“Good, while you’re at it give Lucas a call. He needs a friend,” Austin implied, accentuating the last word.
“He’s got you boys,” I simply stated.
“He. Needs. You. As a friend,” Dylan coaxed, also stressing that word. He pulled me over to him with his hand on the back of my neck and kissed the top of my head, murmuring, “Don’t lie to us again.”
I lifted my face to look at him but I was too late, he already turned to leave. Jacob hugged me next, tight and securely around my waist and Austin followed suit. They trailed after Dylan toward the pool table.
I turned to Aubrey when they were out of earshot. “What the hell was that?” I questioned, surprised and utterly perplexed with what just happened in the last five minutes.
“I wish I could tell you. Dylan has been pissed at me since the accident and I didn’t even do anything. I swear he knows that I knew or something. He smells it on me like a bloodhound.”
“Have they talked to Lucas?”
“I mean they have but they haven’t. I don’t know. It’s weird. It’s obvious they know something’s up. I think they’re hurt that they’re just now figuring it out. I’m not really sure, it’s very confusing.”
I swallowed the saliva that had pooled in my mouth. “What should I do?”
“Fuck if I know.”
I shrugged, glancing over at them with her. “I guess I didn’t even notice they had been acting weird toward me. I’ve been too caught up in work and trying to ignore everything else around me. Is it bad?”
“It’s not good. Maybe talk to Lucas and see where that goes. All I know is they’ve been keeping their distance from him.”
My eyes widened, stunned. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t want that. I don’t want to cause a rift between them. Not ever.”
She nodded. “I know you don’t, but you’ve always been the glue that’s kept them together, Alex, you know that right?”
I didn’t.
And it made me feel worse.
As I looked back over at my good ol’ boys, it was the first time I realized that it wasn’t just about Lucas and me anymore or maybe it never was? It involved all of us in some way, shape, or form.
I never wanted to come between them and I knew what I had to do.
Even though the thought alone.
Nearly killed me.
It had been a month since the accident and I finally moved around without the crutches. Not for very long but it was progress nonetheless. When I heard the doorbell ring I figured it was the boys. They hadn’t been around a lot since the accident. I figured they were just busy with summer. I didn’t blame them for not wanting to hang out with a crippled that couldn’t leave his house. My mom was out for the day and my dad was at work.
When I heard the knock on my bedroom door, I realized it wasn’t the boys because they would have just walked right in. That only left one other person.
“Lily, go away! I’m not playing Barbie’s with you again, that was a one-time thing.”
The door opened and Alex stepped in smiling like a fool. I hadn’t seen her since the accident. She wore a white crop top with black cotton shorts. Her hair sat on the top of her head in a messy bun with pieces scattered and falling around her face. I knew she didn’t do that on purpose, she probably just slept with her hair like that and didn’t bother doing anything with it when she woke up.
Her sun-kissed skin and her glossy lips immediately did things to my cock, which had me reaching over to grab a pillow to cover it.
“Barbies?” she teased with a cocked head and arched eyebrow. “You never played Barbie’s with me,” she giggled, and it felt incredible to hear her laugh again.
My day drastically changed from bad to amazing.
“You didn’t have Barbies, but you did play G.I. Joes with me,” I stated, mirroring her smile.
“That’s because he blew stuff up and it was cool. Barbies are stupid.”
“In my defense Lily got me at my all time weakness. Being lonely and fucked up on pain medication will make you do things,” I shared as a joke to keep the momentum of our light banter going, but when her smile faltered and she frowned. I knew I fucked it up.
“I’m not lonely anymore. You’re here now,” I reassured, hoping to see that smile that lights up her entire face again.
She softly grinned, it wasn’t the one I wanted to see, but she still looked beautiful.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, walking toward me. I nodded to the place in front of me on my bed. I slid over putting my back against my headboard to allow her more room.
She climbed up and lay sideways with her head pitched up on her hand, always lying like that. It warmed my heart that she was still able to feel comfortable around me, even though we hadn’t spoken in a month and were nowhere near where we used to be.
“I’m good. Better now,” I reaffirmed again. I didn’t want to put any doubt in her mind that I didn’t love that she was here with me.
It’s where she belonged.
“You look better. I mean not that I know what you looked like before but Lily—”
“Lily?” I interrupted.
Her cheeks reddened as she peered down at my comforter. She immediately started to play with the seams, her nervous habit.
“Oh… well… Lily has been keeping me updated and stuff.” She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal or anything. I was worried about you.”
If my baby sister were in the room I would have tackled her to the ground and kissed her. I made a mental note to do something nice for her later, even if that meant I had to play fucking Barbie’s.
“How often do you talk to Lily?” I asked.
She shrugged again. “Often enough.”
“Which is?” I added, needing more information than she gave me.
“Every day.”
My eyes widened in shock and I couldn’t help the love and fondness that soared throughout my entire body, leaving a sense of longing in its wake. Before I gave it any thought, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward me. She came effortlessly. I threw the pillow and placed her on my lap with her legs straddling my waist, it didn’t help my over stimulated cock’s enthusiasm for her, but I didn’t give a fuck.
I wanted to hold her.
So I did.
I wrapped my arms around her tiny frame. At first she stiffened into my embrace unsure of what to do, but it didn’t take long for her to soften and wrap her arms around me, laying her head on my shoulder and breathing me in.
I kissed the top of her head like I had done countless times before. It was way too many times to have ever kept count. “God, you feel fucking amazing,” I groaned, smelling her coconut shampoo and sunscreen skin.
“You do, too,” she sniffled.
As much as I didn’t want to pull away from her, I did. I looked into her beautiful watery eyes and asked, “What’s wrong?” My heart sped up at lighting speed. Concern and worry were evident in my tone.
She smiled, the same one that ignited her entire face. “I’m happy,” she laughed out.
She gazed at me and I knew that look. My brown-eyed girl sat on my lap, placed in my arms, and I couldn’t help myself. I knew there were miles of barriers between us, I knew we had every obstacle under the sun against us, I knew that it may have been wrong, but fuck it, it felt so fucking right.
She meant everything to me.
I grabbed both sides of her face, closing the space between us.
I leaned in and kissed her. At first it started innocently enough, but after a couple seconds she parted her mouth and started to move her lips. Her mouth became more demanding wanting me to respond and I gently started to, which earned me a moan from her lips. She tasted like Cherry Coke and cherry lip-gloss. I couldn’t get enough. It melted my heart that she still drank Cherry Coke and wore cherry flavored lip-gloss, it was always my favorite and she knew it. Her tongue was smooth and felt like silk. I hadn’t kissed her in so fucking long, it felt like it had been centuries since the last time I felt her lips against mine.
I started to lean forward. I wanted to feel her body beneath mine. The second I was above her, my hand started roaming. It started at her hair and then traveled down to her face. She writhed and moaned beneath me, enticing me to go further. My hand moved to the top of her breast and I could feel her nipple hardening through the flimsy cotton shirt and bathing suit top underneath. She pushed her breast further into my hand and I immediately gripped it harder, earning me another moan.
It was the first time I ever felt her in this way. I subconsciously rubbed my hard cock against her pussy. My thin gym shorts and her slim cotton ones made it easy to feel the friction that ignited between us, it felt so fucking amazing that I did it again. She followed my lead pretty quickly and started rubbing up against me.
I kissed her with all the passion and hunger of a starving man. She met each and every push and pull that I delivered. My hand moved under her shirt and I knew I needed to stop, but I couldn’t fucking help myself. I wanted this for so long that I let it take over. At first I caressed on top of her bathing suit but it didn’t take long for me to push the material aside and touch her warm perky breast, which felt fucking incredible against my fingers and in the palm of my hand.