Without Claire: The Hastings Brothers Series

by Mallory Funk

  “Fend for yourself tonight, so I think almost everyone already has ordered. Except Paige, Trevor, Derek and Tara went on a date.” I nod my head. I should go see if Claire wants to order in, or go out.

  “Alright, thanks. I will go see what Claire wants.” I start to get up when their voices stop me.

  “So, when you going to ask Claire to move in?” Cole says as he pauses the movie they were watching.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I tell them looking at the wall behind them.

  Liam snorts. “Come on bro, you love her and she loves you. I know you both hate that she lives so far away. You could just end all of that, and ask her to move in with you, or with us. I know we don’t mind having her live here, do we Cole?”

  Cole shakes his head. “No, she can teach me new recipes to make.”

  I can’t help but shake my head. “When the time is right, I will ask her. I don’t want to push her too fast. Fuck, if I could marry her tomorrow, I would.”

  They both look at me with wide eyes and slack jaws. “Holy shit, you’re really serious about her,” Cole says stating the obvious.

  “Of course. She’s it, man. I’m not ashamed to admit that. I just need to go slow for her sake. If it were at my pace, she would be living here with my ring on her finger already.”

  I leave them standing there with their mouths hanging open. I run back up the stairs, and see Claire lying on my bed with a smile on her face. She must have just woken up.

  “Hey, baby. It’s fend for yourself night, so do you want to go out, or order in tonight?” I ask as I climb onto the bed to lie beside her.

  She hums and smiles at me. “Let’s just stay in tonight. I just want to be with you if that’s okay?”

  “Of course it is, baby. Tell me what you want, and I will order it. Then go pick a movie, and we will just take it easy tonight,” I tell her, grabbing my phone.

  Once she tells me that she wants burgers and fries, I put both of our orders in and then decide to go pick it up. While I am waiting for the food, I pick up a bottle of wine and a six pack. Nothing sounds better than a nice evening relaxing with my girl.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sam

  Claire spends the next couple of days at my place. When we wake up on Friday morning and head downstairs, we hear yelling.

  “You are such a pig!” Courtney yells.

  Both of us slow our steps to hear what’s going on.

  “That’s not what you said last night when you were screaming my name,” Cole says right after. Claire looks at me with wide eyes. I did not see that one coming.

  “That was an act of desperation! Trust me, it’s nothing special,” Courtney yells back.

  I hear footsteps. I look up the stairs, and see Liam come down. I put my finger to my lips to tell him to be quiet.

  “Like fuck it was! You have been screaming my name once a week for the last four months! Deny it all you want, baby, but it was my bed you came to last night,” Cole replies.

  “Maybe I thought that you were Liam! Maybe I really wanted to end up in Liam’s bed! Huh? Did you ever think of that?” We all chuckle at Courtney’s attempt to deny her attraction to Cole.

  “It wasn’t Liam’s name you have been screaming, sweetheart. It’s mine. You keep denying it all you want. I know you want this. Your body doesn’t lie. I will wait you out, darling. Until the day that you decide to crawl out of denial, sex is off the table!” Cole tells her, and I know that he is smiling. I can hear it in his voice.

  “Oh please. I could have anyone I want. I don’t need you for sex.” I hear the footsteps from the living room come closer.

  “Say what you want, sweetheart, but you will give in first,” Cole raises his voice, and then I hear his footsteps.

  No one makes any attempt to move. None of us appear to care if we get caught eavesdropping.

  They both walk out of the living room, and before they reach the door, they see all three of us leaning forward on the bannister smiling widely at them.

  “Fuck,” I hear Cole mutter.

  “Busted,” Liam taunts.

  “I knew it!” Claire says loudly throwing a fist in the air.

  “You guys didn’t hear anything,” Courtney says pointing a finger at us, and then running outside and crossing the street to her house. We all follow her since it is coffee time.

  We all make our coffees, and sit out on the deck in our usual spots. Courtney and Cole don’t even look at us.

  Paige comes out with Trevor right behind her. “What’s going on?” Trevor asks.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Courtney says glaring at us. We are all still smiling.

  “Bullshit. There is a lot of tension coming off you and Cole, not to mention that these three are smiling so hard that they could almost split their faces in two,” Paige says narrowing her eyes at Courtney.

  “So, Cole, how many girls have you been with in the last four months?” Liam asks grinning.

  Everyone else comes outside. They all sit down, but don’t say anything. They are watching the exchange with amusement.

  “I don’t need to fucking tell you that,” Cole says glaring at his twin.

  “The fuck you do! If you say one, you better start emptying your wallet right now,” Liam says glaring right back.

  “Is this about Courtney?” Paige says looking like she’s been waiting for this to come out. How long has she known?

  Courtney looks at her best friend, gaping at her.

  “What the fuck do you know?” Courtney asks in disbelief.

  “I know that the night before my attack, I caught Cole leaving your room,” Paige says with a smug smile, narrowing her eyes at Courtney.

  I swear Courtney pales a little.

  “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?” Tara yells at Courtney.

  “What do you mean? Why are you so upset?” Courtney says without really looking at Tara.

  “You fucking freaked out at me because I kept Derek a secret for a month! You have been fucking Cole for four months, and didn’t even fucking tell anybody! And I bet that if you weren’t caught this morning, or four months ago, that you wouldn’t have told anyone! What’s all this shit about ‘we don’t keep that shit a secret from our girls’! I always wondered why Paige looked at you when she would say we always talk about sex to each other? I mean, it’s obvious that you have always had the fucking hots for him, and that he fucking wanted you from the beginning. You guys aren’t as sneaky with your attraction to one another than you guys like to believe,” Tara yells out in frustration.

  Courtney actually looks ashamed that she hid it from the girls. I know that they are close, but I didn’t know how serious they were about discussing what we are like in the bedroom with each other. Not that I really care what Claire says about me as long as it’s good.

  “I’m sorry, T. I just didn’t know how to say anything, and the longer I kept it a secret, the harder it was to come clean,” Courtney says, continuing to not make eye contact with Tara.

  Tara gets a mischievous look in her eyes. “What is it? There must be a reason why you didn’t say anything…hmmm” She taps her chin, and Courtney narrows her eyes at her. I look at Derek, Paige, and Trevor who look like they are fighting back laughter. What is that all about?

  “Does he have a small dick?... Or maybe he’s horrible in bed? Can Cole not please you properly?” Tara asks. Cole is now glaring at Tara. I see what she’s doing now, but I don’t think that those two have caught on. By the looks on everyone else’s faces, they know what T is doing.

  Tara snaps her fingers in triumph, and points at Courtney and Cole. “I know! His dick is curved right? He can probably pee around a corner?”

  Cole looks at Tara in shock. “My dick is not curved or fucking small, and I am fucking phenomenal in bed!! I could fucking bend her over the table, and have her screaming my name in seconds.”

  “I know what you are doing!” Courtney yells at Tara, finally catching on.


  “GREAT! Then you won’t have any problems discussing it at girl’s night tonight!” Paige says grinning.

  Courtney looks around in panic, and settles her gaze on Claire, smiling widely. “We can’t do it tonight,” she says pointing at Claire, “we have to discuss Sam deflowering Claire bear, here!”

  I hear Claire mutter “oh god” before she buries her face in my neck.

  Everyone else laughs. “What the fuck, Court! Why did you just tell everyone that! Claire didn’t even make fun of Cole! If anything, you could have picked on Trevor or Derek, not Claire!” Paige says narrowing her eyes at her.

  “Yeah! Now Claire’s not even going to want to tell us how Sam finally took her v-card!” Tara yells in frustration. I am about to tell them to shut up and stop embarrassing my girl when I feel her shaking in my arms. I peek down at her, and she’s laughing silently. I just shake my head at her. Three months ago, she would have been running for the hills, but she’s laughing about it now.

  Claire straightens her face before turning back to Courtney who almost looks guilty for saying what she had said.

  “I am not going to tell you about Sam in the bedroom unless you tell us everything that you’re supposed to tell your girlfriends about Cole. If you refuse one more time then I will not tell any one of you anything!” Claire says with a look of determination on her face.

  The girls mouths open in shock. I am oddly proud of my girl right now. Paige and Tara narrow their eyes at Courtney, silently threatening her with their eyes. Courtney looks Claire in the eyes. Neither one of them are backing down. Finally, Courtney’s shoulders sag in defeat, and she huffs out a breath. “Fine, I will tell you all about how Cole fucks.”

  She sounds almost like it pains her to relive it. I seriously can’t believe that conversation took place. I look at the guys, and they look like they can’t believe it either. Well, except for Trevor and Derek. They look like they knew that whole conversation was going to happen. From what I was told, Courtney freaked out when Tara kept her relationship with Derek a secret, so I guess they were just doing the same thing back to her.

  There really is never a dull moment when we have coffee together. I am happy to know that my girl will be at Paige’s house drinking and talking tonight because it means that she will be sleeping over in my bed. I’m getting tired of trying to make up excuses. Maybe one day I will think that she’s ready for that step, and will ask her to move in with me.

  We are quiet for a few minutes until Liam breaks the silence, making everyone smile.

  “So how many girls?” We all look at Cole, and he coughs something into his hand.

  “What was that, big brother?” Derek asks in amusement.

  Cole stands up, and pulls out four one-hundred-dollar bills from his wallet slapping them on the table. Before he walks away, he says, “one.”

  We all laugh, and the four of us grab our bill. Then I hear, “fuck that, it was six months,” coming from Paige, and we all start laughing again.

  We all shrug. We’re brothers, we know this shit about each other. We knew the moment he saw Courtney that he wouldn’t stay a player for long.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Claire

  I am over at Paige’s house waiting for Tara to finish making the margaritas. I decided that I was a fan of any frozen drink. The girls have made it their mission to try a different one on every night that we have drinks.

  I am still shaking my head at the ridiculous conversation this morning. I didn’t know that the girls took their girl talk so seriously. It seemed like it was a crime to hold information back from your friends. Makes me kind of glad that I admitted to Sam and I finally having sex when they caught me walking funny the next morning. Paige and Tara admitted to walking funny from time to time depending on the type of hunger the men have. I shiver to think of what else Sam and I could do together.

  “Earth to Claire,” Paige says waving a hand in front of my face. I can’t help but blush when I realize what path my mind was travelling down.

  Judging by their smirks, they know too. “Okay, before you go into Sam land we need to hear about Cole,” Tara says with a serious face.

  When I nod, we all look at Courtney waiting for her to tell us something- although I don’t know exactly what. I never have had one of these girl talks before. I don’t know what’s too much information, or what’s too little.

  “Okay, so I don’t know what happened. The night after we were playing that horrible game of Pictionary was the first time happened. I’m sorry, honey, but you really suck at that game,” Courtney comments leaning over and patting Paige’s hand. Paige’s mouth drops open in shock.

  “You’re lying!” Paige says in disbelief.

  “Never babe. You suck,” Courtney states winking at her.

  “Well, get on with it,” Tara says impatiently.

  “Okay, so everyone left, and Cole had helped me clean up. Before I knew it, we were kissing and I was suggesting that we go up to my room. I don’t know how long he stayed, but that’s because he gave me so many orgasms that I passed out after the last one. When I woke up, he was gone,” Courtney says with a little bit of hurt in her eyes.

  “Honey, I ran into him that night. He looked torn that he had to leave, but you had told him that it was a onetime thing and not to tell a soul, so I could see why he thought he couldn’t stay. Heck, I wouldn’t have wanted to stay either if Trevor had muttered that to me the first time we had sex,” Paige says while Tara and I nod our head in agreement.

  I would be torn up if Sam had dismissed me like that. From what I was told, all of them slept around. Derek and Trevor stopped as soon as they met Paige and Tara. Cole hasn’t slept with anyone since I met him. I know this because he is usually at home making those damn cake pops.

  “I know, but I was just trying to save myself a lot of heartache. Even after a week, he still kept texting me and cornering me telling me that he wanted a chance. I didn’t believe him because of his reputation. I told him that I could only give him sex, and I wasn’t offering anything else. He could take it or leave it. He said he will take whatever I’m offering as long as he got a piece of me even if it was just for a little while, so I set some ground rules. We would do it once a week, and no sleepovers. He gets three hours to blow my mind, and if he doesn’t get off in that time, then it’s his loss.” Her lips twitch at that last statement. I can’t help but think that it’s not true. She wouldn’t leave him with a case of blue balls. I can see it in her eyes that she actually cares for him, maybe even loves him.

  “Then what were you guys doing fighting this morning?” I ask her softly.

  She blows out a breath, and puts her head in her hands. “Well, he wants more than just a fuck once a week. He actually wants to be with me, but I don’t know how to trust him with my heart, and not be afraid that he can break it,” she mumbles into her hands.

  “Life is short, Courtney. I spent six years hiding because I was afraid to live. Sure, it’s scary giving my heart to Sam knowing that if he walked away at any moment, it would break. But all this happiness is worth it. If it doesn’t work out then I will know that I spent these last few months happier than I could ever remember being. I would be glad that I took that risk and fell in love. You just have to put on your big girl panties, and fucking do it,” I tell her raising my voice in the end.

  Her lips twitch. “My thong might ride up my ass if I pull them up any higher.”

  I can’t help but laugh. “Seriously, I did not need to know what kind of underwear you like to wear,” I tell her with a fake grimace.

  “So how does Sam like your granny panties then?” she asks me with a challenging smile.

  “Well, I don’t wear granny panties. I wear lacy boy shorts, and he seems to like them just fine,” I tell her with a confidence I have never had before. Seriously, I have never discussed my underwear with anyone before.

  “Derek doesn’t mind my cotton panties. Well he prefers it if I don’t wear any panties
at all, but I can’t do that all the time you know. I don’t want to chafe or anything. That would not feel good at all. I tried wearing a g-string once, but it was not comfortable, so I don’t know how you can wear thongs, just no. Cotton panties all the way.” When she’s done, everyone is silent and then we all burst out in laughter at the same time. I don’t think I could ever get used to her ranting about random stuff, or whatever is on her mind.

  “So, Paige, since we know everyone else’s kind of panties, what kind of panties do you wear?” I ask her. I cannot believe I said that out loud. Let’s blame the margaritas.

  “They’re silk,” she says with a laugh. “I cannot believe none of us wear the same kind. So much for sharing,” she mutters. We all laugh.

  We have a couple margaritas, and I hear about how Trevor and Derek are in the bedroom, and also more details about Cole. They finally drag out of me what Sam was like, and if he was careful with me and took care of me after. I told them everything including how he ran me a bath, and that we napped together after. I also told them about how we haven’t done it since, and how he said that he wanted to be sure I wasn’t still sore from losing my virginity before we had sex again.

  Sometime during the night, we had ordered pizza. We kept talking and drinking until late in the evening. They said that the guys knew to stay away until we were done for the night. They knew how important our girls’ nights were. They all knew that we needed a break once and awhile from being around eight men all the time.

  We were all laughing and sharing stories, and the girls decide to bring up the first time I got drunk with them, and said that Noah had crabs. We all laughed at how humiliated I was, so I suggested that I text him, and they agreed with excitement on their faces.

  Me: I hope that you finally have gotten your crabs cleared up, or do you need more medicine?

  Noah: I do not fucking have crabs! What the fuck, woman! You just cock blocked me!

  Me: How did I do that? I was genuinely concerned…