Crave Me (The Good Ol' Boys #4)(46)

I hit the blunt a few times, waiting for him to join me. It took longer than it should have, and I was suddenly subconscious about what he was thinking that made him waver and stay by the sliding door where I left him. When I felt his presence next to me, I thought he would lean over the railing to look out at the water like I was.

He didn’t.

He stood close beside me, leaning up against the railing, his left forearm holding up all his weight. His eyes placed intently on the side of my face, looking through me. Not at me.

I cleared my throat and swallowed hard. My heart beating rapidly with the effect he was having on me.

“So, Briggs, you from Miami?”

My nerves were set on fire. A hot blaze ran steady through my body. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. He had me questioning who he was and how he had this hold on me. I hated and loved the newfound feeling he was producing deep within my core.

It was mind-boggling.

I had been around some of the most powerful, corrupt men in the entire world and didn’t bat an eye. They didn’t even f*cking faze me anymore. Yet, there I was anxious and nervous about a guy I had only just met. Acting like the teenage girl I was supposed to be and not the f*cked up prodigy I’d become.

The connection and pull he had on me was making me want to reveal my truths, and that scared the shit out of me.

“How old are you?”

I shrugged, unable to find my voice.

I knew I was making a complete ass out of myself, but I wasn’t used to talking to ordinary people. All the acquaintances in my life were business transactions.

I handed him back the blunt, not answering his questions.

He eyed me cautiously.

It was too much to take in, and I was making a fool of myself anyway. I pushed off the railing.

“Thanks for the smoke," I said with a nod.

I didn’t give him time to answer. I quickly turned to leave, but he caught my arm, stopping me.

Our eyes connected.

“Where you goin’?” he asked, as if his whole world was about to walk away from him.

I smiled. I couldn’t help it.

“I got a smile,” he added, reaching out with his other hand like he was catching my expression in the air and placed it near his heart.

“I’ll keep that one. Who knows when I’ll get to see it again.”

I laughed, giving him a huge smile that time. He groaned, setting his hand over his heart again, bowing his head in a dramatic gesture.

“Now, you’re just tryin’ to kill me, baby.”

Baby…

I blushed, grinning like a damn schoolgirl. When he unexpectedly pulled me toward him, for a brief moment I thought he was going to wrap me in his arms, but at the last second he set me right next to him by the railing.

“What’s a guy got to do around here to get you to talk to him, huh?”

I shrugged, that time I was just f*cking with him.

“Damn, I take two steps forward and three steps back. I won't complain… I got a smile, didn’t I?”

I grinned.

We passed the blunt back and forth a few more times in comfortable silence and then he threw the roach over the railing.

“Where you from, Austin?” I blurted what I had been thinking since the second I laid eyes on him.

His mouth dropped open in another dramatic gesture. “Wow. She speaks, I had no idea. I was beginning to think it was me.” He smiled. “I do believe I asked you first though. Nice try."

He reached over, softly gripping the back of my neck, smirking at me. I realized pretty quickly that he liked to have his hands on me in one way or another, and I recognized even faster that I liked it.

“North Carolina,” he answered, anyway.

“Ah.” I nodded. “A down South boy. I guess it’s true what they say about Southern charm.”

“Baby, you have no idea. I’m just getting started.”

I didn’t falter, I loved the way he was looking at me too much. “Washington,” I revealed, shocking myself.

My eyes immediately widened by the truth of my response. It just came out of nowhere, a slip of the tongue. The last time I said I was from Washington my parents were alive and I was six years old.

“Hey…” he coaxed, taking in my stunned expression.

He took his finger and lifted my chin to look deep into his eyes. I shook my head, stepping back and away from him. He cocked his head to the side confused by the turn in events.

This was too much. He was stirring up too many emotions in me.

I couldn’t do this. It wasn’t fair.

Not to him.

I wasn’t meant to be this person. Maybe I was in another life, maybe in another time, maybe in another world. In this one, I was a Martinez.

So I just turned around…



And left.





Chapter 13





<>Austin<>



I looked for her.

Briggs.

I couldn’t find her anywhere. It was like she fell off the face of the earth or was a figment of my imagination. I spent two weeks, two f*cking weeks trying to find her in Miami clubs, bars, and random house parties to no avail. I gave up my search, losing all hope in finding the blue-eyed angel.

The first place I traveled outside of Miami was Washington. I didn’t even realize it until I was getting off at the bus stop, I was in Brigg's home state. My subconscious must have taken over, thinking it would be easy to find the girl with purple hair and tattoos among millions of faces.