More With You (10 page)

I lie still and focus on breathing.  I can feel the crashing beat of my heart in my chest.  My chest, that is now fully covered, rapidly rises and falls with every breath.  I can feel him. I want him.  I feel hot tears burn the back of my eyes, and I squeeze them tight.  I can’t let them see this.  I’m an emotional mess when it comes to Aiden, my brother’s best friend.  Distance, I need a little distance to get myself in check.  I jump from my lounger and quickly wrap my towel around me so that I’m covered.  I feel Aiden’s eyes boring into me. 

“What’s wrong, angel?” he asks concerned.

“Nothing, I just need to use the restroom,” I say. I’m already walking back towards the house.

I run up the steps and throw open the backdoor.  I dash up the stairs and into my room, throwing myself on the bed.  I let the tears fall.  Tears of sadness that he will never be mine and tears of frustration that I can’t get my shit together when he’s around. 

I hear a soft knock on my door.  “Hales, it’s me, Allison.”

“It’s open,” I call back to her, my voice rough with emotion.

“Hales, what happened? What’s wrong? You’ve been up here for a while now.”

I bury my face in the pillow and shake my head at her.

Allison climbs up on the bed and wraps her arms around me.  “It’s just between us, I promise.”

Letting her words sink in, I roll over and face her. I tell her about my nip slip adventure and how I let my feelings for Aiden get the best of me. “It’s getting harder and harder for me to keep myself in check,” I tell her.

Allison shrugs her shoulders.  “Then don’t.”

“Are you crazy?  Not only does he still see me only as Liam’s little sister, Liam would so kick his ass.” Has she lost her ever lovin’ mind?

“You let me take care of your brother.” She wags her eyebrows at me.  “As for Aiden, I’m not so sure you’re right.  I think he sees you just fine as the woman you’ve become.  I think it’s eating at him just as much as it’s eating at you.” 

“Seriously, Allie.  You and Liam are trapped in this happy little love bubble.  Don’t get me wrong, I love you guys together and I am super stoked that you are going to be my sister, but not everyone finds the fairytale.”

“Care to make a wager?” she goads me.

Ugh! This is a game we play often. Neither one of us can back down from a bet. I remember I bet her that she and Liam were going to be great together, and I was right.  Too bad Allie is going to be going 0 for 2.  “What are the stakes?” I ask her.

“Easy. I win, I get to be maid of honor at your wedding.  You win, and you get free reign to plan anything you want for my bridal shower.”

“First of all, regardless of who I marry, you will be my maid of honor.  Second, Liam will shut an ‘anything goes’ bridal shower down, and you know it.”

“Fine, so maybe you’re right. Let’s see…” Allison taps her index finger against her chin, deep in thought. “Well, we can always resort to old faithful, a day at the spa.”

“Deal.” I reach my hand out to her.  We shake on it.  I kind of feel bad that she’ll have to treat me to another spa day, but oh well.  A deal is a deal. 

“Come on, let’s head back down to the beach.  The guys went to grab some pizza.”

Allison and I are both in a lounger soaking up the sun when a football lands between us, scaring us both.

“Hey, sorry about that.”  I raise my head to put a face to the sexy voice.

“No problem,” Allison says to him.

“I’m Seth. My buddies and I are here on vacation. How about you ladies?” he asks.

“We come here every summer. My parents own a beach house,” I tell him.  I see a group of guys waiting for him down the beach.

“Cool. Hey, you guys up for a game?  We’ll take it easy on you.” He winks at me.

I look at Allison to gauge her reaction. She’s smiling, that’s a good sign. “Allie?”

“Sure. My fiancé and his best friend just went for some pizza, so we have a little while before they’re back,” she says sweetly.

“Fiancé?  He’s a lucky guy.  How about you?  You have a fiancé too?” he asks.

“Nope.” I keep my answer short and sweet, because really, what else is there to say.  I don’t want to sound desperate or anything. 

“Well, come on then. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your names,” Seth inquires.

“I’m Hailey and this is Allison. Her fiancé is my older brother.” I’m not sure why I feel the need to tell him that, but I do.

We follow Seth a little ways down the beach, and he introduces us to his friends.  “Allison and Hailey, I would like for you to meet, Craig, Brian, and Scott.”

Holy yum!
  These guys are huge, muscles bulging from everywhere, and they’re H-O-T!  I feel Allison link her arm through mine.

“It’s nice to meet you. Where are you all from?” she asks sweetly.

“Ohio,” one of them answers, I think he’s the one Seth referred to as Scott. 

“Cool,” Allison replies.

“Yeah, we’re seniors there. We all four play for the Buckeyes football team,” Brian brags.

“Yep, Seth here is in line for the draft next year,” Craig tells us.

Of course, neither Allison nor I are very impressed with this.  Our men have already made it to the NFL. 

“You ladies familiar with the draft?” Seth asks.

Allison and I both laugh. “Yeah, we’re familiar,” she tells them.

“Well, all right then. You all ready to play a little football?”

Allison’s cell phone rings, stopping us all. “Hey, baby,” she says in greeting.

I am watching her to see what she tells Liam. He is so not going to be impressed with this.

“Yeah, Hales and I met a few people on the beach and are getting ready to play a game of football.” She winks at me. “We are just down from the house, we’ll wait on you. Okay, love you too.”

“Sorry, guys, my fiancé is back with dinner.  Maybe next time,” she says sweetly.

Seth puts his arm around me. It’s a gesture that friends would do, but he is not my friend. I just met the guy. I’m just about ready to tell him that I need to head back with Allison when I hear Aiden answer for me. 
Aiden!

When we get back to the house, the girls are nowhere to be found. Liam calls Allie to see where they ran off to.

“Hey, beautiful girl, where are you?” he asks her.

I see his face go red with anger. 
What the fuck is going on?

“Stay there, we’re on our way. I mean it, don’t move, Allison.  I love you.” He ends the call on his cell and shoves it back into his pocket.

“What the hell was that about?” I ask, worried.  He never talks to Allison like that.

“Apparently the girls met a few guys on the beach who convinced them to play a friendly game of football,” he seethes.

“What!  They know better than that.  They don’t even know these jackoffs!” I say, barely controlling my own anger.

“My thoughts exactly.  Allison was acting all nonchalant about it.  Like it’s no big fucking deal that my fiancé and little sister are going to be mauled by a bunch of half-naked wanna-be football players.” 

Liam flies out the patio doors and down the back deck. I’m right on his heels. We reach the group and stop right behind the girls. We’re there just long enough for one of the cocksuckers to put his arm around Hailey, and my eyes blur from the red-hot rage that flares through me.  Who the fuck does he think he is? Touching what’s mine!

I step up close to Hales. “I would appreciate it if you would remove your hands from my girl,” I say through gritted teeth. The guy must hear my anger and know I’m not messing around, because he drops his arm.  I immediately pull Hailey’s back against my chest and wrap my arms around her waist.  I kiss her temple.  She’s safe.  What these girls were thinking, I have no idea.

“Sorry, man,” Seth says, raising his arms.  “Allison said she was engaged, but Hailey didn’t mention a boyfriend,” he says, trying to calm me.

Hailey starts to speak, “He’s…” I nuzzle her neck, hoping to distract her. 

It works.

“Well, now you know,” I say, not giving a shit that I sound like a possessive asshole. 

I hold Hailey even tighter.  She has to feel my heart beating against her back.  I feel like it’s about to beat out of my chest.

Allison tries to break the tension with small talk. “Babe, this is Seth, Brian, Craig, and Scott.  They’re all seniors at OSU. They play football,” she tells him.

“Really?” Liam asks.  He’s still pissed and has the same death grip on Allison as I do on Hailey.

Allison simply smiles up at him. “Yeah, they were just telling us that they are in line for the draft next year.”

“Well, not all of us,” Craig says.  “Just Seth here.  Rumored to be first round,” he says cockily. “You guys ever play?” he asks us.

I can’t help it, I laugh out loud at that one. “Yeah, we’ve played,” I say, bumping my shoulder into Liam’s.  We’re standing side by side with our girls in our arms where they belong.

One of the guys, I think they said his name was Brian, makes the connection.  I can see it in his eyes as soon as he does.  He looks back and forth from me to Liam with his mouth hanging open.  Honestly, I would find this entire situation amusing as hell and probably would have already introduced myself and made it easier for them, but no, they were honing in on my girl. I’m so not making it easy.

“Holy shit!  You’re Aiden Emerson and you,” he turns towards Liam “you’re Liam MacCoy. Dude, congrats on the draft,” Brian tells us. 

Liam nods his head in recognition. I, on the other hand, make a point to pull Hailey tighter against my chest.  I kiss the top of her head.  I need him to know, need all of these ass wipes to know, that Hales is off limits.  I’m actually surprised Liam is as calm as he is, but then again, Allison wasn’t being mauled when we walked up either.  It was also obvious that Allison let them know that she was taken.  Not that they couldn’t see the huge diamond on her finger.

Just like that, it hits me like the waves crashing on the beach.  Hailey isn’t mine and she
is
available.  What if she ends up dating one of these douche bags?  I pull a deep breath into my lungs.  I want Hailey with an intensity that I have never known, but I continue to fight this battle I have staged in my head on the daily.  I’m beginning to wonder if I should just throw caution to the wind, and beg her to be mine.  Then I think about losing her.  What if we really are just better off as friends?  Would I be able to stand by and let her be with someone else after she’s been mine?  I don’t even need to think about the answer, it’s a big hell to the no.  I can’t let things change with us.  I’m willing to sacrifice my heart just to be able to be with her. If I wasn’t sure before, the emotion is now cemented deep within my soul.  I’m in love with Hailey MacCoy. 
Fuck me!

“So how about it?  You guys up for a friendly game?”  Craig asks.  I think it’s Craig.  I really didn’t pay much attention to the introductions.

“We’d love to, but the girls’ food is getting cold. Maybe we’ll catch up with you guys later,” Liam says.  I can still tell he is not impressed with the situation.

“Cool. Well, it was nice to meet you all,” Seth says, and with that, they turn and walk the opposite way on the beach.

Liam and Allison turn to head towards the house. I know I should follow them, but damn it, I’m holding her and I don’t want to let go.  She stands still in my arms, not trying to break our connection.  My right arm is still draped across her waist holding her tight against my chest.  I softly grip her left hip and turn her to face me.  She’s staring straight at my chest, not meeting my eyes.  I gently lift her chin with my index finger.  Fuck, she is so beautiful.  What if something would have happened to her today?   I can feel the anger trying to resurface.  I take a deep breath and exhale slowly.  Hailey is silently watching me now. I lean down and rest my forehead against hers and close my eyes. Both of my hands find her hips. I’m going to take every advantage to touch her that I can.

“I was worried about you, angel,” I tell her honestly. Well, as honest as I can be.

“Aiden, we were fine. Those guys were just being friendly.”

“You don’t know them.  Hell, they could have taken you both and did God only knows what to you.”  I swallow back the emotion caused by just the thought of her being hurt.

“I’m not yours to worry about,” she whispers.

And there it is, the knife that is twisting in my chest. She’s right. I know it and she knows it, but fuck if I like it.

I pull back and bring both of my hands to her cheeks. “Angel, I care about you. You may not be mine, but I will never let anything happen to you. Do you understand that?” I ask her. I really need her to know how special she is.

“One big brother is enough, Aiden. You don’t have to feel obligated to protect me.”

“Who said I wanted to be your big brother?” I ask, trying to keep my voice calm.  This is truly a daunting feat with all of the rage boiling inside me.  She thinks I want to be her big brother? 
Fuck that!

“Don’t you?  Why else would you go all alpha Aiden and try to keep me from them?” she asks me. 

I watch her closely as she waits for my answer. This beautiful girl has no idea of the war I have fought these past few months.  She has no idea how she affects me, how much I want her.  This is killing me.  Wanting something this much, something that I can’t have.  She licks her lips and now all I can think about is tasting her.  I don’t even realize that I’m going to do it until our lips meet and I’m consumed with her sweetness.  Lips of an angel, I tell you.