Torn (The McKerricks Book 1) (9 page)

It takes the whole trip back to Seattle, but I think I’ve managed to talk myself down from the high that Henley creates in me. She is too dangerous to me. She makes me too out of control. She makes me dream of having things I haven’t wanted since I was nine. She makes me dream the way Aiden dreams, that there could be a happy ending.

I push those thoughts out of my head as I pull into my apartment buildings car garage. Standing in my spot, with a scowl on his bald head is my body guard Michael. Shit. I forgot I ditched him when I decided to sneak my way over to Henley
’s place. His massive arms are crossed as he watches me carefully while I park.

“
Hey Micky.”

“
You know if I’m getting paid to watch an empty apartment thats fine, but your the one that has to take the shit from your brother when he finds out.”

“
He’s just over protective,” I reply with a sigh as I get out o the car. “In the five years you’ve been watching after me all you’ve had to deal with are clingy women.”

“
Hey I’m fine with an easy job, beats kickin’ ass overseas,” he replies drolly. “Was it a good piece of ass at least?”

I frown at his comment, something that normally wouldn
’t bother me, but I don’t want him to know about Henley. Not in the sense of her being a ‘good piece of ass’ because she is so much more than that.

“
I’ve got to change suits, you can wait here I’ll be right back down.” He makes a face, that lets me know exactly what he thinks of that as he steps onto the elevator after me. We ride in silence to the top, and he stands in the foyer while I walk back to my closet.

When I enter my room my whole body freezes, as my eyes land on the large poster of Henley. Her tattoos are stark against the gray scale tone of her skin, and I realize I forgot to look at them, touch them, taste them. I was so wrapped up in Henley that I forgot what riled me up in the first place. With a groan I run my hands along her skin in the poster remembering how soft and supple she was under my touch. How willing. Fuck. Me. With a sigh I lean back on my bed, and for the first time since I bought it, the apartment feels far to large and empty.

Chapter 9

I’ve been trying to forget her. I’ve been trying to wean myself off of her for several days. It isn’t working. Aiden and I have been bar hopping for the last four hours, and we are both drunk as shit, and Aiden knows something is up. When we go out to drink it doesn’t take me  longer than thirty minutes tops to get laid, thats not being egotistical, thats being honest. And it’s been four hours, and Aiden is watching me like a science experiment gone wrong. I never get drunk, I don’t like the messiness that results from a loss of inhibitions, but being sober wasn’t helping me forget Henley, and being drunk isn’t either.

“
Okay… spill it. What’s wrong with you?”

“
Nothing,” I grumble back at Aiden in response. “I just… feel like drinking.”

“
Are you bankrupt? Are you losing your company? Cause you’ve sure as hell gone bat shit crazy if you’re getting this drunk.”

“
As if, I’m making more money than you are.”

“
Then what the hell is wrong with you?”

Before I can answer, a thin leggy blond walks up, and I can see that Aiden knows this is where I
’m going to excuse myself. And honestly this is normally where I would excuse myself for the night, she should be perfect, she would be perfect, if she was shorter, curvier, brunette, and has more sass than I know what to do with but she doesn’t. So I glare at her silently telling her to fuck off. She gets the hint, and turns and stomps off.

“
What the hell was that? That had easy piece of ass written all over it… are you sick? Dying? Is this… about a girl?” He finishes the last bit with an almost astonished laugh.

I should tell him to fuck off, but I
’m to drunk to hold my tongue. “She’s not just
some girl
,” I manage to growl out.

Aiden stills in his seat and watches me cautiously.
“Are you shitting me? You’re this fucked up by some girl? The turn down must have been pretty harsh.”

“
She didn’t turn me down…”

“
The sex was that bad?”

“
That good,” I groan out leaning my head against the cool wood of the table.

“
Ah… man… you just need to get back in the game,” he offers with a awkward pat on my back.

“
I did…”

“
And it went badly?”

“
About as bad as two blonds fighting over who can put more of your cock in their mouth can go, or two drunk brunettes willing to do just about anything to get laid.”

“
That… doesn’t sound like it could go bad… like at all.”

“
I couldn’t get it up.”

He lets out a low whistle before he takes a long swig of his drink.
“That’s pretty bad.”

I leave my head on the table in my alcohol induced stupor, and eventually when I don
’t respond he continues.

“
Tell me about her… this girl.”

“
She’s not a girl… she’s a woman,” I growl out against the table.

“
Okay tell me about your woman then.”

“
She’s… she’s not what I expected her to be… she’s not like I expected her to be. She eats powdered donuts, and puts chocolate, whipped cream, and syrup on her pancakes. She answers the door in pink flannel bunny pajamas with a Taser.”

“
A Taser? Please tell me she didn’t actually use that on you.”

“
Of course not,” I scowl.

“
She sounds weird.”

I glare up at him, and he just shrugs under my scrutiny.
“All it would take is one smile little brother, and she’d have you wrapped around her finger too.”

He rolls his eyes and watches me with a smile.
“Why don’t you just date her then dumbass.”

“
I. Don’t. Date.”

“
Well that’s too bad,” he replies with a grin. “If you dated her she would be yours… all yours. No competition. You could fuck her daily till she was out of your system with no complications.”

My face is frowning, but my body is already moving. In it
’s alcoholed state it’s hard to move, but I manage to pull myself out of my seat and head toward the door. Mine… she could be mine. And when I’m tired of her we just break up… nothing permanent… it’s not permanent.

Micky walks up and opens back door to the Bentley.
“I’ll drive you home.”

“
Not going home,” I respond as I climb in and he shuts the door behind me.

“
You’re not going to another bar are you? You can’t hardly stand.”

“
Nope,” I slur out. “Take me to Snoqualmie.” One good thing about these military types that Aiden employs, they do as their told, with minimal if any questions.

So we ride in complete silence, and all I can do, all I can think about, is Henley. Today I
’ll see those tattoos printed on her skin. I’ll make sure of it. And to make sure this doesn’t get out of hand I do what I do best. Business. Contracts. Investments. I write a contract detailing what exactly this is between us. What this could be. This way it is all business, and the messiness of feelings won’t be involved.

When we started out, it was sprinkling, by the time we get to Henley
’s house the weather has turned into a full on downpour. When we pull into her driveway the headlights illuminate Henley curled up in a blanket on her covered porch.

“
Don’t wait for me, I’ll call you when I’m done,” I tell Micky as I climb out of the Bentley and head in the freezing rain toward Henley.

When I get to her porch, she is watching me with curiosity in her emerald eyes, and I can hear gravel crunching under the tires of the Bentley as Micky drives away.

“Angus,” she says softly watching me, “What a surprise to see you again.”

I snatch her tiny body up in my arms, melding her warm heat against my frigid rain soaked body, and kiss her for everything I
’m worth. Instead of leaving her legs dangling, she wraps them around my waist, surrounding me, owning me. And my hands dive hastily into her brunette curls, wrapping them tight and forcing her head back coercing her mouth open. Our tongues battle for dominance, like we are trying to survive this kiss. Like we are trying to survive this thing flaming between us. This thing that could burn us both alive if we aren’t careful.

The contract. She has to sign the contract, before this goes any further, before we can
’t go back. “Henley,” I groan against her heated flesh, burrowing my face into her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. “Henley… we need to talk…”

“
Talking is over rated,” she murmurs back her lips against my skin, as her hands claw at my back.

“
Please.”

With a sigh, she disentangles her legs and slowly I am able to slide her down until her feet are on solid ground again. When she pulls back enough for me to see her face, it
’s flushed, pink staining her lightly freckled cheeks.

“
Thank you,” I manage to whisper, before following her into the house.

She walks to a closet and pulls out a towel, before handing it to me.

“That bad huh?”

“
You’re a bit big to call a drowned rat, but you get the idea.”

With a soft laugh I take off my sweater, and begin drying myself off with the towel. When I
’m done, and my eyes find their way back to Henley, she is eying me like a person eyes a cheeseburger… if they haven’t eaten for
days
.

“
So what brings you here if it wasn’t for sex?”

“
Amazing sex,” I mumble softly, trying to concentrate through the alcohol.

“
What?”

“
The sex… it’s amazing sex… not just… sex.”

“
I don’t have a lot to compare it too, but it’s the best I’ve had so I’ll take your word for that.”

I smile at that. I
’m the best she’s ever had. I can practically feel my chest fluff up with pride at the thought. Any time she thinks about good sex she’ll be thinking about me. I own that part of her.

“
Angus I know you smell like whiskey, but try to stay focused. Why are you here?”

“
Names not Angus,” she rolls her eyes when I say this, but patiently waits for me to continue so I do. I need to get to the sexing part. I feel like my dick is about to explode if I don’t, so I pull the contract out of my pocket, and hand it to her.

She takes the paper cautiously like it could bite her at any minute, as she leans back against her sofa and unfolds it. I wobble a little on my feet, as I watch her eyes scan the page. With each line she scans, her eyebrows arch further and further up. When she reaches the end her eyes flick up to me with a laugh, then she does a double take.

“You’re serious? This isn’t a joke?”

“
Does it look like I’m joking?”

“
You look like you’re drunk.”

“
I don’t get what’s so wrong with this, it will protect us both during the fallout. It’ll protect me from you being clingy, and it’ll protect you when you’re ready to,” I practically choke on the words as they try to come out, “find a man.”

“
Well I don’t plan on being clingy or,” she scans the document briefly, “Stalkery… do I get a copy of this?”

“
Yes, yes of course,” I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders that she is willing to consider it. “You can even have your lawyer look it over for-”

“
I’m going to frame it and put it on my desk as the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“
Henley-”

“
Connor,” she replies just as firmly, and my whole body stiffens at the sound of her saying my name for the first time. The way her lips roll around the word, the way her tongue caresses it. “We’re both adults here Angus, I’d like to think I’m smart enough that when you say piss off I know to piss off. And I think you’re smart enough to know too. So we either need to get on with the fuckery, or you need to leave, because I’m out of Chunky Monkey.”

“
Chunky Monkey?”

“
The ice cream?  It’s my go to mood leveler. So either you need to get rid of this hornyness, that is your fault anyways or you need to leave before I beat you to death and eat you in place of a gallon of Chunky Monkey.”

I let out the breath I
’m holding, and the sigh almost sounds like a laugh as I lean into her. Her full lips are swollen from our earlier kiss, and practically begging for more, so I give her a closed lipped kiss, and let my mouth trail gently along her jaw. She’s mine. For a little while. For as long as I want her shes mine.