Page 81 of South of The Skyway

“I mean,” Noel shrugged, breaking the silence that settled whenever we thought about Blaze. She reached for a stack of books, earning a smack on the hand in the process. She scowled at Josie’s retreating fingers before sighing and leaning back to baby her arm, like she should have been doing all day. “How’s he in bed?”

“Like we’ve gotten that far,” Josie countered, swiping the book off the top of the stack Noel had been reaching for. “The suck-o part is, if I look past the whole kissing his teeth part, I think he’d be really, really good with the kids.”

“Never know. He could make up for it with his equipment,” Noel said with a coy wink.

“Or his fingers,” I offered hopefully.

“But I don’t want to end up with somebody I can’t enjoy making out with on a Friday night, you know?” We all sighed simultaneously, glowering at the stack of books to be shipped in front of us. Noel and I had a ritual of tackling this task together every Saturday, and Josie showing up unannounced and uninvited just affirmed all my prior assumptions about her epic character. Vallie had been texting her moral support all evening, stuck in meetings back-to-back due to some international time difference.

Noel glanced at her phone as it vibrated for the dozenth time, rolling her eyes before reaching for it with her good hand.

“Yeah?” she said, voice clipped. “I’m fine. No, I’m fine. I’m at the shop…Helping Brex, I told you that. No, it’s shipment day, so I’m not just leaving her here…” Her glower made me shift in my seat before deciding to go grab us refills. Carafe in hand, I returned to a still scowling Noel. “I’ll be home on time, I promise. We’ll be fine…Fine, I’ll have Rhyett walk us back. Will that work?”

When I canted my head, brow furrowed, she put the phone on mute and whispered, “Eric,” before hitting the microphone button again. I drew in a long breath, not liking the way my chest tightened as I poured us all a warmup.

“Rhyett is the definition of a perfect gentleman and head over heels for Brex. I think you’re fine.”

Beginning to feel like a blowfish as I fought to contain my opinions, I released the air from my puffed-up cheeks on a long exhale, turning to return the coffee pot to an eager-looking Wrenly. She was just about out for the night, the bar spotless and pristinely organized, as always.

When I came back, Noel had managed to extricate herself from the conversation and was pursing her lips as she handed a now-silent Josie a book off the stack.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, he’s just—ever since the accident, he’s been extra overbearing. Protective, that kind of stuff. But me being out of the house is seemingly a criminal offense.”

Josie and I locked eyes for a beat, and I saw the same flicker of concern in her that was riddling mine. Speaking for us both, I hedged, “Is everything okay between the two of you, Noel? Things were…tense at the hospital. Even Rhyett picked up on it.”

“We’re fine. Just a rough patch,” she said, waving me off and snatching another novel to pass my direction as if she was any closer in proximity than I was to the stack between us. “Anyways, how is Mr. Hotshot? Still your northern dream boat?” She turned to Josie, adding, “He got Brex writing again. Did she tell you? Twenty-thousand words and counting.”

Personally, I hated to be pressed on issues I wasn’t ready to talk about. Still, something was eating at me, the ability to form a coherent sentence suddenly vanishing as I slid another book into an envelope.

“Damn, I love that. And he’s got great lips,” Josie noted, dark eyes flicking my way. “Why can’t Jake have a mouth like Rhyett? I’d be all over him if there were just…more of him to kiss.”

I laughed, trying to get back into the casual rhythm we’d had before being interrupted. My thoughts drifted to said mouth, the feel of him ravaging my skin, feasting on my sex like I was his freaking dessert. Need pulsed between my legs, and I crossed one over the other. Embarrassed that my swallow was audible, I said, “God, and he knows how to use them. It’s never been this good for me. You’ll find someone worth kissing, Jos. Maybe Jake could get some filler?”

Her amused cackle warmed the air between the three of us, humor seeming to loosen the tight hold of Noel’s shoulders, her face relaxing. “That would be the day.”

“Not a terrible idea,” Noel said, swaggering back into her seat as a smile played in the corners of her mouth. “Never know, he might be open to it. You’re a hell of a catch to miss out on over a few hundred bucks and some pokes.”

“But for real, what in the hell is going on with you?” Josie pressed. “Rhyett looked ready to devour you when he came by for lunch.”

I rolled my eyes, tossing my hair over a shoulder. “That was Manny’s ham on rye, don’t get confused.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

RHYETT

Albert Einstein allegedly claimed, “Any man that can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

That wasn’t the end of the limitation, in my humble opinion. I gritted my teeth, cursing under my breath as Brexley’s slick mouth bobbed up and down on my cock, having pried open my zipper to gain access. She’d commented on the dark tint of my windows on a few occasions, and had I known this would be the result of answering her question about peeping toms, I would've done it sooner.

Fingers wrapped around my shaft, lips swollen with the effort, she tugged on that thread wrapped around my spine. My balls jumped with that familiar ache as I groaned.

“Holy fuck,” I breathed, watching yet another car zip around us before I could jerk the truck off the freeway onto the ramp and down towards the beach. I tightened my hold on her hair, wishing my other hand was free to roam.

“Oh fuck, Brex, you’ve got me, baby.” If her satisfied moan hadn’t been the end of it, the way she opened her throat as she slid down next was. “How do youeven—” Then I was coming down her throat in hot spurts that made my legs shake. My bombshell lapped up every freaking ounce.

Swearing at the intensity of an adrenaline-fueled orgasm, I left an ungodly amount of room between the nose of my pickup and the car in front of us. I looked like a nervous teenager just learning to drive. Which was fitting, as that was likely the last time a girl had sucked me off sitting in the middle of a bench seat.