Chapter 22
The week flew by in a flash and yet dragged as if the anticipation of what was to come made everything skewed. I invited Lucy and the kids for a sleepover on Tuesday night for purely selfish reasons. I wanted Lucy in my arms and the kids to have much needed time with the horses. Once we returned, I was going to invite them to move in. We were together most of the time, anyway, this felt like the next step. Well, that and proposing to Lucy, but now wasn’t the time. There was too much grief right now.
We drove together to drop the girls off at school and Liam at Gran’s. That was where we met up with Josh. The plan was to pick up the rental truck once we got to Virginia, but for now we were all riding together. It had been some time since I spent more than an hour with Josh and for the life of me, I couldn’t come up with any form of small talk. Lucy was silent, staring out the window, dressed in black leggings, winter boots, and a warm burgundy sweater. Josh took one look at her, then met my eyes in the rearview mirror offering a sympathetic smile. We drove in silence for a while, before Josh unzipped his backpack and handed something up to Lucy. Glancing over, I barked a laugh.
“Are you serious right now?”
I couldn’t stop laughing. “I’m a freaking cop.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “Which is exactly why I didn’t give you one.”
He cracked the lid on his shooter of American Honey. “Bottoms up, sis.”
Lucy was trying so hard to hold in her smile and laughter, watching me waiting for permission or beratement.
I shook my head and laughed until my eyes watered. “If you guys want to get blitzed on a twenty-four-hour drive, by all means, don’t let me stop you.”
Lucy grinned and tossed back her shot, shivering as she grimaced at the burn of alcohol.
“Yes!”
Josh raised a fist, offering a high five to Daze.
She giggled as she smacked his hand.
“You two are ridiculous.”
I shook my head, merging onto the interstate.
Josh pulled out bags of gummy bears and Lucy’s favorite, salt and vinegar chips. “What would you like, sis?”
She took the chips. “Thanks, Josh.”
He patted her shoulder. “When you’re ready for another shot, just let me know. However, I have to warn you, there’s only one more American Honey. The rest are peanut butter Screwball.”
Lucy’s face scrunched in disgust. “Did you at least freeze them first?”
Josh glanced down at his backpack, pursing his lips. “No, I just ran to the gas station this morning it was either Screwball or Fireball.”
Lucy sighed, leaning her head back on the headrest. “I suppose you made the right call.”
Josh smirked and sprawled out in the backseat of my truck.
We eventually turned on that one song game on Lucy’s phone, where it played a short snippet of a song, and we had to guess what it was and who sang it. Josh was a goddamn expert, go figure.
Lucy never took another shot, she just went between playing the game and reading a book on her phone. Around seven hours into the drive we got out at a rest-stop, stretched, and Lucy took over driving. The truck now smelled like fast food from lunch, and rush hour was beginning in Kansas City. Lucy handled it expertly and got us to St. Louis where we decided it was time to call it a night and get a hotel room.
Josh was given the room on the other side of us and paused as he went to unlock his door. “Please for the love of God, abstain tonight. There’s only so much a brother can handle and hearing you two going at it is not one of them.”
I laughed but was wholly unprepared for Lucy to charge forward and punch Josh full force in his bicep. He frowned at the impact, clearly unphased, and rubbed the spot she hit.
“Ow, Luce.”
She flipped him off. “Try and get some sleep, I’ll be sure to scream extra loud just for you.”
Josh’s face blanched. “Jesus Christ, Lucy.”
With that, he went into his room and locked the door.
She beamed, proud of how uncomfortable she made her brother. And me, I was now uncomfortable.
“Well, are we going to stand in the hallway or are you going to keep staring at me like you can’t decide whether to bolt or rail me?”
I rubbed my face and groaned. “Good grief, Daze. Sometimes, the things you say...”
I shook my head and opened our door.
She smirked as she stepped into the room, flipping the lights on. “Making Josh squirm is a lifelong passion of mine. It only took thirty years to perfect the art.”
I chuckled, scooping her into my arms. “I love you.”
She kissed me, tongue sweeping over my lips. “I love you, too.”
Lucy kicked off her shoes, climbed into the bed and sprawled out under the covers. Her auburn hair cascading around her on the pillow. It would be wrong to fuck her with her brother in the next room, but the way she was watching me, fuck, I’m only human.
I followed her lead, shucking off my shoes and going one step further by pulling my shirt over my head and dropping my pants to the floor. Slowly, I walked towards the bed, joining her underneath the covers.
“Lose the clothes, Daze, and for the love of everything, cover your mouth.”
“If you want me to be quiet, it had better be your hand over my mouth.”
Her voice was dripping with heat, and it was like a bolt of lightning, my dick instantly reacting. She promptly complied, removing everything.
“You are trouble, Luce, with a capital t.”
I straddled her waist, kissing the tip of her nose.
“I never claimed to be anything different, but you knew exactly what you were getting into.”
I chuckled as I sprawled out on top of her, our bodies flush as our breathing picked up in anticipation. “You’re right. I knew, and I’ve been waiting patiently for years.”
I nipped at her neck before pressing kisses to where I bit.
“Fuck me, Garrett.”
Well, I didn’t need to be told twice.
I kissed her peaked nipples while my fingers made quick work of finding her clit and rubbing firm circles until Lucy was pulsing beneath me and begging for more. What began as quick and rough sex, quickly changed to slow, methodical movements and tender kisses as our hands roamed each other’s bodies. We moved together in perfect rhythm, Lucy’s hips lifting to meet every thrust of mine until her mouth formed that perfect O, eyes rolled back, and my name uttered on that last breath before her body tensed, bringing me right along with her.
We laid in one another’s arms, recovering.
“Garrett,”
Lucy broke the silence.
“Yes?”
“Would you judge me if I ordered a pizza?”
I turned to glance at the bedside alarm clock. “It’s like eleven p.m.”
“I didn’t ask for the time; I asked if you’d judge me or join me.”
I pulled her onto my chest and kissed her with a giant smile on my face. “I’ll join you. Always.”
So, we ordered pizza and tipped the delivery driver heavily for working so late when he brought us the pizza and wings, because why not? Lucy hadn’t really eaten on the drive up. If I were a betting person, judging by the bags under her eyes and the way she devoured her half of the pizza and wings, I would assume she hadn’t been eating much of anything the past few days. As soon as she finished the wing between her fingers, she yawned, leaning her head on my shoulder. We watched an 80’s action movie that clearly is a Christmas movie, but Lucy argued it was a movie filmed during Christmas and that I was wrong. I chose to let her have that argument tonight, maybe next year I’d argue further.
I kissed her forehead before scooting out from under her to clear the bed. “You ready for sleep?”
She covered her mouth as she yawned again. “Yeah, I guess.”
She was so lovely; I couldn’t help but smile. Crawling into bed, I opened my arms and motioned her forward. “Come here.”
Lucy fit so perfectly in my arms, her warm cheek resting on my bare chest. My fingers combed through her hair until her breathing slowed and body relaxed. I got lost in staring at the constellations her freckles made on the bridge of her nose and rounds of her cheeks, the way her mouth popped open just enough to snore lightly while she slept. I don’t know how I became so lucky to have her, but I prayed I’d never lose that luck.
We awoke to a banging on the door at five in the morning.
“I’m going to kill him,”
Lucy groaned and rolled over, throwing the pillow over her ears.
I almost agreed with her. Groaning, I rolled out of the bed.
“Come on love birds! The sun is out, and we need to hit the road if we want to get to the house and start packing before we lose all daylight.”
“Fuck all the way off, Joshua!”
I rolled my eyes, throwing on my sweatpants before answering the door. Josh took one look at my bare chest and groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding. You guys couldn’t keep it in your pants for one night?”
“Give us ten minutes. We’ll meet you in the lobby.”
He huffed and slung his bag over his back. “I make no promises that there will be anything left of the continental breakfast.”
“I think we will manage.”
I watched as he made his way to the elevator before turning back to find Lucy dressed and pulling her hair into a ponytail.
“I didn’t even get to touch you before you got dressed,”
the complaint was juvenile, but one hundred percent from the heart.
Lucy rolled her eyes, gripped the bottom of her shirt and flashed me. There was no stopping the groan that left my lips. I could say I simply looked and kissed her, but I didn’t. I gripped her breasts and buried my face between them.
“Garrett,”
she scolded half-heartedly as she laughed.
“You’re not a man, you don’t understand,”
I mumbled into her breasts, placing a kiss on each of her nipples as I came up for air. “Fine, put your shirt back down. I’m guessing if we make your brother wait any longer, he’ll cause a scene.”
She grunted as she pulled her sweater down. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”
I made quick work of getting dressed, joining Josh in the dining room. He was sipping on a cup of coffee when his gaze found us. He shook his head glancing at his watch. “That was twelve minutes.”
Lucy plucked the donut out of his grasp and took a huge bite.
He gasped in disgust. “What if I had a disease? Now, you would have it! That’s literally how you get diseases, Lucy Marie.”
Lucy swallowed her bite, quirking a brow. “Do you have cooties?”
He shrugged as he stood up. “I guess you’ll find out when your mouth fills with sores.”
“Let’s go,”
Lucy said, ignoring her brother.
Extending a hand to me, Josh asked, “Want me to take the first shift?”
I placed the keys in his hand. “Go for it.”
We made quick work of grabbing coffee and breakfast to go. Check out was smooth and simple. We were on our way in less than ten minutes. After merging onto the interstate, Josh reached into his pocket and tossed us both a Screwball. “Slainte.”
“You have a problem,”
I teased from the backseat.
“Nah, I’m just trying to make this drive less sucky.”
Josh nudged Lucy’s elbow. “Drink up.”
“It’s six thirty in the morning, Joshua.”
She shook her head, grimacing at the dreaded peanut butter shot.
“I froze it and everything.”
Lucy groaned. “It’s unnatural. Peanut butter doesn’t belong in alcohol.”
“I bet Garrett will shoot it without complaining.”
I wouldn’t have placed that bet against myself.
“What are you going to do, Daze?”
She covered her face with her hands and let out an exasperated scream. “Fine, but I’m only doing this one. There will be no more.”
Josh grinned in triumph as I gave the shooter a death glare like that might make it disappear entirely.
Lucy reached back to clink her bottle against mine.
“One, two, three,”
I counted, both of us tossing back the contents on three and groaning loudly, cursing Josh for his poor choices.
He fisted a hand in the air in triumph. Lucy and I continued grunting and coughing, chasing the alcohol with our hotel coffees.
“I hate you,”
Lucy seethed at her brother.
He winked at her and honestly, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of the relationship Lucy had with her brothers. I wished that Grant and I could have had that, the playful teasing, the wrestling, the evident love, but that just wasn’t us. He never wanted that, nor was he willing to try. I hated that it would likely never be what Lucy had, but I was beyond grateful she had it and that we all got along.
This last bit of the drive seemed to span forever. We played I Spy, Would You Rather, Two Truths and a Lie and eventually ended on the alphabet game where we found all the letters of the alphabet on road signs, X being the letter that took a solid hour and a half before finding.
Josh and I switched seats after seven hours. By the time we arrived at the moving truck business, Lucy was passed out, snoring against the passenger window.
Josh went in and got the keys, hopping into the truck that seemed entirely way too big, but better too much room than not enough, I guess.
Josh followed as we drove the final stretch, pulling into Lucy’s old driveway just as the sun was setting.