Risk (Gentry Boys #2)(82)

“One more time,” he begged, smiling as he pulled down his pants because he already knew he would win. I never could say no to that boy.

Finally I got him out the door. When I tried to bring his crutches along he grabbed them and tossed them over the patio wall.

“Macho shit,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

He laughed and tried to take my keys.

I held them out of his reach. “You can’t drive with your knee like that.”

“I’ll use my left foot.”

“Seriously, Creedence. I’ll drive.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “Just this once you can drive.”

“Thank you Master, for granting your permission so generously and allowing me to pilot my own vehicle. I do hope lil’ old me can manage on my own.”

He pulled me close with a serious look on his face. “You’re not on your own, honey. You never will be as long as I’m around.”

I bit my lip. “Dammit, there’s just no getting irritated with you. You’ve got me, Creed, and you know it.”

After he climbed grudgingly into the passenger seat and we got on the road, Creed started talking more than he ever had. He still didn’t mention the fight but he told me about what happened with Chase last night. Then he opened up about his early life in Emblem and what it meant to grow up among people who’d already made up their minds that he was worthless.

“Fucking and fighting,” he said with some bitterness. “They say that’s all we white trash Gentry men know how to do.”

I reached over and touched his arm. He smiled and looked out the window. All at once his mood improved and he started telling funny stories about Chase and Cord. I didn’t miss the way his voice lightened when he talked about his brothers. They were the world to him.

Creed waited until we were over the New Mexico state line before he asked me why we were going to Oklahoma.

“My sister’s there.”

“Which one?”

“Augusta.”

Creed nodded. “She was standing next to you in the picture. Does she know I’m coming with you?”

“Actually, she doesn’t even know I’m coming.”

Creed digested that in silence. He might have noticed the way my hands tightened around the steering wheel. I really didn’t know what kind of greeting I would get from Aggie. But after leaving Creed’s side last night I realized I couldn’t really move forward until I had mended the past. It was time to tell her everything. It was time to try and reclaim the bond we’d once shared.

The sun had long since vanished by the time we reached Albuquerque. We found a Holiday Inn and in typical Gentry fashion, Creedence paid for the room and ignored me when I tried to object.

I was still arguing as he opened the door to the room. “You should let me pay you back.”

He threw our bags inside and seized me. I felt his lips on my neck and my body’s usual response to his touch.

“Pay me back another way,” he murmured in my ear.

“Yes, sir,” I said, stepping out of my dress as he closed the door.

An hour later, as I straddled his hard body and moved the way his hands demanded me to, I looked down into his eyes. It was an intense moment as I felt myself climbing higher and higher while he remained huge as a goddamn cannon. I couldn’t help the words coming out of my mouth. I was hell and gone crazy about this man. I told him so as the spasm wracked my body.

After he shuddered and groaned he pulled me down on his chest. His hands traveled lightly over my sweaty skin.

“This is the first time for me,” he said in a slightly awed voice.

“Hardly,” I smiled.

Creed tugged on my hair. “Wiseass. I meant this is the first time I’ve ever felt like this.”

In a brief flash I saw all the men I’d ever thought I loved. It never was love, not really. I was just so hungry to find love and wanted it so desperately. Yet it never found me until I’d stopped looking for it.

“Me too,” I said honestly and hugged him harder. “Me too, Mr. Gentry.”

He rolled on top of me. I touched his swollen face as he stared at me solemnly.

“Truly, I’m going to make damn sure it’s the only time too.”

Then he kissed me one more time and dropped his head on my chest as I stroked the back of his neck. We fell asleep like that until morning.

Once we were on the road again I began to get a little nervous. Maybe Augusta had no interesting in opening old wounds. Maybe she didn’t even want to see me.

Yes, she will.

“That’s some sky,” commented Creed, opening the window and poking his head out.

I knew what he meant. The Oklahoma landscape was so flat, the horizon so vast, that the sky seemed unusually huge. We passed a sign telling us that Stillwater was only another ten miles. Down the road, a different sign bore the name of the university in orange and black.

The school itself was as idyllic and picturesque as a film. I half expected a vibrant homecoming parade to march right past us as I parked the car in a small lot on the edge of campus. Creed took my hand when I exhaled thickly.

“Just call her,” he said.

“I guess I’ll have to,” I grumbled. “I’m not sure where she lives.”

As I dialed and listened to the sound of the phone ringing, I realized I still had no idea what to say to my sister.