Shattered Edge

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Shattered Edge Page 12

by A. M. Hargrove


  “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

  “Justin, you only hurt me because you wouldn’t talk to me. Don’t do that to me. You can’t put a wall up between us because that’s a sure fire way to destroy what we have going here. If you have an issue or concern, voice it.”

  “I will. I’m so sorry honey. I just started feeling so inadequate and thinking that maybe you deserved someone better than me.”

  I fisted my hands in his shirt and pulled him to me saying, “Don’t you think I should be the judge of that? I’m a big girl and I get to make my own decisions about stuff like that.”

  He scooped me up and said, “I need to get you off that leg and ankle. And I’m not going to abandon you again. Up we go.” He carried me back up the stairs and put me down on the bed. Then he leaned in for a kiss, a long, slow, soft and sexy one.

  When he finally pulled away, I said, “If you ever think about taking that away from me again, you better check with me first buster.”

  He laughed a little. Then he laughed harder.

  “Terri, that thing you did earlier...you know, with the ice? I’m gonna do that to you sometime. Just giving you fair warning.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Oh yeah!”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Justin

  Every time I think how I almost blew it I want to throw up. What the hell was I thinking? How could I let Ava and her blabbing mouth effect me like that? I groaned inwardly. I was getting to the point where I could barely stand to think about it. Seeing Terri standing there, crying like that. My guts felt like they’d been torn out and had acid poured on them. I don’t ever want to make her feel that way again...ever.

  Thank God the second X-ray turned out okay too. That would’ve really put the nail in my coffin. She’d ended up with a relatively good sized bruise and a painful sprain, but other than that, all was good.

  I was still dealing with that crazy bitch at work though. I’d filed a complaint with Human Resources claiming sexual harassment. The paperwork involved with that was ridiculous. I’d called our family attorney, John Remington, and he’d advised it. He said if she was that crazy, it was best to have a paper trail on her. No telling what would come of it. Terri was in the loop and agreed with John on everything.

  Thanksgiving had passed and Terri spent it with her parents. I was on call so everything worked out perfectly. Pearce and Lexi were due home this coming weekend. He was going to have a killer call schedule to make up for his month long vacation. My parents were throwing a welcome back brunch for them on Sunday and I was taking Terri. Lexi was going to drop her drawers when she saw that we were together.

  Since I wasn’t on call that weekend, I’d spent the night at Terri’s on Saturday.

  “Let’s get there a few minutes early babe. I want to see the shock on their faces when they see us together.”

  “Justin, do you think we should warn them?”

  “Huh uh. This’ll be fun.”

  We got there about ten minutes before everyone else. I knew Terri was psyched to see Lexi. She’d really missed her this last month.

  We heard their voices and when they walked in the room, arm in arm, Lexi did a double take when she saw Terri. Especially since my arm was draped around her and she was tucked into my side, nice and tight, just the way I liked it.

  “What? You two? Wait! The wedding?” she asked with a huge smile. Pearce was right next to her with that same grin on his face.

  Terri and I both nodded and said, “Yeah!” in unison. Then we all laughed really hard. The girls hugged and giggled and acted like they were twelve for about ten minutes.

  Pearce came up to me and elbowed me in the ribs. “So, you and Terri huh? And it’s going pretty well?”

  I bobbed my head like some goofy assed kid. “Uh huh.”

  He laughed. “Damn bro, you’ve got it bad.”

  I just kept bobbing my head. There was no use in denying it. He was no idiot and he’d find out the truth anyway. “Uh huh.”

  He slapped me on the back and said, “Buddy are you ever in for it.”

  I looked at him like a deer in the headlights. I mean, I was living the dream. What in the hell was he talking about?

  Pearce just laughed harder and said, “Just wait man, just wait.”

  I shrugged and walked over to get some appetizers.

  Everything was humming along perfectly fine until Ava waltzed into the room. She ran and hugged Lexi, said a brief hello to both Terri and me and then dragged Lexi out of the room. I didn’t think much about it because the two of them were really close.

  A few minutes later I was on a trek to the bathroom. On my way back to the den, I was lured into a side room by Ava. I knew from the look on her face this was not going to be for a fun little chat. I already felt my shoulders and neck tightening up, not to mention my ass.

  She shoved me into the corner where she and Lexi began an interrogation of sorts. They took turns badgering me about my sordid behavior of the past, the menage a trois from last spring, how they would destroy me if I hurt Terri and on and on. I finally shut them out and let them blather on about their notions over how I was a douche and an asshat.

  Soon, I heard footsteps in the distance that kept getting louder. They weren’t ordinary footsteps. No, these had a purpose to them. In fact, they were so forceful, they drowned out everything the girls were yapping about. I was extremely curious about whom they belonged to. Suddenly the door was thrown back so hard it crashed into the wall behind it, bouncing off it a few times before it came to a rest. Lexi and Ava finally shut their mouths and turned to see what had made such a loud racket.

  Well, let me tell you what. There Terri stood in the doorway, her long dark hair loose and untamed and her eyes flickering with unbridled anger. She reminded me of what I’d always imagined one of the Furies would look like. She marched straight up to Lexi and Ava and started lambasting them.

  Turning to Lexi first she said, “I can’t believe you. You have no right, none what so ever, to come into this home and berate him like that. You’ve been gone this last month so you have no idea what’s taken place between us. You are unaware of how he’s treated me...that he’s protected me...helped me when Preston came to my home. Yes Lexi, that’s right. Justin was right by my side, handling things. He’s also done a hell a lot more that’s none of your fucking business. But how dare you? Did I ever do that to Pearce where your past was concerned? Did I?”

  Terri was close to shouting by now.

  Lexi shook her head and said, “No, but...”

  “You’re damned right I didn’t. And do you know why? Because it wasn’t my place Lexi. It was yours. Just like it was Justin’s. And it’s been handled so you need to keep your nose out of this. Have I made myself clear?”

  Lexi just stood there and nodded. Terri then turned to Ava and the tight rein she’d had on her anger flew right out the window.

  “And you! For God’s sake, he’s your brother!” she spat out. “You’re supposed to stand up for him...you’re supposed to have his back, not knock him down every chance you get. What the hell kind of sister are you? It makes me wonder how you treat your friends.”

  Then for the coup de grace, she said to both of them, “If either one of you ever makes a disparaging comment about Justin’s past to either him or me again, I will consider that a breach of our friendship. And Ava, I will consider it a serious breach of family relations. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone treated so horribly in my life. And this shit show coming from you Lexi, considering how your family ditched you, makes me ashamed of your behavior.”

  And what she did next made me want to curl up around her and never let her go. She walked right up to me and slid her hands into my hair, raised herself to her tiptoes and laid the biggest kiss on me I’d ever had. My arms went around her waist and tightened so I could lift her off the ground in my arms as we continued to kiss...and kiss...and kiss. What an avenging angel my girl turned out to be!

  God I
didn’t want to, but I knew I had to pull away. What I really wanted to do was take her upstairs, undress her and make love to this beautiful woman standing in front of me. My body screamed for her, my heart pounded for her and I was hard as stone for her.

  “You amaze me. In every way.” I kissed her again and couldn’t stop my hand from traveling to that place where I always felt something pushing at my chest. I rubbed it for a second and then I grabbed her hand and placed it right over that spot and held it there. She looked at me in a curious way, but I didn’t say a word, I just looked at her gorgeous face and smiled.

  “Come on. We better get back to the party before they send out a posse.”

  “I couldn’t care less about a posse right now. I just want you in my arms Justin.”

  How did she always know the right thing to say? There was a door that led to the back courtyard so I pulled her outside and into my arms. It was chilly out, but not too bad. We sat on an old bench and kissed for a bit. My hands were all over her. I tried not to touch her in places I shouldn’t be, but I swear I had to ball up my hands in fists and she was the one who opened them up and put them on her body.

  “It’s okay. You can touch me.”

  “I didn’t want anyone to see us. I don’t want them to get the wrong impression of you Terri.”

  She gave me a cheeky grin and said, “Ah, worried about my reputation, are you?”

  “Uh huh,” I said as I picked up her hand and kissed her fingers. “I’m always worried about your reputation.” I began to suck on her index finger. I slid the whole thing into my mouth and then pulled it out and bit the soft end of it. But I just left it there and let my tongue swirl around the tip.

  She was very quiet as I did that and I watched the expression on her face go from playful to seriously seductive in zero point two seconds.

  “I wanna go home. Can we go home and then come back?”

  “No Terri,” I whispered, right before I repeated the same sucking action on her next finger. She sucked in her breath and then softly moaned. When I completed my finger torture I took her chin in my hand and lifted it so I could kiss her and I whispered against her mouth, “Now you’ll have lots to look forward to. When I get you home I’m going to suck on every one of your fingers like that and then I’m going to lick you all over Terri, right before I make love to you.”

  I watched her throat working itself, trying to swallow. She was aroused, as was I. My pants were grabbing me so I needed to cool things off here before we went inside, although the thought of her all hot and bothered just made me want to get all jacked up again.

  I took her hand in mine and stood, helping her to her feet. She had a dazed look on her face and her cheeks were all flushed.

  “You look a little feverish babe. Are you all right?” I smiled.

  She cleared her throat and nodded, not answering. Stopping, she turned to me and her eyes scanned the terrace. I wasn’t sure what was going through her mind but she pulled my arm and we were soon heading away from the house. I think I knew what she was thinking and everything south of the border jerked in reaction. The garage was dead ahead and my girl was on a mission.

  Terri had the side door swinging open and was pulling me into her arms as fast as my mind could take it all in.

  “Don’t you ever tease me like that unless we have a place to bring it to a close.” Her hands were unbuttoning my pants and mine were doing the same to hers. There was a workbench in the back of the garage and we headed straight for it. I lifted her up there and slipped inside of her in one motion. Her fingers were gripping my shoulders as we kissed and I had one of my hands beneath her sweet ass.

  We both had been in such a state that it didn’t take either of us long before we hit that place we’d been seeking. For me I was afraid I couldn’t hold on long enough for her to join me. I put the pad of my thumb on her little nub and pressed down. I began rubbing her and within seconds, she was sinking her teeth into the shirt covering my shoulder.

  We looked at each other and started kissing and damn if didn’t want to start all over again.

  “Justin, we need to go back inside,” she said all breathy like.

  I rotated my hips and heard her moan and, well, hell, there wasn’t a chance we were gonna do that right yet.

  “Not yet honey.”

  I picked her up and bent her over the car and we started our sweet little gig again. I couldn’t seem to get enough of her. Just when I thought I was satisfied, she gave me that look, or kissed me and it was all I can do not to go batshit crazy in her arms. It hit me then...and I knew I had it bad for this girl.

  My arm circled her waist and I took my other hand and started massaging her again, knowing that’s what she likes. The sounds she made were enough to set me off again. My belly tightened with need and it shot straight through to the souls of my feet. She stole my breath every bit as much as I stole hers when I drove deep inside of her. Then I pulled out and just hovered at her opening, until I heard that sweet little sexy whine. That was my cue she was ready for a repeat. I could only do that a couple of times because it became way more than I could handle. It didn’t take long before I felt her orgasm squeezing me, pulling everything out of me as I spilled myself into her.

  Now, both of us were spent. When things finally calmed down a bit, I pulled out and turned her around. I just had to have a look at her eyes, her luscious wet mouth and how her hair always had that perfectly sexy look after we made love.

  “Damn, you are one sexy girl honey.”

  “Yeah? Well you’re not so bad yourself.”

  I dropped my gaze down to her rumpled clothing and then my eyes roamed over her sexiness. I noticed the wetness across my thighs and smiled. “One day we’re going to make love in front of a mirror so you can see what you look like Terri.” She actually blushed and didn’t that make me feel all rosy on the inside?

  Then I said, “I hate this but...”

  “I know, we really need to get back.”

  We laughed.

  “They’re all gonna know,” I said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Babe, if you could see how you look.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Please, don’t take offense at this remark because I really mean it as a compliment, but you totally have that freshly fucked look and it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Her mouth turned into an O at first and then dropped wide open.

  I put my hand under chin to close it and laughed.

  “Babe, you couldn’t possibly look any better. Seriously, I mean it as a compliment.”

  She elbowed me and said, “But Justin, I don’t want your parents to think I’m a ho!”

  I thought I’d fall down laughing.

  We both zipped and buttoned up. I ran my fingers through my hair and then helped her with hers.

  “Lipstick?” I asked her. I was wondering if she had any because I had kissed all hers off.

  “Oh holy hell!”

  “What?”

  “You have my lipstick everywhere.”

  Thinking she was referring to my face, I said, “So we’ll wipe it off.”

  “No, it’s all over your shirt. On your shoulders, it’s on your neck. Justin it’s everywhere.”

  I looked down and over to where she was pointing and there was no way to hide it...I was one huge lipsticky mess.

  I chewed on my lips, trying my damnedest not to laugh. “Well, they will surely know now what we’ve been up to.”

  “Oh my God. I’m going to die of embarrassment.”

  I couldn’t hold it in any more and really let out a hearty laugh this time. Pretty soon she joined in and we were caught up in it.

  “No use in trying to hide it now. I don’t have another shirt to change into so we’re stuck honey.”

  “Well, I’m just going to blame it on Lexi. If she so much as whispers one word, I’m gonna kill her.”

  ********

  We walked into the den and my
mother said, “There you two are! We were wondering where you two...” And the look on her face was priceless. Terri’s face looked like the cranberry juice on the bar that my dad had used to make the Cosmo he was getting ready to hand her.

  My mom grabbed our hands, pulled us out of the room and took us upstairs. When we got to the second floor she said in a low voice, “Justin, go find a shirt from your father’s closet to wear. Terri, you’ll find a brush in my bathroom. Justin, show her where it is.” And she left us with a wink and went back downstairs.

  “Oh my God. We must look like hell Justin.”

  Grabbing her hand, I said, “Come on. Let’s hurry.”

  I took her into my parents’ bedroom and pushed her into the bathroom. She brushed her hair and fixed her make up while I changed shirts. It only took a couple of minutes and we were back in the den in no time with my mom giving us a big smile.

  She came up to us and whispered, “Much better dears.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Terri

  December was skipping by on winged feet. Christmas was a week away. Justin and I had done all the shopping for the children in need and had delivered the gifts last week. His office Christmas party was that night and I was getting dressed. I was going over my list of things I had to do as far as gifts were concerned. He had been difficult to buy for since he had just about everything. Lexi and Pearce had helped.

  I decided to get him the Nike Sportswatch with GPS since he’d indicated that he was going to train for a marathon this year. I would also download the corresponding App to his iPhone so he could track his progress.

  Pearce also recommended a painting by a local Charleston artist, Laurie Meyer, so I bought him one of those too. I was pleased with his gifts and I hoped he would be too.

  He was picking me up in about twenty minutes so I needed to get a move on. The party was a Tacky Christmas Sweater Party. Justin was going as Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in my honor, since it was one of my all time favorite movies.

 

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