“Okay.” I said quietly. Sure about my decision to stay with Cade, but scared about the live I had just agreed to.
Cade pulled me into his lap, kissing me so intensely that I felt like I was being branded down to my soul.
“Babe what you know, what I feel for you, you’re in deep. You are mine, no one touches you, no one puts you in any kind of danger now.”
He kept a firm grip on the back of my neck before repeating. “Mine.”
Even in this somewhat intense moment, the feminist in me felt kind of pissed the way he kept referring to me as ‘his’ like some kind of kid who and a new toy. I opened my mouth to tell him to tone down the macho man bullshit, but another angry female bet me to it.
“FUCK YOU!” I heard Amy yell, and the sound of her door being thrust open.
“Get out of my house this instant before I call the police and inform them some biker ASSHOLE is trying to rob me.” Amy screeched dramatically.
I scrambled out of Cade’s lap to run to the door so I could witness what sounded like a lovers spat, which I had seen a lot of throughout my years with Amy, and they were always entertaining. It must’ve been Brock she had out there, I was desperate to get the lowdown on that situation. I reached the door attempting to open it but Cade blocked my exit and the front row ticket to the show. I scowled up at him. Damn macho superspeed.
He regarded me like I was a naughty child, shaking his head. I poked my tongue out at him to reaffirm this belief.
“Calm the fuck down babe.” I heard Brock’s calm voice, almost entertained at Amy. “You don’t threaten to call the pigs on me, ever. Do it again and I’ll put you over my knee.” He sounded threatening and sexy all at the same time. Since Cade wouldn’t let the door budge, I stood there, trying to struggle with him, deducing I wouldn’t get anywhere, I settled for eavesdropping.
“UGHH I can’t believe I ever even considered letting such a Neanderthal, cocky, criminal, asshole into my bed. I won’t be making that mistake again. Now get. The. Fuck. Out.” Amy’s voice was pure ice.
There was a beat of silence, and I could almost feel the male fury.
“I can’t believe I bothered sticking my dick in some uppity snooty bitch, don’t worry sweetheart, won’t be coming near you again.” Brock yelled before stomping down the stairs and slamming the door behind him.
Whoa, I looked wide eyed at Cade. No guy had ever talked to Amy like that before, looks like she had met her match, and lost. I bet she was feeling pretty upset right now. I moved Cade’s hand gently off the door before reaching up on my toes and kissing his cheek.
“I have to go to her honey.” I told him softly.
Cade seized my hips, plastering my body against his and laid hot and heavy one on me.
“Yeah babe, got to go and sort a few things with Brock. Will be back soon to take my lady to breakfast.”
I looked at him, puzzled. “What do you have to sort with Brock?”
“I’ll tell you when I get back, go to your friend.” He kissed my nose before turning to get dressed. I got distracted by his muscled tatted body, full on perving at him. Cade caught me staring and gazed over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.
“Babe, Amy?”
“Right.” I whispered and turned back to the door, pulling my robe off the back then opening it. I heard Cade’s chuckle as I closed it behind me. I spotted Amy across the landing, standing in her nightgown, staring at the stairs, looking dazed. This must be bad, Amy wasn’t a girl to look ‘dazed’. I made it to her and put my hand on her shoulder.
“Sweetheart you okay?” I asked softly.
Her head snapped to me. “Yes I’m fine, Brock’s just an asshole.” She tried to sound blasé, but I knew my friend too well.
“You have been avoiding this subject around me for too long Amy.”
I directed her to the sitting room that we had between our bedrooms and sat her down on the sofa.
“I know that’s partly my fault for being so wrapped up in my own shit that I haven’t had the presence of mind to properly grill you.” I continued, voice firm. She was avoiding this subject no more. “ But you have my full attention and you aren’t leaving this room until I get some answers. Now spill.”
I watched her bite her lip, a suspicious wetness glimmering in her eyes before she let out a groan. “I’m in love with someone.” She declared.
My mouth dropped open and I closed it, then opened it again but I decided I had no words so I just managed to look like a fish out of water.
My shock was understandable. Amy didn’t do love. She had fun with men, none lasting longer than a month or two. She wasn’t one of those girls who pretended they didn’t care about men then secretly stalked them; she generally got bored easily and wasn’t interested in settling down. I suspected it had something to do with her parents and their relationship, but that was something she never talked about. After struggling with words for a while, I managed to choke out a question.
“Who? Brock?” I wondered if she was experiencing the same relationship on speed that I was.
An expression of panic crossed Amy’s face, but it was gone before I could question it.
“Of course not. Its someone back in New York, you don’t know him.” She said quickly. “He’s one of my brothers friends, travels all the time. You never met him. His name is Tom.”
“I need more information.” I was struggling with the thought that I had been so blind I hadn’t even realized my best friend was in love with someone. That made me an A class jerk. Amy looked uncomfortable but I gave her a look and she started to explain.
“Well when my brother first introduced us, I just felt it, I can’t explain it. There was an electricity between us.”
I nodded, knowing exactly what she meant.
“I know he felt it to, he tried to keep away from me, but it didn’t work. We were like magnets. But he’s in the Air Force, hardly ever in the country. And when I say hardly ever I mean a couple of times a year. So he told me it would never work.”
She looked pained at this, I stroked her hair.
“Oh Ames.” I sighed, knowing to a degree what she would be feeling.
“Yeah, I told him I’d wait, till he finished his tour. Whatever it took. But he wouldn’t hear of it. Didn’t want me stopping from living life. So he broke it off. I was majorly pissed at him, tried to forget him. Didn’t work so well. Especially when I saw him with my brother when he was home on leave. That killed.” Her voice shook, betraying the depth of her emotion.
“I can’t believe you never told me any of this Amy.” I scolded, feeling a little pissed, at her for not telling me, but mostly at myself for not noticing.
Amy looked genuinely regretful. “I’m sorry Gwennie, I wanted to tell you, but I could hardly get my head around it myself. I couldn’t deal, then you got hurt, and no way was I letting some stupid problem of mine take up any of your headspace. I wanted you focusing on getting better.”
Fuck. Another thing that bastard had fucked up. I wasn’t there for my friend when she needed me. That hurt. Tears threatened at the corners of my eyes, I looked to see a couple running down Amy’s cheeks.
“And Brock?” I was curious as to where he fit into this equation.
Amy’s expression turned from heartbroken to pissed in a millisecond, it’s almost funny. She let out a frustrated groan.
“Brock is a prick.”
I raised my eyebrow. She rolled her eyes knowing I saw straight through her.
“Okay I’m attracted to him. A lot. But he is so infuriating, we disagree about everything, he will never back down on anything. And he is such an alpha male it makes me sick.”
“But you like him.” I deduced.
Amy looked conflicted. “No.”
She fiddled with the lace on her nightgown. “Maybe. Yes. Shit! I don’t know Gwen. I still have feelings for Tom, its not something I can just turn off. But Brock is under my skin and I can’t understand how I can even like him, Tom is so different.”
“We can’t choose who invades our head space.” I explained. “If that was the case, I’d be married to some moderately attractive banker with a boring life and a BMW.”
Amy snorted. “Yeah right Gwen, you would go insane in like a minute.”
“Would not.” I argued.
Amy rolled her eyes at me.
“Whatever, you can’t tell me you prefer anyone over Cade, he is smoking, and the way he looks at you makes me blush.” Her eyes went dreamy and she fanned herself jokingly.
“We are not talking about me at the moment.” I decided. “There has been far too much of that lately. You are going to finish telling me what is going on with you and Brock.”
Amy sagged back onto the couch, covering her eyes with her hands.
“Well nothing is going on now. We’ve been dancing around each other ever since we met, the attraction unbelievable. I tried to stay away from him, then running into him the at Laura Maye’s bar we kind of argued then made up then argued again. Then after the club party we spent the whole weekend in bed.” She looked sheepish. “But I set things straight yesterday, planning on keeping away from him. Then last night I was smashed and horny so he stayed. And this morning he started getting all intense talking about me being his ‘Old Lady’ whatever the fuck the entails.”
My eyes widened at this statement, maybe the men in the Son’s did move fast.
She caught my expression. “I know right? Its like we screw a couple of times and bam commitment. Fucked up. I would rather wear head to toe Versace for a week straight than be his ‘Old Lady’.” She scoffed.
“You said this to him?”
“A version of it.”
I couldn’t imagine Brock would’ve liked hearing that too much if he was anything like Cade.
“Did you mention anything about Tom?” I asked, deciding not to educate her on what a big deal the ‘Old Lady’ label was.
Amy looked at me like I’d grown another head.
“Are you crazy? Fuck no. Why would I tell some guy who I kind of have some weird intense feelings for that I am still hung up on another guy who may or may not come back to this country alive? I just don’t know how to process this, how could I love one man and not be able to stop thinking about another? Even if most of the time I feel like poking him in the eye with a mascara wand.” The poor girl looked seriously troubled.
“I don’t know Ames, I wish I had been able to be there for you throughout the Tom situation, but I can be here now. And I can tell you for a fact, the men around here are intense and seriously hot. And they have a way of getting into your head and your heart. But this is a conversation that is way complicated to have without my old friend coffee. Let’s consume some of this heavenly drink and mull it over.” I instructed, squeezing her knee. “But you have my support whatever you decide, don’t let fear stop you from exploring this thing with Brock.”
“When did you get such an expert?” Amy asked as we walked towards the kitchen, and closer to the coffee that I needed to inject into my bloodstream.
“Didn’t say I was an expert, just making it up as I go along.” I confessed.
“Well that makes me feel shit loads better.”
“If this all turns to shit we could always run away together and buy a house in the Caribbean?” I suggested over my shoulder seriously.
After dissecting every piece of information I could out of Amy, I got showered and dressed to get ready for Cade picking me up and taking me out for Brunch. Not that he would ever say the word ‘brunch’ I didn’t think his body would physically be able to produce the word. He managed to sneak out at some point during my discussion with Amy. That man had some serious stealth skills. I put the finishing touches on my outfit, my mind ticking over everything that Amy had told me. How could I be so wrapped in my own life that I didn’t realize my best friend was going through some serious inner turmoil? And not realizing she was in love with someone? Shit I was officially the worlds worst best friend, I was so poisoned by Jimmy that I isolated myself, only seeing Amy a couple of times a week, and when I did see her, she spent most of her time trying to convince me to stay away from Jimmy. I was lucky that she had stuck by me, even after I had ignored her advice. I fiddled with my earring, trying to think if Amy had ever mentioned Tom before, I was pretty sure she hadn’t, I was curious and she hadn’t even told me his last name so I couldn’t Facebook stalk him.
“Cute dress Gwennie, from the store?” Amy’s voice shook me from my thoughts.
I turned to see her lounging on my bed. Maybe everyone had crazy stealth skills? Or it was more likely I retreated into my mind so much I had no awareness of the world around me.
“Yeah it only came in on Saturday, almost sold out already.” I told her, focusing on the conversation at hand.
“No wonder, good advertising, you going out in that. Every woman in this town will be wanting one.” She told me looking me up and down.
I laughed, checking my appearance in my mirror one last time. My dress was a white and blue print, similar to a Greek tile design. It had capped sleeves, a plunging neckline and a slightly flared skirt finishing well above my knees. I had paired it with white strappy sandals and a blue bag. God I loved owning a clothing store.
“Oh before I forget, can you please handle the store on Friday when I go and pick Ian up from the airport?” I asked, dropping some lip-gloss in my Fendi.
Amy’s face paled slightly. “Ian?”
“Yeah Ian, my brother? He’s coming to stay for a couple of days, remember?”
Amy stood, still looking off.
“You never told me he was coming.” She accused, sounding slightly irritated.
I frowned. “Didn’t I? Sorry I thought I did, my brain is all over the place at the moment.” I paused, not being able to place the expression on her face, what was with the reaction?
“He’s staying here?” She asked strangely.
“Yeah of course, it’s not like we don’t have the room. I want to make the most of the time he’s here, we should have dinner tonight and plan some activities.”
Amy narrowed her eyebrows at me.
“Are you ok? You never make that expression you always say it gives you premature wrinkles.” I teased.
“Yeah fine. And it does.” She answered changing her expression. She got up off the bed and walked towards the door. “I’m going for a run, will see you later.” She announced.
My eyes widened and my spidey senses kicked in. A run? Amy didn’t run. She watched what she ate specifically so she didn’t have to endure ‘torture disguised as exercise.’ I didn’t have time to think anymore on this as I heard Cade’s bike pull up. I rushed downstairs calling out a goodbye to Amy, promising myself to get to the bottom of her behavior tonight. As I stepped outside I drank in the sight of Cade, sitting on his bike, sunglass clad and looking too sexy for his own good. He was wearing all black, like usual, the tee under his cut tight enough I could see the outline of his muscles underneath. His hair was delightful messy as usual, falling to his chin. It seemed he was checking me out also, but was doing it with furrowed brows.
“We might have to take my car Cade.” I called out. “This dress won’t travel well on a bike.” I gestured down my body, grabbing my keys out of my purse, waiting for him to get off his bike. He pushed off his bike, striding towards me and snatched my keys out of my hand.
“Hey!” I protested. “Didn’t anyone teach you its rude to snatch?”
“Go inside and get changed.” He ordered, voice gruff.
I stared at him a moment, then pushed my sunglasses onto my head.
“Excuse me?” I asked menacingly, in the tone that every man should recognize from a woman. That was the, ‘if you don’t reconsider what you just said shit is going to go down’ kind of tone. Cade obviously wasn’t familiar with this tone.
“I’m not fond of repeating myself babe. Now go and get changed into something that doesn’t show half your fuckin tits and which covers a hell o
f a lot more leg.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He did not just say that.
“Okay, I’ll just go and put on my tattered white dress and an animal hide shall I Fred?” I snapped.
Cade pushed his own sunglasses to his head, revealing angry eyes. “What the fuck are you talking about Gwen?”
“Oh you know Fred Flintstone? The one that lived back in prehistoric times when all men were Neanderthal cavemen?” I bit out sarcastically, challenging Cade’s steady glare.
“I’m not finding that smart mouth funny right now Gwen. Change, now.” He sounded like he was about to lose his temper and he wasn’t the only one.
My temper had risen to epic proportions, I was surprised steam wasn’t coming out of my ears. I was physically unable to form a response for a moment, Cade was scowling at me, armed crossed in his ‘I’m a badass everyone must obey or else’ stance.
“A little thing happened in the not so distant past Cade, something called Feminism, which meant that women have the right to do a lot of things, like vote, get equal pay oh and wear whatever the fuck they want. There is no way I am letting anyone tell me what to wear, ever Cade. And if you wanted a timid ‘Old Lady’ who would don a full length fucking burka at your request you’ve got the wrong one.” I was breathing heavily at the end of my little speech, my glare dared Cade to argue.
Cade glared back before yanking me towards him, plastering our bodies together, his hands firmly at my ass.
“This is mine Gwen.” He exclaimed, squeezing my behind. His other hand roughly cupped my breast. “These are mine.”
I tried to pull away, very aware I was getting fondled in broad daylight. Cade’s grip was firm, I hoped none of my neighbors were watching.
My breath hitched as his hand left my breast, sliding down my body and slipped under the skirt of my dress, lightly brushing over the top of my panties.
“This is most definitely fuckin mine.” His gravelly voice declared.
I opened my mouth to remind him that we were in public and could be scarring the young children who lived across the street, but his hand left my panties and cupped my face.
“Don’t get me wrong baby, you look fuckin gorgeous in that dress, makes me want to rip it off you and bury myself deep inside your sweet pussy.” The hardness on my stomach was proof of that.