Chapter Fifty-Three
Atlas
“I’m just saying, if you’re having people over, there should be snacks,” Rush said as he climbed up the ladder that was leaned on the house above the garage doors.
“It’s a job, not a social call,” Nixon said, rolling his eyes as he opened the box for the floodlight with the camera.
“Says the guy who doesn’t even work for King anymore,” Rush shot back.
“I’ll have to remember to set out a cheese board the next time I have a plumber over,” I said, smirking.
“It’s not too much to ask,” Rush insisted, but he was grinning down at me.
It struck me, once again, how much I’d missed this.
I guess I’d just been really good at burying that longing between other experiences. But, obviously, it was always there, just waiting to be acknowledged.
Once upon a time, we’d all been so fucking close.
I’d been the one to drive a wedge.
And in moments like this, when we were all together, it was painfully clear how much I’d been missing out on for years.
“That Scotti?” Rush asked, making me turn to find another car parked on the road.
Then, a second later, she hopped out, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail as she went to the back of her SUV, fetching something out, then coming toward us with a few boxes of pizza.
“See? Now she knows how to treat hard-working men.”
At that, Scotti’s brow lifted.
“I’m going to tell Katie you said that,” she said, shaking her head at him. “How’s the leg?” she asked, turning to look at me.
“Fine,” I told her. “If the doctor won’t take this fucking thing off, I’m gonna cut it off myself,” I told her, waving down at it.
Granted, my reasons for wanting it off now had a lot less to do with just annoyance, and a lot more to do with AJ.
Having her ride me was great. Fucking fantastic, actually, because I got to really watch her as she learned how to bring herself pleasure, as she got to actually enjoy sex, rather than endure it.
But only having one position in my arsenal was going to get old fast.
I hadn’t been inside her since then, even though it was pretty much all I could think about.
She’d been home all morning, of course, since this was her scheduled overnight—hence the security installation.
But I’d rolled the office chair up behind her when she’d been at the counter, drinking her coffee.
Reaching out, I’d peeled her panties she’d slipped into right off again, then stood to lift her, depositing her ass onto the counter, then dropping back onto my chair, lowering it until I was in the exact right position, then shooting a smirk at her wide, disbelieving face, before ducking my head and running my tongue up her pussy.
From what I understood about her ex, he didn’t give a fuck about her enjoying herself. And I didn’t figure a man like that would ever eat his woman out.
So I went ahead and made up for lost time, licking, sucking, teasing, driving her up over and over and over, until her thighs were shaking hard, and just the touch of my tongue on her flesh seemed to make her jolt from oversensitivity.
When I’d looked up at her after, she’d been all glassy-eyed again, overwhelmed.
“No, baby,” I said when she’d hopped down, and immediately went to her knees in front of me, her hands going to my waistband.
“No?” she asked, body tensing like I’d slapped her.
“It doesn’t need to be reciprocal,” I said, my fingers brushing down her cheek. “I didn’t go down on you, so you would do the same for me.”
“I want to,” she said. Then, when she didn’t think I was convinced, her hand moved over my straining cock. “I need to taste you too,” she admitted, cheeks all pink.
And, fuck, I couldn’t deny her it when she genuinely seemed to mean it, could I?
So I sat back as she freed me, as she teased me with her tongue, then took me into her lips, into her mouth.
She worked me slowly at first, trying to figure out what I liked best, then faster as she gained confidence, her one hand fisting my cock, stroking it as she sucked, as the other went to my balls, massaging as she worked me up and through an orgasm, taking me deep so I came down her throat.
And I swear I saw fucking white at the intensity of it.
Then, yeah, she’d needed to get herself ready for work.
She’d be beat when she got home, so I didn’t think we’d get another round in before King showed up to take me to the doctor.
But, fuck, all bets were off when I had the damn cast off. I was going to fuck her to oblivion morning, noon, and night.
“You always were impatient to get on the move again,” Scotti said, a sadness overtaking her features.
“So, what do you think of that SUV?” I asked, glancing back at it.
“My car?” she asked, brows pinching as Rush came down the ladder to unburden her of the boxes, but only because he wanted a slice. “It’s… fine. Why?”
“I’m taking recommendations for a car. I’m going to get one after my appointment tomorrow.”
“Wait,” she said, brows pinching. “You’re buying a car? Like… to keep here?”
“Well, to use,” I said, kind of enjoying her confusion. I’d had similar conversations with Rush and Nixon since they showed up, watching as their confusion led to understanding at what I was saying.
That I was planning to hang around.
At least for the most part.
“To use until your boot is off?” she asked.
“Yeah. And after that. Gonna need to get around somehow.”
“Wait,” she said, body stiffening, like she was bracing for me to disappoint her hopes. “Are you saying you plan to… stick around? Even when you’re healed?”
“I mean, I still have some traveling to do here and there. But I’ve been… researching some shit, looking into opening a business.”
“In Navesink Bank?”
“Well, over by the beach,” I clarified.
“And you’re going to… work there?”
“Someone’s gotta,” I said, working to flatten the smile that threatened to pull at my lips.
I didn’t anticipate the way a sob escaped her.
Scotti, as a whole, was not a woman who cried often. I would know. I’d been close with her for most of her life, until she went off and married Mark.
“Hey, no, none of that,” I said, uncomfortable as she buried her face in her hands.
“The fuck she crying for?” Nixon, ever the gentlest of men, asked, eyeing our sister.
“Nice, real nice,” Rush said, rolling his eyes. “She obviously realized that she brought us mushroom and onion pizza, and is feeling real bad about it,” he said.
“Hey,” I said, reaching out to use the back of King’s car to help me up, then reaching for her. “Come here,” I demanded, then grabbed her shoulder, and forced her toward me, wrapping my arm around her. “Way to make me feel like a real dick, Scotti,” I teased.
“You are a real dick,” she said, sniffling hard.
“That’s the sister I know and love,” I said, smiling as she pulled it together, then moved away, wiping at her cheeks.
“I just miss you. A lot,” she said.
“I miss you too,” I said. “I just didn’t realize it until I spent some more time around here.”
“This is because of AJ, isn’t it?” she asked.
“That’s… part of it,” I admitted.
“What kind of gift do you get the woman who makes your nomadic brother come back home and put down roots?”
“Dunno. But she likes bird stuff.”
“Bird stuff?” she asked, brows pinching.
“Dunno. She feeds all the birds and shit. She likes birds.”
“Birds,” she said, nodding. “Right. I’ll keep that in mind. So, you’re not hooking the house up because you’re leaving then,” she mused, watching as Nixon climbed up the ladder Rush had abandoned to chow down on the pizza.
“No,” I said, reaching for my chair, and dropping back down because the bulky cast made standing awkward. “I’m hooking it up because there’s something inside now that I want to protect.”
“Christ, that’s sappy,” Nixon said, shaking his head.
“Oh, shut up. Like you don’t still get all moon-eyed over Reagan,” Scotti shot back.
“Kids, behave,” Kingston called, coming out of the garage, fiddling with something on his tablet. “Hey, Scotti,” he said, giving her a smile, then looking around at all of us.
The look of peace and joy that crossed his face at seeing us all casually together on a random day that wasn’t a holiday made me feel like a real shit for keeping that from him for so long.
“The inside is all set,” he told me. “If these bums could get off their asses and get the outside done, we’d be all set,” he said.
It was pure teasing on his part, but Rush snagged one more slice of pizza before heading back off to work.
Everyone hung with me until well after sunset before they all headed home to their families. I hung with Samson, both of us seeming to miss his mom.
She sneaked inside that next morning, quickly plugging the code into the door that I’d texted her earlier, then trying to tiptoe past me toward the bedroom.
“Trying to go to bed without me?” I asked, voice sleep heavy.
“Go back to sleep,” she whispered. “You have the doctor soon.”
“Still rather spend an hour with you,” I said, transferring to my chair, then rolling behind her down the hall where she cast off of her pants, then reached under her shirt to remove her bra, before crawling into the bed.
I squashed the desire that rose in my system as I moved in beside her.
Her eyes were barely open as she disrobed, so I didn’t want to keep her from the much-needed sleep.
Besides, I figured that in a few hours, I would be a fuckuva lot more fun in bed.
So I just pulled her close and held her as she drifted off to sleep.
Eventually, I slid out from under her, getting myself ready for the day, then feeding and letting Samson out back for a while as I waited for Kingston to scoop me up.
The doctor had been on the fence about the cast until I all but insisted on having it off. He’d eventually agreed, demanding that I take it easy for a few days, even using the crutches he provided sometimes.
I played along for him and in front of Kingston after, as we browsed the lot, then went inside to work on some paperwork for an SUV I was going to pick up the following day, but I was quick to place the crutches in my bedroom after King left to head to his office.