Awakening Her Racy Passion [Racy Nights 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (6 page)

“I understand. I just want to make sure me and Wyatt are still okay with all of you.”

“You and Wyatt are part of us. We’re friends. Everything is fine, as far as I’m concerned. I’m just asking you to tread carefully.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

The talk turned to other subjects and on the surface, everything appeared fine with him, Maddox, and Julie. But as Trent watched the dynamics between Luke and Ria, he realized how strained their relationship was, and he didn’t remember it being like that before he’d left. He also wondered what the hell he’d just gotten himself into. He was only taking her for X-rays, but he knew there was an ulterior motive for doing so. Should he extricate himself from this crazy-assed obsession now, while he still could?

If Wyatt wanted to get hot and heavy with her, he should simply back off and let him do it. He hadn’t been gone from Racy for the past three years. His position with their friends and in this small community of kinksters was solid. And they knew that Wyatt had never been one to go along with the crowd when he felt the need to go in a different direction, yet they still respected and trusted him.

Trent couldn’t help but wonder if they’d do the same for him, or if he’d find himself as much of an outcast as Ria. She gave him quick glances every few minutes, and it was obvious she was watching him interact with Maddox and Julie. How badly did she want to make things right? Was it possible she simply didn’t know how to start?

At the very least, he could help her do that. And then, whatever happened or didn’t happen, at least he’d have done that much. It wouldn’t be what he had hoped, but it would be the right thing to do. There was good in Ria. The BDSM community in this town should have a chance to see that.

Ria smiled when Trent walked back into the bar at five minutes to midnight. There were no customers left and she and Luke had been about to lock up. “Do you want me to follow you there?” she asked.

Trent nodded. “As long as you’re okay to drive.”

“She’s been working all evening since she fell,” said Luke. “It’s probably not even necessary for her to go now. She’ll be there all night waiting.”

Trent grinned and shook his head. “No she won’t. I have pull. This won’t take long at all.”

Luke didn’t answer, and Ria ignored him. He’d been in a bad mood for days now, but since he rarely confided in her anymore, she had no clue why. She and Luke had been close when they were younger, and Ria missed that closeness. She missed Rafe, too. Family dinners on Sundays weren’t the same without her brothers.

Nothing had been the same between her and Luke since last winter when she’d started working for him, and when he and Alexa had become an item. She was happy for him, because she knew how much he loved Alexa, but she wished she could figure out a way to put things back the way they were between her and Luke.

“Ready?” Trent’s voice pulled her back to the present.

“Yes.”

She walked outside with them, and Trent waited until Luke had left to ask if she wouldn’t rather ride with him. “We can come back and get your car when we’re done.”

“Sure. Okay.” No one would mess with it. It was a piece of shit. As she climbed into Trent’s truck and inhaled the scent of new leather, she wondered why he hadn’t suggested she ride with him in front of Luke, but decided not to bring up the subject. “This is nice. It smells new.”

“It is.” His voice sounded sad, and she wondered why.

“Buying a new car or truck is always fun.” Not that she’d know. Her car was on its last leg, but there was no way she could afford a new one. Her father, who owned Racy Auto Repair, kept it running, but he had recently told her that there wasn’t much else he could do to it. She’d told him that unless he was offering to buy her another car, she had no choice but to beg him to keep fixing this one.

“Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s just therapeutic.”

Ria turned in her seat to face him. “Sounds like there’s a story behind that statement. Care to share it?”

He gave her a quick glance full of indecision, but underneath that she was struck by an overwhelming intensity as well. It was as if he was dying to tell someone a secret, but wasn’t sure who he could trust with it.

“I’m a good listener,” she said quietly. “Look, I know what people think of me, and they’re right. I’m a gossip. But I’m trying to change that. I lost my best friend because of it.”

They stopped at a red light and Trent gave her a look filled with admiration. Ria’s pulse raced, just as it had in the back room earlier when he’d examined her wrists. It would be so easy to lean over and kiss him.

“Ria Rodriguez, you surprise me. I’m so happy to hear you say that.”

She didn’t answer him because so many emotions bubbled up at his words, including an overwhelming urge to cry.

“There are a lot of people who would love to know how much you want to change things.”

“I know there are. And I’m sure Maddox and Julie had plenty to say about me tonight.”

“They did.”

She was grateful he hadn’t tried to lie about it. As they pulled away from the traffic light, she leaned back against the seat. The hospital was just around the corner. She had three minutes tops to say what she wanted to say, and then she’d miss her chance until this X-ray ordeal was over. “I want to change but I don’t know how to. I don’t know where to start.”

“I think I can help you with that.” His voice was soft, and totally devoid of judgment or condescension. She blinked back tears as they turned the corner.

Ria waited to speak until he’d pulled into the employee parking lot. “How? What do I need to do?”

He parked his truck, turned off the motor, and then faced her. “Let’s get this taken care of, and then we’ll pick up your car. I’ll follow you home, you can invite me in, and we’ll talk about it.”

As she stared into his eyes, she imagined all sorts of things they could do in her apartment besides talk, if only Teresa wasn’t there. “My sister is back home, and since my parents weren’t thrilled with that, I’m stuck living with her in the apartment above their garage. It’s not a good place for us to talk privately.”
Or do anything else in private, for that matter
.

He frowned slightly and nodded. “I see. Well, if we go back to my place, Wyatt will be there. Asleep, of course, since he has to be in court first thing in the morning. So if we’re quiet, we won’t disturb him.”

Oh shit
. Now the images running through her head involved both twins. What the hell was she getting herself into here? “I didn’t realize you lived with him.”

“Yep. I’m afraid so. He was kind enough to take me in until I figure what to do with my life.”

“Don’t you have it all figured out?”

“Does anyone?”

She chuckled. “I guess not.” Did he know she had a date with his brother? She couldn’t keep something like that from him. Not now. Not after the long, searching looks and all the things he’d just said to her. “I’m having dinner with Wyatt tomorrow. Um…I guess today, since it’s technically Tuesday already.”

“I know. But I’m just inviting you back to talk. Nothing else is implied.”

“Okay.”
How disappointing
. “But I wanted to make sure you knew that. Dinner, I mean.”

“Relax, all right? Wyatt and I talk about everything.”

“I see.” There were so many things she wanted to say, but she seemed to have lost her capacity for organizing a thought. The urge to kiss him was still strong, despite what he’d just said about inviting her back to his place merely to talk. What was wrong with her? She’d never played two men before, and she certainly wasn’t going to do it now, especially not with these two.

“Let’s go get this done.” He opened his door, and by the time she’d scooped up her purse and opened her door, he was already there, holding out his hand to help her down from the truck. “You practically need a ladder to get in and out of this thing.”

“Oh, ha-ha. That’s so funny.” His gloved hand was warm, and Ria hung onto it even after both feet were firmly on the pavement because she wanted to see if he’d let go of hers first. He didn’t, and they walked hand-in-hand into the ambulance entrance of the ER.

“This way.” He led her into an exam room and then told her to wait. Ria sat in the chair, wondering what she’d say to anyone who happened to come in the room and ask why she was there. She didn’t have to worry about that because Trent returned in less than one minute, followed by Donna Kenton, an X-ray technician that had been a couple years behind Ria in school.

“Donna’s going to sneak you in. Come on.”

“Why all the subterfuge?”

“Do you really want to register and wait several hours for a couple of X-rays?”

“No, I really don’t.”

“Then come on.”

* * * *

Trent felt like he was poised on top of a cliff, and jumping off would surely kill him, but he didn’t care. He was going to do it anyway. He tried to tell himself that he was merely being kind to someone who had been injured. He also tried to tell himself that he was only trying to help her patch things up with Marisol, for the good of the BDSM community here in Racy. But he was a damn liar and he knew that as well.

He’d almost kissed her in the back room of the bar, and unless he was mistaken, she’d have let him. And then, in the parking garage, he’d almost done it again. He hadn’t said anything to Luke about wanting to drive her here because he knew Luke would have made a fuss about it, and Trent hadn’t wanted to deal with Luke’s big-brother act tonight. He wasn’t sure what the dynamics were between Luke and Ria, but he already knew they were strained. He didn’t want to make them worse, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He had to be near Ria.

As Donna took her X-rays, his earlier thoughts about Wyatt and how he would never deliberately hurt him kept clanging around in his brain, like a death knell. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He hadn’t crossed any lines. All he’d done was help a friend in need. Right? Surely Wyatt himself wouldn’t read anything else into this evening, would he?

Once her films were done, he had Ria sit in the radiology waiting room where no one would question her being there, and then he talked Shari Gratis, the ER doctor who was on that night, into reading them. That was the beauty of small-town hospitals. They’d do favors for friends like that and not make a fuss about rules and regulations.

The films were negative for fractures, so Shari told Ria to rest them as much as possible for a few days and come in during clinic hours if they got worse. Ria promised to do that. And, as Trent had promised, Ria was out of the ER and back in his truck within half an hour.

After picking up her car from behind Luke’s Bar, she followed him to the condo he shared with his twin. Wyatt would be fast asleep, but this was still madness. If he woke up and found Ria there, he might assume Trent was making a move on her, or that something had been going on and Trent hadn’t told him. Was something going on? Trent wished there was, but he couldn’t do that to his twin.

Then why did you bring her here
?

It was just to talk. They were going to talk about Marisol, and about what Ria could do to make things right again. That’s all. That’s what he’d told her in his truck, and that’s what he had to keep in the forefront of his mind. He simply wouldn’t allow anything else to happen. He had enough self-control to handle this.

Sure. Just keep telling yourself that.

She parked her car out front and Trent watched her walk toward him, then he opened the front door and listened. Nothing. Wyatt had left the small table lamp on, just inside the door, like he did every night. He motioned Ria inside. “Do you want anything to drink?”

“No. Thanks, though.”

“Have a seat. I’m going to get a beer, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

He really didn’t need to drink beer at almost one in the morning, but he did need a few seconds to collect his thoughts. As he opened the fridge, he hoped the blast of cold air would tamp down his raging hormones, but no such luck. All it did was force up an image of her nipples, taut from the cold, straining against the front of her sweater.

On the heels of that thought, he imagined himself licking her taut nipples until they were wet as well, and then he pictured himself fondling her breasts. He’d never seen her naked, but she wore her clothing tight enough to let his imagination run wild. It was obvious she had nice tits. And she had a firm, round ass that he would love to paddle until it was red, and then fuck it, slowly, with one hand teasing her clit until she came more times than she could count.

Christ on a cracker. He was in big fucking trouble here.

After Trent adjusted his dick, he walked into the living room, hoping she didn’t glance at his crotch, and then took a seat at the opposite end of the sofa. He almost groaned as she took off her sneakers and curled her legs underneath her body. He loved that gesture. It was so innocent yet also flirtatious. He had no idea why it had that effect on him. He only knew it drove him wild.

“I meant to ask you something earlier,” she said. “Who was the paramedic with you Saturday night? I can’t remember his name and it’s been bugging me.”

Trent sighed. Talking about Paul should deflate his dick quite readily. “Paul Wakefield.”

She snapped her fingers. “Oh, right. I remember him now, but I never really knew him that well.”

“I wish they hadn’t partnered me with such a tight-ass. He hates all things BDSM. He thinks we’re all going to hell in a hand basket.”

“Half the town believes that.”

“I know.”

“Do you all still think there’s anything to worry about? I mean, no one bothered Maddox but Bernie and a few of his cronies, right?”

“That’s what I remember from when I lived here before, And Wyatt said the same people from Paul’s church and the Baptist church occasionally march up and down Birch Lane in front of Maddox’s house holding signs, but that’s all they do.”

“Bernie might be in jail, but his supporters aren’t. I’d hate to see anything happen to Maddox’s club.”