Page 9

by Avril Ashton

No one was spared. He’d wanted no competition, wanted to be the fucking king of it all.

He shook his head, refusing to go down that road today. Right now, he was exhausted and confused. Desperate to purge everything that happened up at the cabin from his mind. It wasn’t that easy. He couldn’t just wish it and have it be done. And he kept replaying it all while his stomach cramped and his dick got hard.

He’d done his damnedest to pretend this hadn’t been happening to him for months. And in one day, just one day, everything changed. With the snap of a finger, he went from knowing who he was and what he was to questioning himself. His identity.

This wasn’t the first time he’d had to questioned his life, but this round was way different than the last. Previously he’d wanted to know where he fit into the world he’d been born into. The family he’d found himself in. After Jacqueline destroyed the life he knew and the people he loved, he’d been shuffled around, shoved here and there before he went to the Storms. Is had tried to force himself into fitting into their already established family.

It had been the worst time of his life. That helplessness still remained, still drove him today, as grown as he was. He’d thought all that was over once he’d managed to make shit happen on his own, to carve out his own path. But this thing with Reggie threw a wrench into his carefully orchestrated life. Now Is found himself spinning out of control, struggling to find answers for questions he should never have to ask.

He picked his phone and sent a text to Tawnya. If there was anybody guaranteed to help him forget himself for a few hours it was Tawnya. That pathetic attempt at phone sex had to have been a fluke. Besides, he never much cared for it. Face to face and skin to skin was so much better.

He grabbed his crotch and squeezed. He wasn’t going out like that. Not if he could help it.

His phone blinked with her response.

I’ll be at your place in an hour. Can’t wait.

Neither could Is.

Chapter Nine

Finally, some progress. Reggie ended his phone call and peered out his car windshield. He was outside his mother’s church waiting to pick her up. His contact had come through. Vega was out of town, but would be back in a week or so. Reggie had a meeting with him then.

He dialed Is before his mind could dissuade him from it. The phone rang and rang. Just when he was about to hang up, sure Is was avoiding him, he answered.

“Yeah.”

Is’ voice. Reggie bit his lip. “We need to talk. Where are you?”

“Ozone Park.” Is sounded distracted and when a female’s laugh filtered through the phone a second later, Reggie knew why.

He pressed a palm to his stomach. It was like a betrayal, souring his gut. “Okay.” He swallowed. “It can wait. Call me when—”

“Nah. Let’s do this today. I’ll be leaving for Miami tomorrow.” Is paused. “Come on over.”

He didn’t want to. Already the anger and hurt was making his legs shake, but Is hung up before Reggie could say no.

The car door opened, startling him. He swung around as his mother slid into the front passenger side.

“Reggie?” She frowned at him. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He nodded sharply. “Fine.”

“Sister Magda’s daughter is coming over to say hi,” his mother said. “I told her you would give her a ride home.”

“I can’t, Mom.” He started the car. “Not now.” He pulled off just as a tall, slender woman dressed in a knee length floral dress approached the car.

“Reggie.”

He ignored his mother’s reprimand. He didn’t have time for any of this. “Stop trying to fix me up. I can’t do it. Don’t want to do it.”

She didn’t answer and he set his jaw, refusing to look at her. Her disapproval was loud and clear though, and it made him feel like even more of a son of a bitch. He drove them from the church on Rogers and Midwood to her house down on Clarendon and 23rd. She had her own car, his father had his own car, but somehow every Sunday she found a way to rope him into taking her to and from church. That irked the hell out of him.

They didn’t speak to each other until he pulled into the driveway then turned to her. “I have to go.”

“Reggie, we’re supposed to have dinner.”

“I’m sorry.” He pulled her into a half hug, kissing her cheek. “Mom, I have to be somewhere, but I’ll be back later. I promise.” He pulled away, avoiding her deep, searching gaze. “No more setting me up with the women in your church, Mom. Promise me.”

“Are you seeing someone?”

A laugh burst from him. “Seeing?” He shook his head. “No.”

She squinted in that way she did when she was seeing shit he didn’t want her to. “But you have someone. You’re interested in someone?”

He huffed out a breath. “Mom, this isn’t like back when we had the sex talk. I am not seeing anyone. I am interested in someone, yes, but it’s not…” His voice trailed off. “It’s not going to work.” He cleared his throat.

“Why not?” She grabbed his hand, hanging on while he tried to pull away. “Does she know about your life?” she whispered the last bit as her gaze darted around.

“Mom, leave it.” He was louder than he intended, harsher, too, but he couldn’t do this with her. “Please.” He stared straight ahead, feeling her heavy gaze on him. He couldn’t look at her, otherwise maybe, just maybe he might break down and confess that he was attracted to his best friend. His very male best friend.

“Okay.” She gathered her phone and purse, and got out of the car.

He waited until she was inside before he peeled off. Everything coiled in his gut, tight and hot. Anger and fear and betrayal. They drove him, fingers tight on the steering wheel, foot extra heavy on the gas. Everything bitter lodged in his throat, removing to budge.

What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to act?

He had no idea. And by the time he pulled up in front of the house Is used in Ozone Park, Reggie still had no answers. He sat there for the longest time, staring at the house, attempting to gather his thoughts, his composure.

Okay. He was attracted to Is, but Is didn’t or refused to feel the same way. That was on Reggie. He couldn’t hate his friend for not being who he wanted him to be, for not changing to fit Reggie’s criteria. This was on Reggie, he had to own it. He could go in there, tell Is about the meeting he had set up with Vega, and leave his friend to spend the rest of the evening with his woman. Whoever she may be.

“Fuck!” He punched the steering wheel then brought his aching fist to his mouth. “I can do this. I can do this.” He got out the car, chanting the words softly as he walked up to the door and rang the bell.

The knob twisted and the door opened. “Hi.” Tawnya stood there, in Is’ shirt, bare feet and nothing else.

Fuck. I can’t do this. He nodded at her. “He in there?”

She nodded with a small smile and moved aside. Reggie stepped inside and walked through the house as Tawnya followed close behind.

Is sat in the living room on the floor, playing a video game. He was fully dressed though, Polo shirt, jeans, and boots.

“Yo.” Reggie went over to him.

“’Sup, man.” Is glanced at him over his shoulder then faced the game again.

Reggie looked around as Tawnya came around and squatted next to Is, her head on his shoulder as he played some racing game. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah, sure.” Is didn’t look at him or stop playing. “Tawnya, give us some privacy, baby.”

Reggie paced, restless, once Tawnya disappeared upstairs. “Can you pause the fucking game for two Goddamn seconds?”

Is did and cocked his head when he finally faced Reggie. “What’s up?”

What wasn’t up? Reggie could list a whole lotta shit that was up, but he chose to tell Is about the contact he’d reached out to, and the meeting they’d secured.

“Yo, good looking out, son.” Is nodded at him. “How you wanna
play it?”

Reggie shrugged. “Shit, that’s why I came. To ask how you wanna play it.”

Is’ expression turned contemplative. “You sure you can trust your contact?”

“Positive.”

“Aight. Then I’ll meet with Vega,” Is said. “Man to man, leader to leader.” He grinned.

“He thinks he’s meeting me,” Reggie argued. “The last thing we want is to make him feel as of we’re setting him up.”

“Then we’ll make sure he doesn’t think that.” Is’ face went hard. “This is my fight, my mess and I’ll be the one to fix it. Not you or anyone else.” He shook his head. “It needs to be done. I can’t handle another war right now. I’m fucking tired of that shit.”

“Agreed.”

And that was it. Maybe Reggie should have done this over the phone after all. He pursed his lips and met Is’ gaze. “So. You and Tawnya, huh?”

Is’ nostrils flared. “Not yet.” He gestured to the game. “You wanna play?” He shoved the controller into Reggie’s hand. “Let’s see if you’re faster than me.”

He could have said no, or fuck off, or anything else guaranteed to get him the hell away from Is and that house, and the woman upstairs who Reggie wanted to make disappear in the most horrible way. But he didn’t. Instead he parked his ass next to Is on the floor and played the game. No talk of what happened in that cabin.

Ignore it.

Dead it.

They were back to being them for a little while, but what he felt didn’t go away.

Not with him this close to Is, their shoulders brushing as they trash talked each other. Not when Reggie could smell Is, weed smoke and hot skin. Not when he wanted to just lean in, put his lips to Is’ ear and whisper, “I miss you.”

Because he did, he missed his friend.

Tawnya came back downstairs at some point, but Reggie did his best to pretend she was invisible as she sat over on the loveseat, legs tucked in under her body, watching them play.

When Is beat him one too many times, Reggie got up and went to the kitchen for a beer.

“You had a threesome with that other chick, right?”

He stopped midstride on his way back from the kitchen. Tawnya was sitting on the couch, with Is on the floor, his back to her, between her legs. Her arms were around his neck.

Reggie tightened his fingers around the Magnum bottle.

“We did. A few times.” Is wasn’t really paying her any attention as he stared down at his phone.

Tawnya tilted his head, until he was looking up at her. She kissed his forehead. Reggie looked away. “I always wanted to do that,” she said to Is. “Try a threesome.” She flicked out her tongue to tease the tip of his nose. “You think you and your friend are up to it?”

Fuck. Fuck.

Is was paying her attention now. He shifted until he was facing her. “I don’t know.” His eyes were hooded, jaw ticking when he stared past her, meeting Reggie’s gaze. “Why don’t you ask him?”

Reggie took a swig of the cold, bitter beer in an attempt to buy time. He walked back over to them and lifted an eyebrow as he sank onto the couch away from Tawnya. “Ask me what?”

A pulse leapt in Is’ jaw. “Tawnya wants us to fuck her. Together. Now.” His words were stiff, cold. Angry. Reggie had no idea why.

He squinted, looking from Is’ glacial expression to Tawnya’s openly lustful gaze. He was about to flat out deny that non-request, but something in the way Is looked at him made Reggie hesitate. “Really.”

“Fuck, yeah.” Tawnya crawled over to him, cupping him through his jeans. He flinched. “What girl wouldn’t want to be in between you two?” She squeezed him and Reggie’s gaze flew to Is.

His friend looked like he wanted to kill somebody. Reggie couldn’t tell if it was him or Tawnya Is was mad at, but they were about to find out. “I have no objections.” He grabbed a fistful of Tawnya’s hair and shoved her face down to his crotch then he held Is’ gaze, daring him to put a stop to it.

Chapter Ten

He should have said no right then. Kicked Tawnya out the minute she fixed her face to even broach the topic of him and Reggie doing her. Is regretted that second of indecision now as he sat in the armchair opposite the couch and watched Tawnya lick her way down Reggie’s chest.

He didn’t like it. A hot furor built in his chest, tightening his gut. Reggie kept looking at him, eyelids riding low, as if expecting Is to put a stop to it. He should. He wanted to, and that was why he couldn’t. They did this all the time, why should this time be any different?

Tawnya made loud sucking noises as she sucked one of Reggie’s nipples. Is’ throat dried out and he had to glance away, especially when he started to get hard, watching Reggie’s dark, hard nipple shine from Tawnya’s spit. That got him even more angry and when Reggie made a sound and fisted Tawnya’s hair, Is got up and grabbed the supplies to build himself a fatty.

He needed to be high for this.

His hands trembled as he crumbled the weed between thumb and forefinger and placed them in the fronto. They shook as he brought the stuff to his lips and licked the fronto to get it to stick together. They shook and the more they did the more it made him want to lash out.

At Tawnya. At Reggie. At himself for his lack on control. If he wasn’t careful he’d give himself away like this. Pissed him off. He tore his gaze from the joint in his hand to the couple on his couch. Tawnya was on her knees, hands furiously working to undo Reggie’s belt. His friend’s gaze was on Is. Lips parted, t-shirt off showing his stomach as the muscles contracted. He was watching Is, waiting for something.

And he wasn’t hard.

Despite the sounds he made and the way his hips lifted off the couch when Tawnya tugged his jeans down his hips, Reggie wasn’t hard. Not for Tawnya.

He should be. That son of a bitch should be hard for her, not for Is. Not like he’d been in that Goddamn cabin. The reminder brought the images of Reggie jerking off back into Is’ brain. Shit. They’d never really left.

“Suck him.” His barked words startled both Reggie and Tawnya. Is didn’t give a fuck. He wanted to drive those images from his mind, to purge this fucked-up need from his blood. He had to do this.

Tawnya dipped her head and Is noted that Reggie’s cock was firmer now, the tip wet. Fuck. He was hard, too. Painfully straining against his zipper. Tawnya sucked Reggie, took him into her mouth.

Is surged to his feet, intent on yanking her off. The sight made him want to throw up. Made him want to gut Tawnya, watch her bleed. She was sucking Reggie hard, head bobbing on him while she made those sounds that Is was way too familiar with. He hated them now. Hated how they reminded him of being with her, hating that she was making them for Reggie.

Reggie’s gaze remained locked on Is. Mocking him even as it begged Is to end it. It was torture, but it was necessary, this pain. To remind Is, remind Reggie, why nothing else could ever go down. The arousal flagged in Reggie’s eyes. Is wasn’t having it.

“Bite him,” he said. Harsh. The words were harsh, cold, and fucking angry.

Reggie’s eyes widened and the fingers he’d clamped down onto the arm of the couch twitched. Is shouldn’t know that Reggie had a thing for being bitten during sex. He shouldn’t, but he did. He knew every fucking thing Reggie liked during sex.

He’d watched. He’d watched and he’d wished.

Tawnya did as he ordered, pulling off Reggie’s dick with a low moan, leaving him semi-hard and glistening wet. Is didn’t look away. Not yet. He couldn’t. And the admittance of that sent his ass right back into the arm chair.

“Fuck.”

Reggie’s grunt fisted Is’ nuts and didn’t let go. He refused to watch. Instead, he lit the joint, took a pull, staring at the swirling smoke and remembering shit. That was all he did now, remember shit he had no business remembering.

“Israel.”

He jerked his head up when Tawnya called his name. She was looking at him over her shoulder, one hand stroking Regg
ie, the other between her legs. Is’ nostrils flared. Bloodlust had him overheating.

“Join us,” she said then she went back to nipping at Reggie’s torso.

Reggie wasn’t speaking. Not with his mouth. His eyes did all the work. Is had to steel himself at the pained betrayal in Reggie’s face. He was getting softer.

“Bite him,” Is snarled. “Harder. He likes that.”

Tawnya did, she bit Reggie on his left side, just near his hip. He bucked and cried out, grabbing her hair, but he never took his eyes of Is and he didn’t get harder.

Is jumped to his feet and yanked his t-shirt over his head. With an angry sound, he stalked over to them and grabbed a fistful of Tawnya’s hair, yanking her off Reggie. She cried out, but when she stared up at Is, aroused excitement was all over her face.

“Pay fucking attention. Get him hard. Bite him, all over.” He mashed her face back into Reggie’s stomach and she did, she bit Reggie.

Reggie squirmed, writhing, teeth in his bottom lip. “Don’t— Is, don’t.”

He had to. Didn’t Reggie fucking see that? He had to. Tawnya kept biting her way down Reggie’s body then she went back to his lagging dick, slurping him into her mouth without using her hands.

Is watched her with a narrowed gaze. Every hungry sound she made punched him in the throat. Every time she dipped her head to take Reggie deeper, he wanted to fucking snap her neck. But he let her, he watched her, licking his lips, insane, indisputable jealousy coiling around his insides, leaving him cold.

Leaving him stunned and breathless.

Is dropped to his knees next to Tawnya and pulled her off Reggie’s cock. She moaned and he shoved his tongue into her mouth, stifling any sounds. She fought his hold, trying to embrace him, touch him, but she didn’t fucking get it. He wasn’t kissing her. Despite her tongue flicking over his and twisting around him, he wasn’t kissing her. He wanted the taste of Reggie and he dug around inside her warm, wet mouth to find it. Licking up the musky taste he knew wasn’t Tawnya’s. He ground his mouth against hers until their teeth clicked.