by L A Cotton
Liam slid off the trunk onto the sand next to me. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” I kicked up my legs, sand spraying everywhere. “Fuck.”
“But it’s Macey Prince.”
“You keep saying that, but she’s just a girl, Liam.” He gave me the stink eye, and I shook my head with laughter. “There’s something about her.”
“She must have a golden fucking pus—”
“Seriously? You’re going there? You sound like Jared.”
“Sorry, man, that was uncalled for.” He nudged my shoulder. “So how long has it been going on?”
“A while.”
“Shit. What are you going to do?”
Well that was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?
I looked to the sky again and breathed, “I have no fucking idea.”
“SO YOU WANT TO HOLD this finger and this finger like this. This is the A Minor 7 chord.” I helped position Macey’s finger over the frets and then strummed down in a clean stroke. She plucked the pick from my other hand and began strumming away.
“Whoa there,” I said unable to hide my amusement. “You’re not beating it, you’re caressing it. You need to relax more. If you lock your wrist, it’s not going to work.”
“Caressing it? Really, Devon?” She glanced back at me and raised a brow, but I saw the flash of heat in her eyes.
I shuffled closer, pressing myself right up against her back until my mouth was at her ear. “Yeah,” I said covering her strumming hand with mine. “You want to caress the strings in downstrokes. See, like this.”
We played together, my fingers over hers moving in perfect synchronicity. “Devon,” she asked when I stopped, her voice thick with emotion. “Are we still talking about the guitar?”
“You tell me.” I smiled against her neck, inhaling the coconut lotion I knew she wore.
“You’re supposed to be teaching me. I’ll never learn if you keep distracting me.”
I maneuvered the guitar from her hands and stowed it to the side of us then pulled her down on the bed rolling her underneath me. “Are you sure you don’t want distracting?”
The way she looked up at me, it was everything, and I found myself suddenly speechless.
Part of me was so fucking angry at myself for confessing to Liam. But the other part—the part looking at her now, wondering how I got so lucky—was glad someone knew. Because if I woke up tomorrow and this was all a dream, or if things went to shit overnight, he could remind me that for a moment, I’d been fortunate enough to love Macey Prince in a way she’d never allowed anyone else.
“What?” she whispered.
“I’m crazy about you.” I couldn’t say the words when I knew she wasn’t ready to hear them. Macey was like my guitar in a lot of ways. She needed handling with care and attention. It was no good rushing her. With someone like Macey you had to be patient. You had to earn her trust. Then, only then, could you hope she opened up and let you in.
Macey averted her eyes, a streak of pink rushing into her cheeks.
“Hey.” I cradled her face in my hand, turning her back to me. “Don’t do that. Don’t hide.”
“Would you believe me if I told you I feel the same?” Her lips curved in an uncertain smile, but there was nothing uncertain about the conviction in her voice.
“I believe you.” I pressed a lingering kiss to her mouth. “This, us, it’s real, Princess.”
“Real,” it came out quiet as if she was testing the word out on her tongue.
Dipping my head, I ghosted my lips up her neck, sucking the soft skin just beneath her ear. Macey shuddered, a soft sigh escaping her lips. I smiled into the crook of her shoulder and whispered, “See, real.”
“I think you’d better do it again, just to be sure.” Her fingers sank into my hair, guiding my head to her lips.
I arched my brow, fighting a smirk. “Say it.”
“Devon, come on...”
“Humor me,” I said.
“Fine.” She acted indignant, but I caught the smile tugging at her lips. “Please.”
“Please what?”
“Please kiss me until there’s no doubt that this is real.”
My lips came down on hers, hard and demanding. I wouldn’t just kiss the truth into her, I’d imprint myself on her heart until she belonged to me, until there was no way in hell she could run again.
“Devon,” my name fell from her lips so full of need, it punched me straight in the chest. I rolled away, tucking myself against her side. She was so fucking beautiful lying there, vulnerable and all mine.
Trailing a finger down her stomach I hooked the hem of her t-shirt, tugging it up, revealing an expanse of toned sun-kissed skin. My eyes slid back to Macey who was staring at me with wonder. Fuck. I wanted to own this girl. This complicated, misunderstood, guarded girl.
“Don’t move,” I demanded, popping open the button on her jeans and gently shoving them down over her hips. Tracing the waistband of her black panties, I kept my eyes locked on hers. Macey began to wriggle as I moved my fingers lower, dancing over her center.
“Dev—”
I leaned in, capturing her mouth, stealing her words, as I dipped my hand inside the soft material. Macey moaned, but I stole that too, kissing her harder, deeper, as I pushed two fingers inside her. “This,” I said against her lips. “Is real. Tell me you feel it?”
She nodded, eyes glazed with lust as I withdrew my fingers, swiping her clit with my thumb and then slowly pushing them back inside her.
One of her hands reached out for me, clamping around my arm as I brought her to the brink. “De- Devon, I...” Her words came out choppy.
“What?” Dipping my head, I brushed my nose along her jaw, pecking her on the lip. “What do you need, Princess?” I curled my fingers up, rubbing her sweet spot, and her body began to shudder.
“It’s too much,” she breathed as I increased the rhythm.
“I’ve got you. Let go, it’s okay to—”
Macey cried my name as I stared down at her. But this time she didn’t try to hide from me. When her breathing calmed and her body settled, her eyes fluttered open and locked on mine.
And I knew.
No matter how much I wanted to own Macey Prince.
She already owned me.
Chapter 21
MACEY
Devon made me believe him. Last night, as we’d laid there on his bed staring at each other, he’d told me this thing between us was real.
And I believed him.
More than that, I felt it.
But my good mood was quickly ripped from under me when I saw Caitlin saunter toward me with hatred in her eyes.
I knew something was wrong.
Flanked by Trina and Monica, and a few other seniors, she kept her narrowed gaze focused on me as I kept walking toward the building.
“Cat,” I greeted her coolly, my senses on high alert. “Girls.” Forcing a smile in their direction, my gaze landed on Trina last. She looked hesitant, refusing to meet my eyes, fueling the warning bells sounding in my head. “Is everything okay?”
Caitlin sneered, disdain oozing from every pore. “You’ve got some nerve.” She folded her arms over her chest.
“Excuse me?”
“First you poison Maverick against me, and now this? I should’ve kicked you off the squad then. You Princes are all the same.”
Maverick?
What the hell did this—whatever this was—have to do with Maverick?
“Cat, I’m not sure what—”
She stepped closer, putting us almost nose to nose. “I know everything. Don’t even try to deny it.”
“Cat, I have no idea—” Realization slammed into me.
No.
No!
He said he wouldn’t tell anyone. Devon promised he wouldn’t breathe a word of our relationship until I was ready.
“You know he’s only fucking you because he can’t have me, right?”
“You don’t know what you’re
talking about.” I hated that my voice betrayed me, but I had to shut her down because Caitlin was a girl on a mission.
And unlucky for me, I was in her firing line.
“I heard him tell his friends that you were nowhere near as good as me. But how could you be? I had him wrapped around my little finger. Devon worshipped the ground I walked on. Do you really think he wouldn’t come crawling back if I snapped my fingers?”
Her cruel words stole the air from my lungs and I inhaled a harsh breath, pain obliterating my chest wide open.
She was wrong.
She had to be wrong.
Maybe she overheard Devon confiding to Liam or Jared about us, but he would never say those things. He didn’t feel that way about her anymore. He’d told me he didn’t feel anything for Caitlin.
Hadn’t he?
“I mean, what could he possibly see in you? You’re cold, Macey. If it wasn’t so pathetic, I’d almost feel sorry for—”
“Enough,” a familiar voice said, and I squeezed my eyes tight, wondering if this morning could get any worse.
“Oh, this is good. The estranged cousin coming to ice queen’s rescue. You should form a club; the sloppy-seconds society.”
“Caitlin,” Lo warned from beside me. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I didn’t want to see what lay in them.
A crowd had gathered. I felt their curious stares, heard their whispers. I never got into drama at school. I kept my head low and did my own thing. And until Devon it had been working just fine.
Devon.
Just thinking his name filled me with a warm fuzzy sensation. Only now it was tainted by the sting of his betrayal. He’d broken his promise, and in doing so he’d broken my heart.
“Is that...” Cat leaned closer, so close I could smell the overpowering scent of her jasmine perfume. “Are you crying?”
“Quit being a bitch, Caitlin,” Lo started, but I didn’t stick around to hear the rest.
They knew.
Everyone knew.
And soon Rick would know.
I took off toward my car. I couldn’t be in there with everyone looking and whispering. But I didn’t know where I was going either. My first thought was to call Devon, then I remembered he was the reason this was happening, and I felt sick all over again. Because he was a liar. Because bragging to his friends about me was more important than keeping his word.
God, I was so stupid. I’d believed him. I’d let him blind me with sweet words and tender kisses. Devon Lions was no different to Joel Jenkins, Zander Mollins, or Nathan Peters.
I ripped open the car door and folded myself inside, slamming it behind me. My hands gripped the steering wheel as I fought back the tears burning my throat. The backs of my eyes. My lungs.
Don’t cry.
Don’t cry.
Don’t cry.
I repeated the mantra over and over, trying to rein in my emotions. If I cried—if I allowed myself to break over this—I wasn’t sure I’d ever piece myself back together.
The passenger door swung open and Lo ducked inside.
“What are you—”
“Drive.” She gave me a tight smile. “And then we’ll talk.”
I wanted to tell her to get the hell out of my car, but the resigned expression on her face told me it was a losing battle. So I jammed the key in the ignition and backed out of the high school parking lot.
Wondering if I’d ever be able to show my face again.
I DROVE US TO THE BAY. There was a quiet parking lot overlooking the ocean. “Want to talk about it?” Lo asked as I cut the engine.
“What’s to say?”
“Is it true?”
“I...” the words almost choked me.
“You and Devon?”
I didn’t want to talk. At least of all with Lo. But she’d gotten in my car despite how I’d treated her over the last year. It shouldn’t have mattered, and pre-Devon it wouldn’t have. But he’d changed me. And for the first time since meeting her, my walls dropped a little.
“Look, I know we haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye since you came here,” I said flicking my gaze to hers. “But what he and Caitlin did to you and Rick last year was really shitty. I hated them both for it.”
“Oh, I’m over it.” I heard the soft shrug of her shoulders as I stared out at the waves crashing onto golden sand. “Devon apologized, and he stood up for me against Caitlin when she was saying some things...” Lo sighed. “It’s in the past.”
“You mean you’re not angry?”
“I won’t lie, Macey, this caught me by surprise, but I’m not angry.”
Well, I didn’t see that coming. Or maybe I did. Because Lo was selfless. Time and time again she put others first. It was just another thing I resented about her. She didn’t allow her pain to cripple her. If anything, it only made her stronger.
“That’s why you kept it a secret? Because you were worried I’d be angry.”
“Not you...” I corrected.
“Maverick.” His name left her lips in a soft sigh, hanging between us like an ocean too vast to swim.
“Rick’s different now, Macey. Calmer. Less overprotective.”
I turned my head, rolling my eyes, and she smiled. “Okay, he’s still an overprotective arsehole sometimes. But he’s our arsehole, and he only wants the best for his family.”
“He won’t accept this. I’ve seen how he is whenever Devon’s around. He watches him like a hawk, probably plotting all the ways he can torture him.”
Lo made a choking sound. “Jeez, Macey, you make him sound like a violent killer.”
“He used to fight for fun, Lo. He used to step into that ring and get the shit beaten out of him to numb the pain. Tell me that’s not messed up?”
She wrung her hands in her lap. “I’m not saying he’ll want to double date anytime soon, but if you care about Devon, he’ll understand. And if he doesn’t, I’ll make him.” The corner of her mouth lifted.
“Why?” The word slipped from my lips. “Why would you do that for me? I’ve been nothing but a bitch to you.”
Her smile grew, but it wasn’t mocking or indignant. It was genuine. Full of love and understanding, and I didn’t deserve it. “Because believe it or not, all I’ve ever wanted was for us to be friends. And like it or not, we’re family, Macey.”
I was slowly getting that.
Being with Devon, learning about his mom and dad and their failed marriage, and watching Devon pass over his dreams in favor of keeping his dad happy, made me realize I was lucky. Sure, our family had its fair share of problems, but it also stuck together.
I also realized that I’d harbored too much for too long. If Maverick had found a way to forgive Mom, maybe it was time I found a way to forgive them both.
I just didn’t know if I had it inside me.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said just as my cell phone started vibrating. I reached over, retrieving it from my backpack, my heart sinking at the sight of Devon’s name.
“You should answer it, hear him out.”
“There’s nothing he can say that will change anything. We’re done. It’s over.”
The words were like a tsunami of pain and I inhaled sharply as they washed over me. Devon promised. After confessing everything to him, revealing my deepest darkest secrets, he’d promised to give me time.
And he’d broken it.
Nothing would change that.
“Caitlin twists things, you know she does.” Lo went on. “The fact you kept this from everyone, tells me this thing between you and Devon, it’s more than just a casual fling.”
I silenced my cell phone and dropped it in the central console. “He lied to me. Whatever he has to say, it’s unforgivable.”
Lo pursed her lips. She wanted to say more, but I was relieved when she didn’t.
“You should get back to school,” I said. “I don’t want you to get into trouble.”
“And what about you?”
I fired up the engine and let out a resigne
d sigh. “I can’t go back there, not today.”
Because if I caught even so much as a glimpse of Devon I knew it wouldn’t be just my heart that was a bloody mess.
I ALMOST DIDN’T GO home.
News travelled fast in the halls of Wicked Bay High, and by now, I knew everyone would know.
Devon had called again. And again. He didn’t leave a message, but he did text. I deleted them without even reading them. I had nothing to say to him, and there was nothing he could say that would change anything. Even though I was sad, even though I already missed him, I knew I had only myself to blame.
For the last two years, I’d guarded my heart. Kept it locked away where no one could hurt it. I’d even kept Devon at arm’s length at first. Fought my attraction to him, the chemistry between us. Because deep down, I knew if I let him in, he’d break me.
Inside the sanctuary of my room, I locked the door and retrieved the two packets I had stored away in my desk. Much to Miss Tamson’s frustration, I still hadn’t decided on where I wanted to go. Before Devon, Florida State seemed like the obvious choice. It would be a fresh start. Away from my family. The constant lies and secrets. But then I let Devon in. I opened up to him and suddenly moving away didn’t seem like the best option anymore.
Stupid, stupid girl.
“Macey?” A knock at my door startled me and I shoved the packets to one side.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.” Summer’s voice filtered through the door.
“I’m fine.”
“Mace, come on, I’m worried.”
Maybe it was the heartache of Devon’s betrayal or maybe he really had started to soften my hard shell, but I found myself going to the door and unlocking it. Summer slipped inside, and I returned to the bed.
“Hey,” she said, closing the door behind her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t reply.” She’d sent a bunch of messages as soon as she’d heard.
“It’s okay. Can I do anything?”
Tears rushed up my throat, and this time I didn’t force them down. They slammed through me—violent shuddering sobs. Summer rushed to my side, wrapping me in her slender arms. “Ssh, I’m here. I’m right here.”