Risk (Gentry Boys #2)(31)
“You surprised me,” she said softly.
I took my hand away from her chin. “What do you mean?”
She pushed her hair behind her ears and frowned at the dashboard. “I didn’t know if I even liked you, Creed. I mean, there were certain things I liked about you, the obvious things. But other than that you seemed liked you’d be tough to reach. Actually, you seemed like you didn’t even really want to be reached.”
I opened up the window. The inside of the truck suddenly seemed too small.
“Yield to no one,” Truly muttered.
When I’d had my cousin Declan ink those words on my chest I’d been thinking of Benton Gentry. I hated my father. Hated him. I hated the helplessness of my childhood when Cord, Chase and I had been at the mercy of that bastard while the weak woman who’d given birth to us merely stood by. In my darkest moments I hated her too. It was an awful lot of power to give to anyone.
Truly sighed and opened the truck door.
“Hey,” I pulled her back. I wasn’t going to go all high school hormonal and start talking about my feelings. But I was going to kiss that girl as hard as I could.
“Creed,” she breathed as she melted into me, returning the kiss before breaking off and hugging me fiercely. She said something but her voice was muffled by my shoulder.
“What?”
Truly lifted her head. “I said Chase was wrong. You know how to give a proper hug after all.”
I held her against me for a minute, just stroking her hair. “You know something, Truly?”
“What?”
I checked my watch. “Eight pm never seemed so f*cking far away.”
She smiled and bit her lip. “I can’t wait to see you again either.”
I watched her as she walked to her car. I had to move the truck before she could back out so I waved and then drove across the apartment complex.
At home, Chase was passed out on his bed, snoring loudly. Cord and Say’s room was empty but I thought I heard their voices out on the back patio. I needed more caffeine so I started another pot of coffee in the kitchen.
The patio blinds were open and the sliding glass door was slightly ajar. I heard Saylor laughing and peered outside. She was on Cord’s lap, wearing a long yellow dress with thin straps as her long brown hair lifted in the light breeze. Cord had his shirt off and his arms wrapped around her waist. He whispered something in her ear and she kissed him. I couldn’t see her face but I could see his. Cordero opened his eyes and looked at her. I’d never known my brother had it in him to be this happy. It wasn’t that he’d gone through life in a haze of misery, but having Saylor’s love had brought him to a place of peace.
Neither one of them saw me. They were so wrapped up in each other at the moment that I doubted they realized the earth was still spinning. Cord looked deep into Say’s eyes and then gently tugged the strap of her dress over her shoulder. He started to kiss the top of her breast as she leaned her head back with her eyes closed. His lips traveled up her neck and until he found her mouth again. I turned away at that point. It was too private a moment to look in on. Sure, I’d caught them going at it plenty of times and they were always humping away in their bedroom, yelling loud enough to shake the walls, but watching them out there was intruding on something far more personal. I was looking directly at pure love. In a way it hurt as much as if I’d looked straight into the sun.
Not wanting to disturb Cord and Say, I took my coffee and went to my room. Wrapped condoms were still sprinkled all over the floor like confetti. I chuckled as I started to pick them up. I shoved a bunch in my wallet since I didn’t know where Truly and I would end up later. I got hard just thinking about it.
I was enjoying a number of good thoughts until my phone rang. My heart lurched as I pulled it out. It was nobody. It was a perky recording wanting to know if I cared to purchase a time share in Sedona. But just the ringing of the phone shook me up enough so that I had to sit down.
Not yet. Not yet.
I’d been better lately about avoiding any thoughts connected to the blood pact I’d made. I needed to give Gabe one good fight. I figured that might rain enough cash on his greedy head to let me out of our arrangement. I’d never promised him I would fight indefinitely. But the thought of what it would take to get past one of those gladiator battles unleashed a sick feeling in my gut. I’d have to hurt someone. I’d have to hurt him bad. It was almost preferable to get hurt myself.
The blood in my head was roaring loud as thunder. Then, unbidden, came the voice from the blackness. I closed my eyes and saw the face I hated. It smiled at me as it showed me how it had my brothers painfully imprisoned in its grasp.
“You pick one, Creedence. You f*cked up and maybe you’ll think better next time knowing one of your brothers is gonna pay.”
“No! Not choosing. NOT f*cking choosing!”
“You either choose or I’ll whip the living shit outta both of them.”
We never talked about it, the boys and I. There was so much to be said that it just couldn’t be said at all.
I heard a crash and saw Chase lumbering out of his bedroom. He headed for the bathroom. I watched him put something in his mouth and then bend down to take a long drink out of the faucet.
“What’s that, little brother?”
He jumped, banging his face against the sink. “Shit, you scared me.” Chase wiped his face on a hand towel. “Aspirin. My head hurts.”