Текст книги "F*ck Buddy"

Автор книги: Scarlet North

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 7 страниц)

Liam

Oh, no she wasn't. Jackie might think excusing herself from the sham of an engagement breakfast they'd just been subjected to would get her off easy, but she wasn't leaving that building before he had a chance to let her know his stance on things.

He could care less what his father was planning; he'd already fallen for the girl, and he wasn't going down without a fight. It was one thing when he didn't think he'd have access to her, but she was right here. In his reach. He'd be damned if he didn't get a face-to-face confrontation before they parted ways.

“Sir!”

Totally ignoring the bathroom attendant, Liam pushed through the doors into the lobby of the ladies' “powder room,” catching Jackie's arm before she managed to slip away from him.

“Let go me go, Liam.”

“That what you really want?”

His heart was pounding in his chest, and his gut knotted when she turned around and set those big, dark eyes on him. She looked frustrated, like she'd had every intention of avoiding this conversation. And it hurt more than he expected. He barely knew the girl. They'd shared intimacy that had probably caused an earthquake somewhere, but whatever was fueling him right now had a base in far more than that.

Averting her eyes, she pulled her arm from his grip.

“Don't make this difficult.”

“Don't know another way to make it.”

Setting her mouth, her nostrils took a slight flare.

“Maybe try making it easy.”

He loosed a dry laugh.

“There's nothing easy about this.”

“Exactly! A lot of things have changed in the past few hours...”

“Things that had nothing to do with you leaving the hotel without so much as a word.”

He actually thought he saw a flicker of remorse in her eyes, but she quickly retracted it, settling on a more steely gaze, potent enough to give him chills. He hadn't noticed it before, but he saw it now. She was scared. It was the kind of revelation that made it easier to keep fighting for the unnamed thing that kept her firmly at the center of his thoughts.

He hadn't been able to concentrate on a damn thing since they'd spent the night, and that just wouldn't do with all of the obligations coming up in the next few weeks. He needed to know where they really stood, if she could really just walk away from what they'd shared like she wasn't having trouble shaking him from her thoughts, too.

“Look, I just... I thought we should frame what we shared positively. Leave it in a good place, you know?”

“I'm not understanding you.”

“Just... before it all dissolves and becomes something ugly, you know? How often do relationships actually work? I don't think either of us entered that hotel intending things to turn into something more than they were at face value.”

A combination of angst and desire rushed to the forefront of his thoughts, and Liam couldn't help but answer it. Imposing himself into her space, he pressed her to the wall. Her body felt amazing pressed against his, and memories of the night they shared tumbled into his mind's eye, flooding him with arousal.

She felt it, too; he could see that.

“If you can look me in the eye, and tell me to walk away, I'll leave you alone.”

“Listen-”

“Tell me to walk away, Jackie,” he husked, following it up with a kiss pressed gently to her neck.

A kiss that soon evolved into a nip of skin which he stretched slightly out towards him before loosing it and claiming more of her neck, licking, and sucking.

“This is all wrong, Liam.”

“Is it?”

His hands found their way to the hem of her skirt, tugging it upward as his fingers reached beneath. She hissed with pleasure, and his hands slid over her thighs, encouraged. Fingertips flirting the surface of her skin, he reveled in her heat beneath them. Sure that he'd find her panty line wet if he checked it. And he would.

“I fucking love the way you feel, Jackie. Who cares what our parents do? The only thing that matters is us.”

His fingers continued their sojourn, slipping over her panty line and reveling in the damp of her desire as they slid past her soft split, entering the tight, welcome of her sex.

“So fucking tight.”

Her breathing changed, and she loosed a whispered moan, more of a whimper really. Answering her, he thrust his fingers deeper, claiming her with three digits as he reveled in the taste of her skin, his mouth covering the curve where neck meets shoulder. He was impossibly hard now. Ready. He really didn't give a fuck; he'd take her right here.

“Liam, I-”

“Yeah, baby?”

His eyes blinked open when he felt her hand brush his away, his fingers immediately releasing her.

“I can't do this.”

He grinned, stupidly assuming she was being coy.

“Yet, you haven't said the magic words.”

He watched her jaw clench, and she averted her eyes, but when she looked at him again, there was a steely resolve in them that made it clear he'd failed to change her mind at all.

“Walk away, Liam.”

Pushing gently against him, she slipped out of the corner he'd backed her into, and with a faltering glance back, she lifted her chin and pushed her way out of the door, practically leaving him there with his dick in his hand.

Jackie

She didn't bother to return to the breakfast table. That would be impossible after what had just taken place in the plush, lobby of the restroom. She couldn't imagine facing Liam, let alone ever talking to him again. It was perfectly insane. They'd just learned he was going to be her stepbrother, and at the first opportunity he'd had, he had his fingers up her skirt.

And she'd let him!

She obviously couldn't be trusted around him, and that left only one option: not to be. Next breakfast she was invited to, she was stepping back from. The farther the distance she could create from him, the best chance she'd have at giving them both an opportunity to move on.

There was too much chemistry between the pair to trust what was sure to go down if they found themselves in a room alone together.

Hailing the first cab she saw when she made it out of the building, she slid into its back seat and turned to spy Liam arriving at the front lobby door, calling out to her.

With a sigh, she told the driver to step on it.

~

As soon as Jackie got home, she threw herself into the recipe concoction process, glad for the distraction. Flipping a page open in her notebook, she nipped her lip and let the page fall, scanning it before grabbing the nuts, blueberries and limes. Next, she flicked on her dehydrator, giving it a purposeful look before settling back in front of her notebook.

If her mother was going to subject their business to her new creep, she might as well have some shiny new offerings to roll out. She'd need to speak with a lawyer to figure out the best way to prevent him from commodifying what she and her mother had built together, though. If there was one thing everyone knew, it was that Gary Cross couldn't be trusted.

Sighing, she flicked away the ache she was feeling.

She was failing to push Liam from her mind entirely.

His essence had a tireless way of haunting her, apparently, and it didn't help that what she truly wanted was to get in the car and head off to the tat studio he owned.

His asshole father had let it slip that “he could do better” than to live in a cube built inside of his business. So she knew where he lived now, and that was dangerous information when she was right there on the line between sticking to her guns and throwing caution to the wind like she was.

Peeling and dicing the limes, she tossed them into the giant mixing bowl she'd long named 'Hal.' Hal had been through every failed and successful recipe with her, and it had become sort of a tradition to bring him out whenever she was developing something that might actually go on the VitaGourmet menu.

She and her mom had big plans that were already winning them some handsome checks. Jackie was determined to find a way to make sure the capital they spent continued to be set aside from profits. She didn't believe accepting a cent from Gary Cross wouldn't end up slicing him a controlling share of the pie.

If he wanted in on distribution that was one thing. Helping get them in more outlets wasn't enough to give him a legal claim to them, outside of whatever amounts of bags they agreed to produce for resale. But his ownership, on any level, could destroy VitaGourmet at its heart.

With even a small percentage, he could force a name change, branding alteration, and even influence how the goods were produced. Assholes like him were the types to substitute quality ingredients for those of the subpar variation, gathered right at the edge of their expiration.

All in the name of the bottom line.

Jackie wouldn't allow that. She just couldn't.

Giving Merlin a smacking kiss on his furry head when he hopped up onto the counter, she gently brushed him off.

“You know the rules, Big Guy.”

Answering with a rumbling meow, Merlin gave her a guilt-inducing head tilt and assumed the statuesque pose that never failed to get him something out of the fridge. It was no wonder his ancestors were worshipped. Back when humans were more intelligent as a rule, ancestral forces knew which direction was smartest when looking for guidance.

Cats are born strategists.

Sighing, Jackie rinsed her hands and pulled open the fridge, scanning the paltry contents there. Settling on a jar of mushrooms she'd already cracked open, she reached down and grabbed it up.

“You're in luck, Big Guy. But that's it after this. I've got work to do.”

She served him the rest of the jar's contents in the pricey serving dish she'd bought his spoiled ass at Pier one imports, and set it on the floor by his water bowl. He answered her with a purr of approval before stretching arrogantly and making his way over to it with an air of inspection.

Pisser.

Jackie grinned and flicked on the spout with her wrist, squirting out a dollop of lemon soap from its dispenser and thoroughly scrubbed her hands. Even at home, she didn't fall out of practice with ServSafe regulations. Even though she might be the only one sampling the new, hopefully award-winning trail mix variation she was masterminding tonight.

Shutting the spout and flicking the water off of her hands, she turned back to the blue berries, sighing before setting to the task of cutting each one in half.

Cashews would go nicely with this.

She pushed past the reoccurring thoughts of Liam rising up in her mind, attempting to throw her back onto the fence.

She set her jaw, slicing the berries. No, Ma'am. She would not think about those fingers, those lips, that tongue. She didn't have time to dwell on the surge of electricity that rose to hum the surface of her skin from a simple glance. Didn't need to be reminded how the sound of his name buzzed through her and settled in her gut.

Setting the knife down, she leaned against the counter and sighed.

She was in trouble.

And thanks to dear old mom's exceedingly poor choices in men, she couldn't turn back on her blooming inner diva if she wanted to. Because even if she might be okay with having a relationship with a man who would be her stepbrother in less than a month, the nightmare it would cause in the media for their businesses just wasn't something she could risk.

Frowning, she drew up the knife again and sliced into another blueberry.

Last time I listen to you, bad angel.

Liam

Just like that she was gone.

His fingers tightening around the steering wheel, Liam accelerated his speed along the Breeman Fairway. He was giving a perilous inch to the beast within right then. There wasn't anything else for it. He'd get it out of his system and return to the work of the day. Eventually. Right now, he needed to forget everything. Gravity. Want. Need. Everything.

Following the curve, he laid into the gas all the more. He knew how to handle himself, and there weren't many cars traveling the private road at this time of day. Jackie had left him with a pit in his stomach that couldn't be reasoned with, a sense of loss that hurt him more than it should for it to come from a girl he barely knew.

He had half a thought that his reactions weren't even about her, that maybe he was just lonely and ready to settle down. Maybe she'd been the first woman to cross his path while he was going through some sort of early life crisis. Stranger things have happened. Hell if he knew how to explain the way his heart rate accelerated whenever she was in the room.

How keenly he remembered the scent of her. Saw her in his mind's eye with vivid clarity.

With Dina, things had been different. Desperate, but different. He'd been able to let other women nurture his sorrows when she walked out on him, calling it quits time and time again only to return weeks later.

He couldn't imagine taking someone else to bed after Jackie, and it was perfectly ridiculous because she was obviously over it. Whatever he'd thought they'd shared didn't seem to resonate the same with her, and he was growing angrier with himself by the second for the damnable fixation he had on her.

It shouldn't be this way when two people wanted to be together. Hell, even the barrier of his father's bullshit engagement seemed opposed to it.

Maybe he should take the hint, huh?

Swerving to avoid a squirrel taking an errant notion to cross over the northbound-lanes, Liam grit his teeth and forced himself to reason. He was going too fast.

Fuck.

Why didn't he care?

He had to care. He had a life to maintain. This was silly. School boy shit.

A kind of polarized relief sunk into his veins when he realized he was slowing down, that that unreachable part of him had taken note of his logic. Yeah. That's it. Sometimes, a dude just has to man up. That's all.

Slowing his speed even more, he resolved to take the next right off of the fairway into town. Wouldn't kill him to take in some of the fights before he headed back to the studio. A good spar always settled his nerves, didn't matter if he wasn't the one fighting. Taking a right onto the woodsy strip leading to the back roads by the lake, he leaned back in the driver's seat, feeling more himself now.

A good show would help him change track.

~

“Liam. My man. What's good, buddy?”

Rico clapped his hand into a shake that quickly morphed into an over-muscled hug before settling back against the ropes.

Liam grinned at Rico, marveling that the guy didn't seem to age at all. He'd been Liam's mentor since his preteens, but the dude didn't look like he was a day over 30. Maybe it was all the body work, or the community work keeping his soul right.

“You getting in?” Rico asked him, bouncing a rope for emphasis with a daring glint in his eye.

“Nah, man. Just came to watch.”

Liam folded his arms over his chest. Rico had an uncanny way of looking him in the eye and figuring out whatever was wrong with him. Girl troubles were the last thing he wanted to share with the guy. He felt silly even categorizing it that way. It felt much bigger than something as simple as “girl trouble,” but in the end, it was what it was, wasn't it?

Silly.

“One of those days, huh?”

Rico gave him a knowing glance.

Not the talk, Rico. I can't do the talk today.

“You know... Men and women are different creatures. A good burst of adrenaline helps us forget whatever's bothering us. Women... their shit sits with them.”

He gave Liam a meaningful look that half-made him wonder if he was really that transparent.

“Thank gods for the gym, ah?”

Clapping Liam on the back, Rico laughed heartily.

“Come on, man. Let me get you a bottled water. You've got ringside seats whenever you come through. You know that. Biz and Mike Rowdy are up next if you can wait a few minutes.”

Warming, Liam felt himself relax almost instantly.

“Hell, yeah. I can wait for that.”

Rico gave him a smiling nod and headed off to the kitchenette to get his water, tossing the bottle to him before he disappeared in the back again. He'd been running the shop since his father retired. Well into his forties now, it seemed to have become his life.

Liam had extremely fond memories of the place. It was a home away from home. Hell, he'd slept here. Walked under the bridges and around the lake to get there on the bad nights. Rico's dad never let on that he knew, and Liam didn't abuse the privilege. Around that time, Corey had been safe. He'd been too little to knock around. Mom was still protecting him. But Liam? Liam was “stubborn as a mule.” A “bad seed.” Fucked up thing to say in the ear-range of a 14 year old, but there you had it.

As long as mom's boy toys were bringing the supply when they paid her a visit, she didn't care how they treated Liam. Corey was her golden baby at that point.

Until he hit about 13.

It'd been a rude awakening for him that Liam didn't think he'd ever really recovered from, but he was better off seeing the reality of her before she had a chance to break his heart clean in two. 'Cause she would have. That's just the type of woman she was.

Uncapping the bottled water, Liam took a swig, savoring the cellar-smell of the gym, hints of laundered towels steeped and rinsed in heavily-scented fabric softener pluming the air. It over-powered the sweat most of the time, making the place seem a lot more upscale than the actual budget it ran on. Rico kept it clean and renovated every few years or so, but most of his profits went right back into these walls.

It was a back woods sort of gym, nestled in the trees at the end of a dirt road paved especially for it. Passed down from father to son in succession from sometime in the early 1900s. Something about all of the time it had been standing lent a spirit to it that made you feel like you were being watched over by the old-timer fighters who'd passed in and out of its doors.

This place had seen illegal betting, fights of all sorts, and even prohibition-era poker games. It was steeped in history. And right now, it was just the thing he needed.

By the time the rowdies marched toward the ring, beating their gloves together with playful menace, Jackie was very far from Liam's mind. Right where he needed her to be if he was going to keep his head at all.

Jackie

“Hey, Baby girl,” Roxy's voice crooned through the phone, velvet and cool, just like her demeanor.

“Roxanne! Shit, girl. How've you been?”

Near squeaking, Jackie cradled the phone to her ear. God, she'd missed this chick.

“Just fine, Sugar plum. I'm in town for the night. You free for drinks?”

An effervescent surge of bubbling rose up in Jackie's gut. Hell, yeah she was.

“You know it. Name the spot.”

“Dwight's. I'll get you at 8.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Clicking off the call, Jackie smiled to herself, widely, and probably goofily. She loved the hell out that girl, and a visit with the ol' sage was perfect timing. If anyone could talk sense into her, and set her back on her course it was Roxy.

Huh. She was in town? Just like that.

It wasn't like Roxy to call while she was traveling. She was too much a free spirit for that. Hence the random postcards and unchecked email inbox. No, Roxy moved with the wind. She was the sort of spirit who made an adventure out of life. A woman most people could learn from.

Dusting the flour off of her hands, Jackie gave them a good rinse, and secured the saran wrap over the dough, depositing it in the fridge for later. Glancing at the clock, she put a little more pep in her step.

She had about an hour to get ready.

Most of her day had consisted of trying a million and one recipes, and it had mostly succeeded in keeping Liam off of her mind, even if it didn't do a thing about the hollow feeling settling in her gut.

Usually, cooking and her many experiments gave her a sense of satisfaction, but she was having trouble getting into her groove. Lifting her chin, she shrugged it off. A night out would give her the distractions she needed, and then she could get back on her regular course. With classes starting back up, she had a world of demands just waiting to pile themselves on top of her.

Passing by the computer desk, she forced her eyes away from it and slipped out of her clothes, tossing them in the hamper. She'd left her Two of Hearts account open for some stupid reason, and the temptation to check her inbox to see if Liam... Yeah, it was stupid.

Putting it out of her mind, she rushed to the shower. Roxy was a punctual chick. Not someone you ever willingly ran late on.

~

Jackie squeezed Roxy so tight, her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. God, she'd missed her. And she was just as beautiful as ever, long, electric-blue hair trailing down over her arms, wide-slanted eyes, overly lashed like they were kissed by the goddess of love herself. Grinning, Roxy pulled back, looking her over.

Her grin widening, she pulled the gum from her mouth and tossed it into the garbage can outside of the apartment building.

“What's his name?”

“Hmm?”

“Come on, Jackie. Do I know you, or do I know you?”

Sighing, Jackie threw her hands up.

“Alright. His name is Liam.”

Nodding in an assessing way, Roxy gestured her toward the car.

“We'll talk about it over drinks.”

Sliding into the passenger seat of Roxy's pick-up, Jackie nipped her lip in that preoccupied way she was sure would tell Roxy everything she needed to know. Her love interest was of the scandalous variation. Not at all good for her. Someone Roxy was sure to warn her away from. And that was fine. She was hoping they'd get on the subject at some point. Jackie desperately needed the voice of reason to intervene.

She'd been half out of her mind without someone to talk to about it. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd ever share with her cousins, and talking with her mom about anything that mattered was typically out of the question.

Rumbling the truck to a start, Roxy turned it onto the quiet, college street and made her way toward the lower fairway toward Dwight's. It was a total dive bar, but one that held memories for them. They knew all the regulars, and as a result, they never had to pay for drinks. It would be good to see the old crew. Most of them probably hadn't done much more than take on factory jobs since high school, but they were good people. The type that grounded you. Jackie was looking forward to seeing them.

“So this new guy-”

“Liam.”

Roxy grinned, her eyes firmly glued to the road.

“Liam. What's the story with you two?”

Drawing a breath, Jackie scrambled for where to begin. She wanted to cut right to the chase, but their story needed build up. Deserved it, really. There was a flaming foundation they'd stood on before her mother and his father had dropped their little bomb.

“He's... Someone I met on a dating site.”

“You're shitting me. Like Lela?”

“Something like that.”

“Same site?”

Jackie grinned.

“Yeah.”

“Well, you're not the only girls to get hit by Two of Hearts. They've tied a bunch of people together from what I hear.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Turning onto the fairway, Roxy settled back in the driver's seat.

“What's he like?”

Feeling a weight in her gut, Jackie pushed past the emotions she'd been battling since she'd ran out on him at the breakfast. Pretty fucked up pattern she was creating there. She needed to just cap it at that without any repeat episodes.

“He's hot. Really hot. And established.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, he runs Raw Ink.”

“Oh that's his shop?”

“Yeah.”

“So... what's the deal? The two of you hot and heavy, yet?”

Inhaling sharply, Jackie cracked her knuckles distractedly before lifting her eyes to stare out at the lit-up fairway through Roxy's smudged front window.

“Uh, we were. But... I was only looking for something casual, and there's the other matter.”

“What other matter?”

“He's about to be my brother in a few weeks.”

“Huh?”

Taking her eyes off of the road for the first time since they'd gotten into the truck, Roxy studied Jackie for a long second before turning back to the road.

“Did I hear you correctly?”

“You did. I didn't know that when we... spent time together, but we know now, so...”

Creasing her brow, Roxy flicked her blinker and passed over into the left turning lane.

“Rewind to the part where you said you wanted to keep it casual. When did this version of Jackie emerge?”

“It's a long story.”

“I've got all night, Baby girl.”