“We don’t have a lot of time, I think Addie called for backup,” she could even hear the way her words slurred, the way her voice wobbled as she forced the words out.
He dropped his pants and boxers at the same time. “We better get started then.”
He was on top of her, shoving himself deeply inside, causing her to hiss at the feel of him broaching her entrance. He’d tried to act like he was being careful, worried about how she was feeling, and concerned because she was so tight. He’d figured out it was her first time before too long, and she’d seen the way his eyes positively glowed in the muted light of the room. This was a triumph apparently, something he could go back and tell his friends about, and she had a bad feeling that was exactly what he was gonna do.
Stupid. Tatum told herself. This was a bad idea, but she was already there now. He had his face buried in her neck, sucking and nipping against her skin. It didn’t turn her on, it made her skin crawl. It didn’t feel anything like the way Remy had made her feel when he’d done almost the exact same thing. The only saving grace was that she’d insisted he use a condom. He’d given her an incredulous look at first, but that was one point she wasn’t going to waver on.
“Tatum,” he ground out as he slid his tongue across the column of her throat. “So tight, you feel amazing.”
Too bad she didn’t feel a damn thing. How much longer is this going to last? All she wanted was to get out of that room.
Just when she thought she couldn’t handle it anymore, he surged deeper and harder into her body, causing the headboard of the bed to bang against the wall. Then he was groaning in her ear, telling her how hot she was, how sorry he was she hadn’t come, and promising to make it up to her when they had round two.
Round two? Oh hell no.
Her head swam as she sat up from the bed, grabbing a blanket to cover up her naked body. Forcing the words out of her mouth and pretending to be a lot steadier than she was, she shook her head. “I can’t. I have to be home by a certain time.”
“Living under your parents roof blows doesn’t it?” he laughed, putting a hand on his stomach, as he tried to control his breathing.
Rent free, didn’t have to pay for food, no bills? Oh yeah, it sucked ass. Dipshit.
“Still gotta live by their rules.” Her voice sounded small even to her own ears.
She stood up quickly and put her clothes back on. All she wanted to do was get dressed, and get the hell outta here as fast as she could.
Remy saw Addie standing at the door of the frat house, watching for him as soon as he pulled up. She looked scared, stepping further and further back from the people spilling out and onto the yard and sidewalk.
“Where’s Tatum?” he asked by way of greeting, taking the steps two at a time.
Addie looked like she wasn’t sure what to tell him. Not wanting to deal with her, and still juiced from his time in the gym, he leveled her with a glare. “You called me out here to come and get the two of you because she’s drunk. Where the fuck is she?”
“Upstairs,” she whispered, sounding as miserable as she looked.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. I thought you said upstairs.”
He couldn’t have heard her correctly. What the fuck was Tatum doing upstairs? And if she was upstairs, she wasn’t by herself. “Who’s she with?”
Addie clamped her lips shut.
“Don’t test me, Addie,” he got up in her face. “Now is not the time to play around.”
“Gavin.”
Fucking Gavin? You’ve got to be kidding me.
Remy pushed his way through the house, and up the stairs two at a time. He could feel himself vibrating with rage and it scared him, scared the fuck out of him. He didn’t know what the hell he was going to do when he opened the door, and he tried to put a seal on the anger, but he couldn’t. It was pouring through and out of him as he shouldered the door open, Tatum screaming as he came through.
Gavin was standing next to her, talking just loud enough that Remy could hear what he was saying. “We’ll work on it, sweetheart. Most women don’t come their first time, but I’ll make it good for you the next time we hook up.”
If he thought the anger was rolling through his body before, it was positively radiating off of him in waves now. His ears perked up as he heard the words said. He hadn’t made her come? Fuck this guy. Taking in the scene before him, he wanted to scream. She was in her jeans, no bra, no shirt, her eyes wide as she saw him. “Put your damn bra and shirt on, and let’s go,” he bit out, trying to keep his voice level, but even he could hear the strained wobble of it.
“Hey Remy,” Gavin spoke up, giving him a glare. “You don’t get to come in my room and tell my girl what to do.”
He threw her his cut as she scrambled to get her clothes back on, the weather had turned cold, motioned for her to put it on, and then stalked over to Gavin. He gathered speed as he went, doubling up his fist and pulling back, clocking him for all he was worth.
Gavin went down like he’d been poleaxed. Remy followed him down, pinning him to the floor with a hand around his throat. For long minutes Remy imagined what all the ways he could fuck this man up and it gave him great pleasure to think of the harm he could inflict. The darkness was threatening to take control, but then he realized Tatum stood behind him, and she hadn’t said anything since he’d thrown his cut at her. Forcing himself to rein it back in, he pushed himself up, standing over him.
“Hey guy,” Remy reared back and kicked Gavin’s head. “She’s not your girl.”
He turned, grabbing her arm. “Let’s go.”
She tried to talk, but he stopped her with the fire in his eyes.
“Don’t talk right now, we’re getting downstairs, in the truck, and we’re taking your asses home. I don’t want to hear a word.”
He’d never been so furious in his life.
Chapter Fifty-Three
The temperature in the cab of the truck was downright frigid as Remy drove to Tyler’s house to drop off Addie first. Tatum refused to meet his gaze and that flat out pissed him off. If she was going to give herself to another man and then have the balls to sit in front of him like this, she should at least have the decency to meet his eyes when he looked at her.
“Am I going to have to explain to Tyler why I’m dropping you off at one in the fucking morning?” Remy glanced in the review mirror of the truck, looking back to where Addie sat in the extended cab.
“No,” she shook her head, looking about as tired and unhappy as he felt. “He’s at the clubhouse. He and Mom had planned to stay and they took Caelin with them.”
Well, thank God for small favors, because the one person besides Liam he didn’t want to face off with tonight, was Tyler.
“You’re lucky I don’t call him and tell him where the hell you’ve been. How could you let her go up there with him?” he questioned her, the irritation getting the better of him.
“You know her as well as I do,” Addie sighed. “She’s going to do what she’s going to do whether it’s a good decision or not,” she met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “If you would have given her what she wanted, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.”
He turned into the driveway that lead to the house, relieved to be letting Addie out.
“If you need anything, you obviously have my number,” he told her as he watched her head up the front steps. Even if he was pissed at her, he would still be a gentleman.
She threw a look over her shoulder. “If I need you I’ll call, but I’m more worried about her,” she cut her gaze at Tatum.
So was he.
He made sure Addie didn’t have any trouble opening the door and waited until she turned the light on. Just like every other house Heaven Hill occupied, this one had an alarm system. Remy made sure she’d taken care of it, and it hadn’t gone off before he put the truck in gear and made a wide circle to get back out onto the main road.
The tension was thick between them as he made the drive to Tatum
’s house. He would have to pass by the clubhouse, but he was pretty sure at this time of night, most everyone was doing something other than wondering why he was driving a company truck.
As they ate up the miles, he couldn’t stand it. He had to say something.
“Did you have a good time tonight?”
She inhaled a shuttering breath and seemed to strengthen herself before she looked over at him. “I really don’t need you to be a dick right now.”
To his mind, she was asking for a little too much. “I can smell him on you, you know? The bite marks on your neck, the stubble burn on your chin. Are you proud of yourself?” He pushed her, he couldn’t help it, he wanted a reaction, and not one she tempered. It had to be real and honest.
“Am I proud of myself?” she repeated, unbuckling her seatbelt so that she could turn around and face him. “What would have made me proud is if you would have taken your head out of your ass for a few minutes and realized you could have had this. You could have had me, I was giving it to you on a goddamn silver platter, Remy. But no, you’re too stuck in your head to realize that.”
Pulling the truck over to the side of the road, he opened the driver’s side door, unmindful of the freezing rain that had started falling. Stalking around to the passenger’s side, he wrenched open the door, yanking her out.
“I’m trying to protect you, Tatum. You only see what you want to see. You see the good in everybody. You see the world through rose-colored glasses because all of us have always spoiled you. We’ve always kept you away from the darkness, so all you see is light. There’s not a ton of light in most of us. I don’t think you’re aware of that,” he stopped talking, trying to figure out how to say what he needed to. “There’s dark in me—terrible dark that scares me and I’m doing my best to live with it, control it.”
“Let me help you,” she grabbed his face, holding it still between her hands. “And let me remind you of something. You dropped him tonight, but you never touched me.”
The rain washed over both of them, and he couldn’t help but hope it was washing away the other man’s touch.
He pulled her hands away. “What if that darkness ends up consuming me and I take you along? What if I can’t protect you from it? What do you think of that?”
“I think you’re so fucking scared of what you feel for me it’s got you running like a coward,” she turned away from him.
“Look at me,” he pulled on her arm, yanking her back around.
“No!” she screamed. “You look at me. For once in your life, look at me,” she begged, tears pooling behind her blue eyes.
“I do look at you,” he admitted, his voice rough.
“But you don’t see me. Remy, please see me.”
That’s where she was wrong. He did see her, he could see the life they could have together, he could see the joy she’d bring to his life, and the serenity he felt when he was around her. But in order to have it all, he’d have to give her everything of him. He’d have to trust her with every part of his life, and he couldn’t. Not yet. He wasn’t anywhere near ready for that yet.
“I see you,” he steeled his tone, because God, he wanted it to tremble, he wanted her to hear how vulnerable she made him, how what she’d done tonight hurt him. “I see a little brat who didn’t get what she wanted, so she went to the first person who would say yes to her. I see a child who didn’t get her way, and then found a work around. I see someone who wanted to force my hand, so they took what I wanted away from me, without for one minute thinking about me – why I turn myself inside out to protect you, even when it kills me to do it. No, all you think about is getting what you want.”
It killed him to accuse her of those things, to say the words. While they were true, it wasn’t all of the person Tatum was, and they both knew it. But he had to get her to see things didn’t always work out. You didn’t always get what you wanted, and sometimes you had to let love go and hope it came back. And she needed to learn that if you want to be with someone, you can’t just think about what you want, you have to value that someone and what’s right for them.
She lifted her palm, and slapped him across the face so hard it whipped his head around. “How dare you!”
“Am I wrong?” he challenged her. “I wouldn’t give you what you wanted, so you found a way to get it.”
“No,” she shook her head, those blue eyes turning hard and a smartass smirk on her face. “I found someone who was man enough to do what you couldn’t.”
She didn’t wait for him to say another word. She got in the truck, shouting towards him before she shut the door. “Take me home!”
Remy knew this fight was over for now, but one day they’d come back to it. They couldn’t run from feelings like that forever, but it was better to shut up than to spew hurtful words at one another.
So this was it. He was letting her go – and hoping like hell she came back. And more than that, hoping that when she did, they’d both be ready to build something worth having… together.
The End – For Now….
Remy & Tatum’s full-length novel Hurricane is available now!
About the Author
Laramie Briscoe is the best-selling author of the Heaven Hill Series & the Rockin’ Country Series.
Since self-publishing her first book in May of 2013, Laramie Briscoe has published over 10 books. She’s appeared on the Top 100 Bestselling E-books Lists on iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. She’s been called “a very young Maya Banks” (Amazon reviewer) and her books have been accused of being “sexy, family-oriented, romances with heart”.
When she’s not writing alpha males who seriously love their women, she loves spending time with friends, reading, and marathoning shows on her DVR. Married to her high school sweetheart, Laramie lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband (the Travel Coordinator) and a sometimes crazy cat named Beau.
Connect With Me!
www.laramiebriscoe.net
[email protected]
Also by Laramie Briscoe
Heaven Hill Next Generation
Hurricane
Rockin’ Country Series
Only The Beginning
One Day at A Time
The Price of Love
Full Circle
Hard To Love
Reaper’s Girl
The Moonshine Task Force Series
Renegade
Tank
Havoc
Ace
Menace
Cruise
Stand Alones
Sketch
Sass
Trick
Heaven Hill Series - Complete Series Page 189