IWAS IN UNCHARTERED TERRITORYwith Maegan. Well, that was only partially true. I’d sailed the waters before, but it had been a very long time, and my boat ran ashore with catastrophic results. The fact that I didn’t want to wash Maegan’s scent off my body prompted me to haul my ass to the shower at the ass crack of dawn and do just that.
She’s just a piece of ass, Eli. Beautiful, sexy, and alluring, but still just a piece of ass. Don’t ever forget it. Don’t trust her.
No matter how much my brain urged me to be cautious, my heart—and dick—recalled every single second of the night I spent with her. Running the bar of soap over my flesh reminded me of all the places on my body she touched, kissed, sucked, or licked. Maegan was a very inquisitive girl and the only part of me that she didn’t know intimately were the spaces between my toes. Everything else, and I do meaneverything, had at least been traced or touched by her teasing fingers. As if to mock me, the claw marks she left on my back and ass cheeks stung when I stepped beneath the scalding spray.
I’d never had to pop ibuprofen after sex before, but then again, I wasn’t sure what we experienced could be reduced to such a simple word. Every muscle on my body ached from extended tightening and flexing beneath her ministrations. There was so much more than an exchange of body fluids going on, which was the real reason for my panic. That, plus the confession that slid from her lips in the dark.
“Wow, this has never happened to me.”
“Multiple orgasms?”
“No, an orgasm with another person.”
She had to be fucking with my mind, right? No other guy had managed to make her scream their names? Were they fucking idiots? Were they selfish pricks, or did they just not have any skill in the sack? Man, her words blew my mind. And what was my response to this discovery?
“Huh.”Yep, but it gets better.“Well, you’re welcome.” Hey, the lady ignited my soul and I was grappling with everything she made me feel and want.
I waited for the huffy breath and scathing remark—possibly a slap to the face—but Maegan showed me again that she was as unpredictable as choosing the winning lottery numbers. She laughed deep and hard in the darkness, so hard it shook her bed. I couldn’t see Maegan, but if I could, I knew her head would be thrown back as laughter rolled out of her. I suspected that Maegan put her full heart, body, and soul into everything she did.
She didn’t giggle, she laughed. Maegan didn’t make love, she fucked. I instinctively knew that Maegan didn’t give her heart easily, but when she did, she gave her whole heart—not just tattered fragments. I was the exact opposite; all I had to offer were shards of the man I used to be, and not many were willing to risk cutting themselves by getting too close. My heart—or was it my dick—wanted me to take a chance on Maegan because she was strong enough to glue the pieces of my shattered soul together again.
Run. Get out now!
Fuck. The strain from wanting to pull Maegan close and push her away created a seesaw effect on my nerves, causing pressure to build inside my head and chest until it felt like I might explode. I flopped down on my bed after toweling off, both grateful and sad that my bed didn’t smell like her.We could rectify that in a heartbeat.My dick started to swell at just the thought of having that sexy wildcat in my bed. My skin started tingling where she had scored me, making me think she was a sorceress who’d cast a spell. It was like she was sending a message through the marks she left behind. If they could talk, they would have said, “I dare you to try and forget me, Elijah.”
Resist!
Lack of sleep from the previous two nights caught up to me, and I fell into a hard and fast sleep. I should’ve known the riotous emotions would follow me into my dreams and wreak havoc, but the intensity of the memories that flitted through my brain like a cruel kaleidoscope caught me off guard—ambushed me as surely as the Taliban had.
“I’m going to love you forever, Elijah.”We were eight years old and I had carved our initials in a tree like some lovesick sap.
“I, Elijah Donovan Markham, take thee, Brandy Lynn Rogers, to be my lawfully wedded wife…”It was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives.
“This war might separate us physically, Elijah, but I’ll be right there in your heart. You’ll never be alone. Do you hear me? When you get home, I promise to be the first thing you see. It’s you and me forever just like we said when we were kids.”Words that lifted my battered soul and eased the guilt I felt over leaving her alone.
“I miss you so much, baby, but your family has made me feel so loved.”It comforted me to know that my family was taking care of my girl while I was away.
I ignored my gut instinct and blamed the missed calls and decrease in letters from her on everything and everyone but my wife. There was no way that my Brandy would do the things that seasoned soldiers warned me about, not my girl. Her heart was still as pure as when she gave her body to me after homecoming our sophomore year of high school. Elijah and Brandy. Names that went together from the moment we were born, which was only a few days apart. Our mothers were best friends, so we were raised together, took family vacations together, and learned about love together.
A person didn’t think of me without thinking of Brandy, and vice versa. I held onto that knowledge when fear clawed at my guts in the middle of the night when loneliness descended on me like a suffering smog, or when the bombs exploded and the world burned to the ground around me, threatening to consume me too. Brandy was my constant, my guaranteed prize at the end of the ugliest fight. Knowing she would be there to meet me with open arms was the only thing that got me through the year-long separation.
Except she wasn’t there when I got off the plane at the base. “She’s not feeling well,” my mama calmly said, but I knew it had to be serious for her to miss my homecoming. She told me she had bought a special dress to wear and everything, but of course, that was before she started withdrawing from me. Fear lashed at my insides, leaving me bloody and raw as I went in search of her. Brandy wasn’t in the apartment we shared. She wasn’t at her mama’s house. None of her friends would tell me where I could find her. I was beside myself with grief and panic.What the fuck was going on?
She ended up being in the last place I expected to find her. I’d gone to his house knowing he’d get drunk and commiserate with me, not stopping to think it was weird that he wasn’t there to greet me with Mom and Dad either. Jack was my big brother, my hero. I knew something was wrong by the expression on his face when he opened the door, but I swear to God, nothing could’ve prepared me for the shock I faced.
“You need to remain calm, Elijah,” he said, his hands up in surrender. “She’s in no condition for the fight you probably want to have right now. Take it out on me; I deserve it.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Jack?”
That’s when he realized that no one had told me yet. He hid in his house, expecting our parents or mutual friends to tell me what he’d done to me. My own motherfucking brother. Wife-fucking was the accurate adjective, but not nearly as nasty enough for the crime he committed against me. The fucking coward shook with fear as he confessed to what he’d done.
“Is she here?” I asked, shoving past him. “Brandy! You fucking whore!” I screamed. “Come out here and face me.”
“She can’t, Elijah.” Jack grabbed my arm to stop me from going into his bedroom. I wheeled on him and punched him in the fucking mouth. I left him holding his hand to his busted lips while I charged into the bedroom, nearly ripping the door down in the process.
“Elijah,” Brandy said weakly, tears streaming down her face. I used to think she was so beautiful, an angel sent from above, but right then I knew I was looking into the eyes of someone as evil as they came. Then my eyes dropped to her swollen stomach and it felt like someone had kicked me in mine. “I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted to hurt you. It just… happened.”
“You never meant to spread your legs for my brother, Brandy? How does that accidentally happen?” She started to sob, but I wouldn’t be deterred by her guilt. She wasn’t sorry; she was ashamed. “What happened to forever, Brandy? What happened to the promises you made to me? Vows to be faithful? Was it always a lie? Is Jack the first one you fucked behind my back or just another sorry sucker that fell for your honey trap?”
