Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TYLER
“Feel better?” Caden panted from the floor beside me, both of us collapsing from the workout we’d been doing. Three hours since my mom left, and I’d tried hard to escape the demons she’d left in her wake when I’d kicked her out.
My body hurt from running, my arms like jelly from the weights.
“No, I just can’t move anymore,” I answered as I tried to catch my breath.
“Can Rory sleep in my room then since you’re going to be useless?”
“Bite me, I’m suffering, bro. She can do all the work,” I chuckled, tilting my head to the side to look at him. “Thanks for suffering with me.”
“I’ll always suffer with you,” he promised, reaching over to pat my arm. “We need water though.”
I huffed, pulling myself up to sit. I had no idea how I was going to walk upstairs with my legs shaking so badly.
Caden got to his feet slowly, holding the treadmill beside him with a wince.
“We probably should’ve cooled down properly. I’m seizing up.”
“I need a bath.”
“Same.”
“Want to be bath buddies?”
“You’re pushing it,” he scoffed, limping towards the small fridge in the corner and grabbing two bottles of water. He handed me one, and I managed to get to my feet too.
Downing the cool liquid, I gave myself a second to make sure my legs would work before we left the gym and headed upstairs, finding the main floor silent.
“They didn’t leave, right?” I asked in a slight panic, but Caden shook his head.
“Nah. They'll be upstairs somewhere.”
The next set of stairs almost killed me, but I made it and poked my head into Rory’s bedroom, then Jensen’s, finding them curled up on his bed with a movie on.
“Hey,” Rory murmured as she sat up and climbed over Lukas, coming straight to me. I probably reeked, I was drenched in sweat, but she hugged me tightly anyway.
“I need a shower and a long soak in the bath. Since Holloway won’t join me, would you like to?” I asked, amusement coating her face.
“Only if you let me rub your shoulders.”
“And my cock?”
“Tempting,” she grinned, standing on tiptoe to kiss me quickly. “Come on. You stink.”
“You don’t like my manly smell?”
“You’ve passed manly and gone straight to road kill,” she deadpanned, taking my hand and tugging me towards the door.
Caden chuckled and headed to his bedroom, giving us some time alone.
I filled the bath so Rory could climb in, then I had a quick shower to rinse off the sweat and smell before joining her. She scooted back so I could sit between her legs, encouraging me to lean back so she could drape her arms over my shoulders to hold me.
“Want to talk about it?” she asked after a moment of silence, making me sigh.
“I just fucking hate her. I’m surprised she got my name right.”
“She doesn’t deserve you.”
“I’d never do that to my kids. Make them feel like they don’t matter.
I always wondered what I’d done wrong to make my parents not want me around.
I was nervous when Mom showed up, not really knowing how to react, but the second she started talking badly to Josie, it became clear that I wanted nothing to do with her.
She can’t shamelessly let another woman raise her kid, then call her a bad parent, or bring up Tristan.
Josie is an angel for taking care of all of us. ”
Rory kissed my shoulder, nuzzling into my neck. “I agree. She’s helped me so much over the past three months.”
“I can’t believe you’ve only been in our lives that long,” I murmured, hating that I’d wasted the first month with our bullshit. I’d forever be sorry for what we put her through.
She was quiet, her hands wandering my chest as she probably thought about our short history too.
“I meant what I said. If you ever want to leave Ashburn, tell me and I’ll go with you. You’re it for me, I can’t imagine my life without you,” I mumbled, her hands stilling.
“I won’t leave without warning. I honestly don’t know if I could leave now.
Like, I want to find Mom, but what if she lives in another state?
Another country? Caden won’t leave Josie, and Skeet can’t leave town because of the crew.
You guys are it for me too,” she answered softly, and I sat up to turn around, kneeling in front of her.
“I’ll keep saying it until the day I die, but I have your back one hundred percent. You want to date twenty guys? That’s fine, just make sure—”
“Whoa, slow down. I have my hands full enough with you five,” she chuckled, leaning forward to give me a kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Does that mean we can play mermaids and mermen now? Kind of want to fuck you in the bath.”
She laughed, sliding her hand around the nape of my neck to tug me down slightly.
“Alright, but you’re mopping the floor afterwards.”
I loved that she just rolled with my bullshit.
“My body is too weak from the workout. I’ll owe you one.”
“So what you’re saying is you want me to fuck you, then as a reward, I get to clean the mess? You don’t ask for a lot, do you?” she huffed, encouraging me back so she could straddle me. “What do you think I am?”
“Wife material,” I smirked, frowning when she physically pulled back from me. “It’s a joke, I’m not asking you to marry me.”
“I know,” she said, but I could hear the relief in her tone, telling me she hadn’t thought I was teasing.
I winced, sitting up and sliding my arms around her. “Sorry.”
“What for? Taking too long to put your cock in me?” she asked, amusement taking over her face. It was a mask, I could tell. After all, I hid behind my jokester mask all the time.
“Rory—”
She reached between us and lined my dick up with her pussy, making me groan as she sank over me.
“Shut up and let me fuck you,” she murmured, pressing her mouth to mine and frying my brain as I let her consume me.
Water splashed over the edge of the bath as she rocked on me, my hands going to her ass to encourage her to go faster. Her fingers ran through my hair, and it was difficult not to push her back and rail her.
My arms wouldn’t hold me up and I’d probably drown us both at this point.
“Play with your clit, baby,” I whispered, feeling her hand slide between us as she kept grinding. “Make yourself come for me.”
Her hips faltered after a while, her hand working faster as she rode me harder, her fingers on her other hand biting into my shoulder.
A gasp left her as she slowed, her pussy clamping down around me as she tried to keep moving. I grabbed her waist, helping her ride it out until I came too, burying my face in the crook of her neck as we stopped moving.
Exhaustion filled me, and I let her lead me out of the bath to the shower to rinse off, then she dried us both and tucked us into bed naked, my eyes closing before she’d even finished getting comfortable.
Diesel
I jerked upright, realizing I’d fallen asleep at my desk. My heart was beating so loud I could hear it, sweat coating my skin from the nightmare that had woken me. For a second, the blood on my hands was real, I couldn’t catch my breath, and I could hear screaming.
It took a second for reality to come back to me. There was no blood, and the screaming was just memories of when I’d found Sasha dead. Had I screamed like that? It didn’t sound like me.
I got to my feet and almost ran to the door, making a beeline for the bar as I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and chugged some down. I had to drown the feeling inside me before it drowned me instead.
I’d drank half before taking a breath, the sound of skin slapping together making me look over to find Matteo fucking Mandy in the corner. I was so sick of seeing that shit.
I moved further away and dropped down on a chair, taking another mouthful of the bottle. My hands were shaking, and I scowled at myself when the temptation to get high rose inside me.
I’d been fighting it off lately, it hadn’t been too hard, but Thanksgiving always pushed me, and I was pretty sure this year had hit harder because I’d found myself enjoying it a little, which turned the joy into instant guilt.
I missed curling up with Sasha after eating turkey, just enjoying each other’s company. Rory had hugged me, trying to fix all the broken pieces I usually kept hidden away, and for a second, that familiar feeling had hit me hard.
I hadn’t even realized it was happening until we joined the others and she snuck off with Skeeter. The feelings had been hard to understand, making no fucking sense as I worked through them in my head.
It felt like jealousy, but why would that be the case? She was Skeeter’s girl, she wasn’t Sasha, so I must have been feeling something else. Maybe a sense of longing?
Rory always made sure that I was okay, and I could feel how genuine her concern for me was. Usually, girls pretended to care as a tactic to get me alone, but she never pushed me. She liked hearing about Sasha, keeping her memory alive instead of trying to make me forget her.
Her hug had almost done me in, my body relaxing into her hold for the first time in so long, her touch healing something I hadn’t realized needed healing. Her touch didn’t make me angry, it calmed me.
Which made the guilt ten times worse when I thought about it as I watched her sleep on Caden last night, wishing she’d been sitting with me instead.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
I glanced up, finding a naked Claire in front of me with a raised eyebrow, reaching for my bottle that I pulled back from her.
“Fuck off, Davidson,” I warned, not in the mood for her shit in the slightest.
“What’s wrong? Bad day?”
I ignored her, swigging from the bottle and checking my phone, jerking back when she straddled my lap.
“Get the fuck off me. Now,” I snapped, making her giggle like I’d said something funny as she leaned closer to trail her finger down my chest.
“You need to relax more, Diesel. Let me help you.”
My skin crawled at the thought, like it always did when she offered herself to me, and the second her hand trailed lower to cup my junk, I stood abruptly, sending her sprawling across the concrete floor.