“So, we just wanted to introduce you to Amanda’s friend. She’s here for the wedding,” They could hear Rocky speaking loudly as he approached.
Amanda’s hand gripped Elizabeth’s tightly in support.
“Hey there,” the deep voice sent chills through Elizabeth’s bloodstream.
It was a voice that she had promised herself she would never be affected by again. But here she was and the heat blossomed in her belly, reminding her of just how long it had been since she had gotten laid. She dug her nails into her palms and gritted her teeth against the desire.
“Slate? What are you doing?” Amanda giggled, looking over her shoulder.
Elizabeth felt a large firm hand cup her ass, and she smoothly slid out of reach as she turned around. Slate’s dark eyes squinted at her face. His gaze slid down the rest of her body and back up to her eyes. His short black hair was combed straight over his head, and the scar through his eyebrow had slightly faded with time.
“Fuck me,” he exhaled as the recognition rushed over him.
“I’ll pass, big boy.” Elizabeth spun back around to the bartender and whirled her hair in the air perfectly.
The chubby girl she used to be still lived inside her, and that girl just jumped up and down in glee at the look she caught on Slate’s face before she blew him off.
“I think this reunion deserves some celebration,” Rocky offered as he beckoned to the bartender.
The bartender poured four shots of Makers Mark and the group tossed them back with practiced ease. The familiar burn sparked and soothed Elizabeth’s nerves at the same time.
After the third group shot, Amanda grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the dance floor. Soon the pair had every male eye in the room watching them as they wriggled and swayed against each other.
“Fucker,” Slate swore at Rocky.
Rocky just grinned at him. “C’mon dude, Amanda wanted me to do it.”
“That was a fucking asshole move,” Slate continued to gripe.
“But was it worth it?” Rocky kept grinning.
“Oh fuck yeah, did you see her?”
Elizabeth was whirling with Amanda on the dance floor, her curtain of gold hair swinging and flowing behind her.
“Tread easy brother. I don’t want to have to kick your ass in front of everyone.” Rocky was only half teasing, as he stared intently at his old friend.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Slate pushed himself off the bar, and slowly threaded his way through the crowd.
Elizabeth was facing away from Amanda, shaking her booty with abandon. With a gentle nudge on Amanda’s lower back, Slate eased Amanda out of the way and lightly rested his fingertips on Elizabeth’s hips.
She gasped, instantly aware of the changing of the guard. When the fingertips became large palms and slid downward, she knew whose hands they were. She knew those hands intimately and they knew her.
The heat bloomed into hot fire inside her belly and she cursed herself for feeling that way again. He had driven her crazy for years back in the day, and then for several years after that while she tried to get over him. They had been a hot and heavy item, and he had taught her things she never could have imagined.
As his hands explored her new body, she remembered exactly what they were capable of. But when he pulled her ass against his crotch, she suddenly realized that just as she was no longer that chubby girl in desperate need of attention, he was no longer the teenage boy eager to provide it.
Nestled between the smooth curves of her jean-clad ass was the thick cock of a grown man. And as Slate slid one hand forward to span her trim stomach, she realized he might have learned a trick or two himself. And her body was already craving his touch.
Dammit, she cursed to herself inside her head, why does he still have this effect on me?
The fingertips of his other hand lightly brushed the nape of her neck, tickling the delicate skin as he swept her hair out of the way. His lips were warm and soft on her skin and she could not stop the eruption of goose-bumps down her bare arms.
“Hi there,” he whispered in her ear.
His gravelly voice still made her shiver, and she hated herself for reacting to him so quickly. Her breath caught in her throat and she gasped as his teeth lightly closed on her earlobe. With a start, she ripped herself out of the feeling and fled out the front door. Rocky and Amanda were hot on her heels, followed closely by a very surprised Slate.
Chapter 5
“Get me out of here,” she hollered at Amanda as they fluidly jumped onto Amanda’s motorcycle.
Rocky slowed his run to make sure they made a clean getaway and Slate ran smack into him as he barreled through the door of the club.
“Outta my way, asshole!” Slate ran his hand over his dark hair in frustration as Amanda roared away on her bike with Elizabeth clinging to her waist.
“Slow down, man, ease up.” Rocky tried to calm Slate.
With a little bit of fancy footwork, Rocky managed to stay between Slate and his own bike so that the girls had a chance to get home safely. He was not sure what had gone down, but he was damned if one of his biker brothers was going to chase down his fiancée and their best friend.
Slate kept trying to dodge around him, but Rocky was just a little quicker.
“Man! What the fuck?” Slate was getting angrier and angrier.
“She obviously doesn’t want to be around you.” Rocky stayed cool and calm.
“Why the fuck is she here? Why the fuck did you bring her here?”
“To see the look on your face, asshole.” Rocky laughed.
Slate took a drunken swing, and Rocky easily dodged it but landed one of his own.
“Dude, you are not going to hit me because your ex-girlfriend can’t stand your ass.” Rocky was starting to get irritated.
“I just need to talk to her,” Slate protested.
“When she’s ready.” Rocky stood firm in protecting Elizabeth.
“Asshole, just because you fucked her doesn’t give you the right.” Slate attempted another swing at Rocky.
Rocky grabbed his fist this time, and gripped it tightly.
“I did no such thing,” he said firmly.
“Yeah, you did. Right before she left town, asshole,” Slate continued despite the warning in Rocky’s tone.
“I may have had sex with her, but I never fucked her.”
Rocky released Slate’s fist and spun towards his bike to head home. Slate made a dash for his own bike and fumbled in his pocket for his keys. As Rocky fired up his bike and aimed it for the street, he tossed Slate’s keys into the gravel of the parking lot. The last thing he saw was Slate diving for them and digging them out of the dirt.
With his pedal to the metal, Rocky raced home to check on the girls. Amanda opened the door with a distressed look on her face.
“What, baby?” Rocky shut and dead-bolted the door behind him.
“Elizabeth is not happy with us,” she sighed.
“Well, Slate is right behind me so you go handle that half and I’ll keep him out of the apartment.”
Amanda nodded and disappeared into the second bedroom. Elizabeth looked up from the bed when Amanda entered, her eyes filled with tears.
“Lizzy, c’mon, talk to me, what happened?”
“Nothing really happened. I just, I can’t go down that road again.”
“What did he say? What did he do?”
“He didn’t really say or do anything. I just, I know how he made me feel back then and I know how long it took me to get over him. And when I felt it again tonight, I just couldn’t handle it.”
Amanda lay down beside her and stroked her hair gently. Elizabeth turned towards her and rested her cheek on Amanda’s outstretched legs.
“God, he’s still hot as hell,” Elizabeth whispered to no one.
Amanda chuckled, “Yeah, he is. Maybe if he had put on like fifty pounds and was covered in warts and ear hair, you’d be better off.”
Elizabeth laughed, “Probably.�
�
“But damn girl, you should have seen him watching you dance.”
“Really?” Elizabeth was still not accustomed to the fact that men watched her now.
“Oh hells yeah. He was practically drooling while you were dancing with me. I kept an eye on him.”
Elizabeth looked up and grinned, “I don’t want to be the only one suffering.”
They both jumped when the loud banging on the door thundered through the apartment.
“Rocky will handle it,” Amanda soothed her.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed but still kept her eye on the bedroom door.
“What if he wants to talk to you?”
“He will have to do it in front of you and Rocky,” Elizabeth stated firmly.
“I’m good with that. The four of us used to not have any secrets,” Amanda said wistfully.
“I think that ended the night of graduation,” Elizabeth giggled.
Amanda squeezed Elizabeth’s shoulder, “That was quite a night, the three of us.”
“It was wonderful, but not for me. And Slate didn’t know about it until much later. I never did tell him the rest of the story, you know.”
Amanda cradled Elizabeth’s head, “I know, he never heard it from us either. Rocky understood, I promise.”
“You are lucky with him, and I love you both,” Elizabeth sat up to hug her friend tightly.
“We love you too, and the three of us are special. Slate is different though…”
“Well, he was an asshole. Breaking up with me the night of prom so that I had to go with the two of you. That was an asshole thing to do.” Elizabeth was getting fired up at the memory.
“Do we know why?” Amanda was still curious after all these years.
“Probably found someone skinnier and sexier,” Elizabeth twisted her lips angrily, remembering how chubby she had been in high school.
There was a hesitant knock at the bedroom door and Amanda went to answer it. Elizabeth could hear her whispering with Rocky and then Amanda turned back towards her.
“Well? He wants to talk to you.”
“Who? Rocky?”
“No, doofus, Slate.”
“Oh. Well, will you be here?”
Amanda nodded.
Elizabeth ran her hands through her hair and used her fingers to dab at her smeared eye makeup.
“Do I look okay?”
Rocky and Amanda grinned, “You’ll kill ‘em baby.”
Elizabeth took a deep breath and strode out into the living room with her head held high.
Chapter 6
Slate was slouched on the couch but his eyes lit up when Elizabeth entered the room. He looked less than thrilled that she brought her entourage, but he was in no position to split hairs.
“Yes?” Elizabeth addressed him, remaining as cool and as calm as she could manage.
His brown eyes scanned her up and down, lingering on the swell of her breasts under the tight tank top as well as the curve of her hips under her snug jeans. He ran his hand through his black hair, ruffling it into a disheveled state that resembled the post-sex look she remembered. Her belly flip-flopped at the sensory memories but she maintained her cool exterior.
“Goddamn it,” he breathed, “you look fucking hot.”
She smirked down at him, “Your point?”
“Geezus, when did you become a bitch?”
“I guess at the exact moment when you ditched me and left me without a prom date.”
“You’re still mad about that?”
Elizabeth narrowed her deep blue eyes at him and popped one hip out to the side. With her long blonde hair flowing wildly and her white tank top stretched tightly over her generous breasts, she looked like a motorcycle magazine pin-up. And it was almost worth it when she saw his cock twitch inside his snug ripped jeans.
“I’d say I was madder about the fact I never heard from you again, and had to deal with the pregnancy myself.”
Slate sat bolt upright on the couch and stared at her.
“What the fuck did you just say?”
Elizabeth adjusted her stance so that she had both hands on her hips, “That I had to deal with the pregnancy by myself. Well, luckily I had these two on my side.”
She jerked her thumb towards Rocky and Amanda, and that was when Slate flung himself up off the couch.
With his face just inches from hers, he growled, “How do I know it wasn’t his kid?”
“Because I was already knocked up when I slept with him. Asshole. And you were the only one I ever fucked before that.”
The use of the work fuck dug under his skin just like she knew it would. He had always told her that he never fucked her -- they had sex and made love, but never fucked.
His dark eyes glittered like glowing coals and without another word, he snaked both arms around her waist and kissed her hard. Elizabeth heard Rocky’s body tense up behind her, but her own traitorous body surrendered to the tongue that plundered her mouth. Rocky took a step back when Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Slate’s neck, and just like that, she was Lizzy again.
Lizzy moaned softly as the familiar scents and tastes and touches flooded her body, and Slate’s big hands spanned her lower back easily now.
When he finally broke away, he could barely catch his breath, “Goddamn but you’re hot.”
Lizzy chuckled, “I always was hot for you.”
Mandy giggled behind her, “You two are just fire and gasoline, aren’t you?”
“We’ve got some catching up to do,” he tossed Lizzy the jacket and helmet that she had forgotten at the bar.
Lizzy threw them both on quickly and strolled out of the apartment with Slate’s hand wrapped around hers. When Slate’s restored Harley rumbled to life between her thighs, she sighed happily. It was like coming home after a long deployment.
They raced through the dark streets, his accomplished riding taking the curves at dangerous angles with the wind whipping her hair around. They finally came to a stop at a bluff outside of town, and her heart grew a little heavier when she realized where they were.
“I know, bad choice, hmm? I just know it’s a great spot,” Slate apologized as they dismounted.
“Really? After all that, you would bring me to the spot where you ditched me?”
Slate’s hair blew in the wind and her eyes took in the sight of him, illuminated by the headlight from his bike. His dark hair was still shaggy and wild while his chocolate eyes threw dark sparks at her. The strong jaw had not softened with time, and his body only seemed better defined. He had always been well built, but now it seemed that every single muscle stood out in sharp definition. The black tee shirt hung close to his body and the ripped jeans still hugged his strong legs.
“I still can’t fucking believe you’re here though,” Slate exhaled sharply.
“Me neither,” Lizzy ran her fingers through her own hair, sending it whirling in the wind.
“Oh fuck,” Slate muttered as he seized her waist with his strong hands.
In a flurry of sexual craving, one of his hands closed on her full breast while the other gripped her ass tightly. Lizzy’s hand slid in opposite directions, one up his flat hard chest while the other gripped his swelling cock. His mouth claimed hers, and as his tongue danced inside her mouth, his teeth nipped at her lower lip.
“Slate, what…” her breath caught in her throat as they tumbled to the damp grass.
He landed with her on top of his lap, and her hips thrust against his cock through their clothing. Her back arched as he pushed his hips up into her and he swore again under his breath.
“Want to see what I’ve learned?” she grinned down at him with a devilish gleam.
He looked up at the stunning woman straddling his aching cock and his eyes widened in surprise and anticipation. She slid down his torso, rubbing his cock against the length of her body and then finally between her full breasts.
She covered his clothed cock with her mouth and exhaled hotly against his shaft while her
fingertips massaged his full balls.
“Oh fuck,” he breathed, his head lolling back onto the grass.
“I’m just getting warmed up,” she looked him square in the eyes as her fingers popped the button and slid his zipper down and out of the way.
Annabelle's Angst: NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY SUSPENSE ROMANCE Page 27