by Laura Pavlov
Shaw and Coco sat beside us, and Ivy, Maura, and Gigi were sitting on the other side of the couch. Ty was in the house making sure things weren’t getting out of control, and Jax walked outside and dropped to sit on the other side of me.
“Where’s Lydia?” I asked.
“Her friend Breanne just puked in a potted plant in the living room, so she’s trying to get her to the bathroom. I don’t think Ty is all too happy about it.” Jax shook his head and chuckled.
“I knew this was a bad idea. Of course, Alec pressured him into having the after-party because his parents were going out of town. I need to go help him.” Ivy pushed to her feet.
“I’ll help you,” Maura and Gigi said at the same time and everyone laughed as the three girls made their way inside.
“Well, if it isn’t the devil himself,” Coco hissed as Alec stepped outside.
“Hello to you too, Coco.” Alec rolled his eyes and shot her a glare.
“You do know that your best friend’s house is getting trashed. This was supposed to be a small party and somehow everyone and their frickin’ mother is here.” Coco raised a brow at him in question.
Ty had told us that he was pissed because Alec took it upon himself to invite way more people than Ty had agreed to.
“It’s a party. Aren’t you the queen of a good time?” Alec said, his words slurring, and everyone stiffened at his comment. The dude was an asshole. He never wavered.
“Are you seriously slut-shaming me, you piece of shit? You know nothing about me. And seeing as you only sleep with people that you aren’t actually dating, doesn’t seem like you’re in a position to throw stones.” Coco sat forward on the couch.
“Watch yourself, Taulson. You’re out of line.” Shaw pushed to his feet, squaring his shoulders as he moved into Alec’s space.
“I’ve got no beef with you, Coco. Just saying, lighten up. I actually came out here to find you,” Alec said, turning his attention to my girlfriend.
“Why?” she asked. Irritation rolled off her as she moved her body closer to mine.
“Come on, Addy. I just wanted to talk to you about an issue with my parents. It’s not something I can really talk to anyone else about. Unless you aren’t allowed to be away from your boyfriend for two fucking seconds to have a conversation with a friend who you’ve known your entire life.”
The piece of shit had no shame. He’d guilt her into doing what he wanted because she’d finally seen through his bullshit and it was the only way he’d get her to agree.
Adelaide turned to face me. “Give me a minute.”
I let out a long breath and every muscle in my body tensed. He was clearly drunk, and the dude just rubbed me wrong. Always had.
“You sure?” I leaned closer and whispered in her ear.
“Yeah. And then we can head out, okay?” Her little nose skimmed against mine before she pushed to her feet.
“You can’t talk to Karina about your problems?” Coco asked when Alec’s fake ass smile spread across his face because Adelaide had agreed to speak to him.
“I haven’t known Karina my whole life, Coco. But thanks for fucking asking.” He shot her the bird.
“That fucking guy. I will not miss seeing that asshole every day,” Shaw hissed, dropping back down to sit beside Coco.
I pushed to my feet and watched as Alec led Adelaide around the side of the house. What the fuck was he up to? I paced around the patio, trying to figure out how to handle the situation. I wasn’t going to tell her who to talk to. I wasn’t an asshole. But I sure as fuck didn’t like it. Alarm bells were going off in my head, and I fought with every instinct that I had not to react. Not to make a scene.
“I don’t fucking like this. I don’t trust him.” I tugged at my hair and glanced back around beside the house, but I couldn’t see them anymore.
“It’ll be all right. He won’t do anything.” Coco pushed to her feet and moved beside me. “She loves you. You know that. But she has a lot of guilt about Alec and all he’s going through, because that’s Addy. And he knows how to prey on that. He’s so manipulative. And he reeks of whiskey, so I’m guessing he broke into Ty’s dad’s liquor cabinet. He has zero respect for anyone but himself.”
The sound of a muffled scream came from around the corner, and I was moving before I could even process what it was. Coco and Shaw were on my heels and when I rounded the corner of the house, I saw red.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Adelaide
“Stop being so dramatic. I just want to talk to you.” Alec’s grip on my arm was so tight, I’d slapped it away. But he’d gripped harder, his hand came over my mouth and I’d startled. He’d never been physical with me. But he shoved me up against the brick siding of the house, and his eyes were wild. “You need to stop this game, Addy. You’ve made your point. It’s enough. You know we’re going to be together.”
I bit down on his hand and stomped hard on his foot as I tried to catch my breath from him practically smothering my airways. He reeked of booze and his hair was disheveled. He was a mess in every sense of the word.
“Fuck. You bit me? What the hell,” he said through his laughter. Obviously, it hadn’t hurt him much, or the boy had just lost all ability to feel anything anymore.
“Let me go.” I shoved at his chest and tried to get around him. Two tall evergreens were beside us, and it felt as if the walls were closing in around me. My breaths grew labored, and panic was setting in.
Was I afraid of Alec?
The boy I’d known my entire life?
We may not be together anymore, but we were family. He’d never hurt me, would he?
“Why? So you can be with that piece of shit? Enough is enough. I said I was sorry about Karina. Stop this shit. We’re going to school together next year, and it’s time to put this behind us.” He pressed hard against my shoulders, trying to keep me in place. His face was so close to mine and I turned my head as fear engulfed me.
“You’re hurting me,” I shouted, hoping it would snap him out of it, or someone else would hear me. Alec was a lot bigger than me, and my first attempt at pushing him away had been an epic failure.
My mind raced with what to do.
I couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Yeah? Well, you’re hurting me, Addy. You’re hurting me so fucking bad. My fucking family is falling apart, and you haven’t been there for me. My dad is moving out. My mom is a mess.” His words broke on a sob, but he pressed me harder against the wall and shook me. My head fell back, slamming against the brick twice, and I yelped.
Alec jerked back and tears that I hadn’t even realized were falling made it difficult for me to make out what was happening. Jett was there. Everything blurred together as the movements were fast and jerky. Jett was on top of Alec, and he hit him hard in the face as fury spewed around him. Shaw and Jax were there, pulling Jett to his feet. Coco hurried toward me, and I shook my head with disbelief.
“Addy? Are you okay?” Coco reached for my arm and I jumped. I glanced down to see Jett’s jacket had slipped from one shoulder and I pulled it into place quickly.
“Yes. I’m okay.” My hand flew to my chest as I tried to get my breathing under control. My gaze locked with Jett’s as he shrugged his two best friends off and moved toward me.
“What happened?” he asked, searching my face, and gently tucking my hair behind my ears.
“He, I don’t know. He was angry, and…” I couldn’t find the words for what had just happened, because I was still trying to process it.
“She’s fine. Fuck you all. I thought I knew you, Addy. I was wrong,” Alec shouted, as he pushed to his feet and spit on the ground before storming away.
“Did he touch you?” Jett asked, and the look of concern in his eyes nearly brought me to my knees.
I shook my head, but when I tried to speak, a sob escaped my
throat. The tears came faster and more hurried now, and I covered my mouth to try to stop my emotions from overflowing.
Alec Taulson had just been aggressive with me. Physically aggressive. I was afraid of him. The boy I’d known my whole life.
Jett wrapped me in his arms, and I buried my face in his chest. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
We stepped out of the bushes and I looked up to see the faces of a very worried Coco, Shaw, and Jax. “I’m okay. I think he’s really drunk. He’s never done anything like that before.”
Coco wrapped her arms around both Jett and me, which made me laugh through my tears.
“Will you text me later and let me know you’re okay?”
“Of course,” I said.
Jett’s fingers intertwined with mine, and he led me to the car. Neither of us had any alcohol. We wanted to be clear-headed tonight. I was spending the night with him, and I wanted to remember every moment. But now, Alec had left a dark cloud over our heads, and I hated him for that.
Jett leaned over to buckle my seat belt once I was in the car.
“Do you want me to take you home instead? You’ve had a rough night,” he asked after he slipped in the driver’s seat and turned to face me.
“No. I think he probably wanted to ruin my night, and we aren’t going to give him that. I want to be with you. Nothing’s changed.” I lowered the interior mirror and tried to clean up my face.
“You were just assaulted by that asshole. Everything has changed.”
“Not between us. I love you. That hasn’t changed. And honestly, that’s all that matters right now. Please, please, don’t let him ruin this for us.”
His jaw clenched, but he nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner. I was trying to be respectful. Can you tell me what happened?”
“Thanks for coming when you did. He was drunk and angry. Shouting at me that I haven’t been there for him with all he’s going through.” A tear ran down my face and I swiped it away. I looked down to see my hands trembling in my lap and I squeezed them together to try to stop the shaking.
“That piece of shit. I love you so much, you know that, right?” he asked.
“I do.”
“Did he put his hands on you?” His gaze studied mine, searching me for answers. I got the feeling that he was waiting for my answer before he’d pull away from the curb.
“He just shook me a bit. I’m fine. I really want to get out of here though, Jett.” I wiped away the last of my tears and forced a smile. Alec wasn’t going to ruin this night for us. He was drunk and lost and I’d tried to help him, but I was done. He’d crossed a line tonight that I didn’t know if we would ever recover from.
And I was okay with that.
Sad? Sure.
But after what he’d just done, I was certain I didn’t know him at all anymore.
Jett pulled away and reached for my hand. “Okay. It’s taking everything in me to drive away. I want to go beat his ass.”
“Please don’t. I just want to go. Just you and me.”
He drove down the dirt road toward our favorite spot on the lake and told me to wait in the car for a minute before he stepped outside. I looked through the front window just as candles lit up the space around the hammock. Jett opened the passenger door, my overnight bag slung over his shoulder, and I took his hand.
“What is this?” I asked, my gaze moving around to see a tent surrounded by white candles. Even the large tree had twinkle lights.
“We were out here today setting it all up,” he said, holding up two little remotes in his hand.
“I can’t believe you did this,” I said as he led me over to the adorable little campsite. He dropped my bag at his feet.
“I had help. Your musketeers are quite the little worker bees when they’re doing something for you.” He wrapped his arms around my middle, my back to his chest, as I took it in.
“Magic Willows.” I laughed and turned in his arms. “Thank you for doing this.”
“I’d do anything for you, Ace.” His words were sweet, but I saw the struggle in his dark eyes. Anger. Sadness. Frustration.
“I’m fine. I promise. He was just drunk.”
“I wanted to hurt him. If Shaw and Jax hadn’t pulled me off, I don’t know if I would have stopped,” he said, his thumb grazing along my bottom lip. “You sure he didn’t hurt you?”
“I’m sure. He just squeezed my shoulders,” I said, not wanting to tell him that the back of my head had also taken a couple shots when he shook me.
He slipped his coat down my shoulders and pulled his phone from his back pocket. He turned the flashlight on and held it above my arms, scanning each one as he cursed under his breath. I looked from one shoulder to the next, taking in the bruising that had already turned a purplish-blue.
“I’ll fucking kill him,” Jett hissed.
I shifted my arms, slipping his coat back in place.
“He’s miserable, trust me. You don’t need to get in trouble over him. And we actually have tonight together. Just you and me. I don’t want to waste another second on him.”
“Okay.” He nodded, and I didn’t miss the stress that he tried to hide from his gaze. “What do you want to do?” he asked as he pulled me back into his arms. My hands tangled in his hair and my breathing picked up at his nearness.
“I know it’s cold, but I think we should night swim.” I bit down on my bottom lip at the thought. Night swimming was on my bucket list, as was swimming in my birthday suit with my boyfriend.
He cocked his head to the side. “Did you bring your swimsuit?”
“Nope.” I shook my head, feeling the heat spread up the back of my neck.
He quirked a brow. “Me either. Let’s do it.”
He carried my bag and we slipped inside the tent. There were several candles inside the cozy pavilion and even after all that had happened in the last hour, I was suddenly overcome with desire. I think having the warmth of someone I cared about was really important to me right now and would make us both forget what happened earlier in the evening. This was what I wanted to remember, the night I was finally going to get to spend the night with Jett. God knows I’d thought about it more times than I could count.
I pulled two towels out of my duffel bag and handed him one.
“You brought towels?” He laughed. “No bathing suit, but a towel to dry off with. I like your style, Ace.”
The way that he looked at me left me weak in the knees and he hadn’t even touched me yet. He unbuttoned his dress shirt and shrugged it off his shoulders. My breath caught in my throat as I studied his chiseled abs and muscled chest. I moved closer, running my fingers over his tattoo, wanting to touch every inch of him. He undid the button on his dress pants, and they dropped in a puddle on the floor. His black briefs hugged his body like a second skin, drawing attention to the enormous elephant in the room.
And oh my god.
Calling it enormous was an understatement.
“Wow.”
He laughed again, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as I sucked in a long breath.
“You know we don’t have to do anything tonight. There’s no pressure. I’m just happy we get to spend the night together.”
“I want to do things,” I said, startled by the sound of my own voice. It was gruff and laced with need.
He chuckled. “Oh yeah? What things do you want to do?”
I leaned forward and reached for the hem of his briefs. “All the things.”
I tugged his briefs down and stared in awe at the sight of him when they dropped to his ankles. He stood there totally confident, like this wasn’t something we hadn’t done hundreds of times before.
“When do I get to see you?” he rasped.
I turned around and waited for him to unzip my dress. I could feel his warm breath on my skin and goo
se bumps ran down my neck and back. He leaned forward and kissed my shoulder, unsnapping my strapless bra as his lips trailed back up my neck.
He turned me around to face him and I held my breath, unable to move.
“So beautiful, Ace,” he whispered.
I stood there, completely bare aside from my lace panties.
“You still want to swim?” he whispered, and he leaned down and kissed my shoulders again where Alec had marked me.
“Yes. Let’s go in the water first.” I needed to calm down. My body was on fire. Desire all but engulfed me. I didn’t know how to handle these feelings. I leaned down and slipped my underwear down my legs as he studied me as if he were memorizing every inch of me. Every curve. Every line. I shivered and he reached for a towel and wrapped it around me.
“Are you sure those bruises don’t hurt?”
I tucked the top of the towel around my chest and watched as he wrapped the other towel around his waist. I reached in my bag for a hair tie and piled my hair in a bun on top of my head. There was a makeshift bed with lots of blankets and pillows on the tent floor and butterflies rushed my belly.
“I’m positive. Come on.” I ducked through the small opening to get out the door and we walked down to the water where we’d stood hundreds of times before. But this time things were different.
“You sure you want to do this? The water’s going to be cold.” He quirked a brow.
I dropped my towel and ran into the dark, cold water. I didn’t stop until I was neck deep and howling in laughter. Jett came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.
“It’s not as bad as I expected.” I turned so I was facing him, my hands around his neck. He hiked me up so he could hold me, and my legs came around his waist. I giggled again as I felt his desire beneath me.
He smirked. “Are you seriously laughing because I have a boner? You do realize that you’re naked in my arms.”
“I thought cold water took care of that?”
“I don’t think anything could take care of that when I’m with you,” he said, his lips grazing mine.
His mouth covered mine, tasting and exploring, and my hands tangled in his hair. We were both breathless and I couldn’t stop my hips from grinding up against him. It was clear that he wanted me as much as I wanted him. I was no longer cold, not even a little bit. In fact, I was burning up.