The Other Brooks Boy (Texas Wildfire Series) (17 page)

Great life you
got goin' here, Brooks
.

He cranked up
the stereo and worked his body hard for an hour or so, thankful for the chill
that a drizzly, cold evening offered through the open garage door as he worked
up a sweat.

Bright
headlights shone in on him from the dark of the driveway as someone pulled in,
but Greg couldn't tell who it was from the brighter interior of the garage. In
a moment, Cara ducked under the dripping eve of the house and entered the
garage, her arms wrapped around her against the cold.

"Wow, I
didn't realize how chilly it had gotten since the rain moved in," she
said, and he could tell she was nervous, edgy. Maybe she was every bit as
frustrated as he was.

He didn't know
what to say ... didn't really feel like talking about the weather. He damn sure
didn't want to talk about Ryan. So he said nothing, but began replacing weight
discs on the rack, cleaning up after his work out.

She came a
little closer, arms still wrapped around herself, and tried to make small talk.

"The kids
are at the football game. It's the last game of the season unless they win
tonight. Then they'll move on to the playoffs," she said, rubbing her
hands up and down her arms to warm herself.

He looked at her
then. "So you got a hall pass."

She stopped rubbing
at her arms and looked at him like she didn't understand.

He moved across
the garage and hit the automatic door button, making the garage door close
against the chill, then looked back at her. "Ryan's out of the house
tonight, so you thought you'd come see me while you had the chance," he
clarified.

She smiled a
little half-smile, testing it. "Well ... yeah." She shrugged like it
should be obvious.

He went back to
the weight bench and continued the clean up, allowing a huge weight disc to fall
into place with a resounding and satisfying, deafening clank. "So you've
got a couple of hours?" he asked, ripping at the hook and loop closure of
his lifting gloves with another harsh sound and pitching them to the bench
beside him.

She shrugged
again, but her smile was gone, and it was clear she was trying to understand
his mood. "I guess," she said.

He wiped the
perspiration from his face and neck with a towel and took a long drink of water
from a bottle, then turned back to look at her. "Well, I've already had
dinner, and there's not really time to go catch a movie before your hall pass
expires, so what should we do with your time?"

Her smile
returned, sultry this time and she eyed him up and down, taking her time in the
perusal. "I can think of a thing or two I'd like to do with a hot, sweaty
... muscled up man," she told him, coming nearer.

It made his cock
come to life. "Can you?" It even pissed him off that his cock would
change sides at her merest suggestion. Damn traitor.

"Oh, yes.
Several things come immediately to mind," she whispered as she drew close,
her hand dragging up his forearm to his bicep, wrapping around his shoulder.
"I've always had a fantasy about getting it up against the wall in a gym
with some beefy, hot guy," she said, pressing herself up against him.

It was an
immediate turn on, but something else went off inside him, too. Anger, like
acid, welled up and washed away the tenderness he might usually feel when with
her. It left him raw. Amped up. He kissed her hard, taking her by surprise, but
she seemed game, kissing him back and dragging his tee shirt up his damp back.
He broke the kiss and ducked his head so she could pull the shirt off.

"I should
come over here more often when you're working out. Look at those muscles all
pumped up," she said, admiring him and running her hands all over his
torso. Her fingers dropped down to feel his erection pressing against the front
of his nylon athletic shorts. "Bet this one is pumped up, too," she
purred.

He flexed,
pressing his engorged flesh into her hands, and kissed her hard again. He
pulled her shirt up over her head and walked her backward right up against the
wall like she'd said she wanted. "Is this how it goes in your
fantasy?" he asked against her mouth.

"You're
reading my mind," she said, and produced a condom from her back pocket
with a sexy little smile.  All prepared.  She kicked her shoes off
and unzipped her jeans.

Hell, if that's
what she wanted, he'd play the game. He peeled her jeans off, then grabbed a
handful of hair at the back of her head and leaned her head back so he might
kiss her roughly. Not too hard, but fully in control. It was exactly what he
needed. Just something ... anything he could control in his life right now.

She moaned and
lifted her hips, pressing against him urgently. God, she could still fire him
up to a fevered pitch, even when he was pissed off at her.

"Greg,
hurry," she said, breathless, groping at his back, pulling him into her body,
biting at his lips, sucking on his mouth. Damn, the girl was fired up herself.

He jerked down
the cups of her bra, exposing her nipples and drew one into his mouth, making
her whimper and grind against him all the harder. His hand moved down her body
and boldly pulled her panties aside to find her wet, slick, swollen and more
than ready. He watched her tear the condom package, felt her jerk his cock free
of his shorts, then he groaned as she rolled it all the way down.  He
pushed into her like a heat seeking missile, primed to blow. Greg began to
move, and Cara clawed at his back, wrapping her legs up around his waist, her
breath panting.

"Don't
stop. Don't you dare stop," she told him, her words keeping cadence to his
deep thrusts.

"Then you
better get after it, girl, 'cause I'm not good for long," he said through
gritted teeth. He could feel pressure mounting in his balls, tightening, ready
to erupt, and knew he'd finish soon, with or without her. There wasn't any
choice in the matter tonight.

His hand came
between them to aid her, his thumb circling right where he knew she liked it.
He felt her muscles contract around him, hot, hard, glorious, and it pushed him
over the edge. They came together, and it took him a good two minutes to get
his breathing under control, his heart rate back to something less than cardiac
danger zone. Even then, he could feel her pulsing around him as the last
vestiges of pleasure waned.

"Oh, my
stars, but I needed that," she said, her eyes closed, head back against
the wall, her voice still breathless, too.

For some
unreasonable reason, it made him feel used. It wasn't rational, that feeling,
he knew, but he felt it anyway. He pulled free of her body, removed the condom,
and straightened his shorts, then walked away from her.

She watched him
as she rearranged her bra and panties. He took another long drink from the
bottle of water, then turned back to look at her standing there in nothing but
her underwear.

"Did you
get what you came for?" he asked, not bothering to disguise the irritation
in his voice.

She looked like
he'd punched her, her eyes rounding, then narrowing to angry slits. "What
the hell are you so pissed off about tonight?" She stabbed her feet down
the legs of her jeans and jerked the zipper closed while searching for her
shoes with her toes.

"What the
hell do you
suppose
I'm so pissed off about, Cara?" he fired right
back.

She looked at
him like he was thick. "I'm here, aren't I?" Like that fixed
everything.

"You sure
are. Guess you
did
get what you needed. Better hurry on home before Ryan
gets there and throws another tantrum. Wouldn't want to upset the boy, would we
now?" He knew he was throwing a tantrum of his own ... acting childish and
mean, but damn if he could stop himself.

She pulled her
shirt on over her head, then pulled her hair up out of the neckband, her eyes
damning him for all he was worth. "That's low, Greg."

"You're
probably right, Cara. But it's how I'm feelin', darlin'," he said, pretty
unapologetic.

"You didn't
seem to have any trouble having sex with me a minute ago, now did you?"

He shrugged,
acting like it was all the same to him. "Just givin' you what you came
for, I figure." He pulled his own shirt back over his head. "That
is
what you came for, isn't it? I mean, I'm not worth bringin' to the house and
upsetting the boy and all, but you can damn sure sneak away for a couple of
hours while he's distracted for a quick fuck."

Her eyes went to
slits again, and she walked over and punched the door opener button with
entirely too much force. The door groaned its way open while she waited
impatiently, her back to him. When it had nearly finished, she turned and
leveled a look on him that could have burned exposed skin.

"Are you
really forcing me to choose between you and my kids?" She tilted her head
to one side. "Seriously?" She shook her head and walked to her car
while he tried to decide if that was true.

He stood
watching as she backed out of his driveway way too fast and gunned it down the
street, then he cussed a blue streak and hit the abused button again to close
the garage door.

***

Later, Ryan
walked back out of his mother's bedroom, a look of confusion on his face, and
found his sister sitting on the sofa in the den. "What's up with
Mom?"

Maddie looked up
from her phone. "What do you mean? I think she's taking a shower."

"She's
crying," he said. "I can hear it, even in her bedroom. It's echoing
off the shower tiles. What's wrong with her?"

Maddie looked at
him like he was possibly the dumbest human she'd ever met. "Really,
Ryan?"

He sat down in
the chair, slinging one knee over the arm. "Yeah ... really."

Maddie rolled
her eyes and laid her cell phone over on the sofa cushion beside her, then
looked at him for a long minute.

Ryan grew
restless. "What the hell, Mad?"

"She's
crying because you're such as ass," Maddie said.

Ryan's eyebrows
rose up like question marks above his eyes. "What makes you say that? I
haven't said anything to her all week hardly," he argued, then rolled his
own eyes. "And there's plenty I could've said, believe me." He gave
her the side of his face, looking off across the room in a fume.

"Oh, we
heard it all on Sunday. Believe me. We all know how you feel," Maddie
said, her voice saturated with sarcasm.

Ryan turned back
to look at her, studying her as she'd done him a moment ago. "You're
really okay with this aren't you?" Clearly, he was still in disbelief over
that fact.

"I don't
know that I'd say I'm okay with it. I still feel kinda weird about it, but I
know that Mom has been absolutely miserable this week. I caught her crying in
the kitchen yesterday, too."

"What's she
crying about? Really. Maybe I'm stupid, but what's the deal?" Ryan asked.

"She's
crying because you haven't spoken to her all week. You've been swelled up and a
bully, refusing to even hear her side of this issue."

"And what's
she gonna say that makes this okay, Mad? No matter what the hell she says, he's
still gonna be Dad's brother. And that just ain't right. I don't care how you
slice it. That ain't right," he said, proving that he hadn't moved at all
on the issue.

"You know
what's not right, Ryan?" She leaned forward, out over her knees, and
wagged her face at him. "You making someone else miserable because they're
not doing what you want them to."

Ryan looked at
her with hardly any expression at all.

"That's
selfish and childish and just like Dad used to do. Remember how he'd get pissed
off if you brought home a bad grade and wouldn't talk to you for the rest of
the freakin' day? Remember how that felt?"

Ryan nodded, his
gaze fixed on the carpet. "Yeah. The last game Dad came to with me was
that way. I gave up about four runs that cost us the game, and he wouldn't
speak to me all the way home. God, I hated that feeling."

They were quiet
for a moment, dragged in by their own memories.

Maddie finally
spoke. "Well, guess what, bro? That's exactly how you're acting. And it
feels bad to everyone. And it's not fair to Mom or Uncle Greg."

Ryan turned back
to look at her, a little of his earlier irritation back in his expression.
"So you don't seem to remember any of the good stuff about Dad. It's like
you're always talking him down."

Maddie shrugged
one shoulder and sat back against the cushion. "I remember some of the
good stuff, but I'm older than you, Ryan. And I know more about how things
really were with Mom and Dad."

"What, like
they were about to get a divorce or something?"

Maddie shrugged
again. "I don't know, but it wouldn't have surprised me."

Ryan got up and
stood there for a minute, looked defeated. "Life sucks."

Maddie picked up
her phone again and buried her nose in it. "Yeah, well, I don't agree with
that, but thanks for sharing your foul thoughts with the rest of us."