“You destroyed him the day you broke your promise to me. The day you left. Again,” Julien whisper-shouts in my face.
“Fine!” I hiss. “Then be mad at me. Why take it out on Elijah? He’s been there for you and you’ve treated him like he’s disposable and unwanted. He loves you. I know for a fact that you love him back just as deeply. Stop being an ass and talk to him.”
Julien’s face contorts. “When did you get so bossy?”
“How about we blame it on Fallon,” I answer.
“Blame what on me?” I never noticed when Ryder and Fallon joined our little circle.
“For me being bossy. And what did you say to me before, Jayson? That I had a sassy mouth?”
“I also remember saying you were a fighter,” he replies.
“Damn straight.” I poke Julien in the chest with my finger, “And I will keep fighting you with my sassy mouth and bossy attitude until you give in. Give in already so I can have my best friend back.”
I watch as Julien deflates, all the anger and fight leaving his body. “What if I want to stay mad at you?”
“I’ll give you until tomorrow.”
“Ugh,” Julien groans out and raises his eyes to the night sky as if asking a higher power for help.
“I love you, Julien. I truly am sorry I hurt you. Now, stop being a dick and go get your man back.”
“I don’t know if he wants me back.”
“Oh, he definitely wants you back,” Elijah says, walking up behind me. “But he also expects you to grovel and crawl a little first.”
Julien shoves his hands in his pockets, but the glint in his eye is straight-up happiness. “I can do that.”
My spirits soar when I hear Julien say that. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long. My jubilant mood sours when I hear Marshall, “Isn’t this a sweet reunion. Come to reminisce about your high school glory days?”
Without missing a beat, Fallon counters, “Still living my glory days,” and strolls over to where Marshall has been leaning against the hood of his car watching us the entire time. That guy is such an asshole.
Fallon glides his hand over the side and across the door of Marshall’s Camaro as he slowly walks around it. A crowd has gathered to watch what’s going down between Fallon and Marshall.
“Nice car,” Fallon says.
“What the fuck is it to you?” Marshall straightens, watching Fallon carefully like a gazelle would a lion.
This is the side of Fallon I love most. Dangerous, cocky, with a side of egotistical bastard thrown into the mix. I take great pleasure in watching Fallon make Marshall squirm.
“Hey, kitten! Feel up to a little race?”
“Against Marshall? Hell, yes!” I shout back.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ryder seethes, tugging me behind him in a protective move like he used to do. His act of chivalry actually turns me on, and I glide my hand up his jacket-covered back in appreciation. Ryder angles his head to look over his shoulder at me, his eyebrow cocked, and I give him my sexiest smile hoping my mental telepathy of “just wait until later tonight” comes out loud and clear. The higher arching of his brow tells me it does.
“Liz, you can’t race him. You’ve never raced here before. It’s too dangerous,” Jayson says.
Marshall bends over at the waist and laughs. “Oh, this should be good.”
I turn around and walk backward, pointing fingers at Ryder and Jayson. “Trust me. I’ve got this.” I spin round to face Marshall. “You’re right, Marshall. This should be good.”
“Where’s your car, princess?” I want so badly to punch Marshall in the nose again.
Fallon aims his blue gaze at the guy standing next to one of the Mustang GT500s. “You know who I am?”
The guy swallows a few times, nods, and squeaks out a yes. “Good. Give me your keys, fucker.”
Like magic, car keys suddenly appear in Fallon’s open palm. He throws them at me. “She has a ride. Let’s race.” I will never understand how the heck he does that. It’s like Fallon has Jedi mind trick powers over people.
Marshall scoffs. “I don’t race for fun. Make it worth my while.”
“Fine. She loses, I’ll give you the Equus Bass that’s stored in my family’s garage. You lose and I get your Camaro. Fair enough?”
A smarmy grin makes an appearance on Marshall’s mouth. “Deal.”
Fallon yells out, “Get the track cleared!” and people scramble to do his bidding. “You got this, kitten. Smoke his ass.”
“Thanks for letting me drive your car. I promise not to wreck it,” I tell the poor guy as he stands idly by, looking helpless and a little green in the face. I get into the driver’s seat of his car and the guy staggers back out of the way. I should feel guilty about taking some stranger’s car without asking, but I don’t. My hatred for Marshall supersedes reason at the point. And I think I may have a little bit of Fallon in me. I did beat down the back door of my house yesterday, and today I’m one step away from being a car thief.
The passenger door opens and Fallon hops in the back, all grins. Ryder sits down in the passenger seat and buckles in.
“You know you guys are just adding weight to the car that’ll slow it down.”
Fallon leans between the front seats. “Shouldn’t hinder you from winning. Stop bitching and let’s do this.”
There’s a knock on my window and Jayson, Julien, and Elijah are standing there. I roll it down.
“You remember everything Ryder taught you?” Jayson asks me.
“Yep.”
“Ry, keep an eye out for anything dirty. I don’t have to remind you what Marshall did to your car last time.”
Fallon thrums his fingers on the back of Ryder’s seat. “My head will be on a three-sixty. We’ve got her covered.”
Julien tries to nudge Jayson out of the way but Jayson shoulder-checks him and bends down so we’re at eye level. “I know you won’t listen to me if I tell you to not do this. So, instead I’ll say, go be badass, princess, and show that ass-wipe what you’re made of.”
Wow. Coming from Jayson, that means a lot. He always tries to shield me from everything. If I get a splinter, he acts like it is the end of the world.
“You really mean that?”
He flashes a grin at me and moves so Julien can see me.
“You let him beat you and I’ll never speak with you again.”
“Then I’ll make sure not to. Besides, aren’t you still mad at me and not talking to me anyway?” I smile to let him know I’m teasing, even though a part of me isn’t. I’m pretty sure after tonight, Julien will go back to being angry at me again.
Julien gives me a quick peck on the forehead and taps the side of the car with his knuckles.
I roll the window up and hand Ryder my phone. “You know what to play.”
Ryder leans over the console and grabs the back of my neck, bringing me in for a hot, wet kiss. “I love you so fucking much.”
Fallon sits back. “Stop with the front seat porn unless I’m invited.”
Ryder kisses me deeply one more time while giving Fallon the bird. Seconds later “Alive” by P.O.D. starts blasting from my phone. It’s the song we listened to when Ryder came and got me from the library to be the first person to ride in his Hellcat.
As I make my way up to the starting line, I look over at Marshall. I kiss my middle finger and blow it at him.
“Hey, Fallon. Does that mean if I win, I get your Equus?”
“Shit, kitten, when you beat that fucker, I’ll give you my yacht.”
“Alrighty then.”
Chapter 19
The door crashes inwards and Ryder and I stumble around in the dark, mouths fused, hands groping. He reaches back and bolts the lock.
“Lights?” I gasp.
“Don’t need them. Know where I’m going,” he grunts out, lifting me up and latching onto my neck with a hard suck that makes my nipples pucker and my core clench. He’s marking me and I plan on doing the same to him.
<
br /> Another door goes wide as Ryder kicks it hard with his foot. I scrape my nails along the back of his head, loving the feel of his soft hair against my fingertips. Then I’m being spun and dropped on the hood of a car.
After I thoroughly kicked Marshall’s ass in the race, we celebrated my victory at a local sports bar. Ryder and Jayson didn’t drink for obvious reasons since they were driving, but Fallon and I enjoyed a couple of beers together—thank you, fake IDs. At the bar, we sat around, talking and laughing, mostly about the pissed-off look on Marshall’s face after the race. Marshall was forced to hand over the keys to his Camaro to Fallon after he lost. Fallon gave them to the guy whose Mustang I drove. I’m pretty sure that the guy will give the keys back to Marshall, but it was still a hell of a lot of fun to watch Marshall squirm.
About thirty minutes after we arrived at the bar, Julien and Elijah escaped to a dark, secluded corner to talk, and by the end of our evening, they were getting very cozy. Julien left with Elijah sometime before we did. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who was going to get laid tonight. As soon as we got back to Ryder’s house, and after Fallon conked out for the night, Ryder and I snuck out and drove to his dad’s auto garage. It was the only place we could think of where we could have some privacy and make as much noise as we wanted to.
“Shirt,” Ryder commands. We already ditched our coats in the car. I rip my top off and shiver, the cold of the garage bay teasing my skin with prickles.
“You too.” And he does. Even in the darkness, my eyes make out the ridges and dips of Ryder’s muscular chest and lower torso. My hands are on him instantly, followed by my mouth. We fight each other for dominance. I’m trying to eat him alive while he’s trying to get my pants off. I lift my hips up from the hood of the car and he yanks my jeans and panties down in one go. I kick them fully off with my feet.
“What car is this?”
Ryder briefly looks down and to the side. “Hellcat.” He zeroes in on my breasts and cradles them, his thumbs moving back and forth over my tight nipples.
I gasp at the sensations his fingers are causing, then start to giggle when what he said registers in my lust-laden brain. “Seriously? A Hellcat? It’s perfect.”
Bending down, he licks up the middle of my chest between my breasts. “No, these are perfect. God, I want you so bad. You were incredible tonight. Watching you drive that car made me so damn hard.” He circles his lips around the circumference of each round globe, then fondles my right nipple with his tongue and flicks my left with his thumb.
“That feels good. Don’t stop.” He doesn’t.
Feeling with my hands, I find the button and zipper of his jeans and undo them. Using the heels of my feet, I jerk the material down to expose that which I have been craving. He has gone commando again and I send up a thrilled yet silent thank you. I grab hold of his shaft and squeeze. He moans. I love it.
“I’m not done with you yet,” Ryder sexily threatens and jerks my hips down the hood of the car. As he does so, he takes both my hands in his and pins them above my head on the hood of the car. The shock of the cold metal is like being hit with static electricity all down my spine. The sensation is wonderful. I squirm under him and hook my feet around his upper thighs just below his butt, arching my body up for him to take.
Stretching me out along the hood, Ryder’s mouth goes on a frenzy of exploration across my skin, my breasts, my stomach, up my clavicle and neck, to my ear, then finally my mouth. I have always loved kissing. There is something very sensual in the way lips move together. Kisses can be soft or hard, dry or wet, tongue or no tongue. The moment when my full lips meet Ryder’s soft ones is such an exhilarating feeling. We open to one another, that first tentative touch of the tips of our tongues, then the soul-wrenching clash and tangles of the dance and glide of our mouths with one another. No one has ever kissed me the way Ryder does.
And kiss me he does. Over and over until I’m panting hard and so aroused, I may go up in flames right here on the hood of the car.
“In me now,” I tell him.
“Not yet.”
“Yes, yet,” I argue, and he chuckles, his warm breath cascading down my quivering torso. “I’ll make you,” I tell him.
“I’d like to see you try.”
Challenge accepted, my sexy man. I slip right down off the hood and take him in my mouth before he can react.
“Fuuuck, Elizabeth,” he moans, and grabs my hair as I grab the backs of his thighs, his jeans pooled at his feet. He’s not going anywhere. I tease the tip, licking the saltiness, then take him deep until I almost gag and my eyes water. Ryder tightens his grasp in my hair but allows me to remain in control of his pleasure.
“I love your mouth on me,” he rumbles, head tilted back, eyes closed. When I feel him thicken and shudder, I know he’s close. The sound that softly rumbles up from deep in his chest is enough to tease out my own orgasm.
Suddenly, I’m pulled up and flipped around. Ryder bends me over the hood of the car, my breasts pressed flat against the hard metal, my arms draped up toward the windshield. Ryder slides his hand up my spine and bends over me, his chest molding over my back. He turns my head to the side and kisses the top of my shoulder, giving me another soft bite above my scapula.
“You ready, baby?”
Oh, hell, yes. “Ryder,” I beg. I need him to fill me. I need that connection. I just need him.
I’m so wet, it only takes him one effortless, hard thrust, until he’s seated fully inside of me. We both let out loud joyous moans. Slow and unhurried, Ryder pumps in and out of me before gradually increasing the rhythm of his thrusts. As his hips increase their tempo, he moves one hand to my hip to hold me in place while the other sneaks around to stroke and strum my throbbing womanhood with determined care. My hands have no purchase as I claw at the hood of the Hellcat. I hope I don’t leave scratches in the paint. How would we ever explain that to his dad? Oh, shit. What if we dented the hood already? Too late now.
Ryder’s next hard thrust hits that spot inside of me that lights me up and cry out his name.
“Say you’re mine,” he demands, thrusting into me.
I am. “I’m yours, Ryder.” Only yours.
“Say you’re mine forever.” Another deep thrust.
For eternity. “Forever, Ryder.”
“I love you, Elizabeth.”
I’m teetering on the edge, so close.
“I love you too. Come with me. Together.”
“Together,” he replies, swiveling his hips. His thumb and forefinger giving my clit a tender pinch and my body hums in pleasure, clamping tight all around him inside of me. We both explode at the same time. His name falls from my lips, mine groans out of his, as we fall into bliss. Shudder with our combined releases. So in love. Together.
I feel a pinprick on my hip, almost like the scratch of a tattoo needle but not nearly as painful. Then a gentle blowing. My abs seize and my cock hardens.
“Looks like someone is finally awake.” I love her voice, especially when it’s husky and smooth like it is now. I go to roll over. “No, don’t move. I’m almost done.”
I turn my head on the pillow. “What are you doing?”
Elizabeth has a black Sharpie marker clenched between her teeth, her thumbs and fingers swiping across my hip. “You’ll see,” she says around the marker.
The bedsheet is pooled around our upper legs, exposing her luscious pale breasts to my line of sight. My morning erection stiffens even more until it’s almost painful with the need to be inside her again. I drink in her pink nipples and they pucker right before my eyes, turning a dusky rose color with arousal.
“Stop that,” she mumbles. “I can feel your eyes.”
“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her. I hope she never gets tired of hearing me say it, because I’ll never stop telling her. “‘She walks in beauty, like the night, of cloudless climes and starry skies; and all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes.’”
Those ethereal sage green orbs dart up, capturing my light brown ones. “Byron?”
“Yeah.”
“You amaze me every single day, Mr. Cutton.”
Somedays, I amaze myself. I don’t know where that came from. It just popped out. Elizabeth leans over my side, her nipples grazing my upper arm. I can feel her heart thudding like a bass drum and its beat, along with the emotional look in her eyes, stirs something deep inside of me. Elizabeth presses her lips to the side of my mouth then leans back.
I watch as she brings the tip of the black marker to the skin above my hip, a mischievous grin slowly inching across her gorgeous face, then I feel the subtle scratching sensation again. She’s drawing on me. My interest is piqued, but I relax into the pillow and let her finish, my mind drifting. Mere hours before, I had her naked body draped across the hood of a Challenger in my dad’s garage bay. After coming so hard I almost blacked out, I’m amazed that I was able to drive us both back home. We took a quick shower and immediately fell asleep. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the amazement of holding Elizabeth in my arms as we fall asleep. How am I the lucky guy she chose? I know it has been a hard, painful journey to get here, but fuck, it was so worth it. I know without a shadow of a doubt, this magnificent woman is going to be my wife and the mother of my children.
Elizabeth scrunches her nose in concentration. The way she does it is adorably cute. Popping the top back on, she flings the marker over her shoulder. “There. Done. Want to see?”
I sit up. Looking at her handiwork, I see that she’s drawn a staff of music along my hip. It takes me a second to figure out the melody since I’m looking at it upside down. I wasn’t the greatest at reading sheet music, no matter how much her dad practiced with me. Eventually, I’m able to decipher the notes. Liz wrote a section of our song, “Helium” by Sia.
Broken Butterfly: Fallen Brook Series: Book 3 Page 19