Her Independence Day

by Victoria Belle

  “You really like this, don’t you?” he asked. He sounded surprised but pleased.

  I nodded with his thumb still in my mouth and ran my tongue over the pad. He took his thumb away and pressed it down on my clit, none too gently. My muscles tightened with need, and I breathed in a shaky breath.

  He began rubbing me in slow circles again. I arched my back and moaned at the night sky.

  Then he was undressing. I heard the telltale sound of his belt coming undone, followed by the whisper of his zipper coming down. He tugged his jeans down his thighs, and then, all at once, he sprang free. I looked down between my legs to stare at his monster cock.

  There was no way in hell that was fitting inside me.

  “Don’t be scared, baby,” Jesse said, running his fingers down the insides of my thighs. “We can take it slow. I won’t hurt you.”

  I swallowed. Even if he was gentle, there was no way that wasn’t going to hurt at least a little. He was huge, and swollen, and so much more than I’d ever taken before. But I nodded anyway because I wanted him. “Okay.”

  He leaned in close to me and ran his hand up and down my soaking wet pussy. Then he took hold of his cock and pressed his meaty head to my opening.

  I sucked in a breath as he pushed inside me. It wasn’t painful, but there was pressure, and I waited and waited until the pressure would give. But it didn’t. It held as he eased his way deeper inside me, inch after inch. He paused once he was halfway in and then pulled out, which was delicious. I sighed, and my eyes closed of their own volition. I let my head fall back down to the sand, and he pushed inside me again, working to stretch me with shallow thrusts that brought me to the edge of an orgasm all on their own.

  “Are you ready, baby?” Jesse asked. His voice sounded far away. He was carrying me to another world with the way he fucked me.

  “Yes,” I said, my voice thick with lust.

  His thumb found my clit once more. He worked me over, rubbing me in the most incredible rhythm as he pushed his cock in deeper and deeper. The tension returned, but it was a good kind of pressure. He went in farther. I moaned, and he paused.

  “Keep going,” I pleaded.

  And then all of him was buried inside me to the hilt. I let out a cry of brief pain and pleasure, and I came hard and fast. New slick wetness coated his cock, and he thrust in and out of me, my wetness making sloppy sounds between us.

  He leaned over me, bracing himself with a hand on either side of me in the sand. I stared up at him and grabbed hold of his wrists. My grip was tight, and I thought dimly that I might be hurting him. Then I cleared my head of that ridiculous notion. He was a fucking Navy SEAL. I was quite sure I was incapable of hurting him. So, I tightened my grip and squeezed my eyes closed as he rewarded me with another orgasm.

  I was out of breath and trembling when he pulled out of me and flipped me over on my hands and knees. I sank a little into the sand, and he planted a hand in between my shoulder blades. I looked back at him as he pressed me down so that my face was on the sand. My tits were crushed to it as well, but I didn’t pay any mind to it.

  I wiggled my ass in the air for him, and he gave me a playful slap. I giggled, more out of surprise than anything else, and pushed back toward him. He put a hand on each ass cheek and spread me apart. Then his cock was resting against me once more, and he was burying himself inside.

  “You’re so fucking tight,” he growled, his grip tightening on my ass.

  I looked back at him over my shoulder. His eyes were on my ass and pussy as he fucked me. I began bouncing on his dick, and his eyes closed as he lifted his face to the sky. I loved watching him as I fucked him. I rode him hard and fast and then slow, until I couldn’t take it any longer. As soon as I thought I was about to come, he pulled me down hard on his cock and fucked me harder than I’d ever been fucked.

  And it was incredible.

  I couldn’t hold on to the scream that came out of me. It might have been his name that I cried, but I wasn’t sure because the world exploded into tiny stars of pleasure behind my eyelids as my body took over.

  He pulled out sharply after I was done and ejaculated on the sand. I collapsed forward, not caring that I would be covered in sand, and he slapped my ass with a chuckle before leaning back over me to kiss my bare shoulders, chest, and breasts.

  Once my senses returned to me, I looked back at him. “Was that weird?”

  Jesse shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I’ve been wanting to do that for years. And it lived up to the expectation. I’ll tell you that.” He bit down playfully on my breast and ran his tongue over my nipple.

  I giggled and rolled away from him. He reached for my dress and handed it to me. As I pulled it over my head, his hands traced up and down my thighs, over my stomach, and between my legs.

  “You’re exquisite,” he said.

  I felt a little bashful now. I pulled the hem of the dress down and felt myself blushing. “So are you.”

  He chuckled and rolled to his feet. He offered me his hand and helped me up. My knees felt like butter. I stumbled, and he caught me, then righted me and offered me his elbow. I looped my arm through his, and we began walking back. All the while, my body was humming with pleasure, and if I focused on it, I could feel my clit pulsing with little aftershocks from the orgasms. It had been far too long since my body had felt this good.

  “I don’t want to sound crazy, but that was incredible,” I said.

  Jesse didn’t say anything, but he smiled over at me.

  “It’s been too long since I felt like that.”

  He pulled me in close and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “If you ever want me to come over and show you a good time, I’ll be there. I’d like to take you in the shower. In your bed. On the fucking kitchen floor. You name it, and I’ll do it.”

  I giggled again. Why did I feel like this around him? I hadn’t felt this good in years, and I’d never felt this safe before, or treasured.

  Jesse pressed his lips to the side of my head in a kiss. “Is this going to be a secret?”

  I glanced up at him as we crossed the sand. “No. Maybe. I’m not sure.”

  He arched an eyebrow and chuckled. “I think I might need a more definitive answer than that, Ash.”

  I bit my bottom lip and thought about it for a minute. “I’m going to tell Lulu. She’ll understand. But I don’t want my mom knowing, for obvious reasons. She won’t get it. She’ll think we’re mental. And your brothers—”

  “Will likely find out, even if I try to hide it from them.”

  I smiled. “Why?”

  “Because they know me better than I know myself, and they’ll know something’s up when I wake up in a damn good mood tomorrow morning.”

  I laughed again. It felt so good to be this free. “Do you think they will be upset?”

  “No,” he said. “I know they won’t.”

  That was a relief. I wasn’t sure why, but it was. I didn’t want them to hate me for fucking Jesse. I also had a weird thought that I didn’t want them to write me off as being a non-option for them now. I was as interested in them as I had ever been, and I hoped being with Jesse didn’t change things for them.

  “So we’ll only tell them. Dean, Ethan, and Lulu.”

  I looked up at Jesse and nodded. We rounded a corner, and the parking lot came into view. I was overcome with the sudden desire to pull him back down the beach and beg him to take me again. But my body needed a break.

  And there would be more time for that later I hoped.

  15

  Dean

  I was parked at the curb outside of Jesse and Ethan’s building early on Saturday morning. Jesse had told me the night before that Ashley was back at her body painting gig and had rented a booth at the market on the beach. I was more than curious to see her back doing what she loved, so the three of us had decided to go down and spend the day with her as a surprise.

  Unfortunately, my damn brothers were late.

  I scowled at th
e clock in the dashboard. It was a quarter past eight, and I wanted to be at the market by eight-thirty so I could spend as much time with Ashley as possible. But the drive was at least twenty-five minutes from here.

  I blamed Ethan. He was always the most disorganized and the one to blame for holding us up.

  Both Ethan and Jesse emerged from the building five minutes later. Jesse took the front seat, and Ethan got in the back, and I peeled away from the curb before either of them were buckled. “The two of you need to manage your time better.”

  “It was him,” Jesse said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at Ethan in the backseat, who was fumbling with his seatbelt.

  “Hey,” Ethan said defensively.

  I sighed. “I assumed it was you anyway, Ethan. It usually is.”

  Jesse chuckled. “See? Told you he’d know it was you.”

  “Yeah, whatever, twinkletoes.”

  “Twinkletoes?” I asked, glancing at Ethan in my rear-view mirror.

  Ethan nodded. “Yeah. Jesse has been in a good mood all morning, and he hasn’t even had a cup of coffee yet. I’m suspicious.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Jesse, who shrugged his shoulders and looked out his window to avoid making eye contact with me. I was suddenly as suspicious as Ethan. “Why are you so elated this morning?”

  “None of your business,” Jesse said.

  Ethan grumbled in the back seat while I drove and put two and two together. It was Jesse who had told us about Ashley working at the market, so he’d already talked to her at the very least. Or, most likely, he’d already spent time with her. Which, coupled with his good mood, pointed to one very obvious answer. I sighed. “So she’s not opposed to having a relationship with us?”

  “I don’t know about ‘us’, but she’s not opposed to having one with me,” Jesse said, the corner of his mouth curving in a devious smile.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Ethan stuttered behind me. “Wait, what? What are you two talking about?”

  When neither of us answered, Ethan groaned loudly, and I answered him just to shut him up. “Jesse and Ashley had sex.”

  “Whoa, hold up. Seriously?” Ethan leaned forward so that his head poked between mine and Jesse’s shoulders. Jesse nodded, and Ethan’s eyes widened. “So, she’s down? Wicked! What was it like? Where’d you do it? How many—”

  “My time with Ash was my time,” Jesse said. “If you want to have your own, go for it. But my lips are sealed.”

  Ethan slumped back in his seat and crossed his arms. “Fair enough.”

  I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. I wasn’t annoyed that Ashley had slept with Jesse. Not at all, actually. We had all shared before, and I was dead set on giving her whatever she wanted. But I couldn’t help but wish it had been me. In an effort to distract myself, I cleared my throat and said, “I have to come clean about something. I’ve hired a personal investigator to look into and tail Nick Myles.”

  “What?” Jesse and Ethan asked in unison.

  I nodded. “I didn’t like what you told us about him, Jesse. He’s a shady guy, and I wouldn’t put it past him to try some fucked-up shit. I’d rather see it coming a mile away rather than be unprepared for when he snaps. If he snaps. I wanted you both to know about it, but not Ashley. This stays between us, got it? No need to worry her for no reason.”

  “Got it,” Jesse said.

  Ethan wasn’t as quick to answer. “You’re sure we shouldn’t let her in on it? Ash is a badass. She can handle it. She has bigger balls than me.”

  “I’m sure,” I said.

  Ethan nodded slowly and stared out his passenger window. “All right. It stays between us, then.”

  ***

  We showed up at the beach just after eight-thirty, and Jesse took us to Ashley’s booth. She was busy, and her table was surrounded by young people waiting to get painted. Ashley talked and laughed with all of them and took special care of the young kids who wanted their faces painted like wild animals. Ashley did one little girl’s face in a rather frightening get up of a shark.

  The little girl took off out of the tent to find her parents, and my brothers and I stepped under the shade of Ashley’s tent. She looked up and greeted us all with a warm smile.

  She was wearing a red bikini top and a pair of denim shorts. That same gold anklet she’d worn at the bar winked on her ankle, and small gold hoops hung from her ears. Her hair was up in a messy bun on top of her head in preparation for the hot afternoon.

  “Thank you so much for coming!” Ashley cried as she hugged each of us. “What a nice surprise. I didn’t expect this. I thought I’d be hanging out by myself all day.”

  “We wouldn’t make you do that.” Ethan grinned.

  We weren’t able to get much time talking with Ashley for the first four hours or so of the day. Instead, we socialized with people who had come down to the beach for the market. We knew most of them, or at least, I knew most of them. As I stood and chatted with people, I found myself volunteering to help them out with home or vehicular projects. I couldn’t help it. I was a magnet for people who needed help, and I didn’t have the heart to say no to them. I knew full well that I had a reputation in St. Simmons as being the guy you could go to for any sort of help. I’d been that guy for at least a decade.

  By two in the afternoon, I’d committed to several jobs. I agreed to fix an old woman’s fence, look at a family’s HVAC system, and do the brakes on an old Chevy pickup truck for a guy who used to go to high school with my father.

  Ethan slapped me in the chest when the tent had cleared out again. “You’re such a goody good. Why don’t you ever say no? You’re a busy guy. People will understand.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t want to say no.”

  Ashley was sitting in one of her chairs, cleaning her paintbrushes. “I think it’s admirable that you’re always willing to help people. It shows character.”

  “Yeah, Ethan,” I said, lifting my chin. “It shows character.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes, and Jesse chuckled as he dropped down into the chair beside Ash. He folded his arms over his chest and watched as she packed up her brushes. I noticed the way his eyes lingered at the swell of her breasts and the line down her stomach to her navel.

  I leaned against the table. “Got any plans for the week?”

  Ashley nodded. “Yes, actually. I start my new job tomorrow. I got lucky. One of the principals who worked in the school district I substituted for grew up in St. Simmons. He reached out to the superintendent here and arranged for me to transfer. I’m subbing at the high schools here until summer, and then, with any luck, I might get a permanent position.”

  “And that’s what you want?” I asked.

  Ashley shrugged one shoulder, which in my mind, meant no. It was not what she wanted. “It offers stability, which is always good. And I can’t live at Lulu’s place forever. I’m going to have to find my own place, and it’s hard to do that as a sub. You never know how much work you’re actually going to get.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question,” I said.

  Ashley smiled coyly at me. “No. I suppose it doesn’t.”

  “You should just quit and pursue your art,” I said.

  Jesse slapped his knee. “That’s what I said!”

  Ethan nodded vigorously in Ashley’s direction. “We’ve all been saying this for forever, Ash. You’re so good at what you do. There’s no way you couldn’t be successful. Why not give it a shot?”

  Ashley laughed and waved her hand at us dismissively. “Oh, come on. You’re just trying to flatter me. I love art. Don’t get me wrong, but it won’t pay the bills. And I have responsibilities now. The time to dabble and experiment is over. It’s time for me to figure out how to support myself and stand on my own two feet.”

  I admired that about her, but I didn’t understand why she couldn’t do that and do art. “You don’t need much time, Ash. Just a few months to give it your best shot. I’m sure Lulu wouldn’t mind if you had to crash
at her place for a little while longer.”

  “No, she wouldn’t. But I would mind. I don’t want to be a burden.”

  I shook my head at her. “You could never be a burden.”

  Ashley stood up and stretched her arms over her head. I heard her back crack as she twisted from side to side and then dropped forward to touch her toes. I avoided looking at my brothers for fear they would say something foolish. She looked hot. That was for sure. Her muscles shifted under her skin as she moved, and her hair tumbled free of its bun. I watched as she gathered it all back up and re-tied it.

  “You are all too sweet to me,” Ashley said. “And believe me. I appreciate what you’re trying to do. But I’m being practical for the first time in my life. Teaching will pay the bills. And paying the bills is what adults do, right? I have to start sometime.”

  I shook my head at her. “I know you, Ash. In thirty years, you’ll look back at this moment and wonder why you didn’t at least try. You’ll never know if you don’t just try. And regret is so much worse than failure.”

  Ashley laughed. “What are you? An inspirational pocket book of uplifting quotes?”

  Ethan and Jesse chuckled as they looked at me. I cracked a smile of my own. “I’m just the guy who’s trying to push you in the right direction. But it’s your call in the end, and I know when to drop it.”

  “Good.” Ashley nodded.

  Even though we disagreed, it didn’t put a damper on the rest of the afternoon. We all had fun in Ashley’s tent and had a good laugh when she painted a goofy portrait of Ethan on his own back. Jesse told her it was a waste of paint. Ashley said there was no such thing.

  There was something about her eternal optimism that drew me to her. Even though she was giving up on her dream, she still radiated positivity. She was like a giant beacon of light that just sucked all good things toward it.

  Except for Nick. Somewhere along the way, he was pulled to her, and he latched on like a leech. He was still there, slowly sucking the life from her one text at a time.