Steal Me (Haunted Roads Book 1)

by India R. Adams

  My name rolling off her soft tongue took me to my knees. I did what Viola asked. I laid her down in the quiet field, never losing contact with her body.

  It felt as if what Viola gifted to me was a treasure I would never take for granted. In return, I offered her my soul.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  My dad said I sounded different when I called to tell him I’d see him the next day. I replied, “Yeah, we’ll talk tomorrow, but yeah, everything is different now.”

  “Glad to hear it, son.”

  Diesel took one look at us when V and I walked through his front door, and he instantly knew. “About fucking time.” He threw his arms around us, hugging us both as if we’d just made him so happy. “I’ve been waiting for this union. I’ve been waiting to know my sister would be taken care of by the man who has painfully loved her from afar.” He pulled back and smiled. “Fuck! You two look so fucking happy. Two new people!”

  That was how it felt to me: as if the old me had been permanently excused and a new me had been born. V bitched while wiping joyful tears. “I feel like I’m a part of some sappy, romantic chick flick! Tuck, you better not make me into a girly girl, fucker.”

  Aw, free laughter…

  Me being twenty, V being nineteen, and both of us in college—and Diesel being a biker—I got to sleep in Viola’s room. I had offered to sleep on the couch, but Diesel only laughed. “You two smelled of sex the moment you got here. She’s of age, and you’d die for her, so stop being a pussy.”

  We couldn’t stop touching each other before, during, or after another round of mind-blowing sex. She smelled phenomenal, felt fantastic, and tasted like fucking heaven. Lying in the dark with my girl asleep on my chest, I thought about the last time I was with a girl and how I would never be with another because no other would do. I thought about every bit of torture it had taken to get to this point with V. Then I thought, So fucking worth it all, and kissed the beauty in my arms.

  Yep, I’m one of the strong.

  Viola and I chose to keep our relationship on the down-low till we were ready to face everyone with the secret love that had almost broken us. Finally able to be together, we were determined to stay loyal to the long-time friend I now had to call and confess to.

  I sat on the edge of my bed with my cell and let his ring.

  “Hey, Tuck. Are you mad at me?” Bryce was far off base on that one.

  “Because you broke up with V?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Uhhh, not quite. How’s the new girl?”

  “Rocking my fucking world.”

  Thinking of V rocking mine the night before, I mumbled, “Know the feeling.”

  Bryce’s voice was happier than I had ever heard it. “Dude, did you ever know a girl could make your everything whole?”

  “Not till recently.”

  “Tuck, Viola was—well, a love of mine, but I see what she meant now. She kept telling me that someday I would know what it was like to feel true love, to have true passion. I thought I had passion with Viola, but now I know better. Viola’s one of my best friends… damn, I hated breaking her heart like that. She’s probably crushed. When I broke up with her, she couldn’t even stay on the phone with me last night. She was in a hurry to cry in private.”

  “Or something in private,” I said.

  “I just hope she doesn’t find out how long I’ve actually been seeing Beth.”

  “W—what?” I stuttered, completely floored.

  “Yeah, this hot little number robbed me of self-control.”

  “Bryce. You cheated on V?” I just couldn’t believe it.

  “Tuck, it’s not like I meant to. You know how it is, right?”

  All I could think of was all that V and I had gone through and sacrificed for this little fucker, and a rage inside me set fire. “I do. More than you know. In fact, I’ve been in love with your girl for years. Oh wait, she’s not your girl anymore, is she? No, you dumped her over the phone. Dick move, Bryce, but I guess that’s what dicks do.”

  “Tuck, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that Viola and I have wanted to be together but never hooked up because of you, you ungrateful little bastard. I was calling you to be a man about the fact that your EX is now mine.”

  “You’re with Viola?”

  “In heart, I’ve always been with her. Because of your fuckup, yeah, V and I are together. Now you know why she rushed to get off the phone with your sorry ass. Hope your ‘hot number’ was worth cheating on V, especially after all she has done for you. She sacrificed so much! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  His volume rose a couple notches. “Me? You’re with my girl!”

  “Recap, motherfucker. My girl. And will be till the day I die.”

  Bryce went quiet. I tried to reel in my temper. Finally, he asked, “You really love her?”

  I inhaled deeply and started becoming myself again. “Yes. I will marry her.”

  Bryce sounded dumbfounded. “Holy shit.”

  Then I felt bad. “Fuck. I’m sorry I unloaded on you.”

  “No. You’re right. Viola and I had been through too much to dick her in the end.”

  I sheepishly said, “I’m sorry I fell in love with your girl.”

  He chuckled. “According to the recap for the slow and impaired, she’s your girl now.” He hesitated. “Tuck, did you… did she—”

  “She never cheated on you. She is and always has been a good girl.”

  I heard Bryce blow out air. “Well, this isn’t how I expected this conversation to go.”

  I said, joking, “I appreciate you taking some guilt off me.”

  He started laughing. “Now who’s the dick?”

  “You can’t see it, but I’m raising my hand like a schoolboy.”

  “Damn. You and Viola… I gotta say, it makes sense. You two are the most mature in our group of fuckups. Is it weird to tell you that I’m jealous you’re smarter than me?”

  “Nah. I’ve been jealous of you for some time now.”

  Besides telling her brother, who was ecstatic and ready to throw an engagement party, V and I thought we’d continue to keep our new relationship status under wraps. But then Lilah and Mav surprised us with an unexpected visit.

  I was in my dad’s living room with Viola when she decided to make us another cocktail. With my dad out of town, I was all over the poor girl. As she walked away, her butt wiggle was waving and calling for me to follow. So I did.

  When I caught up to her in the kitchen, my arms wrapped around her from behind. I pushed into her, hinting around for more sex. I couldn’t get enough. Her head leaned back as she tried to play hard to get, but she wasn’t fooling me. “It hasn’t even been an hour!”

  I shamelessly rubbed. “So?”

  Her lips met mine as she turned to face me with her mouth opened. I dove in and was ready to dive other places when I heard, “I knew it!”

  I jumped and let go of V. I was rock hard—per usual with V in the vicinity—and rushed around the kitchen island so Delilah wouldn’t get an eyeful that I was sure she’d rather avoid. “What? Nothing’s happening here.”

  Maverick stood behind my sister, laughing. “Whatcha hiding on the other side of the island there, Old Tucky Ducky?”

  “Fuck off, boxer boy.”

  Delilah was crying.

  “Wait, Lilah. I didn’t know you were coming. I wanted to tell you about V and me… Maverick! What are you smiling about?”

  He pointed to my sister. “Those are happy tears. I had to learn the difference.”

  Since Maverick and Lilah lived together, they read each other like books. The way V reads me. I asked, “Happy tears, Lilah?”

  Her head started bobbing as she hugged Viola. “Yes! God yes! I knew she loved you, and I suspected something was up, but now, seeing it… it’s so right! Tucker, you look so alive and happy.” Delilah started crying harder. “I’m so happy that you’re glowing.”

  As I stood there, I realized everyo
ne had seen how unhappy I’d been. I’d worried about Lilah’s change with Kenny and never seen my own.

  Of course, the end of every weekend was torture when I had to let Viola go. I headed north on the highway, and she headed south, both of us rushing to finish our educations so we could be together for good. Sometimes, she would surprise me and show up at my apartment. Larry and friends loved my Viola.

  On her twenty-first birthday, we celebrated like rock stars.

  Larry yelled across our bar table, “Viola! Where have you been all my life?”

  “Waiting for Tucker.” V didn’t miss a beat, making me a proud bastard.

  I squeezed her in my lap. “Mmmm, my baby.”

  Larry tried again. “I’ve got money, V—lots of it. I’ll spoil you like a queen deserves.”

  V shook her head. “No doing, Lare Bear. I have waited for this man far too long to fuck it up with the likes of you.”

  We all busted out laughing, including Lare Bear, who knew he had met his match. He smiled with a grand grin. “You’re perfect for Tucker here.” He patted my shoulder. “Just perfect.”

  Walking back to my apartment, V and I made a pit stop in an alley ’cause we couldn’t make it home without a quickie. My girl was a freak in and out of the sheets, and she said I made her that way. “You bring out the slut in me, Tuck.”

  I had her pinned up against a wall with her skirt up around her hips. “Just the way I like it.” Pumping in and out of V might not have been the most romantic time to say this, but… “You’re gonna marry me someday, right?”

  A sexy grin appeared as her body jolted with my abrupt thrusts. “You’ll have to stick around to find out. Now, stop being a tease, and get to fucking me right.”

  I laughed as I got down to business. “I promise, when we decide to produce little brats of our own, we’ll not tell them what a dirty bitch their mama is.” I fucked her till the brick wall was practically imprinted in her skin. Viola came around my dick, making me explode inside her.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  In order to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, with my NAAB accreditation, I was required to have 150 credit hours. This kept me in college for five years while Viola graduated in four. We happily made it work for our final year apart ’cause we knew it was only temporary.

  Once school ended, Viola and I saw each other every day. Dad was just like Diesel—in love with Viola and me. They both said it was a long shot but they had predicted this union many years ago. Diesel started choking up. “The way… the way you were ready to fight me at my parents’… you were so young but—”

  Dad grabbed his shoulder, looking just as emotional. “Bittersweet day, my friend.” Then he looked at Viola’s and my joined hands. “Never too late, I always say.” He wiped a stray tear and heavily exhaled.

  “And life goes on,” Diesel said, deep in thought.

  V got up and sat in her brother’s lap. They held each other, and goddamn it, my throat closed. Her parents weren’t there for this happy time, and my mama was gone too early, also.

  Lilah was sniffling, trying to cover her tears. Mav was at a fight and she chose to stay home. “Come here, my light.” Lilah quickly came to me and sat in my lap, hugging my neck so fucking tight. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to have her longer.”

  “I know we want them here,” Dad said, “and I believe they are.” We all looked at him. Dad nodded, choking a little but smiling. “I do. Your parents, my wife. I really do. So, let’s have more good to share with them. Tucker, I want to make you a business partner.”

  Dad offered me a partnership in his company, which I hadn’t expected. “But… Lilah is your partner.” She kissed my cheek, wiping tears. This is why she didn’t go with Maverick to his fight.

  Lilah and I became business partners right out of college. Not many got such an opportunity. The idea of making my dad even more money was a highlight in my life, and being able to tell Viola to start bouncing ideas around for our dream home was another.

  She’d graduated with a counselor’s degree and never expected to make enough money to own an elaborate home. And I wouldn’t let her live in anything less than that. Diesel surprised us by buying some property by his place as an early wedding gift and begging us to build our home there. It became clear that V’s brother had been storing money from her parents’ plane-crash settlement and was waiting to spoil Viola even more than he always did.

  My life had come full circle, and I was the happiest man alive. Even my dad had met someone he found extremely special. After meeting Savannah, Lilah and I both knew she was perfect for him. Savannah was warmhearted and had much compassion for his loss. She was divorced, and her kids were grown.

  With our approval, Dad also confessed to wanting to marry this woman. I had moved back in after college, and believing no one deserved happiness more than him, I wanted to get the hell out of his way.

  It was wild as hell to wake up in the morning with Mavy steamrolling me. The heavy bastard would announce it, too. “Steamroll!” Then he’d pounce—making my bed beg for mercy—and roll over me. “Good morning, motherfucker! We’re sleeping at Mom’s tonight, so I thought I’d give you some love.”

  I laughed, bitching, but realized I had a brother again.

  I’d been looking at some apartments, for temporary living arrangements, when I met up with Diesel and V for dinner at their house. She’d cooked, which was a tad bit unusual and should’ve warned me something was in the air. Sure enough, she proposed moving into Diesel’s house.

  “Why not?” Diesel asked me.

  “Because this is your home.”

  “Fuck off. You know me casa el–ez–youro casa? Or some shit like that?”

  Viola was living with her brother while our house was being built. She chuckled. “Youro casa?”

  “Not happening, Diesel,” I said.

  Diesel lifted his beer to cheer. “Good, the decisiano has been el made-o.”

  And like that, I’d somehow said yes and was moving into V’s room. She dragged my suitcase up her staircase while Diesel and I yelled at each other over him not accepting my rent money. V wasn’t taking the chance that I might change my mind. If my shit were in her dresser drawers, she knew I would stay.

  “Tuck!” Diesel yelled. “You’re making my ears bleed with your constant bitching!”

  “I’d stop bitching if you’d stop being a stubborn dumbass!”

  “I’m a dumbass ’cause I want you saving your fucking money to build my sister her dream home?” He patted my shoulder. “I want her to have everything she wants, which seems to be your stupid ass, so say thank you and stop chompin’ on my dick. You’re gonna make V think you’re wantin’ me or some shit like that.”

  I heard Viola laughing from her bedroom. Diesel and I both looked up to the empty hallway that carried her echo, smiling and loving that happy, free laugh we’d just caused.

  Bikes pulling into his driveway had me eyeballing Diesel.

  He smirked. “Now that you’re living here, there’s a couple things we need to discuss.”

  Maverick and Delilah bounced back and forth between my dad’s house and his mom’s. Them building a house and planning a wedding was no big shocker. What was a shocker was the announcement of a baby in the oven. Damn, I still laugh thinking of my dad chasing that poor son of a bitch around the front yard, pissed at Maverick for knocking up his baby girl.

  About to watch my precious little sister marry the new kid made me think of my mom. I knew she’d be proud of me; I’d kept my promise and was now asking the same promise of Maverick. “Love her. Treasure my treasure, Maverick.”

  Maverick and I were twelve beers deep—each, that is—and had become some emotional bitches. We sat on my dad’s back porch while Lilah cooked some new recipe, and Maverick and I cried as if someone had just died. Viola walked out the back door. “Sweet baby Jesus! You two still holdin’ and sobbin’ all over each other?”

  We were.

  V ha
nded us each yet another beer before heading back inside.

  “Delilah ain’t dying, you damn fools. She’s just living in sin, all knocked up and preparing for her shotgun wedding.”

  As the door shut, I heard Lilah inside say, “My boys still crying for me?”

  Time became peaceful for a few months. I guess you could say it was the calm before the storm… Lilah’s belly grew, and she loved her new home. That was why I was surprised to see her at my dad’s when V, Diesel, and I stopped by. And I knew Maverick would be surprised, too, since he was rushing home to surprise her after an earlier flight than he’d been scheduled for. I kissed Lilah’s cheek and rubbed her belly. “What are you doing here?” Poor Mav was about to roll up to an empty home, and he’d be worried.

  My sister explained, while hugging V, “Maverick won’t be home till tomorrow. I’m hormonal and want my daddy.”

  My dad, greeting us in his foyer, beamed at her words. “I’m right here, baby.”

  Hugging Dad, I asked, “Uh, Lilah, you got your cell on you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  “But it’s dead.”

  “Oh.” Just then, my cell rang. I finished hugging Savannah. “Hello?”

  “Where the fuck is my wife, and why is she not answering her goddamn phone?”

  I looked to my sister, not wanting to ruin the surprise. V nodded to me, knowing damn well who was on the phone, and tried to help me continue the charade. “Babe, do you have to take this work-related call in the den?”

  Brilliant bitch. “Yes, urgent call. Be right back.”

  Mav was angered, to say the least. “Someone better start fucking talking to me!”

  As I walked away, I whispered, “She’s here—at Dad’s! Her phone is dead.”

  “Oh, thank fuck! The dark house scared the shit out of me.”

  “All’s well, except your plan, which has gone to hell. What’s plan B?”

  “Plan B?”

  “Yes, plan B,” I said. “Every male has to have a plan B when dealing with the female gender. Obviously. Look at what just happened to plan A!”