“When I tell you to,” he says, slapping my ass without enough force to hurt, just enough to jolt me back to the present, out of my hazy, post-orgasmic reverie. “But first, you’re going to come again.”
His lips close around my nipple through the shirt I’m wearing, teeth tugging on my piercing outside of it, and I know tonight is going to be one for the Pinterest board. An adventure more fun than anything van life has ever offered me.
NINETEEN
WESTON
Christening the garage felt like a rite of passage. The sweetest form of revenge.
It’s put a big enough smile on my face that I can even welcome my brother back from New York without wanting to deck him. All I have to do is look at the bit of wall in between the bay doors, his precious equipment for the shop that got some new and creative uses that night—most of the weekend, really—and I feel better, just like magic.
“Hey,” Wyatt says, dropping his bag in the office with athunkand stepping back out onto the sawdust-covered concrete of the main floor to meet with me on what happened while he was gone.
At least, in regards to the vehicles I worked on. He doesn’t need to knowallof what went down here.
“When did you start carrying a bag?” I ask him.
He scoffs, as good as an eye roll from him. “My wife got it for me a while back.”
“Explains why it’s got taste,” I say, bouncing my head from side to side.
“Listen, can we fucking talk?” Wyatt goes right into it, and there goes my good mood.
Not the biggest fan of confrontation, but I don’t see a way out of this either, so I just nod, shoving my hands in the pockets of my cargo pants.
I lean back on the car behind me, crossing one leg over the other, and he mirrors my position from a few feet away, letting the silence stretch between us for blissful seconds until he breaks it.
“You can’t even make it to family dinner on time because you’re too busy fucking some girl. How is this any different than high school?”
If Amelia were here, I’m not sure she wouldn’t sock him for that, and my stomach drops at the thought.
“I’m into her, man!” I yell the words. “I’m into her! For the first time in my godforsaken life, I actually caught feelings. Okay?”
“Feelings for her mouth, or for her?”
I roll my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest and clenching my fists to stop from socking him with them. “Rich, coming from the guy who almost knocked me out for mentioning his sex life.”
“That was for mentioning mywife.”
“Then you should know not to talk about Amelia like that,” I counter, brow furrowed.
“So youareinto her?” he questions.
“What about that am I not making clear?”
“I dunno, it’s just… It’s you. You sorta have an MO, Wes.”
He uses the nickname he knows I can’t stand, his better half not here to jab an elbow into his ribs and make him change course. My eyes narrow on his with more heat than usual. He’s trying to get under my skin, like he always does, but this time it might be working.
“Has it occurred to you that I want her to stay too? That I’ve been working since the first night I found her on the side of the road to make her feel safe here, show her it could be worthsticking around? That she might want to be here with me? I know you only see the fucking worst in me, but sometimes I’m not that bad, okay?”
“I don’t think you’rebad,” he hedges, looking everywhere in the garage except for at me, as the uncomfortable tension between us ratchets.
“Well, sorry I can’t be perfect like you, Wyatt.”
His gaze narrows on mine, fuming now. “Me? You’re the perfect one. Fucking golden boy of the family. Everyone’s favorite Grady.”
I scoff. “Yeah, okay. That why you’ve hated me for twenty damn years? Because I was more popular?”
