Force of Love (10 page)

“Baby,” I said as I felt myself come inside her. “I love this.”

She moaned.

“I love making love to you.”

She cupped my face as she kissed me. I finished emptying myself inside her then remained still.

“You feel amazing,” she whispered.

“Because you’re so tight for me.”

“No. You’re just big.”

“I like the sound of that.” I kissed her on the forehead then pulled out of her. When I lied beside her, she snuggled next to me like she did every night. “Good night, baby.”

“Good night.”

7

“This is stupid. I shouldn’t be here.” Scarlet rolled her eyes at me while she stood behind the counter.

“It’s better than you moping all day. At least you’re productive.”

“I actually work for a living.”

“Moping around is not work.” I handed her the cash and the books then placed them on the table. “Get to work.”

“Have Janice do it.”

“No. Janice actually works for a living.”

“It doesn’t seem like it. She’s never spent a dime.”

I stared at her. “Just try to get your mind off of it.”

She said nothing.

“If you’re really that depressed then just go home.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I’m not apologizing. I did nothing wrong.”

“You’re so fucking s
tubborn. I can’t believe you.”

“Sean is being unreasonable.”

“And you’re being psychotic.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I have to ink. Finish this and we’ll go to lunch.”

“Fine.”

I walked back to the front then escorted my first customer into a chair. I finished a tattoo on his arm before I moved onto my next customer. I was getting so busy that I was considering hiring another artist to help me out. But then I would be stuck paying them if it got slow. As long as there were no more break-ins it shouldn’t be a problem. At least it would allow me more time to take care of the business and be away from Janice for less amount of time. I wanted to spend all my time with her. I loved inking but I loved being with her more.

After I was done with the customer, my phone rang.

“Hiya,” I said.

“Hiya?” Cortland asked.

I ignored him. “What’s up?”

“Lunch?”

“Nah. I’m with Scarlet. I kinda want it just to be us.”

“That’s cool.”

“Can you take her out to dinner? She seems really depressed. She tells me everything but I know you guys have more of an emotional relationship than she and I do.”

“Of course I will.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll talk to you later.”

“See ya.”

I hung up then dropped the phone into my pocket. I cleaned up my supplies before Scarlet and I locked the shop and left. We went to a deli down the street and took a seat by the window.

Scarlet picked at her food without really eating it.

“Just go home, Scar. This is stupid.”

“No.”

“So you’ll fuck him in the middle of the night but not go back to him?”

Her cheeks blushed. “You heard that?”

“Janice and I aren’t deaf. It sounded like we were in an IMAX theatre.”

She said nothing for a moment. “It’s my wedding day. I want it to be perfect.”

“It’s his day too, Scar.”

“I know, but I would never make him do something he was this uncomfortable with.”

“You should try to compromise—like adults.”

“Shut up, Ryan. Just because you’ve been with Janice for six months doesn’t make you an expert.”

“Well, I’ve lived with her for awhile and we don’t have any bullshit problems like this. Maybe I am an expert.”

She rolled her eyes. “How are things with you two?”

“Amazing.”

I smiled. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

“Yeah.”

“Is it getting serious?”

I knew what she asking. I mentioned something about marriage on the phone but I didn’t want to discuss it. I trusted Scarlet, but Janice was her best friend. I was afraid she would let something slipp. “We’re great.”

She
stared at me for a moment but said nothing.

“Don’t you miss Sean?”

She sighed. “More than you will ever know.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to waste my time repeating myself.

“I just miss talking to him. I tell the guy everything. Obviously, I can’t call him to complain about him. That would be weird.”

I finished my sandwich then wiped my mouth. “If Janice told me you couldn’t be at our wedding, I would dump her, Scar. I’m surprised Sean hasn’t dumped you.”

“He would never do that. He loves me.”

“I hope you’re right.”

She pushed her food away and looked at me. “I’m going to go back to the apartment. Do you need any more help at the shop?”

“No. Thanks for everything.”

She nodded. “I’ll see you later.”

“I hope not.”

She smiled at me before she walked away. I threw our trash away then headed back to the shop. I finished my clients for the day and locked up. I was just about to leave when my phone rang. It was Sean. When I answered, he asked about Scarlet and how she was doing. We decided to meet at a bar down the road.

When I met Sean, he said he wanted to bring Scarlet back home. I was relieved that he was willing to put up with Scarlet’s bullshit. I thought he was an idiot but I was grateful that my sister had a man in her life that wasn’t afraid to call her out on her shit.

We headed back to the apartment and walked inside. I was so relieved that they were going to work it out. Scarlet would be out of the house and I could fuck Janice as loud as I wanted to. When we walked inside, Janice and Scarlet were sitting on the couch. When I heard Scarlet speak, I felt my heart drop.

“No. I’m never going to tell him about Cortland. It will just ruin everything.”

I knew this was going to be bad. Sean marched out of the apartment then slammed the door behind him. Scarlet chased him a second later.

Janice looked at me with fear in her eyes. “I had no idea Sean was with you.”

I covered my face with my hands. “Fuck. This is going to be bad.”

She rose from the couch and approached me. I heard Scarlet and Sean fighting in the hallway. “Should we do something?”

“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “What are we going to do?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know.”

I opened the front door and walked out into the hall. Scarlet was collapsed on the ground. Sean was so red he looked like a tomato.

Sean looked at me. “Help me get her shit.”

I didn’t know what to do. He was breaking up with my sister. I didn’t want this to happen. I knew it would break her heart.

“It doesn’t matter if you help me or not. I’ll get it.” He walked away and headed toward the stairs. I ran after him.

“Sean,” I said as I followed him.

“Shut up, Ryan.”

“Listen to me.”

He said nothing.

I grabbed his arm. “I know you’re pissed right now and I completely understand why but just listen to me for a second.” He glared at me. “Scarlet isn’t a liar. The only reason why she didn’t say anything is because she didn’t want to ruin this family.”

“That justifies nothing.” He turned away.

I grabbed him again. “It justifies everything. Scarlet may have told you about our mother and what she did to us, but I can promise you that you only know a sliver of her abuse and torment. Just a sliver. If she told you everything, the entire truth, it would cripple you with depression. And without that knowledge, you will never understand how important all of us are to Scarlet. We are the family that she never had. Please understand that. If you knew she slept with Cortland it would change everything. That’s the last thing she wanted. If it were anyone else she would have told you.” He didn’t seem convinced. He just stared at me. “Please don’t leave her because of this. Please.”

He put his hands in his pockets then said nothing for a long time. I had no idea what he was thinking. At least he wasn’t yelling at me anymore. Perhaps I had convinced him. Finally, he ran his fingers through his hair then looked at me. “Nothing you said makes her behavior acceptable. I understand her need for this family, but I should come before Cortland—not after.” I felt my heart fall. They were over. “But I want to spend the rest of my life with her no matter what she does to me. I can’t live without her. If I didn’t love her so much I would just walk away and never look back.”

My heart squeezed with hope. “What does that mean?”

He sighed before he walked up the
steps. “That your sister is lucky that I love her so fucking much.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and followed him back to the apartment. He disappeared into Scarlet’s room and they talked for a while. Janice came back into the living room and sat beside me on the couch.

“What are they saying?” I whispered.

“I don’t know. But they are both calm.
I think that’s a good thing.”

I nodded. “He said he loves her too much to leave her.”

“Good.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad they decided to work it out.”

“Yeah.”

After a few minutes, Sean left the bedroom then walked out of the apartment without saying goodbye.

“Oh, oh,” I said.

Janice sighed. “Perhaps I was wrong.”

8

If someone asked me to explain what was going on between Sean and Scarlet I wouldn’t be able to form a coherent sentence. It was weird. They were together but then they weren’t. She slept here and stayed home all day but she wore the engagement ring. She never took it off. I tried not to ask her about Sean. She wasn’t as depressed as I expected so I knew that they were still together—I think.

When I came home from work that night, Janice and Scarlet were sitting at the table in the kitchen. Their laptops were on the counter and manuscripts were thrown across the surface. I’m glad Scarlet had something to distract her mind from the pain in her life. As much as I loved her, I was getting tired of having her here. I just wanted my privacy with Janice. We fucked all over the place. Now we had to be quiet and shit. It was so annoying.

“Hey, baby,” I said as I kissed her on the head.

“Hi.” She smiled at me. “How was your day?”

“It was okay—busy.”

“Perhaps you should hire help.”

“No,” I said quickly. “Too much overhead.”

“Maybe I should be a tattoo artist,” she said with a smile.

“That would be pretty hot,” I said as I rubbed my nose against hers.

“Ah—hem,” Scarlet said as she cleared her throat. “Hi?”

“Yeah—hi.” I looked back at Janice. “I missed you today.”

“I missed you too.”

“I want to show you something.”

“What?”

“Come with me and I’ll show you.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes. “If you want to have sex just go have sex.”

I glared at her. “You’re lucky I’m being discreet about it.”

“I prefer the old way.”

I grabbed Janice’s face and kissed her hard. Then, I grabbed her from the chair then carried her into my bedroom.

“Ryan, what are you doing?”

“Taking you away.”

“We can’t do that when your sister is here.”

I walked in the bedroom then shut the door behind me. I placed her on the bed then pulled down her jeans. “I don’t give a shit about that brat.”

“Ryan, she’s going through a hard time.”

I placed her hand on my cock, solid as steel. “I’m going through a hard time.”

“Ryan.”

“We are fucking—get over it.” I shoved myself inside of her before she could argue with me further. I rocked into her and felt her stretch at my sudden entrance. She bit her lip as she grabbed the back of my neck. I slid into her hard and fast, careful not to slam the headboard against the wall. She started to fuck me from below, sliding on my dick repeatedly. She knew how to make me come just as much as I knew had to make her climax. “Stop trying to make me come. Go first.”

She leaned her head back with her mouth gaping open. “I am,” she whispered.

I gripped her shoulders and slammed into her, making her orgasm as intense as possible. When she started to moan I felt myself crumble and come inside her. “Baby,” I said with a final thrust.

She moaned as she cupped my face. “Ryan.”

“Yeah.” After I caught my breath I pulled out, giving her a quick kiss. I marched into the shower without another word. When I got home from work I liked to make love. I didn’t give a shit if my sister was there. After I cleaned myself, I dried off then dressed myself.

I walked into the living room and looked for something to eat.

“Ryan, I made you a sandwich,” Janice said, pointing to the plate on the table.

I smiled at her then sat beside her. I liked it when she did little things like this. “Thank you, baby.”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile. She turned back to her computer and started to work.

Scarlet finally looked at me. “How was work?”

“It was fine.”

“Do you want me to help you tomorrow?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I never mind, Ryan.”

Now I felt like an asshole for being so resentful to her. “How are you doing?”

She shrugged. “I’m okay.”

“Have you talked to him?”

She was quiet for a moment. “He needs his space.”

I nodded. I finished my sandwich then wiped my mouth. “That was good.”

“I can do more than just edit,” Janice said with a smile.

“And rock my world.”

She blushed.

Scarlet ignored us and looked at her computer. “I’m sorry that I’m such a burden to you to. I know you don’t want me here. If I could go home, I would.”

Janice looked at her. “You’re always welcome here, Scar. Don’t worry about it.”

Scarlet said nothing.

“I love having you here,” I said.

“You do?”

“Don’t get me wrong—it’s annoying. But Janice is right—you’re always welcome here. She and I will just have to be quiet when we have sex.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes. “You never have a filter.”

“No, I don’t. Honest people don’t need one.” I looked at Janice. “Let’s go out to dinner tonight.”

“Okay.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t care. Wherever you want.”

“I’m thinking about getting pizza.”

“Pizza sounds good,” Scarlet said.

I glared at her. “Maybe we’ll bring you some leftovers.”

She sighed. “Fine.”