by Max Monroe
She started to giggle, and I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but I liked it. It made me harder, if anything.
Oh, yeah. I’m close.
She tightened her lips and increased the suction.
Oh, fuck yes.
Her hand moved up and down on the part she couldn’t fit in her mouth, letting all the lubrication from her mouth drip down to ease the motion.
Faster.
Oh man, she was so good at following orders in my dreams.
Fuck yeah, touch my balls.
Her mouth left my cock, and I felt like crying.
“Okay, baby.”
My eyes shot open. Cassie’s knees grazed the inside of my legs, and her heels met her ass.
“Oh, fuck,” I cried in excitement at the sight of a very real Cassie kneeling between my legs and running her hand up my thigh until it met my balls.
Apparently, I hadn’t been dreaming at all.
Her mouth closed around me again, her eyes peeking up to meet mine, and I came right then.
Something about the mix of the surprise, her mouth, and the weight of her unabashed eyes on mine made it impossible to hold back. No doubt I sprayed the back of her throat with the strength of my orgasm, but she just swallowed, making her neck bob explicitly.
Phil snorted at the foot of the bed. Cassie wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and climbed down to the end to get him. All while I lay there trying to come back into my right mind. Good God, I was lost in her. In the way she surprised me constantly and never held back. She wasn’t embarrassed to be bold, and it made me want to foster it—to constantly create an environment where she never felt the need to be anything but herself.
As soon as Phil was up on the bed, he scrambled forward, and I threw the top sheet over my slowly softening dick. “I’m glad you didn’t see that, buddy.”
Cassie smirked, and I rubbed at Phil’s head, still a whole lot in shock.
“What’s going on?”
“I just dominated that blow job.”
“You did, honey,” I agreed on a grin. “But what did I do to earn it?”
“Nothing yet. It’s what you’re going to do.”
I shook my head and smiled. “And what would that be?”
“We’re going camping.”
The smile fell from my face just a tiny amount. I caught it before it went too far, but she noticed. “Oh, come on. I went skydiving with you.”
“I had to drag you into the plane,” I pointed out as I worked to close all of the thoughts of my past back in their pretty little box. Trust. Cassie didn’t know the details of Margo’s death, but right now, she didn’t need to. It would only make her feel bad about something she had absolutely no reason to blame herself for. The last thing I wanted was to hold her accountable for Margo’s actions. I couldn’t think of anything that would piss me off more if the roles were reversed.
I forced my mind back to her, that moment, and the words coming out of her mouth.
“Yeah, that was pretty fucked up now that I think about it.”
“You ended up enjoying yourself,” I pointed out, picking up her hand and twisting her engagement ring with my fingers. She looked down at the gesture and smiled.
“Exactly. And you’re going to have fun now. Everyone is coming. Kline, Georgia, Wes, Will. Even Frankie and Claire.”
I took a deep breath and smiled for her.
Her own happiness intensified. Phil snorted.
“Oh, and Phil. Sorry, Philmore. I didn’t forget you, I swear,” she amended.
“So when do we leave?”
“Right now. You have time for a shower.”
“Do I have time for a shower with you?”
“No.”
I ran my tongue along my top lip and then bit into the bottom.
“Okay,” she caved. “There’s definitely time for the special shower.”
The sun was at full strength, and the humidity was set to fucking mist when we pulled into the campsite that afternoon. It was a perfect recipe for severe storms, and by the way Kline jumped out of the car with Georgie like there was a fire under his ass, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
I glanced back to Frankie in the back seat, and his green eyes said he knew what I was thinking. “We better bust a nut, dude.”
“Yep. I’m guessing we’ve got an hour, tops, before it pours.”
“What are you guys, meteorologists?” Cassie scoffed while Phil snorted his way around the floorboard at her feet.
“It’s a fucking sauna outside,” I explained. “It’s not like I had to calculate the atmospheric pressure and wind shear.”
“What?” Claire asked.
“Don’t ask, baby,” Frankie advised.
“What?” I laughed. “You don’t like my above-average interest in weather, Franklin?”
“Oh, my God,” Cassie cried. “You’re a weather geek.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“I’m engaged to a fucking nerd.”
Claire laughed, and Frankie gave me a pat on the shoulder. “It had to come out sometime, buddy.”
“Fuck you guys.”
“Aw, don’t be sad, Thatcher. Come on. Turn me on. What’s the force calculation for my pussy?”
The answer poured out without planning. “Your pussy is usually stationary, and since force is mass times acceleration, it’s really my cock that possesses the force in our equation.”
“Oh, my God,” she squealed. “It’s like I don’t even know you.”
A tiny twinge of something panicked at the thought that maybe she didn’t know me. What if she found out something that made her decide to move on? I didn’t know if I could take it.
Unhappy with that line of thinking, I shut it down completely before it could get carried away. I had enough baggage working against me on this trip. I didn’t need anything extra weighing me down.
“Come on, Frankie,” I grumbled. “Help me set this shit up.”
The sound of Cassie’s laughter finally died down as I stepped outside and shut the door. That could have been the soundproofing of my Range Rover, though.
“Why does Cassie look like she swallowed a clown?” Georgia asked from across the site. Kline had her holding one corner of their tent while he staked the one opposite. Tall trees shot up around the entire perimeter, and pine needles made a bed on the ground in between. It was big enough to hold six or seven tents, thankfully. Of course, Wes was late like always, so if we somehow managed to run out of room, the joke would be on him.
Frankie was all too eager to share the cause of Cassie’s near on fit of hilarity. “Thatch just showed her his science boner.”
“It was bound to happen sometime,” Kline shouted. “I think it’s some kind of mathematical certainty. After he showed her his other boner so many times, he was contractually obligated to show her this one.”
“There!” I pointed as though there was some high court in the woods that would come down with an explanation or ruling. “Jesus. Why doesn’t anyone make fun of Kline for being smart?”
Kline smirked and gave me an innocent shrug while Georgia leaned down to whisper something in his ear with a blush.
Fucking hell.
“Come on, Thatcher,” Cassie called, having finally exited the car with a squirming Phil in her arms. “Come set up our tent so you can show me your thunder down under!”
Crazy.
Mine.
“Let’s take a hike!” Georgia stood in front of my lawn chair and held out her outstretched hand. “Come on, lazy bones, let’s get some fresh mountain air.” Phil tugged at the leg of my chair in an attempt to go to her. Fucking Georgia. The Animal Whisperer.
Thatch had been right about the rain yesterday, and truth be told, I’d been impressed as hell by his plethora of random knowledge. I mean, the guy hadn’t gone to school for that shit, but still, he had a real understanding of it.
After I buttered him up with some bedtime boning, he’d finally told me that late in college, he’d been rest
less and searching for things to drown out the white noise. When he wasn’t getting Kline and Wes into all the trouble he could think up, he was studying all kinds of things until his mind started to wander again.
The result was one really fucking smart fiancé.
My face scrunched up in annoyance. “Ugh, Wheorgie,” I muttered and wished I was anywhere but in the hot heat of the midafternoon sun in the middle of the goddamn wilderness. “It’s hot. I’m annoyed. And you’re too fucking perky.”
Camping was one of those things that was a good idea in theory. But when you actually experienced it—the bugs, the heat, sleeping on the hard ground of a tent—you realized it sucked donkey dick.
She laughed. “Shut up and come with me.”
“Why can’t Big Dick go hiking with you?”
“Because he just walked down to the water with the guys and Claire to fish.”
I slipped my sunglasses over my eyes and leaned my head back, hoping she’d eventually go away if I fell asleep.
“That’s not going to work,” she declared, and I heard her footsteps crunch against the gravel as she moved behind me. “Get your ass up!” she exclaimed as she gripped the top of my chair and pushed forward. Phil took off as soon as the end of his leash cleared the bottom of the leg.
I fell out of my seat, and my ass hit the ground a few seconds later.
“What the hell!” I shouted and looked up to find my asshole of a best friend grinning down at me with a hand on her hip. “My pig is on the loose now!”
“Might as well give in now. You have to go catch Phil anyway.” She held her hand out again, and I eventually took it and got to my feet.
“For the record, you’re my least favorite person on this camping trip.”
“That’s okay, Casshead.” She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and all but pushed me toward the trails. “I’ll win your love back before the hike is through.”
I snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.”
For maybe the fourth time in my life, I broke into a jog before Phil could wander off to some deserted section of the woods where inbreds lived.
“Which trail do you want to take?” she asked when Phil and I came back a few minutes later.
I had two options, go up or go down, and for some insane reason, my belly didn’t drop to my feet at the thought of facing a few heights. I had a feeling this had everything to do with Thatcher and his need to desensitize me to things. I pointed toward the one that led up rather than down. “Let’s see what kind of views we can catch above the water.”
She grinned.
“Don’t take that as me getting excited about this.”
“Oh, I won’t,” she said but continued with her perfect fucking grin.
As we made our way up the trail, I couldn’t help but get lost in the lush views of trees and nature as far as the eye could see. It was a different world from the hustle and bustle of the city. And if I was being a little honest, I was enjoying the change of pace. Besides the mosquitos buzzing and the dirt kicking up into my face and the overall sweaty quality my skin tended to take up in this heat-infested shit forest, it was really kind of nice.
We passed through a clearing and I stopped, staring in the direction of the edge of a cliff that jackknifed straight toward the lake. Slowly, I inched forward until I could peek over and catch sight of the sun glistening off the water. My head spun a bit from the abrupt drop, but I had the overwhelming urge to strip naked and jump in.
“Holy shit, this is gorgeous,” Georgia said, taking in the view. “Are you okay, Cassie? I know heights aren’t really your thing.”
“I’m good, actually.” My feet inched a little closer to the edge. “I feel like that water is calling my name right now. It’s so hot out here I swear I’m going to end up choking on air.”
She held her hands above her eyes to block out the bright rays. “Hey, isn’t that the guys and Claire?”
I glanced toward the left and saw our group kicked back on the rocky edge, fishing poles in hand. They were definitely within yelling distance. “Yo, Thatch!” I shouted, and he glanced up in our direction. “Take off your pants!”
“Show me your tits!” he called back, and I could see his wide grin.
Georgia laughed, and I had the overwhelming urge to do something a little reckless as I continued to stare down at the water. Fuck it, you only live once, I thought as I toed out of my shoes and took off my T-shirt and jean shorts, leaving me in only my bra and panties, and handed Phil’s leash to Georgia.
“Whoa, what are you doing, Cassie?” she questioned in confusion.
“I’m going to jump in,” I told her.
Thatch’s booming voice caught my attention. “Cass! What are you doing? Put your clothes back on!”
“I’m going in!” I pointed toward the water.
“Cassie!” He abruptly stood up from his spot on the rocks and waved his arms in the air frantically. “Don’t jump, honey! It’s not safe!”
“It’s fine, Thatcher!” I responded as I moved even closer to the edge. My bare feet scraped against the dirt until they hit the final rocks that led to a possible death. Or a good time laced with an adrenaline rush.
“Cassie!” His voice grew louder as he tried like to hell to get my attention again.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Georgia said from behind me.
My heart felt like a sports car speeding from zero to sixty in three seconds flat. It had revved up to an overwhelming speed, and I slowed my quick breaths in an attempt to calm it down.
Man, that’s really fucking high. Hell, I must be high to even be considering this.
I probably was high. High on life. High on Thatch. High on every insane yet amazing thing that had happened in the past few months.
Even though my stomach had taken up residence in my feet, I didn’t want to walk away from this silent challenge I had given myself. I hated when something could control me, prevent me from doing something I’d probably end up loving.
Yeah, go fuck yourself, heights.
I convinced myself I wasn’t a total ball sac. I could handle this. I could do this. Thatch had talked me through the last few accomplishments, but this one would be all my own.
“It’s not that far down,” I pointed out. “People cliff jump out here all the time.”
“Thatch looks really upset.”
I glanced back down at him and saw he was booking it up the small trail that led to their fishing spot. His eyes stayed locked in my direction the entire time.
“Shit,” I muttered. “He’s a man on a mission.”
“Um, yeah, I’d say he doesn’t want you to cliff jump,” she announced, her gaze moving with Thatch as he got closer.
“Don’t jump!” His voice was only several yards away now as he jogged toward us. “It’s not safe!”
“I’ll be fine, Thatcher,” I called over my shoulder and focused on my jump.
“Please, Cass.” He was right behind me now. “Trust me, honey. Don’t do this.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder, and then back down at our group, who were no longer fishing. They were on their feet and staring up at us.
“T, it’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. To me, it’s a big fucking deal. Don’t do it, honey,” he demanded with an angry yet desperate tone to his voice.
I didn’t like that. Thatch thinking he had that much control over me that he could just toss out demands and tell me what I could or couldn’t do.
It didn’t sit well with me. Not one fucking bit. And now that we were engaged, I felt like this one simple decision could set the precedent for life.
“C’mon, Cass, let’s just go back to the campsite,” Georgie tried to intervene, but I ignored her.
“Don’t do it,” he pleaded, his brown eyes melting in the afternoon heat. “I’m begging you not to do it.”
I probably should have noticed the edge of frantic desperation in his voice, but I was still too focused on his
words. His demanding fucking words.
An engagement did not give someone the right to control me.
I controlled me.
And right now, I controlled this.
When I didn’t back away from the edge, Thatch stalked toward me.
“Cassie.”
I only had about ten seconds to make a decision, or else the size and determination of my caveman would make it for me.
Jump?
Or let Thatch control me?
Her smirk disappeared in an instant as she turned and jumped in one smooth motion.
I couldn’t tell you if I screamed or if the way I followed her was by choice or a string of involuntary events meant to catch her. One minute I was staring into the eyes of the woman I was sure wouldn’t put me in this position, and the next I was in the water.
Everything about Margo’s death came back with vivid intensity. The argument we’d had, the stubborn lilt of her voice as she’d told me I couldn’t tell her what to do—all of it. I was there again, in a place I’d left behind years ago. A place I never revisited because I didn’t need to. All I needed was the tattooed reminder right under my heart.
All I needed was trust.
A woman who put her faith in me and gave me the peace of mind to do the same for her.
And now all of it was gone—the acceptance and contentment and the visions of my future.
My lungs fought for air as I grabbed Cassie and brought her struggling form to the surface.
She spat out a mouthful of water, but otherwise, she was fine. She splashed and moved with ease, while I fought to breathe. Her lips even started to turn up into a smile—until she got a look at my face.
“Thatch?”
I took her jaws in my palms and clenched, even though I knew the strength of my grip was too hard. It had to have hurt a little, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop.
I looked right into her eyes and willed myself not to cry. I’d never had a harder time.
But she was there and healthy. Her hair wasn’t matted with blood, and life still beat in her eyes.
I couldn’t hear much outside of the thoughts in my own head, but I did hear Claire’s voice even at a whisper.
“Frankie.”