Before I had time to second-guess myself, I was out of my bed, yanking on my tattered sweats. My heart raced as I laced up the running shoes I hadn’t worn since high school.
I couldn’t do this without him—more importantly, I didn’t want to.
Justin
Freaking hell, that look. That damned look on her face had nearly killed me. I’d never wounded her so deeply. I’d always been the one healing her hurts, not causing them. Every time I dosed off even a little bit, her face appeared behind my eyes.
But seeing her with Hale, making motherfucking eyes at him while singing the song I’d written for her…Well, every man had his limits.
When Hale had nodded his head toward the lake and she’d given him a subtle but definite yes with the slight dip of her chin, I was done.
Yelling at her like a maniac and then hashing things out had put me on some kind of temporary high. I’d been all adrenaline and anger as I stormed back to my apartment, slamming my door and downing the remaining four beers in my fridge. But now, lying here in the dark, staring at the blades of the ceiling fan above my bed whirring in a slow, torturous motion, a heavy, soul-deep regret replaced my previous buzz.
She knew. She knew how I felt now and she’d gone with him anyway.
A low hum of frustration still thrummed through me, but all I could see as those weathered wood blades rotated was her. I’d given it a shot and I’d bombed. She’d picked that colossal assclown over me.
As angry as I was—and I was still really fucking angry—guilt carved out the edge of that anger like a sharp blade.
I glanced over at the alarm clock on the boxes I used as a nightstand. Red digital numbers mocked me. At this rate, it would be daylight before I got any sleep. If even then. It was too much, knowing that I’d hurt her that way—that she might have let him console her.
Just as my blood pressure amped back up, a soft knock sounded at the door. Who in the hell is here at this hour?
My heart constricted as if it had been squeezed and let go and squeezed again. It couldn’t be healthy to feel such a solid thud in my chest at only twenty-one years old. I forced myself to shove the idea out of my head that it was even possible for it to be her at the door.
If Alex had decided the Abbott Springs B&B was a little too quaint for him, he was probably coming to crash on my couch. But I really wasn’t in the mood for company.
Huffing out a breath, I sat up and made my way to my front door. It might have been a good idea to put a shirt on in case he had a chick with him, but that was his problem. I didn’t have a peephole, so I couldn’t check.
Pulling the door open, I was greeted with a vision of need I wasn’t prepared for. There she stood, the pink-haired object of my everything.
It felt like I’d conjured her from my thoughts. And I wanted her in the darkest, dirtiest way possible. Wanted to rip the navy blue hoodie I recognized as mine from where it fell off her exposed shoulder. My hands flexed, aching to grab her like a damn animal and drag her into my apartment. Traitor that it was, my dick throbbed and swelled at the sight of the creamy, exposed skin.
It was as if I’d been a burning man thirsting to death in my apartment for decades and she’d appeared with a tall glass of ice-cold water. Or she was the glass of water. Condensation might as well have dripped from her body.
Licking my lips, I propped my elbow on the door and raised an eyebrow at her.
Those bright greenish-gray eyes of hers widened. Her gaze dropped from my face, down my chest and stomach, and back up again.
“Help you?” I asked nonchalantly, like the sight of her hot mess of a self wasn’t damn near destroying me where I stood.
Dragging her eyes reluctantly from my body, she swallowed hard and shook her head. “Couldn’t sleep,” her soft voice rasped. “Ju—”
Giving up the good-guy persona I’d held on to my entire life, I gave in to the overwhelming urge to clutch her hips with both hands. The action was enough to make her gasp mid-sentence.
“You’re here,” I practically growled at her, pulling her into the apartment and closing the door behind us.
She nodded, her eyes growing wider as they burned into mine. The same lustful need I’d been nursing for years swirled in them.
“I told you exactly how I felt, exactly what I wanted from you, and you’re here.” Backing her up against my door, I leaned down until our noses grazed one another’s. “That can only mean one of two things. Either you feel the same way or you’re cruel enough to come here and expect me to fucking cuddle.”
“Not cruel,” she whispered, tilting her mouth up to mine. “I never meant to hurt—”
I dropped my lips gently to her soft ones, but it was enough to stop the rest of her sentence. God, she tasted so damn sweet.
My tongue brushing against hers caused her to let out a breathy little moan. Which my dick decided was his formal invitation to the party.
My heart thundered loudly in my ears as I explored every single centimeter of her mouth. Her hands twisted around my neck, and I knew by how hard she was holding on that she was on board with this new plan. Gripping her tightly under her ass, I lifted her petite body up onto my waist.
“Jubb—”
“Next time you call me that, I’m spanking the ever-loving shit out of you, Ev. Capiche?”
Her head jerked back, thudding against the wall hard enough to make a noise. She nodded.
“I don’t just mean tonight. I mean forever. If we’re in public, I’ll keep count. And it will cost you double.”
Her lips curved into an excited grin and she lifted a shoulder. Her smile turned to the mischievous smirk I loved so much. “Hmm. I might like it. Maybe I’ll call you that on purpose.”
A low, menacing sound escaped my throat and I whirled us over to my bed. Thank God my studio apartment was small. I wasn’t sure how much longer I would make it.
She giggled as I dropped her roughly onto the bed. But once she was still, flat on her back and looking up at me with those doe eyes of hers, I was a goner.
Point of no return was officially passed. I was going to fuck her. We both knew it and I was pretty damn sure we both wanted it. What I didn’t know was if either of us could actually handle it—or what would happen after.
“Why are you here, Ev?” I asked, my voice sounding like I’d gargled with gravel.
“You,” she said softly. For a minute her expression went distant, and I was afraid I’d lost her full attention. But then it snapped back to me and she spoke with rekindled heat. “You’re my home. I needed you.”
“You have me,” was all I said before I lowered myself down onto her. Clutching her to me, I dragged us both up to the head of the bed. We kissed and panted until our clothes were distant memories and the promise of what was to come burned bright between us.
“This will change everything,” she said, letting out a small whimper as I laced my fingers in hers and used our hands to brace myself above her. “It will change us.”
I ran the tip of my tongue up her throat. “I’m counting on that.” I gently nipped at her earlobe and then slid several more kisses across her jawline.
“You’re killing me.” Her confession broke something inside of me and I damn near lost control. But I reined it back in—barely.
This was too important to fuck up. My body screamed at me to plunge inside and pound into her as hard as possible. My head sneered at me. You only got once chance to make a first impression. I didn’t want to just use her like that. This wasn’t like any of the sex I’d had before. It wasn’t about getting in and getting off. I loved this girl. I was about to stake a fucking claim.
I’d wanted this for so long. The number of hours I’d spent imagining Everly’s silky body laid out naked in my bed was probably astronomical. I was going to make this last nearly as long.
My head dipped below hers as my tongue traveled south. Sucking her sweet flesh into my mouth made my entire body hot. Almost too damn hot.
“
Please,” she whimpered, slamming her knees together and clenching her thighs. I watched her squirm for a long minute before returning my gaze to hers.
“Please what, Ev?”
“Um…” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and squirmed some more.
I chuckled, resuming the slow, arduous path of circles with my tongue. When I reached one of her tightened nipples, she cried out.
Writhing beneath me, she reached up and grabbed my arms around each bicep. Her beautiful eyes burned into mine. “Justin. Cohen. I am going to implode if we keep this up. I’m ready now.”
After I’d sucked each of her soft pink peaks into my mouth, I glanced up at her with the most innocent expression I could manage under the circumstances. “Ready for what, Ev?”
Her hand grazed my face and traced a burning path down my chest and abs. I braced myself for her to grab my dick when she took my hand instead.
“Ready for us,” she breathed, lowering my hand with hers. The moment my fingertips touched the scorching-hot wetness between her legs, I lost my grip on logic. On reality. On myself.
Stroking her undid me. It was everything I could do not to come apart right then.
The tight pulsing of her walls clenching rhythmically around my finger was the push I needed to back it down for a second. I could focus on her, give her this.
Sitting up on my haunches, I watched as her entire body detonated around my hand. Plunging in and out, I held back as long as I could while she rocked her hips and moaned in time. Even sex with Everly was going to be like making music with her was. Frantic and then slow.
She liked alternating time signatures. Apparently that would be the case in the bedroom as well. Good thing I knew how to keep up from years of practice.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked into the darkness after I’d made her come and she’d caught her breath. She stilled completely, clamping down around the two fingers that remained inside of her.
“Because you’re beautiful. Because I’ve wanted you, wanted this, for so long. I want to enjoy it. Memorize it. Memorize you.”
“Well,” she said on a breath, “how about you come here and do that then.”
Slowly retracting my fingers from inside of her, I gave her a wicked grin before sucking them into my mouth. Her expression alone could have lit the entire apartment complex on fire.
She pulled me to her, and I let her. Our mouths met in a battle of wills that we were both determined to win. Her little tongue lashed against mine, and I tugged at her bottom lip with my teeth.
Wrapping her legs around my waist, she angled her hips upward and pressed against me. I groaned loudly and forced myself to pull back.
Her whimper of protest made my dick throb in response.
“I was actually about to get up and get something to eat when you got here,” I said, working hard to keep my voice even.
“O-kay,” she said, eyeing me warily like I’d lost my mind. “Can it wait?”
“Hmm.” I let my eyes map every exposed inch of her body. “No, I’m afraid it can’t. I’m starving, babe.”
Before she could say another word, I lowered my head and licked and nipped a path up her inner right thigh. And then repeated the process on the left.
“Oh my God,” she moaned, trembling beneath me. The noises she made when I swirled the tip of my tongue around her delicate folds made me want to beat on my chest and shout from the rooftops. She was mine, dammit. Mine and only mine. No one else would ever touch her, taste her, the way I was allowed to.
The louder her moaning got, the weaker my self-restraint became. I leaned over to reach for a condom, and she stopped me.
“It’s okay. Um, I’m on the pill,” she informed me.
I knew this. We practically lived together on the road. Seeing her take her birth control pills had bothered the shit out of me—until now.
“I know this.” I tore open the foil packet and sheathed myself, growing even harder because she was watching so closely. The streetlights peeking in from the half-open blinds lit her up like she was made of something other than skin. Something shiny and beautiful. And mine. “I also know it’s not a failsafe and you won’t be able to shake your ass all over the stage if you get pregnant.”
A slow smile spread across her lips. “You always put me first,” she whispered as I lowered myself into her, bracing myself above her by lacing our fingers together as I’d done before.
“And I always will.”
Everly
“Now can we fucking cuddle?” I asked, pouting up at him.
His low chuckle warmed me all over again. “I guess so. Come here, sexy ass.”
I snuggled down into the familiar cave of his embrace. Wiggling against him with my naked backside, I giggled when he groaned.
“Easy, now,” he cautioned. “Unless you’re ready for round two.”
Basking in afterglow of mind-blowing sex, I forced my mind to shut down. The truth was I didn’t really know what the hell I was or wasn’t ready for. I just knew I’d had the most amazing sex with my best friend and my bones were nonexistent. I was warm and happy and safe. Home. Where I belonged.
“Night, Jubb,” I whispered.
“That’s one,” he growled low in my ear.
I grinned into the darkness. “One of many to come.”
Waking up in Justin Cohen’s arms wasn’t exactly a new thing for me. Though waking up sore from the multiple late-night lovemaking sessions was.
I stretched out and twisted in each direction until my back popped. Yawning, I watched him sleep for a few minutes and a slow-motion montage of our friendship played behind my eyes.
When we were kids, he’d practically lived at my house. I used to wonder if he ever got sick of me. I was kind of obnoxious.
But he always stayed as long as possible, only leaving at bedtime on school nights. By ninth grade I knew why.
Pretty much everyone in Abbott Springs knew about his dad—all the adults, anyway. The man kept the local bar, Juke’s Box, in business.
After Jubb’s mom had bailed because she couldn’t deal, Frank Cohen treated Jubb like a person might treat a stray dog. Fed him occasionally. Made sure he didn’t die. But that was about as far as his particular brand of kindness went.
I stared at the man-boy sleeping next to me, remembering the countless times he’d been so good to me. Turned out he was patiently waiting for me to love him, for someone to freaking finally love him. The knowledge made my eyes wet with tears.
I placed my hand over my mouth to keep from making any noise. He didn’t talk about his dad much, and he’d just roll his eyes if he saw me getting all emotional about it now.
But tracing his tattoos with my finger, I saw them for what they were.
Protection.
Jubb had several scars from things that had happened when we were kids. One on his forearm, where he’d fallen off his bike into a drainage ditch with an exposed pipe. He’d needed stitches and probably a tetanus shot, but his dad had told him to shake it off.
There was another across his left shoulder, where he’d wrecked the hunk-of-junk motorcycle he’d rebuilt himself in eleventh grade.
Both of them were covered with thick black swirls of ink. Hidden away so he could move on, let go of his hurt, and be the kind of guy who loved me the way he did.
I sniffled, and he stirred. A warmth began to fill me and I smiled because I knew now.
This was what being in love felt like. I was almost jealous that he’d gotten here before me.
His eyelids began to flutter, probably because he could feel his creeper of a brand-new girlfriend watching him like a psycho.
Running my hands over his hard chest and down the lines of his tattoos, I slung my leg over his waist and straddled him.
“Good morning to you too,” he said sleepily, opening his eyes to meet mine.
“Morning,” I said, keeping my voice soft and low. Leaning down, I placed featherlight kisses down his neck and across
his chest.
“Whatcha doin’?” His voice was calm, casual. Like this was how we’d started every morning together. It wasn’t. But I promised myself it would be from now on.
Justin Cohen would wake up every morning knowing that he was loved. Cared about. Cherished.
“Loving you,” I answered, rocking my hips forward just enough to let him know what I wanted.
“Well, don’t let me interrupt.” He grinned, and I placed my mouth on his. His full lips moved gently against mine and then firmer. As our kissing intensified, he began to sit up.
Placing both palms flat on his bare chest, I pressed him back into the mattress. “Just let me, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After sliding a condom over his length because I knew he would insist on it, I adjusted my weight so I could get leverage above him. Sinking down onto him caused my head to loll back, and he let out a deep, satisfied sound. I leaned forward and clasped his hands. His eyes never once left mine as we moved together.
When we’d both finished, I collapsed on his chest.
“Promise me you won’t really leave the band,” I said against his damp skin.
His chest heaved beneath me as he sighed. “Jesus, Ev. Did you just wake me up so you could screw me into a coma and start making demands?”
“No,” I said, kissing his chest and grinning up at him. “But I need you. I can’t do this without you, and I realized something last night.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked with raised brows. “Just one something?”
I snickered. “Okay, I realized a few things. But one of them was that the reason I love the band, love performing, being on the road, all of it, is because of you.”
“And here I thought I was the thoughtful one.”
“You are. But I have my moments.”
He kissed me on the top of my head and tightened his arms around me. “That you do, Everly Abbott. That you do.”
“So you won’t bail on me? Even if this turns into a disaster of epic proportions?”
“Oh, if things don’t work out with the me being both your boyfriend and your guitarist, I’m out.”
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