by SJD Peterson
“Us? I’m really sorry, I can’t go back in.” Charlie tried her best to keep the emotions from showing on her face and bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep the hurt and anger at her own stupidity from bubbling to the surface. She took a deep breath. “I already know your friend, and trust me when I say he won’t be happy to see me.”
Trevor tensed and Charlie took advantage of his disbelief to free herself from his grip and move back toward the open door of her car.
“You know Kegan?” he whispered.
Charlie just gave a slight nod then slid into the front seat, pulled the door shut and made sure she hit the lock this time. She didn’t want to deal with these feelings and certainly didn’t want to embarrass herself by admitting to this stranger that she wasn’t the kind of woman that Kegan wanted. Nor was she going to give him an opportunity to try to coerce her back into the bar.
She stole a glance back at Trevor, confused by his reaction to the news that she knew his friend. He stood rigid, repeatedly clenching his hands into fists. She couldn’t tell what emotions were most dominant in his dark eyes as he seemed to go from shock, to sadness, to anger and what could possibly be jealousy.
Charlie knew there wasn’t anything left to be said and turned the key in the ignition. She just wanted to escape before Kegan came out looking for his friend. The sound of the car roaring to life brought Trevor out of his trance and he whipped his head around in her direction. In one long stride, he leaned down to meet her face to face through the glass.
“Wait! I don’t want you to go! I’m not sure how you know Kegan, but please just come back inside. I want a chance to know you too.”
Charlie could see he was dealing with some kind of emotional turmoil and felt like she should say something to explain her history with Kegan. But since she had never really dealt with her feelings for Kegan, and each year that he hadn’t contacted her had made her more bitter, she knew she couldn’t explain it to Trevor.
Charlie rolled her window down and reached out to place a hand against his cheek. He leaned into her touch. Her throat was so dry she could barely swallow, and she had to clear it a couple of times before speaking. “I have to go. Your friend would not thank you for inviting me, and I can’t walk in there knowing what you proposed, what I was actually… Never mind, it doesn’t matter, just trust me on this. If I follow you back into that bar, your friend will be very disappointed.” Charlie leaned in closer and placed a soft, chaste kiss on Trevor’s cheek. “I’m sorry.”
She drew her hand away, put the car in gear then pulled out of the parking lot as the first tear rolled down her cheek.
Trevor stood and watched, helpless, as Charlie drove away.
He was torn between the need to chase after her and walk back in the bar to beat the shit out of Kegan. He couldn’t explain it, but he wanted Charlie more than any other woman before.
She was beautiful with an amazingly sexy body, but there was more to it than that. It was something in the way she had seemed surprised by his attraction to her, as if she had no idea just how desirable she was. There was an innocence to her that turned him on almost as much as the feel of her body against his.
He closed his eyes. His skin still tingled in all the places she had touched him while they’d danced, and his body still sought her soft touch. Trevor brought his hands to his face and inhaled deeply, breathed in Charlie’s sweet scent, and a need so strong racked his body it nearly knocked him to his knees. Behind his closed eyes, he saw her brilliant green eyes that had spoken so loudly to him the first time he’d spotted her, had drawn him to her. He suspected that she didn’t even realize her eyes revealed so much, but to him it was as if a beacon had called to him. Her loneliness screamed at him. He recognized it where most others might not and it called to the same loneliness deep in his own soul.
“I have to find her,” he mumbled.
Pain filled his chest and his heart squeezed as if in a vise as it dawned on him that Kegan would know where to find her. What the hell was their relationship and what had she meant that Kegan wouldn’t want her? Irrational jealousy overwhelmed him, and he couldn’t decide which hurt worse—knowing that Charlie and Kegan had once been acquainted or that Kegan had kept her a secret.
Kegan had been his best friend and business partner for the past five years. Trevor had never been closer to or cared more about another human being than he did for Kegan. They shared everything, and over the last few years that included women. It was never spoken aloud, but they had developed a committed relationship between the two of them. Trevor no longer took any woman without Kegan there, and until tonight, he would have sworn Kegan hadn’t either.
He felt betrayed.
Trevor stomped back toward the bar as jealousy goaded his anger. “Son of a bitch has some explaining to do.”
Trevor walked into Jack’s Place, his blood boiling to nuclear.
Kegan leaned against the bar, completely casual and comfortable, laughing while two blonde bimbos rubbed their hands up and down his body. His thick blond hair was tousled like someone, or someones, had been running their fingers through it, making his soft waves spike and stand out in disarray. Though his hands dangled casually on the side of the bar, his demeanor and the heated look in his eyes clearly encouraged the women’s exploration. He seemed right at home with the blatant sexual performance the three of them were performing for the bar crowd.
Instantly, Trevor was consumed by such raging anger, he literally saw red. He crossed the room, grabbed Kegan by the shirt, and slammed him back against the bar. “You no good rotten prick!” He shoved Kegan against the bar a second time before the man could react.
Kegan’s eyes grew wide with shock, and the two little blonde bunnies yelped and jumped back.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Kegan tried to remove the fists from his shirt, but Trevor had no intention of letting go and he slammed Kegan against the bar again.
“I can’t believe you.” He jerked his head in the women’s direction. “Were you planning on fucking these two behind my back too?”
“What the hell are you talking about? What the hell has gotten into you?”
“Don’t! Don’t even try your innocent bullshit on me. I just had the most amazing woman run from me like a scared colt because of something you did to her, and then I find you in here looking for your next conquest.” Trevor pulled at Kegan’s shirt again, intending to slam him into the bar once more, but Kegan reached out, ripped the hands from his shirt, and grabbed onto Trevor’s wrists.
The two little bar flies looked from Trevor to Kegan and back again, then scurried away.
Trevor heard one of them say, “Told you all the good ones were either married or gay.”
Any other time he would have snatched them back and proceeded to show them just what his preferences were, but right now, he gave no fucks what they thought.
“Trevor, I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you, but I suggest we take this outside. I don’t think Jack is gonna appreciate us upsetting his customers when we start bitch slapping each other.”
“Fuck you! You know what, it doesn’t matter what you do. I’m outta here. You’re on your own. Maybe one can watch over you while you fuck the other.” Trevor spun around, wrenched his wrists from Kegan’s grip, then stormed to the exit.
He punched open the door then kicked it closed behind him. He was so furious, his body trembled. He knew he was being unfair and should have let Kegan explain, especially after he’d seen the true confusion on his face. But he was still too pissed off about losing Charlie and how it felt to have Kegan rub it in his face by letting someone else stroke their hands all over him.
He leaned back against the brick wall, took long, deep breaths, and tried to get himself under control. He really felt like banging his fool head against the brick and knocking all the confusing images and thoughts out. As soon as he closed his eyes, images of Kegan’s powerful body wrapped around Charlie tormented him and he forced them op
en again.
Shit, shit, shit!
He couldn’t stand the thought of them together without him and his chest tightened further.
The bar door slammed open. Before Trevor could even blink, Kegan was standing directly in front of him, their noses nearly touching,
“Trev, you’ve got some explaining to do. What the hell’s gotten into you tonight?”
Trevor looked toward the night sky and refused to meet Kegan’s gaze. “Go away. I told you I’ve got nothing else to say to you.”
“Oh hell no you don’t! You don’t get to grab onto me, knock me around, insult me and accuse me of all kinds of shit, then tell me to go away.”
Trevor jerked his head to the side, and he pinned Kegan with a hard glare. “Fine! What did you do to Charlie?”
Kegan blinked slowly. “Who the fuck is Charlie?”
“Don’t play stupid with me, Kegan. I met the most incredible woman I’ve ever seen and got her to agree to meet with us, but the instant she laid eyes on you, she ran like she’d seen a ghost.” Trevor ran his hand over the back of his neck to ease some of the tension. “Ah hell, Kegan, what the fuck did you do?”
Kegan stepped away from Trevor to lean against the wall. “I’m telling you, I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. I can promise you, though, I have not fucked anyone without you. You know I can’t. I have only met one girl named…”
Kegan went rigid and took in a harsh breath. Every ounce of color had drained from Kegan’s face, and his fists clenched so tight, his knuckles were white.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Trev, describe Charlie,” he whispered so quietly Trevor nearly didn’t hear him.
“Hell, Kegan, you should have seen her.” Some of the anger drained from his body, only to be replaced by pure need as Trevor closed his eyes and started to describe Charlie.
“She has straight dark chestnut hair all the way down to the top of her ass. It’s like silk in my hands and smelled of honeysuckle.” Trevor’s body stirred and his arousal renewed as he remembered the feel and smell of Charlie.
“She was taller than most girls I’ve known, probably around five nine, hell, maybe even five ten. She had the tiniest waist. I swear I could have spanned it with one hand. Her breasts were perfect. Not too big and not too small, ya know what I mean? I’m telling you, she had the most sensual body I’ve ever seen or been lucky enough to touch.”
His cock pulsed, hardening at a painful angle, and he adjusted himself to get a little more room in his jeans. An image of Charlie as she rubbed her tight body against him flashed in his mind, and he had to stifle a moan.
A low raspy growl brought him back from his thoughts. “Trev, goddammit, describe her face.”
“Well… I don’t know how to describe her other than perfect. I mean she had this perfectly fuckable body and this sweet, innocent-looking face. The thing that blew me away most, though, was her eyes! Such a brilliant shade of green, they fucking took my breath away.” He reached up to touch the spot right below his right eye. “And she has a tiny little birthmark right here that looks almost like a tear.”
Kegan slumped against the wall and slid down, ass-planting on the ground. His breath left him in a rush, and he began to shake so hard, it scared the hell out of Trevor.
“What the hell?” Trevor knelt down next to Kegan. “Damn, you look like shit! You okay?”
Kegan slowly looked up at Trevor, his eyes wild, and took a couple of deep breaths before he responded. “Trev, remember when I told you about the one thing I’ve been missing from my life before I met you?”
Kegan dropped his forearms onto his bent knees and leaned his forehead on them. “You just met her.”
Chapter Three
A tongue slid along her neck, leaving a warm, wet trail against her tingling skin. Large hands palmed her breasts roughly, calluses scraping across her hard nipples sparking a slight edge of pain. She writhed against the damp cotton sheets, unsure if she was trying to pull away or move closer to the agonizing pleasure. The low commanding voice at her neck made it difficult to concentrate on anything except the sensations racking her body and the insistent voice.
Rough fingers pulled hard at her nipples until she wanted to scream from the pain, only to have the sting soothed away with the lightest of touch, causing her to shudder.
“That’s it, baby. Shake for us. Show us how good we make you feel.”
The deep voice stirred memories, familiar, yet Charlie was awash in so many different sensations, she was having a difficult time placing it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had the sneaking suspicion she shouldn’t be here. Something big was happening, something she needed to control or perhaps stop, but with the overload of pleasurable stimulation, her brain was in a fog.
“Don’t think, just feel, Charlie. Shut off your mind and just let us make you fly.”
She wanted to obey the commanding voice, but the pain in her chest and the pesky voice in the back of her mind told her she should break away and run. Something bad was going to happen if she couldn’t escape. Her flight or fight responses were working overtime, her pulse racing, but as bad as she wanted to run, she was unable to pull her body away from the touch.
It was consuming her.
She was drowning in the sensations and simply didn’t have the strength, or perhaps the desire, to swim upward.
Warm, roughened fingertips ran up and down her inner thighs, the tingling touch wired directly to her swollen clit. She trembled, writhing, muscles tightening as her orgasm built.
“That’s it! I can feel how close you are. We’re going to bring you right to the peak, then keep you on the edge of that pleasure and not let you fall either way. We want to hear you beg to feel us sheathed to the hilt inside you! Hear you scream our names and then beg for more.”
That damn insistent voice kept pushing and commanded her body to obey while her mind fought to break free.
Electric jolts swirled around her. They were connected to the voice, and the hot breath and tongue at her neck, traveled down to those strong hands on her breasts, and down even farther to the fingertips as they inched their way closer to her sex, then looped back to that demanding voice and begin the circuit all over again.
Charlie raised her head and peered down at the shadowed figure that hovered over her lower body. His face was obscured by the larger silhouette that nuzzled her ear. As one man licked from one side of her collarbone to the other, she met the bright blue eyes of the figure seducing her lower half. As their gazes met, he pulled back as if he’d been burned and glared at her with disgust in his eyes.
Beep. Beep…
Charlie bolted upright in bed, unable to catch her breath, her heart racing. She scanned the area around her, unsure of where she was. Relief washed through her as her mind focused and she realized she was alone in her bed, the sheets wrapped around her midsection. Shit! It was only a dream.
Her body still hummed from the effects of the dream. She could still hear that deep, commanding voice buzzing in her ear, while her body was covered in a light sheen of perspiration. Her swollen sex throbbed painfully. Shame assaulted her as she remembered the look in Kegan’s eyes. She covered her face, as heated tears flowed.
For the last two weeks since she had run from Jack’s Place, erotic dreams of Trevor and Kegan had hijacked her sleep. Each night the dreams worked her body into a frenzy, then she awoke unfulfilled with the look of disgust in Kegan’s eyes seared into her brain.
For the most part, she’d kept busy during the day and was able to push the men out of her mind. She had gotten good at controlling her body and emotions, and refused to let painful memories take form in her mind. Yet in her dreams, she was at their mercy, defenses stripped and unable to protect her heart from the pain.
God, what I wouldn’t give for just one night of peaceful sleep.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, noted the time of six a.m. on the clock on the bedside table, and placed her feet on the
floor. The last few nights she had fought sleep, afraid to close her eyes, fearing the dream. Obviously she’d lost the battle with exhaustion sometime early this morning. The dream had found her just as she’d feared.
Charlie padded across the cold bare floor to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she winced at the clear signs of the effects the sleepless nights were having on her. Her eyes were red and swollen, and dark circles stood out in deep contrast against her pale skin.
“Damn them,” Charlie cursed as she spun away from the mirror to turn on the shower.
After stripping out of her nightshirt and panties, she pulled back the shower curtain then walked beneath the hot spray.
What a great impression I’m going to make on my first day at work. The animals will probably run in terror the way I look.
With a sigh, she lathered shampoo into her long hair and washed quickly, all the while trying to avoid lingering too long on her more sensitive areas. She refused to give in to the needs her dreams produced.
She was looking forward to getting out of the apartment and back to work. Hopefully by the end of the day she’d be too exhausted and the dreams would leave her in peace.
Though thoughts of Kegan had slipped past her best defenses from time to time over the years, since spotting him at the bar, they seemed to be doing it with increased frequency. Years ago, she’d accepted the bitterness she felt toward him and his broken promises and betrayal of her trust.
In fact, the bitterness had been what had helped heal her heart, or at least lessen the effects on it. After she’d realized he was never coming back, she had refused to feel anything for him except intense indignation. Yet since seeing that dimpled grin across the room, she couldn’t help but think of the Kegan she’d once known. That Kegan had been her hero and the one true friend she’d thought she could always depend on. The man she’d thought to spend the rest of her life with. She couldn’t help but mourn his loss.