by Ruby Vincent
“Oh, yeah?” Austin clapped my shoulder. “What does our boy have figured out?”
I wouldn’t be your fucking boy if I sprang from your loins.
“Attend Somerset University, win one of the ‘summer abroad’ spots in the Middle East, intern at MMBC in junior year, graduate top of my class, take over Mother’s local network to free her up for more assignments abroad, and finally, own a network of my own by thirty-five.”
Austin slid off my shoulder. “Damn.”
Easton nodding along, looking just as impressed as he had when I told him two years ago. “You’re the kind of guy we’re looking for, Lennox. Smart. Driven. Willing to do what it takes.” He leveled a finger at me. “There’s a bid coming your way. Accept it.”
Easton strode off, leaving me with my new entourage.
“Wow,” said Luca. “You’re in.”
“We’re all in,” Colton corrected. “These guys know we’re the only brothers worth having. So, let’s get out of here. I’m starved for real food.”
“We can take my Jag,” Miles spoke up. “You coming, Ezra?”
“Can’t. My girlfriend’s waiting for me.”
And she was. Valentina waved from the sidewalk as I walked out of the house.
“What did you think?” she asked.
I pulled her in and pressed my lips to her temple. “I think I promised you car sex and have yet to deliver.”
She hummed. “I was thinking about that too.” Val untucked my shirt and snuck her hand underneath. I closed my eyes as she trailed her finger along the top of my belt.
“But this time I was asking about the frat,” she continued.
“I like it. I like it even more because you’ll be next door.”
Val pressed in closer. “You don’t need a frat to be close to me. I’m in your bed every night.”
“Not every night, but you will be tonight.”
“Why are we still here?”
“We’re not.”
I grabbed her hand and practically took off running. Val stumbled behind me, giggling her head off. We must have looked obvious to the brothers, sisters, and freshmen watching. Or maybe I just thought that, because it had to be written all over my face how much I wanted this woman.
We threw ourselves in the car and peeled out. The thirty minutes home had never seemed so long.
“It’s too far.”
Val put her hand on my thigh and squeezed. “So, pull over.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Hills, woods, and trees were the main scenery around the university. I veered off onto a side road and drove a good distance from the passing cars. Val unbuckled her seat belt before I killed the engine. She clambered through the seats to the back and I fell on top of her, already scrabbling at her buttons.
The car rocked as we shed our clothes in a frenzy. We sank into the seat, our mouths connected in a whirlwind of clashing tongues. Val always tasted sweet—like chocolates, honey, and cinnamon rolled into one. She laughed when I told her and said those were my favorite things and I was just so loved up I associated them with her. I was out of my mind for her, but she was wrong about this.
“Delicious,” I whispered.
She smiled, lips swollen, eyes glazed, and my pulse picked up speed.
I kissed along her jaw and continued the trail to her throat. Val arched to give me better access. I stopped and gazed down at her. Val’s body was a masterpiece. Every curve and dip crafted for the sole purpose of driving me to distraction.
Val moved her legs between us and placed her feet on my hips. She pushed me back, ripping a growl from my chest. It only made her giggle.
“You’ll forgive me.”
Val held my gaze as she put her fingers to her collarbone. She traced soft, tiny circles on her rippling flesh, leading down.
I swallowed, trying to pull moisture into my suddenly dry mouth.
She reached her nipples and swirled around the hardened nubs. I tried to lean in, but her pressure was firm. Val pinned me to the door, that tantalizing smirk playing on her lips. She stopped teasing and took hold of the little pebble, tweaking it as soft hisses whispered between her teeth. One breast fell prey to her ministrations while she freed the other to continue her journey down.
Val passed through her light dusting of brown hair and she slipped her fingers inside. She liked to tease me, but she didn’t tease herself. She set a quick pace, plunging in and out, and her head fell back as a moan tore from her lips.
I lost it.
Grabbing her ankles, I ripped them from my hips and placed them on my shoulders. Val barely got out a cry before I bent her in half. I wasn’t one to watch, which is why she loved to make me. When I had Val to myself, I had to be the one making her moan, worshiping her nipples, making her surrender.
I pulled her fingers out and placed them on my lips. Val bit back a sharp exhalation as I licked every drop of her clean. I was right. Honey and cinnamon.
Chest heaving, Val reached between us and positioned me at her entrance.
I smirked. “There’s usually more foreplay than this.”
“Fuck foreplay— No, fuck me.”
I pushed inside with no more prompting. She melted into the seat, eyes fluttering shut as she opened her body to me fully.
My feet pressed hard into the door. This was one of her favorite positions. Ankles at my ears and me on top of her. I knew that, although she never said it. I knew everything about Val, like where under her ear she liked to be kissed and that if I lifted myself a fraction, I could hit the right—
“Oh, Ezra,” she exclaimed. “Yes, right there.”
Once I found the spot, I hit it relentlessly. Heat radiated off of us and fogged the windows, plunging us into our own little world. Val’s moans reached a crescendo, but she wasn’t there yet. I moved her legs down to my waist and lay on top of her.
Tangling my hand in her hair, I brought her lips to mine and pumped faster. Val’s cries were near screams. Her pants sucked the air from my lungs and I liked the connection it evoked. We were one body. One person.
All of a sudden, sharp pain blossomed in my back. Her nails dug into me as we both tipped over the edge. I jerked. Ropes of cum poured out of me, filling her up. She whispered in my ear, begging for it, and all I could do was hold on to the bits of my mind not blown apart by pleasure as my body gave into the command.
Boneless, I collapsed on top of her.
Val wrapped her arms around my shoulders and nuzzled me in the crook of her neck.
“Ezra?”
“Yeah?” I croaked.
“Wasn’t it just last month that we said we wouldn’t have sex in the car anymore?” she asked, sounding amused more than anything.
I rested my head between her breasts and enjoyed her heart fluttering beneath my cheek.
“Here’s the thing,” I said. “I lied.”
Laughter shook her body and I snuggled in tighter. I could stay here like this all day. There was nowhere else I wanted to be.
She patted my arm. “We should go. We have to pick Adam up from school.”
Never mind.
VALENTINA
“Pass the salt, please.”
Amelia picked up the shaker and placed it in my general vicinity. I shot Ezra a smile as if to say “Progress.”
Saturday night brought the dinner we all approached with differing feelings. I was hopeful, Ezra was nervous, and Adam was just happy about life.
The five of us survived hors d'oeuvres and small talk in the sitting room. Meeting Brian rattled my assumptions, because he didn’t resemble Ezra. Ezra had dark, piercing eyes while Brian’s were a light, soft hazel. Ezra was coiffed hair, sharp angles, polished shoes, and a polite smile that hid his true thoughts. Brian’s tousled hair and wrinkled sweater proved he was the laid-back one of the family.
That said, Amelia looked at both of her boys like she couldn’t have been prouder.
I sprinkled a bit of salt over my seared scallops. Adam tugged my sleeve.
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“Pass the salt, please, Mommy.”
I chuckled. Along with not falling asleep without me, he was also at the stage where he copied everything I did.
I pretended to put a little salt on his cheesy chicken casserole.
“I’d love to thank your chef later,” I said to Amelia. “I cook for Adam at home because our chef has his hands full. It was nice of her to make something especially for him.”
Amelia inclined her head. “I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”
“So, Val,” Brian spoke up. “You said you always had your mom to help you, but now she’s away traveling and taking time for herself. How are you coping being a single mom?”
“I—”
“She’s not a single mom,” Ezra broke in. “She has me, Ryder, Maverick, and Jaxson.”
I took his hand over the table, soothing him.
“I love it,” I replied. “Of course, I’m not alone. We have so much love, help, and support, I wake up some days wondering how I got this lucky.” I smiled at my baby and got a full-mouthed grin in return. “As for me and Adam, we can’t get enough of all this time together. It was impossible not seeing him every day when I went to Evergreen.”
“Impossible is the word, Val,” said Amelia. “Having to leave Ezra with nannies while I was on assignment or at the studio crushed me. The first few months after he was born, I’d duck into my office during every break to cry.”
My grip on Ezra’s hand tightened. It was happening. Amelia was talking to me—bonding with me.
“It is hard,” I replied. “When he was a baby, I used to come home, put him on my chest, and do nothing but hold him for at least an hour.”
She laughed. “I did the same. Ezra spent the rest of the day strapped to me in his baby carrier.”
“Mom, you never told me you cried,” Ezra said.
“You can’t be surprised I missed you.”
“I wonder how much crying you did over me.”
My smile melted away. Brian’s comment hung over our heads, and a silence so thick it was crushing pressed down on us. Even Adam stopped eating.
Amelia set down her fork and looked her eldest in the eye. “I missed you too, Brian. I still do—every day we’re apart.”
I flicked between their faces. Ezra refused to tell me the whole story, but by now I knew Amelia slept with her college professor, got pregnant with Brian, and made the choice to let his father raise him because she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Whatever feelings he had about that choice were valid; I just didn’t expect them to leak out at the dinner table.
Mother and son gazed expressionlessly at each other for so long, I considered picking up Adam and stepping out.
A smile broke through his blank face. “I missed you too, Mom,” Brian said. “I’m glad we can all be together now.”
Amelia reached across the table and took his hand. “Me too.”
I released the breath I’d been holding. Sparking a fight between Amelia and Brian would not have earned me points with my kind-of mother-in-law.
Amelia got to her feet. “I’m going to tell Cora we’re ready for dessert. Val, come with me.”
“Do you need two people to do that?” Ezra asked.
“As a matter of fact, you do.”
I followed Amelia through the swinging door that led to the kitchen. Cora leaned over the island sprinkling flakes on something covered in chocolate.
“Chef Cora,” I began. “Thank—”
“Come with me.”
Amelia seized me and led me past Cora to the door on the opposite end of the kitchen. We stepped out into a hallway. Amelia turned on me, bearing a serious glint in her eye.
“Don’t talk,” she ordered when I opened my mouth. “Just listen. What you did after the game was wrong. It was dangerous, underhanded, and the slightest bit psychotic. While I acknowledge Ezra behaved no better, you put my relationship with my son in jeopardy and I will never forgive you for that.”
Taking a deep breath, I held it as disappointment welled inside. Ezra desperately wanted us to be close, but there was nothing more I could do.
“But...”
I straightened. “But? But what?”
The tight lines around Amelia’s eyes relaxed. “But I see how my son looks at you. And I saw how he looked at me all night, silently hoping we’d get along. The kid can hide what he’s thinking to everyone but me. It’s been two years and I’m willing to give you another chance if you’re willing to earn it.”
“I am,” I said quickly. “One hundred percent, Ms. Lennox.”
She flapped a hand. “None of that Ms. Lennox stuff. Now, let’s go back or Ezra will come looking for us.”
Amelia knew her son well. The two of us walked into the kitchen at the same time Ezra stepped in holding Adam. He checked me up and down like he was searching for bruises.
I ran up to him and kissed the worried furrows on his forehead.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Better than okay. Ready for dessert?”
“Actually”—Ezra glanced over his shoulder—“let’s take Adam out for ice cream. We can call the guys to meet us. It’s been a while since we’ve done something like this.”
Bouncing in his hold, Adam clapped like ice cream was a rare treat instead of one my boyfriends snuck him more than they should. “Yes, Mommy. I want ice cream.”
I smoothed back his curls. “I know you do, my love, but Chef Cora made us dessert.”
“That’s right,” the cook spoke up. “It’s your favorite, Ezra. Neapolitan cake.”
“I’ll be back for the leftovers, Cora,” he said. “Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, sweetie,” Amelia replied.
I let him pull me away without protest, but my eyes narrowed on the back of his head.
Something happened.
EZRA
The door swung shut on Mom and Val.
“Did you have to, Brian?” I asked under my breath. “With Val sitting right there?”
“Do what?” Brian pushed his plate away and picked up his napkin. His movements were calm and reserved as he wiped the corners of his mouth.
I glanced at Adam, who was oblivious. “You know what. I wondered how long it would take you to bitch Mom out. Whether you’re here for two days or two months, you never miss a chance.”
He shrugged. “I was just asking a question, little brother. It was interesting to hear Mom had a problem being separated from her son.”
“Look. If you have something you want to say to her, say it. Sit her down and talk about it alone.”
He finally looked at me. “Do you ever get tired of it? Being her spokesperson, secretary, defender, and clone?”
“No,” I bit out.
“Of course not,” he replied. “Thanks for the advice, Ezra, but this is between me and Mom.”
“Then keep it between you and Mom.” I stopped and shook my head. “Or better yet? Let it go. It’s been twenty-nine years and she can’t go back and change it.”
His reply was quick. “She wouldn’t go back and change it,” he hissed. “There’s a difference. She chose her career then and she’d do it all over again. You were a victim of it too, but you don’t see it.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Did you ever think”—Brian glanced at Adam and lowered his voice—“if Mom hadn’t been wrapped up in her job, she would have noticed something was wrong when that woman was molesting you?”
My chair toppled over with a crash that startled Adam. He gaped at me, suddenly on my feet. Rage tightened around my neck like a noose. Brian knew not to speak about this to me. That door was closed, locked, and bolted. I loved Valentina more than life itself and even we didn’t discuss what happened.
My clenched fist shook. Years of learning to rein in my emotions fell apart at the seams.
“Throwing this in my face to score points against Mom? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Brian got to his feet. “I’m not blamin
g her, but deep down, isn’t there a reason you didn’t tell her sooner?”
I lurched forward.
“Ezra?” a tiny voice spoke up. “What’s wrong?”
I froze, breathing hard through my nose. Val wouldn’t thank me for fighting in front of Adam and that thought pulled me back. Upsetting them was the last thing I wanted to do.
Staring hard at my brother, I said, “You know you crossed the line, Brian. I’ll give you a chance to apologize, but not today. Get your shit together.”
I turned my back on him, picked up Adam, and went to be with the part of my family that wasn’t fucked up.
Chapter Three
Valentina
“Can you believe we got bids?”
Sofia handed me a mug and then hopped on the couch and put her feet on my lap.
Monday had dawned and brought with it twelve new notifications. Eleven were from the girls, all gushing about getting their bids. The final one was from the Sallys, announcing mine. My first official day of university and I walked on campus as a pledge.
Sofia and I had the same general education classes that afternoon: English and General Psychology. Afterward, we were to report to our first day as pledges at six o’clock on the dot.
Meeting up in her dorm for tea, sandwiches, and chatting before the day started was one of the many things I was grateful we could do. Once again, I hated the circumstances, but I loved that she hadn't moved away.
“Honestly, I can’t.” I paused to blow on the steamy liquid. “That Blair girl had a point. I don’t have money or connections. What’s my appeal to the best sorority on campus?”
She tapped my belly with her foot. “It’s cute how you conveniently forget who your boyfriends are.”
“That doesn’t make it better. They should want me for me. Not because of who I’m dating.”
“Maybe they do, Val. I’ve been looking into the Sallys. A lot of them go on to do well, but it’s not a rich girls’ club. Let’s just get through pledging. If you’re not feeling it, you don’t have to join.”
I nodded. “You’re as wise as you are beautiful, Sofia Lorraine.”
“Shut up,” she said, laughing.