen that I wish I hadn’t. I forget about the ugliness in the world and the hate. I forget that I’ve stolen from the one person who I’ve spent my entire life protecting. I forget that I shattered a dream my little brother may have had.
But the reality is those things will always be there. I’ll always be that guy.
“You doing this?”
I stand with my hands on my hips, looking out over the open space. For the most part, the land I’ve purchased is sprawling and flat, but there is one spot that drew me in immediately. One rolling hill, almost as if it drops off and disappears, but in reality, it slowly descends. Just beyond the dip at the bottom, where it begins to even out, is a lake. Not a small lake either, but one that seems to go on and on. I’ve imagined a million times looking out the back of my house and seeing the sun glistening off the water. Or late nights, sitting on a dock with a cold beer in one hand and a fishing pole in the other.
“Yeah,” I turn back toward the trailer and grab my rope and stakes. Then, shooting Aaron a smirk, I motion toward the hammer and nails. “And your gonna help me rope this off, so they know the layout.”
In less than a week, we’ll break ground, and we’ll start to set the walls for the partial basement. A basement that I’ve pictured will walk out onto a patio then lead right to the lake. I’ve thought long and hard about what I want in a home. Not just since I’ve been home but for years while I was away. Deployment, those long, stretched-out nights when I couldn’t sleep, dreams, and plans are what kept me going.
“You talked to Bennett lately?”
“Every day at work,” everyone is still so cryptic when it comes to Ben and me.
“I meant about Lex or anything?”
Shaking my head, I walk toward the marks sprayed in the grass and kneel, driving in the first stake.
“He found out that she reconnected with her old boyfriend.”
I pause as my mind races back to the morning Lexi stood in Sutton’s bedroom doorway with a scowl on her pretty face. “Drew?”
“Derrick,” he corrects me, and I nod. I knew it was something like that. “The guys a real douche, all of us swore last time he was cheating on her, but never could catch him in the act.”
“What’s his story?”
“Firefighter in Montgomery, daddy’s paid his way in life and thinks he’s some Rico Suave. Never liked him much, and when Lex is around him, she’s not herself.” Aaron drives in the second stake, and I toss him the rope after tying it to my end. Wrapping it around his, we move on to the next corner, and I’m lost in my thoughts. Sometimes I think Bennett is his own worst enemy.
“Ben’s been on a drinking binge, pulling away from everyone and moody as fuck.” Aaron continues, and we move around the mapped-out area. “Timing seems about right since she reconnected with the guy last weekend. No one’s talking about it, but I think Lex feels a little rejected and is looking for some boost. The problem is in the end, I think she’s gonna be heartbroken, and Bennett’s gonna find himself in jail again.”
“In jail,” I swivel around to face Aaron, and he seems surprised that I don’t already know. “He and this guy have a bit of history after he found Lexi crying in her car. All I know is that he’s one of those guys that likes to make a woman feel inferior to him, and Bennett caught wind of that and decided to pay him a visit. Shit got real heated, and they both spent the night in jail.”
I saw this going south real fast.
“Why is it so hard for him to admit that he has feelings for her?” What in the hell is wrong with my brother.
“We’re all wondering the same damn thing. Ben’s been the guy in the center of all six girls for more than a year. He was the one they complained to about who they were dating. They sent him on tampon runs or grocery shopping when the situation called for it. He’s bounced between Sutton and Lexi for far too long while we all watched, wondering when in the hell he was gonna figure his shit out.”
I tense my jaw, hating the reminder of Bennett and Sutton; even if their relationship has never crossed a line, it still grates on my nerves.
Chapter Forty-Three
Sutton
* * *
"Sutton," I fight the urge to roll my eyes when I step inside my apartment to find Derrick sprawled out on the couch. I never liked the guy when Lexi dated him before, and that hasn't changed now. "Looking good," he wags his brows as he looks over me from head to toe. He is such a dirty pig.
"Would you mind removing your dirty shoes from the couch?" I stand between him and the television, ensuring to block his view. I never understood what Lexi saw in him. Yes, fine, he's attractive, but his attitude and the poor way he treats her makes him hideous.
"Still the same ole attitude, I see," he smirks at me—his gaze shifts toward my chest. I fight the urge to cover myself feeling dirty from his perusal—what a creep.
"Okay, I'm ready," Lexi emerges from the hall wearing a cute dress and strappy sandals. She looks gorgeous, with her hair all curled and hanging loose around her shoulders.
"You're wearing that," Derrick says before I get the chance to say anything, and I glare at him.
"Don't I look okay?"
"You look better than okay," I interrupt him before he has the chance to drag her down anymore. "You look hot. What’s wrong Derrick are you a
fraid another guy will take notice and treat her right. Then she'll finally realize you're a waste of time."
"Sutton," she bites her lip and looks between her douchebag boyfriend and me.
"Lex isn't going anywhere, Sutton," Derrick steps up to her and wraps his arms around her waist. "Are you, baby?" The way he says baby and practically gropes her in front of me makes my stomach turn.
"Will you two get along, please?" If it weren't for the desperate look in Lexi's eyes, I would have told her right then how she deserves better and that he is the world's most significant creep, but I'll save that for later. So instead, I curl my lip, faking a smile, and walk toward my room.
Grabbing my things, I go to the bathroom and climb in beneath the warm cascade of water. I spend extra time washing away the hours of dancing grime and condition my hair a second time, hoping that they will be gone before I come back out.
I'm happy to find myself alone when I emerge.
Searching through my closet, I find my favorite t-shirt dress and work on my hair, deciding to let the natural waves air dry.
Knowing that I shouldn't, but unable to stop myself, I sit down on the end of my bed and dial Bennett's number. After the third ring, I'm just about to hang up when he answers. "What's up, Tink?"
Hearing his familiar nickname, accompanied by a chuckle, I'm immediately reminded of the loving guy absent from my life lately.
"Wondering when you're gonna pull your head out of your ass and stop pouting."
Silence meets me, and a few weeks ago, that may have intimidated me. The truth is, I'm not sure how I should act with Bennett anymore. But what I do know is I'm sitting back watching my best friend self-destruct and I can't do that quietly.
"What is it? Fear, confusion, maybe both."
"You been drinking Sutton?"
