Finding Peace (Breaking Free Series Book 2)

by Becca Taylor

  My hand strokes up her arm to her head and back down. Her hands travel the opposite, down my side to my hip and thigh, then back up. Our pelvises roll forward together until we touch, then we roll back. We keep this motion going to give the guys an image for their spank bank. I turn around, my back against her front. Our bodies sway in time together. She wraps my arms around her head, her fingers gently travel down grazing the sides of my breasts. Kat and Jade are hooting, encouraging us to go on, while the boys watch from the couch with lustful fascination.

  I turn my head back toward Lexi. It looks like we are about to kiss. Instead, I start wiggling down her body closer to the floor. Lexi grabs the hand I hold up for her, walking round to the front of me. She pulls me up by my hands so our bodies are close together once again. That’s when she kisses me lightly on my lips—not what I am expecting at all.

  She whispers in my ear. “Trust me. Bentley is loving this.”

  I can’t see him since he’s behind me.

  As the song is ending, Lexi chooses that moment to push me off her, straight into Bentley’s lap. His hands grip my sides to keep me from falling off him. When I try to stand again, he holds me against his body. I can feel his arousal against my ass, and I wiggle loose from his grip. This time, he lets me stand. I give Lexi a dirty look while she starts dancing away as the next song begins.

  Sneaky bitch.

  Hunter stands, lowers the music, and—holding both Lexi and my hands in the air—declares, “Best dance of the night.”

  Lexi makes a short acceptance speech that ends with, “Now it’s time for Jell-O shots and games.” She explains the rules of Truth, Dare or Shot. It’s basically the same rules as regular truth or dare. However, if you choose to skip a dare, you will be given a shot. Lexi made four different types of shots: red, orange, yellow and blue. Some are stronger than others, but she won’t tell us which one is which. This could get interesting or dangerous very fast.

  Lexi takes out her phone. “We’ll use this app so the dares are fair for everyone.”

  Lexi starts us off, and Hunter is the first victim of the night. He chooses dare—brave boy. Lexi smiles and reads from the phone.

  “Lick someone of the opposite gender’s ear.”

  He grabs me since I’m right next to him and licks me. It is not a sexy lick either, more like a dog licking its owner.

  Next up is me. I nervously blurt out dare. Hunter reads the dare to me. “Remove an item of clothing.” What the heck? All I have on is my bikini so that is not happening. I choose to take a shot instead. Hunter hands me a red one. I tilt my head back, swallowing the whole thing. Next, I ask Bentley.

  “Dare,” he says confidently. I read the phone and smile.

  “Suck on the fingers of someone in the room for ten seconds.” All the guys put their hands behind their backs. Apparently, it has become lick Aly night because Bentley grabs my hand and begins licking my fingers. At first he slowly licks my palm and up my fingers. When he reaches the tips, he sucks my first two fingers between his lips until he reaches their base. The whole time he sucks on them, his tongue is rolling against the underside. Heat rises to my cheeks and spreads throughout my entire body. Damn Bentley and his tongue.

  In the background, I hear Lexi counting down.

  “Three, two, one.”

  He stops, releases my hand, and winks. I clear my throat, trying to push away any thoughts of Bentley licking my body like he did my fingers.

  Everyone gets a turn doing silly things like dance wildly for sixty seconds, mimic the person to the right of you for two minutes, imitate an animal and have everyone guess what it is. When it’s my turn again, I choose dare, thinking it will be tame since everyone else had been getting off so easy.

  Hunter reads, “Receive a hickey from the person on your left.”

  Bentley.

  I’m forced to take another shot. Damn Lexi’s drinking games.

  Bentley gets to eat a piece of fruit seductively. Trust me when I say I will never look at a mango the same way. The game makes the rounds a few more times with me taking a shot all, but one time. Tell your most embarrassing sex story. What the hell. I go with it though.

  When it comes back to me, I’m determined to not take a shot since I’m feeling extremely relaxed already. Hunter laughs.

  “This is good. Remove an article of clothing from the player to your left with your teeth.”

  I have got to be cursed. Bentley’s shirt it is. I position myself between his legs. Bending down to his waist I gather his shirt in my mouth, gripping it tightly using both my tongue and teeth. When my mouth grazes his stomach accidentally, I look up at him and can see he’s holding his breath. I make my way up his body. Thankfully, he raises his arms for me as I pull his shirt overhead. Dare completed. Everyone claps for me as I take a bow.

  Hunter says, “That takes talent.”

  With the shots gone, the game comes to an end. People are slowly leaving. Caleb and Kat head upstairs to Bentley’s. Jeremy and Josh walk back to Hunter’s house. Jade and Lexi head to my guest room.

  The Jell-O shots take a toll on me. I stumble, landing against Bentley’s side.

  “Hang on, Angel. Let me help you to your room.” He guides me to my bedroom. From the dresser, he grabs my Butter My Bread t-shirt, and helps me put it on. It’s actually his shirt that I borrowed, and never plan on returning. While he searches my dresser for my running shorts, I take off my bathing suit top from under the shirt.

  I untie the bottoms next. He turns around as they fall to the floor. He visibly swallows with a gulp. The shirt is long enough that he can’t see anything, but even in my drunk state I know this is completely inappropriate. He bends, holding open my shorts as I balance myself against his shoulders with my hands. He pulls the shorts up my legs, his fingers grazing my thighs and hips on the way up. Before he stands, I swear he inhales the scent between my thighs.

  He caresses my hair, looking me straight in the eyes for what seems like minutes when, in fact, it’s only seconds. He takes my hand, leading me to the bed. I climb in as he pulls back the covers for me. He covers my body with the blankets and kisses me on my forehead.

  “Sleep well, Angel.” He leaves, closing the door. Besides the kiss we shared, that was the most intimate moment in my entire life. I know I am royally screwed. My heart is doing flip flops and I know it’s not from the alcohol. It takes everything I have not to call him back.

  What am I going to do? The guilt of the night sets in.

  You have a boyfriend, Aly.

  I pray that the alcohol will work its magic and I will forget everything. At the same time, I want to remember it all.

  Bentley

  WHAT POSSESSED ME TO invite Aly and Mike to come watch us play tonight? After the night of the house party, I should’ve told her not to come. I have spent the past week avoiding her. Afraid that if I saw her, I wouldn’t be able to control myself, or rather my dick wouldn’t control itself. The damn thing would stand at attention at just the memory of her removing my shirt, her in a bikini, and the way she danced with Lexi. Her scent drove me to near insanity though. When I helped her get dressed for bed, my head was level with her pussy. I couldn’t resist inhaling the smell of her musky scent. It took every ounce of my strength not to reach my tongue out and take a little taste.

  I call in Paige for reinforcements, filling her in on everything that happened with Aly and me in the past few weeks. I have to beg Paige to come here. At first she says she isn’t in the mood to go out, but I tell her if she doesn’t come, I might do something stupid, like rip the arms off the tool Aly is with. I convince Paige to come as my official date for the night. She finally agrees which makes me feel a little less anxious about tonight.

  I set up the stage, trying to ignore Aly sitting on Mike’s lap. I fail miserably. Paige walks up to me, handing me a beer from one hand, carrying one for her in the other.

  “You need to stop staring at them. If you are supposed to be my date, you should not b
e looking at another girl. You suck at this.”

  I tilt my beer toward her. “You jealous, Paige?” I jump off the stage, standing in front of her. I wrap my arms around her waist with my back toward everyone. I talk in Paige’s ear. “Are you going to play the role of my girl for the night? I might take you up on your drunken offer from the other night.” I know it’s a shit move, but if I can’t be with Aly, maybe Paige could happen. Paige tries to push away, but I pull her closer.

  “Bentley, I told you I would help you out. I didn’t mean like this though. This is not the way to win her over. But if you are trying to get her to look at you, this is working. She’s trying to kill us both with her death ray vision.”

  Maybe it’s what I need to do, push Aly away. We have been getting too close. Since she hasn’t shown any signs of ditching Mike anytime soon, maybe I’m the one that needs to put the wedge between us.

  I let Paige go, kissing her cheek. “I owe you for this. Thanks, Sweets.” I jump onstage to finish setting up our equipment. My mind is going in a million directions. Should I walk away from Aly? Better question is can I do it? My brain says ‘yes,’ but my heart says ‘fuck, no.’ What I need right now is to get lost in playing and singing music. It clears the chaos inside me.

  Hunter sets up his drums behind me. “You know this is probably the worst idea you have ever had, man.” He figured out what I was doing when Paige showed up tonight.

  “No idea what you are talking about. Maybe we decided to try and give it a go again.”

  “Fine. I will pretend that’s true. But when this plan of yours, whatever it is, blows up in your face, let me know. I want to make sure I’m there with a bowl of popcorn to watch the show.”

  I give him the good ole one finger salute.

  Slither has always covered other bands’ songs. We’re just a bunch of guys that love music, not a professional band. For the most part we keep things loud and hard, wanting to make sure the audience has as much fun as we do. As we start our first set, the girls begin dancing by the stage. Mike and Gabby stay by the bar. A thought crosses my mind that maybe those two are much more suited for each other. After all, misery loves, well, misery. Watching Aly move is like nothing I’ve ever seen, even though I’ve seen it a million times. Her body sways to the music with ease. Fuckin’ beautiful.

  After we play a few of our favorite songs, I grab a stool. I am in the mood to slow things down. I sit down, placing my guitar in the stand beside me. Jeremy starts the first chords to Outside. I close my eyes as I begin to sing Staind’s words, picturing that I’m singing it to Aly. It’s everything that I’ve been feeling since I’ve met her, even more since we kissed. Everyone tells me this song is about a drug addiction. If it is, Alyssa is my drug. She’s the drug that I want so bad but can’t have. When I finish the song, I open my eyes searching for her. She’s under Mike’s arm looking directly at me.

  The first set ends; I head to the bar for a drink. I grab Paige by the hand, making my way to the seat next to Aly. I shake Mike’s hand since I told her I would try to get along with the tool.

  “Hey, man, thanks for coming tonight.”

  “Yeah, no problem,” Mike says quickly. Aly smiles at him. He turns away from me, returning to his drink. Aly moves to stand between his legs and he wraps his arms around her possessively. I mimic the move with Paige, however, my grip on her is more to keep myself from doing something stupid. Paige squeezes my arm, and I’m not sure if it is either to calm me down or to get me to loosen my hold on her.

  Aly looks between me and Paige. “It seems like you two have worked things out?”

  Do I sense a jealous tone in her voice?

  “We are still friends, yes.” Paige answers for me.

  Being a dumbass, I choose this moment to stick my foot in my mouth. “More like friends with benefits.” I kiss Paige’s neck. That kiss earns me an elbow to the stomach.

  Laughing, Hunter spits out his drink beside me. He turns to the bartender. “Chris, do you sell popcorn?”

  Aly clears her throat. “Oh, that’s good. If it’s what you both want.” She grabs Mike’s hand, leading him to the dance floor.

  Paige pulls away from me. “What the hell was that, Bentley? You said you wanted me here for support, not to make me look like your hook up for the night. I’m sure now she’s picturing gouging my eyes out with a spoon. Have a good night, and don’t call me until you work this out. I’m done with Aly thinking I’m your booty girl.” Paige storms out the front door. Josh runs out after her, and just now, I think maybe I should have come up with a different plan.

  Hunter is on his stool, eating popcorn that Chris somehow produced. He makes a noise like something blowing up, gesturing his hands for emphasis.

  “Fuck you.” I state to an amused Hunter.

  “Hey, I warned you.”

  I get up from my chair, and head outside to talk to Paige. I know I am going to have to make this up to her somehow. “Paige, wait. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Don’t be mad at me.”

  “You have to stop this, Bentley. She’s with someone. I don’t want to be a pawn in your game anymore.”

  “I’m a jerk. I know. I used you to get to her. So I’m a double jerk. I just don’t know what to do anymore. Fuck!” I rake my fingers through my hair.

  Paige grasps my wrists. “Why not the truth? You need to make a decision whether you should come clean about how you feel, or move on.”

  “I know.” I open her car door to let her in.

  “You are a good guy, Bentley. You just do really stupid things to get her attention.”

  I head back inside the bar. Before I can process what just happened in the parking lot, Aly is saying goodnight to everyone, claiming she is tired.

  Kat walks up to me. “What was that about, Bentley? I know nothing is going on between you and Paige. If you were just trying to make Aly jealous, so help me, I will kick you in the nuts. There will be no children in your future, which would be a shame because you two will make beautiful babies.”

  I instinctively cover my junk with my hands. I have no doubt in my mind that she’ll do it. I still have another set to sing tonight, and if I don’t want to sing it an octave higher, I need to protect that shit. At the same time, I’m smiling at her baby comment.

  I go for a lie, truth combination. “Calm down Kat. I didn’t intentionally want to make Aly jealous. I asked Paige to comeas a friend. When I saw Mike and Aly together, I lost it. What you and Cal have, I want that with someone. You know I never want Aly to hurt.”

  She looks at me, trying to determine if she believes what I’ve said. I keep my eyes locked on hers until she relents. “You know, if I could, I would lock you two in a room together until you both wake up and see what is in front of you. You guys are driving me to drink.” She slaps her hand on the bar ordering herself a shot of some sort.

  Alyssa

  I SIT OUTSIDE HAVING my coffee like normal. Last night, I didn’t get to stay to watch Slither finish their set. Mike didn’t like the way Bentley was looking at me. He said every time Bentley sang, he was focused on me and that he was staring Mike down at the same time. Rather than having Mike claim it was my fault and accuse me of cheating on him, I said I was ready to go home. When we got back to my apartment, he took advantage of drinking for free. Once again, he passed out in my bed. I sat up watching some mindless television until I got tired and fell asleep on the sofa.

  Bentley walks down the stairs, sitting next to me. Automatically, I go inside and grab him a coffee and white chocolate and cranberry scones that I baked during commercials last night.

  “Thanks, Angel.”

  He needs to stop calling me that. I’m not an angel, I’m a horrible girlfriend. Mike had it backwards. Last night, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Bentley while he was singing, even with Mike right next to me.

  “How did the rest of the show go last night?”

  “Fine, but we missed you after you left.”

  “Yeah, I got pre
tty tired. You guys sounded great though. Are things okay with you and Paige? I saw she left pretty early.” I shouldn’t ask, but I am curious. “You looked cozy and then, all of a sudden, I saw her head out the door.”

  “She didn’t like my friends with benefits comment. Since we are just friends, with no additional benefits. Aly, there was never anything between Paige and me. Not even a kiss. I just let you believe there was more between us.”

  I see him hold a breath after he confesses this to me.

  Relief floods through me. Curiosity gets the better of me. I put my hand on his leg. “Why did you want me to think that you were a couple? You could have told me the truth.”

  Just as he is about to answer, Mike comes out the door, looking less than happy. I pull my hand off of Bentley, lacing it with my other in almost like a praying position, because I am hoping Mike isn’t about to go off on me.

  “Well, isn’t this cozy? Look at the two of you, just like a couple. Having coffee, touching each other. And what the fuck are you wearing, Al? You always this naked in front of your landlord?”

  I look at my running shorts and t-shirt. It’s Bentley’s Butter My Bread t-shirt.

  “I’m not naked, Mike. I’m wearing a shirt and shorts like I always do to bed.” I look down at my coffee cup. I can’t look at either of their faces. Once again, I’m embarrassed at the way Mike is yelling at me. It’s worse this time because it’s in front of Bentley. I see Bentley’s eyes change. The cup he is drinking from gets slammed down on the nearby table. His hands are opening and closing at a fast pace.

  “It’s not your shirt though, is it? It’s his. And you don’t even bother putting on a bra? You show your body off to everyone like this? What, after you didn’t get any last night, you go looking somewhere else? No wonder why I can’t get it up with you. You look like a slut.” With each word, he takes a step closer. I feel wetness on my face and I’m not sure if it’s my tears or his saliva as he spits the words at me.