I drew back slightly, everyone—family and friends—would be descending on the loft soon. “Do we have time for this?”
I gave another quick lick and Casey groaned as I looked up at him. “Slim, if I ever say no to that question, you have my permission to get my gun out and shoot me with it.”
My body shook with laughter as I took him deep in my mouth, as far back as I could, then I hummed, letting my throat close tight around his erection. He let out his own shout, jerking his hips, pushing his cock further in my mouth before pulling back quickly.
“Jesus,” he panted, gripping the base of his cock.
“He can’t help you right now, but I can,” I told him as I began to roll the condom down, looking into Casey’s eyes as I did so. Their colour was the darkest I’d ever seen them, and I couldn’t force my eyes away.
“My name’s Grace Paterson,” I began, my voice solemn as the laughter died away. “And I’m madly in love with a man who’s overprotective and bossy, and spends way too much time on his hair.” That last one was a total lie but finding a negative about Casey was hard work.
“I do?” He seemed surprised and I had to laugh. Gripping his cock, I swung my leg over his lap and began to sink down, taking him inside me. A groan rose up from inside his chest as I squeezed him.
“He told me once that he was good with his tongue and the way he looked at me when he said it had me believing it. I think I’d believe anything he tells me when he looks at me that way—as though I’m the only person in the room. So when he promised me he’d fight for me, I knew it was true.” I took a deep, shaky breath and swallowed the sob of emotion. “He’s also incredibly hot, and a total badass, and one day …” I began to move, rocking slowly. Casey tensed, waiting. “One day I’m going to marry him because he’s not only in my heart, he’s my goddamn hero.”
Casey pulled me off and flipped me underneath him easily, making my earlier efforts of moving him around seem feeble at best. He kissed me hard, his tongue sweeping deep inside my mouth before pulling off.
“Coby better turn that music up louder,” he told me, sliding back inside my body. He rolled his hips and I bucked upwards, drawing him in as far as our bodies would allow.
“Why?” I locked my legs around his waist.
As though hearing him, the song kicked over to “Welcome to the jungle” and the walls began to thump.
“Because I’m about to pound the woman I love into this mattress and make her scream louder than a low-flying fighter jet.”
I grinned, slightly breathless. “How romantic.”
I woke to Coby rapping on the bedroom door, and I rubbed my face sleepily, not sure how long we were both out for. Casey was spooning me and I felt hot and sweaty under the heat of his naked skin.
“Grace,” he called out softly. “Your family’s here.”
My stomach dropped to my toes. The sheets rustled when Casey stirred, as though sensing my tension rather than waking from Coby’s intrusion.
“Crap,” I muttered. Casey stretched and rolled quickly from the bed.
“I put them off for as long as I could,” he reminded me, slapping me on the ass to get me up.
He had. They’d been at the duplex, waiting for news on my disappearance. I knew they knew about the cancer, so Casey rang them to let them know I was okay because I wasn’t up for talking. Not right then. He explained to them everything that happened, going into great detail when I heard Dad peppering him with questions. He also told them we would finish with the police, he would take me home to his loft for a shower, and then they could meet us there. Dad had yelled. I heard it. And still Casey stayed calm and forceful, willing to incur the wrath of my father so I could have the time I needed before I spoke to them.
Now my time was up.
I found Casey’s old football jersey in his dresser and tugged it on. I added my own pair of sweats to the casual ensemble, and when we walked out of Casey’s room, Coby was busy playing host and offering drinks.
I shook my head when he asked what I wanted. How could I think about drinking when I was about to tell my dad I was moving to Sydney? The way he was with Mum and her cancer, he wasn’t going to let me out of his sight.
Before I could take a breath, Dad rushed me. My face mashed into his chest as he smothered me. “Dad,” I squeezed out.
“Shush,” he muttered. “Let an old man fuss over his little girl.”
I tried to tell him there was a line between fussing and suffocation, but I couldn’t get the words out. I wasn’t sure how it happened, but suddenly he was gone and then Henry was there taking his place.
“Gracie Bean.” His voice cracked and my arms tightened around him.
“I’m sorry,” I told him because I was. I hated seeing him hurting. When it was Mum who was sick, sometimes I would climb in his bed and burrow into his side, like it was us against the world. Now it was me who was sick, and Henry didn’t have anyone to climb into his bed and comfort the pain like we used to do for each other. That made me sad.
He buried his head in my neck, and I felt a tear plop on my shoulder. “Life is so fucking unfair.”
“It is,” I replied because it was true. I pulled back. Henry looked terrible—his shoulders were slumped and I could feel the heaviness in his heart. It made me realise that I didn’t need to be here in Sydney just for me and Casey, but for my brother. I just didn’t know where that left my dad.
“I’ll be okay,” I tried assuring the both of them.
Dad nodded stoically but Henry gave me nothing.
Coby returned from the kitchen with a round of whiskey for each of them. We all sat down in the living room, Casey beside me. He brought the glass to his lips, about to tip his head back when I realised that a little bit of liquid courage was exactly what I needed right now.
Snatching the glass from his hand, I gulped it down in one hit, hissed audibly at the burn, and braced. “I’m moving to Sydney.”
Dad reared back as though I’d just told him I was moving to Botswana to become one with the meerkats. Then his lips pressed into a thin line, indicating the famous Paterson stubbornness was making an appearance. “No.”
I held my glass out to Coby, indicating a refill with pleading eyes. He must have understood the gravity of my situation because he took it without saying a word and disappeared back to the kitchen.
“Dad,” I began.
Casey took over, threading our fingers together. “Sir—”
“Nate,” my dad boomed back at him.
“Nate.” Casey squeezed my hand. “I can understand the next few months are going to be difficult for Grace but—”
“Difficult?” Dad paled and I knew he was thinking of Mum. Of the months and the years spent prolonging her life and then watching her fade from our lives eventually anyway. “You have no idea what months and years of chemotherapy can do to a family.”
“No, I don’t,” Casey answered honestly and I squeezed his hand in return because the thought made me ache unbearably. I didn’t want Casey to know. I didn’t want this for him. “But what I was trying to say was that I would move to Melbourne in a heartbeat for Grace if that was what she wanted.”
I jolted with surprise, looking at him. All that talk about his brother and him reuniting and the Valentines being his family, and he’d never said a word. He’d walk away from all of that for me? My heart expanded until I thought it would burst right out of my chest.
“You would do that for me?”
He returned my look of surprise with one of his own, as though I should’ve automatically known of his plans to move mountains for me. “Of course. It’s up to you, Grace. Where do you want to be?”
“She wants to be home. In Melbourne,” Nate clarified, answering for me.
Henry shook his head, brows drawn. “No, Dad. She wants to be here where I can take care of her.”
Dad folded his arms, gearing up for an argument. “You work shit hours, son. How on God’s earth do you think you can be there all th
e time to take care of her?”
I leaned closer to Casey. He let go of our threaded hands and put his arm around me instead, tucking me into his side. Coby returned at that opportune moment with my drink and I accepted it gratefully. Then he went to leave, giving my family privacy, and I grabbed him, making him sit on the other side of me. He sat, tense and a little awkward at being thrust into my family drama, but my hope was that his presence might make them behave.
“I’ll figure it out,” Henry told him, his voice beginning to rise as he leaned forward in his seat. I knew then that I was wrong. My father and brother were quite willing to embarrass themselves in front of the entire world, or at the least, Coby. “I’ll quit the band.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” I declared, leaping feet first into the argument with rising anger. Dad and Henry paused to glare at me. I glared back. “You’re living the dream, Henry. Not many people get a chance to do that. I’m not letting you quit!” I told him, finishing with a shout.
“So what, it’s okay for Casey to just up and move to Melbourne for you, but when I want to make the grand gesture, you tell me I can’t?”
Dad stood up, towering over Henry with the kind of scary intimidation that only a father could produce. “Son, don’t talk to your sister in that growly fashion,” he growled. “She’s fragile right now and—”
“Fragile?” I shrieked, the pitch of my voice high from disbelief and anger as I stood to avoid the intimidation tactic of my dad looming over me. “How dare you assume I’m not strong enough to handle what’s coming. You—”
“I don’t believe this!” Henry yelled at Dad, cutting me off. He stood up too, thus forming a huddle of three very angry Patersons. “Why is it okay for everyone else to do something and I’m told to just sit back and play my guitar like a good boy?”
The three of us began to argue in earnest when Casey’s bellow cut through the angry words. “Enough!”
Casey reached for the drink that was still in my hand. He tossed it down his throat, shook his head once, and dumped the glass on the coffee table.
We all shut up.
“Sit down,” he bit out, his voice a smidge calmer now that he had our attention.
We all sat down.
Coby shifted awkwardly beside me. I patted him reassuringly on the knee, a silent thank you for sticking out the drama. Coby grinned at me and I startled, realising how close his face was to mine. I wondered for a brief moment if I should be embarrassed about my earlier noise in the bedroom. I decided to just let it go and hope he didn’t mention it.
Casey snatched my hand from Coby’s knee and tucked it in his. Then he looked at both Henry and my dad, his expression steely. “Stop making this about you and what you both want. Nate.” Dad raised his brows at Casey but held his tongue. Wisely, I thought, because I had come to learn that particular expression on Casey’s face. I thought of it as his don’t poke the sleeping dragon face. “I can appreciate you wanting Grace home because a father should be there for his little girl.” Dad nodded his agreement and then paused because it seemed Casey wasn’t finished. “But Grace is going to heal best being where she wants to be, not where you want her to be. And, Henry …” My brother glanced up from staring at the floor as Casey’s voice took on a note of warning. “Have you forgotten everything I said to you at the hospital? Don’t make everything Grace did mean nothing.”
I looked between the both of them, knowing I was missing something important. I made a mental note to ask Casey what he’d said to Henry.
Dad turned to look at me, his voice quiet. “Is that what you want, Grace? To move to Sydney?”
I hesitated because I didn’t want to upset him any further, but I knew I needed to start being more upfront about my life and what I wanted. It wasn’t until I eventually replied with a yes that I realised how tense Casey was because I felt him relax beside me.
“It’s settled then,” Dad boomed at all of us after taking a hefty gulp from his glass.
“What’s settled?”
“I’m moving to Sydney too.”
“Dad, you can’t—”
He held up a hand, halting me. “You’re my daughter, Grace, not my mother. Don’t start trying to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“What about your job?”
Dad shrugged as though the decades of time spent working at the garage was just a blip on his radar of life. “I’ve got long service leave out the wazoo. I’ll give ’em a call. Arrange for six months, and then we can go from there.”
The intercom buzzer cut through the loft. We all paused while Casey stood to answer it. He flipped on the video monitor at the wall and Mac’s face came to life. “Oh good. You are here.”
“Of course we’re here,” he told her.
I saw her look left to someone off screen before smirking at Casey. “Is it safe to come up or are you busy rubbing one out like you were last time?”
Dad choked on his drink and Coby snorted with laughter from beside me. Henry had to get up and slap dad on the back pretty hard.
I wanted to jump instantly to Casey’s defence by saying he wasn’t in the habit of “rubbing one out” at all times of the day or night, but talking to your dad about your boyfriend’s jacking off habits was a topic best left alone. Besides, it was quite possible Casey did jack off all the time. Then I flushed hot and red because I was sitting in the living room next to Coby, my dad sitting opposite me, and all I could see was Casey naked and stroking his cock.
While I was burning up from embarrassment on the couch, Casey appeared unaffected. His dimples popped when he laughed at Mac. “Have you been talking to Travis?”
“No.” Quinn appeared on the screen waving, a grin on her face. “Me.”
“Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Quinn,” Casey replied.
Quinn disappeared rapidly off screen, giving a little “oomphf” as though she’d been pushed. Mac filled the screen again, booming, “Let us up, asshead.”
“Who’s ‘us’?” Casey asked, suddenly wary.
“Everyone.” Evie appeared from behind Mac. “And be quick. I brought Mr Chow’s and I’m hungry enough to eat a rhinoceros.”
“Who brought Mr Chow’s?” I heard Jared grumble.
“You did, baby,” came her loving reply.
“And I brought champagne,” Mac added.
“You told me to bring the champagne,” Travis complained from somewhere within the pile of people out the front of the loft.
“Yeah, but you forgot, didn’t you?”
There was a brief pause by the entire group while they waited for Travis to reply. He didn’t.
“Let us up, Casey,” Mac growled. “I have it on good authority that Grace made Morgan bleed. We need to celebrate. And then we need to discuss why I wasn’t called in on the smackdown. I really think—”
Casey hit the buzzer, effectively cutting Mac off and letting everyone in the building at the same time. After flicking open the locks, he took my hand, muttered an, “excuse us for a minute,” at my dad, Henry and Coby, and hauled me to his room, shutting the door behind us.
“You can’t keep hauling me around, Casey,” I complained, even though I secretly liked his bossy side. It was nice letting someone else take the reins for a little while.
Casey pressed me up against the wall near the door. “Or what?” He grinned. “You’ll punch me so hard I’ll be spitting teeth for a week?”
“Yes,” I replied stubbornly. My next question threw him. “How often do you jack off?”
His brows flew up. “Really? You want to talk dirty right now with your father in the next room? Because if you start this conversation, I’ll be finishing it, and I don’t think you really have any idea of how loud you are when you come.” His arms came around me, his hands landing on my ass and shoving me against him. “It’s fucking hot.”
Loud voices, dog barks, and laughter began filtering in, indicating the loft was filling rapidly with visitors. I knew they were all here to see for th
emselves that I was okay and to find out about Kelly, the scary-ass biker dude brother of my boyfriend, yet my body was more interested in doing exactly what Casey wanted.
“You can tell me later. Or show me even,” I mumbled under my breath.
Casey must have heard me because he groaned and reached down to adjust himself in his pants. “Later,” he vowed. “Right now we need to talk about your move to Sydney.”
“What about it?” I asked, finding my way underneath his shirt. My happy hands encountered warm, hard abs and began their trek downwards. “I want you here in the loft. With me,” he clarified, the back of his head tipping back and hitting the wall when I took his growing erection in my palm.
“Really?” I asked, suddenly breathless and ready to leap on board with the idea. Then I remembered his roommate and I tamped down on the eagerness. “What about Coby? He might not like the idea of me moving in with you. You should ask him first.”
Casey paused, panting lightly as my hands stroked over him. “You’re right.” He opened the bedroom door a fraction and shouted for Coby.
“Oh my God.” I whipped my hands out of Casey’s pants, flushing when Coby slipped inside, giving us both a knowing look. He shut the door behind him and looked at the both of us expectantly. “What’s up?”
“You cool with Grace moving in with us?”
Coby looked at me. “You got lots of hot friends?”
I knew quite a few girls from my modelling years that were based in Sydney. A handful of them were really nice. I shrugged. “Yes.”
Coby looked at Casey and nodded once. “Okay.”
Then he turned to leave until Casey said to his retreating back, “You’re next.”
Coby turned, confused for a moment before his eyes suddenly cleared and he paled, making me wonder what Casey meant. “Mate.” He shook his head, holding up his hands as though telling Casey to back off. “Don’t even.”
Casey began to laugh as Coby left, shutting the door behind him.