The Hard Way

A playful smile curved on Avery’s lips. “What about now?”

  “Uh, well, I didn’t think you’d be ready to go again.”

  When her hand came between my legs to grab my cock, I almost jumped out of my skin. “I think I could try.”

  “You do?” I questioned hopefully.

  “Mmhmm.”

  Her hand stroked up and down my growing length. Considering it was already at half-mast, it didn’t take long to have it at full attention. Although her hand felt fabulous, I wanted to be inside her. Since I knew she needed some prepping time, I took her hand away.

  At her questioning look, I said, “I’m good to go, babe. Now I need to get you ready.”

  Her face flushed. “Okay,” she said softly.

  I pulled her up to straddle my lap. When my cock touched her core, we both sucked in a breath. I lay back against the settee. With my hands gripping her hips, I started sliding her up my body. Avery’s expression became panicked. “Cade, what are—”

  “Just trust me.”

  After nibbling on her full bottom lip, she nodded. I then pushed her up to where her thighs were on either side of my face. I began to lick and nip at her pussy. Avery gasped before throwing her head back. I worked her over with my tongue, sucking her clit into my mouth. For someone without a lot of experience, she was so damn responsive. I brought my thumb up to rub her clit while I pumped my tongue in and out of her like I soon hoped to do with my dick.

  “Cade!” Avery cried. Her thighs started to shake, and I felt her walls convulsing around my tongue. God, she was beautiful when she came.

  Now that I felt she could take me again, I slid Avery back down my chest. I kinda liked the idea that I would be smelling like her all day. After fumbling in my wallet for another condom, I slid it down my length. Then I took Avery by the hips and eased her down on my cock. “Fuck…you feel amazing,” I grunted.

  “You feel good, too,” she panted.

  I kept my hands on her hips and worked her on and off my cock. After a few thrusts, Avery began to move in time with me. As smart as she was, I should have known she’d be a fast learner when it came to sex. Her bouncing tits were too inviting, and I slid my hands up her ribcage to squeeze them. As Avery rode me hard, I pinched and rolled her nipples into hardened points. “Oh, Cade,” she murmured.

  Although I wanted to pound into her, I restrained myself. It was sexy as hell thinking of her being sore because of me, but at the same time, I didn’t want to hurt her. Closing my eyes, I tensed and began to come inside her. I shouted her name as I clutched her hips tight with my hands.

  When I came back to myself, she was smiling down at me. “That was amazing,” she said.

  I grinned. “I thought so too. Fucking amazing.”

  Avery dipped her head and brought her lips to mine. When she pulled away, she threw a glance at one of the clocks. Her eyes widened and she groaned. “We better get going.”

  “Are you throwing me out? ’Cause I’m kinda still inside you.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that, but unless you want my mom to find us when she opens the store at nine, we need to go.”

  That was all I needed to get moving. Since I imagined Rose would cut off my dick if she found out I had de-virginized Avery, I knew I needed to get the hell out of there. While Avery, who was wrapped tight in the quilt, went to the staff bathroom in the back, I went to the public bathroom. After disposing of the condom and washing up as best I could, I hopped into my pants and threw on my shirt.

  I had just located my tux jacket when Avery reappeared in a Harlington hoodie and a pair of jeans. I couldn’t help stopping to admire her form in the fitted jeans. I’d probably seen them on her before, but there was something different about seeing them on her now. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I had touched every inch of the body beneath the jeans.

  We stood there, just staring at each other. After a few moments passed, Avery smiled. “Thanks again for last night.”

  I grinned. “Ditto.”

  Avery laughed. “That is so something you would say.”

  “You know me well.”

  “I’m glad I know you—the real you.”

  I closed the gap between us and drew her into my arms. Since I didn’t have the words I needed to express how I felt, I just dipped my head and brought my lips to hers. After a few breathless moments of kissing, I pulled away before things got too crazy. “Bye, Prescott.”

  “Bye, Cade.”

  I tossed my jacket over my shoulder and then unlocked the door. With a goofy smile on my face, I made my way over to my car. After cranking the car up, I turned the radio on and sang along like a lovesick fool.

  When I made it back to Harlington, I eased into a parking spot in front of my dorm. When I started to get out of the car, a flash of red caught my eye. “Oh fuck,” I grumbled as Elspeth started stalking over to me. She was still in her dress from the night before. From her hair and smeared makeup, she looked like she had only crashed for a few hours—maybe not even at all.

  “How could you do this to me?” she demanded as I opened the car door.

  “If you’ve come here to give me shit about ditching the party, you’re wasting your time and mine.”

  “You didn’t just ditch the party. You ditched me.”

  “Get real, Elspeth. I asked you to the dance, so I fulfilled any commitment to you. I didn’t sign on for anything that happened afterward. I didn’t owe you anything.”

  When I started past her, Elspeth grabbed my arm, her acrylic nails digging into my skin. Instead of slinging her arm away, I gently took it off of me. I almost smiled because it was like a small sign of Avery rubbing off on me to be a kinder Cade. “Go back to your dorm and get some sleep.”

  I then brushed past her and started for the door, but Elspeth wasn’t finished with me.

  “Dammit, Cade, I’m not here just because you ditched me. I’m here because you fucked Avery Prescott!”

  The world shuddered to a slow crawl around me and my ears felt like I was underwater. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied lamely.

  “I saw you.”

  Whirling around, I demanded, “What’s the fuck? Were you spying on me?”

  “When I was on the way home from the party this morning, I saw you leaving her mother’s store.”

  “Fine. I was with Avery. Are you happy now?”

  “I thought we were together.”

  I shook my head. “You knew the score with me. Don’t make it into more than it was. If you’re honest with yourself, you don’t give two shits about me. You wanted me because I was a prize—something to make you look cool to your friends.”

  “That’s not true. I really liked you.”

  “I call bullshit on that. I bet if I asked you what my favorite song or movie was, you’d have no fucking clue.”

  Elspeth’s brows creased. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Because little shit like that—it’s everything when it comes to a relationship. When you really care for someone, you find out what they like and don’t like. Face it: all you know about me is that doggy style is my favorite position.”

  A volatile mixture of anger and hurt swept over Elspeth’s face. The next thing I knew she had hauled off and slapped the hell out of me. My face stung as her nails scraped across my cheek. “Very classy,” I muttered as I rubbed my jaw.

  Elspeth huffed dramatically as she swept her hands to her chest. “Oh that’s rich. You’re accusing me of not being classy when you’re the one fucking some low-rent scholarship case.”

  I jabbed my finger at her. “Do not talk shit about Avery.”

  “I’m speaking the truth.” Her head shook wildly. “Jesus, Cade, how could you embarrass me like this?”

  “Shockingly enough, everything isn’t about you. This is about Avery and me.”

  “You should be thinking about you. Fucking someone like her…” Elspeth made a horrible face. “It’s like social suicide.”

&
nbsp; “I couldn’t give a shit less what anyone has to say about who I’m fucking.” I started to turn to go, but then I stopped. “For the record, we aren’t just fucking. We’re together.”

  Elspeth’s head flew back like I’d slapped her. While she could barely believe I would have slept with Avery, it seemed incomprehensible to her that I could actually want more. “You’re dating her?”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  Her mouth dropped open in horror. “What has happened to you?”

  “Something you couldn’t possibly understand.” With that, I unlocked the door and slammed it in her face.

  After falling into a deep sleep, I woke to the sound of someone pounding on my door. When I glanced at the clock on my nightstand, I saw it was after one in the afternoon. Shit. I hadn’t meant to sleep so long.

  I trudged across the carpet to the door. Thinking it was one of my buddies, I threw it open without questioning who it was. Immediately, I regretted it. Standing before me with his usual sour expression was my father.

  “Dad, hey. What are you doing here?”

  “I need to talk to you.” Without an invitation, he swept past me into my bedroom.

  “Normally, we talk with a phone call.”

  “You haven’t been answering your phone.”

  “I’m sorry. I had it on vibrate so I could get some sleep.”

  “Sit down, Cade.”

  His tone and mannerisms told me something epically shitty had happened. “Is everyone okay? Nothing’s happened to Mom or Catherine has it?”

  “No. It’s nothing like that.”

  A relieved breath whooshed out of me. “So what’s up?”

  “I received a disturbing phone call about you this morning.”

  “Yeah, well, I find that a little hard to believe considering I’ve been towing the line lately. Besides, I can’t imagine any of my teachers are so dedicated that they make student calls on Sunday mornings.”

  “It’s about who you have been seen with.”

  “Elspeth?”

  Dad shook his head. “The scholarship girl.”

  I raised my brows in surprise. “Avery?”

  “Yes. Avery Prescott.”

  “Wow, I guess Elspeth called you.”

  “She has nothing to do with this. It is Miss Prescott I am concerned with.”

  “Just what are you concerned with?”

  Dad’s expression darkened. “You’re not to see her any more.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I believe you heard me correctly.”

  “Yeah, I did. I guess it’s more that I couldn’t believe I actually heard you say that.”

  “I know you’re young, Cade, but you have responsibilities to yourself and to your family. I can understand wanting to sow your oats with young girls below your social standing, but apparently it is more than a fling with this girl.”

  Crossing my arms across my chest, I firmly replied, “Yeah, it is.”

  Dad tilted his head. “You don’t actually think you love this girl, do you?” The sneer on his face made me even angrier.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  He grunted. “Jesus Christ, Cade, sometimes I wonder how you can possibly be my son.”

  “Maybe you should have Mom do a paternity test,” I snapped.

  Dad jabbed a finger at me. “Watch your tongue with me.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I said, “Whatever.”

  In a flash, Dad was before me. He cuffed the back of my neck and jerked my head back to where I had to stare up at him. “You are not to see Avery Prescott again.”

  I jerked away from his grip. “Get serious, Dad. I’m eighteen. I can do whatever the hell I want, and thanks to the stipulations of my trust from Grandfather, you can’t threaten me with my inheritance.”

  An almost evil smile curved on my father’s lips. “There are other ways to make your life hell.”

  “Like what? You’ll go off like Neil’s dad in Dead Poets Society and send me to military school?”

  “While I could pull strings to do that, I won’t. Instead, I’ll hit you where it truly hurts: with football.”

  My world came to a jarring stop. Had he actually said that? “What?”

  “If you insist on staying with this girl, you will never play collegiate football.”

  I shook my head furiously from side to side. “You seriously think you’re God, don’t you? Have you forgotten I have a scholarship to Tech?”

  Dad narrowed his eyes at me. “Schools can rescind scholarships and offers, Cade. Regardless of what your inflated ego thinks, you are replaceable.”

  In that moment, I could barely process his words. I felt like I was in a horror movie where the monster had tracked me down and backed me into a corner from which there was nowhere else to turn. I had to resign myself to my dark fate.

  My father had given me lots of ultimatums in my life, but this one was gut-wrenching. How could I possibly choose? Football was my life, my great escape from all the unending bullshit surrounding me. There was no greater feeling in my life than when I was sprinting down the green. The roar of the crowd echoed not just through your ears, but your whole body.

  Then Avery’s sweet and caring face appeared before me. How could I give up the best thing I’d ever found with a member of the opposite sex? I couldn’t help thinking of what me ending things would do to Avery. I hated the thought that I would be hurting her. She deserved to be loved and worshipped—not tossed aside.

  In the end, it came down to what I had known for just four months versus what I had known my entire life. Even though it would kill me, I would have to give Avery up.

  Dad crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s it going to be, Cade? Your football career or this piece of white trash?”

  Trying to put as much space as I could between Dad and myself, I eased back against the headboard of my bed. “You don’t even know her,” I murmured.

  “I don’t need to know her. The little I know of her is enough.”

  “She has a scholarship to law school—she’s going to make something of herself,” I feebly protested.

  “While that’s all well and good, she can do it without you and your money and connections.”

  “She doesn’t care about my money and connections.”

  Dad gave a bark of a laugh. “Am I supposed to believe she actually cares about you?”

  What. The. Fuck.

  His words bruised me harder than if he had hit me with his fists. In a way, I wished he had beaten me rather than destroying my life. The pain would have been intense, but it would have faded. This was much worse. He was not only forbidding me to be with the girl I loved, but he didn’t even believe I was loveable.

  I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. “Just go.”

  “Not until you assure me that you will stop seeing Avery.”

  Glaring at him, I bit out, “You have my word, you bastard.”

  Dad nodded. “I’m glad you decided to see it my way.”

  “Fuck you,” I muttered.

  Dad walked over to the door. After he opened it, he paused. Turning around, he said, “I know you gave me your word, but just so you know, I have eyes all over this campus and town. If you try to sneak around behind my back, I will know.”

  Then he slammed the door behind him.

  If I had it in me to cry, that would have been the moment I started sobbing uncontrollably—but men aren’t supposed to cry. We’re supposed to bury our feelings and suppress our emotions. Fuck my life. I decided to handle the situation the best way I could: to get roaring drunk. The best place to start that process was the secret stash I had hidden under my bed.

  After I unscrewed the cap on the Crown Royal, I held the bottle up. “To my father, thanks for ruining the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you fucker.”

  With the toast finished, I began guzzling down the burning liquid and continued binging until, thankfully, I passed out.

  AVERY

&nbs
p; When Cade finished explaining what had happened with his father, silent tears streamed down my cheeks. Hearing the story had been positively gut-wrenching, bringing back everything I had experienced those final days we were together—both the good and the bad. All the shattered pieces of myself that I had fought so hard to put back in place three years before had come unglued, and I was once again that emotionally battered and broken teenage girl.

  Hearing the truth was a tremendous shock. I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that something like that had transpired between Cade and his father. From the way Cade talked about him, I knew Representative Hall was an asshole, but I never could have fathomed him capable of something so cruel. With one prejudiced ultimatum, he had ruined the happiness of two people.

  After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Cade handed me his paper napkin. “I’m sorry, Avery. I’m so fucking sorry,” he repeated for the millionth time.

  I dabbed my cheeks. “It’s okay. I mean, I’m glad you told me the truth now.”

  “From your reaction, it doesn’t seem like you’re glad.”

  “No. I needed to hear it, regardless of how painful it was.” I placed the napkin down on the table and then looked at Cade. “Why didn’t you tell me this then?”

  “I knew I was going to hurt you, but I didn’t want to hurt you as a person.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Newsflash, Cade. You didn’t hurt me—you destroyed me.”

  Jerking a hand through his hair, Cade said, “I know that, but back then, all I could think about was what would hurt you less. If I had told you that my father was forbidding me to see you, then that would have made you feel bad about yourself as a person and about your family, like you weren’t good enough because you didn’t come from money.”

  “But don’t you get it? I still felt bad about myself. Do you know how many nights I lay awake wondering what had I done to drive you away? What it was about me that was so horribly wrong that you couldn’t be with me?”

  “Look, I know it sounds fucked up, but I just wanted all the blame to be on me. I wanted you to just hate me.”

  “Trust me, I did.”

  “And I’m glad.”

  “Is that why you didn’t call me?”