Flock (The Ravenhood)

So be it. It’s been days since the texts stopped, and I’m still convincing myself I’m fine with it. If Sean can’t deal with me standing my ground about his own shitty behavior, we’re already a lost cause.

I fell for every line his beautiful lips fed me. Only to feel slapped.

I caught myself just in time.

To make shitty matters worse, my plant bully has taken it upon herself to make my days more grueling, taunting me in Spanish—I can’t understand—in the breakroom and all but smashed me into the wall when we punched out last night. She’s got it in for me, and she’s making it known shift by shift. The last thing I need to do is report it to my supervisor, who I’m actively avoiding.

I smooth on more lotion and kick back in the lounger, feeling the tingle of the sun on my skin. A much-needed day off alone is exactly what I need to recharge. I just wished my libido would do me the solid of agreeing.

Sean woke that part of me up again, and now it refuses to be ignored. Day in, day out, I’m constantly in a place where the throb won’t cease and my new craving reminds me of what I’m missing.

I’ll be thankful when I outgrow my teenage hormones, but I have to woman up early because I’m no longer dating boys.

Restless from another uneventful day, I close my eyes after my third attempt to get into a novel, certain it’ll take me more than seven days to break my new bad habit.

A tidal wave of water covers me, and I shriek from where I lay, jerking to sit, and when I do, I see none other than Dominic appear from beneath the rolling surface. Water pours from him as he stands to his full height a second before my view is blocked by the man who I spent the last week ghosting but continues to haunt my every thought.

“You think I’d let you get away that easily?” Hazel eyes glitter down at me, along with the dazzling smile I can’t banish from my thoughts.

“What are you doing here?”

The slap of the closing gate has me peeking around Sean as Tyler comes into view, hauling a cooler. “Hey, beautiful,” he greets, scanning my yard and letting out a whistle, “I can see why you’re holing up here.”

With the salute of my hand, I cover my eyes, peering up at Sean. “What the hell are y’all doing?”

“We shared our spot with you,” he shrugs. “Only fair.”

“That may be, but I assumed you could take a hint.”

His eyes flare and his jaw twitches. “Don’t play bitch. I like you too much.”

He takes a seat next to me and I don’t know whether I want to kiss him or slap him, I decide on neither.

“Kiss,” he says, reading my thoughts all too well. He leans in, and I do my best to hold my breath but fail, inhaling him fully. It’s like coming home.

“Get that asshole out of my pool.”

“Stop it,” Sean snaps.

I rear back. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I’m the boyfriend you’re pissed at.”

His statement strikes deep, threatening my progress as Tyler sets the cooler between the loungers and pulls off his T-shirt.

“Give us a minute,” Sean asks Tyler who nods, grinning at me over his shoulder.

“Hey, Cee.”

I can’t help my return smile, especially when that dimple appears. “Hey, Tyler.”

“I’m jealous,” Sean whispers.

“About what?”

“That smile you just gave him. Did I really fuck up that badly?”

“You hurt me,” I decide on stark honesty. “I thought we had a good thing, and I feel like you threw me to the wolf.”

“That’s what I’m trying to avoid. But you twisted the whole situation into what you expected to happen. You expected me to show my Gemini side, but I’m a Virgo, remember? I had no chance against your imagination. This fight was inevitable. We both knew the minute I pissed you off; this would be your argument.”

I gape at him. “I might have a hard time trusting, but you’re making it impossible.”

He grips me by the neck and leans in, so we’re nose to nose. “Tell me you don’t miss me.”

“Irrelevant. If I can’t trust you to have my back when I need you, then what’s the point?”

“The point is you didn’t need me. You just thought you did, and I wanted you to realize that. Instead, you left my bed and decided to punish me for not handling your business.”

“My business?” I gawk. “You have some nerve.”

He refuses to give me space and grips me tighter. “I call it faith. You are a lot stronger than you think you are, and I wanted you to see that.”

“Why?”

“Because I want you around, and often,” he murmurs. The part of me that wants to fight is growing weak by the sight of him and his logic. My feelings for him scare me. It scares me a lot, and maybe I was looking for a reason to push him away.

“I thought you said it was my decision.”

He threads his fingers through my hair. “I don’t like your decision. At. Fucking. All. But I’ll respect it. If that’s what you really want.”

He’s got his mirrored sunglasses on and I pull them off, sliding them on so he can’t see the emotions I’m sure I’m broadcasting. “I won’t be treated like that.”

“Then don’t allow yourself to be, but your point’s been made with me. I’m sorry, baby,” he murmurs, and I can only hope it’s sincere. “You’d better believe I’m going to have your back when you need it.” He presses my hand to his chest. “Believe that if you don’t believe anything else about me.”

I can’t deny him. I can’t, no matter how much it scares me. I want Sean, I want his words to ring true, and the only way to know is by taking a chance on him, and riding this out.

“I thought I was doing the right thing, but I don’t know what that is when it comes to you.” He looks torn, his eyes losing focus as he says this.

“What do you mean?”

I feel the shift in his posture, all signs of play gone. “It means for both our sakes, I should probably leave you alone, but I’m not fucking going to.” He flattens me to him and kisses the life out of me. I moan, my hands instantly clutching him as he inappropriately deepens our kiss. But that’s Sean, and it’s one of the things I love so much about him. He kisses me and kisses me, and I take it, giving back just as much. When he pulls away, I’m on fire, unable to hide the rapid rise and fall of my chest.

“Fuck, I look good on you.” He lifts the glasses resting on my nose and presses his forehead to mine. “I really wish I hadn’t brought these assholes with me.”

I peek over to see Dominic perched on the shallow end of the pool.

“My father has security cameras set up everywhere, and he’s already threatened me about company. This isn’t going to bode well.”

“We’ll handle it.”

“You’ll…handle it? How?”

He nods toward Dominic and I groan.

Sean turns back to me. “Look, he isn’t easy. But he’s here because he wants to be.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? The guy is a motherfucker.”

Tyler claps his hands together, joining us at the loungers. “Cool, Mom and Dad made up. Time to celebrate.” He grabs a beer from the cooler, shakes it up and sprays us with it.

“You shit,” I smile, just as Sean lifts me honeymoon style into his arms and jumps us into the pool. When we emerge, I’m grinning, no doubt the goofy one that tells him far too much. He gazes down at me and kisses me before he sends me flying. I shriek as I come up, his sunglasses half-on/half-off.

“You ass, I wasn’t ready!”

“Then I guess you better up your game,” he taunts when I charge him. We frolic in the water as Tyler makes himself comfortable in a lounger, turning up his radio. Sean’s phone rings and he gets out of the pool, holding up a finger to me that it’s important before answering. “Hey, Dad.”

I make my way over to Dominic who sips a beer. I can’t see his eyes behind a pair of classic black Ray-Bans, but I know they’re on me as I wade through the water toward him.

“I guess you want an apology,” he flips his glasses to rest on his head, his thick black hair cradling them easily. Soaking wet, he’s even more deadly, his lashes darker, everything darker. It’s impossible not to note his appeal. And his venomous smirk makes breathing around him no easier.

“I won’t hold my breath.”

He holds up a finger, downing his beer and I roll my eyes. “Okay, I think I’m ready.” He exhales as if he’s about to give a grand speech. “I’m sorry I told Sean I caught you staring at my dick.”

I can’t help it. I burst out laughing.

He gives me his first genuine smile and it knocks me for a loop.

“You are a rare bastard.”

“I prefer motherfucker. At least then, it would be somewhat factual. Isn’t that right, Tyler?”

Tyler doesn’t flinch from where he lays basking in the sun. “Fuck you.”

Dominic grins and I shake my head.

“You had your door open. I was shocked, to say the least.”

“And the other five minutes?”

“Do women actually sleep with you?”

“No, never. They’re too busy screaming my name,” he says without a trace of humor. “Except the last girl, she was a corpse.”

“You are unreal. Psychiatrist’s dream, indeed.” Briefly, I wonder if violence does make this maniac hard. If it’s the only thing that makes him hard.

“What you thinking about?” Dominic asks, his lips twitching as he lowers his sunglasses.

“Nothing.”

He smirks before pulling himself from the pool and heading toward the back door.

“What are you doing?”

“Have to use the can.”

“You could ask.”

He turns from me, and his swim shorts dip slightly, revealing the top of his toned ass as he positions himself on the side of the house.

I cover my eyes. “Oh my God, through the door past the study, down the hall on the left. Savage.”

“Oh,” he tucks himself back into his pants, “I might like that better than motherfucker.”

I palm my face as Sean chuckles, rejoining me in the pool. “You’ll get used to him. I swear.”

“Either that or I’ll kill him.”

“Or that.” Sean corners me where I stand tucked in the corner of deeper water, pulling me into his hold.

“So, you get to use your phone, but I can’t have mine?”

“I needed it today for my parents. Sorry, I know that seems hypocritical.”

“It is.”

“Everything I ask is for a reason.”

“Which you will give me.”

He nods. “When the time is right.” His breath hits my skin as he leans in and I go languid, due to his proximity alone. “Tell me something, Pup.”

“What?”

“Why’d you give up so easy?”

His eyes bore into mine and one hit of those hazels is like taking a shot of truth serum. “Is it because you don’t trust yourself, or you don’t trust me?”

“Both.”

“Trust your instincts,” his tone anything but playful.

“You’re being cryptic again.”

“I want you, how’s that?”

“That’s…”

He presses himself against me and a breathy moan escapes me, my eyes darting past his shoulder.

“Where’s Tyler?”

“I told him to fuck off for a second.”

“Why?”

He kisses me, and in seconds I’m wrapped around him, my bikini bottoms pushed to the side as his fingers enter me. He hooks my arm around his neck. “Because I can’t go another fucking minute without being inside you. Hold onto me, baby.”

That’s all the warning I get before he invades me, thrusting so deep, I bite onto his shoulder to muffle my moans. He grinds into me, my back against the unforgiving cement as he consumes me. He moves the triangle at my nipple and sucks deep, speeding up all the while keeping us connected to the point it’s almost painful. He’s punishing me in the most delicious way, and I feel it, his claiming. Within seconds, I come with his name on my lips as my eyes search for any sign of Dominic and Tyler over his shoulder. I’m not sure I would make Sean stop at this point, even if they did walk into view.

“Goddamn, I missed you,” he grunts and pulls out, biting into the flesh of my shoulder as he comes.

“Missed you too,” I mumble before he draws my lips into a kiss, and then another, and then another. He rights my bottoms after tucking himself back into his board shorts seconds before Tyler walks back through the gate. Sean buries his face in my neck, his breathing labored as Tyler speaks to us both like he has no clue we’re post-orgasm. Maybe he doesn’t, but what we did was the closest I’ve ever come to voyeurism. My cheeks heat as Sean pulls back, his golden smile dazzling as I slowly shake my head.

“I promise a lot more than CliffsNotes, later. We good?”

“Sex isn’t going to fix our communication issue,” I point out, trying to level the playing field.

We stare each other down for several seconds. “I know, but please don’t do that to me again,” he asks softly.

“Do what?”

“Cut me.”