• Fourteen •
“You wanted her to hear how good you made me feel.”
Briar
Too many words. I scrolled past that recipe and went to the next one. I needed simple.
I could read short sentences easily enough. I’d taught myself to focus until I could get the letters not to jumble or at least until I could get them straight in my head. Texting wasn’t so bad. If I was alone, I would just have Siri read my text. Just like I would voice-text back so I didn’t mess up. If I had to figure it out most of the time I managed, I could do fairly okay, but when it got to a long paragraph length, then the words were more scrambled and confusing.
Dovie normally read things like this for me, but she was gone shopping with Nailyah. Hopefully, they’d be back soon. I wanted to surprise Storm tonight with peanut butter pie. He’d mentioned it was his favorite the other night when we were watching a movie and someone ordered a slice. I doubted I had all the ingredients, but I was going to go get them if I could find a recipe I could read.
Letting out an exasperated sigh when the next one I pulled up was too wordy, I dropped my phone onto the counter. Just before I could pitch myself a fit, the door chimed. She was home!
“Dovie! Come read this recipe for me. I’m struggling without you,” I said, smiling as I picked up my phone to pull up the recipe that had the most stars again. Hearing her footsteps, I turned around to see Dovie walking into the kitchen with a hesitant look on her face, followed by Nailyah and Lula Mae.
What the hell was that bitch doing here?
“Oh, hey,” I said, keeping my smile plastered on my face.
I put my phone in my pocket instead and looked at Dovie.
“I should have told you I was bringing them here,” she signed.
I waved a hand. “Nonsense. They are always welcome.” Except Lula Mae. She was not. At all. “Do those shopping bags mean you found some good sales?” I asked. “I love a good sale.”
Lula Mae was studying me like I was a science experiment, and I didn’t like that one bit. Of all people to hear me say I needed someone to read me something, it had to be her.
“We found to-die-for red shorts that looked fabulous on Dovie,” Nailyah informed me.
“Oh, yeah? Well, let me see these shorts.”
“She wouldn’t buy them,” Nailyah said. “I begged, but she’s stubborn.”
I looked back at Dovie. “You didn’t like them?”
She shrugged, then signed, “Too much.”
Ah. I’d given her the only credit card I owned that was tucked away and kept for emergencies. It only had a credit limit of five hundred dollars, but I liked knowing I had it in a bind. Until Dovie had wanted to go shopping, I had never actually used it.
I lifted my gaze back to Nailyah’s. “She’s a bargain shopper. Takes after me.”
Nailyah frowned. “That doesn’t sound like fun.”
I wanted to laugh. The girl had no idea what struggle was. But she didn’t understand what all Dovie had lived through. I let it slide.
“What is it you needed help reading?” Lula Mae asked, giving me a helpful look that was fake. I knew it now. I’d fallen for her bullshit once, but I wouldn’t do that again.
“Nothing. It can wait,” I replied. “Can I get y’all something to drink? Snacks?”
“You don’t have to wait on us. It’s Storm’s house. I’m perfectly fine with helping myself to his things,” Lula Mae informed me, beaming as she walked over to the fridge.
I cut my eyes back at Dovie, and she was watching her with a frown. The way she’d said Storm’s house hadn’t been lost on either of us.
“Yes, well then, help yourselves,” I replied, wanting to go put my foot on her ass and shove her into the open fridge she was studying.
“So, how long are y’all gonna live with Storm? Looking for your own place?” Lula Mae asked, taking the last of my favorite yogurts.
Figured that would be what she took.
“That’s not our business,” Nailyah said, giving me an apologetic look.
“I was just curious. I didn’t mean to be nosy,” she said, scanning the drawers, clearly not sure where to get a spoon for my yogurt.
I walked over and opened the drawer she needed.
“Thank you,” she said as she came over to get a spoon. “I was simply asking because I know how Storm never does the company thing or lives with anyone. He just cherishes his space, you know,” she said before sticking her spoon into the yogurt.
She was trying to make me think she knew him better than I did again. I had to remind myself of that as the jealous monster began to rear its ugly head. I met Dovie’s gaze, and she looked like she wanted to escape. The bitch was making her uncomfortable. I would take shit off the woman if I had to, but I wasn’t going to let her make Dovie feel unwanted.
“How does Rice Krispies Treats sound?” I asked her with a wink. She loved them when they were still warm. “You get the butter from the fridge, and I’ll get the other supplies.”
“You’re making them?” Nailyah asked hopefully.
“Sure are,” I replied. “Won’t take long, and we can take them out on the back porch and eat them all while y’all tell me about the things you bought today.”
Nailyah clapped her hands together, grinning. “Ohmigod, yes! I’ve not had those in so long.”
I walked over to the pantry and went inside to find the marshmallows and Rice Krispies I’d put inside when I got back from grocery shopping yesterday. Finding both, I grabbed them and stepped back out. Nailyah was sitting on the counter, watching Dovie as she got a large pot out and started melting the butter.
Lula Mae was walking over toward the peaches that I’d picked earlier and placed in a bowl on the bar. She smiled and picked one up. “Did these come from the trees out back?” she asked me.
“Yep. Picked some this morning,” I told her, setting the supplies down beside Dovie.
She raised her eyebrows slightly and scrunched her nose. “I’m glad I didn’t make it weird, telling you about Storm and me kissing out there.”
The woman was really pushing it.
I pulled the measuring cups from the drawer. “Not at all. But then Storm did take me out there yesterday, stripped me naked, and, well …” I glanced at Nailyah. “Sorry. TMI.”
She was pressing her lips together like she wanted to laugh and shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t mind me.”
I shifted my gaze back to Lula Mae, who no longer looked so pleased with herself. That smug look on her face was gone.
“Let’s just say, what we did was the opposite of a G-rated kiss.”
Lula Mae tensed. “I don’t think Storm would appreciate you talking about your … sex life around his little sister.”
“Trust me, he does not care,” Nailyah said with a wave of her hand.
“It’s inappropriate,” she snapped.
Nailyah opened the bag of marshmallows. “Relax. I walked in on him screwing a girl in the pool house when I was, like, ten, and he yelled at me to get out while he was fucking. So, I seriously doubt he’d care now that I am almost twenty. Besides, the way he looks at Briar makes it pretty crystal clear he’s obsessed with her.”
I wanted to go kiss Nailyah Kingston on the freaking face. When she cut her eyes to me with her back to Lula Mae, she winked. She was in my list of favorites. Top five.
“Do I pour these in now?” she asked Dovie, holding up the marshmallows.
Dovie nodded, and I looked back over at Lula Mae. She was glaring at the pot as if it had offended her. When she realized I was watching her, she plastered on a fake smile again.
“Annette will think differently,” she said with a triumphant look. As if telling Storm’s mother on me was a win for her.
Were we in elementary school still?
I started to say something I probably shouldn’t when the door chimed. Storm was here. Her face lit up at the sound, and the bitch set down her yogurt that she’d barely touched, then began walking toward the hallway that led to the foyer.
What, was she going to throw herself into his arms again?
My hands fisted at my sides, and I refused to go see what she did. I wasn’t playing games with her. Storm was with me. He wanted me. She was bordering on pathetic.
When she was gone, Nailyah leaned over toward me. “Ignore her. She’s just bitter because she thought Storm was gonna eventually marry her. You are the first real threat she’s had.”
Whoa … marry? Did Storm know this? He had definitely made it sound like they’d kissed as kids and nothing more. But she was an adult now.
I heard their voices, and I went over to get a baking dish for the marshmallow and Rice Krispies mixture that Dovie was mixing together.
I wasn’t taking her bait. I would not. But marry? That wasn’t nothing. I was missing something.
Because Storm lies.
Ugh! I hated that I thought that.
“That’s enough,” I heard Storm say in a hard tone.
I heard Lula Mae speaking under her breath just outside the door, saying something to him.
“What’s going on in here?” he said in his normal voice as he walked into the room while leaving Lula Mae talking to herself now.
I held out the baking dish. “Rice Krispies Treats,” I told him.
“Hot damn. I came home at the right time,” he said, walking over to me and taking the dish from me, then pulling me close to him.
His gaze studied me as if he was looking for any signs of my being upset. That sent off a red flag. Why would I be angry? Unless the marriage thing had come up …
“Were you gonna tell me you were making them? Or eat them all?”
“Eat them all,” I replied.
A crooked grin touched his mouth. “That’s cold.” He lowered his mouth to mine and pressed a kiss to my lips, then let me go.
“Give me the baking dish, Casanova. I need to butter it,” Nailyah told him, taking the dish away from him.
He looked back at me. “I fucking love Rice Krispies Treats.”
“Well, I had planned to make you a peanut butter pie, but I didn’t get around to reading the recipe,” I admitted.
He licked his lips. “I love peanut butter pie, but I’d rather have the pie between your legs.”
“Ohmigod, you did not just say that,” Nailyah squealed, covering her ears.
He glanced over at her, then back at me. “Oops. I wasn’t supposed to say that in front of them, huh?”
I couldn’t not laugh. He’d done that on purpose. Lula Mae must have told him I’d talked about sex with him in front of his sister. This was his way of letting me and her know that he didn’t give a shit.
“Is that what you needed Dovie to read to you? The peanut butter pie recipe?” Lula Mae asked, walking farther into the room from sulking at the door.
I stiffened as everyone in the room looked at me. I could lie, but she would know I was lying. She felt like she had something over my head. I didn’t like that. She wasn’t going to have that.
“Yes, it was.”
Dovie’s eyes widened at my admission. She knew I didn’t tell people that.
This was a lesson for her. When it’s not your secret anymore, admit it. Otherwise, you’re handing someone ammunition to be used against you.
Lula Mae placed her hand on her chest. “Oh, I wasn’t being serious. I mean”—she smiled brightly—“you’re what, twenty-nine, thirty? And you can’t read? How awful.”
All right, bitch. I was twenty-five, almost twenty-six, and I still got carded at bars.
“I can read. But I have dyslexia, so a lot of words at once can get tricky for me. And I’m twenty-five.” I added, “Not as old as you just yet.” I knew she was my age or younger, but I was giving it right back to her.
Her eyes flared angrily until they shifted to Storm’s, and I saw her expression falter. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” she gushed, blinking as her eyes began to water. “I was just … I thought … I mean, I wanted to teach you … if it was reading you needed help with.”
“There is nothing you could teach Briar,” Storm interrupted her.
He pressed his hand to my back and led me out of the kitchen. I didn’t argue with him. I needed away from her. If she started crying, I might punch her in the face. He kept walking until we reached the stairs, and then he nodded his head for me to go first.
“The bedroom,” he said once we were at the top.
I wasn’t sure sex was what I needed at the moment. Especially with company in the house, but I went to his room and stepped inside. Perhaps he wanted to discuss what he’d walked in on. I hadn’t handled anything maturely. I’d stooped to Lula Mae’s childish level, and I was mad at myself for doing it.
Storm closed the door, then took my hand and pulled me over to the bed. He sat down, then tugged me onto his lap.
I looked at him and sighed. “That got a little out of hand.”
“I didn’t know you had dyslexia.”
I shrugged. “And I didn’t know Lula Mae expected you to marry her one day.”
He scowled. “What the fuck? Did she say that?”
“Nailyah told me.” There, tell me your sister is a liar.
He let out a frustrated groan. “I thought that shit had stopped years ago. Yes, once upon a time, our parents and Lula Mae thought we’d marry when we grew up. But what our parents didn’t know was, I only liked her because she sucked my dick. I was never planning on marrying her. Nailyah needs to shut her mouth.”
She had sucked his dick. I really wished I’d punched her now. I knew it was ridiculous to care, but I did.
“She must give great head,” I snapped.
“I was fifteen. Any head was great head,” he said, cupping my face with one of his hands. “I don’t want to talk about her or what we did when we were kids. I want to talk about you. Why didn’t you ever tell me about your dyslexia?”
“It never came up.”
His brows drew together. “It should have.”
“Why?”
“Because I can get you help for that.”
I laughed. “You can’t fix dyslexia, and I do manage pretty good most of the time. It’s not terrible.”
“I can get you a specialist to help you read. There has got to be some fucking app that will help you too. You shouldn’t have to struggle with something like a recipe.”
“I do not need a specialist, but I never thought about an app. I’ll look into that.”
Storm’s eyes dropped to my mouth. “Why are you so stubborn about letting me take care of you?”
“To hear Lula Mae tell it, I am mooching off you and taking away your solitude,” I replied dryly.
His eyes shot back up to mine. “She’s clearly not the nice girl I remember anymore. Ignore her. You know I want you here.”
I bit down on my bottom lip for a moment, then scrunched my nose. “When is she going back to Louisiana?”
His hand slid up my shirt. “Keep that jealous shit up. It makes me hard.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t tell her. She’ll offer to suck your dick.”
His hand covered one of my boobs. “Only one set of lips I want to see wrapped around my cock, and it sure as fuck isn’t hers.”
The need to stake my claim or erase away any memories he had of her giving him blow jobs was starting to get to me. I moved off his lap and went down to my knees in front of him.
His eyes darkened as he watched me. When I reached for his belt, he smirked. “Does my jealous girl want to suck my cock?”
I lifted my eyes to his. “I don’t like that her mouth was here.”
He licked his bottom lip as I unsnapped his jeans, then lifted his hips and shoved down his jeans, along with his boxers, freeing his erection. “I don’t like anyone upsetting you, but, damn, it’s fucking hot when you’re jealous.”
I smiled, reaching for his thick, hard length, and closed my fingers around him before I began to slowly move it up and down. Leaning forward, I licked the bar that pierced his head.
“Take off your shirt,” he said hoarsely.
I sat back on my heels and did as I had been told.
“Bra too.”
Unsnapping it, I let it fall down my arms, then dropped it beside me.
“That’s better. Don’t swallow all my cum. I want to see some of it run down your face and neck, then over your tits,” he said.
I bit my bottom lip hard to keep from moaning as his words caused that needy ache between my legs.
“Now, you can wrap those pretty lips around me.”
Taking him in my hand again, I leaned forward and licked the top one more time before sinking my mouth down onto him and going until the head hit the back of my throat. I would never be able to take it all.
“Fuuuck, baby,” he groaned and grabbed my braid in his fist.
Needing this to be the best damn blow job he’d ever had, I didn’t fight back when he shoved my head down further. Opening my throat, I took more until my eyes watered.
“Goddamn.” The pleasure in his tone made it worth it.
Sliding my lips back up, I looked up at him through my lashes as I began to bob my head, taking him as deep as I could.
His eyes were almost black as he stared down at me with his mouth slightly open. Seeing him like that had my panties damp. I wanted to slip a hand inside them and get myself off while I sucked him, but this was about him. Making all other head he’d ever gotten pale in comparison.
“AH! Such a good girl,” he crooned, then slammed my head down hard again, causing me to gag. “You like taking my dick down that pretty throat?”
I nodded, not taking my eyes off him while I continued.
He brushed some of my tears away with his thumb, then stuck it in his mouth and sucked. “The first time I laid eyes on you, I wanted to see these plump lips around my cock.”
I moaned as the throb between my legs got stronger. Frantic, I wanted more. I sucked harder and faster, and his fingers tightened in my hair. The glazed look in his eyes as he watched me was as hot as it was powerful. Right now, I owned his pleasure. I was giving him this. Me. Not some other bitch.
“Fuck, I love seeing that gorgeous face taking my dick,” he grunted, and I felt him swell in my mouth.
His thighs started to tremble, and his mouth opened wider.
“GAH!!! FUCK! I’m coming!” he shouted as the first shot went down my throat.
I eased up on my sucking as he pumped into me more, making sure to keep it pooled in my mouth. He jerked several times, cursing and praising me. When he was done, I let his cock slip from my lips, then pushed the cum in my mouth with my tongue so that it slid out onto my chin before dropping down to my breasts.
He was breathing hard while watching me in complete fascination. When it was all out, I licked my lips while I ran a finger over the semen, circling it around each nipple.
“Fuck,” he muttered, unable to look away.
I kept playing with it until he finally tore his eyes off my chest to look at me.
“That was fucking porn-worthy,” he told me.
A giggle bubbled out of me, and I stood up. He grabbed my waist and tossed me down onto the bed.
“What are you doing? My boobs are covered in your cum. I need to go wash off.”
“Like hell you are,” he said, straddling me and running his hands over my chest. “I want it to stay. I’ll rub it in, and then you’re gonna sit on my face and give me my pie.”
I covered my face as I laughed.
“You were really loud,” I told him. “They probably heard you.”
“Good.”
“Your sister and Dovie did not need to hear that,” I said on a gasp as he pinched my nipples.
A grin curled his lips. “But Lula Mae needed to, didn’t she, baby? You loved knowing she heard me up here, praising you and shouting out my release. You loved it so fucking much that you didn’t care if the other two heard it. You wanted her to hear how good you made me feel.”
Maybe … but now that it was over, I cared.
His hands moved down my stomach and started unbuttoning my shorts. “It’s okay. If Dovie and Nailyah didn’t want to hear me, then they could just go outside.”
I really hoped they had left, but it was highly doubtful. I needed to apologize to Dovie especially. She’d never had to hear me with a man before. I didn’t want to start that now. She deserved more than that from me.
“Stop thinking about it,” he said, then jerked my shorts down. “And sit on my face.”
Jesus. This man could distract me from anything.
“Unless those are more jealous thoughts you’re having, then please share them,” he said as he lay down on the bed beside me. “Tell me how jealous you are as you grind your pussy on my tongue. I’ll be so fucking hard by the time you get off that I’ll flip you over and fuck you like an animal again.”
I trembled as I moved up over him.
This man’s dirty mouth was going to be the end of me. A beautiful, exquisite end.