“Did you manage to get some work done?” Mom asks hopefully as I enter the living room. I keep my eyes on her as she places the serving spoons into the huge pan sitting in the center of the table. I refuse to give him any of my attention despite the fact his eyes are practically burning into my skin.
“Sure did,” I lie. In reality, I sat on my window seat and reminisced on all the dickhead things he and my brother have done to me over the years. Locking me out of my bedroom; damn, even the house one time. Reading my diary when I was at dance class and telling the entire school who I had a crush on. Stealing my toys, giving my dolls an unwanted haircut. The list of bullshit pranks was endless. I was never going to beat them, no matter how hard I tried. They were two legends of the basketball team; no one could touch them. And me? I was just the little sister. The little sister who was no good at sports and mostly had zero coordination. My skills lie in the art department, and while they were both ruling the school along with the football team, I was more than happy to hide behind a canvas.
I take the empty seat at the other end of the table and reach out for a spoonful of rice.
“It’s nice to see you, sis,” Leon says with what I assume would be a roll of his eyes if I were to look up.
“You too.”
I love my brother, I do. But usually when he’s alone. He’s never quite himself when he has company, whether that’s Emerson or anyone else.
“Thank you so much for having me, Gary. I really appreciate it.” His deep rumbling voice vibrates through me and my hand stills on its way toward the chili spoon. My eyes defy me, and I find myself looking up and straight at him.
He might have just spoken to my dad who’s sitting beside me, but his eyes are firmly fixed on me.
My mouth goes dry and I fight to swallow.
“It’s no problem, son,” Dad mumbles around a mouthful of food.
“How are you, Lys? School good?” he asks, but I can’t imagine he really gives a shit.
“Fantastic.” I give him a fake smile and force my eyes away from his intense light-blue ones.
Butterflies erupt in my belly as his stare remains on me. It might be the case that I hate him for all the dickhead moves he’s made over the years, but the fact remains that he’s drop-dead fucking gorgeous and is the only guy who’s ever really interested me.
I used to spend hours sitting on my window seat watching the two of them shoot hoops down the driveway, or keep my light off and peer around the drapes directly into his bedroom at him when he’d forgotten to close his own.
There are two very good reasons that the girls at Rosewood High used to chase him around like a lost puppy: the six-pack and the V lines I’ve had the pleasure of running my eyes over on many occasions.
My temperature starts to increase as I picture him jogging around the driveway with his shirt off, his skin glistening with sweat.
Fucking hell, Alyssa. Fantasizing over him while he’s living in the room next door is the last thing I need to be doing.
“So how was your last week of college?” Mom asks, turning all attention away from me. Both Leon and Emerson chat away about what they’ve been up to and the work they’ve been assigned while they’re here. I hardly listen to any of it. Instead, I eat my dinner and make my excuse of having work to do so I can run away.
“Lys, you’ve got weeks to be doing all that. Why don’t you spend the night with us? We can have a movie night or something,” Dad says, halting my escape.
“Yes,” Mom chirps up. “I bought popcorn and ice cream. It’ll be like old times.”
The excitement on her face means I don’t have much of a choice. “Sounds great. I’m just going to change and I’ll be back down in a bit. Don’t let Leon choose the movie,” I warn, knowing his addiction to scary movies.
Everyone laughs, but no one agrees. Bunch of weirdos; they all love having the shit scared out of them. I, however, prefer to be able to sleep after watching a movie and not sit in the middle of my bed with the light on, scared out of my wits.
By the time I return, all four of them are sitting on the couches, the drapes are pulled shut and there are bowls of snacks adorning the coffee table, despite the fact we all just ate our body weight in Mom’s chili.
I glance around at my options. Mom and Dad are on their usual couch and Leon seems to have taken control of the love seat I usually curl up in.
My lips purse in anger and I storm over.
“Get out of my seat, asswipe.”
“Um…” He moves slightly as if he’s actually going to do something I say, and I start to wonder if Hell has frozen over. But before his ass leaves the cushion, he looks up at me and laughs. “No. Sit over there.” He nods his head over my shoulder toward the couch Emerson is currently sitting on alone.
“No. He’s your friend. You sit with him.” My hands land on my hips as I wait.
“This is my seat. It was mine before I went to college and now I’m back, it’s mine again. So suck it the fuck up.”
“Leon,” Mom chastises.
“You’re serious?”
“Deadly. Now sit your ass down; the movie I chose is about to start.”
“I fucking hate you,” I mutter, quietly enough that our parents don’t hear.
“Aw, I’m so glad to be spending time with you too, sis.”
Sulking, I fall down on the other end of the couch that Emerson has made himself at home on, keeping as much space between us as possible. It’s not all that easy, seeing as it’s the smaller of the two couches and he’s fucking huge.
I sit ramrod straight as the movie starts. It’s barely begun and we’re trailing some figure through a darkened room. The music is eerie and I’m instantly on edge.
Despite knowing that it’s about to scare the living shit out of me, I can’t tear my eyes away from the screen.
“ARGH, my god,” I scream when something jumps out of the shadows and launches themselves at the person holding the camera.
My brother barks out a laugh as I lift my feet up onto the couch, pulling a cushion onto my lap to hug as if it might protect me.
“You’re a fucking pussy.”
“Leon, language.”
It’s only been a few hours and already Leon looks about ready to head back to college. He ignores our parents and turns his attention back to the TV.
“It scared the crap out of me too,” comes quietly from beside me.
“You don’t need to try to make me feel better.”
“I’m not.”
Suddenly the movie has stopped, and Leon is pushing from my seat. “I need a beer. Please, tell me you’ve got beer.”
“Of course,” Dad says like it’s the most ridiculous question in the world.
“Locke?”
“Please.”
Leon’s at the door before I clear my throat.
“What?” he asks, reluctantly turning back to me.
“I’ll have one too please.”
“You can’t, you’re too young.”
“I’m eighteen. You’re only nineteen,” I point out just to piss him off.
“Right. As in, older than you.”
“Just get her one,” Dad orders, much to my satisfaction.
“You still sure you want to stay here?” Mom asks Emerson.
He chuckles. “Yeah. It might be fun.”
I scoff, successfully causing his eyes to turn to me.
“What?” I bark, spinning to look at him. His eyes drop from mine in favor of my chest. I’m only wearing a tank with inbuilt support, so as his stare holds and my nipples begin to pebble under his attention it’s instantly obvious.
“Emerson,” I whisper. “My eyes are up here.”
“Huh. Yeah, I know. You’re looking really good these days, Lys.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re actually hitting on me while Leon’s in the kitchen? Jesus.”
“What? No. I was just pointing out that being a senior looks good on you.”
“Whatever,
” I say, turning back toward the TV that I don’t really want to watch. But his stare is doing things to me. Butterflies are erupting in my belly faster than I can control and like hell do I want him to know that his words are affecting me in any way.
Chapter Four
Emerson
The movie was shit. It was meant to be scary, but it fell a little short of the mark; well for me at least. It was another story entirely for Alyssa, who jumped at every loud noise, let alone anything that was meant to be even a little terrifying.
I found myself watching her more than I did the movie. Her pink tank hugged her full tits and when she hugged the cushion to her stomach, it pushed them up in the most incredible way. All I could think about was dropping my lips to them and seeing if she tasted as sweet as I always imagined she might.
When she got to her fourth beer that she’d managed to sneak in after her parents cut her off at two, she started to relax. She curled her legs up beneath her and as time passed, she seemed to get closer to me and the temptation to reach out to touch her was all I could think about.
“Who wants another?” Leon asks when the end credits start to roll.
“I think it’s bedtime for us oldies,” Leah says, pushing up from the couch and collecting the empty glasses and bottles. When she picks up four from beside Alyssa, she gives her a hard stare, but instead of chastising her, she just whispers, “Don’t let your dad find out.”
With a laugh and a knowing wink, she leaves us to it.
“If you think I’m sitting through another one of those, then you must be even stupider than I thought,” Alyssa barks at Leon who innocently selects the horror section and starts searching through options. “I have no idea how I’m supposed to put up with you all this time.”
She pushes herself from the couch but much to my surprise, using my thigh as her hand rest. My muscles tense as her fingers grip slightly.
“I’m done. Don’t mind, do you?” She looks to me and then at my new bottle of beer that’s sitting on the coffee table. I don’t get a chance to answer because she has it to her lips, taking a long drag before giving me one last look and disappearing, but that’s not before I get a chance to check out her ass in her yoga pants.
“You about finished?” Leon asks, noticing what’s caught my attention.
“What?” I ask innocently. I’ve caught him checking out my sister on more than one occasion before she moved out and got married. Granted, there was not a chance in hell of him ever banging her seeing as there’s a six-year age gap, but still.
He forces me to endure another less than scary movie before I call it a night and head up to my new bedroom.
The second I step foot in the room, I know she’s still awake because the sound of soft music coming from her room filters in and there’s a light coming from the gap under the bathroom door.
Closing the door, I pull my shirt over my head and drop my jeans. I throw them both on the chair in the corner of the room beside my small bag, telling myself that I’ll unpack it tomorrow.
I walk over to the bathroom door, stop and listen to see if she’s inside but I can’t hear anything over the beat of her music, so trying my luck, I push the handle down.
Locked.
Finding something to pick the lock with, I open it as quietly as I can and once again push down on the handle, only this time the door opens.
I find her standing at the sink, toothbrush in hand, and much to my delight she’s only in her tank and a tiny pair of panties.
“I thought I locked that.”
“You did.”
She turns from looking at me in the mirror over her shoulder, but her eyes don’t stay on mine, instead, they drop down my naked torso, lingering on my abs before dropping down to my cock that’s threatening to go full mast.
“Well, then you should have taken it as a hint that I didn’t want you in here. There’s a perfectly good bathroom for you to use down the hall.”
“But I wanted to use this one.”
“Why?” One hand lands on her hip and her back straightens. I think it’s meant to be in defiance, but all I notice is how her breasts push out, her nipples tightening behind the thin fabric.
“Because it has something in it that I want.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that? My girly shower gel?”
“As much as I like that sweet smell, that wasn’t what I had in mind.”
“Oh?”
I take a step toward her and her breath catches.
“Emerson?” she asks, her voice cracking as I close the space between us.
I come to a stop right in front of her. Her chest heaves, her breasts swelling even more with her arousal. Fuck, I’d love to know how wet she is for me right now.
“Yeah. It seems I forgot my toothbrush. Do you mind?” Before she has a chance to answer, I’ve plucked the pink brush from her hand and I’ve got it in my mouth.
“Ew, there’s something fucking wrong with you. You do know that, right?”
I shrug.
“Ugh, you’re infuriating. What’s it going to take to make you leave me alone?”
I finish brushing and rinse out her brush before dropping it into the little tumbler I assume it belongs in.
I turn on her and step closer. She stumbles back a little but doesn’t get very far because she hits the doorjamb to her room. “Oh, baby. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” Lifting a hand, I trail one fingertip along the strap of her tank before moving across the front, loving the softness of the swell of her breasts.
She gasps as I make contact, her nipples fighting against the fabric.
“And I don’t think you want me to leave you alone.” I lean forward, resting one hand on the wall beside her so I can whisper my next words in her ear. “I could make you come so much better than you could alone.”
“I highly doubt that. Anyone with an ego the size of yours is clearly hiding something. Maybe it’s your incredibly tiny cock.”
Taking her wrist, I press her hand to my fully erect cock.
“Fuck,” she gasps, but to my delight she doesn’t immediately pull away. Instead, her fingers wrap around me ever so slightly.
“Mmm,” I moan into her ear. She shudders as my breath tickles over her skin. “Don’t deny what you really want, Lys. When you’re ready to admit it, I’ll be in that room right there. And, I won’t even lock the door.”
“Well, rest assured, I’ll be barricading mine shut.”
“You know you don’t mean that.” Reluctantly, I release her wrist and she almost immediately pulls it away. I miss her touch instantly.
Pulling back, I look into her eyes. The usual dark blue is almost black with desire. My palm brushes over her hip, then pushes the fabric of her tank up so we’re skin on skin, coming to rest on her waist.
I search her eyes, trying to find if there’s any part of her that's actually against this. Thankfully, I find none. She might be fighting me this time, but it’s only the beginning, because before my time here is done, she’s going to find herself writhing beneath me and crying out my name.
Releasing my hold on her, I back out of the room. But at no point do I take my eyes from hers.
“Just remember, I’m only on the other side of the door when you’re unable to satisfy yourself in a few minutes.”
“You’re deluded.”
“What? You think I don’t know you’re wet for me right now?” Her cheeks heat a bright red, telling me what I already knew. “Exactly. ‘Night, baby.”
I turn, hook my thumbs into the waistband of my boxers and push the fabric down until it pools at my ankles. Kicking them away, I leave the door wide open and look back over my shoulder before climbing into my temporary bed. She’s still standing exactly where I left her with her lips parted and her chest heaving.
Chapter Five
Alyssa
Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my fucking god.
My head spins and my heart pounds in my chest almost as much as my clit does between my
legs.
That was not what I was expecting when I discovered the news about our new lodger earlier. In all honesty, I thought he’d mostly ignore me aside from a few well-timed insults. It’s how it usually works when Leon and Emerson are together. And I guess that was true when we were downstairs. But when we were alone… fuck.
I cast my mind back, trying to pinpoint a time when we might have been left alone previously, but nothing comes to mind.
Angry with myself for how he basically just had me eating from the palm of his hands, I step forward and slam the door shut, effectively ending our little moment of… whatever that was.
My skin tingles as I recall how it felt having his fingers on me. How I immediately reacted to his touch, and how he’s totally right. I’m so wet for him right now it’s not even funny.
I make use of the toilet before shutting the door to my room, hoping that having two between us will help block out memories of what just happened.
Despite being exhausted, I toss and turn for hours, unable to get images of him lying in bed just on the other side of the bathroom out of my head. Is he touching himself and thinking of me? Or was all of that a joke?
By the time I wake the next morning, the sun is streaming through my too thin drapes and the sound of a ball bouncing outside my window takes me back a year or two. I almost missed it when Leon moved to college. But as I lay here listening to the incessant banging, I remember just how annoying it is.
Throwing the covers off, I push myself from the bed and walk over to the window. I pull the curtains open and look down at the driveway, expecting to find my brother practicing his already pretty impressive skills. He didn’t get a fully paid ride at Maddison for nothing. But I don’t find Leon hitting hoop after hoop. Instead, it’s Emerson moving around our makeshift basketball court wearing only a pair of shorts and his sneakers. He dribbles the ball for a few seconds before making a shot. He barely even looks up. Oh, to make something seem quite so easy.
Enthralled, watching his body move so elegantly and the sun shining off his sweat-damp skin, I take a seat and get my fill of him.
LOVE IN LOCKDOWN: A Charity Anthology Page 41