Blood and Sympathy (20 page)

My fingernails dug into my palms. I laughed
bitterly and pounded my fists on the table. "How about I leave right now? Would
that make you happy? Because if it comes down to me making a choice between
seeing Braden or living here ...  guess what Dad? You lose."

I turned on my heel and flew up the stairs. Tears
stung my eyes and I swallowed the lump in my throat. I had nowhere to go and no
way to get there, but I would be damned if I'd stay in this house for one more
night. He was such a fucking hypocrite.

I blindly stuffed some things into an overnight
bag and fled out the front door.

Braden came to the door wearing his swim trunks.
"Claire? What's wrong?"

Tears ran down my cheeks and I blinked up at him.
"Can I come in?"

He stepped aside and I moved past him.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I don't have
anywhere else to go right now."

"Shh." He took my hand and squeezed it.
"I was about to go for a swim. Want to join me?"

"You know I don't swim in that lake."

"So? Come with me and sit on the dock,
then." He brushed a lock of my hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead.
"It's going to be okay. Trust me."

Braden
Sayer

My stomach grew a fist-sized knot when that woman
at the tattoo parlor thought I'd been there before. When she said I must have a
twin, I felt like throwing up. Was she mistaken, and was it just a coincidence,
or had Brogan gotten a tattoo there?

Claire's daddy was home when I dropped her off,
and she was surprised to see his car in the driveway. Reverend Copeland was
always polite to me, but I got the feeling he didn't really like me hanging
around his daughter much.

I was home long enough to get out of my jeans and
into my swim shorts when someone knocked on my door. For a second, I worried it
might be Brogan until I remembered it was broad daylight. Not even he was
stupid enough to show up when someone might see him.

Claire stood on the steps, her eyes red-rimmed and
puffy from crying. My eyes darted around for a car, but there wasn't one. She
must've walked from her house. It shattered me to see her looking so helpless
and broken.

We walked hand in hand to the docks. She wouldn't
swim with me but sat dipping her feet into the murky waters. The lake was warm
as bathwater and smelled like dead fish. I only stayed in for a little while.

I climbed out and plopped down on the dock beside
Claire. She was caught up in her own little world, tossing rocks into the lake.
She glanced over at me and wrinkled her nose. "You smelled better before
you got in the water."

I couldn't resist planting a big kiss on her lips and
making her squirm.

She smacked me on the chest. "Ass." But
she giggled, so I didn't think she was too mad.

I stood and reached my hand out to help her to her
feet. "C'mon. Uncle Jeb's cooking supper tonight."

She stared at our intertwined hands and said, "I'll
just wait for you at the trailer. I don't want to impose."

"Don't be silly. Why would you do that?"

"I don't want to just barge in
uninvited." She stared down at her feet like she was suddenly shy about
spending time around me and my uncle.

"If Uncle Jeb knew I left you sitting alone
and unfed, he'd have my hide. Seriously, Claire, I'm not eating without you,
and I don't mind telling you, I get kind of grouchy when I don't get anything
to eat." I smiled and draped my arm around her shoulder as we made our way
back to the house.

Jeb grinned from ear to ear when he saw her walk
inside with me. "Claire, what a pleasant surprise!"

She relaxed and smiled back. "I'm sorry to
just show up like this, Jeb."

"What? Don't be ridiculous. Braden, go wash
the stench off yourself and set the table."

Claire bit her lip to keep from snickering.

"Do you want us to pick you up for church in
the morning?" Jeb asked as he buttered a slice of bread.

Claire peeked at me out of the corner of her eye.
"Um, no thank you, Jeb."

His attention shifted between the two of us.
"Okay. Which one of you wants to tell me what's going on here?"

I opened my mouth and snapped it shut. It really
wasn't my place to tell. Besides, I didn't even know the whole story. I figured
she had gotten into a fight with her dad, but she hadn't said much.

"My dad and I had an argument. He gave me an
ultimatum. I sort of called his bluff, and well, here I am." She pushed
the food around on her plate.

"Maybe it ain't none of my business, but
sometimes things get said in the heat of the moment. I'm sure if you reason
with him he'll let you come back home."

Her eyes filled and she blinked up at me.
"I'm not going to apologize to him. Ever."

The rest of our meal was eaten in silence. I
didn't have anything to say. Claire wasn't ready to open up about things, and
Uncle Jeb's wheels were turning in silence as he mulled over the situation.

Claire and I were about to walk back to my trailer
when Uncle Jeb spoke up. "Claire, I think I know what your daddy's all
worked up about. I'll talk to him if you'd like me to." He winked at her
and patted her hand.

"Thanks Jeb, but you don't understand."

"I think I do. Does it have anything at all
to do with you spending time with Braden?"

Her eyes rounded and darted in my direction. She
heaved a heavy sigh and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Your daddy's a good man, but sometimes he
can be downright pig-headed when it comes to thinking he knows what's best for
his girls. Braden being fresh out of juvie probably don't help the cause much."

She lowered her eyes. "He needs to practice
what he preaches."

When we got outside, I asked her, "You fought
about me? He doesn't want you spending time with me?"

"I don't care what he wants, Braden. He
doesn't know you like I do, and I'm tired of him talking out the side of his
mouth. The good reverend needs to get his head out of his ass and stop being so
judgmental."

Brogan
Sayer

"She works at the bait shop during the
week." Alistair took a puff of his cigarette and flicked it into the parking
lot. "She's there every morning bright and early."

"So what the fuck you want me to do with her
after I get her?"

"There's an abandoned house a few miles out.
You can take her there. It's close to a fishing cabin that belongs to my
dad." He grinned. Fucker had it all figured out.

"Where is this place?" I shifted in my
seat and scanned the parking lot. There were a handful of people, but none of
them were paying any attention to what we were doing.

He slapped the roof of my car and said,
"Follow me." He got in his truck, and I followed him out of town.

A few minutes later he pulled down an overgrown
lane and came to a stop in front of a shack. We got out and he pushed through
the front door. The dump was empty except for a few broken-down pieces of furniture.

"How soon can you get me the money?"

He smirked and reached into his back pocket,
retrieving a plain white envelope. "Here you go, Ace."

Ace?
What a dickhead
. "Should I
count it?"

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's all
there."

I stared at him through narrowed eyes. It wouldn't
hurt my feelings any if he met with a tragic accident. He was a cocky bastard,
and maybe I was too thin-skinned, but I didn't like him. Of course, I didn't
have to be his best friend to take his money.

I crammed the envelope into my back pocket and
turned to leave.

"So, when?"

"I want to check things out first. Get a plan
together. I can't exactly afford to be sloppy." I put my car in gear and
drove off before he could open his mouth and annoy me any more than just
looking at him did.

I'd seen all I needed to see. I'd be waiting for
pretty little Claire Copeland when she got to work Monday morning.

Claire Copeland

I'd never slept in
the same bed with a guy for the whole night before, not counting the times I
passed out naked with Alistair beside me. I wasn't exactly proud of some of the
things I'd done in the past, but I wasn't totally worthless like my dad
believed I was. Not all the time, anyway.

Sleeping next to
Braden was killing me. I ached for his touch, a touch he was reluctant to give
me. Our previous encounter under the backyard sprinklers made me crave him like
a woman dying of thirst that only he could quench.

I'd spent most of
the night with his bare chest pressed against my t-shirt covered back. I slept
fitfully, most of the time staring at the paneled wall beside his uncomfortable
double bed. Had his erection not been poking my backside, I might have thought
he wasn't attracted to me.

Finally, just as
the first birds of the morning started singing, I wiggled my ass against him.
He was too much of a gentleman to act on the intense sexual attraction simmering
between us, and I was too unladylike not to.

His breaths became
more ragged with each backward rock of my hips. I was done with being patient
and coy--not that I'd ever been that way where he was concerned--and I wanted
him inside of me.

I reached between
our bodies and sought the throbbing bulge straining to be free of his boxers.
He groaned my name as I began to work my hand firmly over the thin cotton
fabric separating our bare skin. I maintained a steady, even pace, and when he
met my strokes with his own, I knew there would be no stopping this time.

When I rolled over
to face him, his eyes were closed, and his expression the closest thing to
heaven on earth I'd ever seen. My heart squeezed inside my chest, and warmth
pooled in my lower belly.

I stopped stroking
his thick shaft long enough to tug the t-shirt over my head and toss it to the
floor. His heavy-lidded gaze drank me in as though he was trying to put out a
fire inside of himself.

"Claire,"
he whispered. "I don't deserve you."

A sad smile
twitched at the corners of my mouth. I pushed him onto his back and straddled
him, grinding my underwear-clad pussy against his erection. "I need you,
Braden," I whispered between kisses. I slid down his tight body, kissing
his tanned, muscular chest as I went. I licked along his happy trail before I
hooked my thumbs beneath the waistband of his shorts and yanked them down.

His dick sprang
free, and the sight of it was pure fucking bliss wrapped up in a box with a
bow. When I sucked his hardness between my lips, he tried to sit up. I gently
but firmly pressed him back down with the palm of my hand.

"Claire."
He said my name so softly that I almost didn't hear him.

"Hmm?"

His back arched off
the bed, his fingers tangled in my hair. Not that I minded him coming in my
mouth, but I ached with need. I smiled slyly at him as he slipped free from my
swollen lips.

"I don't have
any..."

I pressed my mouth
to his to silence his feeble protests. "I'm on the pill."

I moved the thin
slip of my panties to the side, not willing to waste anymore time, and rubbed
the head of his magnificent dick against me. I was slippery wet and more than
ready to feel every inch of him. I'd never been into the whole dom-sub thing,
but being in control, and calling the shots was proving to be a powerful turn on
for me.

He sucked air into
his lungs as I took the length of him deep inside me in one swift move. I think
my eyes rolled back in my head a little bit at the pleasure of him filling me
up. His hands gripped my hips as I inched slowly up, almost to the point of
disconnection, before slamming back down. He felt so fucking good. I reached
for his fingers, and they went to work on my swollen clit.

I wasn't going to
last very long with him filling me so completely. Each time I took him deeper,
I rocked against his hand. My head fell back and I closed my eyes as I rode
him.

He growled and
moved his hands to my hips, gripping me hard and flipping us around so that I
was beneath him. I watched his cock slide in and out and pinched my nipples as
he pounded into me.

I reached between
our bodies and fingered my clit. It was enough to take me to the edge. "Braden!"
I cried out as the first waves of orgasm washed through me, my pussy clenching
his cock in spasms, milking him.

"Oh
fuck," he said, his body going completely rigid. He grunted something
unintelligible and collapsed against me, his chest heaving. After our breathing
evened out he spoke again. "You realize you've created a monster now,
right?"

I quirked an
eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah, how's that?"

"I don't think
I'll be able to keep my hands off you now, Claire." As if to emphasize his
point, he reached down and tweaked my clit between his thumb and forefinger.

"You're a fast
learner," I gasped.

"Can't wait
for the next lesson."

As much as I wanted
a repeat, we needed to get up and get ready for work or we were both going to
be late. Even if working at the bait shop hadn't been my idea of a great summer
job, there was no way I'd let Jeb down.

"Hold that
thought," I said. I gently removed his hand from between my legs and
kissed his fingers. "If we're late to work, your uncle will skin us
alive."