Wrong (37 page)

chapter fourteen

I met Holly at Lillian’s, an overpriced wine bar in our little hometown.  She was wearing her sunglasses at the bar, despite the fact that she was indoors and it was getting dark out.  The place was casual but she wore a jeweled cocktail dress and platform heels.  I spotted my bomber jacket tossed haphazardly onto the bar stool next to her, half dragging on the floor.  My heart pounded furiously at the sight but I clenched my teeth and made myself calm down.  Abram was waiting for me in the car and despite the fact that he was on the phone, I knew he had an eye on me at all times.  I didn’t want him to see me looking like an instant mess, so I took a deep breath and approached the bar.

“You look beautiful,” Holly breathed the second she saw me.  It felt insincere but maybe it was the sunglasses.  They didn’t come off until we’d ordered drinks – a gin and tonic for me, a Cosmo for her.  “Oh, and bartender, one more,” she wiggled her ringed hand at him.  “A vodka Red Bull, too, please.”

I froze, cocking my head.  “Why are you ordering Evan’s drink?” I asked slowly, dread building in my stomach.

Holly tried a coquettish look.  “Darling, don’t kill me, but I thought this was the best way for us to handle this conversation.”

Holy shit, I’d been bait-and-switched.  “I… it was hard enough for me to agree to meet you alone.”

“I
know
, honey,” she whined, pouting.  “But I thought if you got to witness the way Evan and I are together, in person, you’d understand.  You know? You’d forgive the love.”

I was speechless.  I tried to think of anything to say so Holly wouldn’t keep talking, but I came up empty.

“Sweetie, I know it’s hard and I’m so sorry.  I’d normally
never
subject a person who’s single to sit here and watch me and Evan, ‘cause we can get
so
mushy sometimes,” she rolled her eyes at herself and giggled, “but I think our circumstances are special because we’re best friends and if we don’t fix this problem fast, I might not have the maid of honor I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl.  It’s going to be my dream wedding, Isla.  My dad said no limit on the budget, which is
amazing!
”

I stared, in disbelief as Holly squealed.  This meeting wasn’t about giving me the jacket and talking things out.  It was just a ploy to flaunt as much as humanly possible.  I wanted to hurl and right in time, I felt Evan’s crawling touch.

“Isla.”  When I turned to him, he greeted me with a casual smile and a hand on my back.  I wished I hadn’t shed the raglan over my halter sundress before getting out of the car.  Blind to Holly, Evan’s fingers slowly curled to stroke my bare skin.  “I’m so glad you’re here.  You look amazing,” he murmured to me.  But when Holly cleared her throat, he went straight to her.

“Got you your drink, babe,” she said, handing him the vodka Red Bull and presenting him with duck lips to kiss.  He took the drink, oblivious to her face until she said, “Babe!” repeating herself when the peck he gave her didn’t suffice.  I then clutched my leather bomber jacket as I sat there, forced to watch Holly squeeze Evan’s knee as they stiffly made out. 
God, save me. 
I looked away, searching for Abram through the window.

But just as I cursed the fact that he wasn’t in the car, I felt an arm slip around my waist, pulling me in.  My breath hitched in my throat.  I recognized the brawn of Abram’s torso against me before hearing the velvet of his voice in my ear.

“Sorry, babe.  I needed a drink after that call from work.”

Eyes wide, I caught both Evan and Holly’s reactions.  They weren’t looking at me – they were both looking at him.  Evan’s hands balled into fists while Holly stared, bug-eyed with her jaw dropped so I could only see her lower teeth.  She looked like a Piranha.  Once my own shock subsided, I felt a trickle of satisfaction and a buzz building under my skin.

With a handful of Abram’s shirt, I pulled him down to press a quick but hot kiss on his lips, my arousal heightening as I tasted his tongue for the very first time.  As I pulled away, I squeezed his thigh, sliding my palm up to graze his crotch for the briefest second before flashing a smile.  “Of course, baby.  Let’s get you a drink,” I murmured, sitting back and trying not to giggle at the ravenous look in his eye – like he needed more.  And fast.  But he recovered to grin to himself as he ordered a drink from the bar.  Then with a hand on my back, he turned to Evan and Holly, wearing a smooth, megawatt
I-could-buy-you
type smile.  “Abram.  Nice to meet you guys.”  They both shook his hand.

“Evan and Holly,” I supplied when neither spoke.

“Evan and Holly.  Right,” Abram said, as if I’d never spoke of them till now.

Holly was unblinking as she finally tilted her head at me.  “Um.  This is your… friend, Isla?” she asked through a tight smile.

“Boyfriend,” Abram corrected as he drank from his scotch, tilting his head to look at my backless dress.  I wasn’t sure if he was playing the role of distracted, horny boyfriend or if he really was entranced by my skin.  Either way, I was entertained.

“Please excuse whatever he’s doing right now,” I laughed genuinely.

“Sorry,” he apologized to them with a grin.  “She was covered all day so I’m taking this in for the first time.”

Evan clenched his teeth.  “Yeah, no, I get it, bro,” he muttered.  When Holly flashed him a look, he draped a heavy arm around her shoulder.  She stared at him until he kissed her lips.  As they exchanged glares and low mutters, I looked up at Abram.

“Thank you,” I mouthed.  Running his hand down my back, Abram winked at me.  He opened his mouth to say something but Evan loudly cleared his throat.

“So, how’d you guys even meet?” he blurted his question.

“I don’t know how appropriate it would be to tell that story.”

I howled on the inside.  Abram wasn’t lying but his suggestive little chuckle made it seem like we’d met in a drunken, sex-crazed one-night stand.  Evan crossed his arms like an angry gorilla.  “Really.”  He looked pointedly at me.  I bit my lip back, trying not to crack up in his face.

“I…”

“Well, that’s funny, ‘cause that’s just like us,” Holly said suddenly, her voice high-pitched.  “I mean Ev and I met ages ago, obviously, but our first night was…” she actually gave a moan.  “Just like… wow. 
So
hot.”

Oh my God
.  I wanted to cover my face.  This was becoming an official train wreck.  I wanted to just run away but I could tell Abram was having fun.  In the car, he’d looked even more pissed about my story about Holly than my story about my mom.  He seemed to enjoy tormenting her a little.

“Good to know,” he remarked in a way that made Evan shake his head with embarrassment.  Holly was unfazed.

“Yeah.  Our sex life is…
pretty
crazy.”

That was it.  Once she said that, I excused myself to the bathroom so I could finally let out my pent-up disbelief and laugh in that
holy-fuck-what’s-happening
kind of way.  But my privacy lasted barely ten seconds.

“
Isla
.”

I jumped and turned from the sink when the door flew open.

“Evan, what the hell are you doing?” I shoved him away as he barreled in like an angry bull.

“Who is that guy?” he demanded.

“Why is it your business?” I countered, trying to make my way past him, but he blocked the door.

“Because I can’t stand to see you with someone like that! You deserve better.”

“Really.”

“Yes –he’s using you for
sex
, Isla!” Evan hissed.

Now it was time to laugh in his face.  “No, that was you. 
You
offered nothing while using
me
for everything including sex, which you still wanted from me
after
you proposed to your fiancée out there, so honestly, don’t even try it.”

Evan huffed and puffed, his nostrils flaring.  “How long has he been fucking you? Since before I met you at the bar?”

I savored my answer before giving it.  “I met him that night.”

Evan stared in shock before growling.  “
Fuck
, Isla, I could’ve given you better cock that night and you know it.”  He backed me into the wall, grabbing his package.  “You miss it, I know it.  You fucking loved it.  He might be fuckin’ eight feet tall but I know he can’t make you come the way I do.”

I grabbed his wrists when he tried to lift my skirt.  “His fingers make me come harder than your cock ever did,” I seethed.

The air went still as Evan froze, his face purple in an instant, his entire body shaking with a mounting fury.  But the second it peaked and exploded with his hands all over my body, I heard the door burst open so hard I was sure it broke right off the hinge.

I didn’t have to look to know it was Abram.

chapter fifteen

I was no longer stunned by Abram’s strength, the things he could do with his body.  Feats that would take years of training for others to accomplish came as naturally to him as walking.  So I only stood there, panting against the wall as he held Evan to it with a forearm under his chin, utterly still as Evan flailed and fought.  I couldn’t hear the words Abram muttered at him but whatever they were, they had
sorry
pouring from Evan’s lips in an endless flood as he begged to be let go.  And finally, he was, slipping twice on his way out the door.

My breaths were shallow as I waited to touch Abram.  He stood there in silent, rigid fury for what felt like an eternity.

But the second I reached for him, he jerked me into his body.  He crushed a hard kiss onto my lips, exploring my mouth with an urgency so sizzling hot I was moaning even before he spun and bent me over the sink, every inch of his arousal pressed against my panties as he buried his mouth in the back of my neck.  He drew a wet, hot line down my skin, driving me so deliriously wild that he had to stifle my pleasured sounds.  His hand clamped over my mouth, he reached around to tease my clit through my dress.  Watching me through the mirror, he stroked mercilessly, holding me still as I writhed and moaned against his palm, getting wetter with his every whisper of
good girl
into my neck.

He wanted me in bed but we couldn’t make it home.  We were on the road for all of twenty seconds before pulling over.

Leaning me back against the wheel, my dress torn down, Abram’s eyes blazed with lust as I sunk my wet pussy to the base of his cock.  He groaned as I cried out, arching my back and letting him take the reigns.  Gripping my waist, he slid me up and down his shaft, over his every thick, hot inch till I was stretched perfectly around him.  Arching back against the wheel, I circled my hips, letting him hit every wall inside me.  It felt so damned good the pleasure overrode any last bit of pain. 

“Fuck, Isla.”  Abram gnashed his teeth, pushing his hands up my stomach to my breasts, squeezing hard every time my sex rippled around him.  “You’re so fucking tight.”  His words were deep, guttural, tinged almost with anger.  “I knew you’d feel fucking unbelievable,” he inhaled, a furious desire building in his gaze as he watched me ride him.  His attention was hot on me.  Even when I closed my eyes, rolling my head back to release a moan, I could feel exactly where it was – on my breasts, my neck, between my swollen, red lips.  He couldn’t rip his stare from me if he tried and it made me feel so incredibly sexy, so filled with gratitude that I let him have me however he wanted.  I let him push me, pull me, suck, lick and nip me.  No matter what he did, it felt better than any sensation I’d experienced in my entire life.

“You have no idea, Isla… you have no idea how you drive me fucking crazy.”  Abram was in another world, too.  I could hear it in his voice as he groaned into my skin, hugging me tight and pressing his lips into the curve of my neck.  “I can’t fucking stop it,” he fisted my hair as he rocked into me, “I can’t stop wanting you.”

“Don’t,” I breathed, both excited and scared of the feeling taking over my body.  There weren’t enough muscles in my body to absorb this kind of pleasure.  His seat reclined, Abram lifted me by the waist and pumped his hips up into me, slamming his cock deep into my pussy with every savage thrust.  I was in ecstasy.  Every time I was sure I’d reached my peak, I surged higher, to a place that would certainly shatter me to pieces when I finally fell.

“Look at me, Isla.”  Abram demanded when I let my head roll back.  “Look at me when I make you come.”

His carnal words did me in.  I returned my eyes to his, erupting the second our gazes locked, shaking against his chest with every violent wave of pleasure.  My fingers thrust in his hair, he roared to a release of his own.  Squeezed to his chest, I absorbed his every aftershock, his every twitch as we both came down, foreheads pressed together as we breathed hard.  I floated on a cloud as he whispered again that I was fucking beautiful.  It felt too good to be real.  And maybe it wasn’t.  On the drive home, I fell asleep but could’ve sworn I felt Abram’s hand brushing back my hair.  I could’ve sworn that I could feel the true affection in his touch when, at a red light, he kissed the scar on my forehead.  But that would’ve been too damned good so maybe that part was just a dream.