Текст книги "Aflame"

Автор книги: Penelope Douglas

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Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

“I love you,” I whispered. “I want everything with you, Tate.”

Then I knelt down, sliding the jeans and underwear off her legs, taking the flip-flops with them.

She threaded her fingers through my hair and dropped her head back, gasping as I swung her leg over my shoulder and ran my tongue over her clit.

“You’ll have everything with me.” She sucked in mouthfuls of air. “I’m yours, Jared.”

“Damn right you are,” I growled, licking the smooth skin of her delicate heat. I snatched her up between my lips and sucked.

“Oh,” she moaned, looking down to watch me.

“I saw the ring in Jax’s room,” she admitted, her voice shaking. “I know about when you came home. I feel terrible, and I don’t know that I should, but . . .”

The tip of my tongue prodded her entrance while she spoke, and she squirmed against my lips, wanting more.

I pulled away, rubbing circles over the nub of her clit with my thumb. “I was shattered when I had to leave you,” I explained. “I hated myself, but I had to go. I had to do it. Just like you had to try to move on and live in a world I didn’t try to dominate all the time.”

I gripped her sexy-as-hell ass and brought her in again, eating and taking her hard.

“Jared,” she whimpered. Then: “Why did you want to marry me?”

Huh?

I leaned back, seeing her desperate eyes, on fire with love but rippled with need.

Standing up, I wrapped my arms around her and held her body close. “How could I not?”

How could she not know that she was it for me?

“Twelve years,” I continued, “and I have never stopped wanting you, Tate. Not for a single day have I been free of you.” I put us forehead to forehead, nose to nose. “I want everything. I want you to finish school. I want the wedding with our friends and family. I want the house, and I want our kids, Tate.”

I pressed my lips to hers until I could feel my teeth digging into the inside of my lips.

“And if you don’t want some of that or any of that,” I pointed out, “then I’ll bend, because above anything else”—I looked her in the eye—“I want you.”

Her beautiful blue storms pooled like the rainy days she lived for, and I pulled back, unbuttoning my jeans, never satisfied that I’d have enough of her.

Lifting her by the backs of her thighs, I slid her down my cock, kissing her to drown out her sudden cry.

Thrusting inside of her, I whispered against her mouth. “Forever.”

She closed her eyes, a blush crossing her cheeks. “Forever,” she complied. “After we settle an old score, of course.”

And I shot my eyes up, seeing her lips curl with an idea.

“An old score?”

“Mmm-hmm,” she confirmed, keeping her eyes closed. “You and I have unfinished business, Jared Trent.”

Shit.

Chapter 17

Tate

“I don’t get the point of this.” Jared pulled on his black hoodie. The rain had cooled everything down considerably.

“Simple,” I explained. “We’ve had two races, and I haven’t won one yet. I want one more chance before we start a new slate.”

“What are you talking about?” he shot back, running his hand through his brown hair and making it stick up in perfect messiness. “You won the first one we had four years ago,” he pointed out.

“Did I?”

His face fell, and he looked annoyed as he arched a brow at me.

I smirked, reaching through my open back window and grabbing my own hoodie.

“Tate.” He came up, placing his hands on my waist. “You and I don’t need to race.”

“We do.” I put my foot down. “This is my last race, Jared.”

He fell silent, and I turned around, looking up at him studying me. Taking his hand, I leaned back into the car and pulled him close, wanting privacy from the Loop crowd a few feet away.

“We’ll always share our love of cars,” I started, keeping my voice even. “And we’ll have a lot of fun driving and pulling our own little stunts in the years to come, but . . .” I took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to make him understand.

“Growing up, I always thought I’d share this with you,” I admitted. “From the first time you mentioned the Loop when we were ten, it was going to be Jared and me at the race. Jared and me in our car. Jared and me a team.” I swallowed down the dream that really never came to fruition.

I cleared my throat. “When you left, it was like what you were talking about when you were on your bike on the track . . . about how it was the only time we were together. Remember?”

He stayed still, studying me warily. I could tell he was concerned that I’d be giving up something I loved for the wrong reasons.

“Well”—I nodded—“that’s what the Loop has been like for me ever since you left. A way to be close to you when I fooled myself into thinking it helped me survive without you.” I shook my head, dropping my eyes. “It didn’t,” I confessed. “I have no glory to seek here, and I have no interest in pursuing anything more advanced. Medicine is where my ambitions lie, and although I love driving, the only way I want on this track from now on”—I met his gaze—“is if we’re in the same car.”

I liked driving, but it wasn’t love for me like it was for Jared. And I didn’t want to enjoy it without him anymore.

I tightened my arms around his waist. “I know your heart is on the track, but I don’t need this, and I don’t want it unless I’m sitting next to you. It’s time my energies went elsewhere.”

He grazed his fingers down both sides of my face, sending shivers down my arms. “But you love this,” he maintained, looking at me with concern.

“I like this,” I corrected him. “I love it with you.”

He tipped my chin up, kissing me, and in less than a moment, my body heated. I loved the way he tasted.

“So . . .” I pulled back, blinking away the haze he’d created. “It’s my last race, and the last time you and I will be opponents—or enemies, for that matter—and I want it to be you. No one else.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “And what makes you think I won’t just let you win?”

“Because it’s also a bet,” I retorted, the mischief thick in my voice. “If I win, I get to propose to you in front of all of these people.”

He rolled his eyes, walking away from me.

“And it’ll make you feel really feminine in front of the huge crowd and their phone cameras,” I went on, talking to his back. “And it’ll be a superinteresting story—if not a little unmanly—to tell our children someday. And my father will probably lose all respect for you, but when I get down on one knee, baby,” I teased, “you’re just going to melt and swoon.”

“Good God,” he whined, turning around and looking like he ate something bad. “I think I lost a testicle listening to this.” And then he turned back around, ordering over his shoulder, “You’re not proposing.”

“But, sweetheart,” I yelled, catching the others’ attention. “You love it when I’m alpha.”

Bystanders laughed, and I smiled as Jared shook his head as he walked away from me, probably seeking escape by going to find Jax and Madoc.

I locked my car and slipped on my hoodie as I walked over to Juliet sitting in a quad chair next to Jax’s car.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, seeing a fleece blanket and two bottles of water lying next to the chair on the ground.

“Shaky,” she admitted. “But I’m okay. Jax wanted us to stay home, but when I heard you and Jared were racing I insisted we come.”

I picked up the blanket and folded it, setting it on Jax’s car.

“How did he take the news?” I asked, looking over at him and seeing Madoc giving him shit.

“A lot better than me.” She sighed. “He has a case of water in the trunk and actually put a blanket on me, as if it’s not summertime,” she complained, sounding cute. “He already YouTubed how to deliver a baby in an emergency, so I think he warmed up to the idea pretty fast,” she joked, laughing.

“And you?”

She shrugged, letting out a breath. “I’m on the pill. Or was,” she added. “We were never careless, even after two years of being together. I definitely wasn’t prepared for this.” She stared off, and I followed her gaze to see her watching her boyfriend. A slight smile graced her face. “But he keeps touching my stomach, like he’ll be able to feel it move already.” She laughed. “I would never have tried to have a baby right now, but I just look at him, and all of a sudden I can’t wait. We’re actually having a baby together.”

I leaned down, giving her a big hug. It was nice to know Jax was planning on proposing before they knew about the baby. Seeing her still bare finger, I guessed he was going to make an occasion out of it.

And thanks to the impromptu news today, it would probably be sooner rather than later.

“Everyone is here for you, you know that, right?” I told her. “And Fallon will be pregnant soon, so you won’t be alone.”

She looked at me, confused. “How do you know that?”

I sighed. “It happens in threes. Katherine, you, and it won’t be me, so . . .”

We laughed, knowing it very well could be me, but with Jax having a baby, I was sure Madoc would play it up and get Fallon to fold.

“Tatum Brandt!” someone bellowed. “Get your ass over here!”

I shot up, staring wide-eyed into the crowd. What . . . ?

I glanced at Juliet, and she just smiled, recognizing Jared’s voice, too.

Staying frozen in place—because I didn’t answer to that name, and he damn well knew it—I finally saw him rise above the crowd as he stood on . . . what I could only assume was his car’s hood.

His head cocked to the side, and the spectators looked between him and me. The music cut off, and I watched his easy, self-satisfied body language as he spoke.

“You want to race me or what?” he challenged, the same defiant and cocky attitude in his expression that I hated and loved in high school.

My heart picked up pace, and I crossed my arms over my chest, inching toward the crowd.

“You know I do,” I replied with sass. “Why are you acting like you have better things to do all of a sudden?”

“With you?” he shot back. “We definitely have better things to do.”

The crowd buzzed with laughter at Jared’s clear innuendo, but I smiled, unembarrassed. I’d learned to fight back a long time ago.

I looked around at the crowd. “I think he’s afraid I’ll win, don’t you?” I asked my rhetorical question and heard the amused crowd turn to him for his reaction.

He jumped down from his car, and we walked toward each other through the parting crowd.

He jeered, “You win? I’ve raced here twice as much as you have. I think I can handle seeing you in my rearview mirror, Tatum,” he joked, getting my heart pumping faster with his mock insults, which gave me déjà vu. Which, I guessed, was why he was egging me on.

To get me pumped up.

I put my hand on my heart, feigning sympathy. “Oh, but sweetheart? Didn’t anyone tell you?” I approached him, smiling. “This is a chicken race,” I informed him. “I won’t be behind you. I won’t be next to you.” I leaned in to whisper. “I’ll be coming at you, baby.”

The smirk on his face slowly fell to his feet, and I bit back the urge to laugh.

Priceless. Damn, I’m good.

Jared’s heated eyes turned fierce, and he looked around for his brother.

I snorted as Jax stepped up, rolling his eyes. “Thanks, Tate,” he said sarcastically. “I hadn’t told him yet.”

“What is she talking about?” Jared’s hard voice sounded tense, and I tried not to grin. It wasn’t often I could surprise him.

“Uh, yeah,” Jax inched out, sounding apologetic. “It’s a new feature here, brother. You both take off from the starting line but in opposite directions,” he explained, glancing at me. “You have the whole track to work with until you pass each other, which you’ll do in your own lanes,” Jax gritted out, telling me specifically, since I’d never done this before either, and he wanted to make sure I understood.

I raised my eyebrows, eyeing Jared. “But at the finish line . . . ,” I hinted.

“At the finish line,” Jax took my cue, “on the last turn, you have to cruise in between the barriers to make the finish count.”

He pointed to the waist-high plastic barriers, sometimes used in road construction, that were being positioned behind him to make a single lane on the track.

“That makes a lane only wide enough for one car,” Jax observed.

I couldn’t control the bounce in my feet. “Exactly,” I remarked.

“Whoever makes it first . . .” Jax nodded. “Well, you get the idea.”

I swung around, heading for my car as Jax blew a whistle, clearing the track.

“Tate!” Jared shouted, his voice being drowned out in the crowd. “I’m not doing this!”

“If you don’t,” I called over my shoulder, “someone else will, and I won’t be as safe with them as I will be with you, right?”

I opened my car and climbed inside.

“You’re a brat!” I saw him growl in the middle of the crowd.

I cocked my head, sticking it out the window. “I love you,” I shot back, teasing.

And thank goodness he didn’t put up more of a fight. Hesitating only a moment, he shook his head, looking defeated, before turning around and walking for his own ride, which already sat on the track.

Jared’s car was a piece of art, and everyone had been all over it since we’d gotten here.

Turning the ignition, I revved the engine and brought my hands up, squeezing the steering wheel against the hot rush in my blood.

The crowd had dissipated, either going farther off to the sidelines or to the bleachers, and I released the clutch, pulling myself up onto the track. Swinging around, I pulled up next to Jared, both of us facing opposite directions and our driver’s sides sitting next to each other.

“You’ve never gone easy on me,” I told him, my tone serious. “Don’t hold back now.”

He stared out the front windshield, clearly hating what I wanted from him.

Reaching over, I cranked up the music and then gathered up my hair, tying it up into a ponytail.

He finally looked over at me, and a smile crept out as, he too, reached over and turned up his music.

“Welcome, everyone!” We heard Zack’s voice come over the loudspeaker.

I looked over to see Madoc and Fallon sitting on the bleachers, while Jax and Juliet crossed the track in front of my car, heading over there as well.

The crowd, a mix of high school students as well as friends from way back, took out phones to start videotaping. Many of them were well aware of Jared’s and my history, so they had a vested interest in seeing this little showdown.

Jared’s mouth curled into a grin, and I couldn’t help my foot tapping as anticipation sent shivers up my spine.

He knew I liked the way he looked at me, and he was trying to throw me off. Okay, maybe not on purpose, but whatever.

“These two,” Zack started, booming over the speaker, “need no introduction. It’s a matchup that rivals any we’ve ever had here, and they never fail to bring a few fireworks to the Loop.”

The crowd cheered, and I checked the shifter to make sure I was in first.

“Jared and Tate?” Zack continued. “Best of luck.”

The spectators cheered, and I let out a hard sigh as Jared rolled up the window.

I did the same, lowering the music for a moment.

“Ready!” Zack boomed, since from the position I was in, I couldn’t see the signal lights.

“Set!” I heard, swallowing through the dryness in my mouth.

Jared and I both pressed the gas, too excited to contain it.

“Go!” The roar raged through my ears, and Jared and I tore away from each other, the screech of our tires sending the crowd cheering louder.

I shot down into second and then up into third, gaining speed quickly and smoothly. Jared and I pulled farther and farther away from each other, and glancing in my rearview mirror, I was surprised that I didn’t really like seeing his distance away from me increase. I could almost feel it on my skin.

Just like magnets.

His brake lights flashed, and I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, seeing him skid around the next corner.

Shit.

Hitting the gas, I shifted straight into fifth, skipping fourth altogether and spinning around the turn. The rotten thing about my car was that it was about three hundred pounds heavier than his, so he could maneuver quicker and easier.

Shooting back into third, I hit the gas, charged ahead, and shot back up to fifth and then sixth. Jared’s muscle car looked like a rocket blowing up rainwater on the track as it raced ahead toward the next turn.

I tensed my thigh muscles, feeling a thrill creep up my insides.

Damn, he was hot. I couldn’t see him through his blacked-out windows, but he was still managing to turn me the hell on.

Surfing around the next turn, I charged ahead, staying on my right as Jared plowed toward me, and I let out a laugh as he passed.

I loved racing him. I always felt the rush, and no matter whom else I’d raced, nothing felt as good.

A chill spread over my skin, despite the hoodie, and I didn’t hesitate to barrel around the next turn, charging ahead.

I didn’t want to win or need to win, but I wanted to have this with him.

My music cut off, and my phone started ringing on the touch screen. I pressed Accept Call.

“Yes?” I answered.

“What happens if I win?” Jared asked, and his velvet voice caressed my skin.

I hesitated, not sure how to answer. “Then . . .” I searched for words. “Then I guess I trust that you’ll always give me your best.”

He was quiet, and I could hear the crowd ahead.

“And if I lose?” he asked, sounding unusually sad. “Will you still trust that I gave you my best?”

A lump rose in my throat, and I blinked away the sudden tears.

“Jared.” I folded my lips between my teeth, trying not to cry. He wanted to know if I trusted him.

“I can’t promise I’ll wake up every day operating at a hundred percent, Tate,” he admitted. “No one can.”

I heard his voice change as he struggled to round the last turn, and I shifted down, doing the same, the steering wheel trying to pull against me as I skidded.

“But”—he breathed hard from the exertion—“I can promise I’ll always put you first.”

“Then, prove it,” I urged in a thoughtful voice. “Meet my match.”

I shot down into fifth and then up into sixth, seeing his lights ahead.

This was it. One of us was going between the barriers, and the other would be forced to take the lane to the outside, and he was fucking with my head right now, and I just wanted him to race.

“Tate . . . ,” he said in a hesitant voice.

“Jared, just go,” I pressed. “It’s you. It’s only you. You’re the only one who challenges me, so challenge me! Don’t hold back. I trust you.”

I squeezed the wheel, my eyebrows pinching together as I pressed myself back into the seat.

Go, go, go . . .

Shooting for the starting line, I pushed the gas to the floor, seeing him charge ahead, both of us in the path marked by the barriers.

“Tate!” he barked.

“Go!” I yelled.

Jax had lines marked on the track, giving drivers notice for their last chance to exit, but judging my space, I knew I was going to make it.

I was going to make it, and I didn’t want Jared to ease up. Give me everything!

I held the wheel, my arm like a steel bar, and sucked in breaths as my heart beat like a jackhammer.

“Fuck!” Jared cursed, barreling straight for me. “Tate, stop!”

His car, my car, one lane, right for each other, the barriers in three . . . two . . . one . . . and . . .

No!

I screamed, twisting the wheel right, every muscle in my body in a nightmare of pain as I swerved out of his way and passed the barriers, nearly whimpering out of fear as I winced.

Oh, God!

I let breath after breath pour out of me as I took quick glances behind me several times to see that he was on the other side of the barriers, too.

He’d tapped out. Just like me.

Shit. I dropped my head back, terrified by what had almost happened, as I slowed to halt.

Shaking my head, horrified and relieved at the same time, I realized the irony.

He’d put me first. Just like he’d promised.

The crowd descended, and I climbed out of my car, feeling shaky and weak.

“You’re absolutely crazy!” I heard him yell as he made his way through the crowd. “Does Stanford know how reckless you are?” he attacked.

I straightened but averted my eyes, feeling a little contrite. He had every right to be pissed. I’d messed with his head, telling him to give me his very best, which would also put both of us in danger. Which choice had I expected him to make? But before I had a chance to apologize, he threw a small box at me. “Here.”

I shot up my hands to catch it.

“Open that,” he ordered.

I studied the cylindrical black leather box and immediately knew what it was.

He stayed a few feet back, but the crowd surrounded us, and I saw our friends push to the front of the audience.

I did as he said and opened it, revealing the platinum band, the princess-cut diamond that had been meant for me. Gasps exploded in the crowd and even some squeals, probably from the high school girls who thought his rudeness was cute.

I twisted my lips to the side, taking in his angry arched eyebrow.

“So this is how you propose?” I asked sternly. “Because I kind of have a problem with a ring being thrown in my face and you not kneeling like my father would expect.”

I looked at Jax and a laughing Madoc and continued, “Not that I expected Jared to kneel—I know he’s not the type—but I damn well expect a gesture, and—”

I looked down, seeing Jared in front of me on one knee.

“Oh,” I whispered, shutting up.

Snorts could be heard in the crowd, and I let him take my hand as he smiled up at me.

My heart pounded, and butterflies swarmed in my stomach.

“Tate.” He spoke slowly, looking into my eyes in a way that was still so much like the boy I grew up with but more like the man I’d grown to love.

“You’re written all over my body,” he spoke low, just for us. “The tattoos can never be erased. You hold my heart, and you can never be replaced.”

I pressed my lips together, trying to stay composed.

He continued, “I only live when I’m with you, and I’m asking for your heart, your love, and your future.” He smiled. “Will you please be my wife?”

My chin trembled, and my chest shook, and I couldn’t help it. I covered my smile with my hand and let the tears fall.

The crowd around us started cheering, and I caressed his face as he stood up and lifted me up off the ground.

“Now, that’s how you propose,” I joked through my shakes.

“You going to answer me, then?”

I laughed. “Yes.” I nodded frantically. “Yes, I would love to marry you.”

***

After the Loop, we escaped.

Just the two of us to Mario’s for a late dinner and then home. I couldn’t stop the flutter in my chest.

I think it was the happiest day I’d ever had.

Jared had slipped the ring on my finger and held me close, tucked under his chin as we called my father on Skype with his phone.

Apparently, he’d asked my dad a year and a half ago, and true to fashion, my father didn’t share business that wasn’t his to share or interfere in situations he knew needed to play out. We also found out that was why he’d never accepted other offers on the house. He knew Jared would come home eventually.

I looked up at Jared, resting my head on his arm behind me. “I’m sorry about the tree,” I said, feeling bad as we sat in the middle of it, me between his legs and lying back against his chest.

“I know.” His voice was gentle. “It’ll heal. Everything does with time.”

Looking down, I studied the ring, feeling its happy weight on my finger. There were still lots of things to work out—living arrangements while I went to school, his career—but it was small potatoes considering what we’d survived to be together. Two assurances I had come to realize about life: Almost nothing turns out exactly the way you plan, but I’d be happy only if he was by my side. There was no choice.

“If you don’t like it, we can exchange it,” he spoke up, seeing me admire the ring.

“No, I love it,” I assured him. “It’s perfect.” And then I smiled. “My new lifeline.”

Jared snorted, remembering my lifelines from high school. The things I always made sure to have on me when I went out, just in case I needed to escape him.

He leaned in, kissing my hair. “I don’t want to wait to marry you,” he whispered, and I nuzzled into him, loving him so much.

I didn’t want to wait, either.