I brush my lips against hers.
“Oh, hey, there they fucking are,” Taz’s voice announces as he enters the kitchen. “It’s the fucking egg farmers.”
Jolie turns around. “If you yell at me one more time, Taz, I’m going to smash a coffee mug off your fucking head.”
Taz curls his lip at Jolie.
Then he looks at me.
“Jolie needs her morning coffee,” I say.
“Yeah, well, thanks for last night,” Taz says. “Nicole took off after you threw eggs at her.”
“That poor girl,” Les says. “And your poor dick. What did you do?”
“First off, fuck you,” Taz says. “Second, I had a decent night.”
“Decent?” I ask.
“I tried texting Nicole to apologize,” Taz says. “You know, do the right thing.”
He reaches for Jolie’s coffee on the counter and she punches his hand.
“My fucking coffee,” Jolie says.
“Damn, darling, sorry,” Taz says.
I reach behind me for a mug and throw it to Taz.
He catches it midair and goes to pour himself some coffee.
“I just wanted to make sure she was okay,” Taz says.
“You wanted to smooth her over,” Jolie says. “Don’t be a dick about it.”
“Fine,” Taz says. “I wanted to blame you assholes and then fuck her.”
“Did it work?” Les asks.
“No,” Taz says. He finishes pouring the coffee and starts to drink it. “But… Nicole gave her phone to her roommate. Nicole went to take a shower. It took me all of five minutes to get her roommates number and…”
Taz looks forward and smiles.
We all look and here comes a girl wearing Taz’s t-shirt from last night.
She gives a wave and smiles.
“This is Anna,” Taz says.
“Hey,” Anna says.
“Oh, god,” Jolie says. “I can smell the regret and disease on her already.”
“What did you just say?” Anna asks.
I slide in front of Jolie and block her path to Anna.
I smile. “Hey… let’s go upstairs, sweetie. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Whatever,” Jolie says.
She walks out of the kitchen.
“Who the hell is that?” Anna asks.
I pause and lean toward Anna. “That’s the queen of everything around here, sweetie. So you might want to shut your mouth and show some respect.”
With that said, I take my time to go upstairs.
We had fun last night, but today we have to be serious.
I have to be serious.
I write out a list in my mind of shit I need to get done.
That list, of course, turns to ash when I open the bedroom door and I find Jolie standing in nothing but her panties.
Holding her coffee mug in her hand.
Sunglasses back on her face.
I shut the door and twist the lock.
My eyes scan her body like I’m a fucking x-ray machine.
As my eyes move up, I take note of her plum colored panties. They’re almost innocent. Even with the lace edges that squeeze tight against her perfect skin. Then my eyes stop at her breasts. Her nipples are soft and puffy. I lick my lips, knowing what I want to do next.
She sips her coffee.
So casual.
And yet so bold.
The girl on the beach the day I met Jolie would never do this.
She knows what she does to me.
And if she starts flaunting it willingly and uses her body against me… I’m screwed.
Truthfully, I’m okay with it.
I move toward her and she sticks out her other hand.
“I’m taking a shower,” she says.
“And I’m taking what I want too, sweetie,” I say.
I put my left hand to her right hand and lower it.
My right hand touches the small of her back and I pull her toward me.
Coffee spills out of her mug onto her hand.
She starts to gasp but I quickly move my mouth over her right breast.
I taste her morning skin, my teeth scrapping just enough against her nipple to make her move to her toes.
I pull away and then move at her again. Engulfing more of her into my mouth.
I move my left hand from her hand and touch her waist.
As I start to kiss down her body, I move her back to the bed.
“Mac… fuck…”
“I know,” I whisper as my hot morning breath spreads across her stomach.
My hands move to the lace edges of her panties and I pull them down.
She sits down on the bed.
I look up at her.
Her hair is a mess. Sunglasses on her face. Still holding her coffee mug.
My hands ease up her body and cup over her breasts.
She leans back on the bed, to her elbows.
I kiss below her navel and keep going.
I know exactly what I want for breakfast this morning.
Jolie runs a brush through her wet hair.
When she looks at me, her cheeks turn red.
She was breakfast and my dessert.
Dessert happening in the shower.
But now we have to get serious.
Then again, when I look at her, I can’t help but smile.
Watching her brush her hair. The way her hair is still damp, leaving small wet marks on her shirt.
I smoke a cigarette and wish we could just waste the day away in my room, together.
“Ready for today, sweetie?” I ask.
“No,” Jolie says.
“I know,” I say. “I’ll be there with you, Jolie.”
“No. You won’t.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“Mac, just listen to me for a second. This is a really big thing for me. Personally, I mean. It’s my family. I have no idea what my father has going on. Okay?”
“You’re trying to tell me you want to do this alone?” I ask.
“Yes,” Jolie says.
I shake my head. “No way, sweetie.”
“Mac, please.”
I grit my teeth and take a deep breath.
“Mac,” Jolie says. “If you show up it’s going to be chaos. I need to talk to my mother alone.”
“What if your father is there?” I ask. “What if he’s been there since yesterday? What if he has your mother all fucked up in the head?”
“I don’t know,” Jolie says. “Set off the alarm like you did last time.”
She smiles at me.
I shake my head.
“Taz is going with you then,” I say. “He’ll stay outside.”
“Okay, fine,” she says. “Why can’t you just stay outside?”
“I’m going to Mama’s,” I say. “I have to tell her everything that’s going on.”
“So we’re splitting up for the day,” she says.
“I guess we are, sweetie,” I say. “I don’t like it though. At all.”
“I just have to do this alone,” Jolie says. “If my father is who he showed… he won’t be home. Believe me. He won’t be home.”
I nod. “You’re probably right. That’s why I have to talk to Mama sooner rather than later.”
Jolie frowns. “I can’t stop thinking about…”
I finish my cigarette and flick it out the window.
I know what she’s thinking.
I hug Jolie.
We’re not going to talk about it.
There’s a whole lot of fate in motion right now.
So much is out of my control.
But holding Jolie is in my control.
And that’s something I don’t mind at all.
16
JOLIE
I drive.
Taz is behind me.
I’m halfway to my mother’s when my phone rings.
It’s Violet calling me.
I look in the mirror and smile, then grab m
y phone.
“You’ll never guess who’s behind me,” I say.
Violet bursts into tears over the phone.
I hit the brakes and pull to the side of the road.
“Violet, what’s wrong?” I ask.
“Wh-where are you, Jolie?”
“I’m in my car. I have to go talk to my mother. Where are you?”
“I’m on the beach,” she says. “I’m standing at the shore. I feel like just walking into the water. But I bet the waves would throw me right back. Just reject me, right?”
“What happened?”
Violet cries.
Taz is still behind me.
He starts to get out of his truck.
I put my window down and wave him off.
“Violet, tell me where you are on the beach,” I say. “I’ll come find you right now. We can talk. Okay?”
“You have so much going on though,” she says. “My problems shouldn’t be yours.”
“It’s fine. You’re my best friend.”
“I just… I’ve been trying really hard to lose weight, Jolie. You know? I just want to be good enough…”
I shut my eyes.
Fuck.
“Just tell me where you are,” I say. “Or text me. I’m coming your way right now.”
“Thank you, Jolie,” Violet says.
I get out of my car and Taz is almost standing in the middle of the road.
“What the fuck, darling?” he yells to me.
“I have to turn around and go somewhere else first,” I say.
“Why?”
“It’s about Violet…”
“Violet,” Taz says. “I’m coming with you.”
I nod.
That’s what I’m afraid of, Taz.
I know right where Violet is when she texts me a picture.
There’s a private area of the beach just behind her parent’s house.
It’s a little tough to get to because there’s overgrowth but when you get there, it’s really cool. It has a deserted island feel to it.
“What the hell is this about?” Taz growls at me.
“I said you could follow me,” I say to him. “Not come down to the beach.”
“Fuck that,” he says. “What’s wrong with Violet?”
“Personal.”
“I’m going to be right in the middle of this, Jolie,” Taz says.
I stop and look back at him. “You don’t care, do you?”
“Care about what?”
“Anything,” I say.
“I care about knowing what’s wrong with Violet,” he says.
I shake my head and keep walking.
I jump off an old branch down to the sand.
I hear the rush of the waves and I see Violet standing at the shore.
When I break out into a run, I can feel Taz running right with me.
As I get closer to Violet, she starts to run.
The second she sees Taz, her face burns red.
“What the fuck is going on, darling?” Taz asks.
Violet covers her mouth, then her face.
She turns and shakes her head.
“I’m sorry,” I say to Violet. “Taz just… invited himself.”
“Who do I have to kill?” Taz asks.
Violet cries and then laughs.
“Why are you here?” she asks Taz.
“Because you need someone,” Taz says. He touches her back. “And I’m that someone.”
“Oh, hell no,” I say. I snap my fingers and point to Taz. “Turn off the nice guy act right now, Taz.”
“What?” he asks.
“Jolie, I know he’s full of shit,” Violet says. She wipes the corners of her eyes. “Trust me, I’m not that stupid.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid at all,” Taz says.
Violet smiles at him. “Thanks.”
“Tell me what’s going on,” I say to her. “Just pretend Taz isn’t here.”
Taz inches away.
Violet faces me. “I feel so dumb right now.”
“Why?”
“Liam.”
“The cowboy rancher dude?” Taz asks.
“Taz,” I growl.
“Sorry,” he says.
“He… he told everyone that… that I was too big to enjoy.”
I suck in a breath.
I feel fire burning inside me.
I hug Violet so she can cry.
Taz looks at me and curls his lip.
Violet is such a strong, badass person… but that one word… it just grabs her and hurts her so much.
“I’ve been working out, Jolie,” she says. “I really have. I mean, I didn’t realize I wasn’t good enough for-”
“Fuck this,” Taz yells.
Before I can say a word, Taz is right behind Violet.
His hands touch her hips.
I back way.
“You listen to me, darling,” Taz says in a mean voice. “You don’t ever let some pencil-dick motherfucker tell you you’re too big for him. He’s not big enough for you. You tell me where this piece of shit is right now and I’ll shove a cowboy hat so far up his ass, he’ll be coughing up leather or straw or whatever the fuck it’s made out of. Got it?”
“Taz,” I say.
“No,” he says in an even deeper voice. “Look down at my hands, Violet.”
Violet’s cheeks are bright red.
She looks down at his hands.
“These hands are made for this, darling,” Taz says. “Don’t ever forget it.”
Taz lets Violet go and walks away.
He’s pissed.
I’ve never seen Taz like that before.
It almost makes me want to blush.
“Whoa,” Violet says.
“Whoa is right,” I say.
“That was real.”
“Yeah, I think it was.”
“I think I’m turned on.”
“That I don’t want to hear,” I say.
Violet wipes the corners of her eyes again. “I can’t believe I let it get to me… I just thought…” She sighs. “I thought I was going to see Liam again. But he’s a dick. A fucking loser. And I just lost myself.”
“Well, you’re not going to try and drown yourself in the ocean,” I say.
“I know that,” Violet says.
“You were always an attention whore.”
“Oh, screw you,” she says with a smile.
“You know I’m right,” I say. “So just own it. Attention whore.”
“If my whore-ness gets the attention of Taz…”
I point at her. “Stop it.”
“Where’s Les?” Violet asks. “I wonder what he would have said.”
“Violet, listen to me. If Taz finds out where Liam is, he will go after him.”
“Is that so bad?”
I look up.
He will fucking kill Liam for real.
“Hey, what are you doing with Taz?” Violet asks. “Are you having a side thing or something?”
“No,” I say. “I would never… with Taz? Nope. Never.”
“Then what are you doing with him?”
“I was going to talk to you later,” I say. “I can’t get into it right now. Mac has to work today. He didn’t want me alone. I have to go face my mother.”
“Over what?”
“My entire life is like one big lie or something,” I say. “I found out my father has been having an affair. With a woman that used to cook for us.”
“Tanya?” Violet asks.
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Your mother was right all along?”
“Yeah,” I say again. “I confronted him. It wasn’t good. I’m just… done. I’m done with law school. I’m done with people telling me what to do and how to live.”
“All because of Mac.”
“That’s right.”
Violet smiles. “I’m so happy for you, Jolie.”
“What?”
“Finally,” she says. “You’re finally being
you.”
“Well… whatever… I just want to go check on my mother. Make sure she’s okay. I don’t even know what to say to her. But I want to be there for her. I can’t even imagine what she’s thinking or feeling.”
“I fucked it all up,” Violet says. “I didn’t know that’s what you were doing. I called you crying because-”
“Violet, don’t do that. You’re my best friend. And when you feel this way, I feel it too and I hate it. I think you’re beautiful. And if a guy like Taz thinks it too…”
“I’m pretty sure Taz would fuck anyone with a vagina,” Violet says.
I laugh. “There’s something that will never leave my memory.”
“Thanks for saying I’m beautiful,” Violet says.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah. I’m going to walk back home and then I’m going to start my attack.”
“Attack?”
Violet holds up her pinky finger.
“Oh,” I say.
“I’m going to make Liam cry.”
“Good for you.”
“And if that doesn’t work, I’ll just have Taz handle it. Taz and Les. Right?”
I offer a fake smile.
She really has no idea how dangerous they all are.
Violet and I hug.
When she starts to walk away, Taz whistles at her.
He opens his arms and nods, wanting a hug.
Violet shakes her head.
Then she blows him a kiss.
He catches the kiss… and for a split second I think he’s being romantic… until he puts his hands between his legs.
I shake my head at him.
“Where do you think I want her to kiss me?” Taz calls out.
I don’t even bother responding to him.
I enter the house and my heart instantly jumps into my throat.
The house has always been big and quiet.
That was just how I grew up.
The only people I really talked to were those taking care of the house.
The kitchen was the busiest part, but only at certain times of the day.
As I walk into the kitchen, I find my mother sitting at the counter with a glass of wine in one hand and her phone in the other.
“Mom,” I say.
She looks me. She puts the wine and the phone down.
“Jolie…”
She sucks in a shaky breath.
That’s when it hits me that she doesn’t know I’m okay. She still thinks I’m missing. Kidnapped. Whatever.
My heart sinks out of my throat and my eyes fill with tears.
Mess Us Up (Brooks Crest Book 3) Page 15