The Best Medicine (21 page)

The brothers gave each other a manly hug good-bye, and then Tim leaned down to embrace Lauren. “Thanks for coming. I hope I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable,” Tim said, his voice low so only Lauren could hear. “But I needed you to know what his bringing you here means to him. And to me.”

*   *   *

In the car, Lauren was quiet but it wasn’t an uncomfortable quiet. She looked satisfied. Content. He realized he liked seeing that look on her face. Liked knowing he had something to do with putting it there.

The night had gone even better than he could have imagined. Thanksgiving was an important tradition between him and Tim, and having Lauren fall into it so seamlessly did something to Scott. It made him want to share more with her. Made him want to be as open with her as she’d been with him.

“Tim’s been a drug addict from about the age of fifteen. Or at least that’s when it became noticeable.” Scott hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that, but there was no easy way to share what he had to say.

He could feel Lauren’s stare fixed on him, prompting him to go on.

“One night,” he continued, “my dad told me to go up
and get Tim for dinner. I was ten, which would have made Tim sixteen. Anyway, I went up and knocked on his door, but he didn’t answer. So I knocked again. I remember feeling like something was off. I can’t explain it, but I knew that I did
not
want to open Tim’s door. I kept knocking until my dad yelled up to see what was taking so long. I finally sucked it up and pushed his door open.”

Scott tightened his grip on the wheel. “And that’s when I saw him. He was sitting on the floor, slumped against his bed. He wasn’t moving. I must have screamed because I remember my dad running past me, and my mom grabbing me and taking me out of the room. It was a blur after that. There were ambulances and police. He almost died. That was the first time they sent Tim away to rehab.”

Scott chanced a quick glance at Lauren to find her watching intently. No pity, just genuine interest.

“I had a lot of anxiety after that. I was always afraid of new situations, unsure of what to expect, of what could happen around every corner. It drove my mom nuts. She just wanted us all to forget about what had happened and move on. But how does a ten-year-old move on from watching his brother OD on his bedroom floor? So one day my dad gave me a silver dollar and told me to grab onto it and rub my fingers over it when I felt like I couldn’t handle a situation. He said to focus my brain on trying to feel every ridge, dip, and detail of the coin. And it actually worked. It kept me grounded and focused on something familiar, rather than on all of the unknowns out there. I still carry it with me.” Scott looked down at her with a smirk. “As you already know.

“Tim was in and out of rehab for over eleven years.
Finally, one day, November twenty-fourth to be exact,” he added with a slight smirk in Lauren’s direction, “something clicked for him and he’s been clean for seven years. I think what bothers me the most about it all is how my parents reacted to the whole thing. At first they acted like the problem didn’t exist, and then when Tim didn’t respond to their help immediately, they completely abandoned him. Kicked him out on his ass the second he hit eighteen, and then cut off all contact with him a few years later.”

Now that Scott was talking, he couldn’t stop. It was like a massive purge that he hadn’t even known he’d needed. Granted, he’d told Gwen all of this stuff a million times, but telling Lo was different. He wasn’t paying Lauren to be interested; she was interested because she gave a shit about him. “The real kicker is that they’re the ones who drove him to the drugs in the first place, especially my mom. She was so hard on him. He couldn’t do anything right: he made his bed the wrong way, his grades weren’t good enough, he had bad manners, he didn’t keep his clothes clean enough. It was exhausting just watching her go at him.” Scott stopped speaking abruptly. He needed a second to get his shit back under control.

“She was that way with him but not you?”

Scott nodded.

“Why?”

He found himself at the part of the story he didn’t want to share. “Because she blamed him.”

“For what?”

Scott took a deep breath, and his words came out harsher than he intended. “Because she accused him of
trying to fuck up her marriage with my dad. Because she’s a completely insane individual who thought it was okay to take her small boys to her lover’s house so she could have an affair while she let her children play in the next room.”

Anger was rising up in his words, but Scott couldn’t help it. “Because she blamed an eleven-year-old for answering honestly when his dad asked what he’d done that day. And even though she conned my dad into sticking around, and she didn’t stop having affairs, she still decided that Tim was to blame for all the trouble that existed between my parents. So she spent the next however many years convincing him he was worthless until he finally believed her and turned to drugs to numb the pain
she’d
caused. And then to top all of it off, she cut him squarely out of her life when he got to be too much of a hassle to deal with.”

“God, Scott, I don’t even know what to say.”

Scott ignored her words, needing to get the rest of it out. “Do you want to know what the worst part of it is? Tim doesn’t blame her for any of it. He still thinks he deserved all the shit she put him through. And it scares the hell out of me because how can a guy ever truly get better when he believes all the nasty things she said are true?”

“Because he has you.”

“What?”

“He has you. Maybe his love for you is all he needs to stay clean.”

Scott shook his head. “Even if that were true, it’s not a good enough reason. He needs to be better for
himself
, not for me.”

“Getting to be a good brother and having you in his life
are
for himself. And don’t sell yourself short, Doctor.” She tugged gently on his hand, causing him to look over at her. “You’re worth being better for.”

Scott didn’t know what to say to that, so he pulled her hand to his lips for a quick kiss and let himself enjoy her words. As he got closer to home, Scott realized that, as sour as the night had turned, he wasn’t ready for it to be over yet. His hand slid over to Lauren’s inner thigh, and he felt her let out a heavy breath. They didn’t exchange words. Scott’s touch was all that was necessary to know that both of them wanted the other’s skin against their own.

By the time they made it inside Scott’s bedroom, he’d already begun slipping a hand up Lauren’s shirt to scratch the soft skin of her back until she raised her arms enough to let him pull her shirt over her head. No matter how much Scott pressed his lips against hers, it never felt like enough. Her mouth was much too sweet and the feel of her tongue against his—gentle strokes against hard licks—made him that much more aggressive.

She moaned into him as his hand gripped the back of her neck, and the vibration made his cock ache with the unbearable need to be inside her. “If you weren’t so fucking beautiful, I’d throw you against this wall and take you from behind. But I need to see you,” he groaned, “because nothing is sexier than seeing your face when I’m inside you.”

Lauren quivered against him as Scott toyed with her bra before unhooking it and letting it slide slowly down her arms to the floor.

Scott’s erection pressed against the inside of his jeans,
and Lauren ran her palm lightly over it just enough to tease him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this hard just from a woman’s hands on top of his pants. “I’m not going to let you make me come in my pants.”
Again.

“Is that a challenge?” Lauren countered, a playful laugh escaping into his mouth.

Scott ground his cock against her, wanting nothing more than to feel her lips around him as she took him deep. “More of an order,” he replied, popping the button of her jeans and helping her shimmy them down her hips.

“Mmm.”

“First,” he said seductively, drawing out the word as he nipped along her neck, “I’m going to get you so . . . fucking . . . dirty.” His fingers skated down Lauren’s stomach and under the fabric of her thong.
Fucking soaked.
“Then,” he said, thrusting his fingers deep inside her and letting his thumb rest on her clit, “you’re getting in the shower to clean up.” He smiled against her throat. “But this time I’m getting in
with
you.”

Lauren moaned softly as Scott’s fingers moved inside her, hitting the spots he knew drove her wild. The way he pinched her nipple between his fingers—sucked and nipped at the spot just below her collarbone—had her arching off the bed. He could anticipate Lauren’s every response with complete accuracy. And it comforted him to have a sexual partner he knew inside and out. Literally.

Lauren’s hands fisted in his T-shirt as he helped her pull it over his head. And when her fingertips traced the lines of his abs on their way down toward the waistband of his jeans, he nearly exploded with the need to have her hand
wrapped tightly around his cock while her tongue stroked him toward orgasm. “You know how much I want your mouth on me right now?”

He let out a low hiss when he felt Lauren’s fingers clamp hard around him. “Well, if past experience is any indicator, I have some idea.”

He smiled when he felt her tongue trail slippery lines down his stomach. With her mouth just above the base of his shaft, he guided his cock to her lips. “Suck me, Lo.”

Lauren complied, her tongue working tantalizingly up and down the throbbing vein of his dick. He heard the suction created by her lips gripping tightly around him. And the sound made him ache at the base of his spine as he struggled to hold off his orgasm. With small tugs of her hair, he moved her head back and forth as he thrust sharply inside her. Scott couldn’t remember getting so close to coming so quickly before. Lauren’s mouth couldn’t have been on him for more than two minutes, and he felt like he could lose it any second. But as much as he wanted to let go—feel himself jet into her mouth as she swallowed every drop he gave her—he wanted to come
with
her more. “Stop before I have to make you.”

Scott felt Lauren swirl her tongue around him once more before sucking hard on his tip and then pulling away. “What do you want?” Lauren whispered against his stomach as she stood.

“You.” He realized too late the unintended significance of his response and immediately tried to recover. “But first I need to return the favor.” Scott pulled Lo’s thong down her legs and tossed it on the floor before lying on the bed and spinning Lauren around so her ass
hovered above him. She lowered herself down onto his mouth before taking his cock in hers once again.

This time neither one of them was gentle. They sucked, licked and stroked each other until the sound of moans and wet mouths on each other’s skin filled Scott’s room. He growled against her and he knew that Lauren could feel the vibrations in her clit because of the way she then moaned while taking him deeper. When he felt he couldn’t hold off any longer, he pressed a wet finger against her perineum just enough to get her attention. He knew Lauren wouldn’t expect it, but it elicited the desired response—her bucking against him as she pulsed around Scott’s tongue.

Scott knew the feeling of Lauren’s pussy clenching over and over would be his undoing. He could never hold back after she came, her pleasure being a direct trigger for his own. Hard bursts shot to the back of Lauren’s throat, and the feeling of her swallowing against his tip prolonged his orgasm. Lauren didn’t let up until he’d finished completely, milking every drop with her clenched fist.

When both of them had come down from their orgasms, Lauren rolled off of Scott and positioned her head near his as she lay beside him. Thoughts of running slippery hands down Lauren’s wet body in the shower caused Scott to remain semierect. But he didn’t want to move yet. Just lying there with Lauren’s arm draped across his chest gave him a satisfaction he wasn’t used to feeling. But after a few minutes, the temptation of the awaiting shower was too much for him. He rolled off the bed and held out his hand to her to help her stand. Then he spun her around so she faced his bathroom, and Scott
got a thorough look at her from behind. “So how about that shower?” he asked with a playful slap to her ass.

*   *   *

The feel of the cold tile against Lauren’s nipples made them harden further. Scott pushed his erection against her ass as he rubbed body wash over her shoulder blades and around to her stomach. Lauren leaned back into him, allowing his solid chest to press against her and his hands to work their way up to her heavy breasts.

“So you’ve wanted me in this shower since the first time I stayed at your apartment?”

“Mm-hm,” Scott groaned against her neck. “I’ve wanted you in here since the day I met you.”

Lauren let out a small laugh that was barely audible over the sound of the hot water spraying them.

“If I’m being completely honest, I’ve jerked off to the thought of you in here too.”

Scott’s confession sent a rush of pleasure through her body. “Well, you know how I like honesty.”

Scott pulled her wet hair back and began to lather it in shampoo, his fingers working aggressively into her scalp. She relaxed at his touch, but her body was still worked up. She craved the man with every molecule of her being. And she could tell by how hard he felt against her ass, that he craved her too. He leaned her head back toward the water, pulling the soapy strands through his fingers until it was clean.

“So, Dr. Scott,” Lauren said with a flirtatious grin he could see as her head leaned back and he kissed her neck. “Are you gonna stand behind me and tease me all night, or are you gonna fuck me?”

Scott’s hands slid down to give her nipples a sharp pinch. The subtle pain turned her on even more. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to,” Scott said before sliding open the shower door and leaning out. The crinkling of foil told her he was retrieving a condom he had stashed somewhere.

Before Lauren knew what had happened, Scott had spun her around to face him. Tearing the packet open and tossing the wrapper aside, he sheathed himself with the latex. As his hands moved over his hard length, Lauren pictured him masturbate—pictured him making himself come for her—and the image made her beg to have him inside her. “Please, Scott.”