Men in Control: Special pack: The Smith Brothers Series

by Brenda Ford

  “We need to head out for a drink in a moment,” Gary announces. “You said your brothers are out there anyway, didn’t you?” He nods towards Alex. “I like those guys. We can have a drink with them.”

  Gary won’t say it aloud, but what he really wants is to be out there with the fans to see which one he wants to take home tonight. That’s his favorite thing that comes with being a bass guitarist in a band. All the women throw themselves at him. Once the girls realize that they can’t have the lead singer slash guitarist, they immediately go for him. Alex is off limits because of his ill-fated love for Mandy. The male fans soon learn that I’m off limits as well. One because I’m not that sort of person, and two because I compare everyone to him. To Angelo. It’s sad. At least Alex actually has something with Mandy. Angelo barely glances at me…

  Urgh, maybe I do need a drink. The more that I think about this, the harder it is.

  As Gary heads out to the bar, I follow close behind him. I’m pretty sure that Alex is coming too. I’m sure he’ll want to secretly see the effect that his singing has had on Mandy. I’m never getting involved with that again. I bypass everyone and head straight to the bar to get myself a glass of wine.

  “Hey, you.” My heart stops beating as I hear Angelo’s voice behind me. He sounds a little tipsy which for some reason excites me. He’s letting loose a little which isn’t like him. “You were great up there.”

  “We were?” I spin around shyly and gasp in a breath as my eyes connect with his. God, he’s gorgeous. Absolutely divine. Sure, people might think that I’d be more suited to Alex because we’re both very similar. But we’re too similar for it to work. Plus, we work together as well, and on top of that there isn’t any chemistry between us. I feel something deep and inexplicable with Angelo. I think our differences would complement one another in the best way possible. If only he would really see me. “Thank you, that’s really nice…”

  “You looked great as well. It’s a shame that the drums hide so much of you. You should be out in front.”

  I giggle shyly, sure that he’s flirting with me which might well be a result of the drink more than anything else, but it thrills me to the core. I can’t stop everything from fluttering like crazy as a result of just a few words. Angelo has this real deep effect on me. It’s intense and almost overwhelming. This is why it’s good that I don’t see him more than what I do right now. I would literally fall apart if I had to see him every single day. I’d be a mess.

  I part my lips, ready to make some smart comment back, before I can get even another word out, a pair of hands snake around Angelo’s waist and she pulls him to her. Mandy grabs his cheek and kisses him hard, possessively. She wants me to know that he’s hers… as if I’m not acutely aware of that already.

  My eyes fall to the ground, I sense a deep buzzing of humiliation fizzing through my veins. Tears burn the back of my eye balls. I need to take a giant swig of my drink, just to shut the emotions down a bit. If Mandy sees me falling apart because of this, she would absolutely crush me because of it. She’d love to push me down because of my stupid love for her boyfriend. I know what she’s like and she’d destroy me. She would make out that I’m worse than she is. Even though she’s the one fucking Alex, screwing up the whole family… just because she can. This is so frustrating!

  “You are so beautiful,” Angelo calls out as Mandy kisses over his face. “I’m the luckiest man alive.”

  Shit, I can hardly breathe, never mind stomach anything more. This is agony. Torture. Why the hell did I come over here to hurt myself? I wanted a drink, sure, but I could have had one at home. At my one bedroomed apartment on my own because I don’t have anyone to keep me warm at night…

  I put my half-drunk glass back on the bar and push through the crowds. At one point, I’m pretty sure that I hear someone call out my name, but I ignore them. Whoever they are, I can’t talk to them now. I can’t talk to anyone. The tears are going to come at any moment, and I need to be away from here when they do. I haven’t ever let Angelo Smith see me cry over him before and I sure as shit don’t intend to start now.

  “Fuck,” I mutter as I wipe a stray tear away as soon as the cold air of the night hits my face. “Fucking hell.”

  I hate that I’m so sad, that I can’t control the way that I feel. I hate that I can’t fall for someone else. Someone better, more suited to me, someone that I could actually be happy with.

  Chapter 2 – Angelo

  “Your place is too big for just one person,” I tease as I walk around Mandy’s sleek living room. She’s so perfectionist. She likes her place to look like a show home at all times. It was an adorable quirk of hers. “Maybe we should have a talk about me and you living together again. My place is fine, but it would be good to…”

  “What’s wrong with your house?” Mandy actually looks angry as her hands fling onto her hips. “It’s a bloody mansion. I know that there are a few of you there, but I don’t see why you can’t stay there.”

  “Because it’s my family home.” I’m shocked by her reaction. Sure, she wasn’t keen before to move in together when I first brought it up, but that was ages ago now, and the last six months had been like a dream for us both. Why wouldn’t she want to move forwards with our relationship? “I don’t want to live there forever.”

  When me and my brothers were all very young, our parents passed away but they left behind a very successful business and a giant house for us. At first, it was all fine but now my youngest brother, Nelson, is eighteen years old, and my oldest, Brad, is in his thirties, so it’s too small for all of us. Plus, I’m twenty-one years old myself and ready to move on in life, to finally move out of the family home and build my own life. With Mandy. We have been through some hard times, but we’re amazing now.

  “I like my space.” Mandy shrugs as if that’s a good enough answer. “I like my home alone. You know how I like it, and I wouldn’t want you to come along and invade it. I mean, how would I cope if I wanted a girl’s night in, or something like that? Something that doesn’t need you there. Hmm, what would we do then?”

  I clutch my chest hard, the hurt igniting me up. That just sounds like an excuse to me. “I would go, obviously. I wouldn’t stick around. I would give you the space you need.”

  “And where would you go?” she demands. “Back home? Why not just leave things as they are then? You come and stay here all the time but have your house as a base as well. It just makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  I open and close my mouth a few times, completely blown away. She makes sense in her own little Mandy way, but it doesn’t make sense why she wouldn’t want to be with me properly. This isn’t a new relationship; it’s been going for over two and a half years. It makes sense for us to be together properly. To commit. Is she afraid of commitment? Is she scared to give herself over to me like that? Am I not good enough for her?

  No, I really can’t allow myself to get sucked down that rabbit hole. If I cave in to the self-doubt then it will consume me. It almost did six months ago, and I just about fought it.

  “Come on, let’s go out,” Mandy declares with a smile, changing the subject for us. “Have dinner, go for drinks. Something like that. It’s been a long time since we did something like that, isn’t it?”

  “We went out last week,” I snap, unable to squash all of my feelings. “To the new Thai food place.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Well, Tara from work has a new boyfriend who takes her to dinner every single night and he always has a new gift for her as well. She’s dripping with jewels now. I’m sick of her showing off. I want to have something to talk about tomorrow in the morning meeting. So, can we go out, please?”

  Her words about jealousy from six months ago swirl through my brain. She was convinced that someone sent me the fake picture because of jealousy. Is Tara about to suffer the same fate? Is she going to have to defend herself as her new, apparently perfect, man accuses her of cheating? Will the person use the same picture?

  “
Yeah, we can go out,” I reply dejectedly. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Who cares? Anywhere. Somewhere that costs some money, so that can be the excuse for no gift.”

  Is she fucking kidding me? This is ridiculous. Talking of jealousy, it seems like Mandy has some of it herself. But Tara has just started dating her man, he is obviously trying to impress her right now. That will fade… if they even bother to stay together. What me and Mandy have is deeper and more meaningful… but it doesn’t seem like she is going to listen to that kind of logic right now. Her mindset is solid.

  “What about the French Fusion place? Would that suit you?”

  Mandy spins to stare at me. “Why aren’t you enthusiastic? It seems like you don’t even want to go out.”

  I shrug, too weary to bother fighting her accusation. “I don’t really. I’m not in the mood.”

  “Why not? Is this because of the living together thing? What’s all the pressure about?”

  “Pressure? Are you kidding me?” I toss my hands in the air in frustration. “I’m just asking.”

  “Yeah, to move in here! In my place. The place that I have made my own…”

  “It doesn’t have to be here. We can move in somewhere else together.”

  For a moment, I think that she might be about to explode with rage. I brace, expecting the worst, but that isn’t what comes my way. Instead, Mandy practically jumps on me and she kisses me hard. She clings to me like I’m the only one holding her to the earth right now, like she needs me. I can’t help molding into her, feeling the same way about her as she does for me. I suppose she’s right. We are only young. We don’t need to settle down just yet…

  “Okay,” I announce as we pull back from one another. “Let’s go out. Wherever you want to go.”

  Her face lights up, she looks extraordinarily happy, which is all I really want. Perhaps all of this jealousy about Tara’s new relationship is the kick up the ass that I clearly need. I have to remember that just because me and Mandy have been together forever, it doesn’t mean that I can’t take her out more and treat her to gifts.

  This relationship is everything to me. I will do anything to make it work…

  “Are you going to invite me in then?” I say with a tipsy chuckle as we reach Mandy’s front door once more. Going out was a good idea. I feel so much better about everything now. Does it matter if we don’t live together yet? Plenty of people don’t live together. That doesn’t mean anything. “I’d love to see your bedroom.”

  I wiggle my eyebrows as she stares at me, letting her know just how much I want her, but she shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. Not tonight, honey. I have to be up really early in the morning.”

  Her words strip the air from my lungs. She has really shocked me now. It’s not like we went on a date because I wanted to get my girlfriend into bed, but the rejection stuns me all the same.

  “It isn’t that late.” I glance at my watch. “It’s only just after eleven PM.”

  “Hmm, and I have to be at work at six. Which means I’ll need to be up at about four…”

  I nod, but the dejection rolls through me anyway. This does happen with Mandy’s job, I can’t be mad about it, but that still doesn’t make it any easier. I hate ending such a wonderful night like this. It’s all sad and cold now. The laughter that was playing on my lips only a moment before is long gone now.

  “Yeah okay, well that’s a shame.” I nod and force a smile on to my lips. “Because it’s been nice.”

  Mandy leans towards me and gives me the softest, the gentlest kiss ever, the love from her mouth flowing through me. I cup onto her cheeks and hold her there for a couple of seconds before I’m forced to let her go.

  “Okay, well you have a nice sleep,” I say quietly. “And next date, I will have a gift for you as well.”

  She beams, her expression radiating sun shine. “You will? That’s amazing, I would love that!”

  She kisses me once more, harder and more passionately this time, but she still pulls away and waves at me, before heading inside. As she closes the door behind her, shutting me out for the rest of the night, I tell myself to just accept it. It’s okay. This isn’t something weird, to be worried about, I’m still just a little paranoid that’s all. It doesn’t matter how much I try to block out the self-doubt, it keeps coming back.

  I grab out my cell phone as I walk away, needing to talk to someone. The first person I always call is Alex when things are shit, so obviously that’s what I’m going to do now. I have a great bond with all of my brothers, but Alex is my twin. We shared a womb together. Our bond is deeper than anything else.

  “Alex,” I call out as soon as he answers. “What are you up to, brother? You fancy getting a drink?”

  “Err, are you alright, Angelo?” he asks, sounding a little distracted. “What’s going on?”

  “Does something have to be going on? We could just go for a drink…”

  “I’ve just made plans, that’s all. I’m err… meeting with the band.”

  I don’t know if I believe him one hundred percent; I imagine that he’s actually going to meet a woman for a one-night stand. He seems to think that I wouldn’t like him for that, but he’s in a rock band. Of course, he’s going to be sleeping around. That just comes with the life style, doesn’t it? I don’t want to interrupt his night of fun because of my bullshit problems. Everything was probably okay anyway. I didn’t need to be worried.

  “Okay, no, don’t worry. I will call Brad.” Since I work closely with our oldest brother at the family business, I’m very close to him as well, so Alex won’t be worried if I’m going to talk with him. “You have a good night. I will see you in the morning if you manage to get your sorry ass home by then.”

  He laughs weakly at my little joke before we say our goodbyes and hang up the phone. I stare at the screen for a while, just hoping that everything is okay with him since he acted a little weird, but soon I give up panicking. It seems like I have my own issues right now, I don’t need to worry about my brother. He’s old enough to take care of himself. It’s time for me to get back home, to see if Brad is there. If my oldest brother is at home, he will have some advice for me. Since he now has a very successful relationship of his own, he’ll know just what he’s talking about. Someone needs to tell me how to keep Mandy, how to make sure that she doesn’t get bored of me. He might even tell me that Mandy sending me home tonight and refusing to live with me doesn’t have to mean anything bad. I would love him to tell me that, to know that I can stop panicking.

  God, I just want to have confidence in our relationship again. To know that me and Mandy are going to be okay. To be safe in the knowledge that me and her are going to make it to the end.

  Chapter 3 – Rachel

  “Oh, Rachel, you are so beautiful,” Angelo growls as his mouth clings to my throat. “I have wanted you for so long. You have no idea. Watching you up there on that stage has been torture for me.”

  There’s a fizzing in the pit of my stomach as my head tilts backwards and desire lolls through me. His lips feel incredible as they graze all over me. I always knew that finally getting this man would be phenomenal, but I didn’t know it would be all consuming like this. Even his fingers on the base of my back are shooting lightning bolts of desire all the way to my core. If I don’t have him soon, I don’t think I’ll survive.

  “Fuck me, Angelo,” I gasp out desperately. “We don’t know how much time we have…”

  We shouldn’t be doing this. The knowledge that I definitely shouldn’t be with Angelo right now, because he is attached to someone else, rockets through me. But it doesn’t stop me. It can’t. Not now.

  His hands slide down my body and rest on my hips for just a second, but it isn’t enough for me. I roll my hips into him, pressing against his gorgeous, already naked body, yearning for more.

  “Fuck, you’re so hard,” I rasp desperately. “I want you. I need you. Oh, Angelo…”

  The fear that this could all
be shattered in an instant is too much for me. It almost makes me weep. At the sound of my words, his fingers hitch underneath the hem line of my deep black dress and he lifts it slightly. His fingers brush against my thighs and sends a deep shiver down my spine. He’s magic. His touch is so magic that it makes me wild. My core throbs and pulses, my body is almost ready to tip over the edge already, and he hasn’t really got anywhere near me yet. He’s edging upwards though, getting closer by the moment, and I don’t know how much I can take. Cries are flying passed my lips, letting me know just how badly I need him.

  “Rachel, I can already feel how wet you are,” Angelo gasps as he brushes against my panties, his eager fingers as desperate to get inside me as I was for him. “Is that just for me? Is that how much you want me?”

  Instead of answering him, I reach forwards and wrap my fingers around his rock-hard cock. “Is that how much you want me? Huh? Because it feels like you’re pretty desperate for my body too.”

  “I like how cheeky you are. It makes me yearn for you even more…”

  I angle him towards my panties, no longer messing around, but it seems that Angelo isn’t about to allow me the control yet. He tugs himself away and drops to his knees in front of me. He keeps his eyes on mine the entire time as he whips my panties away, leaving my desire fully exposed for me.

  “Oh wow,” Angelo groans. “You’re stunning down there as well. The best I have ever seen.”

  He grabs one of my thighs and tosses it over his shoulder. I grab his hair to keep me upwards. The last thing I want to do is fall now, right when he’s finally going to taste me. It feels like everything that has happened in my life so far has been leading up to this moment, so I need to just experience it all.

  “I want you,” I rasp out, my fingers knotting up in his hair. “I want you to taste me.”

  “Mmm, I love how you just command things to me,” he moans. “It’s so refreshing.”

  His breath blows up and down my soaking wet slit, buzzing desperately. My knees tremble, I lean forwards over him, putting more of myself on to him to hold me up. I want to tell him what his mouth near my core does to me, but I’m utterly breathless. Unable to get even a single word out.