“Don’t you dare,” I warn him, getting to my feet and backing away from him. But there isn’t anywhere to go and my back bumps against the porch railing. He lets the shirt go with a pop and it flicks against my legs with a sharp sting. “You asshole!” I shout.
He crowds me, covering me with his sweat and I push him away. “No, you can’t love on me, you dick.”
“Uh oh,” Ben says from the doorway. “Trouble in paradise already?”
Jack’s lips find my ear and he bites down. “You just wait until I get you home later,” he whispers. His breath fans over the sensitive skin there and I shiver against him. “The boys go to camp in a few weeks and we’ll have your place all to ourselves. I’ll have you in bed for as long as I want you.”
My hands are stuck between us, and all I can feel are his abs, all twelve of them. I’ll admit, even sweaty and dirty, I want to rip his clothes off. Maybe even more so.
“Okay,” Livvie says from behind him. “I’m regretting the sister comment. I forgot how into PDA you two were.”
Jack laughs against my throat and pulls away, his eyes dancing. Before he can put more distance between us, I grab him by the neck for a kiss that promises all of the things that I can’t say out loud.
“My eyes. They burn!” Livvie interrupts.
I must have misunderstood exactly what this basketball game was about because it’s not the single games in the gym. No. This is some sort of tournament that takes place at the rec fields where there are a half-dozen courts all backed up against one another. It seems like every resident of Nassau has shown up to participate. Hundreds and hundreds of people mill about and parking is a bitch.
“Why don’t you guys go and we’ll catch up,” Ben says, pulling his truck up next to ours. We’d managed to snag a parking spot just as someone was leaving.
“All right,” Jack yells over the sound of the crowd. “We’ll meet you at registration.”
“I don’t remember this being such a big thing,” I say to him as we navigate through the masses of people with a huge net of basketballs and their duffles of uniforms and God-only-knows-what.
“Probably because you are a girl and were more interested in playing on the monkey bars or something.” He spots whatever he’s looking for over the sea of bobbing heads and he dives into the mass of bodies, holding tight onto my hand so I don’t get lost in the crowd. “There’s the registration table. We’ll find out where their team is at, then we’ll get a good spot on the bleachers.”
I shouldn’t be enjoying today, not when I know what’s waiting for me, but with a tight hold on Jack’s hand, I feel like I can conquer anything. I pull him back and he glances at me.
“Everything okay?”
Smiling, I press my lips to his. “I’ll talk to your friend,” I say. “I want to help her.”
He stops the boys with a raised hand. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, it’s time I stopped running, right? And if I were her I’d want to know there were other’s like me.”
“Have I mentioned you’re the bravest women I know?”
“I don’t know about that, but I know I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“You could have, but I’m glad you’re letting me help you.” He kisses me again. “Finally.” Then another kiss on my forehead. “After the game we’ll have to renegotiate our friends truce.”
“Why? Wanna be friends-with-benefits?” I tease.
He slaps a playful hand on my ass and hands me the leash where Rosie is happily winding around our legs. “Why don’t you take this one to water some grass while we hit the registration table. The line looks long, and I don’t think she’ll be able to wait.”
Jack and the boys melt into the crowd and Rosie tugs the leash to a patch of untrampled grass. I turn my face into the sun until it warms me from the inside out.
When I open my eyes, I blink, not trusting what I’m seeing. When Rosie pushes to my leg, the fur on her back sticking up as she growls, I realize I’m not seeing things.
Damian pushes his way through the crowd and comes to stand by my side.
“There you are. C’mon, honey. Wake up.”
It’s the voice from my nightmares, one I hoped to never hear again. I try to jerk awake, but the signals must be misfiring because no matter how much I scream at my limbs to move, they don’t do my bidding.
“That’s my girl. Give it a few minutes for it to wear off. No, no, don’t try to move. It’ll just make you dizzy.”
Ignoring that, I attempt to bring my hands in front of me to protect the blows that are sure to come, but to no avail.
I recognize the smell first. Sweat. Dirt. Rubber. Oh God, no.
We’re in Jack’s gym, though not in the storage room from before, in the main section. I blink rapidly, allowing the image to coalesce. We’re in the ring, the bank of mirrors to my back. My arms are secured to the top line with nylon rope, my feet to the bottom. There’s a gag stuffed in my mouth, already soaked with saliva.
Damian paces in front of me, glancing at the front doors. The fact that he hasn’t pushed me down and commenced with a reunion tour of our last time here causes hope to flare in my chest.