My eyes stare unseeingly at the tall, imposing brick structure of Bonnets Bay prep as I try to escape the confines of my tangled thoughts that are knotting and fraying together in my mind.
I had to take the kids to swimming on Saturday. Leo disappeared somewhere for most of the day and didn’t come home until sometime late that night. He then stayed in his office again all day on Sunday.
“Hey, Lia,” Trey, Lola’s husband, says as he’s walking back to his car after school drop-off.
“Hey.” I snap out of my daze and offer him a small smile.
He walks over to me, waving to Sophie over his shoulder, who’s throwing her arms in the air and grinning at him from the other side of the school gates. Charlie stands behind her, waiting with a bored look on his face for her to walk with him inside. I smile at him, and he gives me a small one in return.
“I tried to call Leo last week, but he didn’t get back to me.” He shifts in his work boots, his hands moving into his cargo pockets. “Everything okay? Lola hasn’t said much, just that things aren’t going great … you know, at home.” He looks a little embarrassed about asking, but he’s Leo’s friend, has been since he and Lola got together in our last year of college.
I avert my eyes to my cream-colored ballet flats. “Oh, you know. He’s been pretty busy with work and …” Ugh, you know what? I shouldn’t have to keep defending him. This is his friend, and it’s his choice to shut people out with no explanation. “He’s been distant, to put it mildly,” I admit. “I don’t know what’s going on with him, but it started a while ago, and it’s only gotten worse over time. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he was shutting other people out as well.”
His dark brows furrow. “Did something happen?”
I fidget with my car keys for a second. “Not between us, no. I’ve been asking myself that same question for months.”
He scrubs a hand over his bearded jaw. “I’ll keep trying him then, or I’ll pay him a visit during my lunch break one day this week.” He moves to walk back to his car. “It’s been too damn long since we’ve caught up, and hey, maybe he’ll speak to me?” He shrugs and waves.
I wave back. “Well, let’s hope so.” Though I very much doubt it, I guess it can’t hurt to try. But Leo’s never been one for sharing anything too personal with his friends.
I climb back into the car and watch as Trey drives off before turning the ignition over and making my way to the shelter. I’m a little nervous, but mostly, I just hope that Jared shows up today. It’s not like him not to—not to mention, it’s also likely to get him in trouble with his probation officer.
Once I find a parking spot, I tie my hair back into a ponytail, grab my purse, and jump out. And there he is, leaning up against the brick wall outside, smoking and watching me with narrowed eyes. I tug up my skinny jeans and walk over to him as a real smile takes up residence on my face. He smirks as he continues to watch me, squeezing the cherry off his cigarette and flicking the butt into the trash can next to him before falling into step beside me as we walk inside.
“Sorry,” I mutter quietly and pass him the pen. “About Friday …” About hanging up on you, I don’t say. He takes the pen, his warm fingers skimming over mine, and I watch him sign his name in his messy scrawl.
“Don’t mention it, Blondie. I know you’ll make it up to me.” He winks and nudges me with his elbow.
I smirk. “Oh, do you?”
He nods. “Morning, Glenda,” he calls over to Glenda who’s spinning around in a circle outside the storeroom, looking for something. She reaches up to pat her head and scoffs. “Idiot, there they are.” She then tugs her glasses down and beams at us.
“Morning, you two.”
I put my purse away, and we move into the kitchen to set up.
“Where’s the new girl?” I wonder when the tension between us, once again, becomes too hard to keep ignoring.
He shrugs. “Glenda mentioned that she’d changed days. Tuesdays would interrupt her college schedule or some crap.”
Oh. I chuck the celery back in the fridge and pull out some ground beef, taking it to the counter by the stove.
“Meet me after?” he whispers, coming up behind me and sending goose bumps racing down the bare skin of my neck.
I swallow. “Where?”
“Green. Same room,” he says before getting called away by Glenda to help her lift something.
I finish prepping lunch with one of the other women, Tilly, wondering if I’ll actually go through with it this time. But I think I already know the answer to that, or else I wouldn’t be going.
I wash my hands and freshen up in the bathroom before grabbing my purse and saying goodbye for the day. Walking outside to gray skies, I glance up to discover fat rain clouds floating threateningly across the city skyscrapers and pedestrians below. I race to my car and make the quick journey over to The Green, opting to use the carpark this time in case it rains. Also because the likelihood of anyone recognizing my car or giving a shit is slim to none, and I’m past the point of caring. Especially since I’ve only got a few hours before the kids finish school anyway.
Climbing out just as it starts pouring, I squeal, locking the car as I run over to the room where we met last time. The door is wide open, so I run straight in, only to be wrapped up in a pair of strong arms instantly. Laughing, I turn in his arms to face him. “How’d you get here so quick?”
“Bike,” he mumbles into my neck, pressing warm kisses over my cold skin.
“You rode a bike that quick?” I rear back.
“Motorbike.”
Wow, I’ve never seen him on one. He wraps his arms tighter around me, and as I place my palms on his dry shoulders, I realize how wet I am.
“Holy shit, I’m soaked.”
He grins down at me. “Yeah? I knew it didn’t take much, but shit, Blondie.” He slams the door closed and moves me back toward the bed.
I slap his shoulder. “Oh, my God, you’re impossi—”
He cuts me off with his lips, and I open mine right away, needing the warmth of his mouth as I shiver in my wet clothes. He swirls his tongue over mine then sucks my bottom lip into his mouth, slowly releasing it and pulling back to grab my blouse.
“Let’s get you out of these.”
I don’t object and let him tug it over my head then his hands are unzipping my fly. I step out of my ballet flats and watch him bend low to tug the wet denim from my legs. Once removed and in a wet heap on the floor, he grabs the side of my panties. As he’s slowly pulling them down my legs, I’m reminded of the event over a week ago when I saw him with my panties in his back pocket.
“Where are my panties?” My breathing quickens as he trails his fingers over my legs, kissing my thighs until he reaches the apex and licks a line over my folds then places a soft kiss on my mound. He stands, removing his clothes while he answers me. “You saw that, did you?”
I watch his abs contract as his shirt drops to the floor. His hands move to his jeans, un-zipping and lowering them over his impressive manhood that’s tenting his black briefs.
I nod. “Me and probably countless others.”
He smirks, walking over to me and undoing my bra. The straps slide down my arms, but his eyes stay glued to mine as he reaches up to gently untie my damp hair from its ponytail holder.
“Did your husband see?” he asks softly.
I frown as my blond locks fall around my shoulders and chest. He steps back, raking his gaze over every part of me as his teeth sink into his bottom lip.
“Yeah, I think so.”
He doesn’t bother to hide the delight in his eyes, which scares me a little. “Jared …”
“Shhh.” He tugs me into his bare chest and kisses me. I wrap my arms around his neck, loving the feel of his warm skin pressed against my cool body. I bite his lip then lick it, enjoying the way he groans immensely. Pulling away, I shove him toward the bed.
“Sit down,” I tell him.
He tilts his head, narrowing those green eyes, but does as he’s told. I lean down onto my knees, grabbing the elastic of his briefs and tugging. He leans up to help me, and I pull them down over his feet, throwing them to the floor.
His fingers grab my chin, tilting it up to meet his eyes. “You don’t have to …”
“Shhh.” I grin then finally get my first good look at him.
He’s long, thick—probably almost as big as Leo. The thought doesn’t bother me. In fact, tingles dance their way down my spine as excitement courses through my veins. I wrap my hand around him and squeeze gently, earning me a hiss. He curses softly when I lean forward and take a long lick up his length before taking as much as I can of him into my mouth. His hands slide into my hair and gently tug on the tangled strands as I keep bobbing up and down.
“Holy shit …” His rough voice only makes me take him deeper as I pick up the pace. My hand wraps around the velvety base and then moves down to gently knead his balls. He curses again and pulls my head off him.
“What?” I wipe underneath my lip.
He just shakes his head, grabbing my arm and saying, “Get on the bed. I’m not coming in your mouth when what I really want is to get inside that sweet pussy.”
My nipples tighten almost painfully at his words. I climb onto the scratchy sheets of the bed, and he digs into his jeans pocket for what I’m guessing is a condom.
Can I seriously do this? Have sex with him?
It’s not a matter of not wanting to. My body is singing in desperation for it. But my heart thuds painfully fast as I think about the only man who’s ever had me in that way.
Jared climbs back over the top of me, already sheathed and kisses his way up my legs. My eyes close as all thoughts of guilt and uncertainty float away into the deep recesses of my mind thanks to the feel of his lips and hands as he spreads my thighs open to lick up my center. His tongue spears my entrance, dragging the evidence of my arousal up to my clit where he sucks gently then swirls his tongue around it. He repeats the action, and I suddenly can’t stand feeling empty anymore.
“Jared.” I grab his hair. “Please …”
He lifts his head, moving over my body and staring down at me as I feel his hard length graze through my wetness.
“You’re so beautiful.” His nostrils flare, his eyes darting over my face then down to my breasts.
My brows lower. “Jared …” We can’t make this anything serious, I want to say. It has to end at some point before one of us gets hurt.
He leans down to trail kisses over my collarbone and neck, working his way up to my ear. “That selfish fucker can’t keep you. Not when I want you the way I do, not when I feel myself falling faster every damn time I see those brown eyes of yours.”
A knot forms in my throat. I start to panic. “We can’t … this has to stay the way it is.”
He raises his head to look down at me, his thick brows tugging into a severe frown. “Why?”
The door to the room bursts open and Jared instantly grabs the sheet to cover me. Bile fills my mouth when I see who it is. When I see Leo grab Jared and shove him off the other side of the bed before leaning down to wrap the sheet around me. Then I’m in the air and over his shoulder.
“What the fuck, Leo?” I screech. He ignores me, his grip around me tightening as he grabs my purse and stalks outside into the rain. I slam my fists into his hard back, mortified, ashamed, and so damn angry. “Leo, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Put me down!”
He yanks open the passenger side door to his car and all but throws me in while growling, “Dahlia, this is your only warning. Do not say another fucking word or I’ll make you watch as I kill him with my fucking bare hands.”
He slams the door closed, and I sit frozen, staring out of the side mirror into the sheets of rain as he hunches over the back of the car. His hands hold him up as his head hangs down between them, toward the ground. After a minute, he finally climbs into the driver’s side and speeds out of the parking lot. I barely catch a glimpse of Jared in the mirror, but I’m certain I saw him standing in his jeans under the awning outside the room. I don’t dare ask about my car or my clothes. I just put my seat belt on and adjust the sheet over me, my mouth dry and my heart pounding so fast I fear it might stop dead at any second.
This can’t be happening.
It can’t. But it can.
It is.
My eyes, brave with a mind of their own, look over at Leo, who’s thunderous expression stays fixed on the road ahead. His jaw is clenched so hard I swear I can hear his teeth grinding together. His hands white-knuckle the steering wheel so tightly I fear it’s going to crumble beneath them.
Shit. I tug my eyes away to glance back out my window, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth. I’ve never seen him this angry before. It’s actually frightening, so much so that I don’t make a sound the whole way home. We finally pull into the garage, but I don’t feel any sort of relief as he orders, “Get inside.”
I take a deep breath, turning to him. “How’d you find me?”
He growls. “Lia, fuck.” His nostrils flare as he looks at me with so much anger in his eyes that I almost miss the hurt carefully veiled behind it. “Just get out.”
So I do and run upstairs to put some clothes on, but I don’t hear him come in. I don’t hear him leave either, so I walk back downstairs, tossing the hotel’s sheet into the trash in the kitchen just as I hear him roar and something break in the garage.
Shit. I twist my hands into my hair, not knowing what to do. Then I hear thudding as if he’s punching the wall.