Chapter 34

Van

“Well, you pricks can clean up the mess because I am perfect where I am.” Kendall’s brows creased slightly, and she tried to climb off my lap, but I held her where she was. I’d hold her forever if she let me, but I’d settle for right now. “They need to make amends and can start with this.”

“Righto, Blisters,” Connor snarked, returning to the kitchen to fill the mop bucket. “So is anyone gonna explain what happened here?”

Blisters was a nickname people got called because they came out once the work was done.

I wanted to bark at him to shut the fuck up. That didn’t matter, just this. Me reaching up, tangling my hands in her wet hair and then wrapping it around my fist as I dragged her mouth down.

Fuck. Yes.

I took my time because I had spent too many years dreaming about just this moment to rush shit. A little brush of my lips against hers, the quick flick of her tongue across them before I went back for more. The suck of her breath in through her nose as I kissed her properly, our lips fitting together like two puzzle pieces. That had me feeling more complete than I had… shit, ever. That was why I went back for more and more, kissing her harder, to feel her lips dimple under mine, her teeth press against all that softness, then to flick my tongue along the seam, wanting them to part.

Fuck yeah.

I didn”t mean to tighten my hold on her, but something inside me would not be held back. I couldn’t let her go, let her even drag a breath in, not for a second. Because if I did, Kendall would slip through my fingers.

Just like she had when this all went down.

My guts had felt like they fell through the floor when we found out Kendall had gone. Her mother answered the door when we turned up with flowers and chocolates in hand, her lips thinning. She explained that Kendall had moved out and nothing we could say would have her revealing where our girl had gone. Because she didn’t know. That had come out some time later, delivered tersely, her eyes narrowing as she looked us up and down, making clear where she thought the blame lay.

But why? I’d asked that over and over until the guys made me shut up. A beer had been shoved into my hand as we sat in our new shitty apartment, cheap enough for four apprentices to share. We’d got drunk, seriously drunk, right up until Finn came home. He’d just looked us over, snorted, and then helped himself to the beer, telling us off for starting without him. The fact he hadn’t said a fucking thing about Kendall was what had me holding on too tight.

“Ow.”

Just a little protest, that’s all it took to bring my focus back to the here and now. I released Kendall’s hair instantly and smoothed it back from her face.

“Shit, sorry, I…” How did I tell her what was going on in my head? Just like this, I guessed. “I feel like if I let go, you’ll disappear.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” She shifted on my lap, which made me groan. I was already sporting a sticky patch inside my pants where I’d blown hands free like a fucking kid, but my dick didn’t know when to stay down. It was hard and sitting right in the gap between her thighs, my pants the only barrier between us. I needed to slide my zipper down and then free it, pushing myself inside her while— “I mean I’m still trying to get my head around all this.” Her focus intensified as she gazed down at me. “You were going to ask me out that night?”

“If you’d got the apprenticeship, we had a celebration planned,” I told her. “If you didn’t, then we’d take you to the pub to drown your sorrows, and then…” My fingers traced the loose neckline of Gage’s shirt, tugging it down slightly to reveal more of her creamy flesh. “Then we’d tell you how we felt.”

Kendall went perfectly still, making me wonder if she wanted to hear this or not, but I was done holding back. It felt like my whole life had been spent waiting.

“That you were the only girl for us. That we’d never treat you like shit again. No pranks.” Her hand went to my hair, and I loved the rake of her fingers, the prickle on my scalp as she grabbed a handful. “Just pleasure.”

“Pleasure, huh…?”

She barely breathed that out, dropping her head down and kissing me this time. And wasn’t that fucking glorious? Kendall could choose me any fucking day of the week, and I’d come running, but right now I pulled against her grip, needing her mouth, her sighs, the way her hips rocked back and forth against me until something damp hit me in the face.

“The fuck…?”

I looked up, bleary eyed, to see Connor had tossed a wet cloth at my face, so I pegged it back at him. The prick was jealous as fuck, I could just see it, so I pressed another kiss to Kendall’s bare shoulder.

“You said you were cooking dinner tonight.”

Shit, yeah, it was my night to cook, and now the kitchen had been set to rights, I needed to knock up my nanna’s famous curried sausages to feed my girl, but there was something I had to do first.

“I’ll cook dinner,” I told Kendall, “but I need you to do something for me.”

“Lemme guess.” She sighed. “Peel the potatoes.”

We all used to do such a shitty job of it that when her mother asked for help, the job ended up falling to her.

“Nope, kiss that dickhead.”

Connor’s grumpy expression just intensified, because Mr. Control Freak didn’t like this. He wanted Kendall jerking herself away from me and walking into his arms of her own accord, proving something to him that he needed confirmed.

That she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

“Shut up and clean your hands before cooking,” Connor snapped at me. “You’re not giving Kendall food poisoning due to your poor hygiene.”

“I keep everything spotlessly clean, I promise.” I winked at Kendall. “He’s just mad because you haven’t kissed him yet.”

“What?” I watched her rise off my lap and fought the urge to pull her back down again. “So you mean if I’d just kissed Connor, he wouldn’t have been such a bastard to me?”

She walked along the couch and Connor followed her every move. Gage shook his head, snickering to himself as he started stacking ingredients on the kitchen counter.

“If you kissed me back then, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for more,” he told her, hands rising, but not ready to grab her until her hands went around his neck. I chuckled as that pinched expression of his faded the minute he was touching her. “Nothing.”

“Hold my brother’s head under water when we were swimming in the pool?” she asked, edging closer.

“He would’ve drowned on the first day.”

“Woke him up in the early hours of the morning to the sound of heavy metal music blaring?”

“Bloke would’ve been bleeding from the ears on the bus to school.”

“Mm…” She watched him with a speculative look in her eyes before darting a little closer. “That’s easy to say now. Talk is cheap. I think I need a demonstration.”

God, she knew exactly how to play us. Connor could never walk past a challenge and hers had him jerking her head down, his mouth smashing against hers. There was no softness, no sweetness in his kiss, just desperation.

“Better tell me how much of a demonstration you want,” he gasped between kisses. “Because I’m pretty damn motivated right now.”

Connor was always antsy after a fight. All that adrenaline had to go somewhere, and I was starting to have ideas. He kissed a line down her neck, all of us listening to her moan as I joined Gage in the kitchen. The big guy shot me a look and a dark smile. Connor always liked to micromanage everything, but the reason we had been friends for so long was because sometimes we stepped in and redirected his focus where it needed to go.

And right now that was on Kendall.

Tomorrow, I’d wake her up with breakfast in bed and maybe a long, leisurely shower. I’d drive her to work, make sure she got there on time, and then watch her work as I grabbed my morning coffee. I’d come back with her favourite food for lunch and maybe we’d sneak in a little date in her break time, but right now… Connor was kissing her with more and more ferocity as he sat her on the other side of the kitchen counter, right up until I reached up and dragged her backwards to lie against the marble. Her eyes rolled up to meet mine.

“Connor’s real hungry right now.”

“Oh.” The sensual haze started to fade from her eyes as she went to rise up, but I kept her where she was. “Maybe we should knock together a few toasties.”

“Not for food, sweetness.” I grinned slowly, willing her to understand. “For you.” My eyes flicked up to meet Connor’s. “Think you can eat that sweet little pussy until she comes before dinner’s ready?”

That grin told me everything I needed to know about my best mate. Connor nodded slowly, running his hands up and down her inner thighs.

“But Gage and I…” She swallowed. “I haven’t showered.”

“Three blokes, one woman?” I said. “Can’t get too fussed by cream pies. Spread your legs for me, baby.” She did so slowly, trying to watch Connor’s response, right before he sank down between her thighs. “That’s it.”

“Jesus…”

I’d seen Connor’s head spinning before, when he copped a smack to the head on the footy field, so I recognised that wide-eyed stare. He gazed on our girl’s most intimate flesh, then slid a thumb through her folds before licking it clean.

“I’m not sure I can come again,” Kendall said, a little thread of anxiety clear in her voice.

“Yes, you can.” There he was, the guy that had us all jumping to do what he said each day. Connor stared down at Kendall, his smile widening. “You will for me. Just lie there and watch the boys make you a meal, right while I…”

He couldn’t hold back anymore, lunging forward like an animal let off the leash, and the long sigh Kendall let escape her lips was everything.

“You’re peeling the spuds,” I told Gage, shoving the bag at him, “so don’t balls it up.”