Authors: Cherrie Lynn
Ross 02 Rock Me (15 page)
The silence stretched out until Macy finally spoke. “Please don’t lose your head over him.”
“I’m not. I just…”
I just want to live my damn life. Is that so much to ask?
She didn’t want her parents making any more decisions for her. Brian wasn’t the only issue here. The situation with him was only dredging up emotions that had been festering within her for years. Giving them an outlet.
“Candace, everyone else aside, I don’t think he’s good for you, either.”
Her vision was momentarily washed in red. “Why not? Yes, he’s different. But other than that, what’s really wrong with him?”
“Because he
is
different. I’ve known you for a long time. I’ve known what your dreams were since we were twelve years old. You wanted the white knight on horseback coming to rescue you. You wanted a
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romance novel hero. You wanted a guy like John Cusack in
Say Anything,
standing under your window, holding up a boom box.” Macy laughed. “Remember?”
It was hard not to chuckle at the memory of them sneaking out of bed to watch movies in the middle of the night, comparing notes over which movie star they were going to grow up and marry. “I can see Brian doing that. Except instead of Peter Gabriel, he’d be playing, I don’t know, Slipknot or something.”
“I don’t think you’ll ever have your fairytale ending with him.”
“Who needs a fairytale? In the end, I only want to be happy with a guy I love, and who loves me just as much. That’s all I need. As far as sweeping me off my feet…he did that last night.”
“With all due respect, you haven’t been swept enough to know. Don’t confuse lust with something deeper. As far as your parents, they’re like me, just trying to protect you.”
“It’s not their job anymore. Or yours.”
Macy was depressing her so much, she finally had to hang up to keep from bursting into tears. Was she really crazy, and everyone else totally sane? Should she simply lock last night up in her heart, keep it a delicious secret she could revisit whenever she was enduring sex with a man she and her parents could
agree
upon?
Hell, no. She shuddered, thinking of allowing someone else to do all the things Brian had done to her last night. She couldn’t live like that. She wouldn’t. She’d rather die a virgin. Her parents could send her to a convent and she would gladly go.
But oh, God, she didn’t want that. She wanted
him
. His gaze gently roving her bare flesh. His mouth on her breasts, his fingers invading her body. He had to be the one. It had to happen. The very thought made excitement zing through her as she wondered if he would be sinister and aggressive and push into her hard and fast, getting it over with in one blinding instant of pain and ecstasy. Or if he would be gentle and considerate and take all night coaxing her through. Some moments last night and this morning had been so intensely sweet, and some so dark and frightening, she had no idea what to expect of him. And she didn’t know which she’d prefer. The mere speculation stirred an ache deep inside her and made desire pool anew in her breasts and lips. When she saw him tonight, she might not be able to control herself. What if he didn’t forgive her for her hasty overreaction this morning?
Minutes ticked by. Another hour passed. She couldn’t remember what time the place closed, and she didn’t dare get close enough to see if their hours were posted out front. There were still cars in the parking lot, so she imagined they operated until the last customer walked out the door. Her eyes were beginning to drift shut and she was contemplating going to get a coffee when movement caught her attention, and she sat straight up. Brian was leaving. She knew it was him from his tall, lean figure and the way he walked, with a loose, easy confidence that sparked off a tremor from the roots of her hair all the way to her toes. Her heart rate doubled, and she reached for the door handle, only to stop cold when the door opened behind him and a girl rushed out. A girl he stopped and waited for. 84
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Damn. Was she an employee? Candace couldn’t remember seeing her in there the day she’d gotten her tattoo.
She squinted, leaning as close to the driver’s-side window as she could, but it made no difference. It was too dark, but the lights from inside haloed the girl’s blond hair. She fell into step beside Brian as the two of them headed toward the vehicles in the side lot, where the employees parked. Brian’s dark blue truck sat in a pool of dim light cast down from one of the overhead lamps. She was an employee, then. They were leaving for the night. Candace nearly collapsed in relief. But unfortunately, it dashed her plans on the rocks. She wasn’t about to rush up on him when there were other ears in the vicinity. She would just have to find the guts to call him. Once Brian and his companion reached his truck, they lingered, talking about something the girl seemed especially passionate about, given her wild gestures as she spoke. Candace fought down the urge to crack open her window. She wasn’t going to eavesdrop. She
was not
that far gone yet. Brian listened to the blond girl, occasionally laughing and interjecting. Candace began to get a sinking feeling. Especially when he hooked a thumb toward his truck and she nodded. He popped open the door for her and she climbed in, making sure to put her ass in his face as she did. It was already half hanging out of the skirt she wore.
No!
It took everything she had not to fly out of her car and run screaming toward them. But all she could do was sit and fight tears.
And follow them, of course.
What was that about not spying on him, you psycho?
She ducked frantically before his headlights could sweep over her car, letting a couple of seconds tick by before she dared to pop up and crank it.
Macy’s voice still echoed in her head.
Go home. Just go home, Candace. You don’t want to see this.
But she did. Maybe it was nothing and she could ease her mind. If she didn’t go see what was going on, how would she be able to sleep tonight? She would find out where they were going, that was it. That way, it would be decided whether she should try to pursue this or settle into the life of agony her parents had chosen for her. Agony would be any life that didn’t include him. She didn’t pull away from the curb until Brian’s truck made a left at the intersection up the street, and then she sped to catch up, making sure she kept several car lengths between them. Speculation over what was being said in that cab started a burn in her chest she feared would turn into tears if she couldn’t get a grip on herself. If he was moving on to someone else the very damn night after staying with her, he was a colossal asshole, and she wouldn’t mind telling him that in front of his skank. She was working on gnawing a hole in her bottom lip when his right blinker flashed to turn into a sports bar.
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“Damn him,” Candace murmured, quickly hitting her left blinker to zip into the lot across the street from the bar. It didn’t take an expert in quantum physics to realize what would happen here tonight: they would get drunk, go back to his or her place, and do all night the very thing he’d denied her over and over again.
Well, he would do it with the knowledge that he’d been caught. Candace screeched to a stop in an empty parking space and grabbed for her cell phone.
86
Chapter Ten
Brian slammed back his whiskey and tried to ignore whatever Starla was jabbering about. This might have been a huge mistake. He’d known her for years, but he could imagine it wouldn’t take too many shots before the flicker of her tongue ring would begin to get more and more enticing, and he might end up taking her home and putting it to use. Crazier shit had happened, and he was damn sure frustrated enough.
But Starla had love life problems of her own and she loved to dump them on him, for some reason. Or anyone else who would lend an ear. She’d wanted to come here because she was hoping to find a distraction, but if he had anything to do with it, it damn sure wouldn’t be him. She was pretty enough, with white-blond hair shot through with pink and purple and lips that could give Angelina Jolie a run for her money. Three years ago, there wouldn’t have been a problem. Not now. Not when she worked for him. And not when there was Candace smoldering in his thoughts.
“I’m probably cramping your style,” he informed Starla, amidst howls of excitement when the Astros hit a homer on the flat screens mounted around the bar. It was getting close to midnight, and the game was on so late because of extra innings and the two-hour time difference between here and San Francisco, where they were playing.
For probably the first time, he was thankful for the smoking ban, so he didn’t have to sit and watch in misery as people lit up all around him. Otherwise tonight might have been the night he fell off the wagon. Starla craned her neck to look around the establishment. “Oh well, it’s a dog fest in here anyway.”
He laughed and gestured toward her AMF. “A few more of those will help the situation, I’m sure.”
“I figured that asshole would be here, but I don’t see him. I see one of his scummy friends, though. I should go throw a drink in his face.”
“Just don’t get me arrested.”
“Thanks for bringing me. You’re an awesome boss. You can take off, if you want. I just hate walking into one of these things by myself.”
“I hear you. But you’ll need a ride back to your car.”
She waved her hand dismissively, still twisting around on her barstool to assess the situation. She wasn’t paying much attention to him, anyway. “Nah, I got it. I’ll either hook up with someone or find the asshole if he shows up or get a cab. No biggie.”
“Are you sure?”
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“Yep.”
“Cool. But while I’m here, I think I need a few more of these.” He signaled the bartender and ordered a beer.
With a sigh, Starla turned around and faced him, toying with her drink glass with black-tipped fingers.
“So what’s got
you
down, Bri? I noticed you were in full-on funk mode all night.”
“Was I?” he grumbled, hating that he was such an easy read. “More than usual?”
“Yeah, way more. Who is she?”
He grinned before taking a swig of the beer the bartender set in front of him. “Has to be about a girl, huh?”
“Unless you swing the other way.”
And the drink he’d taken nearly ended up sprayed all over her. He cringed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Uh, no. That wasn’t what I meant.”
“Just making sure what I was dealing with, here. So, who is she?”
“Someone I’m sure you don’t know.”
“Has she ever come in Dermamania?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “She’s been there. You were off that night. But she’s not a regular or anything.”
“You don’t want to talk about her. Dude, I wish I could be like that. I dump my drama all over anyone who’ll listen whether I think they care or not.” She laughed. “But I like to listen to others. And I do give great advice. I’m renowned for it.”
“She’s a sheltered virgin princess.”
“You are
so
on your own right now.”
“I figured.” He leaned forward on his arms and heaved a great sigh. She stared at him for several seconds, seeming to read something in his face, then leaned toward him conspiratorially. “Okay. Let’s break this down. Which bothers you most, the sheltered virgin part or the princess part?”
“They both pretty much suck equally.”
“Well, the virgin part can be easily taken care of. Then you won’t have that hanging over your head anymore, because the deed’ll be done. Unless she’s not willing to give it up, in which case I’d have to say you really are on your own with that one.”
He shrugged.
“But I sense she’s more than willing?”
“She probably
was
.”
“Then give the poor girl credit for knowing her own mind and take it, Brian. What is it about the fact that a girl hasn’t been handing her cooter out all over town that skeeves you guys out so much? I realize 88
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you feel pressured to make it good for her and all, but most likely? It’s gonna suck for her, it’s gonna hurt, but she doesn’t have anything to compare it to anyway, so you’re in the clear.” She rolled her eyes, taking a long drink before going on. “My first fucking time was in the backseat of his mom’s Ford Taurus in the parking lot at a high school football game. A cop busted us. At the time, I was glad he did. I aimed high, didn’t I?”
He nursed his beer again, thinking back to his own. “If you can remember the guy’s name—or if you even knew it at all—then you’re one up on me.” He’d been fifteen and drunk. It hadn’t been with anyone he loved, or even had lukewarm feelings for. Just a random girl at the party who’d been willing to give it up to a horny teenager. He’d aimed pretty damn high himself.
Starla was going on. “See, I wish I’d held on to it for a while like your girl. Some people have no regrets, but I do. So, props to her, Brian. I’ve never met her, but I think you’re really lucky, if she has her shit together like that.”
“Well, you don’t know the whole story. She doesn’t have it completely together yet. But she is pretty incredible.”
“She has you turned out, obviously, if you’re this worked up about it. Even if you guys don’t work out, you’ll at least leave her with fond memories. It’s more than a lot of us get.”
“Problem is, I doubt it’ll ever happen. That’s where the princess part comes in. When I say her parents make Hitler look like Mother Theresa, I’m only being somewhat hyperbolic.”
“Oh. Ohhh. That’s not good. She still
lives
with them?”
“No. She’s got her own place, but she’s still under their thumb. She’s finishing up her junior year of college.”
“So hang in there. Before long, she can graduate and get a good job and be able to pay her own way and tell her parents to fuck off.”
“Yeah. If she would.” He wondered at that moment if Candace had never had sex before because deep in her mind, she worried that her parents would somehow find out. Maybe they’d struck such fear in her they were an omnipresent force in her life, like the Eye of Sauron or something. And that pissed him the hell off. He would call it outright abuse. It had probably done some psychological damage. He’d have lost his fucking mind, if he were her.