Complicate Me (The Good Ol' Boys #1) (33 page)

I inhaled the jarring smell of Stacey, I still remembered it from high school, and I hated it then as much as I did now. I ran my nose up and down from her chin to her collarbone, leaving a wake of desire behind. I urgently and swiftly made my way down to her luscious breasts. Her nipples were hard, waiting for me to take them into my mouth. I sucked and gently bit one while my hand caressed and fondled the other. Her breathing escalated as did mine. 

I growled and deliberately unzipped my jeans. My hard cock sprang out from the opening. I slid her panties to the side, not bothering to remove any of our clothing, and with one firm thrust I was deep inside her. We moaned in unison and I didn’t falter. I latched on to her hips and fucked her fast, hard and with determination. I didn’t take my time with her, I was rough. All I wanted to do was come. My hands went to her ass to thrust in deeper and more demanding. I effortlessly picked her up off the bar and she wrapped her arms around my neck as I continued to slam her up and down onto my cock.

She was tightly wrapped around my body.

She braced her forehead on mine, forcing me to shut my eyes, I couldn’t look at her like that. I didn’t want a connection with her. This was a means to an end for me, exactly the same way it had always been between us. Within seconds, we were both gasping and breathless for air. Our moans getting louder and heavier, both of us dripping with sweat from the liquor and the haziness of the entire night. Within minutes, neither one of us could take it anymore.

We both came together.

Hard.

And even in my drunken haze…

I saw Alex’s face.

“Hey,” Lucas greeted as he walked through my front door.

“Hey,” I replied, caught off guard that he was at my going away barbeque. “I heard you were in town.”

He nodded. “I’ve been here a few weeks.”

“And yet this is the first time I’m seeing you,” I snidely stated, regretting it immediately. “That’s not fair.”

“I can take it.”

I softly smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “The boys are out back.”

“And Cole?” he asked, a little too harshly.

“Yes.”

“Right…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shook his head. “Not a damn thing, Alex.”

My eyebrows lowered, causing my face to frown. “Doesn’t sound like it.”

“Has he enjoyed you?” he blurted out of nowhere.

I jerked back. “What?”

He chuckled, trying to cover up his abrasiveness. “I just meant have you guys had a great summer? From what I’ve seen it’s been a lot of new things for you. Going to all sorts of places you used to go with me.”

I didn’t understand what he implied. “We’re the same we’ve always been,” I explained.

“Is that right?” he mocked in a condescending tone. “I guess I need to get my eyes checked then.”

“Lucas, what are you—”

“Darlin’, the burgers are ready,” Cole announced, walking in from the back porch. “Lucas,” he groaned. “Nice of you to finally show up.”

“I didn’t get an invitation,” Lucas clarified, only looking at me.

Cole stood next to me with his hands placed in his pockets. “Since when is an invitation needed among friends,” he added.

“Cole—”

“Alexandra leaves tomorrow with me,” he interrupted.

I shut my eyes shaking my head for a few seconds. “And my parents,” I explained.

“Is that right?” Lucas drawled out, again.

“Her apartment is actually really nice, Lucas, it’s not far from mine. Maybe you can come sometime to visit. I’m sure Alex would love to show you the places I plan to show her.”

I glared at him and he innocently smiled, showing off those dimples that I usually loved but wanted to knock off his face at the moment.

“What, darlin’? I’m just being friendly. Isn’t that what you want?”

“I don’t give a fuck if you’re friendly or not, Cole, doesn’t change the fact that I don’t fucking like you.”

“Lucas!” I scolded, looking at him with wide eyes.

“Oh,” he breathed out with a cocked head and an arched eyebrow. “For Cole you give a shit, my how things have changed.”

I took a deep breath and glanced at Cole. “Can you give us a minute?”

“Of course.” He kissed the top of my head and nodded at Lucas. “Always a pleasure.”

“What’s your problem?” I asked when I heard the door shut.

He shrugged. “Nothing,
Darlin
’.”

“Bo, you know the phone works both ways. I haven’t heard from you all summer. You show up to my graduation and barely talk to me through dinner and then you leave the next day. You expect me to invite you to my going away party? Are you for real?”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I hope you’ve had a nice summer and everything you expected from your first…” he hesitated, much to my confusion.

“From your first day in California,” he muttered, but I knew that’s not what he meant to say.

“Where have you been? The boys said they’ve barely seen you.”

“Around.”

“Lily says—”

“Maybe it’s time you stop talking to my baby sister about me.”

“What’s your problem?” I argued. “Why are you talking to me like this?”

“I’m just saying, Alex, you’re going away to college. Big city. New experiences, some you’ve probably already experienced here.”

“Lucas, what are you implying?”

“This isn’t the time or the place.”

“Oh, now it’s not? I always have to march in line with you, don’t I? You push me aside when you want, but I’m here when you need me. I’m like your own personal play toy.”

“Better mine than his.”

I gasped.

“Fuck,” he roared. “I’m sorry.” He stepped toward me and I stepped back.

“I didn’t… I didn’t mean that.” He reached out for me, making me step back further.

“Is this why you came here, Lucas, to hurt me? You haven’t hurt me enough? I’m your own personal punching bag, too?”

“Half-Pint…”

“No!” I stopped him with my hand out in front of me. “You do not get to call me that. Just leave, Lucas. Just leave now. It’s what you do best anyways.”

Now it was his turn to step back from me. “That what you want?” he tested as if he knew I didn’t mean it and I hated him more because of it.

“Yes.”

He nodded, backing away. “Have a great time at school.”

I barely gave him a chance to finish his sentence before I turned around.

And left.

My phone rang for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last few days and just like clockwork a text followed. I deleted it without even reading it. I’d done the same thing for the last few days.

“Jesus Christ, Lucas, turn off your fucking phone if you’re not going to answer it,” Dylan barked.

I did, throwing it on the coffee table and leaning back into the couch. We were playing Halo on Xbox.

“Who the fuck keeps calling you?”

“No one important.”

“Obviously not to them, who did you fuck over?”

“No one.”

“Bullshit. That’s definitely a pissed off pussy phone call, I can smell it.”

I chuckled. “How about you get your shit together and play the fucking game.”

We played for several hours. It was easy to get sucked into the game and forget about everything else that happened around us. Dylan had his own demons he dealt with, as did I. I watched TV until late into the night, Dylan had gone to bed and Jacob was God knows where. I started to doze off watching Sports Center when there was a soft knock on the door.

I looked at the time on the DVR, it read one fifteen in the morning.

“Hold on,” I yelled out, opening the door. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I sneered, taking in Stacey.

“I’ve been trying to reach you for days, Lucas! Days!”

“Shhh… keep your voice down,” I whispered, grabbing her arm and tugging her into the apartment and then to my room. “Talk,” I ordered, closing the door behind me.

She spun to face me. “Jesus, I don’t even get a fucking hello.”

I folded my arms over my chest and leaned against the door. “Fucking is more your speed. Is that why you’re here?”

She scoffed. “Don’t flatter yourself, Lucas. I’ve been driving all day.” She reached into her purse and took out what appeared to be a stick. “This is why I’m here.”

I raised my eyebrows, shaking my head not understanding and she threw the stick at my feet. I looked down at the ground and my heart dropped when I realized what it was. There clear as day it read.

Pregnant.

“How do I know it’s mine?” I immediately argued, never taking my eyes off the small fucking stick that drastically changed my future in the blink of an eye.

“You’re the only person I haven’t used a condom with. Or do you not remember that you didn’t bother to put one on?”

“Fuck,” I breathed out.

“Exactly.”

I sat down on the edge of the bed with my elbows resting on my knees, holding my head in my hands. I suddenly had an earsplitting headache. “What are you going to do?”

“Are you asking or telling?”

“Asking.”

“I don’t know.”

As much as I didn’t want this to be happening, it was a mistake, an accident. It didn’t change the fact that she was pregnant, possibly with my child. I couldn’t ignore that. I would man up if I had to.

“I don’t believe in abortion, Stacey, and I couldn’t live knowing that my child is out there with another family when I’m perfectly able to raise it,” I stated, instantly shutting my eyes from the severity of my words. “That’s if it’s mine.”

“It’s yours.”

“Then a paternity test will prove that.”

We were quiet for God knows how long. It could have been seconds or hours, who the fuck knows.

“Did you do it on purpose?” I had to know. “Did you do this to trap me?”

“You’re the one who walked into my bar, Lucas. You’re the one who forgot to use a condom.”

“I could barely fucking walk to a cab, Stacey! I barely remember any of it.” My head throbbed and my pulse quickened.

“You know, we could do this together. We could be parents to this—”

“Don’t you dare fucking say it. Don’t you dare fucking even think it. We have never been more than what you know we are, Stacey, don’t pretend there’s more here than there truly is.”

“That’s an amazing story to tell our child one day. You think we should put it in their baby book?”

“If.” I stood up and glared at her. “If. It’s mine. I will do my part in this fucked up situation. I will be a father to my child whether I like it’s mother or not.”

“You like me enough to fuck me. You always have. That has to mean something.”

I wanted to tell her it’s because she’s a slut, she’s a whore, she spreads her legs to any guy who will look her way, it’s what she’s good at and she knows it. But I held my tongue, I resisted the urge to treat her like the conniving bitch she was. I knew there was an ulterior motive. She wasn’t nearly as fucked up as I was. She barely drank. She did this intentionally and I was the stupid fuck who fell into her trap, but if the baby was mine… then she was the mother of my child, and I couldn’t bring myself to say what I really wanted to.

It wouldn’t be right.

“How far along are you?”

“My doctor said almost seven weeks. The baby is due April 9th.”

It seemed so close but yet so far away. September just began.

“When is the next doctor’s appointment?”

“In a month.”

I nodded. “I’ll be there.”

She smiled.

“I want a paternity test done as soon as possible. Do you understand me?”

She grimaced, softly saying. “I’ll call the office tomorrow.”

I nodded again.

She tried to open my bedroom door to leave and I shut it. “You’re not going anywhere. It’s late. You’re pregnant. You can sleep in my bed, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

I grabbed my pillow and a blanket from the closet, immediately noticing it was the one that Alex picked out for her to use.

Fuck… Alex.

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, it felt like the floor caved beneath me. Sucking me in whole and with no remorse.

“You know the bed is big enough for the both of us,” she purred, caressing the side of my face and pulling me away from my regrets.

I grabbed her hand. “Not a fucking chance. Get some sleep, Stacey, you have a long drive home tomorrow.” And with that I left.

I drove to the nearest bar just to try to get a handle on my emotions and thoughts. The second I saw that positive pregnancy stick I wanted it to be Alex. Images of her showing me she was pregnant with our child flashed through my mind. It was instant and unforgiving. I hated that she wasn’t going to be the mother of my child. I hated that I had made a baby with someone else, someone that wasn’t her, someone that I didn’t love and could barely stand.

I’m a fucking asshole.

I couldn’t have hated myself more had I tried. There was no coming back from this, only going forward.

I was going to be a dad.

I was going to have a baby.

I didn’t sleep an ounce that night. Not one fucking minute. I stared at the ceiling, making images from the texture. I saw bunnies everywhere.

I knew the worst was yet to come.

Alex wouldn’t forgive me for this. Not a chance in hell. It was only a matter of time before she found out and walked out of my life.

For good.

My phone rang and Lily’s face lit up the screen.

“Hello, it’s you,” I laughed, waiting for her standard reply of, “Hello, it’s me.”

“Alex, oh my God! I’m so sorry, how are you? Are you okay? My brother is so fucking stupid. You know he doesn’t love her. You know it’s a mistake. She’s evil and I bet she did it on purpose. I bet she’s planned this for years. Ugh! I hate her. I hate her so much.”

“Whoa, Lily, calm down. What are you talking about?”

“The baby. I can’t believe I’m going to be an aunt to that cunt’s child. It should be you, Alex, it should be you!”

I shook my head, utterly confused. “What baby? What are you talking about?”

Silence.

“Lily?”

Silence.

I looked at my phone and she was still on the line. “Are you there?”

Silence.

“Lily, can you hear me? I can’t hear you. Are you there?”

“You don’t know?” she whispered so low I could barely hear her.

“I don’t know what? What’s going on?”

“Oh no…”

“You’re scaring me. Is everything okay?”

“I’m so sorry, Alex, I thought he would have told you. I can’t believe he hasn’t told you. I just found out today, but he told my parents weeks ago. They were trying to figure out a way to tell me. I figured you’d know. I called you first. I haven’t even called him to yell at him yet. But trust me, I’m going to fucking yell at him. More so now,” she rambled.

I sat down on the edge of my bed, barely registering what she said. “Lily…” I lamented.

“Oh, Alex.”

“What are you saying?” I murmured, my eyes already filling with tears.

“It was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it. He loves you. You know that. You guys are meant to be together. You’re lobsters! You’re his lobster. Please! Don’t lose faith in that. This doesn’t change anything.”

There was an eerie calm around me that produced a false illusion that everything would be okay.

“Say it. I need to hear you say it.”

“Stacey…”

My hand went to my chest as if trying to hold the remains of my shattered heart together.

“Stacey’s pregnant, Alex.”

I never imagined there could be a pain like this.

I thought I experienced every sort of devastation possible at the hands of Lucas, but nothing came close to this. Nothing compared to this. Nothing prepared me for this.

Not. One. Thing.

“Is it his?”

“You know those tests could be wrong. Sometimes they’re wrong, it’s not a hundred percent accurate. I read that on the Internet. Want me to send you the link?”

“Is. It. His?”

“Yes,” she murmured, loud enough for me to hear, it echoed through the phone.

There was no stopping the tears from falling down the sides of my face, one right after the other. No start or ending to how my tears flowed, they were relentless. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think.

“Alex, are you there?”

It was my turn to be silent. 

“He loves you. He loves you so much. You’re his soul mate and he’s yours. You have to believe that. Everyone knows it. That’s why she trapped him. She’s like the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz. He doesn’t love her. She knows that. Do you want me to beat her up? I’ll kick her ass after the baby is born. Alex? Please say something.”

“I got to go.”

“Alex! Alex!” she yelled out, as my hand fell to my lap, I hit the end button on my cell phone. Instantly a picture of Lucas and I was on the screen. I stared at it while my mind was stuck on one word.

Pregnant.

My arm shot up and I flung my phone across the room. I watched as it flew through the air, stopping when it connected with the wall. It shattered into bits and pieces, scattering throughout the carpeted floor. I sat there and stared off into space, then looked around my room. There were pictures of us everywhere, presents that he had given me, memories all over, and it made me sick to my stomach to see it.