In another quick movement, he flips us back over, and he pummels into me. He delivers long and deep strokes, then speeds up, seeking his own release. A few minutes later, Elijah’s muscles tense up and I arch up, rocking my hips faster.
“Oh shit,” he groans.
He comes with a low roar, dropping his head to my shoulder as his body vibrates with the release.
“Fuck,” he grunts.
“Mhmm,” I moan, rubbing his back. “That was one hell of a greeting.”
He chuckles, pulling out and then flopping onto his back. “Well, you’re one hell of a woman. I figured you deserve the best.”
“Well, I got you. I think I made out pretty good.”
He removes the condom and leans over the side of the bed to toss it in the trash near his nightstand. Shifting to his side, he says, “I’m the lucky one here.” Then he gives me a kiss that curls my toes and could very well start another round.
“Mmm. I love your mouth.”
His soft laugh washes over me. “Oh yeah? What else?”
I reach down and touch his semi-hard cock. “This.”
“What else?”
I rub his bicep. “These are nice.”
“Mhm. And?”
“Your eyes.” I lightly run my finger under his eyebrow, then I tap his chest. “This.”
“My chest?” he questions.
“Your heart.”
He clasps his hand over mine. “You want to know what I love about you?”
I peer into his eyes. “What’s that?”
“Everything.”
43
Saturday morning happens almost exactly as it happened last Saturday. I wake up to find Nova in the kitchen with her music playing and Sugarfoot following her every step.
I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist as I rest my chin on her shoulder. “Morning.”
“Good morning,” she says cheerfully. “I’m taking a break from pancakes. I’m going with eggs, bacon, and sausage. Give me twenty minutes and you’ll either have a pretty good meal, or the kitchen will be smoked out.”
I laugh, kissing her cheek. “I believe in you. I’ll jump in the shower and be back.” As I’m leaving, I give her ass a smack. “Fire extinguisher is under the sink.”
“Ha-ha.”
After my shower, as I’m walking downstairs, my phone trills from the pocket of my sweats.
“Hey, man,” I answer.
“Hey yourself,” Merrick says. “Why do I have to hear from Cillian that you got a woman in your life?”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “Because Cillian has a big mouth.”
Merrick chuckles. “You’re right, but still.”
“You’ve been busy, man. I’ve barely heard from you.”
He sighs. “I know. I can’t wait for this break. But before you try to move past my reason for calling, who is this new woman and is it serious?”
I walk into the kitchen to see Nova finishing up. She opens her mouth to say something, but quickly pins her lips together when she sees I’m on the phone.
“It’s my brother,” I tell her.
“Oh shit! Is she there right now?” Merrick exclaims.
Nova covers her giggle as she moves away to grab some plates.
“Yes, she’s here.”
“At nine something in the morning? That means she stayed the night. Holy shit, when was the last time that happened?”
Nova giggles again, able to hear Merrick and his booming voice.
“You’re really fucking loud, you know that?”
“Oh. Can she hear me?”
“Yeah, she can hear you, Merrick.”
Nova spins around. “The rock star?” she whispers.
I nod, a grin on my face.
“Oops. So I guess you don’t want to tell me all your feelings while she’s listening, huh?”
“When are you coming home?” I ask, changing the subject.
“I’ll probably get there the day before Thanksgiving then stay through the weekend. Is it gonna be weird for me to stay there when you have a chick basically living with you?”
Nova places the finished plates down on the island and takes a seat, watching me with a smile on her face.
I run a hand over my face as I huff out a breath. “She doesn’t live here, and of course it’s not gonna be weird, so yes, you can stay. Anything else?”
Merrick laughs. “Yeah, call me when you’re free to talk about your feelings.”
“Bye, Merrick.”
Another deep laugh. “Love you, bro.”
“Love you, too.”
I end the call and place it on the counter. “Sorry about that.”
Nova laughs. “It’s okay. You guys seem to have a good relationship.”
“Yeah, we all do. I mean, we give each other shit, but that’s normal, right?”
She nods. “Oh yeah. Me and my sister are the same way.”
After I take a bite out of everything, I say, “This is really good.”
“I figure it’s hard to mess up these things.”
“You’d be surprised. Royce burnt bacon the first ten times he tried making it, and Cillian always undercooked the eggs.”
“My sister was always pretty good. I think she must’ve spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my parents before they died.”
“My mom never wanted us in the kitchen when she was cooking. Either I would be trying to eat the food as it was simmering, or Royce and Cillian would drag their toys in here and leave them where she could trip over them.”
Nova wipes her mouth with a napkin. “Oh. Is this the house you grew up in?”
I nod. “Yeah, my parents left it to me when they died.”
“Oh wow,” she whispers. “That’s gotta be hard.”
“It was at first, but now I find comfort in it. I’ve redone a few things here and there, you know, updating it, but I still have a lot of their stuff. Plus, Merrick was so young when it happened, and I didn’t want to rip everything out from under him.”
She waits a little while before saying, “What happened? If you don’t mind telling me.”
I push the plate away and turn to face her. “Car accident. A woman fell asleep at the wheel and hit them head on.”
Nova’s eyes fill with sorrow. “That’s awful. I’m sorry.”
I swallow over the lump in my throat. “They didn’t suffer, and they were together. I take solace in that. I don’t think either one of them could’ve survived without the other.”
Nova nods, her eyes glistening. “My parents died together, too.” She takes a deep breath. “It was a home invasion.”
My face reveals my shock before I can hide it. “Oh, Nova.” I reach for her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me and my sister weren’t home at the time. My mom sent her out to the store to grab a few things for dinner, and I begged to go with her. She didn’t want to take me, but I threw a fit about it, and she eventually let me come.
“While we were gone, two guys went in looking to steal anything valuable. The house was dark because the kitchen was at the back of the house and my parents didn’t leave the lights on in any room they weren’t in. The door was unlocked, and as they were rummaging through the front room, my mom and dad walked in and caught them. The guys were high, got startled, shot them both, then stole what they could and left.”
“Jesus,” I whisper. “Did you…” I trail off, not wanting to finish my train of thought.
She shakes her head. “Neighbors heard the shots and called the cops. They were there before we got back home. We didn’t see them.”
I find some relief in that. Losing your parents in such a terrible way is one thing, but finding their bodies would be near impossible to recover from.
“If only I had stayed behind.”
I squeeze her hands. “Don’t do that. You’re not to blame. You were just a kid.”
She wipes a rogue tear that slips down her cheek then tries to shove the sadness away. She si
ts up straighter and forces a grin. “So, that’s my emotional baggage. It’s also why this thing with Mario is so hard for us. We found him trying to break in, and we have no idea what his plan was. I don’t want me or my sister to be victims like our parents.”
As I’m opening my mouth to respond, Nova’s phone goes off. She glances at the screen and furrows her brows. “Probably a scam call,” she says, ignoring it. When it rings again, she hits decline, her face morphing into worry. “Maybe it’s him.”
“How’d he get your new number?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know how he does half the things he’s done.”
When it rings for a third time, she answers.
“Hello?”
I hear a man’s voice on the other end and my body tenses up.
“What?” Nova’s voice is a high shriek. “Wait, what? Are you…yeah. Okay, oh my God.” She starts crying and I get up and place my hand on her shoulder. “Okay. Okay. Thanks.”
When she ends the call she drops her head into her hands and bawls.
“What’s wrong, Nova? What happened?”
She stands up, her eyes wide with worry. “My sister.” Her voice breaks, and I hold onto her arms. “She was hit by a car.”
“Oh my God.”
“It was a hit and run. That was her boyfriend who called me.”
“Is she okay?”
She shakes her head, her eyes already red rimmed. “I’m not sure. She has extensive injuries. Greg said they won’t tell him much more than that because he’s not family. I have to get home.”
“Okay, okay.” I bring her into a hug, wishing I could take this pain from her. “Do you think it was him?” I don’t say his name. She knows who I’m referring to.
“I don’t know,” she replies, shaking her head as tears fall. “Why would he do this? Because of me? Because he couldn’t find me? Oh my God, I should’ve gone home. I should’ve been there.”
“Hey, don’t think like that. This isn’t on you. We don’t know for sure who did this, but let’s hope whoever it was gets caught.” With a sniffle, she nods her head. “Grab your things and I’ll take you by your apartment to pack.”
When she goes upstairs, I pull out my laptop and start searching for flights. It kills me that I can’t go with her, but I can at least do this.
When she comes back down with her bag, I ask, “What airport do you fly into? Tampa International?”
“Elijah, no. I can buy my own ticket.”
“Let me do this, Nova. Please.”
She stares into my eyes for a few seconds, then nods. “That’s the right one.”
Before we leave my house, she has a plane ticket that leaves Ohio tonight at seven o’clock. We’re both quiet on the drive to her apartment. I go inside with her and help her pack.
“I don’t know how much to take. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone,” she says through her tears.
“Take everything you think you need. Whatever will fit in your two suitcases here. If you need anything else, I can send some stuff to you.”
She breaks down again and I rush over and hold her in my arms while she sits on the floor in front of a half-packed suitcase.
“Come on. It’s okay. I got you.”
She cries in my arms for ten minutes before easing away. “Okay. I’m gonna use the bathroom, and then I’ll come finish.”
Once she’s back, we pack up her two suitcases with everything that’ll fit. “If you leave me your key, I’ll come back and throw out all the food and keep an eye on the place while you’re gone.
“Thank you,” she says with a sniffle.
“I’ll drive you to the airport.”
“Elijah, you’ve done enough already.”
“I want to do anything I can to help you. And you don’t need to worry about long-term parking or anything like that.”
She wraps her arms around my waist as she rests her head on my chest. “I don’t know how I got so lucky to find you,” she says.
I kiss the top of her head and we just hold onto each other for a few minutes. I think we’re both aware this may be the last time we see each other for a long time.
“Okay, let’s hit the road. We have a bit of a drive.”
“Okay.”
44
It’s been two weeks since I’ve been back in Florida. Everything’s been a blur. When I landed, Gia’s boyfriend Greg was there to pick me up. We went straight to the hospital with me asking a million questions the whole way.
The car was described by witnesses to be a silver Ford Escort with no plates. The windows were tinted, and it seemed to speed up right before hitting her. They don’t think the car was going more than forty miles per hour.
My sister was crossing a street, having just left her friend’s house. She had to park on the opposite side of the road, and as she was crossing, she was hit.
She has a broken leg and wrist, a fractured rib, and a mild traumatic brain injury, amongst many scratches and bruises. But she’s alive.
I have no proof, but something in my gut tells me this was Mario. He did this to get back at me, and now I’m waiting for a letter to show up. If he did this because he wanted me back in Florida, then he’ll reach out, but in the meantime, I wait.
My sister will be recovering for months to come, so I went ahead and contacted the college to let them know what happened, and then told them I’d be withdrawing. I can’t go back to Ohio and leave my sister here to recover alone. Especially if Mario is still out there. I know she has Greg, but he has to work, and Gia will need someone around her for a while.
I’ve been in touch with Elijah, but now it’s time to tell him I won’t be going back. I have to call Ayanna and Lorenzo, too. They know what happened, but nobody knows I won’t be returning.
I sit in my sister’s house, curled up on the couch while she’s asleep in her room, then dial his number.
“Hey,” he greets, sounding both worried and happy to hear from me.
“Hi.”
“How are you? How’s your sister doing?”
“She’s okay. She’s in bed. Still in pain, but she’s cracked a couple jokes. I’m okay. Just tired. How are you? How was Thanksgiving?”
“Thanksgiving was good. All of my brothers were here, and Midge and London.”
I stay silent, dreading having to tell him that I won’t be going back. “Well, I uhh…I’ve been in touch with the school.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Umm.” I sit up and cross my legs, picking at the fuzz on the couch. “Elijah, I won’t be going back.”
He doesn’t respond right away, and I hold my breath, wondering what he’ll say.
“Oh. Well, yeah, okay. That makes sense.”
“She’s going to be recovering for a while, and she’ll need help around the house. I’ll need to find a job to help pay the bills. I’m sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“Hey, I understand. That’s your family. I know more than most that family comes first. You have to take care of her, so please don’t apologize.”
“I’m gonna miss you, though.”
He breathes down the phone. “I already miss you so much.”
“Do you think…can this work still?”
“It’ll work if we make it work, just like it won’t work if we allow it to fail. I think that’s on us.”
“Do you want to try?” I ask, hopeful, yet nervous.
“Of course I do. What do you think about me going down there for Christmas break?”
My smile grows as I sit up and stare at the wall across from me. “Really? You’d do that?”
“Of course. You can’t come here, so I’ll go to you.”
“Well, now I’m looking forward to Christmas, and it’s still a month away!”
He chuckles. “It’ll be here before you know it.”
“God, I wish I could hug you. And kiss you.”
“I know. Me too. Stay safe out there, okay?”
“Okay.”
After we end the call, I sneak into my sister’s room to check on her.
“I see your big head poking in,” she says.
“You’re awake.”
“I’m awake. Who were you talking to?”
“Nobody. Somebody from back home. Well, back in Gaspar.”
Nope. I haven’t told her about Elijah. She has more important things to worry about right now.
“I appreciate you coming back to help me, but I don’t want you to miss out on school.”
I step up to her bed and push her hair away from her face, checking for a fever. “I’m not missing out on school. I’m enrolling in a community college. No matter what, I’m getting a degree. Don’t worry.”
“But you made friends.”
“I have friends here too.”
“But you just started over. We don’t even know where Mario is right now. It’s not safe for you.”
I shake my head. “I’m not arguing with you. I’m here and I’m helping. Case closed.”
She growls. “You’re frustrating.”
“So are you. Are you hungry? Greg went out to get some food.”
“Yeah, I’ll try to eat something. I need to pee and I need to clean up. I feel gross.”
“Okay, let me help.”
I get my sister into the bathroom so she can relieve herself, then I help her in the shower. We have to get a bag to cover each cast, and her movements are limited because of her wrist and rib injuries, so I help wash her off.
It’s not a quick process, but once we’re done, we make our way into the living room where Greg shoots up off the couch to come to Gia’s side.
“I got your favorite Mexican food,” he tells her. “And their famous lemonade.”
“Thanks, baby,” Gia says, using her crutches to get to the couch.
Greg helps lower her down to the recliner, and we all settle into our new normal. I’m a Floridian again.
45
Against the Rules (Kingston Brothers Book 3) Page 18