28. Reed

28

Reed

T he bar was far busier than I typically liked, and on nights like these, I’d call it early and head home. That was, if Brandy wasn’t around. She was a lightweight and had a bad habit of overindulging, so naturally, I stayed close. But right now, she was across the room, leaning over the bar on her stool, nursing her beer.

On any normal night, she’d be on her third and chanting for shots with my little sister, but tonight, she was confused. Unsure of what these feelings were that were surfacing between the two of us like an endless cloudy sky letting the rays of the sun finally shine through, showing what warmth could really feel like.

She isolated herself in one of the most lonely of ways—mentally.

Physically, she was all there. Surrounding herself with people she loved and work she was passionate about. But inside that head of hers, there was a quiet hurricane, thoughts collapsing in on her at the end of the day, memories flooding the streets of her mind.

It was a tragedy she thought that would work.

I saw it all these years, letting her use me as the punching bag she needed because without me, who would light that spark in her eyes? Who would make her sigh, make her take some of that anger out that she kept so tightly bottled inside?

But I think that was the most devastating of all—that she thought if she let any of that anger out, she’d end up just like her father. The truth was, anyone could end up like that. Taking their anger out on others because they didn’t have the right mind to know when enough was enough. Brandy just made it her personal mission to never let it show, unless it was to me.

And I fucking loved it.

She hated being mad and the way it made her feel, and in turn, I reveled in it. The wrath she unleashed on me sometimes—it almost made me hard. She wasn’t like that with anyone else. Was I special? Probably not. But Brandy wasn’t actually living if she was constantly thinking in the back of her mind, don’t be like my father . With just those thoughts alone, she was already better than him.

She just needed to realize she’d never be on his level, no matter the emotions she felt. Brandy was hurt by him in the past, and already, that was proof enough she’d never be anything like him.

“You must’ve really pissed her off this time,” Lennon said, watching her from under the brim of his ball cap. It was just me, him, and Beckham here tonight. Brandy had tagged along after Beckham texted her what we were doing.

I didn’t want to get into that right now.

Beckham was at the pool table behind where Lennon and I stood, playing a game with some middle-aged man I’d never seen before.

“This time?” I asked.

I’d left Brandy’s house shortly after she’d stopped crying, leaving her to do whatever it was she did to fill her days off. I’d gone straight to the ranch, checking on the herd with my dad. Afterward, Lennon had shown up, and naturally, that turned into the few of us ending up at Outlaw’s Watering Hole—our favorite bar in town.

Lennon shrugged, lifting his longneck to take a swig of beer. “As opposed to any other time.”

“You act like I make her mad on purpose,” I said, shifting my elbows on the high-top table.

He shot me a look. “Poking the bear is your favorite pastime.”

I sipped my beer, watching as Brandy ran her finger along the condensation on the bar. She was about thirty feet away, with people dancing between us, groups chatting and drinking, but I saw every movement she made.

“Like a hawk to a mouse,” Lennon muttered, shoving off his elbows and straightening.

I glanced at him. “Sorry?”

He crossed his arms. “I didn’t come out with you two tonight to play babysitter.”

I moved my focus back to Brandy, holding the neck of my beer between three fingers. “The only one needing that is our brother.”

In my peripheral, Lennon glanced at Beckham, then heaved a sigh, moving back to his earlier position standing at the table. “I don’t want to deal with that right now.”

Tou-fucking-ché.

Brandy’s finger traced the rim of her glass, her shoulders slumped with one elbow on the counter, her palm on her cheek.

“That’s it,” I muttered, shoving off the table, abandoning my beer. I turned to Lennon. “You get him home.”

Lennon’s brows shot up. “Oh, he’s my responsibility now?”

I shrugged. “You can tell Mom you left him and see how she reacts.”

“You’re the one leaving me,” he pointed out.

I shrugged. “I’ve got shit to do.”

Leaving him standing there, I kept my eyes trained on Brandy’s sweater-clad back as I crossed the bar, bumping into shoulders and squeezing through bodies to get to her. As soon as I reached her, I grabbed her hand, pulling her off the stool.

Her eyes, wide and round with surprise, shot to me. “What are you doing?”

A spark, but not enough. I wanted fucking fireworks.

Successfully getting her off the stool, I led her through the crowded bar, aiming for the back hallway. I didn’t offer a response as we weaved through drunk, laughing people. Through the thick of it, I kept my hand clasped around hers.

“Reed.” Her voice didn’t hold its usual bite.

That wouldn’t do.

Breaking free from the throng, I pulled her into the hallway, past the bathrooms and around the corner that led to the back exit.

“Reed, what the fuck are you doing?”

At the curse, I finally turned around, but I wasn’t finished. My hands left her for a split second before they found her shoulders and pushed her back against the wall. I invaded her space the way she invaded my senses, and then my palms met the cool brick behind her, framing her face.

I was out of breath, probably out of my mind, but I didn’t give a shit.

“Riling you up.” The last word barely passed my lips before I was on her, my lips melting into her like they’d been frozen in an iceberg for centuries, waiting to find that one flame to melt away their impenetrable exterior.

The earth shook, or maybe that was my heart threatening to beat out of my chest at the way her head fell back against the wall, then shoved forward to meet my every move. Even in this, we fought, but only because we were desperate for more.

I couldn’t keep my hands off her any longer as they moved on their own accord, framing her face, then sliding into her hair, gripping the strands with barely restrained fingers, tugging her closer, closer, closer.

She angled left, I angled right. She perched on tiptoes, I shoved her down. I gripped her hair, she tugged my shirt.

Rip it, I don’t care , I wanted to say, but I couldn’t bear to part from her long enough to mutter the words. It was like a craze came over the both of us, and there was no stopping it. Years and years of war turned into a truce worth going down in history, and fuck, I was glad this was ours.

“I hate you for this,” she managed to get out between kisses, her voice raspy, so unlike I’d ever heard it before.

My hands fisted harder in her hair, my body pressing her into the wall. “Good,” I muttered, the one word so full of breath.

Her hands moved from my chest to my neck at the same time mine released her, gliding down her body to squeeze her thighs before wrapping around them and lifting her. Her legs wrapped around my waist perfectly, and I could feel the bar of her nipple piercings against my chest, through our clothes. I wondered what they’d feel like with nothing in between us.

Just simply us, in a world where we didn’t hate each other, where this wouldn’t be the first and last time.

Fuck, I didn’t want this to end.

My hands squeezed her ass through her jeans, and she only rocked into me in response.

Fuck , the things I would do to her if we weren’t in this damn bar right now.

“You’re always so fucking selfish,” she murmured into my lips, trying like hell to keep up the ruse, but I felt it slipping from her as much as it was from me.

Nothing would be the same after this.

One hand left her ass. The only thing keeping her up was my other hand and the wall. Reaching up between us, I grabbed her neck, forcing her head back. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths, her lips parted and swollen and beautiful. Our eyes met, an eruption simmering between our gazes. Hate, lust, it was all the same for us. I realized that now.

“If this is me being selfish…” I said, leaning forward to kiss her jaw, shoving her head back with my mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed as my tongue tasted her skin, trailing down that slope to her neck, right above where my thumb rested against her pulse point. “Consider me the greediest man on this fucking planet.”

My hand slid from her neck to the base of her skull, grabbing her hair in a fist and tugging it back, exposing more of her soft skin.

“Trust me,” she panted, her breath hitching before she added, “I always have.”

My lips trailed down the V of her sweater, my tongue darting out to lap at the flavor of her. Something fruity invaded my senses, whether perfume or body wash, I didn’t care. It was her I was developing a taste for. Or maybe I already had, and I was curving my craving. Either way, I wanted to sample every part of her.

“Then you won’t be mad when I do this,” I said into her skin, barely able to catch my own breath as she stole it from me by merely existing.

Before she could ask what I meant, my hand released her hair and slid to her sweater, tugging it down to reveal her breast. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and my mind instantly wondered if she’d been like this around me before, other than at the wedding. Whatever the answer was, I was hard as a fucking rock at the sight of her piercing.

I kept her shielded at such an angle that if anyone were to walk down the hall, I could quickly cover her up. With the assurance that no one would glimpse her, I closed my mouth around her peaked nipple, my tongue flicking at the cool metal bar.

Her hands moved to my hair, tugging and gripping and tearing. It only fueled me as my teeth grabbed the jewelry and tugged. I could tell she was trying to be quiet as her moan came out restrained while her hips moved, grinding against my stomach.

This was only supposed to be a kiss, something to rile her up and make her come back to me, but I couldn’t help myself. One taste, and I wanted to devour her.

Releasing the jewelry, my mouth closed around the bud again, my tongue flicking, lapping, caressing. All the while, little pants passed her lips, each one causing her chest to press against me harder, feeding her breast to me further.

Reluctantly, I finally released her nipple, doing my best to calm my breath but knowing there was no hope. Not with her legs wrapped around me and her looking like…that. All fucking worked up and beautiful. Her hooded eyelids, her bee-stung lips—it made me want to throw her over my shoulder and bring her to my truck and take her all fucking night.

She barely pulled her head away from the wall, my other hand moving to cup her ass again, holding her tighter.

Her hands loosened their hold on my hair before falling to my neck, her wrists draped heavily on my shoulders. “I can’t stand you,” she said between panting breaths.

My tongue darted out to dampen my lower lip, stealing another taste of her off myself. “I know.”

I lowered her to the ground, angling my chin down as I fixed her sweater back over her breast.

Her back met the wall once more. “This is never happening again.”

I didn’t move away, my boots planted to the cement floor because I didn’t think I could leave her here if I tried. “Never.”

Eyes full of pure hatred stared up at me as I took in her mussed-up hair, the pout of her lower lip, the cherry stain on her cheeks.

I could almost smile seeing her look at me that way, knowing I was the one to cause all of it.

Fuck, I’d bite the bullet every time if it meant Brandy Rose was staring up at me afterwards, looking utterly and irrevocably ruined in the best way possible.

Her eyes narrowed once more, that venom she typically spewed nowhere to be found. Was she mad I’d kissed her or mad because she liked it?

“I’m going back out there,” she stated, moving out from between me and the wall.

“Might want to fix your hair.”

A little smirk formed on her mouth, her lips still red and swollen from our kiss. “Guys like messy hair. Might score me someone to bring home tonight.”

Before I could respond, she turned and headed down the hall, leaving me standing there feeling both accomplished for bringing that spark back to life in her and pissed that it’d only resulted in her biting me in the ass.