Page 49

Barrett blinked, then his hand slipped off the doorknob and he reached toward her face. Only when his fingers brushed her skin did he feel the wet streaks on her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

Nell’s face twisted and broke down.

Before she could get a strangled word out, Barrett grabbed her arms and pulled her into the house, curling her tight into his arms. She grabbed fistfuls of his shirt as her sobs took over.

Nell’s thin frame shook in his hold, cries muffled by his shoulder. His hand held her to him, rubbing along the back of her head, as he struggled to find the right balance between asking her if she was okay and offering murmurs of comfort.

What he was comforting her about, he wasn’t quite sure yet.

“The hell is going on out here—”

They both jumped at the loud yell emerging from the room. Nell hiccupped, pulling away in surprise, as Barrett spun.

Ron stared at them. His eyes were wide and bloodshot from clearly having just woken up.

Barrett cursed internally. He’d forgotten Ron was home.

“O-oh,” Nell said, her voice hoarse. She tried to clear it. “I’m sorry to bother you.”

Ron didn’t respond immediately. His narrowed eyes surveyed the scene in front of him, spotting Nell frantically wiping the tears from her face, then focusing on Barrett’s arm still wrapped around Nell’s waist.

He raised a brow.

Barrett’s first instinct was to pull away, but what was the point?

Barrett cleared his throat. “Let’s go talk in my room,” he said to Nell, pinning Ron with a look that successfully got him to stay quiet as he guided her toward his bedroom.

He closed and locked the door behind them.

Nell’s shoulders drooped as soon as the lock clicked, and her legs seemed to give out as she sat on the edge of his bed. She dropped her face into her hands. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come here. I just—”

“Hey, hey. No.” Barrett shook his head, kneeling in front of her to slowly pull her hands down, which gave him a clear view of her face.

Her cheeks were splotchy and red from the crying, her blue eyes glistening.

God, how could she be so beautiful even like this?

“I’m glad you came. You know you’re always welcome. ”

She sniffled and nodded. “My parents found out about us.”

Barrett almost lost his hold on her hands, his fingers going numb with the rest of his body and brain.

“They, uh . . . Us. Hmm, right, okay,” he rambled, blinking rapidly. It took him an embarrassingly long time to regain any comprehensive thought.

Nell stared to the side as he tried to figure out how to respond.

Because how was he supposed to respond? “Oh, that’s splendid news. So glad to be a part of the family.”

Obviously not. Clearly, this was not splendid news. Not when his girlfriend was crying in his arms about it.

It wasn’t a surprise, though, right? What was he expecting? Her pastor father to welcome him with open arms and look past literally everything about him? Dream on.

“So, guessing it wasn’t . . .”

“Wasn’t great, yeah.” She sighed. “He kicked me out.” She avoided his eyes, staring at Sandra on the wall instead.

Oh.

Right.

Now that part did surprise him.

These were the parents who’d freaked out when she left the house for too long without them knowing. Parents who would rather watch her every hour of every day if she let them.

And now, they just kicked her out. Left her to fend for herself.

Because of him ?

Come on, he wasn’t that bad, was he?

“I don’t have anywhere to stay, and you’re the first person I could think of.”

He could smell the apology about to follow that.

Instead of letting her get to that point, he smiled and pulled her into him, her face in the crook of his neck. He smoothed the back of her hair. “I think I have room for one more in my bed.”

There was a small puff of air on his neck as she laughed softly, then pulled back. “Are you sure it’s okay? What about Ron?”

“I’ll talk to Ron.”

She opened her mouth, her lips turned down in worry. But after a few moments of what looked like contemplation, she closed it and seemed to accept that she had no other choice.

Well, that wasn’t true. Any of the other guys would let her stay with them, but despite the shittiness of the situation, a small unspoken part of Barrett was dancing giddily at the chance to live with his girlfriend even temporarily.

Standing up, he leaned in to brush his lips softly on her forehead. Her eyes closed, and when he pulled away, he could see the exhausted lines under her eyes.

“Why don’t you lie down, get some rest? I’ll talk to Ron, and we’ll get everything figured out, okay?”

She sighed but did as he suggested.

Barrett slipped out as she began to take off her jacket and shoes.

He took a deep breath and walked back out to the kitchen.

He’d hoped that Ron had returned to his own room and he could procrastinate this conversation, but it was too good to be true.

Ron stood in the kitchen, mug in hand with freshly brewed coffee, arms crossed, and a stern quirk of his brow.

“I’m starting to wonder what kind of lessons you’re giving that girl.”

* * *

Ron sipped slowly at the last drops of his coffee, silent and contemplating everything Barrett had told him. Barrett tried to hide his nerves, but his fingers tapping rapidly against his leg weren’t cooperating.

Ron didn’t seem at all surprised when Barrett had told him of their relationship and a censored version of how they’d gotten to this point. He hadn’t even flinched when Barrett told him why Nell’s parents had kicked her to the curb.

Instead, he had just sighed with his whole chest and poured himself another cup of coffee.

Minutes had passed.

Ron sipped. Barrett tapped. Ron sipped again. Barrett tapped quicker.

Barrett snapped. “Look, I know you have some reservations about her or whatever. But like it or not, she’s my girlfriend, and she needs a place to stay right now. She’s staying no matter what you think. So if you’re going to try and convince—”

“Of course she can stay.”

“—me otherwise then . . . Wait, what?”

“I’m not some monster who’s gonna turn away a girl who needs help. Especially not my nephew’s . . . girlfriend. She needs a place to stay. She can stay here as long as she needs.” Ron set down his mug.

Barrett blinked, nodding slowly. “Right. That’s a relief.” He’d expected more pushback.

“I still stand by what I said before, though. I don’t want her to hurt you, but I trust you to know what’s best. Plus”—for the first time, Ron’s lips quirked into a teasing smile—“I can’t believe you have a girlfriend.”

A wash of relief and embarrassment made Barrett throw his head back and laugh, shaking his curls. “I can’t either, honestly.”

“And it’s her .” Ron crossed his arms and shook his head in disbelief. “Wow.”

“I know.”

“Only took you, like, six years.”

“Shut up.”

* * *

Barrett slipped back into his bedroom, closing the door as silently behind him as he could.

Nell lay on her side, asleep with her back turned to him and his comforter pulled over her body. He took it all in.

His girl in his bed.

He wished that the circumstances left more room for celebration, but he could behave.

He moved to slip out of his shirt, pulling it over his head and letting it fall into the full hamper in the corner of the room, and searched through his drawers for a clean one to change into.

“Scott?”

He jumped at her soft voice. He turned and found her sitting up, watching him.

Ditching the shirt, he walked across the room to her, sitting on the edge of the bed so he could grab her hand.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“Is everything okay with Ron?”

Barrett smiled, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear and letting his thumb brush her cheek. “Of course. He’s fine with you staying.”

Her shoulders relaxed. “I’ll help around the house. I can cook some things. I promise I won’t just veg out the entire time, okay?”

Barrett chuckled and nodded. “Do whatever you want. Consider this your place for now.”

She smiled, her cheeks pinkening slightly. “I love you.”

Barrett grinned, his heart pounding. He would never get used to that.

Leaning in, he captured her lips more aggressively than he meant to.

Her arms wrapped around his neck in response, pulling him into her. She kissed him desperately, emotionally. He let her take the lead. She probably needed this distraction.

One of his arms balanced them while his other fingers poked out, searching for the bottom hem of her shirt. They tapped against the fabric, moving downwards, until they hit skin.

Barrett’s eyes popped open, and he pulled back to look.

He hadn’t noticed it before because she’d mostly been covered by the blanket, but when he pulled it away, he saw the whole picture.

His jeans strained more by the second, his mouth dry.

“Is that my shirt? And no pants?”

Nell’s cheeks were red with embarrassment and something else. She ran a self-conscious hand over the front of the AC/DC logo. “It’s comfortable.”

“Fuck yes, it is.” Barrett pulled the blanket completely off her legs until she was fully uncovered. His shirt was long enough it could hide anything to her mid-thigh, but at some point, it had ridden up, revealing pastel blue panties just barely peeking out from below the black fabric.

Barrett groaned and leaned back, running a hand over his face. “I told myself I was gonna behave.”

“Please don’t,” she whispered. Her hand that had been resting on his shoulder moved down, paying special attention to the tattoos on his bare chest.

He was a goner. “Well shit.”

This time, when he kissed her, he laid her backwards into his mattress. He crawled up, without breaking the movement of their mouths, until he was straddling her with his arms holding him over her.

He held himself back as best he could. But her hands wouldn’t stop moving. It was like she was constantly looking for something to grab—his hair, his neck, his arms, his chest, his side, his zipper.

He exhaled against her mouth and took the hint, assisting her in unzipping his pants and gently guiding her hand into his jeans.

Despite that sweet, nervous look on her face, she didn’t act the same way with her hand. She knew exactly what kind of control it had over him.

She palmed him steadily through his boxers with the kind of pressure that made him jerk his hips into her hold and beg for more.

A deep groan stole from his throat and delivered itself into her mouth as her fingers brushed over the covered tip. “God, Nell.”

That seemed to only spur her on, and her hand picked up its pace.

Half sane, he was desperate to return the favor.

He gave his left arm the sole responsibility of holding him up, and his right hand hastily lifted the shirt the rest of the way up, uncovering Nell’s entire lower half. He slid his fingers between her legs, brushing the blue and finding a damp spot that made her chest curl up into his.

It was the first time her hand faltered, her pacing growing erratic.

Her mouth finally fell away from him, her head falling backward to let out a wide-open gasp with her eyes closed. Barrett, on the other hand, couldn’t look away.

His two fingers pushed the blue to the side and let him make direct contact with the warmth it had been hiding. They slid easily into her, and with Nell’s hand growing frantic against his crotch, he was becoming dangerously close to giving in.

“Please, please, please,” Nell whispered between breathy pants. “Please, Scott, please.”

“You’re so fucking beautiful, you know that?” Barrett murmured into her neck, kissing at the skin. “Everything about you. I can’t believe I get you. I can’t believe you love me. That I’m the one who gets to stick my fingers in you and make you moan like that.”

Nell didn’t respond, too busy grinding her hips onto his hand at the same pace he fucked into hers.

Nell let out a succession of gasps mixed with his name whispered from her lips, and he felt his fingers grow wetter.

It nearly sent him over the edge.

He managed to control himself enough to pull his slick fingers out of her and fumble with his pants, pulling himself out of them and searching the nightstand for a condom. He found one and slid it on, his eyes trained on Nell’s flushed face as she watched him with dark eyes.

He cursed under his breath when she spread her legs apart and slid her panties down the rest of the way to clear his path.

“You’re perfect. So fucking perfect.” He ran his hand from her knee to her thigh and lined himself up with her center.

It was embarrassing how worked up he already was.

He knew the second he slid into her and she tilted her head back, mouth open in a silent moan, he wouldn’t last long.

She put her hand between her legs, touching herself as he groaned.

He thrust into her, his arms straining to hold him up, until he couldn’t handle it anymore. He spilled himself with a grunt as his head dropped into the crook of her neck. She gave a sharp gasp, and he felt the warmth tighten around him.

When their breathing slowed and he finally lifted his head, he had stars in his vision. She looked up at him, her face more relaxed than it had been since she first arrived. His hair hung into her face, brushing against her cheek.

She twisted a strand of it between her fingers and smiled sleepily up at him. “I don’t know what I would do without you,” she whispered, like it was a secret.

Barrett kissed her one final time, then her cheek. “If I have anything to do with it, you’ll never have to find out.”