Inked: A Driven World Novel (The Driven World)

by Tracy Lorraine

  She immediately curls onto her side and stays asleep.

  Unable to keep the distance between us now that I’ve touched her, I toe my shoes off and pull my hoodie from my body before crawling in behind her.

  I close the space between us until her back is pressed up against my front and I wrap my arm around her waist. After a few seconds, her hand finds mine and she tangles our fingers together.

  “Harlow?” I whisper, thinking she might be awake, but I get no reply.

  With her in my arms once again, I soon drift off into a peaceful sleep alongside her.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Harlow

  When I wake, I feel better than I have in days. That is, until I stretch my legs out and find that I can’t. Something, or someone, is in the way.

  Bailey never cuddl… fuck.

  Cracking one eye open, I risk a look at the arm that’s wrapped tightly around my waist.

  It’s definitely too hairy and tattooed to belong to Bailey.

  “Morning, Vixen,” he murmurs in his deep, husky voice, and I tense.

  “C-Corey, what are you doing?”

  “Well, I was sleeping, until you turned into stone beneath me. Relax,” he encourages, pulling me deeper into his body.

  I allow it, but just because it feels too damn good after so long. I’ve craved this feeling. The contentment, the feeling of safety that comes only when I’m in his arms.

  “W-why are you here?”

  “Because you need me, and because we need to talk.”

  “I never said I needed—”

  “Shhh.” His lips press to my bare shoulder, and I shudder. It’s such a simple move, but I feel it all the way down to my toes. “I’m so sorry for freaking out. I was blindsided by it and my anger took over.”

  “I was just trying to help,” I whisper back.

  “I know. I know I should have been thanking you, not shouting at you. I just… I’m not used to anyone helping me out, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

  “I should have talked to you about it.”

  “Yes.” His lips press against my heated skin once again. “You.” Kiss. “Should.” Kiss.

  My heart begins to race as heat floods my core. It’s a welcome relief from the sickness I seem to get every morning right now. That thought has a lead weight settling in my belly.

  He’s right. We have a lot to talk about.

  As much as I want to do this with the barrier that’s between us right now, my need to look into his eyes has me flipping over in his arms.

  “Hey,” he whispers, his blue eyes twinkling with delight and naughty thoughts.

  “Hey.” Everything inside me relaxes, just knowing that he’s here. Everything that I’ve been through in the past week or so feels that much easier to bear.

  “I’m so sorry about your aunt, Harlow.”

  I nod, a huge lump forming once again in my throat. Will losing her ever get easier, or will I forever picture her laying in that hospital bed in her last minutes?

  “I’ve been here almost every day trying to see you, trying to tell you how sorry I am. I should have pushed harder. I’m sorry.”

  “N-no, it’s okay. I didn’t want… I couldn’t…” I sigh, not able to find the right words to express how I’ve felt the past few days.

  “It’s okay. I get it.”

  Knowing he’s lost people he cared about, I tell myself that he really does. He must, or he’d still be angry at me. I shut him out, ignored him, yet here he is, with his arm wrapped around me and looking into my eyes like I remember.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I prepare the words I need to say to him.

  “My family.” He nods to tell me he’s listening. “My dad… he owned vineyards. A lot of them, actually. He’d taken a step back from running the business when my sister and I were babies. He said it took too much of his time and we were more important. So he brought in a team to manage the business and he just oversaw it.

  “When they died, all of that fell to me. It was put into trust until I was twenty-one, thank fuck, but then everything was mine.”

  “Fucking hell,” he mutters, his eyes not leaving mine for even a second.

  “I don’t want anything to do with it. I can’t. It reminds me too much of them, of everything I’ve lost. But that doesn’t stop the money coming in. I don’t need it. I certainly don’t earn it. But it’s mine nonetheless.

  “I donate a lot of it, and until my current job, I’ve only taken voluntary positions. But I couldn’t turn down the chance of helping out those boys. I know how hard it is. I’ve been them. I spent years being pushed from house to house, from group home to group home. The project Teddy and Rylee run is just incredible, and I’ll do anything I can to help.”

  “You do more than they’re aware of, don’t you?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at me.

  “I might, yeah.” I think of my wages every month being wired straight back into the charity and the prizes I’ve organized for the gala. “Fuck. The gala.”

  “It’s okay, Rylee has it under control,” he soothes, cupping my cheek in his hand and brushing his thumb over my skin.

  “I need to call her, make sure everything is okay.”

  “Everything is okay. Just chill.”

  I nod at him, although I do anything but relax, and I’ve no doubt he can sense it.

  “Just focus on you. Everything else is totally under control.”

  He leans forward, his lips gently brushing mine.

  “For now, just let me look after you. Let me do what I’ve been desperate to do, to make up for screwing this up.”

  “Corey, I—”

  “No, Harlow. It’s my turn. I’m so fucking sorry. I was an idiot. But I need you. I need you so fucking much.” He leans over me, pressing me into the mattress as his lips capture mine.

  I want to hesitate, morning breath and all that, but the second his tongue teases to get inside, my lips part, allowing him in.

  His hand squeezes my hip before running up my body until he is palming my breast. It’s only then that I realize I’m still wearing yesterday’s dress.

  He kisses me so deeply, so passionately that it brings tears to my eyes.

  “Oh God, Corey,” I moan when he leaves my lips in favor of my neck.

  “I’ve got you, baby.”

  He pulls the straps from my shoulder before sitting at my legs and pulling the fabric of my dress down my body.

  “Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he mutters, taking in my nude strapless bra and matching panties. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.”

  I want to return the sentiment, but I can’t. I’m too lost.

  His lips land on my collarbone and he licks and nips his way down to the swell of my breasts.

  “Please,” I moan, arching my back so he can release them.

  They’re swollen, tender, extra sensitive and so desperate for his touch.

  He follows my demand and slips his hand behind my back so he can release the fabric. In seconds it’s free of my body, and I sigh when he pulls it away from me.

  “I-I need you.” I arch again, offering myself up to him.

  “My little vixen,” he mutters before reaching behind him, pulling his t-shirt off and diving for my breasts.

  “Oh God, oh God,” I chant as he takes a nipple in his mouth and sucks until I almost combust beneath him. So fucking sensitive. “Keep going.” My fingers thread in his hair to hold him in place. I’m so close already. His scent, his touch, his tongue as he flicks it over my tight bud.

  He switches sides, his eyes meeting mine as he does so.

  “More, Corey. I need more.”

  He nods, sucking the other side deep into his mouth. I cry out, but it’s nothing compared to when his fingers slip inside of my panties and he finds my already swollen clit.

  “Oh God, yes. Yes,” I cry as he teases me to perfection.

  His mouth continues as his fingers push inside me. I writhe as my release gets within touching di
stance.

  “Corey, Corey. Fuck, I need… I need. Fuuuuuck.” He bites down on one of my nipples and I lose all control.

  “You need what, Vixen?”

  I nod, my breathing too erratic to even think about forming words as my body floats back down to Earth.

  Settling himself between my legs, he pops the button on his pants and pushes them and his boxers down his thighs, too impatient to remove them completely.

  He palms his hard cock a few times. The sight has me burning up. There’s something so hot about a guy shamelessly taking the pleasure they need.

  “I need…”

  “I’ve got you. I know exactly what you need.”

  Taking the lace of my panties in his hand, he tugs until they rip.

  “Corey,” I gasp, more turned on than I want to admit by the caveman move.

  Hooking one hand behind my knee, he pushes my thigh up to my stomach before teasing the head of his cock around my clit.

  My hips grind, needing more, desperate to feel him pushing inside me and stretching me open. And in only seconds, he gives me my wish.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” I cry as he fills me to the hilt in one swift move.

  Folding over my body, he drops his face into the crook of my neck.

  “Fuck,” he groans. “Fuck, I’ve missed this. Missed you. Fuck. I’m so sorry. Fuck.”

  My hands trail down his back until I grip onto his ass, encouraging him to move more than the slow thrusts he’s doing right now.

  After kissing down my neck, he pulls back and stares at me.

  “Harlow,” he breathes. “Fuck.”

  In that moment, I feel everything he’s not saying out loud but is as clear as day in his eyes.

  “I know, Corey. I know.”

  “Jesus, fuck.”

  His hand once again finds the back of my knee while the other grips my hip before he really starts to move.

  His pace increases with each thrust, and all too soon I’m racing toward another mind-blowing release. Corey has always dragged the best out of me, but with our time apart, they’re even more powerful.

  He lowers his thumb to my clit and I detonate.

  “Corey,” I cry, breaking the silence, and I’m sure letting Bailey know exactly what’s going down in here.

  Seconds after my orgasm crashes into me, he stills and roars his own release.

  The moment my orgasm starts to subside, my stomach turns over.

  Oh no. No, no, no.

  Scrambling to get up, I fly toward the bathroom and get to the toilet just in time.

  I’m not aware of what he’s doing as I heave into the bowl until his fingers brush my back as he gathers my hair for me.

  Once I’m happy I’ve finished, I wipe my mouth with some tissue and sit back.

  “Are you okay?” he asks, concern knitting his brows.

  “Um…”

  His eyes burn into me as I stand and make use of the mouthwash sitting next to the basin.

  “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

  His eyes are wide, fear evident within them, but there’s no hiding now. I’ve a feeling he already knows anyway.

  “I’m pregnant, Corey.”

  “No. No, no, no.” His hands lift to his hair and he tugs so hard I think it’s going to come out. “No. No,” he repeats, looking around the room but not meeting my eyes. “Fuck,” he barks before storming from the room and, soon after, the house.

  I sag back against the counter, my head spinning. Did that just really happen?

  How did we go from orgasmic bliss to him running like his ass was on fire in a matter of seconds?

  Footsteps race toward me, and when I look up, I find Bailey holding a towel out for me. I’d totally forgotten that I was standing here naked.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “I told him.”

  “Fuck.”

  She gathers me up in her arms, but I don’t cry. I’m pretty sure I’ve run out of tears.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Harlow

  “He’s not coming back, is he?” Bailey asks from her end of the couch.

  It’s been hours since I told Corey that I was pregnant and he ran out of the house. To begin with, I thought that maybe he just needed a breather and he’d be back. He’d just told me how much he’d missed me, how much he needed me, and yet he’s vanished.

  “Doesn’t look that way, does it?”

  “Why do you sound so… okay?”

  I can’t help but laugh at her. Okay? She thinks I’m okay? Clearly, I’m a better actress than I ever gave myself credit for.

  “Okay, now you’re just freaking me out,” she mutters.

  “Nothing about my life is okay right now, B. But if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry, and if I do that there’s a chance I’ll never stop.”

  Her face falls and I hate it. I hate being on the receiving end of her pity.

  “Stop, or I’ll go back to hiding in my room. I need you to be… normal, if that’s at all possible.”

  She sticks her tongue out at me. “I need a drink. You want one—fuck.”

  “A glass of water would be great, thanks.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispers with a wince as she leaves the room.

  Lifting my cell from the cushion beside me, I check it for the millionth time, but he’s not been in touch. Fuck knows where he’s gone—half his clothes are still upstairs in my room. The only thing that disappeared with him was his shoes.

  I want to call again. Send a text, even. But what’s the point? I’m not lowering myself to begging. If he cares about me like he claims to, if he has any interest in this baby, then he’ll come back. It’s whether or not I let him in that he should be worried about.

  We spend the night lounging on the couch with pizza and ice cream, and Bailey does her best to try to distract me from my disastrous life. But the ball of dread which seems to have taken up residence in my stomach and the flowers and cards that cover every surface are an unwelcome reminder of what I’m dealing with right now.

  “Why’s my life so dramatic, B? Why can’t it be more like yours?”

  “I wish I had the answer. At some point the tables will turn, I’m sure. You’ll run off into the sunset while I’m left here with some big drama that threatens to drag me under.”

  “I wouldn’t leave you, you know that.”

  “Maybe not, but you’ll have your baby, and Corey hopefully. You deserve that sunset, H.”

  I smile at her because while I can’t really argue, there’s no way I’m leaving her. She’s my sister. We might not always live in the same house, but we’ll always be connected.

  “We’ll see. Knowing my luck, the bailiffs will turn up telling me something’s gone very wrong and I’ll go from being a millionaire to poor and a single mom in a matter of minutes.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Nor should getting pregnant the first time I had sex after forever, but it did.”

  “You can’t blame anyone but yourself for that one.”

  “Fair point. I was drunk and Corey was…”

  “Hot?”

  “Yeah, that.”

  I sigh, wishing that I’d gone about this morning differently.

  “Did you at least explain about the money?”

  “I did.”

  Silence settles around us as we both stare at whatever it is on the TV.

  “You should know, that was really fucking hot, listening to you both this morning.”

  “Stop talking. Stop it right now.”

  “What? I can’t help it. All the moaning, groaning, crying out his name.”

  “Jesus. I need to buy you your own house.”

  She laughs, reaching for her wine.

  “What are you going to do?” She looks down at my belly.

  “I’ve no idea.”

  “You could move back home, bring your baby up in a place you love. Give him or her the memories you have and create some new ones.”


  I sigh, thinking of my childhood home that’s been sitting empty since the day I was picked up and taken away.

  It’s mine now, just like everything else my parents owned. I never had it in me to sell it. I always had the idea that when I had a family that I could make it my home, like Bailey just described, but I’m not sure I want to now that the time is approaching. Not that it’s anything like I imagined. I thought I’d be happily married and having a planned child, not a drunken accident, albeit a fun one.

  I sit bolt upright on the couch when the doorbell rings an hour or so later.

  “Oh my God, is it him?” I ask Bailey who’s staring at me with wide eyes.

  “Because I can see through walls,” she mutters. “Go and answer it and find out.”

  I stop in front of the mirror in the hallway, smooth my hair down and wipe under my eyes. I look like hell, but I haven’t exactly got the time to fix it.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I lift my hand and open the door.

  My shoulders slump in disappointment the second I see who’s on the other side.

  “Do you get the feeling she was expecting it to be someone else?” Colton quips.

  “I’m so sorry. It’s just… it’s complicated.”

  “That man of yours still not pulled his head out of his ass?”

  “Can we come in?” Rylee asks, ignoring her other half.

  “Of course.” I push the door wider and stand back.

  Rylee walks past and straight into the living room, Colton following.

  “He’ll figure his shit out. It just takes some of us longer than others.”

  “Thanks,” I mutter, although I’m beginning to wonder if it might all just be too much for him.

  “I’m so sorry to barge in on you like this. I just had a couple of questions about tomorrow night, if you don’t mind,” Rylee says when I join them all in the living room.

  “No, of course not. I’m so sorry I left everything to you.”

  “It’s nothing. You’d done a fantastic job. There’s only a couple of things left to do.”

  Rylee pulls her iPad out from her purse and powers it up. I sit down beside her so we can go through whatever it is.