Sparks Fly (Davis Brothers Book 1)

by Nicole Douglas

  The monstrosity my dad calls home comes into view. I park in the circle drive so I don’t get blocked in. Dad isn’t even home when I get here so I decide to head straight upstairs to my old bedroom. I ignore the scantily clad women sitting around the kitchen, smoking and drinking from plastic cups.

  One girl leans over the kitchen island snorting powder off the granite. I ignore that too.

  In my room I carefully shut the door behind me and dig around my dresser until my hand collides with the bottle.

  Don Julio.

  It’s hidden in the back of my sock drawer. I hadn’t hidden it for the same reason other teenage boys might. If my father found it he wouldn’t have batted an eye. There would’ve been no grounding or lectures about underage drinking under this roof.

  No. I had hidden my booze so I didn’t get swindled by one of the girls frequenting my room. Or by my dad if he ever happened to come up here snooping around.

  I uncork the bottle and take a healthy gulp before stuffing it back in its hiding spot. I just wanted enough to cut the edge of anxiety I feel from whatever I was about to do. It always felt like this.

  The Don Julio always helped. Sort of.

  For a moment I think about Chris and what he said tonight. Did he really take on more bullshit when I left to shelter me from this world? It was hard to imagine him being that type of brother. But if it was true, it wasn’t hard to figure out how he ended up resorting to drugs to cope with this life.

  As I shift old socks around to hide the bottle a soft knock raps on the door. Before I can respond the door opens. A cloud of perfume hits me before I see her and I already know who’s behind me.

  Trouble. That’s who. And I had left trouble behind a long time ago.

  “The girls told me you were up here. You weren’t going to say hi?” Natalie coos, raking her long fake nails down my forearm.

  “I’m busy. I don’t plan on staying long.”

  “You don’t look busy.”

  She reaches between us and grabs my soft dick through my pants without preamble. I should’ve anticipated that move from her but I don’t and jump back from her sudden, unexpected touch.

  “What’re you doing?” I ask dumbly.

  What the hell do you think she’s doing? Same thing she always does when she wanders up here to your room. This isn’t anything new.

  “Fuck me.” She pouts up at me seductively with her unnaturally red lips. She knows this move is usually all it takes to get me going. This time my dick protests by staying as soft as play dough in her hand.

  “I can’t.”

  Really. I can’t. And I don’t want to either.

  “Oh come on, Max. You know I’ll make you feel good.”

  And she could make me feel good if I let her. She had done just that plenty of times in the past. It was her job after all.

  Natalie drops to her knees and reaches to unbutton my jeans. I guess she’s tired of talking and plans to communicate the only way the two of us ever have.

  For someone that’s been getting it daily from Lacey these last few months, this two day drought has me pretty horny. My dick begins to betray my protests by hardening. Natalie takes notice and strokes my length through my jeans in renewed excitement.

  I step back out of her reach when she unfastens the button on my jeans. She stumbles slightly on her knees before regaining her balance. Undeterred, she gazes up at me with her overly made up smoky eyes and licks her ruby lips.

  I stay far out of her reach.

  “Natalie, get up.” I order with a gritty voice.

  A sultry smile grows on her lips at the sound and she crawls on hands and knees to my feet. When she gets closer she grabs her breasts suggestively before me as if presenting me a sex feast.

  “Remember when you came on my face and my tits? I’ll let you do it again. I’m off work tonight. Don’t you want to play like old times?”

  I harden a bit more against my will but don’t respond.

  “You know it’s been a long time since I’ve had your cock. I want it bad.”

  She inches closer to me, still on her knees, and rubs her hands up my thighs.

  “Chris told me you have a girl. Don’t worry, Max. She’ll never know. I’ll make sure I clean you up real good before you go home.”

  I didn’t have a girl. Lacey wanted nothing to do with me. She wouldn’t even text me back. And I knew firsthand how good Natalie could make me feel. But the idea of fucking her again made me feel dirty.

  Trashy.

  Like I was betraying Lacey.

  And I just couldn’t do it.

  Even if Lacey wasn’t answering me we had unfinished business. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach, the center of my chest. And I wasn’t going to fuck anyone else until we sorted through and finished it.

  Since Natalie clearly wasn’t going to listen to my adamant refusal I stepped around her while fastening my pants and simply left the room. She probably wasn’t expecting the rejection. I had certainly never turned her down before. She was the only girl around the house I repeated performances with.

  The others were always one and done.

  There was a time when I genuinely liked Natalie. I had a teenage crush on her for a total of three weeks and it was ultimately my fault she ended up the way she did.

  Chris was right. I brought Natalie to Dad back in high school after meeting her at a teen club. We danced all night, made out in the hall that led to the restrooms and I convinced her to come home with me that night.

  If it wasn’t for me would she be in college now? Maybe married to a nice guy instead of putting her body to work night after night? Fuck. I hated myself for that. And I would never know the answer to those questions because she was too far gone now.

  She actually enjoyed what she did. And she didn’t hold a candle to Lacey.

  Even if she got me off tonight I would still crave Lacey’s soft and luscious body. Her mouth. Natalie just couldn’t satisfy the hunger I had. There was only one girl that could do that.

  I went back outside and sat in my car to wait for my father there. I didn’t want to be in his whorehouse another second. Pulling my phone from my pocket I type up a message to him and hit send.

  Max: I’m here.

  My mind can’t stop traveling back to Lacey. Especially now that I’m sporting a hard dick. I could probably rub one off in my car before Dad gets here but decide against it. Natalie would probably see me from the window and take it as a sign I needed her to finish me off.

  Instead I open a new text to Lacey.

  Max: I miss you.

  Lacey: I miss you too.

  I’m surprised that she even replied and stare down at my phone for a few seconds. My heart races at the sight of her text.

  Max: It’s good to hear from you.

  Max: You’ve been giving me the silent treatment.

  Lacey: I just thought we needed some space.

  Max: I thought you were breaking up with me.

  Lacey: We aren’t together. How could we break up?

  It hurt to read that but I have no right to feel that way. It’s the truth. Not to mention it was my idea.

  Max: You know what I mean.

  A sharp knock on my window pulls me from the text. My dad stares down waiting for me to get out of my car. I pocket my phone and do as he expects to avoid any issues. If I just do what he asks I know I can go back to my apartment and put some much needed distance between me and this place.

  I just hope it isn’t anything too crazy and I can skate by.

  Without much in way of a father-son reunion, he hands me the keys to a clunker he has parked on the back lawn. It’s hidden from view by his seven foot tall privacy fence. He hands me an address scrawled on notebook paper in his sloppy handwriting and tells me to drop off everything from the trunk at midnight.

  I don’t ask what’s in there.

  Before I walk off to the gate and head out he speaks the words I was hoping to avoid. “Have you heard from your br
other?”

  My steps falter and I hope he doesn’t hear the lie in my tone.

  “No. I thought he was living here.”

  “He does. He hasn’t been home in a few days.”

  “Ah.” I feign disinterest. “Sounds like him. I’m sure he’ll be back.”

  “He better be.” He says with a hint of malice. “If you hear from him let me know.”

  It was a demand. Not a request. I nod, anxious to walk away. He stares hard at me for long, drawn out seconds and I fight the urge to fidget under the cold stare. I’m well practiced in hiding my inner thoughts around him and he seems to accept my answer fairly quickly.

  “And don’t tell him I was looking for him.” He adds. “That’s just between you and me.”

  My chest tightens painfully as I nod again and walk away. I fight the urge to rub at the tightness in my chest, not wanting Dad to know how much his words shook me. If he finds out Chris has spent the last few days at my apartment and I lied right to his face he would be livid.

  We would both be in the fire. I wonder if Dad would kill both his sons at the same time or if he would choose a favorite once and for all before snuffing the runner up.

  I drive to the address he gave me on autopilot and pop the trunk to find it full of military issued rifles. Full of them. There’s at least twenty packed in there so tight they’re nestled in like Tetris pieces to make sure they all fit.

  If I got caught with this sized arsenal I would likely spend the next twenty years in a federal prison. The thought makes me antsy and I hope the buyer hurries the fuck up so I can get out of here.

  It isn’t long before a black car with solid tented windows pulls up next to me in the darkened parking lot. Together we quickly unload the weapons from my trunk to his. Dad’s already been paid for the merchandise so it’s over once we move the weapons from one trunk to the other.

  No words are spoken between us and the silence has me on edge. It takes some effort to get them to fit but we eventually get things situated. When the last gun is moved to his trunk we part ways without remark.

  Dropping the clunker back off in Dad’s yard has me tempted to just sleep there for the night. I’m exhausted but decide against it. I could end up waking up with Natalie in the car, sucking me awake. So I get back in my own car that sits in the circle drive where I left it and drive straight to Lacey’s apartment.

  She finally answered me today so I didn’t feel quite as pushy and overbearing showing up at her door. The idea had crossed my mind several times over the last three days but I had resisted up until this point.

  I didn’t want her to feel harassed or uncomfortable. We would speak or see each other on her terms.

  She opens the door looking sleeping after my second round of knocking. I woke her up. The thought makes me feel guilty but I missed her presence so much I can’t bring myself to regret it. I had to see her.

  I really had missed her. Seeing her tousled hair and sweet brown eyes for the first time in three days gave me an immense sense of calm.

  Chapter 17

  Lacey

  Seeing Max’s face in my doorway in the middle of the night is a surprise. I instantly wake, enlivened like I just drank water after spending days in the arid desert. Three days to be exact.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Seeing him tonight is just what I’ve needed. I recognize this as I feel a wash of happiness. A dark cloud lifts from over me that I wasn’t even aware had been there until this moment. It was as if each second that passed without hearing from him had dragged me a little deeper into a gray tunnel.

  To be fair he had texted a few times. I hadn’t answered because I wasn’t sure what to say.

  The way he acted around his brother made me second guess what I was beginning to feel for him and everything I knew to be true about him. He obviously hadn’t been feeling anything back. He didn’t share the same feelings I had or he wouldn’t have acted like I was something that needed to be hidden in the closet when his family stopped by for a visit.

  “I missed you.” His eyes drop to my lips longingly but he stands outside waiting for an invitation. He shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels nervously.

  “I missed you too.”

  His shoulders relax in relief. That was all it took for him to step inside across the threshold of my doorway and lean in for a kiss hello. Hesitant lips meet mine and I throw myself into it, trying to show him how much I missed these kisses over these past couple of lonely days.

  I knew how to show him how badly I wanted him. I drop to my knees in front of him and freeze. The sight in front of me sends a sharp twist of dread and pain to my gut.

  “Where were you tonight?” I ask softly although I have no right to demand any answers. If he chooses to tell me it’s not my business I think it would crush my already cracking heart.

  His brows crinkle in confusion at the abrupt halt. “At my dad’s.”

  His dad’s.

  He was at his dad’s where the supposed parade of women he slept with before me all lived. That explained everything.

  Cringing inside I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to stave off the tears that sting the back of my eyelids. It feels like a literal slap in my face.

  “Ok well that explains why you have lipstick on your damn pants.”

  Bright red lipstick to be exact.

  I knew for a fact it wasn’t an old stain. That was a possibility I would love to cling to if I could. But I had seen these jeans on him countless times. They were his favorite pair. I had washed them for him when he stayed the night so many times in a row I had a full load of laundry to do between the two of us.

  I knew damn well there were no lipstick smears on the crotch.

  Suddenly I feel sick to my stomach at the thought of what must have happened tonight. At the fact that he was about to let me kneel before him and do the same.

  Did he like that? Two girls in one night? He should know by now I wasn’t the kind of girl to be okay with something like that.

  He looks down at the stain in question and his face visibly drains of color.

  “I know this looks bad but it’s not what you think.”

  A semi-hysterical laugh flies from my mouth before I can stop it.

  “I didn’t do anything with her. I swear.”

  Her? There was a her now?

  Of course there was. Lipstick stains were pretty tangible proof of that. My legs are trembling and I don’t trust them enough to try to stand back up. I know they can’t hold my weight right now, too weak from the flashes of some slut with red lipstick sucking Max just before he showed up here.

  Did he text me before or after she had him in her mouth? Or-gag-during?

  Why would he even come here tonight if that’s what he was up to? Why not just go straight home and stay away from me like he had been doing? Did he think I was too damn stupid to find out the truth?

  “You don’t have to explain to me. I’m not your girlfriend.” I clip out, forcing myself to stand to my full height in order to keep a shred of dignity intact. I manage to do it without stumbling and pride myself in that considering the trembling in my legs and internal shifting making me feel off balance.

  I hoped like hell I wouldn’t fall right into his cheating, lying arms. But…he wasn’t cheating. Because he had made it perfectly clear from the beginning that he didn’t want to date me at all.

  I fold my arms to put a barrier between me and him. My thin sleep tank feels too exposing all of a sudden.

  It had felt like we were growing into something more. Something deeper. A real couple. That’s why this new slutty monkey wrench stung so badly. Was I just destined to be cheated on time after time until I finally accepted my fate as a cat collecting spinster?

  All the energy I felt when I first opened my door and saw him smiling up at me drained out from my pores, leaving me physically and emotionally exhausted.

  I had to go to work in the morning. Did he not know that? It w
asn’t long ago he remembered my work schedule and respected my sleep enough to get to my house at a decent hour so we could settle in. He knew I didn’t like being up late when I had an early morning class and full day at the coffee shop.

  I guess that was before Red Lips got her hands on him and scrambled his brain. Or maybe she had her hands on him this whole time and I just hadn’t seen it. The hurt and fear of how foolishly and wholeheartedly I had trusted someone with no commitment or obligation to me burned hot.

  My cheeks flame bright red.

  There was no one to blame for this feeling but myself. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Max would fool around with another girl and honestly how stupid was that? He made me feel like his sole focus and that was a dangerous illusion to be under.

  “I want you to know. I didn’t do anything.” He insists. His voice holds a note of desperation as he wills me to listen to his story. To believe him. “She tried to. I said no.”

  “Why did you say no?”

  “I don’t want her.” His eyes are burning into mine, begging to be believed, and God help me he sounds sincere.

  He didn’t sleep with her. But he let her get close enough that her ruby red lips were grazing the front of his jeans and that still had my stomach roiling.

  “Have you been sleeping with anyone else since you’ve been sleeping with me?”

  I sounded like a jealous freak. A jealous girlfriend which I most certainly wasn’t. I was simply a jealous fuck buddy. That made this whole maze of feeling even harder to navigate.

  “No. Of course not, Lace. I’m with you every night.” Emotion bleeds through his every word and I know how insecure I sound. I just can’t help it.

  I need to know.

  “If nothing happened then how did her lipstick end up on you? She had to be touching you. She must have thought you wanted her.”

  “I’ve slept with her before.”

  His shoulders droop slightly and his head hangs. He’s ashamed of this tidbit. That much is obvious in his body language.