I had been working double shifts at the bar for the last few days, keeping my mind occupied and away from Jacob. I couldn’t believe he had the audacity to tell me that he wanted me. Of course he did, that was never the problem to begin with. He used to remind me all the damn time how much he wanted me, except back then I actually gave a fuck.
My cell phone screen lit up with Alex’s picture. “Hello, it’s me,” I answered my standard greeting for everyone.
“Hello, it’s you!” she replied with hers. “So, when were you going to tell me that you hung out with Jacob?”
“How do you know that?” I snapped.
“That’s your reply?”
“I didn’t hang out with him. I don’t even like him.”
“Lily…”
“What? I’m serious. I didn’t hang out with him, he just showed up at my bar a few nights ago. Then he weaseled his way into spending the night at my house.”
“You slept—”
“No! His car got towed because he’s a fucking idiot. He proceeded to con me into bringing him back to my place, claiming he didn’t know his hotel information. He was probably lying. It’s what he’s good at. How do you know I saw him?”
“He told me,” she simply stated.
I bit my lip out of curiosity as to what the hell he told her, but I wouldn’t ask.
“He said he had run into you and that you guys hung out.”
It didn’t mean I would stop her from telling me either. “Does Lucas—”
“Of course not.” She hesitated for a few seconds. “Lily, why don’t you hear him out?”
“Are you for real?” I scoffed, taken aback. “After everything he did to me? You think I would take him back? I’m sorry, Half-Pint, but I’m not you,” I viscously spewed at the wrong person, immediately regretting my choice of words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I love you. I love that you’re married to my brother, you’re lobsters. I love that you’re my sister.”
“I know. You always speak before you think, it’s a Ryder trait.”
I laughed. It was.
“You’re your own person, Lily, you have been since you could talk. I know Lucas put me through hell and back, but I never thought that he didn’t love me. Not once. Jacob loves—”
“Jacob loves himself. Oh, and the good ol’ boys. Not me, Half-Pint. Never me. When it came down to it, he made his decision. I didn’t do it for him,” I honestly divulged, knowing in my heart that I was right.
“It’s a hard situation to be in for anyone. I mean look at how the boys treated me, and I’m not blood. You’ve always been Lucas’s baby sister, even to me. They saw me as a kid, and I’m only two, three years younger than them. You’re seven, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he loved you. That he still loves you.”
“He didn’t—”
“He did, Lily,” she paused to let her words linger, “He does.”
“Then he had a really shitty way of showing it.”
“Yes. I’m not excusing his behavior. It was wrong, but he did it because he loves you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t see it that way. I know he’s your best friend—”
“So are you. I think you owe it to yourself to hear him out. That’s all. It could go in one ear and out the other, but I have to say it to you. I want you to be happy.”
“I am happy. I love my life.”
“It’s been a rough few years—”
“Alex, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. He’s out of my life and that’s where he’s staying. End of story.”
She sighed. “Well, I got my period this morning.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry, Alex.” They had been trying to get pregnant since they got married over two years ago.
“It’s okay. It’s a Ryder, it will come when it wants to.”
She said that for me more than anything. “I gotta get back to work. Talk soon okay?”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too, give Lucas a hug and kiss for me.”
“Always.”
I hung up, my screen saver immediately displaying a picture of a full moon, the same one that still haunted my dreams.
Jesus Christ.
You could get into her house so fucking easy. I barely maneuvered the lock and walked right in. Her neighbor didn’t even stop me, and she was outside watching me the entire time.
What kind of neighborhood is this?
I placed my tools on the table and made my way to the kitchen. Breakfast didn’t go according to plan, she practically ran out the door when I told her I wanted her. The little shit was being more stubborn than usual, and I never thought that was possible. I didn’t expect her to welcome me with open arms, but it looked like I had my work cut out for me. If she thought she could get rid of me that easy then she was in for one hell of a rude awakening.
I wasn’t going anywhere but back into her life where I belonged.
It was around midnight when I finished fixing things in Lily’s house. Grabbing a cold beer from her fridge, I made myself at home since she wouldn’t be here for hours. I heard the front door open, but that wasn’t what surprised me. What shocked the shit out of me was that she walked in holding a gun in her hands.
A bright pink gun.
“What the fuck, Kid?” I called out.
She jumped, turning in the direction of my voice, her gun now pointing at me. “Oh my God! I could have fucking shot you, you idiot! What the hell are you doing here?” she yelled.
“Put the gun down,” I gritted through clenched teeth.
“Not until you tell me what you’re doing in my house uninvited!”
I was over to her in three strides, grabbing the gun out of her hands before she even saw it coming. “What the hell are you doing with this?” I asked, placing it on her coffee table and turning to face her once again.
“Why does one carry a gun, Jacob?” she sarcastically stated, pissed off that I was able to take it away from her without any effort.
“I thought you were a robber. My door was unlocked. Where the hell is your car?”
“So you fucking walk inside?” I yelled at her. “I could have been a fucking rapist, Lillian! What are the hundred and five pounds of you going to do?”
“Shoot him!” she screamed with her hands out in front of her. “Hence, the fucking gun!”
I was in her face in one second flat, livid that she walked inside her house when I could have been anyone, furious that she was raising her fucking voice to me and hard as a rock that she had the balls to actually point a gun at me.
“First, taking the safety off the gun would be helpful and second, watch your fucking mouth.”
“Oh, go to Hell.”
“I’ve been there.” I gripped the back of her neck and pulled her toward my mouth as her pupils dilated and her breathing hitched, not giving her a chance to think about it.
Not.
One.
Fucking.
Second.
“For the last three goddamn years.”
My lips were on hers before she had a chance to blink, forceful, demanding, and urgent. She met each and every push and pull I delivered. My hands clutched the sides of her face as my tongue devoured her perfect pouty lips, biting her bottom lip, exactly the way I fantasized since the first moment I saw her a few days ago. Her soft tongue, her scent of peppermint and whiskey, the taste of her all around me had me groaning involuntarily. The memory of her didn’t compare to this.
To her.
She forcefully gripped the front of my shirt, yanking me closer to her, molding us into one person and kissing me as if her life depended on it. She moaned into my mouth, making my cock twitch. Suddenly she shoved me away from her, I thought she was going to rip my clothes off but instead she…
Fucking slapped me across the face.
Goddamn it.
I pushed him as hard as I could, knowing I needed a strong force to move him away from me. The cocky look on his face had me reacting on pure impulse and adrenaline. I raised my hand as far back as possible and slapped him across the face as hard as I could. His head whooshed back. The palm of my hand burned instantly from the impact, I shook it off. Shaking my head in disgust, not sure if it was aimed towards him or myself.
He turned back around with his hand on his cheek. I could already see the red handprint on his handsome face. Pleased with my handy work, I snidely smiled.
“What the actual fuck?!” he roared.
“Get. Out!”
“Not a chance in hell.”
“You’re breaking and entering. You would think with being a lawyer and all you would know this. I should call the cops and have you arrested.”
“Try it,” he threatened.
“Just leave, Jacob, it’s what you’re good at. I don’t want you here.”
“Bullshit.”
He was in my face again in a nanosecond, backing me up against the wall and caging me in with his arms. His face mere inches from mine, I didn’t cower. I held my chin up higher, meeting his intense crazed look.
I didn’t falter. “I don’t want you,” I gritted out, each word more forceful then the next.
He cocked his head to the side with a raised eyebrow. “Is that right?” He moved his face a little closer, barely a centimeter setting us apart. I was engulfed in nothing but the dominance that he displayed over me in that minute, and I swear he could smell my arousal from it.
“So…" He softly kissed me. "If I reached into your panties…" He kissed me again. "Would I not find…” As he continued his assault on my lips. “You…" Running his tongue along my lips. “Wet…” Kissing me again. “For me?” he huskily rasped.
My body felt like it was set on fire. There wasn’t an inch of me that didn’t ache for him, that didn’t want him. I craved his touch now as much as I did back then and he knew it. I licked my lips needing the moisture to soothe the burn he left behind. His eyes followed the simple gesture of my tongue. His desire overwhelmed me, but his love…
His love...
Fucking. Consumed. Me.
“I. Hate. You,” I lied, seeing a hint of sadness passing swiftly through his eyes.
“No you don’t,” he growled. “You don’t hate me at all, baby. What you hate is that you still love me.” He pushed off the wall and took a step back. “This isn’t over. It’s far from fucking over, Kid.”
And with that he left.
Except this time,
I knew he’d be back.