12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

TUCKER

As soon as Annie and Jet took off, Izzy and I headed back inside with Nic where she roped him into a few dances before he ducked off to the bar again, and I pulled Izzy back into my arms, enjoying every second her body moved against mine. At some point, Izzy leaned in to whisper that she wanted me alone.

We were outside in less than a minute, and I pulled her into the cab of my truck, my hands immediately burying themselves in her hair as she crawled over my lap. Her fingers ran through the hair at the nape of my neck, clutching me to her and making my chest purr as we desperately kissed. Like we hadn’t had enough even though I’d ravished her every night since she let me put that ring on her finger.

She winced when my hand accidentally ran over her bruises, and I paused, brushing my lips twice over hers before breaking our kiss. I looked down at her arm where her sleeve had shifted during our embrace, the light from the back of the building shining into my truck enough for me to see. Hot lead filled my stomach as I stared at the deep, purple bruises on display, knowing those marks would take around a month or even more to heal.

“Do they still hurt?” I asked, looking at her again.

“Some. But not when my mind’s otherwise occupied.” She grinned down at me.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to stop him.”

She leaned down, brushing her lips just below my jaw and making me shudder. “Let’s not talk about it now.” Her voice was warm, seductive honey, and my breath hitched in my throat when she sucked at my neck. Her hips rolled, grinding in an agonizing rhythm against my cock, my jeans already struggling for room as I groaned.

“I want you, whiskey. Right here. Right now. Just like this.” She scraped her nails down my chest, and my cock jerked, feeling the warmth of her core pressed against my jeans.

“Tell me you brought one,” she whispered, her hands sliding around to my ass to dig for my wallet when apprehension prickled at the back of my thoughts.

Something’s off.

“Izzy, stop.” I stilled her hands, and she frowned.

“Why?”

“This isn’t right.”

She stroked my cock through my jeans and grinned as I hissed in a breath. “I don’t think all of you agrees.”

I placed a kiss on her lips, but it wasn’t starved like our ones before. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

Fear flickered in those emerald green depths, and my stomach clenched. I knew what had happened today would affect her, but the thought of her trying to hide from me again…

“Why are you so eager now?”

“Does it matter?”

“Maybe,” I said, trying to ignore the way her hands trailed up from my abs to spread across and rest against my chest, her fingertips pressing. “Because I’m not sure if you’re fully thinking right now. As much as I want to have you, screwing in my truck is definitely not private.”

“We’ve had sex in your truck before.” She kissed me, withdrawing a hand to run her fingers through my hair.

I stifled a groan. “We weren’t in a packed parking lot, and even if you want to risk it, which I’d be game for if you really were, I’m worried you’re just using this as a distraction.”

She stiffened for a moment before giving me a hurt look. “You’re never a distraction.”

“It feels like it right now.”

“You’re not,” she insisted, but her attempts to do more had stopped, her hands resting on my shoulders.

“Then make me believe it. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours. I saw the look in your eyes a minute ago. I already know it has to be about what happened today. Which you haven’t even filled me in on yet. I don’t want you to hide from me.”

“Really?” Irritation flared over her. “I’m sitting in your lap , practically begging you to sleep with me, and all you care about is accusing me of hiding and getting me to talk about the one thing I want to forget right now?”

“So, I am a distraction.” My voice went flat, and I shifted her hips away from mine, but she grabbed my face, crawling back to straddle my lap before I could set her aside.

“You’re not .” She stared fiercely into my eyes. “I will not hide things from you again. Not like I used to. I swear. We fixed all of that that night. But tonight, thinking and talking about Zane is the last thing I want to do.”

“Will you ever want to talk about it? Because I’m not a Zane erase button.”

Her brow furrowed as it raised in angered disbelief. “Did you not just hear what I said?”

I flinched, knowing I was digging my own hole. She’d been through hell today, and I was out here just making it worse. I placed my hands on her thighs in a comforting grip. “I heard you. And I don’t want to start a fight. I just…” I dropped my head back, trying to figure out what my dumbass brain wanted me to say without screwing everything up worse. “It’s just old habits, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

Relieved to hear her voice had calmed, I sighed. “That I have to push for you to talk about things that are trigger points for you.”

“Ouch. Drive it home then.”

I looked back at her as she looked down. “I didn’t mean to–”

“No. That’s how things have been for a while now.” She sighed, folding her hands in her lap. “I see where you’re coming from, but I meant what I said, Tucker. I won’t hide things from you again. I just needed some part of today to not be about Zane and what happened. I needed you .”

She looked up at me through her lashes, so much sadness in her expression, and I officially felt like an ass. I might be a distraction for her, because even if she couldn’t see it, I was. But it was just for tonight. She’d needed me to take her demons away and help her forget .

And I told her no.

I cupped her jaw, staring into her eyes so she’d know I meant it. “I always want to be what you need. But is having sex in this parking lot where people might see really what you want?”

Doubt crossed her features. “You might have been right about that. But I did want you.” She ducked her head against my chest and her voice muffled. “Too bad we killed the moment.”

I slipped my hands under her dress, sliding them up her thighs until my thumbs brushed the edge of her panties, and I heard her suck in a breath as I murmured in her ear. “Do you want to try to get it back?”

“Now?” She sounded unsure, but I could hear the interest in her voice.

“There are ways I can make you feel good without anyone noticing us.” I slipped my thumb under the edge of her panties, slowly brushing the edge of her folds. “Do you want me to?”

ISABEL

I quickly nodded, my body instantly responding with Tucker’s touch so near, and I shifted the way I straddled his lap to give him more access as I rested my forehead against his.

“Just press your mouth to mine if you need me to cover your cries,” he murmured against my lips, and with just those words, I was ready to combust in anticipation .

“Touch me,” I demanded, and I sensed his smile as he finally pressed his thumb to my clit. My core immediately clenched, a spasm of desire jolting through me, and I had to resist the urge to grind my hips against his hand, craving the pressure and friction. He was so slow, gentle like the night he’d first touched me again, but I didn’t want slow. I needed his power. His control. I needed him to demand the orgasm from my body with those skillful fingers until every thought and ounce of tension was driven away.

“Faster and harder,” I growled against his mouth. “I need you to wring the orgasms from my body until I collapse over you and can’t move.”

He growled, the sound tearing from deep in his chest under my hand, and like a switch was flipped, he complied.

His free hand grabbed my ass, squeezing and using his grip to rock me into his other hand. His thumb that had only teased with light circles before was now flying across my clit, my core already clenching, dripping , I was so wet.

I mewled, my fingers fisting in Tucker’s shirt, but when he slid his hand from my ass to thrust two fingers into my tight heat, I couldn’t help but cry out. He brought his mouth to mine, kissing away my cries. All the while his long fingers reached inside of me, stretching, pumping, searching until he curled them into that perfect spot.

My teeth clenched, my core tightening as my orgasm built, edging to the surface, and I was cursing through my teeth against Tucker’s mouth as I was sent spiraling into the abyss .

His fingers left my core to grip the hair behind my head and press my mouth to his, covering every curse and breath I hissed as his thumb continued to assault my clit into sweet torturous bliss.

I finally had to push his hand away, my whole body heaving over his as my lungs begged for breath. I huffed a laugh, Tucker’s wicked smile bringing me back to earth, and I was just about to collapse my body to his chest as I recovered when I heard a shift in the rocks outside the truck door.

We both froze.

Tucker had me gently lifted and set on the passenger seat before I could blink. He threw open his door, murder on his face for whoever had decided to spy on us, but again, we froze.

Nic stood there, but instead of looking guilty or even an ounce apologetic, he was frozen, clearly anything but fine. His eyes grew dark, almost vacant, the sapphires turning to hardened, indestructible stone. For once, his mask of composure and control was gone. All of his pain was out on display, and at that moment, I didn’t think he cared who saw.

“What the hell, man?” Tucker snapped once he was past the shock.

Nic’s hands clenched at his sides. “It’s not what you think.”

“How long were you there?” Control was barely there in Tucker’s voice. Ready to protect.

“Too long,” Nic groaned, reaching up to grip his hair with both hands, the torture in his expression like pure agony .

“Tucker, wait.” I cut him off before he could flip out, knowing it was coming.

He looked at me, confusion mixing with his anger. “What?”

“Calm down and look.” I pointed to Nic as he crouched down, hands still gripping his hair, and I scooted over to the edge of the driver’s seat where I was near them.

Tucker glanced at Nic and back at me. “And?”

I huffed a breath. “And I don’t think this is what we thought. I want to talk to Nic. Alone. Please,” I added when he didn’t move. “Just for a minute. Let me see what’s wrong.”

Nic sucked in a harsh breath and stood, shaking his head. “No. I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” I resisted an eye roll. “Tucker.” I stared him down until he sighed.

“Fine. I’ll be inside. Come find me when you’re done.”

“Wash your hands,” Nic called out before he was out of earshot.

Tucker flipped him off over his shoulder as he walked away, and I threw a surprised look at Nic.

The anger and torment were still there, but he lifted a single shoulder into a shrug. “Payback for earlier.”

That time I rolled my eyes, and I hopped down from the lifted Chevy to shut the door before walking to the back of the truck. I lowered the tailgate and used my hands to hoist myself up, then patted the spot beside me.

Nic eyed me warily.

“Get over here,” I directed. “Tonight, it’s your turn to spill.” I was sick of walls. He opened his mouth to protest. “No. No arguments. Sit,” I snapped and slapped the tailgate harder .

With a reluctant glare, he walked over, pulling himself up to join me. We sat in silence.

I just waited.

Crickets creaked their melody into the night air, filling the silence, and still, I waited. When a June bug landed on my shoulder, I flicked it away, and Nic dodged it as it whizzed past.

“I’m not talking.”

“Then, we’re not going anywhere.”

“I can just ring for a ride.”

“And I’ll wrestle you for that phone if I have to.”

“Rubbish.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You wanna try me? Because I’ll do it. We’re not leaving here tonight until you talk.”

“You sound like a stubborn teenager.” Nic flicked away another one of the bugs.

“Maybe.” I popped a shoulder. “But I don’t feel that way. I feel so much older than that after everything I’ve been through.”

Nic sighed and looked over at me. “You really feel that way, don’t you? You and Tucker both.”

“I think it’s all four of us. Annie and Jet, too, in a way. Maybe not as extreme for them, but they went through so much of everything with us.”

He nodded. “I can see that. Death can do that to people.”

I frowned, his words so cryptic. “You’re deflecting, you know.”

“How?”

I shook my head in frustration. He was going to go down fighting, but this was one fight I had to win. Something was clearly torturing him, and he had to let it go. Or at the very least start talking.

“Nic…I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to give me the same consideration I gave you.”

He waited, his eyes cold, hurt, and for once, his expression open.

“What happened to you, in London, before you came here? Why does everyone only know this cold, mysterious guy?”

“I’m not cold to you, am I?”

“Sometimes.”

His brow furrowed. “I don’t mean to be.”

“You can make it up to me,” I offered, hearing his regret.

“How?” he asked, his expression wary.

“By promising me that you weren’t trying to listen in on Tucker and me earlier for one thing.”

His deep blue eyes widened. “No, I can promise you that. I was looking for you to see if you wouldn’t mind leaving soon, and then I heard you and panicked…

He shuddered at the end, and I frowned. “But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?”

He didn’t reply, his continued silence confirming my suspicions.

“I saw the look on your face, Nic. I need you to explain because I can’t ignore it.”

Nic let out a long, low gust of air. “I do owe you that much, I suppose. You were honest with me.”

“When you’re ready…” I gave his arm a gentle squeeze, relief settling over me that he was finally going to let someone in.

Nic leaned to the side and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. A circle was implanted in the leather from the inside, out, but it wasn’t the same kind of circle most guys’ wallets had, and I groaned when he pulled out a ring with a diamond even larger than the size of mine.

“Oh, Nic…”

He turned the ring in his fingers a few times, the diamond dazzling as it glinted in the light. “This…” He sighed. “Was the worst decision I ever made.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “Did she say no?”

Nic shook his head. “I never even asked her.”

Wait… What? “Why not?”

He pressed the ring tightly between his thumb and index finger, squeezing the thin band of gold like it was the reason for all his pain. “Because the night I planned to ask her, I came home to find her in bed with my best friend.”

“Oh, my God.” The words left my mouth on a breath. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, which was good. From the look on Nic’s face, he wasn’t really with me anymore, anyway.