by L. P. Maxa
I slipped into my bathroom, switching out the tank top I’d slept in for the faded white concert tee. I pushed my pajama bottoms down and kicked them to the side, pulling on the leather leggings as Jett opened the door and came in. I snorted, buttoning the extremely tight bottoms. “You have the patience of a toddler.”
“I know.” He put his hands on my shoulders again, turning me to face the large lighted mirror that was wasted on me. “Now, what should we do with your hair?”
“My hair?” I’d showered last night and gone to sleep with it wet. It was currently scraggly-looking, hanging down my back, some pieces wavy and some pieces board straight. “Can’t I just pile it on top of my head?”
“No.” Jett left the room, and then came back less than a minute later holding up a curling wand. “Put more waves in it.” He plugged in what I was assuming was Avory’s hot torture device and then took a seat on my closed toilet lid. “Not a lot, but wave up the pieces that seem too straight.”
“Are you going to sit there and watch me?” I didn’t need an audience for the awkwardness that was bound to follow. It was never easy to use these wand things. “Don’t you have something better to do?”
He leaned back, crossing his arms over his plain black t-shirt. “Well, MVP, according to my parents I’m a lazy kid who obviously plans on floating through life. So nope, I have nothing better to do.”
I fumbled with the wand a bit, wrapping my long hair around it and then releasing it quickly so I didn’t get tight curls. “They said that? Like, to your face?”
Jett’s parents weren’t thrilled that he wasn’t enrolled in college this year. He’d told them he wanted to take a gap year, but didn’t give them a real reason why. To them, he looked directionless. But in reality, he was the one dealing every day with the new build and our contractors while I was finishing my senior year.
“I heard them talking in the kitchen this morning with Cash.” He shrugged, like it didn’t bother him, when I knew it did. Jett wasn’t lazy at all. He worked hard for us, and he was the reason we’d come as far as we had. He’d gone along with my crazy ideas with insane amounts of positive energy from day one. I owed him everything. “I can’t blame them, I guess.”
“You aren’t in school, and they don’t know about MJ Botanicals. But they know you’ve been renovating the barn, turning it into a real home. That’s something, right?”
It was times like these, when my best friend was feeling down, that I wished we would tell everyone. Just shout it from the rooftops. Let them know how incredibly successful we were, and how many people we’d helped. How many advances we’d made and how many papers I’d had published anonymously. The science needed to be out there, even if my name wasn’t attached. Jett and I were good kids, and more than that, we were doing good in the world.
“It’s fine, M.” Jett smiled at me in the mirror. “We know the truth, and that’s all that matters.”
I set the wand down, hoping he’d be satisfied with the job I’d done and wouldn’t make me keep going. “Other people know too. Brody, Talon, the rest of Clashing Swell. All our cousins… People know Jett, and one day our parents will too.”
He shrugged again in that way of his that was meant to brush off the heavy. “The work we do matters way more than notoriety ever will, yeah?”
I nodded as he spoke the thoughts that had been in my head moments before.
“Good. Now, put on some make up and let’s go celebrate my girl.” He stood, kissing the side of my head before leaving the room.
My girl. How lucky was I? I had two of the best men in the entire world in my life. One wanted to kiss me and keep me safe, and the other wanted to stand beside me through every storm that came our way.
Chapter Eighteen
Talon
Before
Our car pulled up outside the Greek restaurant off West Eleventh Street. There were men wearing all black standing guard at the door. Clearly a security team to keep the public far away from the building. Any lookie-loos wouldn’t even be allowed a quick peek inside through the glass windows. The Devil’s Share crew did not like anyone taking pictures of their kids, even though none of them were really children anymore.
Nope. One important transition to all grown up was being celebrated right now. Today was Marley’s eighteenth birthday, and my girl was legally an adult. My pulse was pounding in my ears, and I hadn’t been able to sit still on the short drive over. I was so fucking excited to see her. I had no idea how I was supposed to keep my hands to myself. I wanted to hug her and kiss her. I wanted her in my arms the whole night.
But she wanted to wait ’til after graduation to tell everyone we were together. I understood her reasoning, and I understood that Marley was a private person. I liked that about her. I liked that she wasn’t constantly posting her whole day on social media. I liked that she didn’t care about fame or the perks that came along with being a member of her family.
But at the same time, I was more than ready to let the world know she was mine.
I’d been waiting for her since she was sixteen.
“You look like a kid on Christmas morning.” Brody clapped his hand on my shoulder, speaking close to my ear so no one else would hear him as we made our way inside the restaurant.
I chuckled lightly. “I fucking feel like one too.” I cleared my throat while rolling up the shirtsleeves of my button-down. “But she still isn’t ready to tell everyone, so—”
“So, I keep my mouth shut.” Brody winked. “I’m well versed in keeping Marley’s secrets.” He patted me on the back one more time and then basically jogged to his wife, scooping her up into his arms and kissing her hungrily. Brody and Landry never cared who was watching. The way they wanted each other had always been unapologetic.
My gaze scanned the room, searching for my girl in the crowd of people. All the Devil’s Spawn were here, including all the parents, and a bunch of other people who seemed vaguely familiar. Mason Maxwell, his wife, and his daughter, Katie, as well as Evie and her boyfriend Nick, and a few of their friends I’d met once before at a show in Dallas. All these people were blocking my visual. I wanted to scream out Marley’s name. I couldn’t wait another moment to see her.
Her laugh.
I jerked my gaze to the right, following the sound. It was her real laugh, so she must be talking to Jett. I moved through the crowd, stopping a few times to say quick hellos to people I knew. And then finally, I saw her. She was standing with Jett, like I knew she would be. Her hand was on his arm and her head was thrown back, still laughing at whatever he was telling her. He was smiling too. Like me, he seemed to love to make her laugh like that.
“Oh, hey man.” Jett noticed me first, and he waved his hand over, gesturing for me to join them.
As I moved closer, I took in my girl. She was wearing her Greta Van Fleet shirt, the one she’d been wearing the first time I’d laid eyes on her. And those leather leggings? In the name of all things holy, they appeared to be painted on her perfect body and I wanted nothing more than to run my palm up the back of her thigh to cup her tight ass. Her hair was down, wavy and free. Her pink lips were glossy and her eyes were dark and dangerous.
She looked more than tempting, she looked like straight sinning.
And I wanted her.
I hooked my arm around her waist, hugging her to me with one arm when I really wanted to throw her over my shoulder and carry her away from all these hungry gazes and prying eyes. “Happy birthday, baby,” I whispered in her ear, doing my damnedest to seem unaffected by the mere sight of her. “You look so fucking edible.”
Her fingers tightened on my back, holding me in place. “Wanna change your mind and meet me in the bathroom?”
I laughed quietly, loving our little inside joke. “Fuck yes.” I stepped back, letting her go when everything inside of me was telling me to pull her closer.
I made polite small talk with Jett and Cash, talking about the surf in Cali while Marley slipped away. I kept up with th
e conversation, but my eyes tracked my girl. Watching as she stopped to talk to several people as she tried to make her way across the large space.
The cover band her sisters had hired was warming up on the stage, and soon this place would be filled with noise and chaos. Marley turned and met my gaze, a wicked little grin on her face that made me instantly excuse myself. I went a different route in case anyone was watching me, and in case anyone had noticed how much I wanted the birthday girl.
Quickly, I ducked down the dark hallway, pushing into the bathroom, and then turned and locked the door behind me. Marley was leaning against the lone sink, a smirk on her lips. “What about the germs?”
“Fuck the germs.” Keeping my eyes on Marley and not paying attention to our surroundings would be easy.
Her flirty smile fell away and her eyes traveled up my body. “Well, what are you wait—”
I cut off her words by jumping across the room and putting my lips on hers. I kissed her deeply, angling myself over her, taking as much as she was willing to give me. My hands grabbed her ass, hoisting her up and setting her on the sink. She wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling my dick in to meet her core. She whimpered against my mouth and I growled, fisting my hands in her long sexy hair. I moved against her, creating friction and driving both of us fucking insane. She was panting, her hands clutching my hips, silently telling me she needed more.
I moved my mouth down the side of her slender throat, sucking and kissing my way to her collarbone. I wanted to taste every inch of her. Her soft panting breaths were spurring me on, making me lose all sense of time and our surroundings.
It no longer mattered that her whole family was on the other side of that thin bathroom door. I let my palm slide against the heated skin of her toned stomach, around the side of her body and up until I reached her white lacy bra. Her hips were grinding in rhythm with the old Led Zeppelin song now playing in the background.
The song and the deep bass, hitting every thrust and… Wait. This song didn’t have a deep bass. I pulled back a little, trying to clear my head. That wasn’t the drums, that was someone knocking on the damn door.
“Talon, please, don’t st—”
I stood, putting my hand gently against her lips, shaking my head as I pointed at the door.
We were both silent and breathing heavy, so when the knock came again we both jumped.
“Dude. Open the fucking door.”
My body sagged in utter relief as I stepped over and unlocked the door. Brody came in, then shut it behind him, leaning against it and shaking his head at the two of us. “Not smart, guys.” He pursed his lips, pointing between us. “I know you weren’t about to fuck her in this bathroom. So what exactly was your endgame? You going to calmly walk out of here together with swollen lips and messed-up hair?”
I glanced over at Marley, taking in exactly what Brody was seeing. She looked thoroughly flustered and turned on. Her hair was even more wild than it had been minutes ago. And the gloss was all gone from her lips, replaced with the red mark of my desperate kisses. Her shirt was twisted and her pants were unbuttoned.
Had I done that? Or had she?
“MVP, out, quickly before anyone else notices you’re gone.” Brody jerked his thumb toward the door, a no-nonsense look on his usually grinning face.
“You’re a cock block and a pain in my ass.” Marley narrowed her dark eyes on his blue ones.
He put his hand to his chest, gasping dramatically. “I’m trying to keep you two from getting caught by your parents. Or worse, Jett.” He swept his arm wide, indicating the party going on outside. “You’ve been gone for like ten damn minutes and your sidekick is looking for you so you can blow out your damn candles.”
“He’s right, baby, now’s not the time.” I stepped back in between her legs, moving my lips to her ear. “I want you for more than a few stolen minutes.” I put my hands on her hips, helping her down from the sink before refastening her hot-as-fuck pants. “See you later tonight?”
She nodded, standing on her tiptoes for one more quick kiss before she left the room.
Brody shut the door behind her, turning to me shaking his head with a playful smile on his face. “You have been a very bad boy.” He pointed to the mirror. “Now get that hair under control and wipe the lip gloss from your face.”
I did what he told me to, then faced him holding my arms out. “Acceptable?”
He snorted. “You still look horny as fuck.” He opened the door and held it wide for me. “But I’m not about to blow you in this disgusting bathroom, so there’s no real fixing that at the moment, yeah?”
I glanced over my shoulder, taking in the bathroom for the first time. It wasn’t as bad as the nightmare I’d imagined in my head. But it certainly wasn’t the place I should have been basically mounting my eighteen-year-old girlfriend.
The crowd seemed to have grown while M and I had been occupied with each other. Everyone was dancing, their drinks in the air. Jett was standing off to the side, his arm around Marley’s neck, a big smile plastered on his face.
“Stop glaring at Jett, man, he’s not your competition.” Brody knocked his shoulder against mine and handed me a beer.
“No, he’s the guy who gets to touch my girl whenever he wants.”
“Explain to me again why MVP doesn’t want to tell everyone you two are boning.” Brody grabbed two shots off the tray that was being passed around, put one of them in my hand, and we took them simultaneously.
“We aren’t boning.” I put my empty shot glass on the next tray that went by. “And she wants to wait until after she graduates to tell everyone. After she’s out of her parents’ house, and living with Jett.”
Brody chuckled. “I bet that straight chaps your ass.”
I sighed, taking another long pull of my beer. “Not much I can do about it at this point, is there? They work together. She needs access to the new tunnel system. And we’re basically touring on and off until she starts college in the fall.”
“She’s endgame for you, yeah?”
I nodded, watching Jett spin her in a circle as they danced to one of Sublime’s greatest hits. “Yeah.”
“Then another few months won’t break you.”
He was right, and I knew that. But as I was forced to watch my girl celebrate her eighteenth birthday from the sidelines, that fact didn’t really make me feel any better.
Chapter Nineteen
Marley
Before
After our make-out session in the bathroom, Talon had pretty much kept his distance. He’d come stand by me if I was with a big group, but he seemed to work hard to make sure that we weren’t alone together.
I’d blown out the candles on my birthday cake, and my only wish was standing too far away with a sweet smile on his handsome face. Then I’d danced with my sisters, and I’d laughed with Jett. I’d let my parents hug me and tell me how much they loved me. I played the part of birthday girl, and now I was running across the compound where everyone was fast asleep, my hair flying behind me.
I pulled the heavy glass and steel door of the pool house open, then padded through the living room after kicking off my shoes. I pulled my shirt over my head and unbuttoned my pants. I tugged them off, leaving them discarded in the kitchen. My heart was pounding as I rounded the island to see Talon sitting out on the back deck, his feet propped up on the firepit while roaring flames danced in the dark.
He had a glass of amber-colored something in his hands and a thoughtful look in his eyes. I stayed behind the safety of the glass for a few moments, simply drinking him in. I felt like everything was falling into place, like the last few years were leading us to this night. All the texts, the letters, the silence, and the conversations had culminated into this moment. Our relationship was built on so much more than lust, but for some reason it was the only emotion I could identify inside me.
I slid the accordion glass doors open, meeting Talon’s gaze over the orange flames. He set his glass down on the small
table beside him, and slowly, I made my way to him. I watched as he studied me, his eyes roaming all over my body. Licking his lips, he held his arm out when I got within his reach. He put his palm on the back of my thigh, guiding me into his lap.
I watched his throat work to swallow, his words barely a whisper. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey.” I tangled my fingers in his messy blond hair.
He was searching my face, like he was trying to memorize each and every detail. “Are you trying to kill me?” His lips twitched, a smile forming as his gaze finally traveled lower.
“No, I’m trying to seduce you.” I knew that if I’d have walked out here fully dressed, I probably would have stayed that way. He’d touch me, kiss my lips, but he would have held back.
“There is no need to seduce me, baby. I’ve wanted you sitting topless in my lap since before it was even remotely okay for me to want it.” His hands slid up my sides, his grip sending chills racing across my fevered flesh. The fire was warm and so was the night air. The combination mixed with the way Talon heated my blood, it was almost too much to bear.
“I’m sensing a but in there somewhere?” I tugged his hair, making him grin.
“But.” He playfully slapped my ass. “We aren’t having sex tonight.”
My shoulders slumped, and honestly felt a little defeated.
“We have time, and I’m not willing to rush anything when it comes to you.” He pulled me closer, placing an open-mouthed kiss to my sternum. “I’ve waited this long, and I plan on taking my time with each and every first I’m lucky enough to have.”
I bit my lip so I didn’t accidentally moan. His thumb came up, dragging my lip away from my teeth. And then he crushed his mouth to mine, his arms winding around me. I couldn’t help moving against him, my body instinctually seeking out the friction I craved.
He kept kissing me, but his hands loosened and started to roam my ass, up my bare back, and then around to my front. His thumbs trailed along the underside of my breasts, then rubbed at my pebbled nipples over the top of my bra. His fingers skated down my ribs, my stomach, along the waistband of my panties.