by Jen Davis
He trapped her nipple between his middle and index fingers, plucking it gently. Moaning, she arched her back, thrusting her ass against his dick. His hand traveled leisurely down her flat stomach, over her mound to her bare, sweet pussy. She was slick, wet, and ready to take him.
Without prompting, Olivia lifted her leg, sliding it up, over his thigh, clearing the way for him to push himself inside. He’d meant to go slow, to glide his thickness over the sweet valley between her thighs, but his cock drove home on the first thrust.
A groan escaped his throat. Making love to this woman was like nothing he’d ever felt before. It was more than his dick, more than his body; his soul connected with hers. His heart beat for her. If anyone had ever described sex to him that way before, he would have never believed it.
It seemed love made all the difference.
His fingers rubbed at her clit as his cock filled her up. “You feel so good, baby. I’m not gonna last.”
She turned her head, giving him her profile. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “We have all the time in the world.”
Her words lit a match to the lust ready to ignite in his veins. Still, he was determined to get her there with him. He rubbed harder, faster, his fingers flying over the center of her pleasure. It wasn’t until she cried out, he allowed himself to come with her, her contracting walls heightening his pleasure.
He kept her in his arms when they finished. “I wish I could always wake up this way.”
“You can,” she sighed sleepily. “All you have to do is ask.”
Though Olivia fell back asleep, her words kept him awake far longer.
***
Liv
Will looked so young and fragile lying in his hospital bed, hooked up to IVs and machines. A four-year age difference had seemed so much when Liv was growing up, and when both their parents died, he was the protector and provider all rolled into one.
She could have lost him last night.
Izzy sat vigil in the chair next to his bed. The doctors had moved him to a private room while Liv was home sleeping the day away. She’d bet all the money in her bank account Iz hadn’t slept a wink.
“You need to go home and get some dinner and sleep,” she said gently, resting her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “It’s already six o’clock.”
“What if he wakes up?” Izzy rubbed her eyes. “What if he doesn’t? What if he needs me and I’m not here?”
As much as she loved both her siblings, there was a special bond between the two of them she didn’t always understand. It had been even stronger since Will had gotten out of jail. She didn’t begrudge them; she knew there was enough love in their family to go around.
“I’ll be here, Iz. I know you want to stay, but you’re no good to him this way.” Deep circles ringed beneath Izzy’s eyes, and her hands trembled. “Grab a few hours of shut-eye. Take a shower. Come back in the morning. I promise I’ll call you if anything happens during the night.”
With one last mournful look at their brother, Izzy stood and trudged out of the room, leaving Liv alone to watch over him.
The wait lasted only a few hours. Around nine, Will’s hand twitched. A few minutes later, his eyelids crept open. It took a little while for him to process his surroundings, but once he did, he tugged on the tube taped to his mouth.
“Will, no. The tube’s helping you breathe.”
His eyes bulged, and he thrashed on the bed, making gagging sounds. She hit the button for the nurse, then laid across her brother’s arms and torso, to keep him from hurting himself.
The nurse joined her quickly and pushed what Liv imagined was a sedative into his IV. His thrashing stopped. “It’s a normal reaction to waking up with a tube,” the nurse assured her. “We’ve been lowering the ventilator support in the past few hours. We’ll be ready to take it out first thing in the morning.”
Despite her promise, she didn’t bother her sister with an update, though she did call Jonathan, and they talked for a while. He was home in her bed, taking it easy. He still had his own healing left to do.
Part of her wished she could be there with him, but her family needed her now. The only reason Will was even in this condition was because of her. The least she could do was be here for him, no matter what kind of dread this hospital dragged up.
She watched TV and played on her phone before dozing off around midnight. She woke at dawn to the sound of her brother snapping his fingers. He appeared irritated and impatient, but at least he wasn’t losing his shit.
“I’m awake,” she mumbled, searching for the call button. “Let me call the nurse.”
She stepped out as the medical team removed her brother’s tube. His hacking cough echoed down the hall. Izzy should’ve had a fair amount of sleep overnight, so she texted her to return.
She considered taking a seat in the waiting room, but her feet passed the row of chairs and continued toward the elevator. Up to the sixth floor. To oncology.
The space was achingly familiar and worlds apart at the same time. Her cancer treatment felt like a lifetime ago, but if she closed her eyes, she could imagine Carol standing next to her. Laughing with her. Crying with her.
“Tell me it didn’t come back.”
Liv didn’t need to open her eyes to recognize Donna’s gravelly voice. The fifty-something nurse had been here with her through it all.
“No. The doc says I’m in complete remission. I’m only here as a visitor.” She turned to stare into the woman’s warm brown eyes. “Being here takes me back.”
Donna tsk’d. “There’s no going back, sweetheart. Only forward.”
She rubbed at her chest, trying to soothe the growing ache. “Carol used to say the same thing.”
“Where do you think she heard it in the first place?”
A smile tugged at her cheeks, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. “I miss her,” she whispered.
Donna nodded and grasped Liv’s shaking hand in her dark, steady one. “Of course, you do. But you know she wouldn’t want you to keep mourning. She’d want you to—”
“Live. I know.”
The nurse led her to a cluster of chairs and waited while Liv worked out what she wanted to say.
“Ever since I lost her, I keep thinking of her advice. For a long time, I tried to live the way she would’ve wanted me to, but I was missing the point, huh?”
Donna held her gaze.
“I’m not supposed to live how she wanted me to. I’m just supposed to—live.”
“You were like family to her. You were there when she needed someone in her life the most.” Donna’s smile was encouragement, sympathy, and a little bit of pride. “She told me once there’s all kinds of ways to love. When it’s right, the more you give, the more it fills you up. She loved you like that. You filled her up.”
“She did the same for me.”
“Then part of her is still here.” Donna tapped Liv’s chest. “Thanks to you, she lives on.”
The ride back down the elevator passed in a bit of a fog, but by the time she returned to the third floor, she felt a clarity she didn’t even know she’d been missing. She was about to sit with a cup of vending machine coffee when the nurse waved her in.
Will still appeared miserable, but without the tube, at least he looked like he was going to recover. He wore an oxygen mask, but it comforted her to know every breath he took was his own.
She returned to her seat beside him. “How can I ever thank you?”
Her brother lifted the mask. “I didn’t save you.” His voice sounded like sandpaper, and he winced, putting the mask back in place.
What the hell difference did it make? “You almost died for me. It all happened so fast. Maybe if you hadn’t been there, the bullet would have been meant for me. It was when he was focused on you, I got away.”
He breathed heavily but didn’t try to talk. She could tell he didn’t agree.
“There was nothing else you could have done. Nothing else anyone could have done.”
She squeezed his shoulder. “You were there when I needed you most. I’ll never forget that. Neither should you.”
Iz slipped in the room and offered her a sympathetic look. Her sister understood Will as well as she did. He would never see himself as the hero he was. He’d always feel like he should have done more.
It was her brother’s way. He tried to slay dragons, protect the people he loved. He blamed himself for things he couldn’t control, and if his sisters needed it, he wouldn’t hesitate to drop himself in a hole so deep, he’d never see the sun.
It never made sense he’d committed a crime and risked a separation from his family. It not only cost him ten years of his life, it cost her and Izzy their big brother. It was a decade he should have spent having fun and building a life. Instead he spent all of his twenties trapped in a nightmare.
Clearing her throat, Izzy joined her family. “You scared me, big brother. Let’s never let it happen again.”
He lifted the hand with the IV attached and flipped her off. It made her smile, which was probably the entire reason he did it.
Izzy caught the ball and ran with it. “Silent communication? Does this mean you’re a captive audience?”
Pulling up a chair, Iz laughed. “You know this means he can’t argue, right?”
She met her sister’s grin with one of her own. “This is our opportunity to say anything we want, and he can’t talk back.” She hoped her light tone hid the tremor in her voice as she turned back to Will. “Actually, I was telling him thank you.”
She ruffled his hair. “You’re the best brother a girl could ask for. On a totally different note, though, maybe now is the best time to tell you…I’m in love with Jonathan.”
Will’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t try to speak.
“He’s starting his life over without all the crazy shit he was mixed up in before, and I’m going to be there with him every step of the way.” She hesitated before going on. “You’ve always supported me in everything. I hope you can support me in this too.”
He nodded soberly.
“Okay,” Iz said briskly. “Out with you. Go spend some time with your man while I hang out with Mr. Target Practice here.”
It was supposed to be funny, but she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to laugh about this. “I will. But I need a few more minutes to make sure my big brother is okay.”
A man cleared his throat from the doorway. She’d never seen him before.
He had wavy, black hair. It had a few wisps of silver in it, which made it more striking. Just like his face. He possessed Greek heritage, with olive skin, a proud nose and full, dark, eyebrows to complement what appeared to be hazel eyes.
Izzy squirmed in her seat, scanning the man appreciatively, and Liv almost groaned aloud at her reaction. The man was certainly attractive, but her brother was in the hospital for Chrissakes. This was hardly the time to be twitterpated.
“—don’t need to worry about rushing back to work,” the man was saying to Will. “Your job is safe. I want you to focus on getting better, okay?”
Will pulled down his mask. “Thanks, Xander.”
The gravel in his voice propelled Izzy forward. Handsome or not, Will’s visitor needed to let him get his rest. “Stop trying to talk and let your throat heal.” She held her hand out to the man her brother had called Xander. “I’m Isobel, Will’s sister.”
He accepted the handshake. “Xander Karras. I’m the foreman on Will’s construction crew.”
Izzy hummed in acknowledgement but didn’t release her grasp.
Liv cleared her throat, and her sister dropped his hand like a hot potato. “It’s really nice of you to come check on Will, but the doctor says he needs some rest.”
“Yes, of course.” He glanced first at Izzy, then turned back to Will. “I won’t keep you any longer. Don’t even call me for a few weeks, Will. We’re all pulling for you to get better.”
He didn’t look at Izzy again as he walked out the door, but she never took her eyes off him.
When Will made an exasperated noise, she finally stopped staring at the empty doorframe. A blush crept over her cheeks, as she returned to his bedside and picked up the crossword puzzle on the table beside him as if nothing had happened.
It wasn’t often Izzy Turner showed interest in a man, but her reaction to Will’s boss was hard to ignore. Liv decided to file the knowledge away and think about it again…if her life ever got back to normal.
***
Brick
It was weird for Brick to hang out with Kane in his apartment. He’d never invited anyone here before, but the things they had to discuss required discretion. Liv was visiting her brother, and this was as good a time as any to wrap up loose ends from their takedown of Sucre’s operation.
He couldn’t breathe for a second when his friend dropped his old black backpack on the table in front of him.
“You forgot something at the bar the other night, brother.”
Honestly, he hadn’t thought about the money except as an element in his plan to destroy Sucre. Having it here now opened up a world of possibilities. “I’ll never be able to thank you for what you’ve done for me.”
Kane rubbed his beard. “You can start by coming back to work soon. Matt won’t say shit, and I hate working in silence.”
He barked out a laugh. “Give me another day or two. I did get shot. That should buy me a little time off.”
“How’s Will?”
“Liv says he’s awake. Mad as a hornet’s nest she got kidnapped, but he’s gonna be all right.”
“You think he’ll ever accept you in his sister’s life?”
“I hope so, but he doesn’t have a choice. I’m in this for the long haul. I love her, man.”
“I’ve been in love once.” Kane’s face was stark. “The best and the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
One day, he would ask his friend to tell the story, but not today. “The best, yeah. The worst is all behind us.”
Now Kane cracked a smile. “Because you fucking killed everybody, brother.”
He shrugged. “How’s the house on Burgundy Street coming along?”
“It’s practically done, but Xander is freaking out because there still isn’t a buyer. With all the trouble at the Decatur house, he’s really feeling the heat.”
“Still no buyer? The house is perfect.” He thought about the family he’d pictured building a life there.
“If you like it so much, why don’t you buy it yourself?”
“I ca—”
Kane picked up the backpack and threw it at him. “You’ve got the down payment. You’ve got the girl.” He smirked. “You know it was built by the best. What are you waiting for? The only thing standing in your way is you.”
***
Liv
Liv felt like a different person as she walked through the halls of her school Tuesday morning. So much had happened since the end of last week, but everything here somehow stayed the same.
Funny it surprised her.
The doctors were supposed to release Will from the hospital tomorrow. He needed to take the next few weeks off work, but otherwise, his life would be going back to normal too.
The police accepted her version of events from Sunday night. She told them she’d been there to check on her student when some crazy guy with a gun started shooting. Thank God, her brother and her boyfriend had accompanied her to such a terrible neighborhood, or who knows what might have happened.
She’d feared the state of Tre’s body would cause a stink, but it looked like the cops had their hands full. When they investigated further, they discovered a macabre cage under Tre’s bed. They ordered tests to identify the hair and skin residue they’d scraped out of the hinges. Other sets of DNA analysis might identify the dozen fingers found in a velvet lined box on his nightstand.
In the face of all that, she figured the police were just glad Tre was finally off the streets.
As far as she knew, no one had asked an
y questions about Sucre or his crew. The police had found no bodies. They all simply disappeared. Including his infamous bruiser Brick Barlow.
Brick was a thing of the past. Now only Jonathan remained.
She floated through the day on autopilot. Ate lunch in the cafeteria. Then froze on the way back to her classroom, when Devon Lowry approached her in the hall.
Books clutched to his chest, he kept a respectable distance. “Can I talk to you a second, Miss T?”
Her mouth moved, but no sound came out.
“We can talk on the quad,” he offered. “Lots of witnesses.”
She nodded and followed him to an empty bench outside. His buddy, Justin, grinned and waved like a fool from a strip of grass a few yards away.
“I’m so sorry about what happened to you.”
Jonathan had told her how Devon helped him hide their relationship. If it wasn’t for Devon’s loyalty, things would have played out very differently. It was why he was nowhere near the bar when Jonathan cleaned house. Still, she had never really expected to see the young man again.
“It’s not your fault. You tried to warn me to leave it alone.”
He nodded gravely. “I did, and I know what happened to you was horrible, but you saved me. If you and Brick hadn’t done what you did, I would be working for Sucre the rest of my life. Because of you, I have a chance to get out of here. And if I can take it, I will.”
She still wanted a future for him. He’d been out of school for a while, but with some help, he could easily catch up. “I’ll help you any way I can.”
“You’ve already helped me more than I can say. I’m just glad I could help you a little too.”
***
Jonathan was already at her apartment when Liv got home from school. He swept her into a kiss but pulled away quickly. “Come out to dinner with me tonight.”
She took in his jeans and button-down shirt. “Dinner, huh? What should I wear?”
“You look beautiful in anything. It’s casual. Wear whatever you like.”