Flagger

by Laramie Briscoe

  Those were all parts of the man no one could have prepared her for when she’d moved into this little apartment with him. They were all parts of him she’d come to admire, respect, and care about in a big way. Harper had known as soon as she said yes to moving in she would have to protect her heart, and she knew without a doubt if they continued the physical side of their relationship protecting herself would be even more of a priority.

  She waited, trying to decide if she wanted to be the one to make the move or to let him. The other time they had been together like this, she had been the aggressor, and tonight, it appeared maybe he wanted to be instead.

  Harper moaned as he plunged his fingers into her hair, bringing her mouth to his so that their lips almost touched. She stood on tip-toe, wanting to make their skin meet, but he gripped her skull and turned her around, making her face the wall. She didn’t know what he would do when he stepped up to her back crowding her against the hard surface. His other hand swung free as he tilted her head forward, resting her forehead against the wall. She could feel him come even closer to her back, and then she felt it—his lips on her neck.

  Her neck had never been an erogenous zone for her before, but her harsh intake of breath told them both how good this felt to her. Putting her hands up to the wall, she pushed back against him, wanting to get closer. She shivered when he followed the line of her shoulder to her ear with his tongue and let her head tilt to the side so that she could expose more of her neck to him.

  “Cash,” she moaned loudly when he captured the lobe of her ear in his teeth and pulled harshly.

  *

  Son of a bitch, she was hot. The way Harper gave herself over to him whenever he asked her to—no matter if it was sexually or not—turned him on like nothing else ever had. Grinding his dick into her ass, he ate at her neck like a starving man feasting on the sweetest fruit he’d ever tasted. With the hand at his side, he lifted it up and slid it underneath the thin shirt she wore, cupping her breast with his long fingers. She never wore a bra when it was just the two of them, and it made him hard constantly. Never wanting her to see, he played it off, acting like she didn’t affect him, but she did. In every single part of his life.

  Running his hand down her torso, he came to waistband of the sweatpants she wore and pushed them past her thighs, taking her underwear with them. He couldn’t wait to have her; it had been too long, and tension was built at his neck. Stress was an everyday thing for him now, and he needed some sort of relief. This was the best relief he’d ever taken part in.

  “If you don’t want this, you have to tell me right now,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled her off the wall.

  “I want this.” She reached down to the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head.

  “It’s not going to be sweet, Harper,” he warned.

  Nothing with him ever was; there was always an edge. One she wasn’t sure she’d be able to push through. There were times when it dropped, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to get past it. “I know.” She looked behind her¸ showing she trusted him no matter what.

  He pushed her face down against the edge of the bed and went to work on his belt and zipper. Once he was free, he fumbled at the bedside table, grabbing a condom he’d put there for this precise time. He had been hopeful, but he never wanted to pressure her. He gloved up quickly before pressing against her shoulder blades.

  They both groaned as he shoved himself home inside her body. He watched as Harper’s head fell forward and she gripped the comforter with her hands. He wondered briefly if he’d hurt her, but when she pressed back against him, he knew that she was all in.

  Cash gripped her hips roughly, pulling her onto his body, knowing he was being rough but not able to help himself. Fuck. He’d needed this for what felt like forever. He needed to know that he owned her, that she was in this with him. He needed to know he wasn’t alone.

  When she gripped his dick inside her body, he knew he wasn’t alone. He knew she was with him, and it was the only time he wasn’t questioning his whole life. Her moans were killing him, turning him on more than he’d ever been turn on in his life. He swelled inside her as she pushed back harder against him.

  “Feels so good, Cash,” she breathed out against the comforter, doing her best to muffle the harsh breaths and moans.

  The last thing they needed to do was wake up Remy.

  He was close and was just about to ask if she was too when he caught sight of her hand moving from the comforter, underneath her body. When he felt her fingers against his length, he knew she was touching herself, and that was it. He was gone. Layering his body over her back, he buried his face in her neck, sucking, biting, and licking as he rode out his orgasm. He groaned as he felt her tighten around him one last time.

  Long minutes later, after they had both cleaned up and gotten under the covers, he tucked her in next to him. Something he’d never done before.

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  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Natalie!” Harper yelled as she got out of her car the next morning. “Wait for me!”

  “Well, if it isn’t my best friend, who hasn’t called me back in three weeks,” Natalie teased.

  “Things have been crazy.” Harper was quick to defend herself. “I feel like shit, but I can’t even begin to tell you how crazy things have been. That’s why I wanted to stop you when I saw you. I don’t have class for another hour—why don’t you skip and we can have breakfast?”

  Harper glanced at her friend, seeing her mull the idea around in her head. “Sounds good. I hate the first class anyway, and I’ve been dying to find out what’s going on with you, but wanted to give you your space.”

  The two of them made their way to the commons area, grabbed coffee and something that loosely could be considered breakfast, before sitting down facing one another.

  “Spill.” Nat smacked her hand on the table. “I’m dying.”

  This was the part where it got messy. What exactly did she tell her friend? What exactly was going on between her and Cash? “Things have been crazy. I’ve been working my ass off both at work and taking side jobs to try and make ends meet. Cash is running the Trail more than ever, and I’m watching his little brother at night.”

  “You’re like a happy homemaker at nineteen,” Nat teased.

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” Harper shook her head. “Last week, I ruined a load of my shirts doing laundry—which I don’t have the money to replace—I royally messed up the time to pick up Remy, and I ruined dinner one night. It’s not been easy.”

  “You make it look easy. Anytime I see you with Cash, the two of you look cozy.”

  How did she tell her friend that the only thing that seemed to be going right was what she and Cash had in the bedroom? Not exactly the one thing she wanted to be going correctly. “Things are good between us between the sheets,” she finally admitted. “It’s like the more stressed we get, the better we are there.”

  “Sex is a great stress reliever.” Nat smirked.

  “It is,” Harper agreed. “But it’s hard to build any kind of relationship on it.”

  “Wait, what? You want a relationship with Cash Montgomery?”

  Until those words had left her mouth, she hadn’t been sure. If she ever admitted it to herself, it was like she was admitting she was one of those girls. The ones he’d had before her, and she’d never wanted to be that girl—but it felt like she was there. Just the other night she’d sat up until he’d come home from the Trail, to make sure he’d actually come home. Then when he had slid between the sheets next to her, she’d snuggled up to his side, pretending to be asleep.

  “You’ve got it bad. You should see your face,” Nat commented as she took a sip of her coffee.

  “I don’t want to have it bad,” she admitted. “We both know the reputation that precedes Cash…”

  “But you’re the only person who does get to see him, Harper. You see him in a way that no other person gets to. If anyone should give him the bene
fit of the doubt, it’s you. You know him better than anyone ever has.”

  Did she? She wondered if those words were true. There was a part of her that thought maybe no one really knew Cash. He played a lot of his feelings close to the vest; she had only ever seen him express love for Remy.

  “You’re giving me way too much credit.”

  “If you say so, girl, but you’re the only one I’ve ever seen him stick with for longer than a week.”

  Shaking her head, Harper bit her bottom lip. “He stays with me out of necessity. I’m kind of helping him afford the apartment the three of us are living in.”

  Nat shook her head too. “You keep telling yourself that, and maybe one day it’ll be the truth.”

  *

  That night, walking out of the catering office, Harper checked her surroundings. Since she and Cash had moved in together, he’d ingrained in her that she needed to constantly be aware of what was going on around her. Bad things lurked in the shadows, that was reality. For everyone, everywhere. Not just for her. She opened her car door and had a seat, sticking her key in the ignition. When she cranked it, nothing happened.

  “No, no, no.” She beat her hand against the steering wheel. “Don’t do this to me right now.”

  She had a ton of homework, was starving, and wanted nothing more than to pretend to sleep as she curled up next to Cash’s body. That was her relaxation at night. It’s all she wanted to do. Taking a deep breath, she tried it one more time, cursing loudly when again, it did nothing. Pulling her cell phone out of her purse, she contemplated who to call when it began ringing. Cash’s face smiled back at her. It was a picture she’d snuck one night when they were having dinner.

  “Hey,” she answered.

  “Hey, are you okay? You’re normally here by now,” his deep voice questioned.

  She sighed deeply. Harper wanted to read more into what he said, but she knew she shouldn’t. The things he said probably meant more to her than they ever would to him. “My car won’t start. I’m still sitting in the parking lot.”

  “Lock the doors. Rem’s already asleep; I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Before she could tell him not to worry about it, he’d already hung up and was more than likely headed her way.

  She did as he told her and locked the doors before leaning her head back against the seat and willed her stupid heart not to beat faster at the thought of him coming to her rescue.

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  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Cash tried not to examine the feelings he had as he drove the almost empty streets to rescue Harper. Never in his life had he been who people considered the type of guy to rescue a damsel in distress. It’s not that he’d never wanted to, but most of the women he kept company with would never think to call him to help with their car. He was more of an under-the-skirt kind of guy.

  Now, he could admit to himself that after the last time with Harper, something had changed. Their dynamic had shifted, and he couldn’t put his finger on it, but it had shifted in a big way. He wanted to know where she was, wanted to make sure she was okay, wanted her to scoot closer to him at night when she went to sleep. There was something so satisfying about wrapping his arms around her and knowing she trusted him enough to be with him. To live with him and Remy, and to accept the both of them without question. Neither one of them had ever had that kind of acceptance before, and Cash still didn’t know how to feel about it.

  Pulling into the parking lot of the catering company for the university, he saw Harper sitting there, her head back against the seat. He parked next to her and got out of his car. When she noticed him, she also got out and came around to meet him.

  “What’s it doing?” he asked, as he walked over and leaned down, kissing her on the cheek.

  Allowing herself to melt into his body for a few moments, she shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Cash grabbed hold of her waist and pushed her far enough away he could look her in the eyes. “How old is the battery?”

  “I have no idea,” she admitted, her face turning red.

  She was cute in her embarrassment, and he had to laugh. “Pop the hood for me.”

  When she didn’t move, he raised an eyebrow at her. “You do know how to do that, right?”

  Harper bit her bottom lip and shook her head, giggling. “No.”

  “You’re lucky you’re hot as hell and can cook a mean fuckin’ cake,” he joked as he walked around to the driver’s side and reached in, popping the hood.

  “I have my talents.” She winked.

  “You do have that,” he agreed, shutting the door and going back to where she stood. He leaned down, taking a look at all the wires, making sure they were all connected. Once he verified they were, he went back to his car and pulled out a pair of jumper cables. “Let’s see if this will help you out.”

  As he connected the cables and went to get into his car to move it so that they could jump her car, bright headlights turned into the parking lot and came towards them.

  “Are y’all expecting someone?” Cash asked as he tried to get a look at the car approaching them.

  “No,” she answered. “Nobody else comes back here besides employees, and I was the last one to leave. The doors are locked at night; no one else can get in because someone accidentally left a freezer door open a few months ago. The school lost thousands of dollars worth of food. At that point they said none of us were allowed to use the kitchen anymore, unless it was for official business.”

  Cash had a feeling; he wasn’t sure about what, but it wasn’t good. Stepping in front of her, he waited for the car to come to a stop and the person or people inside to identify themselves. It finally came to a stop and both the driver’s and passenger’s side doors opened. “Shit,” Cash mumbled as he saw who got out.

  “Now is that any way to talk to the mother you haven’t seen in over a month? Especially after you took my son from me.”

  *

  This woman looked even worse than she had the first time they’d met. She looked on the other side of fifty, and Harper wasn’t sure if she was sober or not. Reaching out to him, she grabbed his hand, and she could feel the trembling of it. Cash had never acted scared of anything since she had met him; this was anger. He was furious.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” he asked her, standing tall in front of Harper.

  Harper didn’t want to see this. It reminded her too much of a time she would much rather forget. The thought ran across her mind that she should probably tell Cash about her dad, but it was something she didn’t talk about. She wasn’t even sure she could talk about it with him. Were they that close? It hadn’t escaped her that she’d not had a nightmare since they’d lived together. The things she felt for him, she didn’t want to examine right now. The safety with which he gave her humbled her sometimes.

  “I’m your mother,” the older woman was answering from where she stood. “And I want my other son back, Cash. You can’t keep him from me. You have no rights to him.”

  “Neither do you,” Cash argued. “He’s better off living with me—someone who cares about him and makes sure he takes his medicine—than you. You could give two shits about anything other than where your next high comes from, especially when you’re with him.” He pointed to the man who stood beside his mom.

  “I’m going to get him back,” she threatened.

  “Why? What do you want him for?”

  The man who stood beside Cash’s mother spoke, and Harper felt her skin crawl as she heard the words coming out of his mouth. “A kid that’s not normal? I can get a lot of state aid for that.”

  Harper was furious. Remy was as normal as the day was long. Especially when he was taken care of. “Then I’m not sure we’re talking about the same kid,” she answered from where she stood behind Cash. She took a step so that she stood beside him and grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers together.

  “How cute.” Janet smiled at her son. “You’ve gotten one who’s going to stick arou
nd, huh? She’ll leave. Sooner or later. Just like everyone else does.”

  He fought hard not to let anyone see how badly those words hurt him. “Are you done here? You wanted to let me know you’re coming for Remy. Got it.”

  It looked like the two of them wanted to say more, but they didn’t. Cash watched as they got into their car and backed out, driving away.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, reaching up to put her arms around his neck and holding him close to her.

  “I’m fine, but what I want to know is how they know where you work, how they knew I was here, and what else they know. I’m going to see if Travis can help us.”

  She nodded, knowing he would do whatever it took to keep his brother safe. “Do what you feel is necessary.”

  There was no more teasing, no more private looks, and no more undercurrent of passion as he went about jumping the battery. When the car turned over and started, he got out of the driver’s seat and started unhooking the wires.

  “I’ll see you back at the apartment,” he told her.

  The apartment. Not home. It didn’t escape her that he called it the apartment. Lately, they’d both been referring to it as home, and at that moment she wanted to kill his mother.

  “Thank you for helping me,” she told him.

  “Not a problem.”

  He didn’t look at her as he said the words, so she reached out and grabbed his hand. It forced him to look at her.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Cash,” she whispered. “I don’t care how long it takes me to prove that to you, but I’ll prove it. You’re stuck with me.”

  He couldn’t put into words how much he wanted that to be true.

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  Chapter Twenty-Three