Chapter 17 #4
He raised a hand toward the restaurant, an agonized expression on his face.
“You saw how they are. That’s how my father talks to people.
Like he’s entitled to say whatever he wants.
And my mother’s—” His face twisted in a distasteful expression.
“If I would’ve said you and I were together, it would’ve been worse.
” He exhaled in frustration, and when I looked closely I saw how embarrassed and hurt he looked.
“This is how they are. My father lives to disapprove of everything I do, and my mother never calls him on any of it.” He ran his fingers over his eyes and answered before I could ask what that meant.
“I don’t know why he’s like that, I sure as fuck never asked. Maybe it’s the gay thing, or the fact that I have no interest in being part of the ‘Archer Dynasty,’” he said, using air quotes for the last two words.
“I don’t know, but whenever he sees I’ve found something that makes me happy, that I care about, he wants to ruin it.
That whole time they were talking, I realized I was afraid that they’d say something, speak words that would taint things between us.
That if I spoke, I’d make it worse. I don’t want to hurt you with my words or with my silence, Patrice, and I’m still working on that.
” His eyes pleaded with me as I stood there trying to process those last few words.
I went from annoyed, to mad, to feeling like all the anger had seeped out of me in the span of a few seconds.
When I locked eyes with Easton then, I felt that once again he was letting me see everything, that he was giving me something that I should not squander.
He looked alone and miserable, and I could either let his father’s disgusting behavior be an excuse for letting him down, or I could step up.
“All I’ve ever wanted was for you to see me, just me.
The thing is that I come with a history that I can’t—that I won’t—shed.
” I pointed to the restaurant. “Your parents are not the only people that see me and create some story in their heads of how I got here, like something from a movie. And honestly I don’t care if they do, but with you, I need you to see all of it, and fuck, sometimes wish it didn’t even matter, but it does. ”
“Of course, it matters. I don’t want pieces of you; I want all of it and it should not be on you to have to spoon feed it all to me. I have to step up and learn so that when I come to you, I have clarity of exactly how fucking lucky I am to be with a man like you.”
I pulled him to me until I had him up against the icy side of the building.
“You can’t just let me be mad for a minute can you?” I said with my mouth so close to his ear my lips kept pushing into it. “And don’t think I don’t have reason to feel lucky, too.”
He scoffed at that and looked at me with a flinty expression. “I wasn’t going to let you think that I was embarrassed of you or didn’t want them to know we were together. That what my parents thought had any bearing on what I want with you.”
The shit that came out of Easton Archer’s mouth, like he wasn’t putting my entire life on a different course with every word.
“What you want with me.” It was more of a question than a statement, but at times like this, it almost felt easier just to let the tide of Easton’s faith in whatever it was we were doing pull me in.
I’d gasp my way back to shore later…or not.
“I’m not sure how Anne and Easton Archer Jr. would feel about having me at their Thanksgiving table. ”
“I don’t give a fuck about my parents’ opinion on this.
I just need to stop trying to overcompensate for their piss-poor behavior with fake politeness.
” He lifted an ungloved hand and gripped the back of my coat, bringing us closer.
“As for what I want with you. You know perfectly well that nothing would make me happier than all of fucking Ithaca knowing that you’re mine. But I know how you are.”
He huffed the words out as he pulled me down for a kiss, his tongue was like a fucking drug.
Everything just dulled around me when he was kissing me like this, dirty and so fucking slow.
Sucking on my lips, running his tongue down my neck until my dick was so hard, I felt it would pop out of my trousers.
My breath hitched, as he bit on my earlobe as his hand rubbed my cock, hard. “Why don’t you tell me how I am Easton, because I swear I thought I did before I met you.”
“Stubborn and in denial.” That was said with his hot mouth against my ear.
We should’ve gone inside and joined the party again. But by the time Easton ran a hand up my chest and sucked on my lip, I knew the only thing happening next was fucking.
Easton really did test every single one of my limits until they broke. Because I was out here on the damn street as close to public indecency as I’d ever been. And yet the only thing running through my head was how many more minutes it would be before I had him naked and panting on my bed.
Out of nowhere, he started talking again.
That hot tongue like a fucking fire iron on my skin.
“You’re defensive, assume the worst, and don’t give people the benefit of the doubt.
Still I hate that I had to be a reason for you to go to a bad place, or to think for even a second, I’m not crazy about you.
” I tried to pull back, but that dirty low-down playing fucker literally grabbed me by the balls.
I gasped, as he lifted on his tiptoes, so that we were eye to eye. “Yeah, I said it. What are you going to do about it?”
I had my arms stretched over him, covering him completely, and feeling wild. “I don’t know, Easton. You’re the one with my dick in your hand.”
He sucked on my lip, bringing my head down. His filthy chuckle rumbling between us.
“I think we need to continue this in private. There’s too much hate-fuck energy happening here, and I don’t want to get arrested when I have a jury out deliberating.”
I had to laugh, because this motherfucker really had my number. “So is this how you do it? Get people so addled that they do what you want?”
That feline smile he gave me was new and completely devastating, and fuck if I could walk away.
“You tell me. Are we good?”
“Like I can stay mad with you sucking on my lip and working my dick like that.” He gave me that shameless laugh that kept me all tripped up on him. Without saying a word, I pushed off the wall and pulled him up the street to our building.