Chapter 14 #2
Our mouths and hands move in sync. There’s no question we both wanted this moment to happen.
Her fingers push into my hair, gripping a handful when I start to kiss her neck.
With one hand still on her thigh, my fingers dig into her flesh.
She moans, and the sound goes straight to my dick.
Without hesitation, I push into her, showing her what she does to me.
Thea tightens her legs around my waist and bucks.
Her hand moves from my hair, down my shoulder and up under my shirt.
Her touch burns my skin. I suck in a gulp of air, relishing in the way her hand feels around my stomach.
I hoist her a bit higher, to give her access to where she wants to go.
To where I need her to be. Thea moans, and it’s not like the fake-ass shit I’ve convinced myself she does with her boyfriend . . .
I stop and pull her legs away from me. I hold her until I figure she’s steady on her feet and then turn from her and take a deep breath. “You should go,” I say to her.
“What if I don’t want to?” she challenges me.
“Thea, please.”
She quiet, probably contemplating my demise. “I’ll go if you promise me one thing.”
I hate making promises. “What?” Right now, I’ll promise her anything if she leaves this room and the bar.
“Come home tonight, Ky.” I can hear her moving about in the room. She presses into my back and her hands snake around my waist. “Just come home so we can talk.”
I nod without any hesitation and say nothing. I stand there, staring at the wall until I hear the door shut.
* * *
After I close the bar, I sit in my car for a bit, wondering how I got myself into the situation I am in now.
I’m supposed to go to a fight. I’m supposed to be in some makeshift ring, in some hidden warehouse, fighting for money.
After Thea left the bar, I texted my friend and said I couldn’t make it.
Of course, this didn’t make anyone involved very happy, except for the guy I planned to beat the shit out of tonight and I promised to make it up to them.
There’s that word again, promise. It’s not a word I ever use unless it’s with Lacey. For her, I’ll never go back on my word, but for anyone else, I never want to say it. Thea made me do so tonight and because of her, I had to make another promise, one I can’t break no matter how badly I want to.
You would think Thea held a gun to my head, but all she did was ask me to come home and I couldn’t tell her no.
Her voice . . . it’s been my weakness from the get-go.
It’s the way she asks me for things or how she says my name.
More so, it’s when she calls me Ky that I can’t say no.
I wish I could. I wish I was strong enough to push her away, to keep her out of my thoughts.
I’m weak when it comes to her, and I hate it.
Not because of how she makes me feel, but because of my life, and hers.
She’s my friend’s little sister. She’s forbidden.
Not to mention she has a boyfriend.
“Yep, there’s that,” I say to myself.
I finally start my car and pull out onto the traffic-free road, and within ten minutes, I’m climbing the stairs to the house. When I get inside, the hallway light illuminates the figure sitting on the stairs.
“Hey,” I say quietly.
“Hi.”
“Where’s Jude?”
“He’s not home,” Thea says. “Some hook-up or something.”
I nod but expect she can’t see me. When I get to the steps, she stands. “Are you hungry?”
“Did you cook?” I ask her.
“No, but I could make you something.”
“No, that’s okay.” We stand there for a second, neither of us knowing what we should do.
She wants to talk, and I said I would. We never said where or when, although the when is implied by her waiting up for me.
“I need to change.” I climb the stairs and get to my room, only to find her hot on my heels.
When I turn the light on in my bedroom, it’s exactly the way I left it weeks ago . . . a mess. “Fuck,” I mutter.
“We can go to my room,” she says.
“No!” I say a bit too loudly and with too much force.
I scramble to pick up the crap on the floor and throw my blankets back.
It’s doable, but not great. “I’ll be right back,” I tell her.
I grab a pair of sweats from my dresser, knowing they’re at least clean and then toss a shirt in her direction.
She’s wearing some skimpy tank top thing which causes her breasts to invite too much attention from me.
“Put this on if we’re going to talk.” Because that’s what we’re going to do—talk.
When I come back into my room, Thea is sitting on my bed, wearing the shirt I gave her.
I never bothered to look at what it was and now she’s has it on, my dick is ready for some action.
She’s wearing a T-shirt replica of my hockey jersey.
The one and only time I wore this shirt was for a charity event last year.
Thea giggles and I look at her oddly until I follow her gaze. Fuck my life. She can see I’m sporting a hard-on through my sweats. “I’m glad you think this is funny for me.”
“I’m giggling because you put on gray sweats. Those are magnets for attention.”
“Is that so?”
Thea nods. “Yes, the female population loves men in gray sweatpants. The thinner the material, the better.”
“Duly noted. I’ll buy some black ones tomorrow,” I tell her.
“Please don’t.” Her giggly voice is now soft and sweet. “Can you sit by me?”
I go over to my bed and sit on the edge.
Only, I’m fucking tired and want to lie down.
It’s my hope that Thea takes the hint and will say we can talk tomorrow, but she doesn’t.
She lies down next to me. When she rolls to her side, I do the same.
We mirror each other, one hand under our head and the other on the side.
“I didn’t know you worked at The Crease.”
“I figured.”
“Do you work because of child support?”
The question stings. I think about not answering but I’m not a liar. “The little girl you saw me with is my niece. Her name is Lacey. We were shopping for her Halloween costume.”
“She looks just like you.”
“Poor thing.” Thea smiles and laughs. “She’s five, and yes, one of the reasons I work.
The other is to help my mom out, and my sister when she needs help—which seems like a lot these days.
With the exception of Jude, none of the guys really know about Lacey or the situation with my family and I’d like to keep it that way. ”
“You’re a good man,” Thea says while nodding.
“I’m not, though, am I? I knowingly kissed a woman who has a boyfriend.”
“She’s wanted to be kissed by you from the first night she met you.”
“She shouldn’t,” I say to her. “I’m damaged and come with more baggage than a full airline flight.”
Thea lets my words sink in. She shouldn’t want to be with someone like me, not when she has the golden douchebag.
“How did you get these bruises?” Her fingers ghost over the bruises I earned last week.
I breathe in heavily and let the air out of my lungs slowly. “Underground fighting, Thea. My mom is being evicted from her home and doesn’t have the money to move. The money is good.”
“Kyler.” Tears well in her eyes.
I shake my head. “I’m okay. They don’t hurt.”
“But you’re going to get hurt.”
I can’t argue with her there. I’ve thought about it a million times over.
A punch to the head and I could end my career.
Before I can stop her, she presses her lips to my bare chest. I close my eyes and my hand turns into a fist. When her soft, desirable lips touch mine, I let her kiss me.
And when her tongue enters my mouth, I welcome her.
It’s when she hitches her leg over my hip, I have to stop her.
“We can’t do this, Thea.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have a boyfriend, and while he may be the biggest asshole on the planet, I don’t want you to regret me if something were to happen.”
Thea lies back down and sighs. “I don’t get it, this fight between you and Adam.
He’s the whole reason I went out tonight.
After your game the other night, he was waiting for me in the parking lot and told me—no he demanded—I move out and into a dorm because of you.
Do you guys know each other or something? ”
I push her hair behind her ear and let my hand linger there for a moment.
“Thea, I’m a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them.
I keep a lot of shit bottled up because I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings.
I want you to understand this and remember what I’ve said because I’m going to tell you something and I don’t want you to hate me.
” I lay everything on the line, from who is evicting my mom and why, to what I saw Adam doing.
Thea cries and I feel about two-feet tall.
I pull her into my arms and apologize profusely.
“Adam said you assaulted him,” she mumbles into my chest.
“He wishes,” I say to lighten the mood. “Because he’s your boyfriend, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“See, Ky, you are a good man.”
I adjust slightly so I can look at her. What I wouldn’t give right now to say fuck it and make love to her, to show her how a real man can make her feel. I resign myself to living a fantasy and press my lips to her forehead. “Go to sleep, Thea.”
She nestles into me, putting her arm around me.
When I’m on the cusp of falling asleep, she slides her leg in between mine and lets out a little sigh.
I’m fucked six-ways-from-Sunday at this point and might as well enjoy her while I can.
I rotate just enough to where I’m still I’m holding her, but she’s on her back and can feel every inch of what I’d love to give her.
“Goodnight, sweet Thea,” I whisper in her ear before closing my eyes.