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Chapter Three

Clay

I glanced at my watch. Where the hell were Lucas and Knox? I’d been sitting in The Tilted Flask for about half an hour, waiting for the guys. This wasn’t our usual hangout. We’d only agreed to come here because our normal hangout, Illusions, was under some major renovation.

I checked my phone for any messages from either of them. There was nothing. In fact, neither of them had even read the reminder message I’d sent a little over an hour ago when I’d pulled into the parking lot.

Figures, I thought to myself.

They were both busy with their lives. Knox and Lorelai were in the middle of planning their wedding, and ever since Lucas surprised us with his marriage announcement to Ella, he’d become unavailable almost every night we were home.

Dylan and I figured that tonight would be a good boys’ night, since the girls were supposed to be getting together. Then he dropped the bomb that he couldn’t make it. He was still trying to work things out with his father before he and Aurora got married and the baby was born.

I nodded at the bartender to bring me another beer and glanced across the bar. I’d been watching the couple that were sitting down near the end of the bar. Perhaps they weren’t even a couple. He appeared to be considerably older than her, hovering around her like flies to a slice of rotten meat, and her body language screamed that she wanted to be left alone.

The more I watched her, the more I noticed how uncomfortable she looked. Even at this distance, I couldn’t help but think that she looked familiar to me, like I knew her from somewhere, and for the past ten minutes, I’d been trying to place her. Then she glanced my way. The moment our eyes met, I knew where I’d seen her before.

I swallowed hard, growing more irritated as I watched this guy paw all over Peyton, Knox’s younger sister. What the hell was she doing here?

Maybe it was a good thing Knox wasn’t here now, I thought to myself.

As I sat there, continuing to watch them, I realized how pretty she really was. Hell, the last time I’d run into her, I’d slipped and kissed her. It wasn’t exactly one of my proudest moments, and while I’d regretted it for a few reasons, I’d not for many others. I’d always found her attractive, and if I hadn’t been afraid of having my nuts removed from her brother, I’d have gone in for the kill. The entire situation truly was a double-edged sword.

I glanced across the bar again only to see her staring at me—everything about her, her body language, her eyes were pleading for help.

“Hey, man, thanks for the beer. Could I get one more, please?” I asked the bartender, who’d just placed the bottle down in front of me at the perfect time.

“Sure thing,” he said, cracking the other bottle and setting it down in front of me.

“I’m just going to head on over there, but you have my card.”

“Sure thing,” he said glancing to the opposite side of the bar before moving on to the next patron.

I gathered both bottles, my jacket, and got up off my seat, making my way around the bar. I came up behind Peyton, making sure the guy who was hitting on her saw me coming. He eyed me as I approached them.

“Hey, buddy. Can I help you?” he asked as I stood there making eye contact with him before placing my jacket on the back of her chair.

Peyton looked up at me, her eyes pleading with me for help. I placed my free hand on her shoulder and set both bottles down on the bar in front of her.

“Here you go, darling. Sorry I was late. Couldn’t get out of work. You know how it is. Then, of course, traffic was insane,” I added.

“Who the fuck are you?” the guy asked, taking on a bit of a defensive stance.

He hadn’t seen me sitting across the bar, which only gave me the advantage. I mean, how could he have noticed me? He’d practically been drooling in her lap the entire time I’d been watching them.

“One should ask you that,” I said, my voice calm as I bent down and placed a kiss on the top of Peyton’s head and gently massaged the back of her neck.

“Is this your fucking boyfriend?” the man asked, looking at her, gripping his beer bottle tight enough his knuckles turned white.

Peyton took hold of my hand that now rested on her shoulder and nodded.

“Fucking sluts…” the man muttered to himself as he turned around and made his way deeper into the bar.

At least he knew what was good for him, I thought as I took a seat beside Peyton and grabbed one bottle of beer I’d brought over.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I questioned, nodding to the beer I’d placed in front of her.

“Trying to unwind. What about you, Clay?”

“Ah, I see. Well, I was supposed to meet your brother and Lucas here, but it appears I’m on my own. So, I guess you could say I’m here unwinding as well.”

“While I can’t speak for Lucas, Knox won’t be coming, thank goodness. He’s at home dealing with my mother.”

“Why? What’s wrong with Mom?” I questioned, taking a drink.

“Abusive boyfriend.”

“Ah, and what about you? How are things from the last time you were here? Did you clean up your act like you promised?”

“Let’s just say I somewhat kept my promise, and before you go all high and mighty on me, Knox has already dealt with me, which is why I’m here. So, I don’t need another lecture from big brother.”

I chuckled. “No lecture, I was just curious. People will do what they want when they want. No skin off my back.”

She picked up the beer bottle and clinked it against mine. “At least you get it,” she said, taking a mouthful of beer.

“I do, probably better than most. Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit?”

“As long as you’re okay with putting up with the other Evans tonight?” she questioned, winking at me.

I chuckled under my breath. “Then I guess lucks on my side. You’re the better-looking Evans, anyway.” I winked. “So, when did you get into town? Knox didn’t mention to anyone that you guys were coming.”

“That’s because we weren’t. Knox came home to deal with this ass that was going to end up killing our mother. He forced me to come out here after he found out through my mother that I was still dealing with Tor.”

“Ah, I see. I thought we devised a plan the last time you were here to get you away from him?” I asked, grabbing her beer to see she had about as much as I had left, then signalled to the bartender for two more.

“We did,” she said, looking over at me, those beautiful green eyes staring back at me.

“What happened?”

“It wasn’t as easy as I thought once I got back and talked to him.”

I met her eyes and nodded.

“Let me guess, he made promises to you he’d change, promised you the world, and has so far delivered on none of them.”

She sat there looking over at me with a stunned expression.

“How’d you guess it went something like that?” she asked, helping herself to one of the cold beers the bartender had dropped off, taking a drink.

“Because I have a dick too, Peyton,” I said, leaning into her, giving her a nudge with my shoulder. “If it meant keeping some pretty little thing like you attached to my side and in my bed, that would come at my beck and call, no matter how I treated her, I’d tell her what she wanted to hear as well. If I were the same type of guy, that is.”

“Does my brother know you treat women that way?”

“No, darlin’, because I don’t treat women that way.”

“Is that so? What’s the difference then between you and Tor?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I took a mouthful of beer.

“Well, the difference is I’m a fucking man. I treat you the way you should be treated— with respect. I don’t play games, and I’d never tell you something just because I know it was what you wanted to hear. Guys like Tor don’t deserve girls like you—or anyone, for that fact.”

Peyton tore her eyes away from me and looked down at the bottle in her hands. She picked at the corner of the label for a few seconds, her hand shaking.

“What do you mean, girls like me?”

“Girls like you—smart, attractive, girls with a future. Guys like him, they aren’t going any further than where they are right now, except maybe to jail, and they will hightail it on the first signs of trouble only to pick their next victim. Exactly like the guy you were talking to earlier. The second he laid eyes on me, he placed a nasty label on you and took off looking for his next piece of meat,” I said, nodding over toward the corner.

Peyton looked over to see exactly what I meant. The guy who’d been all over her when I approached was already talking with another girl who was feeding out of the palm of his hand. We sat there watching them; he took the drink out of her hand and guided her toward the door, both of them leaving the bar.

“How did you do that?” she asked, looking over at me.

“Do what? Read him?”

She slowly nodded.

“As I told you—”

“You have a dick,” she said, meeting my eyes.

She stared at me for a few minutes and then tore her eyes from mine, looking back down at the bottle in her hand, picking at the label again.

“You feel like getting out of here?” I questioned, placing my arm across the back of her chair.

Peyton shrugged. “I don’t want to go home just yet. I don’t want to listen to my brother go off on my mom, or on me again,” she said, looking up at one of the TVs that was playing a hockey game.

“I didn’t say get out of here and go home. I asked if you wanted to get out of here, maybe come back to my place. Have you eaten?”

She shook her head as she looked up at me.

“Well, we could order in some food. Watch a movie or the rest of the game.” I nodded toward the TV, then turned my attention to her.

She looked up at me. God, she was gorgeous—those beautiful large green eyes, those perfect, full bowed lips. God, I’d love to kiss her again, but I knew there was no way in hell I could or should touch her.

“That sounds fun. Let’s go.”

I took care of the bill while she threw her coat on, and together we made our way out of the dingy little bar.

The TV was on, casting a soft glow over my living room. Empty beer bottles and dirty plates sat on the coffee table in front of us. We’d picked up Thai food before coming up to my place, enjoyed the meal as we talked, drank, and watched the game before one thing led to the other.

Peyton now straddled my lap, my fingers combed through her hair as we kissed, my left hand gripping her ass. A soft moan escaped her as she ground her hips against me.

I’d lost track of how we’d gotten to this point. All I knew was that it had to do with all the empty bottles that lay on my living room table, and a brief conversation about the kiss we’d shared in the car the last time she’d been here. Then one little kiss had led to her straddling my lap.

“God, I want more of you.” She moaned into my mouth as her lips danced against mine.

I wrapped my arms around her and stood up as she wrapped her legs around my waist, her arms around my neck, sucking my bottom lip between hers.

I carried her down the hall, toward the bedroom, dropping her almost-naked body down on the bed. I wasted no time. I dropped my pants, letting them fall to my feet, and joined her on the bed, unclasping her bra, taking her right nipple into my mouth, swirling my tongue over the hardened nub.

She fisted my hair as I bit down a little, causing her to cry out.

“Not so hard.” She giggled as I sucked the other into my mouth while my fingers played with the other.

“Pain is part of the fun, darlin’. Give me five minutes, and you’ll be begging me for things to be harder.”

I pulled my shirt off over my head, throwing it to the corner of the room, and took hold of her legs, parting them. I lifted one of her legs, resting it on my shoulder, and took a moment to kiss the inside of her ankle, then her knee.

She let out a soft moan as she watched me move to the other leg and repeat the same thing. I slid my hands down her inner thighs, squeezing them, as my thumbs rubbed circles close to her centre.

She closed her eyes and arched her back as I brought my hands around her hips, resting them on her perfect ass. I kissed her lower abdomen, then placed tiny kisses on the tops of her thighs, dragging my tongue to her inner thigh.

“Don’t tease.” She moaned.

“I love to tease,” I whispered, taking a tiny taste of her and giving her nothing more for the moment.

She looked down at me as I placed soft kisses once again on her inner thighs. She wanted more. I could see it in her eyes as I ran my fingers along the tops of her thighs. I watched her as she watched me, pleading with her eyes for more until I could no longer deny her. I gave her what she wanted, this time running my tongue over her clit many times before sucking it between my lips.

“Holy hell,” she cried out, fisting my hair.

“You like that?” I questioned, watching her body lift off the bed.

She was about to say something when I repeated the move, watching as her head fell against the pillow and her back arched off the bed. I took that opportunity to take her breasts in my hands and roll her nipples between my fingers, making her moan loudly.

“Oh god…” she cried, breathless. “Do it…”

Before she could get the words out, I repeated that little trick one last time, sucking her clit between my lips again, this time allowing her to build toward her orgasm a little more. Just as she tightened her legs around my head, I stopped, then pushed her legs open, got up on my knees, and reached for a condom. Slipping it on myself, I lined myself up and thrust deep inside of her.

“Oh god…” she moaned, biting her bottom lip as she looked up at me.

I took both her legs, placed each one on my shoulders, and leaned forward, pumping fast and deep inside her. I felt her hands rest on my hips, as most girls did when I took them this way. They figured they could control me, slow me down, but I always proved them wrong.

“Hope you’re ready to be taken like you should be,” I stated, looking deep into her eyes where the anticipation lay.

I thrust deep into her, over and over, until I felt her tightening, then pulled out, flipping her over onto her stomach.

She was easy to maneuver, being so tiny, as most girls were for me. I gripped her hips, pulling her back so she was on her knees. I lined myself against her and thrust deep inside as she let out another deep moan.

Slowing my pace, I ran my hands over the cheeks of her ass, giving her a light tap.

“You ever had your back door played with gorgeous?” I asked, spreading her cheeks and pressing my thumb on the tight button.

She let out a loud moan, then pulled herself forward.

“No.” She moaned into the mattress.

Slowing my pace, I continued thrusting into her, then gripped her hip and pulled her back against me, where I spread her cheeks again.

“I think I’d like to take that one day,” I whispered, pressing my finger against that tight little hole, feeling her tense at the idea. “Not to worry, though, not tonight. Tonight, it’s just about this pussy. My pussy,” I said quietly, burying myself deeper into her.

Gripping her hips tight, I thrust into her, feeling her clench around me while I continued my pace, going as deep as I could, full strokes, bottoming out with each thrust. Her moans filled the room, getting louder and louder the closer she got.

As her pussy tightened around me, she backed up against me, keeping me deep inside her as she came. I could feel myself getting closer as she throbbed around me, combined with the sounds of her moans. Calling my name made my climax come faster than normal. The base of my spine tightened, the room grew dark, and one small move from her, I spilled into her.