AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat, adjusting myself as best I could with all of her attention on me. “With the guys. I think it would be cool to build us a house. Something for a larger family.” I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe something where our wives could live in the same place. Separate, but connected.”
“You guys are really close, then?”
I nodded, resting my hand over hers. I squeezed it, pretending I didn’t feel that connection all new couples get. The one where my stomach flipped with the skin to skin contact. If she felt it, too, she ignored it. “We’ve been through a lot together. A lifetime of shit. I can’t see us ever being anything but the brothers we’ve become.”
Silence hung in the air for a moment, and I turned to her for a brief second, taking my eyes off the road. Thea was staring at me, her jaw slack, the workings of tears at the corner of her eyes. I rolled my tongue along the top of my teeth, unsure how I managed to upset her.
“I think that is a beautiful thing. I can’t imagine what you’ve seen together. But having that family is important.”
I gave her a crooked smile. “Yes. Having people you can count on is important. Do you have that?”
“I’ve got Chris. She’s not staying here forever, though. She’ll be on her way the second she’s ready to find her next adventure.”
“She moves a lot then?”
Thea laughed, turning her head to look out the windshield. “Since she graduated last summer, she’s been moving around without holding down a job. She’s definitely free-spirited, and tends to do what she wants.”
“I’d say you are, too. Taking on the task of renovating a dump. By yourself.” I shot her a pointed look to cement my statement.
She scrunched her lips, as if to discount herself. “My dad left me a ton of money. Otherwise, I’d still be in North Carolina, bartending until two in the morning on weekends. There was no time for me to dream. I was busy surviving.”
Thea’s nails dug into my knee, a solemn look crossing her face. “I hate that he’s gone, but he gave me that freedom.”
“Seems like you guys were really close,” I said. We came to a stop sign, and I leaned over, grabbing her shirt to tug her closer to me.
She complied, scooting as best she could while still buckled into her seat. “We were. What about you and your parents?”
I sighed. “Haven’t talked to them since I left for the Army. That was sixteen years ago.”
“They didn’t support it?”
“They didn’t know,” I whispered, my hand gripping the steering wheel tighter. “I left when I was nineteen after a fight and didn’t look back. They never tried reaching out after that.”
Her hand reached out, stroking my face. It was more than just an intimate touch. She was soft, soothing the resentment I felt for my family with just the warmth of her hand against my flesh. Thea’s soul was pure, despite whatever shit she could have gone through.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her hand still holding my face.
My lips twitched, finding the solace that she was providing me, without her even knowing what was brewing under the surface. That my mother used to be able to do the same when the rage built up inside me. When I’d learn to stand up to my father and fight back to protect her. I hadn’t had anyone other than Parker be able to keep me from teetering over the edge.
I chose to be this happy-go-lucky guy, go with the flow and the smiles because if I ever gave into that side of me–the side that was too close to my father–I feared I wouldn’t like the person I became.
It was easier to be this person, the light that I was for my mother.
I glanced toward Thea, driving through the stop sign, and reached over, resting my hand on her thigh. “Thanks,” I said, my voice hoarse.
She grinned, nodded slowly, and took her hand from my face. “I need to replace the roof on the bar,” she said, changing the subject. “Do you think you could help me out with that? Or should I hire a contractor?”
She was changing the subject to keep the conversation light, but I didn’t want to talk right now. I squeezed her thigh, and she opened her legs in response.
“You’re such a sexy thing,” I whispered, moving my hand up her stomach. “I can’t get you out of my head, Thea.”
“Hen,” she gasped as my hand slid up the front of her shirt.
Her stomach was smooth against my calloused fingers, and I didn’t stop until my hand was filled with a breast. I squeezed and massaged, and her legs opened more. Her mouth fell open while I played with her nipples through the material of her bra.
Thea’s legs opened wider, and I refrained from tearing my eyes completely off the road as we drove toward the hardware store.
“God damn, baby,” I said.
