She stripped out of the black pants she was wearing, leaving her in nothing but a tank top and a pair of barely-there panties. This was serious conversation, but my mind immediately went blank and all I could do was stare at her long legs as she climbed up on the bed and sat on the edge. She still had a little red mark on her knee from her close call in the parking lot, and the reminder of her being injured now and before was enough to get my mind back on track as she studied me for a minute before answering.
“He’s made it pretty clear he would like to be more than friends, but I was never into it and I told him so. He doesn’t love it, but he never pushes the issue.”
I stalked toward her and didn’t stop until I reached the side of the bed and had positioned myself between her legs. I leaned over her until she was propped up on her elbows and I was just a breath away from being laid out on top of her.
“And why weren’t you into it?”
Her chest rose and fell and she let her weight drop so that we both collapsed on the bed and I was completely covering her. She twisted her hands into my hair and met my serious look with one of her own.
“Because I was into you, even if I didn’t want to be, and I knew no one else was going to compare.”
Damn straight no one was going to compare. This girl got to me in a way nothing else had in a very long time, and the pull between us was something that people looked a lifetime for. It didn’t matter that my world was dangerous, that she was going to have to take a risk by being with me—we were supposed to be together—and no deranged stalker or better judgment was going to keep us apart.
I kissed her hard and fast and went to move up and off of her. After all, she was hurt and there was no way I was going to do any more damage to her, but her grip in my hair tightened and she didn’t let me go.
“I’m having someone check him out. The guys at that school seem to have a hard time when you turn them down. I want to know what his deal is.”
Her eyes glittered up at me, and she curled one of her legs around my waist, which had my hands reaching for bare skin against my will.
“He doesn’t have a deal. He’s just a typical college guy. He wouldn’t hurt me. He has no reason to.”
My fingers stroked her thigh and I felt my heart rate speed up a little. I had to remember her head was probably killing her. I kissed the outside curve of her eyebrow.
“I’m still looking into him. Brysen, you just got out of the hospital this morning. Let me up and we’ll go to bed. I told you, I want to take care of you.”
One of her hands let go of its death grip on my hair to twine around my shoulders as her other leg joined the first, meaning I was now fully cradled against the center of her and the only thing between my growing erection and her warm center was her panties and my jeans.
“I missed you, Race. I want you to take care of me. Just do it this way instead.”
The argument I had about her being hurt got lost when she kissed me like we had been apart for months and not just a long couple of days or so. I let myself fall into her lips, into the seduction of her tongue as she coaxed mine to dance. I hopelessly gave in to the demand of her teeth when she used them to make her wants and needs clear. I put my hands on the curve of her hips and used the leverage I had to move us both to the center of the bed, her hands grasping at me the entire time like she was afraid I was going somewhere. She was almost naked and underneath me; there was nowhere else in the entire world I ever wanted to be.
I wrestled her top off over her head, careful of the delicate skin on the back of her head, and let her grapple with my jeans until she had them open and was using both her hands and her feet to get them out of her way. I grinned at her and climbed up onto my knees so I could strip the rest of them way, and felt my heart turn over when she used her index finger to dip into the dimple on my cheek. She smiled up at me as I hooked my fingers under the edge of her panties and started to work them down her legs. She would always be my absolute favorite present to unwrap.
“You’re something else, Race Hartman.”
Her stomach dipped and quivered a little when I bent my head and stuck the tip of my tongue into the concave little divot of her belly button.
“I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
I had to be mindful that she was fragile, breakable, and all too human. I couldn’t unleash on her all the things I normally did when I took her to bed. Normally she was my port in the storm while everything raged around us, but tonight she needed care, she needed delicacy and for me to show her she was safe with me.
I trailed my tongue down from her belly button and across the jutting ridge of her hipbone as she squirmed impatiently underneath me. She already had her legs open to accommodate where I was sprawled between them, so it was no work to get my mouth on all the parts of her that were already wet and slick with desire. I loved that she was as ready for me as I always seemed to be for her. There was passion, there was hunger, there was desire that made my balls tight and had my mouth watering for a taste of her.
She gasped my name at the first swipe of my tongue through her folds. Her fingers locked in a painful grip on my ears when I used my shoulders to move her legs farther apart so I could add my hands to the mix. I heard her whimper but was so focused on what I was doing, so drunk on the way she just melted into my mouth, that I didn’t stop to think if it was a sound of pleasure or pain. Her inner walls pulled at my fingers, her clit pulsed as I snagged it with the edge of my teeth, and her thighs shifted restlessly against my head as she moved with my caress. I felt her insides get tight, felt the moisture gathering against my fingertips, and ate her up as she broke over the crest while saying my name on a sobbing breath. If I was lucky enough to get her to react like that for the rest of my life, I would take all the other shit my life threw at me on a daily basis with a smile.
Her legs went slack over my shoulders and I pulled them down along my sides as I crawled back up over her. I stopped along the way to suck each of her pretty, pink nipples into my mouth and to nuzzle into the beautiful curve of her neck. My dick was rock hard, my balls were achy, and all I wanted to do was sink into her and stay there forever and ever. I held myself up over her on braced arms and waited until those sky-blue eyes peeled open and locked onto me. She had a hot flush on her cheeks and a soft smile on her mouth, and never had anything looked more beautiful. I would give up any fortune, fight any war, and bleed over and over again if she was my reward.
She ran her hands up and down my ribs and curled her legs back up around my waist. She used her hold on me to pull herself up so that just the tip of my straining erection slid through her welcoming heat.
“I need you.”
Her voice was husky and a little broken. I put one of my hands under her and clasped the curve of her ass and held her to me as I slowly allowed myself to settle into the cradle of her legs. As we both sank back onto the mattress, I found her mouth with my own and whispered to her:
“I need you too, Bry.”
I kissed her with everything I had, let her feel my heart in it, let her know with my mouth that she was the end of the road for me. There was nothing else beyond her. And then as I started to move, thrusting inside of her, moving against her, I used my tongue to mimic what the lower half of my body was doing, which had her writhing against me and digging her fingernails into the skin of my shoulders. I wanted to drive into her, to fuck her like I normally did, but I didn’t want to hurt her, and even through the pleasure, the hot and sexy burn of the blue in her gaze, there was a shadow of discomfort that kept me firmly in check. Her head was probably killing her.
Her inner walls trembled along my cock, her heart thundered along next to mine, and her nipples were pebbled and sharp where they rubbed against my chest. Her tongue twisted and stroked along my own and her hold was just as desperate, just as needy, as mine. I could feel my pleasure coil and tighten at the base of my spine, felt my body start to shudder. I lifted my head from where I was devouring her
and told her:
“You have to come with me.”
She tossed her head side to side and I felt her grind her hips up against mine where I was trying to hold off rocking into her with everything I had.
She curled her arms around my sides and lifted an eyebrow up at me.
“Then stop messing around and give it to me.”
That startled a laugh out of me, which had me grinning down at her. “I don’t want to hurt your head, smartass.”
“So give me something else to think about, pretty boy.”
Shit. That was a challenge I had no trouble meeting. I braced my hands on either side of her head, made sure her gaze focused on mine, and did just what she asked—gave it to her.
I thrust into her, moved over her, ground our bodies together in a way that made it feel like I was trying to meld us together—and maybe I was. Considering I was already close, already on the brink of coming just by looking at her naked and willing under me, it only took a few minutes before I was breaking apart inside of her and not aware if she was there with me or not. Luckily she was a vocal lover and easy to read, because by the time I was done grunting and jetting into her, I could hear her whimpering and feel her pulsing around me.
I gave it a second, until both of us were breathing more normally, and rolled onto my back so that I was sprawled out across the bed next to her. She laced our fingers together and kissed each and every single one of my busted-open knuckles.
“Thank you for taking care of me, Race.”
Of course she wasn’t talking about the sex, even though that would be an awesome stroke to my ego.
“Thank you for giving me something good to always come back to, Brysen.”
She was the balance I so desperately needed.
Chapter 17
Brysen
CONSIDERING MY EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES the night before with Race, I was surprised that my head was only aching with a dull throb when he woke me up and told me he had to go. I was still sleepy, a little fuzzy, so while I thought he was saying something about Nassir’s club burning down, I couldn’t be sure. I thought maybe it was a dream, and as soon as the bedroom door closed behind him, I went back to sleep. I didn’t wake up again until I heard my sister’s breathy, high-pitched laugh and smelled bacon cooking from somewhere in the condo. I wasn’t supposed to scrub my head for another day or two, but the stitches were itchy, so I decided to go against the doctor’s orders and took a fast shower. I had a hard time looking in the fogged-over mirror when I got out.
My hair didn’t look like the worst thing on the planet, but there were dark shadows under my eyes and hard lines next to my mouth that had never been there before. Having someone out for my blood, having a sinister shadow hunting me, getting the better of me, was starting to take its toll, and that was obvious on my face. Even with Race stepping in and handling all the other major issues life had thrown at me—my mom, finding Karsen and me a place to stay so we wouldn’t be homeless, trying to keep the two of us safe—it was still a lot to handle, and I think living through it all had me looking well over my twenty-one years.
Since I didn’t have anything at the condo aside from my purse and the small bag Karsen had thrown together for me while I was at the hospital, there weren’t even any magic tricks I could do with makeup to make myself look better. Not that I had anyone to impress. Karsen had seen me at my worst, and the brooding giant that was Booker had made it perfectly clear we were never going to be friends. He acted like getting thrown down the stairs was all my fault and I had just cracked my skull open to make him look bad in front of Race. He was even more scowly and growly than he had been before, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why the more brash he was, the more my sister wanted to fawn all over him. I didn’t like anything about that.
I pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a sloppy sweatshirt and went to rain on my little sister’s inappropriate flirting parade. When I came down the stairs and rounded the corner, I was surprised to see Booker at the sink washing dishes and my sister sitting at the island with a sandwich in front of her. Her dark eyes got huge when she saw my chopped-up hair but they glimmered at me in approval.
“It’s cute, edgy, and a little punk rock. I can’t believe you did that yourself.”
My sister would never have anything bad to say about anything. She was too sweet.
“It’s a mess, but it’s better than the hack job that the hospital gave me. Did Booker make you lunch?” I hopped up onto the stool next to her and snagged the other half of her BLT.
“No. I cooked and he said he would clean up.” The big guy grunted from his position at the sink without turning around. Karsen smiled at me and indicated the modern, beautifully decorated condo. It wasn’t in the greatest part of town, but I had to admit it was leaps and bounds better than the loft in the garage. “Isn’t this place awesome? Race said we could stay here as long as we need to.”
“Race is full of surprises.” My tone was dry and I heard Booker chuckle.
“He was in a big hurry to get out of here this morning. He was asking me a million and one questions about your friend from school.”
Booker turned around from the sink and gave me a look.
I shrugged. “He’s just a friend.”
He snorted and crossed his beefy arms over his chest.
“Girls that look like you don’t have dudes as friends. Hell, even girls that don’t look like you don’t have guys as friends. Trust me, Blondie, any guy hanging around any girl for any amount of time is just waiting for his chance to get it in.”
I coughed a little on the sandwich I was chewing on and shot a look at my sister, and then glared at Booker.
“That’s not true. Not all guys are Neanderthals like you.”
He lifted the eyebrow that was bisected by the ugly scar and gave me a pointed stare.
“Yes they are. Some are just better at hiding it when they want to get laid.”
“Anyways . . .” I changed the subject and turned to Karsen. “Drew is harmless and he was never around my computer, so all of that creepy surveillance software couldn’t have come from him.”
Karsen made a strangled noise in her throat that had Booker frowning and me turning to look at her in concern. She grabbed my forearm and her brown eyes took up half of her face.
“That’s not true. Remember a few months ago when you needed to borrow my computer because you loaned yours to Adria when hers crashed for a week or so? Well, you were all mad that Drew was the one who gave it back to you, considering Adria was the one who borrowed it. He told you that she gave it to him because she was too busy to return it. You even complained it was running really slow and blamed Adria for downloading a virus or something. You were totally jealous when she got a brand-new laptop to replace the one that crashed.”
I didn’t remember that at all, but there had been a lot on my mind the last few months and Adria was selfish and needy a lot, so it wasn’t a request that would stand out in my mind or seem unusual. Though now that Karsen mentioned it, I did remember Drew giving me back my computer and seeming extra excited about being the errand boy for the task. Like a typical teenager, being separated from her computer and social media meant that Karsen probably recalled the exact events.
“Well, shit.”
Booker uncrossed his arms and his hard face looked slightly murderous.
“I need to call Race and let him know that before he heads to the school to corner the guy.”
An uneasy shiver slipped down my spine. I really didn’t think Drew had it in him to hurt anyone. He was just a preppy college guy with a little crush, but at this point the only people I knew weren’t trying to end my life were Race and Karsen—and maybe Booker, even though I was still on the fence about him.
I turned to Karsen and shared the concerned look she was giving me as Booker took his phone and wandered into the living room to make a call. She looked like she was on the verge of losing the lunch she had just been eating, so I told he
r in my most authoritative tone:
“It’ll be fine. Race will figure it out and then life will go back to normal.”
She opened her mouth to retort but was interrupted when my phone started to ring from the bedroom upstairs. I had no clue why Dovie would be calling me when she knew I was supposed to be on lockdown, and immediately had visions of Race hurt—or worse.
“Hello.” I was breathing hard when I answered, but even the noise of my own wheezing wasn’t enough to drown out the sobbing on the other end of the line. Dovie had never struck me as the hysterical type, and immediately my mind started racing with worst-case scenarios involving Race and Bax.
“Dovie, what’s wrong?” I didn’t mean to snap the question at her when she was so obviously upset, but I couldn’t help myself.
“I . . . Bax and I . . . we had a fight. It was bad.”
I sat down on the side of the bed and let out a relieved breath. “A fight about what?”
She made a hiccuping noise and my heart squeezed for her. She didn’t sound anything like the tough-as-nails girl I knew her to be.
“I told him he had to stop working with Race, that I wanted him out of all of it. Nassir’s club was burned to the ground last night. People died, Brysen. I don’t want to live every single day of my life wondering if he’s going to make it home. I can’t do it anymore. It’s killing me, worrying about him and Race all the time.”
Whoa, that was pretty heavy and I could totally understand why it hadn’t gone well. Bax didn’t seem like the kind of guy that took to ultimatums, even if he really did love Dovie.
“I’m sorry, Dovie. I’m sure when he has some time to think about it he’ll calm down and you guys can talk it over.”
She sniffled again. “I don’t know. He stormed out this morning and I haven’t seen him look that pissed since the night things went down with Novak.”
I swore under my breath and ran my hands through my supershort hair. I didn’t know what to say to her to make it better. As it turned out, all she wanted was a shoulder to cry on.
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