Page 46 of The Love Wager

“They won’t. This is private property.”

She can’t reply, even when I see questions dancing in her eyes as her mouth drops open and she lets loose a crackled cry of pleasure through the night. It wafts over the unkempt grass and bounces off trees where owls perch onlooking. She’s adding to the forest’s symphony tonight, and I’m her conductor.

I work the vibrator back and forth, teasing her entrance and clit equally as she writhes and lets go of her inhibitions at my machinations.

“You’re so fucking perfect,” I whisper before taking her lips in a bruising kiss that promises more. That there’s more left unsaid that I might not have the ability to form into words.

“Brooks!” Her pleading tone gives evidence she’s close, and even though I’d love to be inside her when she lets go and comes for me, I don’t want to stop.

I draw my face back some, watching her come undone for me as she cries out and tells the world how much she enjoys what, surely, Spencer thought was a joke. Once I’m lying beneath the stars, the vibrator carefully back in its box, and Indie lying on my chest, I decide I don’t think I’ll kill him after all.

“What did you mean when you said this is private property?”

I sigh, wondering how much I should tell her. I guess it can’t hurt, though. Being that it’s the very reason I entered this delusional bet of hers.

“This portion of the estate belongs to me.”

She sits up on her elbow and eyes me. “It does?”

I nod. “Yeah. It was my parents’. They wanted to build on it and never did. I had the same intent, but now I don’t think that’ll happen. It could, but it’s doubtful.”

“Why?”

“Well, I used this as collateral for a second mortgage on the bar back when I helped Nick, and if we don’t win this wager of yours without anyone finding out, it’ll all be gone.”

“I don’t want to be nosy, so you can absolutely tell me to fuck off, but what did Nick need help with?”

“Therapy after a couple of tours overseas. More in-depth, expensive therapy at centers in the city that he couldn’t afford. He was fine not going, but I wasn’t fine with how he was spiraling. He was headed down a dark road, and I wanted to give him a little light to get down his path easier.”

“Wow. I’m sure he’s so grateful to you. That’s an amazing thing to do for someone, Brooks.” There’s emotion in her tone that tells how genuine she’s being, but talking about something so personal still has me on edge.

“He doesn’t know. You can’t tell him. If he knew all I’ve gone through to help him, it’ll only make him spiral worse.”

“Wait, what? How does he think he got to go to the center?”

I sigh, sitting up as I look off over the field. Fireflies dance over the tall grass, moving in the wind, and I zone in on them as I feel Indie sit up beside me. “I told him I applied for some grants for him. It wasn’t a lie; I applied for them. It was just that he got denied.”

“Shit.”

Shit is right.

“I take it you’re behind on the payment for the bar and that’s why you got into this with me?”

I nod. “No one could’ve expected the last few years and how the economy would shift. I hadn’t even thought about what could happen when I locked myself into this deal. I just wanted to help him.”

She squeezes the inside of my biceps before slipping her hand around it. “It was an admirable thing, Brooks. And we’re going to make it right. If anything, Spence telling Taylor about setting this up should solidify her belief in our relationship.”

My stomach coils at the thought of us getting caught and all of this blowing up in our faces, but her confidence in us washes it away almost instantly.

“You can’t tell him,” I say, realizing she could pit Nick against me with this information and growing anxious over it.

Her face pulls tight. “I would never, Brooks. What you did was a great thing. I do think you should tell him, however.”

“Why?”

“People we love deserve to know the depth of that love and the lengths we’d go to for them.”

Her words are so heavy, they nearly press me further into the ground as I stare into her eyes.

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