The scent of her body, the feel of her next to him had things stirring that were already pretty damn well stirred, considering she was wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts and, him being a guy, had awoken with his typical morning hard-on.
Bree felt it against her hip. He could tell by the way she tensed, then pulled away, her cheeks going red.
“We…um…we need to talk.”
She climbed out of bed and moved away, staring out the window, down at Main Street.
“Yeah.” Blowing out a sigh, he slid from the bed as well, grabbing a pair of jeans and dragging them on. “I guess we do.”
She shot him a quick look, then went back to staring at anything that wasn’t him. “He was telling the truth, wasn’t he? You’re a…um…you…”
“I’m a whore, Bree,” he said caustically. “No point in prettying it up. I sleep with women for money.”
She flinched and he wanted to hit himself.
This wasn’t her fault.
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“I don’t need to be taking this out on you.”
“No.” Shaking her head, she turned back to him. She leaned against the window sill and stared at him with big, confused eyes. “I don’t understand. Why?”
He hesitated for a moment and then sighed. Dropping down on the edge of the bed, he wondered where to start. “My parents were beyond broke when they died. They were trying to deal with it, but it wasn’t going well. Dad had been trying to make a go of it with that restaurant he’d opened up, and his partner up and disappeared with most of their investment money, left him holding the bag. He had all these loans, credit cards. He should have just let it go, but Dad wasn’t ever a quitter. He fell behind on the house. They’d gone to meet an old friend of hers…” He glanced up at her, then away. “You already know this. But the woman was looking to move back here, thinking about investing in the restaurant. They never made it to her house, though.”
He lapsed into silence for a moment, remembering.
“I heard the guy who hit them is getting out of jail soon.”
Riley clenched his jaw. “Fuck. I can’t even think about that right now.” He heaved out a breath and it felt as if it came from the very core of him, right out of his soul. “I had to leave school. Picked up a job as a waiter. A friend knew the owner and they’d told me I’d make decent tips. It was okay, but not enough. So I started bouncing at a bar across the street. That was better money. As long as I was working fifty, sixty hours a week, we scraped by. Had to restructure the debt. That took forever and the bank was fighting to take the house.”
Bree came to him and sat down, rested a hand on his shoulder.
He could feel her urging him to look at her, but he couldn’t. Not right then.
“I’d been doing that, juggling the two jobs and still trying to be the parent figure Con and Charli needed. Some nights, I don’t think I even got more than three hours of sleep.” He was tired just thinking about it. “I’d been at it almost a year when this woman started flirting with me at the bar where I worked. She’d come in two or three times a week. Classy-looking lady. She didn’t really fit. One night, she stayed right up until last call, then she left and when I went out to my car, she was there. Offered me a thousand dollars…for one night.”
He sensed her surprise and finally turned to meet her eyes. Bluntly, he said, “I took it. And when she asked if I’d be interested in making it a regular thing, I said yes. A few months later, she told me she had a friend. Her friend was willing to pay the same. A year goes by and I’ve got four clients. I was able to drop the job bouncing and just handled my four clients and the job serving tables. Then after six months, I had eight clients, and I quit the other job. Within another year, I had twelve clients and after another year, I had my parents debts completely paid off, and I was dealing with the bills from the house and Con’s and then Charli’s college.”
Bree was just gaping at him.
Rising, he paced over to the window and looked out.
He saw nothing, though. Nothing save for the shock in her eyes.
Then he saw the tears.
A fist grabbed him by the heart but he didn’t know what to say.
“I can’t lie and say I’m sorry. I did what I had to do,” he said, his voice raw. “If I had to make the same choices…”
“Do they know?” she asked.
He blew out a rough breath. “Yeah. I’d always wanted to keep it from Charli, but turns out she’s known a long time. And Con? Hell.” He averted his gaze, feeling the red creep up his cheeks. “Con starting working with me five years ago. He told me he’d either join up with me or go out on his own.”
“Shit.” Bree rose and moved a few feet away, then stopped and turned back to him. “Shame, too. The three of you are tight. I can tell. He’s in on it.”
Riley just nodded.
“Don’t tell me he needs the money.”
“Shame needs something nobody can give him.” He rubbed the back of his neck, acutely aware of how exposed he felt, how vulnerable. Of all the times for her to come into his life…
“And how long do you plan to continue this…job?” she asked.
“We’re already done.” Heat still suffused his cheeks and it only got worse when he explained about how Chance had barged in and messed up his carefully laid plan. “Initially, we’d planned on winding things down within the next twelve to fifteen months. Charli’s school is…costly. But we can manage. It’s not worth the risk now.”
Bree pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips.
He could see how they were shaking.
He wanted to go to her.
But he didn’t dare.
Not now.
“I remember the first time you ran into me after I’d…” Her voice hitched and she cleared her throat before continuing. “After I’d broken up with you. It was almost two months later, like you were trying to avoid me. Or maybe I was trying to avoid you. I don’t know. I’d been living with Brian Hatton for almost a month. Mom and I… Things fell apart. I was drinking, picking fights with her, being mean to my granny. She eventually decided that if I couldn’t get my act together, then maybe I should just leave. I think she meant it just to scare me into straightening up. I know she was scared and worried. I can remember that now. But I took her at her word. The next day, I called Brian. We’d been dating—if you could call it that—for a few weeks and he said I could come stay with him.”
She swallowed, looking pale and strained. “Of course, he expected certain things. If he had a chick on hand, he expected the house to be clean, food to be ready when he got home, and for me to be ready to screw whenever he wanted. In a way, I was selling myself just to have a roof over my head. There was one day when he came home and I’d stayed late at work—another girl was late. I couldn’t get out on time. His dinner was late. I’d seen him be mean before, but not to me. That night, he backhanded me. I wanted to leave, but I didn’t know where I’d go.”
She glanced at him, then away.
“A month later, he brought a new girl home and told me to get out.” A weak sigh escaped and she tipped her head back, staring at the ceiling. “I slept in my car for a few nights, stayed out late, going to a couple of different bars. At one of them, I hooked up with Aaron, Toby’s daddy. And the same thing started all over.”
Riley held still as she came toward him.
When she lifted her hands and braced them on his chest, his heart skipped a few beats, then started to race.
“You see, I can’t blame you for what you did. I’ve been doing the same thing, of a sort, for the past few years. First to take care of me, then it was to take care of me and Toby.”
His hands were shaking as he reached up, burying both of them in her hair.
“What are you saying?” he asked raggedly.
“I’m saying…I think I get it. People do crazy things when they feel like they don’t have much of a choice.” She l
eaned in and pressed her mouth to his. It was a sweet, almost chaste kiss and he was too frozen to respond. Then, wincing, he jerked back, lip throbbing. She’d bitten him.
“What was that for?” he asked, letting go of her hair with his right hand so he could touch the offended body part.
“Just a warning. You said you were done, I expect you to mean that. You are done.”
Something gleamed in her eyes—something hot, bold even. He hadn’t seen that look in her eyes in a long, long time. “Am I now?”
“You’re done, Riley. Because you…” The words trailed off and she eased back, studying his face, some of that confidence leeching out.
“Because I’m what?” he prodded.
“You’re mine,” she finally whispered. “Aren’t you?”
He grabbed her and hauled her against him. “I’ve been yours since I was thirteen years old, Brianna Sharpe. Why would you think that’s changed now?”
Needing her closer, he slid a hand up her hip, found her naked under the T-shirt. “Say you’re mine,” he told her as he dragged the T-shirt higher.
“I’m yours.” She stared at him solemnly. Her lips parted on a sigh a moment later when he cupped the curve of her butt in his palm, kneading the flesh.
They didn’t speak.
As if communicating on a deeper level, she reached down and freed the button and zipper of his jeans while he caught the hem of her shirt and dragged it upward, stripping her naked.
Once he’d done that, he caught her in his arms and boosted her up, bracing her against the wall.
She caught her breath.
He kissed her, stealing it back again with one deep, drugging kiss after another.
Part of him wanted to slow things down, commit this memory, make sure every moment was crystallized, trapped forever in his thoughts. But slowing this down would be like slowing down the waves as they slammed into the shore—it was inevitable. He had to touch her, kiss her, feel her body against his.
As he pressed against her, Bree’s lashes drifted down, shielding her eyes from him.
He reached up and placed his hand against her throat, his thumb resting just above her pulse where it slammed and raced against his touch.
“Don’t close your eyes,” he said softly. “Look at me. Let me see you.”
Slowly, her lids raised.
He thrust inside her, hard and deep, not stopping until she’d taken all of him.
Bree keened out his name and arched against him, her breasts lifting. Her pussy tightened around him in a snug, silken fist.
Tugging on her hair, he brought her face up to meet his. Their mouths met in a slow, deep kiss that fused them together in something more intimate than sex.
Loathe to leave her, he rocked against her, barely withdrawing. She tightened around him each time, whimpering. Against his chest, her nipples were tight and hard, her chest rising and falling with labored breaths.
Then she went stiff, her nails biting into his shoulders. She clamped down around him and he gritted his teeth, thrusting past the tightness of her muscles.
As Bree began to shake, Riley sank his teeth into his inner cheek. She was so close to coming, tightening around him and squeezing…squeezing…
“Riley…please!”
He surged into her, harder, deeper, faster.
She came and a few seconds later, so did he.
A little dazed from the ferocity of what they’d shared, and his knees shaking, he dropped his head to rest on her shoulder. She clung to him, her body trembling. “Gimme a minute,” he mumbled. “Just…a minute. And I’ll move.”
She made a sound between a laugh and a moan. “That’s fine. I need a minute, too.”
He only took about thirty seconds before shoving off the wall. Still holding her, he guided her legs until she was wrapped around him, then he carried her to the bed.
They lay there for a few minutes, then Bree climbed onto top of him. Eyes misty and full of need, she took him inside. With her hands braced on his chest, she began to ride him.
This time, it was slower. Sweeter.
They watched each other the whole time.
When it ended, she collapsed into a boneless pile on his chest and he held her.
It wasn’t long before she slid back into sleep.
He understood.
She’d been living on a razor’s edge of tension and worry for a long time now. Now that some of it was off, the adrenaline that had kept her going was probably draining away.
She needed the rest.
Riley got out of bed and left the room to go shower and check on Toby, remembering only at the last minute that Charli had said he’d stay with her for the night. They were at Shame’s house and they’d be fine.
So he showered and then, after checking to make sure she was still asleep, he slid back into his room and opened the closet.
The box was still up there, an old shoe box full of things he’d always told himself he’d throw out.
But he hadn’t been able to.
Taking the lid off, he studied the contents for a long moment before he did anything. A stack of pictures. The class ring he’d given to Bree—she’d worn it around her neck on a chain. Some notes she’d written to him. He still had the ticket stub from their high school prom. And a jewelry box.
That was what he removed, rubbing the glossy top of the box with his thumb before he flipped it open. That was another reason he’d had some money problems.
He could have taken it back.
He’d bought the ring when he’d been on the football team for the University of Kentucky and at the time, people had been talking about how he might just be one of the next greats to come out of the school. When he’d gone into the jewelry store, the man who’d waited on him had recognized him and pushed to get him a larger credit limit than some idiot twenty-year-old kid needed.
He hadn’t cared.
He’d held onto it, hoping that one day Bree might be his again.
“What are you doing?”
Her sleepy voice had him lifting his head and he put the lid on the box before putting it down. He looked at her and smiled. “Thinking about you.”
She blushed.
He went to the bed and crawled up to her.
“I had big plans, you know. That weekend when I came back on my Christmas break.”
Confusion flickered in Bree’s eyes, then understanding. She looked away, but he caught her chin and guided her face back to his.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I don’t want you feeling bad. I… Hell, I wish you would have told me, but I understand. Still…big plans. I’ve had to put them off for over ten years. I’ve been kind of wondering…”
He held out his hand.
Again, some confusion in her eyes, then she looked down.
Her gaze jerked back up to his. “Riley.”
“Brianna,” he said, echoing her tone. Then, flipping the box open, he took out the ring. Light reflected off it and danced across Bree’s surprised features. He took her hand, now holding the ring in his left, her hand in the right. “I want you to marry me. I’ve wanted that since I was thirteen. I’ll want it when I’m a hundred and thirteen. Will you marry me?”
“I…Riley, I don’t know. There’s Toby, and everything with Kyle and…and…” Her breath hitched out of her as she lifted damp eyes to his.
“Toby and I will be fine. You’ve got to trust that. And fuck Kyle. Sideways.” He leaned in, pressing his brow to hers. “Stop worrying about everything and just think about what you want. What do you want?”
“Yes.” It came out on a soft, shaky sigh. “Yes.”
“Then say yes. We’ll work everything out.”
“Yes.”
He grinned, then pushed the ring onto her finger.
It fit…perfectly.
Just as he bent to kiss her, there was a knock at his door. He groaned, pressing a quick kiss to her mouth. No sooner had he pulled away than he heard his sister calling out, “Hope you’re d
ecent, Ry!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
He slipped out to stall her and Toby so Bree could get dressed.
Toby came in and then caught sight of him and hesitated.
“Hi, Toby.” Just keep on acting normal, he told himself. Sooner or later, Toby would warm up to him.
To his surprise, Toby shrugged and gave him a stiff, “Hi,” in return before going over to the fridge.
Charli arched a brow.
Riley went to give her a hug and she hugged him back. He heard the door open behind him and caught sight of his sister’s eyes as they widened.
“Ah, hey there, Charli,” Bree said.
“Mom!” Toby hurtled toward her, dodging a chair that still hadn’t been righted from the previous night.
Riley went to fix it as Bree swept Toby up in a hug.
Charli came over and picked up another chair, then the wine bottle that had ended up on the floor. “I tried to hit the man with that,” Toby piped up.
Bree closed her eyes.
“You did, huh?” Riley asked, drawing the kid’s attention.
Bree hugged him tighter, stroking his back nervously.
“Yes. But I didn’t hit him hard enough and he pushed me down. Con hit him. Then Shame—I mean Max—showed up.” Toby gave Charli a look full of adoration.
Uh-oh, Riley thought.
Charli beamed at him, then moved on to the next thing that needed to be straightened—the basket of magazines that Riley always kept near his recliner. Some of them were probably three or four years old while others weren’t any more than a week. Now, all of them were trash.
“What’s going to happen to the bad guy?” Toby asked, resting his head on Bree’s shoulder.
Bree looked at Riley. Charli did, too. Eventually, so did Toby.
“I know one of the cops on the force. He’s saying they’ll try to get him to sign a plea.” He gave Toby a quick look. “That means he’ll sign a paper saying he knows he did something wrong, then he’ll go to jail for a while. If he doesn’t, they’ll take him to court.”
“Is he still a cop?”
Riley smiled and it was grim and hard and merciless. “Not likely for long. We were told to expect a call today, confirming what the chief of police planned to do.”
F*ck Club: Riley Page 16