The Girl With Diamonds (Midtown Brotherhood Book 2) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

MAGNOLIA’S MIDNIGHT

Atlanta turned into a fast and steady blur outside the window. Magnolia bent down and slipped off her heels and threw them over her shoulder into the back seat of her sister’s Porsche Boxster. Her toes curled against the gas pedal right before she shifted gears again. Eighty spiked to ninety in an instant.

Austin grabbed the door handle, his eyes on her. She didn’t need to look at him to know that. She bit her lip at the thought. Twenty minutes. In twenty short minutes they’d be out of the city and into suburbia. They’d be in her old neighborhood, on her familiar back streets.

Magnolia smiled at the long stretch of interstate in front of her. Her fingertips grazed the velvet covered buttons on her blouse, one by one, down to her stomach. She dared a glance at Austin. He held onto the door for dear life now, though she doubted it had to do with the speed anymore.

She smirked at him.

Wild.

It was the only word she could think of to describe the desperate look in his eyes. She liked it. Magnolia liked the power it gave her, knowing she caused that kind of reaction in him. She shifted gears back down as the lights of the city started to fade behind them. The interior of the car grew darker.

Austin touched her neck. “Magnolia?”

Her hand gripped the gear shift. Seventeen minutes. “Yeah?”

“Where are we going?”

She tilted her head to the side, allowing his fingertips to trace her neck, down her shoulder, beneath the collar of her shirt. “Someplace private.”

At least, someplace private enough. Magnolia had plans for Austin Blakely. Her boyfriend.

The thought still sounded weird in her head. They were dating. It was official. Her mother would have picture proof of it. They were officially a couple now. Magnolia reached up and touched Austin’s hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. She tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. “Take it off.”

Austin smiled like she was joking.

She wasn’t. She gave him a more pointed look. “I said take it off.”

His grin looked a little nervous. “Right now? In the car?”

She returned it in full force. “You took it off for me on national television and in the middle of a room full of people.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

He leaned across the armrest into her space, his hand slipping behind her back, his lips resting on the delicate line of her chin. “I was teasing you.”

“Trust me. You’ll be teasing me now. Take off the damn shirt.”

That boyish smile she loved so much returned to his face. He moved back into his seat and easily pulled the shirt over his head. His perfectly placed hair ruffled in the process. Not that she could look at his hair, or the road. Damn, he was flawless. Magnolia downshifted, not wanting to risk their lives, before slipping her own shirt off and throwing it at his face.

Austin cleared his throat like something was stuck in it. “I’m going to need you to pull over.”

Magnolia grinned. She dared a glance at him, and immediately regretted it. Lust and admiration. It was all there, taunting her. The giant mass of him filling every inch of her vision.

“Ten minutes.” She said it more to herself than to Austin.

Austin’s hand was on her shoulder. No. It was his lips. His teeth bit at the strap of her bra. “Make it three.”

When she looked over again, she watched the hand that wasn’t under the hem of her skirt unbutton his jeans.

Her foot slipped off the gas.

Damn it. She wasn’t going to make it to Scarlett’s house.

She glanced at the nearest road sign. It was a mile marker. They were less than a half mile from the next exit. Luckily for both of them, she knew that exit very well. It would have to do.

She flipped on the turn signal before catching his hand. “Stop.”

“What’s wrong?” His lips didn’t leave her skin, his tongue on the nape of her neck.

She found the zipper with her fingers. “Let me.”

He hummed, shifting beneath her touch so she could reach. She tugged the zipper down. Inch by torturous inch.

Two minutes.

Magnolia maneuvered out of her skirt as she sped down the familiar side road. Thick patches of trees interspersed between barren fields hibernating for the winter. Her breath hitched. Austin was everywhere. His hands on her skin, gripping her hips, threatening to pull her out of the seat. She spotted the lone barn in the distance. Castle Cross, she used to call it. She spent every summer in her young existence there, helping work. Now they rented the property out to local farmers during the harvest season. In the winter, though, it was vacant.

Except for tonight.

She slipped the skirt from around her ankles and tossed it across the seat at Austin.

He threw it in the back seat, then pulled his pants over his hips. Her hand darted out to stop him. “What now?”

“Not yet.” She’d drive into the barn if he started taking off his pants right now.

The shiny black sports car skidded onto the dirt road, dust flying out of the spinning wheels behind them. Magnolia shoved it into park just behind the giant shadow of the barn. She left the headlights on, the only signal of life for miles.

She jumped across the seat at him, her hand cupping his face, bringing those lips to hers. Satisfaction wasn’t the right word. Magnolia was starved. Dehydrated. Austin was water. Fluid and chilled, bringing her back to life.

Magnolia’s knee caught on the gear shift and then rammed into Austin’s thigh that took up the entire seat and more. Groaning that she would have to end the kiss early, her hand reached for the door handle.

“Get out.”

His lips moved against hers, his words breathless. “What?”

“We have to get out. There isn’t enough room in here.”

He pulled back half an inch. “It’s January. It’s cold.”

Magnolia shoved the door open. “Not cold enough to stop me.”

She rounded the edge of the car, but Austin was faster. He found her at the hood, picking her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He gradually set her feet back in the damp grass. Her hands slid in his jeans, her fingertips finding the edge of fabric beneath.

She pulled his jeans down, revealing the red briefs, inch by inch. She shoved him backward, and he landed on the hood of the car with a thud.

There would be giant Austin-size dent in it tomorrow. She should have felt bad about that, but she didn’t.

She stepped up on the bumper, climbing onto the hood, onto him. He grabbed her hips, pulling her up his body. He flipped her over, the hood groaning beneath them. The chill of the metal stung her skin, but it was hard to care. Austin stood poised between the headlights. He eased her back down the hood, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He kissed her. Her shoulders, the tender corners of her stomach, and the line right beneath her panties as he lifted the fabric over her hips.

She leaned up, bringing his mouth to her.

Perfect.

He held her lips steady, breathing against them, catching his lost breath. “I love you too, Magnolia.”

Her eyes, which had been closed, shot open. He smiled at her. No, he beamed. She tried to speak but didn’t form any words.

“The promise you signed on the plane.” His lips touched her skin. The grin unbearable in the dim light between them. “You didn’t sign your name on that paper.” His fingers gripped her hair. “I don’t know if you meant what you did write, but I know I do. I love you.”

She kissed him. She didn’t know what else to do. “I meant it.”

Of course she meant it. She was in love with him.

The clasp of her bra released, a low growl echoing at her ear, sending a chill up her back. “You’re going to have to tell your sister I’m really sorry for what is about to happen to her car, because I can’t bear to lie to her.”

Magnolia laughed, her head tilting back as the callused fingertips of her boyfriend ran down her body.

It was cold, it was beautiful, and loving Austin Blakely was everything she never knew she wanted.

Now she did. She wanted all of him. Forever.

Chapter Twenty-Two

AUSTIN’S PERFECT MORNING

Magnolia hummed in her sleep. Austin loved it. His fingers played with the edge of her hair that lay curled on her bare back. He wanted to run his fingers down her creamy skin, to press his lips to her shoulder, and then the nape of her neck, but he didn’t want to risk waking her. It was too perfect like this.

Just the two of them crammed into the back seat of someone else’s car on some no-name back road. Reality felt so far away.

Right now, in this moment that already felt too brief, Austin let himself be content. He let himself believe those words he scrawled on that paper, and especially the ones Magnolia scribbled beneath it. She would follow him anywhere. Even, heaven forbid, Canada.

I love you.

She wrote it and she meant it.

Magnolia hummed again, except this time, he felt her lips move against his chest. Was she smiling?

“You’re thinking too loud.”

Austin’s head popped up and he looked down to see her grinning up at him. Surely, he hadn’t said any of that out loud by mistake.

“Your heart started racing,” she said quietly, her eyes still dreamy, and then she yawned. “What are you worrying about this early?”

“Early?” He grabbed her hips and pulled her up his body. “The sun has been up for hours.”

Magnolia pushed up from his chest and peeked out the back window. She squinted at the sunlight that sat almost directly overhead. “Well, shit.”

She was breathtaking. Her hair cascaded over her bare shoulders, onto his skin. Her lips were swollen and curved into a lazy smile. When they got back to Manhattan, he would have to convince her to make this a regular thing. Not so much the hood of a car in the middle of nowhere, but waking up together like this, her body melded against him.

Magnolia looked around and smiled like she just realized they were naked in the back seat of a car. Her grin was sheepish. “Can we not tell Scarlett about this?”

He tried to keep a straight face. “I’m sort of positive I can pop out that dent in the hood.”

Magnolia cringed. “She is going to kill me.”

He bit his lip, trying not laugh. He’d pay for the repairs. It would be totally worth it.

Magnolia groaned, but she couldn’t stop the smile. “Where’s my phone? I should probably call her before she sends out a search party.”

“She worries about you that much?”

Magnolia snorted. “Not me. Her car.”

She crawled into the front seat, and Austin let her. Of course he let her. The view was fabulous. Magnolia found her phone underneath a pile of clothes and smiled. “Twenty missed calls since nine this morning,” she said, throwing him his t-shirt. “Five voicemails.”

“Geez. I’m really going have to get that fucking dent out.”

Magnolia still grinned as she put her phone to her ear. He could hear her sister’s voice through the speaker, but it didn’t sound angry. Magnolia’s face smoothed out as she held her phone against her ear with her shoulder and maneuvered around to find more clothes. He was pretty sure her panties were hanging on the passenger side mirror.

“She said you have a package.”

“Well…yeah.” He held his arms out showcasing his obviously naked body.

Magnolia rolled her eyes. “A real package,” she said seriously. “It came to my parents’ house this morning.”

His eyes instantly narrowed at that. “That’s weird. She sure?”

She pulled the phone down. “She said there was a package with your name on it.”

Something in his gut twisted. “Did she open it?”

“No.” She studied him, and her face started to turn white. “What’s wrong? What do you think it could be?”

Austin shook his head, but the panic had already set in. No one even knew he was in Atlanta except for his family, but they would have called him. He sat up and started grabbing clothes. “I don’t know, but I’m afraid to find out.”

***

Scarlett stood in the driveway of Magnolia’s parents’ house with a small brown box tucked under her arm. She watched as they slowly pulled into place. Her eyes narrowed at the dent, and he couldn’t blame her. Good thing he brought his checkbook.

As much as he wanted to feel horrible about Scarlett’s car, he couldn’t stop looking at that damn box. Why did it have his name on it, and how did it end up in fucking Georgia?

He was out of the car before Magnolia could even put it in park. He had everything right now, and that damn box scared him. Scarlett eyed the car, her gaze turning toward him as he rounded the edge. “You better be glad I like you.” She pursed her lips and threw the box at him.

“I’ll pay you back for the car.” He wasn’t looking at her when he said it. He was too busy flipping the box over, reading his name on the label.

Fuck, this was bad.

“I don’t care about the car.” Scarlett’s voice was concerned now. “It’s not important right now.”

He looked up, not at Scarlett, but Magnolia who stood behind the open door. Her eyes were round.

Scarlett looked back and forth between them. “What am I missing here? What’s in that box?”

Austin dropped his head. Fuck. This was it.

He hadn’t even realized he’d backed away from them. He stood next to the steps of the house now. He sat down. His hands gripped around the stupid box, his knuckles turning white.

Magnolia’s fingertips touched his chin. She gently nudged his face up, but he couldn’t look at her. He didn’t want to see the disappointment and fear that would be there. He didn’t want to be the cause of her pain. He wanted that memory back. Magnolia in the car with her swollen lips and wild hair.

“Give me the box, Austin.”

He opened his eyes. “What?”

“Give me the box.” Her voice was stern, but her features were soft. She tugged at it but he held it firmly in place.

“Mag—”

“I don’t care what is in this box.” Her hand caught his face as he tried to turn away. “Look at me, Austin Blakely. I
do not
care.”

He couldn’t even respond. Scarlett walked over to the edge of the porch. “Should I give you two a moment alone?”

Austin merely stared at the ground. It doesn’t matter if Scarlett was there. She would find out eventually. Everyone would know his shame. Magnolia bent down in front of him, forcing him to look at her. “I don’t know how that girl stole your phone, or what else was on it that she found. It doesn’t matter. It was yours. What she and Ferocia did was wrong.”

He looked at Magnolia. He’d never felt so ashamed or embarrassed. He handed her the box. She shared her secret with him, and now it was his turn. Good or bad, she deserved to know.

The sound of the brown paper ripping matched his heart. His breath caught in his throat as she jerked the lid open. “It’s a flip phone.”

Witch. Ferra Decantur was the sole embodiment of evil. She probably stood on the street and handed out poison apples to orphans.

He looked at up at Magnolia, prepared to face the truth. “It’s mine.”

Scarlett walked closer to Magnolia, eyeing the phone like it was some lost artifact. “But it’s a flip phone.”

Magnolia ignored her. “Why would she give it back?”

Austin shrugged. “To let me know she’s got her big story?”

“You told me once that you try to stay out of the headlines.”

His head fell in his hands. “I should have told you.”

Magnolia’s brows drew together. “You’re freaking me out, Austin. What happened that you aren’t saying?”

Nausea swam in his gut. “The girl you saw with Ferocia that night before the Christmas party…” He paused. It felt horrible. The truth shouldn’t hurt so bad. “It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her. I met her at a bar.”

“I know. You told me that already.”

He winced. “She didn’t steal my phone at the bar.”

The realization came slowly, like a building storm. Magnolia took a step back. “You took her home.”

He didn’t have to say yes. She knew she was right, and it sucked.

Magnolia looked at the phone in her hand. Repulsed. “What’s on the phone?”

“A picture.” He couldn’t believe it was going to end like this. “I drank too much at the bar, so I don’t remember exactly how it all happened. I woke up…half naked, tied to my headboard. My phone was gone.”

Magnolia’s face was on fire. Her teeth snapped tight together. “That bitch.”

She threw the box on the ground, whirling away from him.

He waited, a little stunned.

Magnolia quickly turned back around, her lips tight. “She tied you up? Seriously?”

Magnolia was angry. In fact, she fumed. However, she wasn’t mad at him.

“I can’t believe this. She has the nerve to call herself a reporter? She’s a damn criminal.” Magnolia jerked the phone open and turned it on. “Ferocia won’t get away this. She made the mistake of a lifetime pissing me off.”

Austin smiled. No. He laughed.

Magnolia wasn’t at angry him. She was angry at Ferocia. She didn’t care about his past.

He opened his mouth, but Magnolia paused, her eyes on the screen of his phone. “Austin.” Her face fell and she looked up.

That face wasn’t good. He spoke too soon. She did care. “I’m sorry, Maggie. I—”

Magnolia shook her head. “It’s not you.”

“What?”

Magnolia clicked on the phone, beating it with her fingers. “There is only one picture on this phone, and it isn’t of you.”

Austin rushed over and grabbed the phone. She was right. The picture wasn’t of him. This photo had been cropped out of a larger one he’d taken of their group of friends at the lake last summer.

It was Sam.

It was Sam kissing Drew.

He looked at Magnolia, her face holding the same fear as his own. They weren’t Ferocia’s big story after all.

She grabbed his hand. “We’ve got to get back to New York. Now.”