Chasing Ivy (Oak Hill, #1)

by S. J. Sylvis

  “We…” I bit my lip, curling up on my side. “We didn’t use protection.”

  Dawson’s entire body tensed. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Ivy. I just assumed you were on the pill or something…”

  “I am—” I hurriedly said. “But… the pill doesn’t protect against, you know.”

  Dawson slowly brought his hand under his head, hauling his torso up to stare down at me. His head tilted to the side as a small smile broke out along his lips.

  “I’ve never, ever gone without a condom before.”

  My brow hitched. “What? You’re totally lying.”

  He was quick to protest. “I would never lie to you. You know that.”

  A strange amount of happiness filled my body. I was the only one he’d been with without a condom? I wanted to jump around my room and scream like a freak.

  “You never… with Breanna?”

  He let out a snort. “Absolutely not.”

  I couldn’t help the giddy smile breaking out across my face. “Good.”

  A beat passed before I heard Dawson open his mouth. “Ivy, that was…”

  “Amazing,” I finished for him. It was. The entire thing was just amazing, and that was honestly a poor word choice for what had just happened.

  Slowly, I felt the bed dip and then Dawson was climbing over my naked body, once again. He rested his weight on his forearms, caging me underneath him, making me feel small and vulnerable.

  “Do you feel it, too?” he asked, peering down at me, looking the same exact way I felt:

  Exposed. So incredibly wide-open and unguarded.

  Slowly, I reached my hands up, placing them along his muscular biceps.

  “I always have,” I answered.

  And it was true. There had always been this automatic pull between us. Like I couldn’t live my life the right way unless he was right there beside me. My life was darker without him in it.

  I survived six years without him, but looking back, they were the dullest six years of my life. As if I needed him by my side to be truly me.

  A small, hopeful smile passed by his lips.

  “This was worth the wait,” he murmured, lowering his lips to mine. His tongue coaxed my mouth open, and just like that, heat was emitting from down below. It was so strong that it completely took my breath away.

  Dawson released my mouth, edging his knee between my legs, opening them up once again. “Don’t ever make me chase you again, Ivy.”

  His voice was almost pained, and I knew why.

  This right here, was our breaking point.

  There would be no going back from this.

  Reaching my hands up behind his neck, I slowly pulled him down onto me, his face going into the crook of my neck.

  Tears filled my eyes. “I won’t.”

  Goosebumps broke out along my skin when I lowered my mouth to his ear, “I promise you, Dawson, because I don’t think I could climb out of the endless void if I ever have to leave you again.”

  He said nothing; instead, he took his length and rushed to enter me again, allowing his body to make up for lost time.

  Because that’s what it was.

  Those six years we’d spent apart, hurting and aching, pretending we didn’t feel wrong… they were our lost years.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Dawson

  “So let me get this right,” my brother said, shuffling the deck of cards in his hand. “You broke up with Breanna, thank the fucking Lord, and then you went over to Ivy’s and fucked her … how many times?”

  I punched his shoulder. “Shut the fuck up, I’m not giving you details on that shit.”

  Emmett’s shit-eating-grin stretched across his face. Then he laughed. “Okay, but, so…Breanna was just… cool with you dumping her for Ivy? Because from what I remember from a few weeks ago, she was going fucking nuts that you and Ivy were ‘just friends.’”

  I leaned back in my chair, hand peeling away the label on my beer bottle. I thought back to last weekend, when I’d gone over to Breanna’s that Sunday morning right after she’d returned from her trip, prepared to lay it all out in the open.

  I honestly expected her to hit me or cry and blubber that she loved me (even though we both knew she didn’t) and reiterate how she’d saved me from my own heartbreak years ago, but that’s not what had happened…

  Breanna had sat back on her couch, crossing her legs underneath her body, and smiled. A rush of uncertainty went through me and I was about to put my shields up, but then she surprised me.

  “You and Ivy belong together, Dawson. It’s okay.”

  I was stunned. I just stared at her, wondering where the catch was.

  My brow furrowed. “What? You were going crazy a few weeks ago… but now, you’re okay with me breaking up with you?”

  She shrugged, looking around the room before bringing her baby-blues back to mine. “I care about you, you know that, but we both know that what we had… was nothing more than sex and companionship. There isn’t that die-for-you type of love with us. Not like it is with you and Ivy. I know you’re going to leave here and go to her,”

  I opened my mouth explain, to tell her about the kiss, but she stopped me. “It’s okay Dawson. I thought long and hard this week, after our last conversation…” Breanna’s head dipped low and then she brought it back up, eyes squinting. “I can’t even remember why I hated her all those years ago.

  “My parents always talked so badly about her family, and she was like this mortal enemy to me because of how often my mom would diss on hers. Even in grade school, my mom forced me to participate in this stupid spelling-bee, all because she wanted me to beat Ivy.”

  Breanna chuckled, mouth opening wider. “Now that I think about it, it was crazy how psycho my mom always acted toward them and how she always forced me to go out of my way to treat her like shit.”

  I was a little confused, not sure what to say. I mean, I knew that Breanna’s family and Ivy’s never, ever got along. I knew it had something to do with their rival in dealerships, which seems so fucking stupid, but I didn’t realize that it went that far. It made me angry for Ivy and it made me feel a little bad for Breanna.

  “Do you want to know what my mom said when Ivy’s parents died?”

  I walked a little closer to Breanna, letting my guards slide down. “What?”

  She nibbled on her lip, clasping her hands in her lap, working her fingers back and forth. “She said… ‘good riddance.’”

  My eyes widened as anger flew through my body. Not anger with Breanna, of course not, but what kind of person says that after someone burns up in a fucking fire? What the fuck?

  “Wow,” I said, and Breanna nodded.

  “Yeah. It hasn’t always been rainbows and shit with her, like everyone assumes. She puts on this perfect little façade of having a wonderful husband and daughter, getting lip injections and climbing her way up the ladder at St. Joseph’s, becoming the dean’s right hand, but she’s so fake and mean. She’s always been so spiteful and it’s taken me a little while, but I’ve realized that I don’t want to turn out like her. At all.”

  My stomach formed a knot. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before? Like, when I was your boyfriend?”

  Isn’t that what boyfriends are for? To be there for their girlfriends? I sure as hell wanted to be there for Ivy, and she wasn’t even considered my girlfriend yet.

  Breanna shrugged again. “We didn’t really have that type of relationship, Dawson.” She laughed. “We talked about sex, and then had sex, and then…that was about it.”

  “I was a shitty boyfriend to you.” Even more so since I had just kissed Ivy behind her back. Yep, Hell party of one for me.

  She crinkled her nose. “I wasn’t the best girlfriend, either. You and I just… aren’t meant to be.”

  I nodded, agreeing with her because it was true.

  We both knew who I was meant to be with.

  I think everyone knew.

  …I breathed out a long sigh and gl
anced back up at my brother, closing out my thoughts of Breanna. He was still messing around with the deck of cards and getting the poker chips ready. We hadn’t had a poker night in a long, long time. Mainly because he’d been so wrapped up in Carrie, but now that Ivy proved the whole her-stealing-his-money shit, he’d dumped her and had started to be… Emmett, again. Well, the good Emmett.

  Not the one that I had to bail out of a jail every few months.

  He’d gotten his shit together, finally.

  “Well, there were some things I didn’t really know about her, and she’d worked through her shit, so we ended it on okay terms.”

  Emmett’s eyes flicked to mine, head still tilted down towards the table. “Really? So what, you and Ivy are like… together for good now?”

  I fought a smile. “Yeah.”

  Ivy and I had spent the last week and a half together, every single day. It was like a breath of fresh air, leaving work and going straight to her house. She’d spent the night at my place last night because of the new floors being installed at her house, but basically our days consisted of us working and then her grabbing us food and warming it up in the microwave and then forgetting about it because we’d be too busy christening every single part of her house.

  I’d never had so much sex in my life, and I’m a dude, so that’s fucking saying something.

  It was just so different with her. It was unbelievable. Mind-blowing. The way her body slid above mine, moving to her own rhythm, throwing her brown locks back and letting out a moan – I could get off just by the sight of her.

  I would never get sick of her pussy. I would never get sick of her perky, small breasts. I could never get sick of hearing her moan my name or the way her mouth parted just slightly from pleasure.

  In fact, just thinking of the way she rode me last night had my dick springing to attention, even sitting at a table with my brother and the few guys who had just sauntered in.

  This game was going to need to go fast as fuck because spending the day without Ivy was miserable, and turning that into the night, too, was brutal.

  I was addicted.

  Emmett nudged my bicep. “What?” I asked, carrying my attention back to his.

  He let out a loud laugh, crossing his arms over his chest. “I asked if you told Mom yet.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Not yet,”

  He shook his head, smiling. “She’s going to be so fucking happy that you dumped Breanna.”

  I laughed. My mom despised Breanna. I had no idea why because they’d only met once. I don't see my mom much, as she lives in the city and rarely comes into her old hometown anymore since the divorce, but the last and only time I’d brought Breanna with me to see her, my mom had had a hard time keeping her face even and not acting appalled.

  “Yeah, she is.”

  My phone dinged and I reached to grab it, but Emmett grabbed it first.

  His face turned red and he laughed out loud as his eyes scanned whatever was on the front. I snatched it out of his hand quickly, seeing what he’d read.

  Ivy- Becca is up on the stage, singing some country song with one of her co-workers and I’m sitting in the booth, alone, thinking about you and your dick. Why am I so horny all the time? Did you feed me some type of freaking horny love potion? I’m even finding things that aren’t even remotely sexual… arousing.

  I bit my lip, and took my right arm and drove it into my brother’s stomach. He lurched forward, resting against the edge of the table. I looked down at him, smiling. “Don’t fucking read my texts.”

  He chuckled through a groan. I went back to my message, ignoring him and the laughs from the other guys. One of them asked what was on my phone, but Emmett chose not to answer. Lucky for him.

  I texted Ivy back.

  Like what…?

  Her message popped up quickly.

  For example, I’m eating my fries… dipping them in ketchup…. Very, very slowly and the only thing I can think of is YOU ENTERING ME VERY, VERY SLOWLY. What is happening to me?!

  I laugh out loud and quickly texted back.

  My dick is magic. Don’t worry, I’ll leave here ASAP and pick you up and then we can play out this French fry and ketchup fantasy that you’re having…

  My dick literally grew hard.

  I needed to get the fuck done with this game and pick my girl up.

  It’s what I’d wanted to do in the first place but I thought I should still act like I had some balls and hang out with the guys… even if it was the very last thing I wanted to do.

  All I really wanted was Ivy.

  ✽✽✽

  The smell of smoke wafted through the air as I walked up to the doors of Ships. Max was walking beside me, talking about one of his students and how he’d found him ramming a girl in the locker room before school the other day.

  I couldn’t believe it. Our laughter continued even as we walked through the bar doors, but mine slowly dwindled as I searched for Ivy. I looked towards the booths and felt utter disappointment when I didn’t see her.

  But I did hear her.

  I moved my attention to the stage in the far corner of the bar and then I saw her. The sight of her took my breath away.

  Max was still talking about the school incident, but I couldn’t even form a coherent thought. I was too focused on Ivy up on the stage, shaking out her golden-brown hair, arms thrown up above her head, laughing and singing with Becca.

  She was happy and beautiful.

  And I couldn’t believe that she was finally mine.

  I couldn’t believe that I no longer had to chase a ghost.

  “My God, she’s fucking beautiful,” I muttered under my breath.

  Max stopped talking, but I didn’t look over at him. I couldn’t. I was too enthralled in watching Ivy bask in her carefree, spirited ways. It was like I’d been taken back to when she was a teenager, when she didn’t have a care in the world…she was always smiling and she always carried this lightness around with her.

  “Yeah, she is…” Max said under his breath. I snapped my head over to his, surprised, but then I followed this stare.

  He wasn’t looking at Ivy… he was looking at Becca.

  I smirked, watching him watch her.

  I wonder if he knew that he was totally fucking into her? Because I was almost positive he didn’t realize he’d said that aloud and that he was currently looking at Becca as if she walked on water.

  I turned my head back, glancing up at my girl singing the chorus, and then her eyes met mine.

  An even bigger smile formed on her face, white teeth shining against the pink of her lips. She kept singing and I walked steadily over to her, ignoring everyone in my way.

  The second I got below the stage, with her and Becca still sharing a microphone, I lifted an eyebrow up and pulled myself up, too.

  Becca’s head tilted, wondering what the fuck I was doing, but Ivy…she just smiled and continued to sing as loud as she could.

  She and Becca were on their second round, the chorus creeping up, and that’s when I moved in front of Ivy, stealing the microphone out of her hands.

  She laughed, eyes wide, and then I stole the show.

  I took my free hand and grabbed hers, swinging her around and bringing her back to my body.

  I belted out the lyrics to "Mamma Mia" as loud as I could while staring down into a pair of forest-colored eyes.

  Ivy cackled with laughter in my arms. It was like the soundtrack to my life; hearing her laugh was like switching radio stations in my truck, trying my hardest to find that one song I wanted and when I would find it, it was like a gift. I would never turn it off and I’d always be searching for it.

  “I love you, Ivy. I hope you know that,” I admitted, right into the microphone, for everyone to hear. Her laughter faded, but her smile didn’t.

  Her green eyes glistened under the bright lights as she reached her face up to mine. I threw the microphone behind me, landing with a loud thump on the wooden stage, and then leaned her back,
planting a kiss on her mouth.

  Ivy wove her hands around my neck and applause went through the bar, drunk people hooting and hollering, a whistle here and there.

  I continued to kiss Ivy, both of us forming smiles along our lips through the applauding. I pulled her up the second Becca’s voice sounded through the bar, blaring into the microphone.

  “And here you have it ladies and gents, a real-life love story!!”

  I glanced over at Ivy, my heart growing fifteen sizes in my chest, and took her hand in mine.

  The chase was over. Ivy was mine.

  “That was quite the show you put on for all the ladies,” Ivy said, walking through the door of her house.

  I grinned. “The show was for you.”

  She turned back a fraction, eyes tipping over her shoulder. “I enjoyed it.” Then she smiled wider before bringing her attention back to the front of her. Which was good, because Ivy was clumsy enough with her eyes facing forward, let alone looking back.

  Once we were through the door and walking back to her bedroom, no doubt for her to change out of her work clothes and for me to watch, her expression changed from playful to serious.

  “So,” she said, stepping out of her heels. “I think you were right about Breanna.”

  I squinted my eyes, leaning my shoulder against the door jam. “How so? Did you see her?”

  Ivy smooshed her lips together and nodded her head up and down. “And, dare I say, she didn’t even throw a knife at my head. I was prepared to duck under the booth, but when she glanced over from the bar, she almost… skipped over me. Like her eyes saw me but her brain didn’t…”

  I chuckled and shook out my hair.

  Ivy started again, “But in all seriousness…” She started to strip off her dress, standing only in a silk, see-through slip. I swallowed, not truly registering anything else she was saying. “…She didn’t even so much as glare at me like usual. Maybe she morphed into a different person. Maybe a demon was inside her body all this time and it finally left, leaving her real soul to emerge.” She shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips. “I guess I won’t have to call Dean and Sam Winchester, although I was looking forward to it.”