Chapter 9 - Julian
I sink the eight ball with a smirk, catching the second win in a row.
Atlas curses good-naturedly and hands off his cue stick to Gage for the next challenge as Torrin and Mars trash-talk his poor pool skills.
Reid sits at the closest high-top table where our jug of beer and glasses wait, scribbling in his journal.
He’s not much for pool but he enjoys just being with all of us when we go out like this.
I head his way as Gage racks up the balls for the next game and lean on an elbow next to his journal.
“Making any progress?”
He looks up and blinks at me through his dark wire-rimmed glasses, coming out of his fog of creativity, grinning.
“Yeah, I think I figured out the chorus. Will you take a look at it later?”
“Of course, but I already know it’ll be a winner just from what you’ve told me so far.”
His amber eyes soften at my praise. He’s a puppy like that.
Reid deserves all the encouragement and support.
He’s had a hard life with shitty parents.
His mother in particular is one of the world’s biggest cunts.
She gets off on tearing him down with her constant criticism and the sharp barbs she throws his way.
I’d love to stab that bitch. Especially after what went down when Reid and I were thirteen.
My own parents, who happen to be best friends with his, aren’t much better, but their brand of abuse falls more under the neglect and indifference category.
Vapid, self-centered narcissists with an obscene amount of inherited oil wealth that should never have had children, describe our parents to a tee.
I’ve been watching over and protecting Reid for as long as I can remember and I don’t see that changing anytime in the future.
He’s more than my best friend, he’s mine.
Mine in a way I can’t even explain. All I know is he’s the most important person in the world to me.
Reid has a beautiful, delicate soul that needs to be protected from life’s cruelties, and it’s my job to act as his shield to make sure that happens.
I turn and look over our group around the pool table.
It’s a strange mix of personalities that couldn’t be more different.
Reid and I come from the wealthy elite, but Mars, Gage, and Torrin come from lesser means.
Mars being the worst off. It’s Atlas that brought us together.
His strong leadership skills made us click into a group during high school when we all played on the same baseball team.
Somehow, his parents sort of adopted us all and pulled us into their family.
The Boltons are like no family I have ever known before.
Their generosity and kindness wrapped us all up and filled a need none of us knew was necessary and made us all a part of that family.
Now, I couldn’t imagine not being a part of it.
My cell dings with a text message so I drag it from my back pocket and my eyebrows shoot up when I see it’s from Luna.
Atlas’s little sister is a sweet girl. I have a soft spot for her after the way she expertly stepped in and ran interference for Reid at school.
She was genuine in wanting to help him and I know for a fact Reid’s got a puppy love crush on her.
Can’t really blame the guy, she’s gorgeous, inside and out.
All that cinnamon colored hair, pretty green eyes, and those sexy little baby doll dresses she always wears with work boots.
Even though we all know Luna’s strictly off limits, I enjoy the hell out of the way she’s been cutting her flirting teeth with us lately.
She might only be seventeen but I’d be lying if I said I never took an extra-long look at her.
She’s going to grow up to be a stunning woman one day.
I thumb open the text and frown at what it says.
Luna: Need a favor, please don’t tell Atlas
Luna: Can you come get me?
What the fuck? Atlas told us earlier it’s her prom night and showed us pictures of her in a pretty green dress, like the proud big brother he is. Why would she need me, of all people, to come get her when she should be dancing her cute little ass off? What could possibly be wrong that…
Julian: Where are you?
Luna: The Marriott
My fingers turn white around my phone. What the fuck is she doing at a hotel? Dark thoughts race through my mind and it doesn’t take me long to put it together. Prom night and a hotel? A surge of anger flashes as I reply.
Julian: OMW be outside when I pull up
Luna: Thx, Jules
I hand off my cue stick to Torrin.
“Swap me out on the next game, man. Turns out there's a pretty girl that needs a ride."
All three of them laugh but when I glance over my shoulder at Reid, Atlas nods.
“No worries, I’ll make sure he gets home.”
It’s a quick ten-minute drive to the hotel Luna said she was at and I spot her as soon as I drive up. She’s wearing a long seafoam green prom dress that looks slightly wrinkled. Her hair and makeup are mussed up. I slam the car in Park and fly out of the door with rage lighting me up.
“What room number is he in? He’s fucking dead!”
Her big green eyes blink a few times at me in shock before crashing down as her pale skin flushes red. Her hands come up in a stop motion as she starts shaking her head.
“No, no, it’s not like that! It was consensual. I promise, I… I wanted to.”
The tears welling up in her eyes tell me that’s not the whole story so I take one of her hands and pull her over against the car and lean in close.
“Tell me why you look like your heart’s breaking, then. What went wrong?”
She lets out the saddest little sigh, making my fingers squeeze hers.
“I… I just thought… I mean…”
“What? You thought what, Luna?”
She finally lifts those green eyes up to meet my gaze and slumps.
“Is that really all it is? I thought sex would be this huge, amazing thing full of feelings and, and, I don’t know! Is that all it really is? I just thought it would be life-altering somehow. Now I just feel stupid for thinking it was going to be a big deal.”
I have to take a minute to sort the thoughts in my head.
Luna had sex, it sounds like it was her first time, and it was a letdown.
Probably with some loser that didn’t take the time to make sure she enjoyed it.
I lean forward and cup her cheek and swipe under her bottom lip to clear the little bit of smeared lipstick there and find my voice.
“You didn’t…?
“Didn’t what?” She asks in confusion.
It makes me grin a little. She has no idea what I’m talking about.
I don’t have the right words to explain it, so I do one better and show her a taste of how it should be.
I lean into her so she’s pressed against the car, tighten my fingers on her face, and press my mouth to hers.
I keep it slow and soft when I trace the seam of her lips with my tongue and she responds beautifully by opening those plump lips to grant me access.
I stroke into her mouth and lose myself a little bit at how fucking sweet her mouth is.
My body presses harder against hers while my other hand digs into her hip to pull her even closer.
Fuck, she’s so goddamn soft against me that I want to consume her.
She makes the sexiest little moan that knocks me out of the moment, reminding me that this is just a lesson and not the real thing.
I pull back. Luna’s eyes are hazy and her chest is rising and falling as she tries to catch her breath. I swipe my tongue over my lips for one final taste of her and then ask, “Did he make you feel like that?”
My voice comes out thicker, lower than it should, as she gives a small shake of her head. I step back a little further away from her.
“There you go, then. Don’t let a man put his hands on your body again unless he makes you feel like that, because Luna, that’s just the tip of how it should make you feel. It gets much, much better than that.”
Her head falls back to thump against the car door as she looks up at the stars.
“B-better than that?”
My regular smirk slides into place as I nod. “Way better than that. Okay?”
She nods in a bit of a daze. “Okay.”
“Good, now get in the car, Cin.”
I pull her away from the door so I can open it and guide her onto the seat, making sure the long skirt of her dress is in and won’t get caught in the door.
I have to pause at the back of the car to reach down and adjust my throbbing dick before moving the rest of the way around and getting behind the wheel.
She’s quiet as we pull away from the hotel and I'm worried that she’ll think that kiss was something more than what it was but I bark out a laugh when she finally speaks.
“So basically, what you’re telling me is Thad had no idea what he was doing and sex is supposed to be more than a little sloppy fumbling at my boobs, a bit of pain, and then like five pumps and a long, drawn-out groan from the guy?”
I shoot her a horrified look.
“Thad? His name is Thad? Well, there was your first mistake. Sounds like a guy that wears pleated dress pants.”
The side eye she gives me, confirming that fact, has me flat out laughing.
“Why Cin?” At my confused look, she explains. “You said, get in the car, Cin.”
I reach over and tug at a strand of her hair. “Cinnamon, the color of your hair.”
She makes a small hum at the back of her throat, accepting my explanation of the nickname. I don’t tell her that it also doubles for what she makes me want to do to her soft little body.
“Can we go to McDonald's? I really want some McNuggets right now.”
I scoff a no, what does she think this is? I’m not fucking Uber Eats.
“Pleeease? Come on, Jules! Don’t be a McDick.”
I laugh but shake my head no again.
“I really, really need some McComfort, right now. All my girlish hopes and dreams to have my first orgasm were dashed by a guy in pleated pants. It McSucked!”
Her teasing tone tells me she’s actually rolling pretty well with all that disappointment.
I ignore the idea of giving her that first orgasm, one she’d never forget.
Instead, I flip a U-turn and start driving the other way to the fast food restaurant.
I might not show the world that it exists very often, but I do actually have a McHeart.