Edge of Love (6 page)

Minutes passed in silence. I waited
for Scarlet to say something, but she kept her word and never did.
I decided to take advantage of the situation and tell her exactly
what I felt without having to deal with her response. Well, if she
kept her word to remain silent, that is.

“
You really pissed me off,
Scarlet.”

She hugged her knees to her chest but
didn’t speak. She didn’t look at me.

“
I asked you to do one
thing but you couldn’t honor that request. And I was right, wasn’t
I?”

She sat still.

“
I don’t want you near my
brother without my presence. He’s a sick bastard that you need to
stay away from. Did you really need to experience an incident to
believe me? I admit that I get jealous and possessive with you, but
that’s a little outlandish, even for me. One of your best friends
is a guy and I’ve never questioned it.”

She ran her fingers through her hair
then rested them on her knees.

I shook my head. “I’m just livid with
you, Scar. And don’t misunderstand me. I’m pissed at my brother
too, but I expected this behavior from him. And I expected you to
listen to me.”

She kept her mouth shut like I asked.
I was surprised she was holding her tongue. I felt like I was
grilling her and she was forced to take it passively.

“
I apologize on behalf of
my family. My brother is an ass and my mom is a bitch. Believe me,
this isn’t how I wanted to spend the weekend. I wanted this to be
about our engagement, not about my breakup with Penelope. I
apologize, Scar. I should have told them beforehand.” I grabbed a
rock from the sand and rubbed it between my fingers. “I’m just so
irritated with them. I had to get away. Then your betrayal just
pushed me over the edge. I swear to god, if I wasn’t related to my
brother I would’ve killed him. Seeing him grab you just makes me
insane.”

She glanced at me then looked
away.

I could tell that she wanted to say
something. Against my better judgment, I looked at her. “You can
speak if you want.”

She looked at me. “Are you
sure?”

I nodded.

She took a deep breath. “Sean, you’re
right. I should have listened to you.” She moved closer to me and
inserted her arm through mine. She leaned her head on my shoulder
and her hair rubbed against my neck. She smelled like vanilla. “And
I’m sorry I slapped you.”

“
I forgive you, Scar. I
was being a jackass anyway.”

She smiled. “I’m glad you realize
that.”

I laughed. “I’m not mad at you,
Scar.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?
Because you just said you were.”

I sighed. “I know what I said. I
wished you had listened to me to begin with, but I’m not mad at
you. You did nothing wrong.”

“
You don’t even know what
happened, Sean. You didn’t give me a chance to explain
anything.”

“
Because I don’t need to
hear it. I already know what happened. Mike came onto you and said
you shouldn’t be with me. He said you were beautiful and advised
you to dump me. Then he tried to hug you and move closer to you. He
tried to kiss you.”

She looked at me. “How did you know
that? Were you listening the entire time?”

“
No. Mike did the same
thing with Penelope.”

She was quiet for a moment. “What do
you mean?”

I took a deep breath and ran my
fingers through my hair. “I never told you about it because I know
you don’t like talking about her.”

She leaned in and kissed me on the
cheek. “I’m marrying you, Sean. She doesn’t threaten me in the
least. You can talk about her all you want.”

I nodded. “I’m glad you feel that
way.”

“
Now tell me what
happened.”

I sighed. “Mike slept with
Penelope.”

She gasped. “What?”

“
She said she was drunk
and I believed her at the time, but now I’m not so sure. I didn’t
realize how much of a whore she was until recently.”

She was speechless for a moment. “How
could your brother do that to you?”

I was quiet for a moment. I didn’t
want to discuss this but I didn’t see any way around it. I had to
tell her eventually. “Because I slept with his girlfriend when we
started college. I apologized for it but he never forgave me. I was
drunk and she was mad at him for something. She wanted to get back
at him. Mike hasn’t let it go. He won’t stop until he gets his
vengeance. He’ll sabotage every relationship I hold dear until he
wins. I was never worried about Penelope because I knew she would
never cheat on me. Obviously, I was wrong about
her—completely.”

Scarlet was quiet for a long time.
“But if he slept with Penelope, didn’t he get his
vengeance?”

I shook my head. “Since I didn’t break
up with her, it didn’t work.”

She nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me,
Sean?”

“
I just didn’t want
to.”

She pulled her arm from mine. “But we
tell each other everything.”

“
I knew you wouldn’t let
me forgive Penelope.”

“
Damn right I wouldn’t!”
She stared at me. “Which is why you should have told me.” I heard
the anger in her voice and I knew this was going to escalate into
another fight. Perhaps I shouldn’t have let her speak.

“
And I didn’t want you to
know what I did to my brother.”

“
Why?”

“
Because I’m embarrassed
about it. I’ve never forgiven myself for what I did. I used to be a
total jerk, Scar. After I met you, I started to change. Then when I
met Penelope, I realized I was just a horrible pervert. I’m ashamed
of my past.” We were quiet for a long time. I finally looked at
her. “Are you mad at me?”

She said nothing for a while. That was
enough to answer my question. “A little. You shouldn’t have kept
that from me, Sean.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“
If you kept something
that big from me, what else did you hide?”

“
Nothing,” I said quickly.
“I’ve been honest with you about everything else.”

“
How can I ever be
sure?”

I closed my eyes. “It was just that
one thing, Scar. I promise.”

“
And I’m offended that
you’re comparing me to Penelope.”

“
I’m not.”

“
Yes, you are.” Her voice
turned angry. “She burned you so now you don’t trust me. You don’t
want me near your brother because you think I’ll sleep with him.
That pisses me off, Sean. I realize that Penelope hurt you but I’m
nothing like her. I would never betray you. Don’t ever treat me
like her. I don’t deserve that. You’ve known me longer than
Penelope. You should never have compared me.”

I sighed. “I know you would never
betray me, babe.”

“
Don’t lie to me. You
obviously do if you wouldn’t let me near your brother. If you kept
all of this from me, then you obviously don’t trust me. You’re
being an asshole, giving me less than what I deserve.” She rose to
her feet then started to walk away.

I jumped to my feet and grabbed her
arm, but she jerked it away.

She glared at me. “We tell each other
everything, Sean. When did that change?”

I grabbed her face and kissed her,
trying to calm her with my touch, but she pushed me away again. She
turned around and walked back up to the house. After a few seconds,
she disappeared from my sight, hiding in the shadows of the
darkness. I listened to the sound of the waves crash against the
shore and felt my heart accelerate in my chest. I never felt more
alone.

5

When I came back into my old bedroom,
Scarlet was already lying in bed. She was on her side facing the
window. I stripped my clothes away then crawled into bed alongside
her. I lied beside her for a moment and listened to her breathe. I
could tell by the uneven rising and falling of her chest that she
was awake.

I turned on my side then moved closer
to her. When I wrapped my arm around her waist, she didn’t push me
away. I buried my face in her neck then kissed her gently, pressing
my body against her. She didn’t respond to me, acting like she was
asleep.

I pressed my lips to her ear. “I love
you.”

She was quiet for a moment. “I love
you too.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I kissed
her shoulder then moved to her neck, kissing her everywhere while I
trailed my fingers across her body. Her breathing picked up as I
touched her.

“
I’m sorry,” I
whispered.

“
I’m sorry
too.”

I continued to kiss her, relieved that
she didn’t hate me. I knew she was still mad, but at least she
wasn’t livid with me. Pressing my naked chest against her body made
me aroused. We made love every night and I couldn’t deny my
expectation. My body automatically prepared for the rendezvous. I
was hard before I even finished the thought. I ran my hands down
her side, over her hip, and then down her smooth leg. I wanted her.
I moved my hands to the area between her legs, and I smiled when I
felt the moisture. She wanted me too.

I turned her over while I climbed on
top of her, ready to make love to her.

She pressed her hand against my chest.
“No, Sean. People will hear us.”

I kissed the corner of her mouth then
separated her lips with my tongue. She melted at my touch for a
moment but then pulled away.

I looked at her. “My parents’ bedroom
is on the other side of the house. My brother is next door, but I
couldn’t care less if he heard us.” I pressed my nose against hers
and watched her eyes reflect the light of the moon. Her lips were
slightly opened. She wanted me to kiss her again.

“
I’m still mad at you,
Sean.”

“
So? I still make love to
you when I’m pissed. It doesn’t change anything.” I grabbed her
pajama bottoms and stripped them off. We never wore clothes to bed.
I was surprised she even owned a pair of pajamas. I pulled down her
underwear than separated her legs. Knowing that she was already wet
for me made my heart pound. I moved my lips to her neck and started
to kiss her. I pressed my cock against her clit, and she ran her
fingers down my back. I knew I had her.

She started to breathe heavily.
“Stop.”

“
No.”

She pushed me back. “I’m still pissed
that you lied to me, and I’m livid that you would ever think I
would do something like what Penelope did to you. You can’t just
kiss me and turn me on to make it go away. I’m angry with you.” She
looked up at me with ferocity in her eyes.

I felt horrible about everything. A
part of me was paranoid that she would sleep with my brother just
like Penelope had, but the idea was so disturbing that I couldn’t
even think. If Scarlet cheated on me then left me, I wouldn’t be
able to go on. It would hurt way more than it ever did with
Penelope. And I should have told her the truth about my past with
my brother, but a part of me didn’t feel like I did anything wrong.
My relationship with my brother was none of her business. It
happened before I even knew her. It didn’t mean I wasn’t
trustworthy. “You’re right,” I whispered. “I should have told you
the truth. I was just being stupid.”

“
Hell yeah, you
were.”

I came back to her and laid my body on
top of hers. “Let me make it up to you.”

I moved down between her legs and
pulled her knees apart. Before she could stop me, I kissed the area
between her legs and felt the moisture on my tongue. She was
already aroused. I just wanted to push her over the edge. I knew if
we made love our fight would be over.

She immediately began to moan. It was
loud, but I didn’t care. If anything, I wanted my brother to hear
me fucking her. I inserted my tongue inside of her then circled it
around her clit. She reached out and grabbed my hair, twisting it
in her fingertips.

“
Sean.”

I smiled. Whatever anger she had was
gone. Now she just wanted me to be inside her.

“
Sean.”

“
Hmm?”

“
Please.”

I climbed back on top of her. “I
thought you didn’t want to have sex?”

“
Please.”

I turned my ear toward her. “Sorry,
what?”

“
I hate you.”

“
And I love
you.”

I hate you and I’m still pissed at
you, but you better make love to me.”

I pressed my forehead against hers
then looked into her eyes. She cupped my face then ran her fingers
through my hair. I pressed my tip against her entrance and she
moaned. After I kissed her forehead, I inserted myself within her
slowly. Her moans grew louder as I moved within her. Her nails ran
down my back as she tried to stay quiet. I felt the moisture
between her legs.

“
Are you still
mad?”

“
Yes.”

I kissed her neck then trailed my lips
to her ear. “I don’t believe you.”