Seven Minutes in Heaven #2
Dolly’s face turned bright red, and fury burned inside me. I knew Devlin was doing this for me, and I should be grateful, but I didn’t want it done at her expense. I’d rather leave their circle than see her humiliated in front of our friends.
“We’re still playing?” Destiny asked, looking around.
“Sure,” Devlin said, bending to snag a beer. “At least until everyone’s gone once.”
“You’re going to let your cousin kiss your girlfriend after he attacked you?” Lacey asked.
The bitch was always stirring shit.
“That’s right,” Devlin said, leveling her with a cool stare. “What about it?”
She gulped and then forced a giggle. “Nothing,” she said. “I just thought you were pissed at him.”
“She just meant, that’s really cool of you, to be cool with him,” Destiny said, looking all star-struck by how benevolent her precious idol was, that he wasn’t making me kiss his feet like the girl he called his Darling Dog just for kicks.
Devlin might have bestowed his friendship like a gift on these people, but they knew full well that not everyone got the same treatment.
“Get up here, Colt,” Devlin said.
Colt stood, and Devlin threw his other arm around our younger cousin. Everyone waited, watching for what Devlin would do next. He had that effect on people.
“These are my boys,” he said. “My brothers. My fucking blood. When shit goes down between us, we work it out our way. You don’t need to know how or what went on behind the scenes.
That’s Darling business. All you need to know is that we’re family, and family comes first. We get pissed at each other like anyone else, but we’ll always be cool with each other. Always.”
He gripped us both hard against him for a second, then let go.
No one said anything. I knew even then that something had changed, that he’d just made a formal decree in front of witnesses.
He understood that he had the power, and he was using it to bestow the same privilege on us that he had.
If he was a dick like me, he would have kept that for himself.
But he didn’t see us as competition, not even when there was only one prize.
He was sharing the prize, giving me and Colt an equal piece instead of keeping more for himself.
He understood that he was the Crown Prince of Faulkner in the eyes of the others, if not my own family, and he’d just told them to cut that shit out.
He’d made it clear that I was an equal in his eyes, and so was Colt, a kid who hadn’t started high school yet.
Age didn’t matter. Being liked didn’t matter.
Family mattered. That’s what made him the king, and he’d just made room on the throne for the two of us to sit beside him.
It was shit like this that made it hard to stay pissed at him.
Yeah, he was an insensitive dick to Dolly sometimes, but he was sixteen and had his whole life planned for him since he was born.
Of course he wanted to fool around a little before he settled down.
And maybe he didn’t love Dolly, but she knew that, and she didn’t care.
She chose him anyway, because to her it was worth the heartache to be with someone she loved, even if he didn’t feel the same. I could understand that all too well.
Colt shoved me toward the open lid of the trunk, and I glanced at Dolly.
Of course I wanted to be with her, but I was still distracted by what Devlin had said.
What he’d done for both me and Colt. He was showing family loyalty, and here I was, about to take whatever scraps his girlfriend would let me and count myself the luckiest man alive.
Shame washed over me at how much I wanted her, what I would do to her if she let me, even knowing Devlin would never have done the same to me if I had a girlfriend.
Still, I wanted Dolly enough that it overruled the guilt, and I stepped into the cedar chest. Dolly swallowed and checked Devlin’s reaction.
“I don’t have to do this,” she said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
He grinned, even though his lip was swollen and still bleeding some. “I’m fine, babe. Stop nagging and go kiss my cousin.”
Colt laughed and bumped his beer against Devlin’s. “So that’s what ‘kissing cousins’ means.”
“White people, am I right?” Destiny said to Carmen.
“Dude,” Carmen said, shaking her head.
“Hey,” Lacey protested. “I’ve never kissed a cousin. Or a pair of cousins.”
All three of them giggled.
Dolly looked back and forth between me and Devlin. I could see the reluctance in her eyes, and a cold knot formed in my chest. She didn’t want to kiss me. I could pretend I didn’t notice and keep going with the game, and I’d be just like Devlin. Or I could do the right thing.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said, stepping out of the box. “It’s fine, Doll. No pressure. Why don’t we start the game over, and you can spin again?”
Devlin took a drink of beer and gave me a hard look. “You broke up our game,” he said. “Now you gotta fix it. Take your turn.”
“Fine,” I said, holding up both hands. “If you really want me to spend seven minutes alone with your girlfriend. Not sure I’d trust me if I were you.”
“Damn,” Colt said, slinging his arm around Destiny’s shoulder. “This is some good shit. I gotta start hanging out with y’all more often.”
Devlin tipped his beer at Dolly. “Go ahead, Doll. Finish the game.”
Carmen sighed. “I’m still here, too.”
“Fine,” Dolly said. She shoved her beer at Devlin and stomped over.
We both stepped into the box. Devlin was a little bigger than me, but Dolly was a lot bigger than the other girls.
I gulped just looking at her tits, imagining them pressed up against me for seven minutes.
I was probably going to cum in my pants, and everyone would see it when we came out.
“Eyes up here,” Dolly hissed, glancing nervously at the others. “I don’t want Devlin to think anything’s going to happen.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “How do you want to do this?”
Dolly lowered herself clumsily to her knees, and all I could think about was how she was right at the level of my dick.
But then she was lowering herself onto her side.
When she was situated on the sleeping bag with her back to one wall of the chest, I slid in next to her.
Colt grinned down at us and then lowered the lid, plunging us into darkness.
I could feel the weight of the others on the box as they sat on the lid.
“Well, this is cozy,” Dolly said with a nervous giggle. Her breath smelled like beer, and it was making me hard already. I wanted to taste it, to feel her tongue against mine this time. Our first kiss had been sweet, innocent.
We were older now. I was ready for more.
“You okay?” I asked, letting my hand rest lightly on her soft hip. “Is this too tight?”
“A little claustrophobic,” she admitted, shifting around in a way that made her tits press up against my chest and my cock throb in my jeans. “This isn’t my favorite game. But if we talk, maybe it’ll distract me enough that I won’t freak out.”
“You could have told Devlin you didn’t want to play,” I said, managing to sound normal.
“Have you tried telling him no?” she asked bitterly. “Besides, I don’t want him to think I’m a nag and a prude. That’s not hot.”
“Who cares what he thinks? He’s an idiot. You’re obviously the hottest girl in Faulkner, and anyone with eyes can see it.”
A beat of silence fell, and I cursed myself for being such an idiot. I might as well have told her how desperately in love I was.
“Then how come he made out with Lacey?” she asked, her voice cracking.
I wanted to punch him all over again, but instead, I fumbled my hand to her face and stroked her hair back. I leaned in and pressed my lips to her forehead. “Because that’s what people do in these games,” I said. “It didn’t mean anything. He said so when we were getting ice.”
“Really?” she asked. “He said that?”
I knew I was ruining my shot—not that I had a shot—but I couldn’t stand to see her hurting. “Yeah,” I said. “He said he didn’t like her. In fact, he told me to ask her out.”
“Oh,” Dolly said, tensing slightly.
For a moment, neither of us spoke. I tried to imagine something gruesome to distract myself from the hard-on that was growing in my jeans despite us just talking.
I could feel her tits press against my chest each time she inhaled.
Her breaths seemed to be coming faster, though it was probably just her claustrophobia growing in the silence.
“Are you going to?” she asked.
“What?”
“Are you going to ask her out?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Would that bother you?”
She gave a breathy little laugh that sounded forced. “Why would it bother me?”
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to keep my tone neutral. “No reason. It obviously wouldn’t.”
“I don’t think you should, though.”
My heart surged. “You don’t?”
“She doesn’t like younger guys.”
“You mean, she doesn’t like me,” I said, the bitterness creeping into my voice now.
“Is that why you really punched Devlin?”
“No,” I said. “I punched him because he was being an asshole to you.”
“Well, I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”
“I already made my peace with Devlin. I’m more worried about you being pissed at me.”
“I’m not mad at you about it,” she said. “It’s sweet how you look out for me. Remember when you used to do that in elementary, every time someone made fun of my…”
She trailed off, and I was sure we were both thinking about her tits now, how they felt against my chest. I wondered if her nipples were hard. I could hear myself swallow in the small space, and then I ran my fingertips lightly along her side. “I remember.”
She shivered against me. “It’s just scary, now that we’re older,” she whispered. “You could really hurt someone.”
“You’re scared of me?” I asked, a hot wire of pain twisting down deep inside me.
“No,” she admitted, running her soft hand along my forearm. “I know you’d never hit a girl. It’s just… It’s still scary.”