by Alex Grayson
I’m just about to put her down and yank her damn shorts off, when I hear a horn blare. Both of our heads jerk toward the car coming around the corner.
“Shit,” she mutters, dropping her legs from my waist and pushing me back.
We’re both breathing heavily. Her head is lowered as she adjusts her shorts.
“What was that?” I ask, still surprised by the events.
It’s not often that someone shocks me, but this girl did. From her attitude before, I got the impression she wasn’t interested. I’m not one for giving up easily when I see something I want, but I’m tired and I’m ready to get home. I didn’t have any plans to pursue her. So, when she practically flung me against the car, she threw me for a loop. For about three seconds, anyway.
“It was a thank-you.” She looks up, and lingering desire has her pupils dilated. “I was a bitch to you, and it was the only way I knew to say thank you and have you believe me.”
I take a step toward her. “What if I want you to finish that thank-you?”
“I’d say you were shit out of luck. I don’t sleep with guys I don’t know.”
“No? You just kiss the ever-lovin’ hell out of them and grind your pussy against their dick?”
Her eyes narrow. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a simple kiss.”
“Honey, there’s no such thing as a simple kiss, especially coming from someone that looks like you.”
“Someone that looks like me? What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks. I can practically see the steam coming from her ears. It’s comical to watch this woman get irritated.
“Every man’s wet dream,” I supply. Satisfaction has my lips curling up when her eyes widen.
“Really, stud? Do you actually expect that to work on me?”
“Does it?”
“No.”
Her phone chimes, and she pulls it from her back pocket, looking at the display.
“I’ve got to go.” When she tries to pass me, I grab her arm.
“What’s your name?” I’m not sure why I need to know, it’s not like I’ll see her again, but for some reason, I do.
She doesn’t answer right away, just looks at my hand on her arm before looking back at me.
“Brandy.”
I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss the back of it, before pulling her pointer finger in my mouth.
“I’m Tegan. You’re really missing out by not finishing that thank-you, Brandy,” I tell her softly, letting her see the blatant heat in my eyes.
Her breath hitches and she licks her lips. Her eyes flicker with some emotion I’m not sure what to call, before she gently pulls her hand away from mine.
“I’m sure I am. Thank you for changing my tire.”
Without another word, she turns, climbs into her Jeep, and pulls away from me, leaving me in the dust, both literally and figuratively. I watch her until she disappears around the corner, wondering what in the fuck just happened.
Chapter Two
Willow
I watch Tegan in my rearview mirror, until I round the curve and the mountain blocks my view of him. My hands shake as I grip the steering wheel tightly. I blow out a breath and try to get my racing heart and overheated body under control.
What in the hell was that? I’ve never reacted to a man like that before. When he pulled up behind me, I was torn on what I should feel. Relief that help was there, and I wouldn’t have to wait for hours for the roadside service. Or fear because he was a stranger. I should have been scared. I didn’t know this guy at all. Just as he said, he could have been a rapist or killer. A young woman on the side of a road that has little to no traffic is a news report in the making. But it’s not like I had a choice. Luckily, he seemed to be a decent guy, even if he was a little bit cocky. Of course, looking at him, I’m sure he had women falling at his feet at any given moment. Dark blond hair, shorter on the sides and longer on the top, gorgeous blue eyes, and a body any woman would die to touch with even a fingertip. The sunglasses perched on top of his head only added to his appeal.
Even though he was helping me, I was a complete bitch to him, something I’m not normally. I apologized, but by then the damage was done, and he didn’t seem to believe me, or didn’t care. I can’t really blame him. He was, after all, taking time out of his day to change my tire, but damn it, I didn’t have time to fuck around on the side of the road. I needed to get where I was going and watch my back in the process.
After he rightfully snubbed my lame attempt at an apology, I did the only thing I could think of to show him I was grateful for his help. It was a mistake though. As soon as our lips touched, my body lit on fire. The feeling was foreign to me. I’m not new to sex—I’m twenty-six for fuck’s sake—and it’s not like I haven’t had an orgasm before, but I never get off from being with a guy unless I stimulate myself. I don’t know why; maybe it’s because I pick shitty lovers who only have their own pleasure in mind. But with him grinding against me, I was so damn close, and we were only going at it for less than two minutes and all he was doing was grinding his hardness against me and using his hand. I wanted to continue so badly, to finish what we were doing. I wanted that fucking orgasm—I deserved that fucking orgasm—but when that car came around the corner, it reminded me that I didn’t have time for self-gratification. It also brought to light that the situation and what Tegan was making my body feel scared the shit out of me.
I wasn’t lying when I told him I had to go, that I was meeting someone, but it was way more than that. Minnie could wait; she’s used to me being late. No, it wasn’t just meeting her that had me wanting to get the hell out of there. I didn’t know how to handle what my body was feeling. It’s stupid to think that. An orgasm is an orgasm is an orgasm, but for my body to respond as quickly as it did left me staggering. That’s why I gave him a fake name. I didn’t want to like what he was doing to me. Stimulation overload, that’s what it was.
As I speed down the road, I remember that I left the flat tire with Tegan. I could use that as an excuse to go back, but then I remember why I was in such a hurry to begin with, and I push down the urge to turn around and finish that thank-you. I have no doubt he was right. I know I’m missing out.
I shake myself from my thoughts of Tegan and concentrate on driving. The last thing I need right now is to get into a wreck because I’m not paying attention. I won’t see him again, so he’s not worth another thought, even if my body disagrees.
I knock on the door and turn to look behind me, making sure he’s not there. It’s crazy to be so paranoid. I’m almost a thousand miles away, and I don’t think he would follow me. Even if he wanted to, he has no means to come this far.
The door opening has me whipping back around, letting out a relieved sigh.
“Damn girl, it’s so good to see you! It’s been so long!” Minnie screeches, then throws her arms around my neck and brings me in for a hug.
She’s squeezing me so tight, my laugh comes out sounding choked. Even so, I wrap my arms around her and squeeze her just as hard. I’ve missed her so much. It’s been two years since she moved from Texas to follow her husband east. I’ve only seen her twice since then. Going from being joined at the hip to rarely seeing her, has been hard. When we were younger, if you saw one of us, then you saw the other two. It was like that from the time we were two years old. Coincidentally, we all share the same birthday; well, not so coincidental for Bryan and me, since we’re twins. We met Minnie on our second birthday when our parents had our parties at the same park. Luckily for us, our parents hit it off just as much as us kids and we all became fast friends.
Minnie pulls back, cups my cheeks, and looks deeply into my eyes. “Are you okay?”
I give her a nod and small smile. “Yes.”
“Did he follow you?” she asks, looking over my shoulder.
I pick up the bag I dropped on the stoop when she tackled me. “No. I don’t think so.”
She pushes the door the rest of the way open, and I follow her in
side. She closes and locks it behind us.
“Where’s Logan?” I look around. This is the first time I’ve been to their new place. Logan is the lead guitarist in a band called Deep Rush. Actually, that’s how he and Minnie met. Three years ago, Minnie won two VIP tickets to see them play. The tickets included a backstage pass to meet the band afterward. Although it had been a year, Minnie was still grieving over Bryan’s infidelity and the loss of him, but when she met Logan, sparks flew. That’s the only way to describe the look on Logan’s face when he first saw Minnie. She resisted at first. Logan was supposed to leave in the RV with his bandmates the next day to catch their next tour stop two days later, but he stayed behind to pursue Minnie. It took him every second of those two days to get her phone number. He left, barely making it to the concert in time. They talked every day, until two months later he was able to make a quick one-day trip back to see her. Nine months and several trips from him later, Minnie was packing her shit and moving to Atlanta. Six months after that, they were married and she was going on tour with him. It wasn’t until last year that Logan and the rest of the band decided to cut back on tours and work more on producing albums. Not only to appease Logan and Minnie’s need to settle down and start a family, but also because the rest of the band was ready to settle down in one town as well, after spending the last five years in an RV. They still do tours, but only two a year, and they’re a lot shorter.
“He’s still at the studio. He’ll be home in about an hour. Come on, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Minnie says, and walks to a set of double doors.
When I follow her, my eyes immediately find the bassinet sitting close to one of the windows. Everything else around me disappears as I walk over and peer inside. A big smile breaks across my face when I see the little bundle of pink blankets, with an adorable little face scrunched up in sleep poking out.
“She’s gorgeous, Minnie.” I say softly, reaching out and running the pad of one finger gently over her black hair.
“Thank you,” she replies lovingly. “Would you like to hold her?”
“Are you sure?” I look up to Minnie and see her watching her daughter. “I don’t want to wake her.”
She smiles over at me. “You won’t. She’s only four weeks old. She’s still sleeping most of the day, and she’s a hard sleeper.”
She bends and scoops up Luna. The smile on Minnie’s face as she looks at her makes my heart swell. If there were ever two people I thought would make perfect parents, it’s Minnie and Logan. She hums softly as she carries her over to the couch, patting the cushion beside her once she’s seated.
I take a seat and Minnie carefully puts Luna in my arms. Her fresh powdery scent hits my nose as I bundle her closer to my chest. She’s the most precious little thing I’ve ever seen. I hope to have a baby one day just as beautiful as her.
“Do you think Bryan will follow you?” Minnie asks, and I lift my head.
I think for a minute before answering. “I don’t think so, but he’s so unpredictable nowadays, I’m not sure.”
“You don’t think he’ll hurt you to get them, do you?” Her question comes out as a whisper, like it hurts her to ask it.
Pain lances straight through my chest. “No,” I tell her. It’s a lie. I can’t say whether or not he would hurt me, because I’m not sure of the answer. I won’t tell Minnie that though. She already hurts enough because of Bryan.
Our dad was a big watch collector and they were always supposed to go to Bryan when he died, but when Bryan changed, both my mom and I agreed that he shouldn’t get them yet. Not until he was well again and thinking properly.
Minnie looks contemplative for several seconds, before she nods. Bryan may be my twin, but Minnie knows him just as well as I do. Or at least she used to.
“I still can’t believe he didn’t go to your mom’s funeral.”
Pain stabs my chest. My mom died a little over a month ago from a heart attack, a week before Minnie had Luna. I had no one at home. Minnie was here and incapable of traveling and Bryan—well, Bryan never showed up. I called and left several messages for him about her being in the hospital and the doctor’s prognosis, but he didn’t return them. He knew she was sick. He freaking knew she was dying, but he still never called me back. That hurt worse than everything else he’s done.
“How bad is it?” Minnie asks as she caresses the top of Luna’s head.
Her question sends a shard of pain to my chest. Not only because of how much Bryan has changed, but also because I know Minnie partially blames herself for what he’s become.
I shake my head, forcing back the tears trying to spring from my eyes. I hate telling her this, but she has a right to know. “You wouldn’t recognize him. He’s not the Bryan we used to know.”
Minnie was Bryan’s best friend as well, but for over six years she thought he was the love of her life. I always knew they had feelings for each other, but both were too nervous to admit it. When we were sixteen, Bryan finally grew some balls and told Minnie how he felt. From that day until our senior year in college, everything was perfect between the two. Our senior year of college our father was murdered during a gas station robbery. Bryan, being extremely close with our dad, didn’t cope very well. He started hanging out with a crowd of guys who were known to do drugs. He didn’t break it off with Minnie, but he pushed her away, always coming up with excuse after excuse to avoid being with her. He claimed to not be doing drugs, but Minnie and I knew better. His eyes were glassy and dull more times than not, he lost weight, then his job because he stopped showing up, and he always seemed to be in a bad mood.
One day after work, Minnie was headed home to grab a work sheet she forgot for class; we all shared an apartment. She walked into the bedroom she and Bryan shared and found him doing a line off the chest of a naked girl, with his dick inside her. Of course, Minnie broke up with him, even after he begged her not to, promising it would never happen again. It took him months to realize she wasn’t taking him back. The pain you could see in Minnie’s eyes for a long time afterward would make anyone cringe and want to hug her. My twin brother broke my best friend, and although it was Minnie he cheated on, the betrayal hurt me as well. I would have never thought he was capable of doing such a thing. It just went to show how much he had changed.
Bryan got even worse after that. He moved out and on the rare occasions we saw him, he looked like a ghost of himself. He started doing bad things, like stealing, hurting people, breaking and entering. He even started stealing our mom’s antidepressant and pain pills. My mom was in her own world of pain, so to see her son act like that tore her to shreds. Things have only gotten worse since Minnie left.
She feels guilty because she thinks her ending things with him tipped him over the edge. While that may be true, it’s still not her fault. None of this is her doing. He made the choice to go down this path.
“I’m so sorry, Willow,” she whispers, confirming my thoughts on her feelings of guilt.
I tuck Luna closer to my chest with one arm and grab her hand with my free one.
“This is in no way your fault.” I squeeze her hand. We’ve had this conversation before, and I keep hoping she’ll believe me one of these days. “He did this himself, Minnie. He chose to go down this path instead of coming to us for support, even before you broke up with him. I have no doubt he would have still gone down it if you hadn’t. Please, you’ve got to stop blaming yourself.”
She looks down at our hands, but I can see the tears glistening in her eyes. I fucking hate this. Bryan is my brother, and I love him, but I hate him too. He broke my best friend’s heart and she’s obviously still hurting over it. Don’t get me wrong, Minnie loves Logan with her whole heart, but Bryan will always be her first love and will forever have a piece of her.
“I just hate knowing he’s become this. He used to be the best guy I knew.”
I give her a sad smile. “He was the best boy I knew too, and maybe one day he can be again, but he has to want to change. Un
til then, there’s nothing either of us can do. That’s part of the reason I left. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t keep watching him sink further into a deep hole.”
I look down and see a pair of curious beautiful blue eyes watching me. I smile at Luna, letting her innocence wash away the pain my brother’s caused.
The reason behind me moving here may suck, but I’m still glad I did nonetheless. Minnie and I may not be related by blood, but we’re as close as any two people could be. The thought of being part of her life again and watching Luna grow up makes me incredible happy. Being happy isn’t something I’ve been since my dad died, Bryan’s change, and Minnie left Texas. It’s something I’m really looking forward to.
Chapter Three
Tegan
I step out of my truck, locking the door behind me. Tipping my head back, I look up at the sky and watch dark clouds rapidly make their way overhead. Lightning strikes in the distance, but the storm is still too far away to hear the rumble of thunder. The meteorologist said we were supposed to have clear skies today. Dumb fucks don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about half the time.
I walk toward Suzie’s, a small hole-in-the-wall place my friends and I frequent often, pocketing my keys along the way. A bell jingles when I open the door, but I’ve been here so many times that I hardly notice it. I’m flipping my sunglasses to sit on the top of my head when I spot Ava at our usual booth. I’m running late, so I’m surprised Nathan and Abby aren’t here yet. I take a seat across from her.
“Nathan and Abby not coming?” I flip over my cup and pour myself some coffee from the pot I know Ava ordered for me. It’s six in the evening, but I’m a caffeine junkie and can drink it all day, every day.
Ava sets her phone face down—she’s always fiddling with the damn thing—before answering.
“Abby’s not. Colt’s meeting ran late and she’s at home waiting on him. She knew we would be here for a while, so… you know.” She finishes with a shrug.