Thrasher (16 page)

His body shook with laughter. “Yes, but you’ll have to make it quick. I’ve got to catch a flight.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Spring break had come to an end, and before I knew it, I was back in front of my students doing what I loved most, teaching.

Megan slipped into my classroom just as the bell rang to close out the first day back to school. “Hey!” she shouted.

My body flew toward her, and I embraced her in a hug. “Hi. I feel like I haven’t seen you in months.”

Her light giggle tickled my ear. “It’s only been a few days, but I’m sure they’ve been long days, considering.”

She was absolutely right. Long days and even longer nights. “Can we please go out for drinks or, better yet, want to come to my new place?”

I watched on as her eyes lit up, and she let out a squeal. “Oh my gosh, yes!”

The two of us linked arms and headed to our cars before taking off to my new house.

I rifled through my purse and finally found my keys in the side pocket. “Voilà. My keys,” I said, turning the lock and opening the door.

Megan followed me into my new home and stood there in the foyer for a moment, glancing around. “I can’t believe you bought a house.”

My fingers pushed the door shut behind us. “I know. It’s crazy. I may not have all of my furniture yet, but there was a wine refrigerator already built in, so the necessities are covered.”

I showed her to the kitchen and took two wine glasses from the cabinet. I filled them before handing Megan’s glass to her. Just then, I heard the front door open, and loud stomps thumped across the hardwood floor, finding us in the kitchen.

John stood there staring at the two of us, and I watched Megan size him up, looking him over from head to toe.

“John, you’re here,” I said, excited to introduce him to my best friend. “This is Megan. Get used to her being around. She’s my best friend. Megan, this is John, my new bodyguard.”

Megan stood and shook John’s hand, and then he turned and took the stairs up to the second floor.

“So that’s John. Tripp told me to stay away from him, that he’s bad news.”

I rolled my eyes and led the way toward the back patio, where we sat down by the pool. “What else does Tripp have to say about John? I’m sure Duke is filling their heads with bullshit.”

Megan leaned back in one of the chairs. She pulled her feet up underneath her as she took a sip of her wine. “I don’t think it’s bullshit, Brie. You know Duke and his team are the best. They wouldn’t be concerned if they didn’t have reason.”

My body paced back and forth in front of the pool before I’d finally had enough and unleashed on my best friend. “I don’t buy that for a second. How am I supposed to believe anything that even comes out of his mouth after he continually lied to me? I’d fallen for him, wholeheartedly. Fallen head over heels in love with Duke Thrasher only to find out I’d just been a project to him.”

Megan shook her head. “It’s not like that, Brie, and you know it. Duke may have been working for your father, but that didn't change the fact that he was falling in love with you too. He tried to tell you numerous times. It just never worked out.”

Her words caused me to whip around and glare at her. “What do you mean he tried to tell me numerous times? How do you know that?”

Her eyes widened as if she’d just been busted, and I stepped closer to her as she poured all of the wine left in her glass down her throat. She was doing her very best to avoid eye contact with me. “Megan, please tell me you weren’t hiding this from me too?”

Her body shifted in the seat, her eyes finally reaching mine, and I knew my best friend had also been in on the secret.

“I’m sorry, Brie,” she stammered, lifting herself out of the chair. “I overheard Tripp one day. I wanted to tell you, I promise, but Tripp made me swear. And once Duke found out that I knew, he assured me that he was going to tell you. Brie, he begged me to let him do it. He wanted to be the one to tell you, not me.”

“Get out!” I yelled, throwing my wine glass across the patio. It shattered against the side of the house.

Megan stood there still as a statue.

“I said get out!” I screamed again.

Her body began to move closer to me. “Brie, please don’t do this.”

From the inside of my dining room, I heard a deep masculine voice. “She’s asked you twice. Now you either leave, or I’ll put you out. And quite frankly, I’m not in the mood to deal with your boyfriend again.”

Her head turned toward the house, and Megan glared hatefully at John before she showed herself to the front door.

Upset with her, I ran past John and straight upstairs into my bedroom. I dumped a box of clothes onto my bed and flung things left and right until I came across my itty-bitty, hot-pink, Brazilian-cut bikini.
Perfect.

John was standing on the patio when I quietly came down the stairs. His body looked huge in comparison to my tiny frame. I walked up next to him and stood there at his side, still furious at Duke, my best friend, and Tripp — but mostly at myself.

John cleared his throat. “You going for a swim?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I laced my fingers with his and pulled him toward the Jacuzzi. I stepped up on the ledge so I was eye-level with him. My fingers reached for the hem of his shirt, and I began lifting it above his head until he was bare-chested in front of me. I examined his sculpted body, covered in tattoos.

“Brie, we shouldn’t be doing this.” His gruff tone spoke, but I didn’t listen.

I ran my hands down his chest and rested them on his belt buckle and agreed, “I know, but I need this. I need a distraction from all of this shit. I promise, I won’t ask to be your girlfriend. I just need someone to take my mind off everything, especially Duke.”

John’s chest rose and fell with his breathing, and I watched as his eyes closed for a moment.

Please, John,
I begged inwardly.

His body remained still, eyes sealed shut. He was a good person, contrary to what Duke and Tripp thought. Apparently he wasn’t going to allow me use him as my own personal sex toy.

A heavy sigh escaped me as defeat took over. I turned away from John and stood there, half-hurt and half-thankful that I’d just been rejected. I straightened my posture and tried to figure out a way to save face, to make him forget that I’d just thrown myself at him.

But before I could turn around to apologize, the warmth of two strong hands gripped my hips, his body closing the gap between us. Relieved I hadn’t actually been rejected, I allowed myself to relax as I sank into his massive structure. My body began to tingle as one of his hands slid across me and rested between the bottom of my belly button and the top of my bikini bottoms. The other reached for the string tied around my back and pulled it loose.

A faint gasp escaped my mouth as the cool breeze pricked my skin, causing my nipples to harden.

He tugged at the string around my neck, allowing my bikini top to fall to the floor, and he shifted my body so I was facing him. His eyes took in the sight of my bare chest.

John stepped out of his boots and then threw an arm around me and hoisted me up. My legs wrapped snugly around his waist. He shimmied out of his pants, leaving him in nothing but his boxers. He took a giant step over the Jacuzzi ledge and sank down into the hot, bubbling water, positioning me so that I was straddling his lap.

Not wanting my nerves to get the best of me, I crashed my lips down onto his, while his huge hands massaged my breast, rolling my nipples between his thumbs. I moaned into his mouth and then flung my head back in pure bliss. John’s hands were all over me, and I could feel him growing beneath me.

My hands ran through his hair as I licked the water that’d splashed onto his neck. His body shivered beneath my tongue.

“I need this so bad,” I moaned.

John’s fingers clawed down the sides of my ribs and then pulled the strings that held my bottoms in place. He tugged at my bottoms, pulling them out from under me, and discarded them on the deck right along with my top. He forced his boxers off and gripped my hips roughly as he slipped his throbbing erection into me, filling my body.

I moved my hips as quickly as I could, needing to feel the release that was building between my legs, but John pulled out just before I had a chance to explode. He flipped me so I was leaning over the ledge of the hot tub and grabbed a fistful of my hair as he dove in for more. Instinctively, I arched my back and moaned loudly as my body began to meet each of his thrusts.

He was being forceful, but not enough to hurt. In fact, it was perfect, just what I needed as a stress reliever. My fingers slipped in between my legs as I began massaging myself while John continued pounding deeply. My breath heightened, and the sensation was unbearable. I was almost there.

John released my hair and grabbed ahold of my hips so tight I was sure there were going to be bruises tomorrow, but I didn't stop him. I craved this release, and I could tell he did as well. He shoved even deeper inside of my core and pounded relentlessly. Each forceful thrust caused my body to come even further undone, until I shattered around his erection, my insides throbbing as if they had their own pulse. I collapsed onto the ledge of the Jacuzzi, John holding himself over me, still inside of my soaking wet center.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Immediately after having sex with John, I’d felt like I’d done something wrong. He was my employee, for God’s sakes. What on earth had I been thinking? I’d spent the next few days trying to avoid him. He finally got ahold of me and demanded I have dinner with him.

“John, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

He assured me that we just needed to hash out what had happened, and we’d be back to normal, so I decided to try.

“Wow, you look really beautiful,” he said standing up from the table when I walked into the restaurant.

I smiled and thanked him. “How have you been? I’m grateful you were able to keep a low profile for the past couple days. I don’t want my father to think you aren’t capable of doing your job.” I’d lied to John, telling him that my father wanted all our security to fly under the radar for a few days as there were threats against the campaign, and he didn’t want our teams compromised. I realized it had sounded utterly stupid, but John had fallen for it, or at least he’d pretended to.

He peered across the table at me and grinned. “I’ve been good. Tired, but good. I haven’t really slept well since that night.”

I felt myself flush red and immediately tried to change the conversation. “So, did you see the basketball game last night? I heard there was a huge fight, and players are banned from the next couple of games.”

John’s expression became irritated. “No, I didn’t see the game. I don’t even watch basketball. The only thing I keep watching is a replay of the night in the Jacuzzi.”

I sighed heavily. “John, listen, you’re a great guy, but that didn’t mean anything. I needed a release, and you were there. I’m not going to get involved with another one of my security guards ever again. I’ve seen firsthand what it can do to me, and I refuse to let that happen again. I’m sorry, but we’ve got to keep this completely professional.”

His body slumped, but before I could feel bad for him, he straightened his shoulders. “You’re right. I get it.”

The rest of dinner was awkward and mostly silent. I tried talking, but John just shoveled food into his mouth every time I asked him a question. He finally walked me to my car and opened the door for me.

“I’ll see that you get home safely, and then I’m going to head home to rest up.”

I smiled at him. “Thanks.”

He followed me all the way home, and as soon as I closed the door to my house, I saw the lights of his truck trail off. I quickly climbed into my bed and snuggled up onto the pile of pillows and flipped the TV on. I fell asleep to one of my favorite shows.

A few weeks passed painfully slow as I learned how to deal with the loss of my boyfriend and best friend. Megan and I were back on speaking terms at school, but outside of campus, I still didn’t want anything to do with her. I knew it was wrong to continue to be upset with her for having hidden the fact that Duke worked for my father, but she was my best friend. She should have never kept that from me, no matter what, and I just wasn’t ready to forgive her yet.

Thursday rolled around and a few of us at school had made plans to go out Friday night, so I told John where I’d be. “Tomorrow I’ll be at McDinton’s with a few friends. I should be fine, so feel free to take the night off.”

John stared at me unimpressed. “I’m not taking the night off. My job is to protect you. I’m coming with you.”

I shook my head, irritated, and began shouting at him. “Damn it, John, no! I do not need you up my ass. Anytime you’re with me, everyone thinks you are my boyfriend, and I am tired of being cock-blocked by you.”

A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, pissing me off even further.

“It’s not funny, John. You are just like Duke. You care more about the damn job than you do me being happy or having a good time.”

His massive body stepped into my personal space, and John gripped my shoulders. “I’ll stop cock-blocking if you stop pretending there aren’t any feelings between us.”