Bad For You: (An Older Brother's Best Friend Romance) (10 page)

That’s easier said than done. I’ve been in
love with Bracken for so long I’m not sure I can move on without hating him.

bracken

“So who’s the lucky lady?” the woman behind the counter asks. Her
red fingernails slide open another glass showcase filled with sparkling
diamonds and gold necklaces. 

I went to high school with her, but I can’t
remember her name. I honestly don’t give a shit what it is, either. The only
reason she’s asking for details is so she can run off and tell her friends
about what I’m up to. That’s the last damn thing I need getting back to Simon.
I already have Nautica pissed off at me. I need to make shit right one person
at a time.

“Someone special,” is all I answer, with a
shrug.

She leans forward, her elbows hitting the
glass, and gives me a good view of her tits. “Do I know her?” she pushes.

“Nope.”

I look down at the thin, gold chain wrapped
around my fingers. I’ve been in this jewelry store for almost an hour trying to
find the perfect Christmas present for Nautica. I want to get her something
she’ll love, but I’ve never bought jewelry for a chick – other than my
mom. I decided to go with a necklace after this no-name woman asked me if I was
positive I didn’t want to go with a ring fifteen times.

I haven’t talked to Nautica since the whole
ice-skating disaster. I acted like an idiot. She put me on the spot, drilling
me with questions I wasn’t prepared to answer, so I stuck my foot in my mouth.
My silence basically told her we’re only fuck buddies and that’s it. I’ve never
been good with words.

“Can I get this engraved?” I ask.

“Sure,” she answers, with a smile. “It may
take a few days, but we can get it done for you.”  

“By Christmas?”  

“By Christmas,” she verifies, with a nod.

I set the necklace down and pull out my
wallet. “Sold.”

* * *

“Do you have a minute to talk?”
I ask, sending a text to
Nautica.

My phone beeps with a message.
“Nope.”

Fuck. She’s still pissed, but I got a
response. That gives me some hope. I was scared I wouldn’t even get that. An
answer is something I can work with.

“Please. I’m sorry. Let me explain myself.
Fix this.”

“Fine. I’m at home. You can come over.”

“To your house?”  

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

She’s testing me to see if I’m okay with possibly
having to face Simon. I’m not about to fail.

I start to type out,
“Is Simon there?”
but backspace. That will only piss her off more. I retype,
“I’ll be there in
ten.”

A sense of relief hits me when I see the
driveway clear of Simon’s car. I tuck the necklace receipt into my glove
compartment and get out. The front door is unlocked, and I walk into the quiet
house.

“Asshole.” I look up to see a
full-of-attitude Macy shaking her head and stomping down the stairs with a
grimace on her face. Her purse and keys are in her hand.

“It’s a pleasure seeing you too,” I reply.

She snorts and shoves past me. “She’s
upstairs. You better get up there and say the right thing or she’s pretty much
done with you.” She smacks my shoulder on her way out the door.   

“Great,” I mutter. I head upstairs and knock
on Nautica’s bedroom door before opening it. She’s laying on her stomach in bed
and watching TV. She glances over and frowns when she sees me.

I lean back against the wall and shove my
hands into my pockets. “Hey,” I say.

“Hi,” she replies, softly. Her tangled hair
is pulled away from her face and in a messy ponytail. She’s wearing sweats and
a t-shirt. Even dressed down like she doesn’t give a care in the world, she
still looks breathtaking. “You wanted to talk?”

I push myself off the wall. “I do, but I want
to apologize first.” I sit down on the edge of her bed. “I’m a dumbass. I
messed up. The situation we’re in is complicated, but that’s not an excuse for
me to act like a jackass. I don’t want to hide anymore, and I don’t want you to
think of yourself as a secret. I’m going to talk to Simon about us.”

She lifts up from her stomach and looks at me
in shock. “Don’t bullshit me, Bracken Casey.”

I hold up my hands in surrender. “No
bullshitting, I swear. I’m going to tell him before we head back to school. I
plan on taking him out and breaking the news. He deserves to know. We deserve
to not be sneaking around. I’ll explain that we’ve hung out a few times and
clicked. I am going to leave out the part where we’ve started fucking, and that
we still are – for obvious reasons.”

She nods in agreement. I get excited when I
notice the bright smile on her face.  “Although I’m sure he’ll figure that
out sooner or later. My brother isn’t an idiot.” Her grin grows wider. “Do you
promise?”  

I lean forward and twirl a loose strand of
her hair around my finger. “I promise. I’ll make this right.”

I’ve never done commitment, but if I’m going
to try it, it might as well be with someone I really care about, whose company
I enjoy, and who is amazing in bed. If commitment is what she wants for me to
keep having her, I’ll try my best to give it to her.

She leans forward, grabs my head, and kisses
me.  “Thank you.”

 “Do I get a reward for my efforts?” I
ask, against her lips.

“Mmm, I think that can be arranged.” I bite
into her lip as she grips my cock through my jeans. “What did you have in
mind?”

I run my hands down her back and grab a
handful of her ass. Fuck, her ass is perfect. “I’m sure whatever you give me is
going to be amazing, baby.”  

“I like that answer.”

“Probably not as much as I’m going to like the
reward.”

My dick springs out from my jeans. She wastes
no time before wrapping her slick, thick lips around it. I grip her hair to
control her pace. It feels so good, but I can’t lose my shit yet. I need to
fuck her.

“Bend over,” I say, panting. She looks up at
me with her mouth still full of my cock. “Quit sucking my dick, take off your
panties, and bend over for me.”

I hiss when she releases my dick. I glance
down at my throbbing erection as she pushes herself off the bed and stands up. My
eyes stay glued to her every move. She slowly strips off her shirt and tosses
it on the floor with a girlish smile.

“Keep going,” I say. I wrap my fist around my
cock and start to pump up and down. “Don’t stop.”

Her bra is the next to go. She slides each
strap off her shoulders before unclasping it and letting it fall to the floor. I
lick my lips, my mouth salivating as I eye her hard nipples.

“You wanted me to bend over?” she asks,
innocently. She twirls a dark strand of hair around her finger playfully. “Why
Bracken, do you want me to bend over for you?”

“You know why,” I grunt. My hand is moving
faster on my cock. “I’m not in the mood to play games.”

“Then what are you in the mood for?”

“To fuck you.” My answer comes out sounding
like a growl.

I jump up from the bed, wrap my arms around
her waist, and push her against the front of her desk. I rub my hard cock along
her ass. She doesn’t fight me as I tug down her pants, along with her panties. She
lets out a moan, her ass pushing against me, when I plunge into her.

“Oh god, yes,” she cries out.

“This is exactly what I was in the mood for,”
I whisper into her ear. She shivers as I drop soft kisses along the nape of her
neck.  “This is what I’m always in the mood for.”

Her head falls back along my shoulder, and I
brush my lips against hers before sliding my tongue in her mouth. “Don’t stop,”
she begs, meeting my pace. Her hips slam back against me with every thrust. I
inch my hand up her chest, playing with her tits. “God … I’m close.”

“Me too. Fuck, your pussy feels so good.”  

“What the fuck is going on here?”

She jumps forward. I jump back. My dick falls
out of her. Fuck, this isn’t good. I grab a blanket from the bed and throw it
over her naked body before turning around and facing him – with my dick
still in its full glory.   

Oh shit.

Simon is standing in the doorway with his
legs planted wide, his arms crossed, and his nostrils flaring. This definitely
isn’t how I wanted it to go down. I can hear his breathing from across the
room.  

I grab my shorts from the bed and battle with
myself on what the next words that come out of my mouth are going to be as I
pull them on. Whatever I come up with better be good. It also needs to be smart
enough that he doesn’t hate my ass or try to kill me.

“It’s not what it looks like,”
sounds
like a pretty good option, but it also sounds like a stupid as fuck response.
I’m so fucked.

“Simon! Get out!” Nautica yells. She wraps
the blanket tighter around her and sits down on the edge of the bed.

He puts his hand up, stopping her. “Don’t you
fucking say a word.”

“We need to talk. Let’s go to the other
room,” I finally say, my voice cool and controlled.

 “You’re damn straight we need to,” he
says. He charges towards me. “You’re my best friend. The only guy I’ve ever
trusted with her, and you do this to me? You were like my brother, man.” His
tone is a mixture of anger and hurt, which makes me feel even more like an
asshole.

His fist is hard against my cheek. I allow him
one punch.

Just one.

I deserve it. My head flies back against the
wall, and I gain control of myself before he tries to throw another one. He
stumbles back when my palms connect with his chest.

“Calm your ass down, Simon!” I yell.

Nautica frantically gets dressed underneath
the blanket. “Simon, don’t be mad at him,” she begs. “It’s both of our faults.”
 

He spins around and points at her. “You shut
the fuck up. I’ll deal with you later.”

“Dude, don’t talk to her like that,” I warn. “You
can be pissed off at me all you fucking want, but don’t take it out on her.”

Nautica doesn’t deserve this shit. If he
wants to punch someone, if he wants to cuss someone out, he needs to do it to
me.

“Don’t tell me how to talk to my damn
sister,” he spats, spit flying from his lips. “Get the hell out of my house.
You stay the fuck away from her or I will kill you.”

“I’m in love with him,” Nautica blurts out. I
stumble back against the wall.
Oh fuck.
This is definitely the wrong
time to start making love devotions. I’m trying to keep my ass from getting
kicked.

Simon laughs, mockingly. “That’s sweet little
sister, but you can’t honestly believes he feels the same way.” He swings
around to look directly at her. “This bastard doesn’t
love
anyone but
himself. He used you, just like he does with every other girl he’s fucked. And
trust me, there’s been a shit ton of them.” He turns to look back at me. “Which
is exactly why I told you to stay the fuck away from her!”

I drag a hand through my hair and pull at the
ends. “I tried. I really did, but it was impossible,” I say.

I have feelings for her.
I want to
tell him that, but now isn’t the time, especially after she just said the four
letter word. I can’t compete with that, so I’m not even going to try.

I don’t see it coming until his fist connects
with my jaw again. I shuffle back into the wall, knocking down a few pictures,
and a chair. Damn, he knows how to catch a man off guard.

“I deserved that.” I wipe the blood off my
lip. “I’ll let you have those two, but that’s it.”

He takes another swing, but I move too
quickly. His fist goes through the wall behind me.

“Mother fucker!” he grunts, and inspects his
now-bloody fist. We are both dripping blood on the carpet. Their mom is going
to have a fit.  

“Simon, stop!” Nautica jumps up from the bed.
She rushes over and tries to grab him, but goes stumbling back when his arm
flies out and accidently hits her in the stomach.

I shoot toward them and push him out of the
way to help her up. “You need to calm the fuck down,” I yell, easing her down
on the bed. I shift around to look at him, creating a wall in between her and
him.

He spits at my feet. “Fuck you. Get the hell
out of my house.”  

“I will when you calm your ass down and talk
to me.”

I’ve never seen him like this. I knew the
reaction I’d get from him when he found out wouldn’t be pretty, but I didn’t
think it’d be
this
bad.  

“Fuck you,” he repeats. “Fuck the both of
you. I’m out.”

He storms out of her bedroom, pushing away
everything in his path, and stomps down the stairs. Nautica falls down on her
back at the same time the front door slams shut.

“That definitely didn’t go as planned,” she
says, hugging herself. She covers her face, trying to hide the tears streaming
down her cheeks.  

I grab a Kleenex and hold it against my nose
to capture the blood. “Don’t cry,” I say, sitting down next to her and
carefully prying her hand away. “He’ll cool off,” I say, wiping away the tears.
“I’ll talk to him. I’ll fix this.” I’m trying to convince myself just as much
as I am her that Simon will eventually forgive me. “He’s in shock right now.
He’ll take a drive, clear his head, and we’ll talk shit out.”

She nods. “You’re right.”

I pull her into my side and kiss her
forehead. “Everything will be fine.”

* * *

My head is pounding. I’m laying in bed next to Nautica, my
arms wrapped around her, as my mind goes through everything I did wrong. Everything
I could’ve changed. I should’ve told him sooner. I shouldn’t have hid it from
him. Now I have to figure out how to fix this disaster I created.

I untangle myself from her at the sound of
her phone and grab it from the nightstand. “It’s your mom,” I say, handing it
to her. 

Did Simon tell her about what he walked in
on? Does she hate me now too? He’s been gone for almost thirty minutes now. I’m
not leaving until he comes back and we work this shit out.