Chapter 45
Greedy
now
I’m pacing my dad’s study when the text comes through.
This room offers the best view of the circle driveway. I need to be the first to know he’s arrived.
This can’t stand. Rage courses through me when I recall the way he casually dropped it on me at dinner.
Fucking bullshit.
My father knows I don’t care for Magnolia.
Though he doesn’t know the severity of my hatred, the depth of my ire.
Magnolia is the reason Hunter left. Hunter never confirmed it, but deep down, I’ve always known.
The night our parents “introduced” us and announced their engagement was the night everything changed. I stood in the middle of the foyer of a country club and witnessed her slipping out of my grasp.
We were young, and we were both scared, but I told her we’d figure it out. I promised her it would be okay, then she iced me out and left the damn country before I could prove I was a man of my word.
I’ll be damned if I let the only woman I’ve ever loved be driven out of this house again because of my father’s flighty, absentee wife.
With a long breath out, I unlock my phone and read the text.
Levi: Come up to my room. It’s Hunter. I think she needs help.
His room?
But if Hunter needs me…
I stalk out of the study, slamming the door closed on my way out.
“Oh, Garrett!”
I ignore Magnolia. She’s sitting in front of the television.
Probably still struggling to figure out the remotes like she was when I retreated to the office.
She’s never stuck around long enough to figure out how to work the goddamn TV.
This reappearance? It has the power to drive away the person who does belong here. The person I’m desperate to make stay.
I take the stairs two at a time, let myself into Levi’s dark room, and close and lock the door.
Instinctively, I reach for the lights.
“Don’t,” he rasps from the bed.
I freeze, battling to keep calm as my eyes adjust to the dark. When I can make out the details of the room, I sweep my gaze over the two people in his bed.
Him and her. Her and him.
I fucking told him where things stood with Hunter. I fucking told him she was mine.
But I saw the way he touched her earlier. It was instinctive, like it was second nature to protect her. And I saw the way she looked at him.
I recognized that look. It’s how she used to look at me, always.
It’s how she still looks at me on the darkest nights.
Heart pounding in my chest, I approach the bed slowly, steeling myself for the possibility of what I’m about to bear witness to.
Moonlight shines in from the French doors that lead to our shared balcony. A sliver of light is visible under the bathroom door, too.
They’re under the sheets. Together.
He’s got both arms wrapped around her, holding her close to his bare chest.
She’s draped over him the way she used to drape herself over me.
I fist my hands at my sides, choking back the hurt and betrayal.
Hunter’s breathing is soft and steady, save for the occasional hiccup. It’s hard to tell whether she’s asleep or awake.
“Why the hell did you—”
“Greedy.”
The quiver in her voice catches me off guard. It steals the words from my mouth and the air from my lungs.
Hunter peels herself off Levi and turns, reaching for me.
I react on instinct. Muscle memory. Heart recall.
Quickly, I shuck off my shirt and ditch my shoes. Then, silently, I climb into the bed on her other side.
“Greedy,” she says again, shifting away from Levi, toward me.
I slot in place behind her and wrap my arms around her as best as I can. She squirms and burrows, like she can’t get close enough.
When she finds a comfortable position, she lets out a shuddering breath. “My mom is here.”
Her voice doesn’t even sound like her own.
“I know, Tem. I’m so sorry.” I tentatively pet her hair, bumping arms with Levi as we struggle to comfort her between us.
“I had dinner with my dad. He told me then,” I explain. “I tried to call but couldn’t get a hold of you. I rushed home as fast as I could.”
“It’s not your fault.” She sniffs and shrinks back in on herself.
Except it is.
I can’t ever get to her fast enough to warn her. To protect her. To be what she needs when she needs it. I’ve never been enough.
“What can I do for you?” I plead. It’s agony to be this close, yet to not know how to help.
Does she need space? More time? If she asked me to physically remove her mother from the premises, I’d do it without a second thought. I’ll do anything to take her pain away. Anything to make her stay.
“Just hold me,” she breathes. “Hold me like the other nights.”
The other nights.
The nights in my bed we don’t speak of.
I look over to Levi, who’s watching us silently, a frown tugging at his lips, then focus on Hunter again.
“Are you asking me to take you to my room?” I hedge.
She shakes her head a fraction. “I want to be with Levi.”
The declaration slices through me like a knife. I fight back the urge to argue, to scream and rage. It was never supposed to be her and him.
It was always supposed to be her and me.
I exhale, focusing on keeping my breathing steady. Then, as calmly as I’m capable, I peel back the sheets and sit upright. “Okay. I’ll go. If he’s what you want—”
“Don’t leave.” She clutches my hand. “Greedy, please.”
So she doesn’t want to leave him and go to my room.
But she doesn’t want me to leave either. I don’t know what she thinks is going to happen—
“Stay.”
“In here?”
“Yes. Greedy. Please stay with me. With us.”
She’s a shell of herself right now. I can’t deny her. If she wants me to stay…
I glance back at Levi to gauge his reaction. This is his room, after all. His bed. His woman, if my suspicions are correct.
He nods hastily, shifting back and pulling Hunter to the middle of the mattress.
This time when I lie down, I situate myself as close as I can physically get. Not caring that we’ve already made a tangled mess out of the comforter and sheets, I hitch one leg over top of hers.
Chest aching, I seek out her soft skin, burrowing under the oversized button-down shirt she’s wearing.
This isn’t the first time she’s let me hold her since she came back to me. Though it is the first time she’s verbalized exactly what she wanted, and it’s the first time she’s told me she wants me.
“You’re okay, Tem,” I assure her, stroking one hand up and down her spine to soothe her. “I’ll stay in here for as long as you need me.”
She snuggles closer, like she’s desperate to crawl into my skin and take up residence between the layers of tissue and muscle.
The same yearning that’s always there when I’m in close proximity to her percolates deep in my gut. I ignore it and focus entirely on her comfort.
I smooth the hair away from her face. Then, without thinking, I bend low and kiss her forehead.
She leans into it, so I keep my lips pressed to her skin. When she exhales, her warm breath wraps around my neck and inspires goose bumps along my spine.
I freeze, willing my body to relax and begging my cock to stand the fuck down.
Her breath hitches in response to my subtle reaction.
It’s just the proximity, I remind myself.
It’s impossible for me to be near her—for me to fucking hold her this closely—and not physically react. She’s nestled too deeply in my heart. My body remembers her too well.
The weight of Levi’s arm is heavy on her hip. He keeps his face hidden in her hair, spooning her from behind.
When she inhales, it’s with a shuddering breath. Then on the exhale, her hips hitch forward, and she presses into my crotch.
With a hiss, I pull back a fraction. Then I trace one hand down her spine and around her front, digging into the soft flesh stretched over her hip with a warning squeeze.
In response, she rolls her hips forward again. When she rolls them back, Levi groans.
“Distract me.”
Distract her?
With pleasure.
There is no question that I’ll obey her request. Every part of me is programmed to please her. She was my everything once. I’ll do anything in my power to remind her of how good it can be when we’re together.
“Say it again,” I tell her, my lips brushing over her forehead.
She smacks my bare chest, the sound of the slap reverberating through the room.
“I’m serious, Hunter. Say it again. And tell me you’re not going to regret it tomorrow.”
“I want you,” she says. “Both of you. Distract me.” Then, softer, she adds, “I want to forget. I want to not think about what happened tonight. Or what happened back then.”
Back then?
She doesn’t offer any more context.
“Please, Greedy. Make me feel good.”
My name on her lips is what does it. With a growl, I snap. Capturing her mouth with mine, I give her the first real fucking kiss she’s allowed me to give in over three years.
She’s sweet, just like I remembered. But the layer of sorrow beneath that taste is salty on my tongue.
I groan, desperate, wanting more, more, more. Our mouths battle for dominance, each one of us craving a different type of fulfillment from the contact.
She wants to forget. All I want to do is make her remember.
With her jaw cupped in my hand, I hold her mouth open and kiss her harshly. “You want me to make you feel good?” I ask, panting.
She nods frantically. Her eagerness fuels me.
I straddle her, one leg bumping Levi’s. I’m too gone for this woman to care. I hover over her as I pepper her neck with kisses. Nipping at her ear, I tell her, “I’m about to remind you of exactly how good this can be.”
She squirms beneath me, and I kiss her again. I have to. If she’s finally willing to give, then I’m going to take and take and take without shame.
I need more of her. I want all of her.
We’re a ravenous battle of teeth and tongues, repressed wants and desperate needs.
It takes all my strength to break the connection. I’d kiss her senseless all damn night if she wasn’t demanding more. When I finally pull back, her eyes are hazy. A million memories take center stage in my mind as she holds my gaze and lets me in.