by Hart, Rye
“I’m going to kill that asshole. He knows how much I worry, and he plays these games all the time.” She let out a long breath. “Did you see Daren? He’s obviously not interested in me anymore, but on a positive note, there’s Billy over there, and he’s more than willing.” She gestured to a rough-looking guy who seemed as if he was ready to beat someone’s ass.
“Yikes. He’s scary.”
“Tell me about it. Why can’t I meet a nice man like you did? You two seem so happy tonight.”
“Well, that’s because we told each other those three magic words for the first time before driving out.” She squealed so loud that looked over to Tate to see if he heard it, but he was sipping his beer and looking around the room. Now and then he’d peek my way.
“That’s so sweet! I’m sooooo happy for you!” She gave me a hug.
“We also talked about something else. He wants me to move in with him. I’m a little hesitant, because of what happened before, but I was hoping that Aunt Helen would keep the apartment open in case it doesn’t work out. At least for a few months.”
“That sounds like a solid plan. I mean, it can’t hurt. Talk to her, and I’m sure she will. She mentioned not wanting anyone else that wasn’t like family living under our roof, so she doesn’t want strangers for tenants.”
That was good news.
“I hope I don’t need it. I’m spending the night with him again, and we’re going to talk out the details. I’ll hit you and Aunt Hel up about it together as soon as I know when.”
“See, now I’m really jealous. I wish just once, one of these assholes would change. But that’s not the way it works, is it?” She took a calming breath and gave me a tight hug. “I better get backstage.”
“I better get back to Tate before he meets another waitress.” We shared a laugh, and I hurried back to my man.
I joined Tate at the table and finished my beer, Tate moved his chair closer to mine and ordered us a pitcher.
We enjoyed the show when Live Wired took the stage. The music was loud, and Rain sang her heart out, even dedicating one of the slower ballads to me and Tate. Devin had rolled his eyes but played well, and the rest of the band were great as usual.
Once I knew the set was winding down, I leaned in and kissed Tate on the cheek. “I’m ready to go back to your place now.”
He brushed my hair back. “Anything you want, lead the way.” He got off his stool and took my hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY – TATE
We left the club and were all over each other on the way to the jeep. I’d expected her to want to mess around a little on the way, but when we stopped at the convenience store for gas, she came across and straddled my lap.
“Fuck, baby. You’re going to get us arrested.” I had laughed, and she kissed me hard and reluctantly went back to her seat, trying her best to control the need that she’d told me grew inside of her by the minute.
After I pumped gas and paid, I got in and saw that she was panting and scissoring her legs. I reached across and pushed her skirt up a tad and drew my hand in between her thighs. “Let me ease you a bit.” I stroked her tender bud, and she ground against me. Then she spread her legs wider, and I slipped two fingers inside of her and stroked her channel, building a steady pace.
I couldn’t wait to get her home and into my bed, so I could do things to her that you only read about in romance novels. Unfortunately, my boner took a big hit when I pulled into my driveway and found my father on my front porch.
Fuck . This was not in my plans for the night.
“Um, is that your dad?” she asked.
I blew out a breath. “Yeah. I guess ignoring his phone calls didn’t give him the message to leave me alone.”
Kami straightened herself up and checked her face in the mirror, making sure she didn’t look like we’d been fooling around. I got out of the car and went around to her door, opening it for her and helping her down.
My father stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets, staring down at me with his usual look of disapproval. “Tate,” he said by way of greeting.
“Dad,” I replied.
I saw his eyes flick to Kami as he looked her up and down. I moved slightly in front of her, as if trying to shield her from his appraising gaze. He looked back to me and gave a small shake of his head.
“I thought since you haven’t been answering my calls, I should come and make sure you hadn’t partied yourself to death,” he said.
“You know Megan’s been staying here. She’d have let you know if anything was up,” I said, annoyed.
“Yes, well…” he trailed off. “And who is this lovely young woman you’re hiding behind you?”
I felt Kami step out to my side and I put a protective arm around her. “This is Kami,” I told him. “My girlfriend.”
He looked her up and down again and gave a curt nod. “Tick tock, son. Time’s almost up if you want your grandmother’s money.” With that he stepped off the porch and walked to his car parked at the curb.
My teeth hurt, I was clenching them so hard, and I only exhaled when Kami placed a hand on my arm.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just my father being his usual charming self.”
I took her hand and led her up the steps and into the house, determined not to let my father ruin my night. “Now, where were we?”
***
Waking up to her in my arms had been everything, and as I glanced down at her, I gave her a kiss on the ear. She stirred beside me, and her eyes fluttered open. “Good morning, Tate.”
“Good morning, baby. Did you sleep well?” She wasted no time climbing on top of me and laying against my chest as her slit straddled my shaft, which lay against my stomach.
“I did, but I wanted you all night. I even dreamed of us. We were both naked and laid out in the street in front of a crowd.”
I stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. “Did you like it? All those people watching?”
“I didn’t care; I was with you, and I knew it was a dream.” The crowd from the night before must have influenced her dreams. I felt my cock stiffen beneath her and she ground herself against me.
“You’ve got me stirred up.”
“Then make love to me.” She lifted her head and kissed me with no reservations. I rolled her over and ravished her breasts before finding my way down between her thighs.
She moaned out my name as I nudged her legs apart and darted my tongue into her tight hole. She was soaking wet for me already; it must have been a good dream. I growled and feasted until she lost control and writhed beneath me as her pleasure spilled and I drank it down like a parched man in the desert.
I came up and met her eyes. She was my girl, and I couldn’t wait until she moved in and I got to be with her every day. I leaned over her and centered myself against her and she reached up for me to pull me closer, her need apparent in her eyes.
She was relaxed and purring like a kitten, and that’s just the way I liked her, and this would be the second time we fucked without protection. It was such a damn turn on to feel her so completely.
“Fuck, you feel so good, baby. When we’re done, let’s go get your things and move you in. I don’t want to spend another day here without you.”
“You mean it? So soon?”
“Yes, today. Why should we wait? I think Helen and Rain will be OK with it, and it’s not like you don’t already spend the night. You can bring anything you want.” I ground my hips into her and stared deep into her eyes. “Tell me yes, Kami. Tell me you want to today.”
She giggled. “Of course. I want to immediately. But what about Megan? I hate to impose on her before she has a fair chance to figure out what she wants to do.”
“She’ll be fine. I’ll take you home to get your things.” She threw her arms around my neck as I bent over and kissed her.
“OK, but fuck me first. I want to come again.” She rolled her hips, and I quickened my pace.
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“Hold on, baby.” I thrust my hips hard into her and rocked her pleasure, her orgasm taking over and causing her to moan so loudly, I was afraid my sister had heard it. I was certain she was home, and I put my hand over Kami’s mouth, and we both laughed as she trembled through the last waves of her orgasm.
“It’s so good, Tate, I don’t ever want it to stop.” She pulled me down as she came, gripping my cock with her tight walls.
I worked her through her pleasure, and soon it became too much to hold back. I thrust one last time, hard and deep and my cock exploded inside her depths.
I collapsed against her, kissing her neck. We laid a while, and I finally got up to go throw away the condom. While I was in the bathroom, I went ahead and brushed my teeth and started the shower.
I stuck my head out to tell her to join me but found her still as a statue sitting on the side of my bed. I looked down to see what she was so fixated on and noticed my phone, which soon let out another ping.
My blood turned cold. I knew she had the wrong idea, and I also knew I had waited too long to tell her the truth.
“Is that my phone?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“I wanted to know the time. My battery was dead, and your alarm clock is blinking.” I looked over at the display and saw that the clock hadn’t been reset from a week ago when the power blinked. I didn’t exactly use an alarm for work anymore. “I’m sorry. It seems you have a few new messages.” She dropped the phone and got up looking for her clothes.
“I was going to delete the account, I swear. I just forgot.”
“That’s why you had to turn off your phone, isn’t it? Because otherwise, it would have gone off all night.”
“I’m sorry. I swear to you, I haven’t been talking to anyone. I’ll delete the account right now.” I logged on my computer and hoped I’d avoid her leaving me. I went to the account and hit the settings and deleted the access. “Look, see. It’s gone. Please, I swear I haven’t been talking to anyone.” I knew I had, though. I had sent out hundreds of messages, and even though I had only done so for Hazen, my face and name were still attached to them. I needed to tell her, but I wanted to talk to Hazen first. If I had his green light, it wouldn’t be breaking the terms of my agreement. She would be pissed, but at least she would understand.
“I thought we’d done that, already. When I did mine, you should have done yours.” The disappointment in her voice had me feeling like a piece of shit.
“I know, baby, I just forgot, and I should have. Forgive me?”
“That’s what Devin would say when he’d get caught here and there. I forgave him, time and time again. Then eventually I caught him cheating. I’m not going to do that again. Not ever.” She put her clothes on and tried to push past me in the doorway to my room.
“Kami wait, don’t go. I’m nothing like that asshole. You know me,” I begged.
She looked up at me with such pain and anger in her eyes that it nearly took my breath away.
“Do I? Do I know you? You hardly ever talk to me about your past, or how you miraculously have some much money. And now I know that you never deleted your account like you said you did. So tell me, Tate, how well do I really know you? Apparently, I only know the parts of you that you want me to see. I thought you were different,” she said, her voice hitching and breaking my heart.
“I’m so sorry, Kami. I’m sorry I lied, please just don’t go. Let’s talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about Tate. My phone is dead, so can I please use yours to call Rain to come get me?” she asked.
“Please, just let me explain everything,” I tried again.
“Explain what exactly? Maybe you could start with your father’s ‘tick-tock’ comment last night, and why the hell he was looking at me when he said it,” she challenged.
“It’s complicated,” I said, lamely.
“No, Tate. The truth is never complicated,” she shook her head vehemently. “Please call Rain.”
My grip on my phone tightened. “No, I won’t. I’m asking you to stay here with me and we can work this out.” I knew I was practically begging, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t lose her.
“Either you call Rain, or I start walking and I’ll hitchhike a damn ride if I have to,” she said, her voice harsh now.
“I’m not letting you leave,” I said, hoping to be able to talk some sense into her.
True to her word, Kami pushed past me, grabbed her shoes and purse and headed out the front door. I ran after her, nothing but a towel wrapped around my waist.
“You try and follow me and I’ll scream bloody murder,” she warned.
I looked down at myself half naked on the porch and sighed. “Wait,” I called out. “I’ll call Rain.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – KAMI
Mondays were the worst days to pull double shifts since they were always slow, but at least I had my phone with me to keep me company and my boss didn’t mind if I texted my friends when I wasn’t serving up the Loving Cup’s finest brews.
Tate had messaged me at least fifty times since yesterday. He’d apologized at least twenty times and told me that it wasn’t what it looked like. I’d had to laugh at that one. Wasn’t that what they all said when they got caught?
The thing was, was that I truly thought Tate was different. I thought I knew him better than I obviously did. Could he really have faked all that? He’d told me he loved me and invited me to move into his home with him and his sister. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation. Or did I just want to believe that I hadn’t been fooled again?
Before I could answer that question, Rain walked in with a grim look on her face.
When she’d come to pick me up at Tate’s yesterday, I’d told her I didn’t want to talk about it. I said we’d had a fight and left it at that. She knew not to push me and figured it had just been some petty snit that we’d get over.
“What’s wrong?” I closed the space between us, knowing the girl well enough to tell that whatever it was she’d come in to tell me, was not good news.
She gave me a look like she didn’t know what to say, and I was left to guess for a few more intense moments. “Tell me, Rain. Is it Aunt Helen? My parents? Did someone die?” The look on her face was so unreadable, yet so frightening that I could only imagine the worst.
“No, no one is dead. Though you might wish they were.” She took a deep breath and sat at the nearest table. “I don’t know how to say this, but I guess I could start by asking how well you know Tate.”
“Wait, what? What do you mean, how well do I know Tate?”
“Did you know he’s like really wealthy?”
I shook my head. She’d been talking to Devin again. “I guess so. Big deal.”
“You make it sound like it’s a welfare check, Kam. But I’m telling you, he’s like filthy rich, and has quite a playboy reputation.”
That one hit home. I thought about the messages on his phone again and started to feel increasingly nauseated. She looked down to her phone and then after keying with her thumb, she turned the thing around and let me see a few images that had popped up. Pictures of Tate dressed up for parties, draped with women, everything plush and gilded around him. One of the images I clicked on, showed him with a sports car and the title of the article read Young Millions .
“So he has millions. Who cares?” I asked.
“That’s not all I have to tell you,” Rain said.
“Oh, this should be good,” I said.
“Listen, Kam, he’s been whoring around the Matched Solid site the whole time you’ve been together.”
I sighed. “I know.”
“Wait, what? You know? Is that why he called me to come get you yesterday?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah. I grabbed his phone to check the time and saw a bunch of notifications. I don’t know, Rain. He swore to me that there was an explanation, that it wasn’t what it looked like. He’s been texting me nonstop, trying to get me to talk to him.”
My blood turned to ice-water and my face burned.
“What kind of message?”
“She forwarded it to me, in screen shots, so you can see for yourself, Kam. It’s him, and he seemed pretty interested.” I took the phone and held my breath as I read his brief, but damning message. Hello, Beautiful. It was the first thing he said to me. And sure enough, that was followed by, hope we can chat . He’d baited me like all the others. But why spend so much time with me? Perhaps I was a hell of a lot easier, or gullible. My nausea increased.
There was one last screen shot of Samantha telling him how hot he was and his response was “Likewise.”
“When did she say this happened?”
Rain took her phone and held my hand. “She told me last week she was talking to this amazing guy. She said he was extremely gorgeous and she’d show me his picture at lunch. You can imagine I almost fell over when I saw it was Tate. She said he was well sought after. There’s a forum, and some of the women had been battling for his attention. She figured he finally settled on one.”
“This has been going on the entire time I’ve been with him.” I pulled away and put my hands over my face as tears came to my eyes.
“I’m going to beat his ass; I swear it, Kam!” She was livid, and I knew it was only because of my tears.
Suddenly, I felt the contents of my stomach rise into my throat and I barely made it to the bathroom before I vomited everything I’d eaten that morning. Once I emptied my belly, I splashed cold water on my face and went to tell my boss that I needed to go home. Since I had never once called in sick in my two years, he didn’t hassle me at all.
“I’m so sorry, Kam.”
Rain offered to drive me home. Even though I’d thrown up, I still didn’t feel right. I accepted and we rode the short distance in silence.
I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to the cool glass of the passenger window. I couldn’t believe how stupid I’d been. I had put myself in exactly the same position that I’d been in with Devin. What an idiot I was.