Chapter Fourteen

Tommy

Kissing Blake was like riding a bicycle. It just came naturally to me. My lips were meant to touch his. I was absolutely certain of that. And now that I had tasted his mouth again, even just a little, I wanted to do it over and over. Except he was still mad at me. Which he should be, but I was hoping after I brought him with me to see Jamie, he wouldn’t be so twisted up inside about everything. But as I drove us back to the house, and Blake remained silent, I wondered if this was a mistake.

“Hungry?” I asked softly and glanced over at my best friend. “We could grab a sandwich or something at Holiday.”

Blake shrugged. “Sure.” He drummed his fingers against the door along to the music as I flicked on my blinker to make the turn into the restaurant parking lot.

But it wasn’t until I parked my car that I realized my mistake. Going into the restaurant would mean people would see me. They’d stare at my face, look at my scar, whisper about the accident, and I wasn’t going to be able to handle that, even with Blake sitting across from me. No matter how much I wanted to be strong enough or tell everyone to fuck off or go on a date like a normal man without caring what people thought, I would always have that voice niggling its way inside my head.

“Tommy, I’m right here.” Blake’s soft voice drifted through my thoughts.

I dropped my chin. “Things are never going to go back to the way they were before.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

I shook my head. “If I go in there, everyone’s going to pretend that they don’t see me. Act like they don’t notice my scar, only to talk about me when I leave. People can’t even look me in the eye anymore. They don’t talk about hockey with me, but they’ll ask about Jackson. They ask about you, the band, but never about me or how I’m doing.” I closed my eyes.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s the truth.”

Blake’s seat belt buckle clicked, then he climbed into my lap. It wasn’t easy because I was a big guy and he wasn’t exactly small, but he made it work.

“I’ll be in there with you.” He tilted my head up. “You can hold my hand; squeeze it as hard as you want if it gets uncomfortable. I’ll sit next to you.”

“No, I can’t.” I leaned into his touch, the warmth of his palm, before I realized his hands were on my face. “Stop.” I tried to push him away.

Blake stared down at me, his jade-colored orbs searching mine. “You kissed me. How is this any different?”

“Don’t touch me, Bug, I mean it,” I warned him.

When he raised his hand, I slapped him away. He did it again.

“Damnit, knock it off!” I shoved him back into the steering wheel, and the horn blared.

Blake snorted. “Keep it up. I can go all day.”

His hand came up. I smacked it away again, and he grinned at me like we were playing a game.

“Get off me.” I started to shove him back into his seat.

“I always liked it like this,” he murmured, a flash of lust in his eyes.

My nostrils flared. “No, you liked to sit on my lap and have my hands on your hips, your back pressed against my chest while you rode me hard.”

Shit, that thought made all the blood rush between my legs.

“Mm, I did like that. Your hand would snake around to grip my cock, your breath hot in my ear as you told me how close you were.” Blake leaned forward and brought his lips to my ear. “Oh, Tommy.”

I gritted my teeth, then gripped the back of his neck. “You’re asking for it.”

“Promises, promises.” His breath was hot against the shell of my ear.

“You’d better stop.”

“Or what?”

I yanked his face up to mine before I could stop myself and then my mouth was on his, my tongue between his lips, and suddenly, I could breathe again. Why was I so reluctant to let Blake kiss me, to let him touch me when he was the one person who meant the world to me? He hummed happily as my hands slipped under his shirt and over the hard muscles of his back. I groaned as his fingers drifted into my hair, his nails scraping over my scalp before I remembered we were sitting in a very public parking lot.

“Bug.” I tore my mouth away from his. “Someone might see.”

Blake smiled at me, his lips wet and rosy from mine. “I don’t care.” He moved to kiss me again but stopped when I shook my head. “Embarrassed to be seen with me?”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous.” I balked. I flinched when his hand came up to touch me. “Bug, what did I say?”

“You just had your tongue halfway down my throat, Tommy. I think you can suck it up and let me do this,” he murmured.

My heart thumped loudly in my chest when the tip of his finger brushed the top of my scar. I stared into his green eyes, waiting for a look of disgust that never came. He slowly worked his way down my face, gliding over the permanent reminder of what had taken away my future, of how my life changed forever. He reached my mouth and then he leaned forward to kiss me softly. A soft sob escaped from my throat.

“You’re perfect, Tommy. Still gorgeous and handsome. I would totally do you.” He blushed the moment the words were out of his mouth but didn’t break eye contact.

Tears slipped down my cheeks. “Don’t lie to me.”

I wanted Blake to kiss me again. I wanted to be strong enough to go inside the restaurant, hold his hand, and make small talk while we ate lunch together. I wanted to take stupid selfies with him like we used to do. I wanted to go visit him while Mulligan was on tour. I wanted all the things we talked about but never had.

But mostly, I wanted him.

“Tommy, I love you, I would never lie to you,” Blake said, gently wiping the tears from my face. Now that I had let him touch me once, I wasn’t about to stop him from putting his hands on me again. “Let’s go home, okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Home sounds good.”

He struggled to climb from my lap, knocking into the horn again. He burst into a fit of laughter. The sound of his joy had goosebumps breaking out over my skin. I reached over and grabbed Blake’s face in my hands, then slid my mouth over his.

“What was that for?” he whispered.

“Because I love you. Now put your seat belt back on so we can get out of here.”

***

We parked my car at my parents’ house but hurried over to Blake’s place instead. I didn’t feel like dealing with everyone else right now, and honestly, I wanted to get some more alone time with him, kissing him, touching him. It was all I could think about. Once he unlocked the door, I was on him, shoving him back against the couch, and knocking him on his back so I could climb over his body.

Blake just smiled up at me, taking it all in stride like he always did. Those eyes of his watched me as I reached behind my back and tugged my shirt up over my head.

“I like this.” He dragged his hands over the thick auburn hair that had grown in over my chest. “It wasn’t here before.”

“Are you saying I hit puberty?” I teased, then pressed my mouth against his. It was like the floodgates had opened, and I couldn’t stop kissing him.

He let out a soft chuckle that I turned into a low moan when I sucked on his tongue.

“Oh, Tommy.”

“Don’t start that with me, Bug. I want to take my time with you.”

I slipped my hands down to grip the hem of his shirt. The front door slammed shut behind us. I startled and nearly fell off the couch. I twisted around and found Killian and Matthias gawking at us. Blake sat up, eyes fixed on them, but didn’t seem too embarrassed. Had he told them about us?

“If you wanted some privacy, you should have gone upstairs.” Killian wiggled his brows. “Is that what you two of have been doing all morning? Jackson is pissed.”

Matthias shook his head. “He’s not pissed, more like a little worried.”

“I’m pissed,” my brother announced as he walked in, and I quickly grabbed my shirt from the floor just as Maverick walked in behind him. “What’s going on here?”

I glanced at Blake. “We’re together.” I wasn’t going to keep it a secret from them. Not anymore.

“Wait, what? You two are back together?” Jackson gasped. “You know I’m more than happy for you both.”

Blake had turned about a hundred shades of red as he reached for my hand and stood up. “Yeah, we’re back together.”

“Jesus Christ, finally,” Maverick muttered.

My brows dipped. “What do you mean, finally? You knew?”

“More like suspected. You were always together. Rushing off to spend time together like Jax and I did. I might have given Blake shit a time or two when I was in my asshole phase.” Maverick ducked his head. “I’m really sorry about that.”

Blake shook his head as he squeezed my hand. “Don’t be. You had your own thing to figure out, Mav.” He reached up to touch my face with his free hand. “Tommy and I are working on our shit. Whatever we are, I love him. I want to be with him.”

Jackson’s eyes hadn’t moved from where Blake’s fingers were. “I can’t believe you’re letting him touch your face.”

“Does anyone in this band know how to have a healthy relationship?” Dean asked from the front porch. “It’s not me, if that’s what you’re wondering. I had my first taste of dick, and now I don’t know if I’m bisexual or just into one guy who knew how to make me come so hard I thought I might black out.”

Maverick groaned and pressed his face into Jackson’s chest. “Please tell my brother to stop talking about sex. It’s weird.”

“Yeah, only if you tell mine to do the same thing, sweetheart.” Jax wrapped an arm around him.

Killian’s mouth dropped open. “Wait a minute! Who are you talking about right now? What guy? When did this happen, and why is this the first time I’m hearing about it?” He stormed over to the screen door.

“Can we just forget I said that? We have a wedding to go celebrate.” Dean took a step back.

Killian shook his head. “No fucking way. I need details.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy for me? I met someone,” Dean murmured as our singer pushed open the door. “Someone who made me forget about your sister. Look, I don’t want to talk about him, okay? He ghosted me, and I can’t really get over that.”

“Ghosted you? Who is this dickhead? Give me a name so I can kick his ass,” Killian growled.

Jackson growled. “Watch it, Hampton.”

“Does that mean you know who it is? Wait a second, is it one of his teammates? Dean, talk to me.” Killian moved closer and their voices dropped to hushed whispers.

I pressed a kiss into Blake’s hair. “This is so much more fun than everyone worrying about us,” I teased. “What about this bachelor party?”

“No bachelor party, please. I don’t want that.” Maverick shook his head, his cheeks crimson.

Jackson nodded in agreement. “We were waiting for you two to see if we could do something here. Get some food and set up a bonfire out back. Leave Mom and Dad alone for the night, since they’re going to start setting up for the wedding and we have the rehearsal dinner tomorrow.”

“That’s fine by me,” I said.

I wanted to get my hands on Blake. Hands, dick, mouth, whatever; I wasn’t picky. I guess that would have to wait a little longer.

Killian stepped back into the house with Dean behind him and reached for his fiancé. I understood that feeling. Of wanting to touch the man you loved, and now that I had Blake back, I wasn’t going to let him go.

“What did we decide?” he asked.

“We’re hanging here,” Jackson answered, then tapped Dean on the shoulder. “He’s coming to the wedding.”

Dean nodded. “I figured as much.”

“Good, maybe I can talk some sense into him,” Killian warned, shooting a smirk at Jackson. “What? If the guy doesn’t know a good thing, then maybe I need to remind him.”

“Kill.” Dean shook his head.

I leaned down so that my lips were next to Blake’s ear. “I love you, Bug,” I murmured, and when he turned and pressed his mouth to mine, everything else faded.