Tamed (Cherry Grove Book 2)

by Cole Lepley

  I pull my hand away with a sigh. It’s probably not the best time to get into it with him, but I know how far inside his head he gets when he drinks. I also know how Oliver gets when Liam drinks too much and tries to pick a fight with me. Either way, this night is on track to end in disaster. I just hope the next explosion doesn’t come from Ollie’s fists.

  As if he could read my thoughts, Ollie comes swaggering out of the sliding glass doors with Hunter, the two of them still cackling to each other. The guys at the table raise their cups in a salute, cheering some drunken bullshit I can’t understand. Ollie grins and walks over to stand beside me, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

  “You like the show?”

  “Anyone can blow shit up. I thought you said you were setting off fireworks.”

  “I am,” he says with a laugh. “Later, though. I’m working up to a grand finale.”

  Liam visibly tenses at my current position. We’re standing right next to him, and Ollie doesn’t give two fucks if touching me like this will piss him off. I decide that I do, though, and slip out from under his arm. He gives me a look and then mouths to me, “What?”

  I narrow my eyes and discretely nod to Liam, who has his back to us. Ollie rolls his eyes, never one to care about boundaries. I step toward Liam.

  “If you’re still mad about earlier, then we should talk about it. Getting drunk is only going to make it worse.”

  Liam slowly turns his gaze to me without saying a word. He glares for a second and then finishes the rest of his drink in one large gulp. He slams his cup down on the table and heads for the door, muttering on his way past me, “I’m going to take a piss.”

  I start to follow him, but Ollie grabs my arm. My eyebrow arches. “What?”

  He releases me and laughs. “Does he need your help? Stay here with me.”

  “No, I can’t do that.”

  Ollie looks offended. “Why not?”

  “Because he’s mad at me.”

  He scoffs and makes a mocking gesture with his hand toward the door Liam just stormed out of. “Fuck him, Charlie. He’s a little bitch.”

  As much as I want to agree with him right now, Liam has a right to be pissed at me. With a sigh, I grab Ollie by the shirt sleeve and pull him away from the rest of crowd to stand in the corner of the deck.

  I lean back against the railing and take a breath. “Liam told me he loves me.”

  Ollie’s entire body stiffens. “What does that mean?”

  I swallow the lump in my throat. There’s no way I can tell him what it really means. So I settle for a version of the truth.

  “I didn’t say it back.”

  And just like that, all of the tension in his posture releases at once. He shakes his head, laughing to himself. “Oh my God, you fucking scared me.”

  “Why?”

  He laughs again. “Because I thought you were going to be fucking him right here in my house.”

  Now I’m angry. “So, you’re saying that as soon as someone tells me they love me, I’m going to jump their bones, just like that.” I snap my fingers to accentuate my point and he flinches.

  “No, I don’t mean that at all.”

  I cross my arms, refusing to back down because he’s looking at me the way he is right now with those sad, deceiving eyes. As if he actually has real feelings inside of him.

  “Then what? Why would it scare you if I did?”

  He takes a step back, lacing his hands on top of his head. “I don’t know. I just don’t like it.”

  “That’s not a good enough answer.”

  Ollie drops his arms and throws them out to his sides, clearly frustrated. “What do you want me to say, Charlie?”

  His voice is louder than I would like and several people at the beer pong table look our way. I look back to Ollie and he’s genuinely confused—or at least he’s good at pretending to be.

  I roll my eyes, already done with this conversation. “Nothing. It’s whatever.”

  When I move to pass him, he steps in my path. “No, it’s not whatever. Say what you mean, or don’t say anything at all.”

  I laugh bitterly. “Really, Ollie? That’s what you’re going to say to me?” I step closer to him and lower my voice. “You’re one to talk. You’re turning this around on me so you don’t have to talk about it at all.”

  Ollie growls under his breath, his irritation peaking. “Talk about what?”

  “Exactly.”

  This time I make it all the way around him and storm inside the house to find Liam. I’m shaking with anger while I search all the bathrooms on the second floor. It takes until the third one for me to finally find him.

  He’s leaning over the sink with his hands gripping the edge of the counter when I walk up to the half open door. I push it all the way open and his eyes meet mine.

  “I’m sorry,” he says, his voice hoarse. He stands up straight and leans back against the vanity. “I’m just so fucking tired of coming in second to him.”

  I shake my head. “That’s not true—”

  “Don’t even try to deny it,” he bites back, cutting me off. “I’m not fucking stupid.” He laughs to himself. “Or maybe I am. At least, that’s probably what everyone thinks.”

  Guilt returns and I wrap my arms around myself in the doorway. “You’re not stupid, Liam.” My voice is small and I’m afraid to look him in the eye. I don’t want him to see the indecision on my face. I take a shallow breath and slowly raise my eyes to his. “About what you said earlier, or, what I didn’t say, I…”

  He shakes his head. “I know why you didn’t say it.” I open my mouth to respond, but he keeps going, taking a step toward me. “Because of him.”

  “Ollie has nothing to do with this.”

  It’s a blatant lie, but I don’t want to have this fight here. Not with all of the alcohol-fueled guys itching to jump into a fight—and Ollie would start one if he heard Liam speaking to me the way he is. I swear they love drama as much as they claim girls do. It couldn’t be an ‘epic’ night unless someone gets punched.

  Liam’s laugh is louder this time, darker. He takes another step, pushing me out into the hallway. The music from the party echoes through the house, but here it’s muffled from behind a double door that lead to the stairs.

  He backs me up against the wall and cocks his head. “It has every-fucking-thing to do with him. You’re probably fucking him, aren’t you?”

  My face contorts in disgust. I give him a shove away from me and he stumbles back. “You’re out of line. We can talk about this when you’re not completely wasted.”

  I don’t get one step before he grabs my arm. “No, we’ll talk about it now. I want to hear you say it.”

  “Say what?”

  I try to pull away from him, but he pushes me back against the wall again. His lips form a cold sneer as he speaks, his face mere inches from mine. “That you’re fucking him.” He says the words slowly, enunciating every syllable for me. “Because that’s the only explanation I can come up with. Unless he’s the one you actually love.”

  I close my eyes tight and try to calm the racing feeling in my chest. This was eventually going to happen. It was only a matter of time before it got too out hand. I search for the words to say, but come up short under pressure.

  When I open my eyes again, he’s staring down at me expectantly. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, okay? Especially not like this.”

  He blocks my path once more, but he doesn’t stay there for long. Without warning, Hunter comes around the corner and grabs Liam by the throat before slamming him into the closed door behind him.

  “You wanna put your hands on a girl? Why don’t you put your hands on me, huh? You’ll see what I do to you.” He squeezes tighter and Liam gasps for air. “Doesn’t feel good, does it?”

  My pulse skyrockets and I frantically scan the hall for Ollie. I expected it to be him that would get in the middle of this, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

  Liam tries to shove Hu
nter back, but his struggle has no effect. There’s a darkness in Hunter’s eyes that I’ve never seen before. He presses Liam’s head against the wall roughly, spitting in his face as he speaks.

  “She said she was done talking, so that’s your cue to walk the fuck away. You understand?”

  Liam growls something back that I can’t quite make out. It might have something to do with his cheek being smashed against the drywall.

  I’m so stunned by what’s happening, I haven’t moved. Several guys come barreling down the hall to intervene, but none of them are the one I want to see. They run past me and get in between Hunter and Liam, separating them to opposite sides of the hallway.

  Liam’s chest is still heaving with exertion, but now he won’t look at me. One of the guys from the team, Jimmy, says something in Liam’s ear and he nods. I remain quiet until they start to walk away.

  Hunter turns to me when they’re out of earshot. “What the fuck was that about?”

  He looks as confused and angry as I feel, but I can’t tell him. Not until I talk to Oliver—but I don’t know where he is.

  Chapter 19

  A Life That’s Good

  Oliver - Now

  The canary yellow bikini Charlie’s wearing is fucking killing me.

  I can’t get up from my chair right now. I’m not complaining, but damn, my beer is getting low. Hunter is standing over by the grill, and I motion to him with my bottle. He rolls his eyes at me and reaches into the cooler. I grin and turn my attention back to Charlie.

  I somehow convinced her to come over to the house and have dinner with me, Elliot, and Hunter. Part of that included bathing suit attire, but she seemed surprisingly cool with it. Behind the protection of my aviators, my eyes drift back to her tits.

  A part of me has changed, yes—but there’s also a larger part of me that loves boobs a whole lot.

  I cock my head. “You having fun, darlin’?”

  She smiles, reaching up to mess with her ponytail again. Girls always hate to get their hair fucking wet. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Long, messy waves are sexy as hell. Pretty much everything she does reminds me of sex. It’s been about a minute since I’ve been laid, too—so there’s also that.

  “Yeah,” she says, and her reply pulls me from my salacious thoughts. “I haven’t seen your sister in such a long time.” She pauses to take a drink from her beer and then shrugs. “Except for on Instagram.”

  I laugh once. “So, you follow my sister, but you never followed me?”

  Her shoulders stiffen and I regret asking the question. I was doing so well.

  She shakes her head after a moment, her eyes distant. “I’m sorry, I honestly just didn’t want to see you. I didn’t want any reminder that you existed.”

  I grip my chest like she shot me. It kinda feels like she did. “Jesus, Charlie. Don’t hold back or anything.”

  Her eyes cast downward for a beat before looking up at me again. “There’s no point in lying to each other this time around.” Her finger traces absently along the top of the table. “It never did us any good before.”

  I hold my hands up with a smirk. “Full disclosure—I stalked the shit out of you.” She laughs and I lower my hands back to the table. “I’m fucking serious. I was constantly checking to see what you were doing. You don’t post much, so it was hard to tell.”

  Her chest rises unevenly. “Hard to tell what?”

  “If you were happy or not.” I say the words casually, but it visibly affects her. She sits up straighter, her back more rigid. “All I ever wanted was for your life to be satisfying.”

  She sputters a laugh bordering on bitter. “Satisfying?”

  “Yeah,” I say slowly. “I always hoped that your life felt complete.”

  Her lips press together and she shrugs. “All I ever wanted was a life with you in it.”

  My heart almost fucking stops and I struggle with my next breath. She said the words so casually, as if it was something I should have known all along. Like I didn’t suffer the past five years trying to survive a life without her.

  I swallow hard and prepare to make words come out of my mouth again when Hunter loudly sets my beer down in front of me. “Here ya go, bud. I know your legs are broken from kicking around like Michael Phelps earlier.”

  He grins down at me, but I can’t find the will to get offended. I just nod and reach for the bottle, tilting it back until it’s halfway gone. My eyes start to focus again and I try to remember what I was going to say.

  But I can’t. I can honestly say I’m at a loss for words. I lean forward and rest my elbows on the table, passing the bottle back and forth between my hands. I can feel Hunter looking at me, but I keep staring at the label as it swirls past.

  “You ready to eat then?” he asks, patting me on the back.

  I nod. “Yeah.” I push up from the table and reach for my beer. This time I finish it in one gulp and start walking toward the grill. “Let’s fucking eat.”

  We don’t bring up the subject anymore at dinner, and for that I am fucking grateful. I need this time to think. But while I take time to think about it, I start doubting myself. Maybe her statement doesn’t mean as much as I think it does. I could be overthinking this, and stressing myself out for no reason.

  Elliot and Hunter are back in the pool again—splashing around and being disgusting—and Charlie and I are sitting on the edge at the opposite end. Our feet are dangling in the water, but she has a hoodie zipped over her bikini top now. It’s nearly dark, and I know I’m running out of time to say something.

  “I think they’re so cute,” she says, breaking the silence.

  I look across the water to see Hunter lift Elliot into the air and toss her into the deepest part. When she emerges again, she laughs, and there’s something about the way he looks at her that makes my own heart twitch. It’s like she’s his entire world. I know exactly what that feels like.

  “Sure,” I say dismissively. “I’m actually glad they ended up together.”

  Charlie gives me a sideways glance. “Really?” She shakes her head and laughs. “I’m surprised you’re so chill about this.”

  “I trust him more than anyone. He’ll take care of my sister, and that’s all that matters to me.”

  Her foot swirls in a circle, making small waves in the water. “That’s good. It’s nice to be with someone that makes you feel secure.”

  I can’t help but take her comment personally. It’s no secret I had quite a few selfish habits back in the day. I’m starting to wonder if it’s too late to change her perception of me.

  Silence falls between us again and Hunter and Elliot are getting out of the pool. He wraps a towel around her, and they walk over to us.

  “We’re going to call it a night,” Elliot says, tightening the towel around her waist. “I have an early class tomorrow, so I have to get back to campus.”

  Charlie smiles. “It was nice to see you. We should do it again sometime.”

  Elliot smiles back, and then turns toward me. I think she’s happy I’m actually trying to have a relationship with someone.

  Hunter pats me on the back and gives me a wink. “I’ll text ya later.”

  I give a wave behind my head as he’s walking away. “Later.”

  Charlie lifts her feet out of the water, shifting to me. “I should probably get going, too.”

  My pulse quickens and I reach for her hand. I don’t want her to leave yet. This is the first time we’ve been alone all night, and I still haven’t said anything important.

  “You don’t have to.”

  She looks down at my hand on hers and then back to my face, indecision clouding her features. After a moment, she pulls her hand from mine and stands.

  “I really should.”

  I push up from the pool deck and stand in front of her. She’s messing with the strings of her hoodie—my hoodie—still unsure of what to do. I can’t help but get a primal feeling inside of me, seeing her in my clothes. There’s somethin
g about it that makes me want to get all caveman and claim her for my own. I actually claimed her a long time ago, but now I need to figure out a way to keep her.

  A smirk plays on my lips and I nod to the opposite end of the pool. “We could go in the hot tub.”

  She smiles a little, finally meeting my eyes. “Probably not a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  I give her my most innocent smile and she bites her lip. “You know why.”

  I step closer to her and lean down. “Charlie, I’m not going to kiss you, so you can stop trying to tempt me.”

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You don’t have to,” I say, my voice low. I reach over and run the pad of my thumb along her bottom lip. “Every time you look at me like that, I want to.”

  She takes an uneven breath. “Like what?”

  When I lean in, she shakes her head and turns away from me. “Ollie,” she says in warning. “Don’t.”

  I pull back, slightly wounded. “What?”

  “Because if I let you kiss me, I won’t be able to stop.” She levels a hard look at me. “And I said we could be friends. I don’t know if that will be enough for you, but right now it’s all I’m willing to offer.”

  She turns to walk away, but I gently grab her arm. “Charlie, wait. There’s a few things I need to say.”

  I can tell she wants to argue, but instead she wraps the oversized sleeves of my hoodie around her and gives a nod for me to continue. I take a breath.

  “First of all, I need you to know that I really am sorry. I never wanted you to hurt because of me. That’s the last thing I ever wanted, and I know that you did.” I put my hand on my chest. “Being friends with you isn’t settling for something less. I would take having you in my life in any form, rather than not having you in it at all, because all I ever wanted was a life with you in it. It doesn’t matter how, I just want you to be here.”

  Her expression softens and her lips puff out with another sigh. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up, okay? I missed you too, and I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent together so far.”