The Family Business
Chapter 1: The Decision
"Harper, I'm not going to pull you out of school!" Tyson cried, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.
"I'd be finishing up in a week anyway, Ty. I can finish up and get my GED after we get back. It's not as hard as it sounds," Harper replied.
"No. I said no, and that's final," he told her.
"I don't see why I can't just come with you. He's my brother too, you know," she hissed, trying the guilt trip.
"No. It's dangerous out there, and I'm not putting you in jeopardy. I'm not going to do that. With Kaden missing, it makes things even worse, and now we've got to be extra careful."
Harper looked over at her other two brothers who were reclined back on the couch watching another episode of Supernatural. The four of them had little in common. Ty was the oldest of the five- 25 years old- and had shaggy, chin length blond hair and medium toned skin. Kaden- their missing brother- was the second oldest at 23 years old and had shaggy, ear length, black hair and tan skin. Adrian- one of the two brothers who were sitting on the couch- was the third child and 21 years old. He had shaggy, ear length, brown hair and tan skin. Deacon- the other one sitting on the couch- was the fourth child- and 19 years old. His hair was spiked and light brown, and his skin was nicely tanned. Harper was the baby of the family- at 18 years old. She had long, curly, black hair and medium toned skin. All of them had stormy, dark gray eyes except for Deacon- who had bright green ones- and Adrian- who had hazel ones.
"These guys are great!" Deacon said.
"Yeah, whoever made this show really knows their stuff or they did a LOT of research," Adrian commented.
"You know, you look a lot like Sam," Deacon said, looking him over closely.
"Really?" Adrian asked.
"Yep."
"Hey, guys, can you shut up about that show for two seconds and pay attention here?!" Harper growled.
The guys looked down at their feet, putting a hand up to hide their eyes. They looked over at each other finally.
"Dude, she's really pissed," Deacon said.
"Yep," Adrian replied.
"Don't look her in the eyes, her glare will kill you," Deacon said.
"Trust me, I figured that one out the hard way one day," Adrian told him.
"Guys!" she snapped, "Quit mumbling. I can hear every word you're saying. And pay attention, you idiots! Kaden's been missing for five days now. For the first two we weren't worried, but now he's been gone too long without word back from him. Something's happened. Don't you think it would be a lot easier to find him if all four of us were looking for him? Or do you take Ty's side and say that I'm too young and useless to come along?"
"I never said you were useless," Tyson told her.
"Pretty much. You said all I was going to do was get in your way and get myself hurt. Doesn't that mean you think I'm useless?" she demanded.
"I don't wanna pick sides," Deacon said.
"Wimp," Harper taunted, "Why don't you grow a pair and get back to me with an answer?"
"You're not fair, you know that?" Adrian asked her, "If we agree with Ty, then we're heartless bastards. If we agree with you, then it goes against our better judgment. If we don't take sides, then we're chickens. There's no winning for losing."
"All you have to do is tell me what you think," she said.
"All right," Adrian replied, "I think you should stay in school. Your education is very important. Yes, you know the ropes, and you know how to hunt, but I still think you should stay. After you get done with school, if we still haven't found Kaden yet- which I think we will have- then we can come back and get you. Is that even?"
"Deacon?" she asked.
"I agree with him. I don't want to see you get hurt, Harp."
"And, Ty, we already know your vote," she said.
She gave a huff and said, "Well, it's three to one. I guess I'm staying. Just know that I hate you all."
"What about Cadence?" Tyson asked her, "Were you just going to up and leave him dry without even an explanation for your absence?"
"Nope, I had it covered," she said, pulling a note out of her back pocket, "See."
He read the note aloud for the other brothers' benefit:
Dear Cadence,
Please don't be angry with me for leaving. I know that you'll be upset when you get this note, but you have to understand why I left. One of my brothers is missing, and I REALLY want to get him back. I HAVE to find him! I'll go crazy if I don't. I will be back just as soon as we've found him, I promise. I love you with all of my heart, and I will be careful. I'll return to you just as soon as I can, I promise.
Yours Forever,
Harper
"It's pretty well thought out, I'll admit," he told her, "But what about your friends? What will you tell them?"
"I've already got that planned out too," she said, "I've got a meeting planned for later tonight- at nine o'clock, which still gives me almost another hour. I've invited them all over and told them that I had some big news. If I don't get to go, I'll have to make up something, but I'm sure I can do that."
"All right!" Deacon said, "How many of your friends are coming over?"
"All sixteen of them," she said.
"SWEET!" Deacon replied.
"Well, I guess he isn't against the idea," she commented, then looked at her other two brothers, "Are either of you?"
"No. It's fine. Just make sure that they don't know what we do for a living- you know, hunting," Ty told her.
"Don't worry about it. Deacon, you're a mechanic. Adrian, right now you're going to college at Stanford to become a cop- and yes, my friends are afraid of you because of it. And Ty, you're a part time bartender who earns half of his money by street racing. Sound fair? Does each of you like your little roles?"
They all nodded. They were okay with that. Besides, her brothers tended to like her friends, since about a little over half of them were chicks.
"Okay. Well, I guess since I'll be staying here and attending school for the last week, I can make other plans with my friends. But I hate you all, and none of you will be included in the group after tonight- so understand that right now," she stated.
"That's not fair!" Deacon complained, pouting and giving her the puppy dog eyes.
"I side with him on this one," Adrian put in.
"Maybe your opinions don't matter anymore," she told them, "You especially, Ty."
"Hey now, that's cheap," he said.
"Doesn't matter anymore, now does it? You guys will all be gone by tomorrow anyway," she commented, "I'm going to let the dogs in."
She walked from the living room through the kitchen and out to the porch. The door was already open and the screen was open, so she counted to make sure that all of them were to be accounted for. Yep, all six were there. Now it was time to let them in. She opened the door and whistled. All eight of them came trotting for the door and ran up the stairs, bolting for the living room. She followed them in and sprawled out across Adrian's and Deacon's laps. The dogs plopped down on the floor.
"So give us a list of who all is coming," Deacon insisted.
"Well, since you're so interested, I might as well get this over with now, so you can get your excitement out of the way," she teased, "All right, here's the list: Addie, Samantha, Bethany, Lily, Monica, Erin, Tiffany, Jeremy, Cadence, Davy, Ash, Tom, Valerie, Jensen, Quinn, and Grace."
"Ooo, I like my odds," Deacon said.
"Yeah, me too," Adrian commented.
"Well, I think I should probably feed the dogs," Harper said, getting up and heading to the kitchen, "C'mon, guys, chow time!"
All of the dogs followed her eagerly, tails swishing as they trotted behind her. She pulled six bowls down from the cupboard above the sink and took six cans of wet dog food out from the one below the sink. Then, she used the can opener to open all of them and- using a spoon- distributed each can full of food into a bowl. All six of the dogs were gathered eagerly around her awaiting their food. She called each of the dogs' names before walking over and placing their bowl in front of them. Shadow- a 10 year old, black, male Labrador Retriever- was first. Sadie- a 7 year old, female, tricolor Beagle- mix was second. Zephyr- a 6 year old, black and white, male Siberian Husky- was third. Toby- a 4 year old, male, brindle Bullmastiff- was fourth. Grady - a 2 year old, male, light brown colored Chesapeake Bay Retriever- was fifth. And lastly came Honey - a one year old, female, golden Labrador Retriever and Great Dane mix. Each of them ate their food enthusiastically, and, as soon as they'd finished, they went over to the large, self-dispensing water container where they drank their fill. Then, it was back out to the living room to wait for their company.
Harper took her place between Adrian and Deacon while she waited for her friends to get there. It was only 8:47, so she would have to wait another thirteen minutes for them to get there. She started fidgeting after the first five, and her brothers all looked over at her.
"You're not a very patient person, you know that?" Tyson told her.
"Shut up, Ty!" she growled.
"You do know that one of the guys is going to have to stay home with you, right?" he asked her.
"What?!" she cried, hopping up.
"Okay, that was never part of the agreement," Deacon stated.
"Oh, so all of you had an agreement did you? You'd all go find Kaden by yourselves and just leave me out? How could you DO that to me?"
She was near tears, and the pain of their rejection stung her to the core.
They all looked down at the floor, and Adrian scuffed a work boot on the carpeted floor.
"Oh sure, don't answer me," she said.
She stormed off into her room and picked up the closest thing she could find- her large, homemade body pillow- and hurled it across the room, where it connected with her navy pained wall. She flopped down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling at her glow in the dark star stickers. She let the tears flow down her cheeks but hated herself for crying. To her, crying was a sign of weakness, and no one should be allowed to see one cry. It made her feel so helpless. But as the tears slipped down her cheeks, she felt a little better. She sat up and wiped them off her face, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her chin on her knees.
She heard familiar footsteps thudding down the hallway, and soon she saw Deacon poke his head in her doorway. He flipped the light on and looked her over closely.
"You okay?" he asked her, worry creasing his brow.
"Yeah," she lied, "I'm fine."
"No you're not," he told her, "Even I can tell that. But don't worry, I won't tell them."
She didn't say anything, just pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and wrapped her scrunchie around it.
"Well, we played rock paper scissors- best two out of three against each other- and I won. I get to stay home with you," he told her, smiling slightly.
"Yeah," she said, "Well, if it would have been Ty staying with me, I would have invited Cadence and Tom over for a threesome and left my door wide open so he could hear every second of it. But I couldn't possibly be that mean to Adrian."
"Oh, so he's your favorite huh?"
"Damn straight!"
"And what about me? Would you do that while I'm watching you?"
"I'll have to think about it."
She hopped up and walked back down the hallway, flipping the switch to turn off her bedroom light on the way. She sat down on Adrian's lap and gave him a tight squeeze.
"Don't worry," she told him, "I would have behaved for you. You're my favorite."
"Well, that's always good to know," he replied, giving her a broad grin.
Soon enough, her friends got there. They filed in one at a time and sat on the floor, eagerly looking at Harper for an explanation for the meeting. Cadence went right to her and took her in his arms, pulling her close and giving her a tight squeeze.
"How's my girl been?" he whispered into her ear.
"Good," she whispered back, reaching back to run a hand down the side of his face, "But I missed my baby- a LOT."
He turned her around so he could look her in the eyes. She stared deeply into his bright blue-green eyes. He reached out to play with her long, curly, black hair, and she let him, smiling brightly at him. She placed a hand on his cheek and looked him over again. His somewhat shaggy, wavy, light brown hair was still the same length. His skin was still the same medium toned shade. She hadn't seen him for a week, and every second she spent away from him had been killing her. He put a hand over hers, which was still on his cheek, and leaned in to give her a quick kiss.
"So how has college been treating you?" she asked him.
"College has been good," he told her, "But I'm glad it's over for this year."
"Oh? And why is that?"
"So I can spend the rest of my summer with my girl," he said, grinning at her and flashing those pearly whites.
"That sounds SO good," she replied, pulling him close again and giving him a tight hug.
She breathed in deep, so she could take in the scent of his cologne- Black by Bod. She could feel him burrow his face into the crook of her neck, and the feeling of his tongue on her sensitive skin almost drove her crazy. It had been WAY too long since they'd seen each other, and she knew they'd be catching up for all the lost time as soon as they could get the chance.
She heard someone clear their throat and turned around. It was Ty. She glared at him.
"That's enough of that," Ty teased.
"Shut up, Tyson," she whispered icily.
Then, she returned her attention back to the rest of the group. Tom was there, sitting in the "front row" of the large group. He was looking up at her with those beautiful green eyes. The few freckles that were sprinkled over the bridge of his nose and his cheeks were starting to show a little now- even thought he had a decent tan- that it was nearly summer, and he was out in the sun so much. He reached up and ran his fingers through his semi-spiked, light brown hair. He gave Harper her favorite cheeky grin, showing off his perfect, white teeth. She had had the biggest crush on him for a long time, but no one had ever known about it except her and a few of her real close girl friends. They had always been close and had tons of classes together.
Sitting on either side of him were his look alike, Davy, and Jeremy. Davy looked a LOT like Tom when it came to their facial features and the fact that they both had stunning, green eyes and tan skin. Davy's hair was shaggy and dirty blond though. Jeremy's hair was light brown, and he kept it buzzed fairly close to his head. His eyes were dark brown and his skin was tan all year round.
Ash looked a little like them when it came to the facial features, but he was only about five ten- Tom and Davy were both six foot one- with semi-spiked, dishwater blond hair, blue-gray eyes, medium toned skin, and a light sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks- which he actually shared with both Tom and Davy. Harper had grown up with Tom, Davy, Jeremy, and Ash. They had always been close and had been seen by many people to be out and about playing together as a group. They were pretty much inseparable. Right now, he was sitting beside Jeremy.
The only other two guys in the group were seated in the back row: Quinn and Jensen. Quinn had moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota their freshman year in high school. He had shaggy, dark brown hair, dark gray eyes, and tan skin. He had a small scar on his left cheek because when he had been a little boy, a dog had bitten him. He was about six foot four and as thin as a beanpole. Jensen was a friend of Jeremy's and had run around with him when Jeremy wasn't hanging out with Harper, Tom, and Ash. Now, he was included in their big group of mutual friends. He had wavy, jet black hair, dark brown eyes, and medium toned skin. He had a single curl that was always dangling in front of his right eye, no matter what he did to try to fix it.
Two of the nine girls were seated in the front row: Erin and Lily. Erin had long, curly, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and medium toned skin. Lily had long, straight, bright red hair, brown eyes, and medium toned skin. Both of the girls went to college with Cadence, but he had never really known them until Harper was visiting him on campus one day, and they bumped into the girls while getting lunch a year ago. She had apologized sincerely, of course, and they had told her it was fine, not to worry about it. Ever since then, they'd been friends.
Valerie had her hand between both of Quinn's and was sitting right next to him. They had gone out for the past two months now. She had straight, shoulder length, brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and tan skin. Bethany was sitting beside Jensen with her hand resting lightly on his thigh. He had his hand over hers, and his fingers were twined through hers. She had curly, shoulder length, light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and tan skin. The two of them had just started dating over the past school week. The two of the girls were the youngest out of the group. Harper had become friends with them since they had some classes together, and, now that they were dating some of her friends, she saw a lot more of them.
Sitting in the middle row were Grace, Addie, Samantha, Monica, and Tiffany. Grace had grown up in the house right next to Harper's, so they had spent some time together when Harper wasn't with Tom, Jeremy, Davy, and Ash. Plus, Grace was big into powder puff football, so the two girls had really hit it off great in school. She had long, curly, brown hair, hazel eyes, and medium toned skin. Addie had moved to Aberdeen during eighth grade, and since she and Harper were pretty much twins in every aspect except looks, the girls had grown as close as two girls could- heck, they were pretty much sisters. Addie had long, curly, blond hair, bright green eyes, and tan skin. Samantha was Addie's cousin and had moved into town their freshman year, so she had joined Addie and Harper in lots of fun events like sleepovers and such. She was the third part of the triangle that made up the closest link of girls in that room- or in the high school for that matter. Samantha had long, curly, black hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. Monica was also really close to Harper- since she had moved to Aberdeen in third grade- because when no one else had accepted her into their groups, Harper had- and enthusiastically so. Monica was a beautiful girl: long, straight, light brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and tan skin. The only thing was that she was half Mexican- her mother was Mexican and her father was white- so no one had wanted her in their group. But Harper hadn't cared, she accepted her anyway. And then there was Tiffany. Tiffany had a way of drawing everyone to her, and she was so great at anything that was involved with art. She had helped Harper on an art project their eighth grade year, and they'd been friends ever since. She had long, curly, dishwater blond hair, green eyes, and medium toned skin.
"Okay, so could you guys tell me again how old you guys are?" Ty asked them, "You know I forget things sometimes. How many of you are seventeen?"
Bethany and Valerie raised their hands.
"Tiffany, Samantha, Addie, Davy, Tom, Grace, and Quinn, you guys are all eighteen, right?" he asked.
They all nodded.
"Ash and Monica are nineteen, I believe…"
They both nodded at him.
"Are any of you twenty?"
Erin, Lily, Jeremy, and Cadence raised their hands into the air.
"But I'll be twenty-one in May," Cadence told him.
"Ah, that's right," Deacon commented.
"Are any of you twenty-one?" Ty asked.
Jensen nodded at him.
"And none of you are older than that, right?"
They all nodded.
"Okay. I thought so."
"Now can we get on with the meeting, please?" Deacon asked.
"Yeah, sure," Ty told him.
"What did you ask them here for, Harper?" Deacon directed the question at her, glancing at her after he asked.
"I wanted to tell them that I was planning on having a big party to celebrate our high school graduation at the end of the school year. All of you are invited, and it's going to be tons of fun! It's on May 16th and it starts at six o' clock that night. It doesn't get over until everyone leaves or decides to crash here. No one else is invited, unless you want to invite a date, and if you want alcohol, bring some to share with the others so that we can all pass different kinds around. Also, bring munchies if you want some and we'll all share. We can vote on whatever we want to do that night other. Does this interest anyone?"
Everyone tried making a comment at once, and it got pretty crazy. So, to settle things, Tom raised his hand, and the others followed suit. She gave the group a nod and proceeded.
"Okay. So does anyone have an idea on what to do at the party? Let's just brainstorm and throw things out there on the table. Then, we can go from there and vote."
Tom's hand went up into the air, and she called on him.
"15 Minutes of Heaven," he suggested.
They had put a spin on the original 7 minutes of heaven game and changed it a bit.
"That's a good idea," she commented, "Anyone else have any ideas?"
Addie raised her hand, and Harper called on her.
"What about spin the bottle?" she asked.
"That's a good one too," Harper commented.
Davy stuck his hand up and made his request, "Hey, what about suck and blow?"
Everyone laughed at this one.
"Sure," Harper said, "Why not."
"Drinking games," Jeremy said.
"Sounds good. They have good ones on the internet under some Supernatural videos on YouTube."
"Dance contest!" Cadence cried.
This brought laughs from everyone again.
"Okay. That could be fun," Harper commented.
Samantha got up from her place on the floor between Addie and Monica and walked up to Harper.
"We could give the guys lap dances," she whispered into Harper's ear.
"Now THAT could get interesting," Harper told her, "We've GOT to do that one."
Samantha nodded, giving her a big grin and returned to her place on the floor.
"What about strip poker?" Erin suggested.
"And lemon!" Tiffany cried.
"That's good, and that's also the last request I'm taking. We've got eight things on the agenda for that night now, and I want to make sure we have time for them all, so I've got to make a schedule for it now," Harper announced.
She went back to her bedroom and took out her favorite doodling notebook and a black gel pen. She returned to the group and sat down on the floor beside Cadence. She wrote out all eight things that were supposed to be going on that night and then started trying to figure out when to start them and how long they could be played. Tom, Jeremy, Davy, Addie, and Samantha huddled close to her, peeking over her shoulder and questioning her- trying to figure out what was going to be played and when. Finally she came up with a schedule and presented it to the six of them- Cadence included.
Dance Contest- 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Spin the Bottle- 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Suck and Blow- 9:00pm – 10:00pm
Lemon as a Group- 10:00pm – 11:00pm
Lap Dances for the Guys- 11:00pm – 12:00am
Co-ed Strip Poker- 12:00am - 2:00am
Drinking Games- 2:00am – 3:00am
15 Minutes of Heaven- 3:00am – 6:00am
"Does this look okay?" she asked them.
"It looks perfect!" the guys gathered at her small group commented, "Don't change anything!"
"Okay," she said, handing the paper to Ty, "Pass this around the room- it's the schedule for that night."
He took a look at it and passed it on to Deacon. Deacon glanced over it, and his eyebrows rose real high.
"I'm DEFINITELY going to be here THAT night!" he said.
Harper looked at him and laughed, saying, "I knew you wouldn't miss it."
"I'll try to see if I can make it back from college that weekend, so I can make it to your party," Adrian told her, playing along with her ploy that he was attending college in Stanford.
"I'll see if I can drop by," Ty told her.
"Well, I guess we'll have about twenty of us here for the party," Harper commented.
"So what are we going to do now that the meeting is over?" Tom asked her.
"Well, I don't really know. What do you guys want to do?" she asked them.
"What about 15 Minutes of Heaven?" one of the group members asked- though she couldn't tell, she thought it sounded like Jeremy.
"Okay. Well, we'll need a bottle. We have five closets to use. But where are we going to start the game?" she asked them.
"Well, we could just play the spinning part here. We can only let five couples go at once," Addie said.
"That sounds reasonable," Harper commented, "Sure, why not? Let's play. Deacon, Adrian, Ty, are you guys in?"
"Shit yeah!" Deacon said.
"Sure," Adrian replied.
"I guess so," Ty told her.
"Okay. I'll be back in a sec," she told the group, jogging to the kitchen to look for a bottle.
When she returned with a Corona bottle in hand, everyone was already sitting in a large circle and they all looked up at her. They seemed pretty eager to play, so she hurriedly sat down and placed the bottle in the middle of the circle of people. She spun it to see who was going to go first. The bottle landed on Ty. He spun it to see which girl he'd be going into the closet with and ended up with Grace. He took her hand but waited to see who the other four couples would be- plus, they had to have someone time them, and it would be easier if all five couples started at the same time. Harper spun the bottle, and the next person to go was Davy. He spun the bottle and it stopped on Valerie. Jeremy ended up getting paired with Samantha. Deacon spun and landed on Bethany. And lastly, Harper spun and got stuck with Tom- not that she was too opposed to the idea.
Tom took her hand, and together they headed for the closet in her room. Adrian got stuck monitoring their time. He waited for them to shove Harper's clothing to one side of her closet and close the door. Then, he told them to wait until he told them to go- he was waiting for the clock to turn to the next minute, so they'd get a full fifteen minutes. However, Tom had other plans. He started in on her right away. He backed her up to the wall and started kissing her.
His tongue flicked her lip, and she opened her mouth to accept him. He let his tongue brush against hers, licking and stroking it in attempts to get her into a playful mood. Then, he decided to try something different and actually sucked on her tongue. Her fingers went behind his head and knotted into his hair. He pulled her closer to him and placed a hand at the small of her back to keep her there. He reached down for her Led Zeplin t-shirt and stripped it over her head. Then, she felt his hands cupping her bra. She moaned lightly and licked his ear.
"Mmmm…" she whispered, "Tom, you're going to give me the wrong impression."
"Or the right one," he whispered back into the darkness.
He reached down to find the clasp of her bra and unfastened it. Then, he leaned down and took one of her breasts in his mouth. He teased and taunted her terribly, licking, suckling, and gently nipping at her nipples. She let her head fall back and cradled his head to her chest, moaning softly and whispering words of encouragement to him.
"That's good," she whispered softly to him, "So good… Yes…just like that. MMMMM…OOOHHH. TOM!"
He continued his torture, but reached for the button of her jeans. He undid it and then unzipped her jeans. Then, he let his fingers slide down the cotton and lace of her panties to find the spot he'd been hoping she'd let him visit. She slowly slid to the floor and spread her legs wide for him. He lied down beside her and took her back in his mouth, knowing that it gave her pleasure, while he reached down to slide two long fingers inside the most intimate part of her body. She arched up off the floor to meet his hand, moving against him and begging him not to stop. He was well acquainted with a girl's body and knew exactly what he was doing. She began to moan his name, and, soon, she was panting with want. She wanted him so bad, she thought it would kill her if she didn't have him in the next minute. She HAD to have him or she'd go insane!
She opened her eyes and let one hand slide between them to swat at his hand- the one that was between her thighs. He looked up at her, confused.
"What's the matter, Harper?" he asked her, "Am I doing it wrong? Do you want me to stop?"
"No," she moaned impatiently, "I want more. I want you inside me, Tom."
He just nodded at her and reached down for his belt, only to find that she had beaten him there. He worked on unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans while she unfastened his belt. Once they'd finished with that, she helped him slide his jeans down to his ankles, and he covered her body with his. He spread her legs, using his thighs, and plunged into her. He worked her hard and fast, with quick, deep thrusts that penetrated her as deep as he could. She met him move for move, thrusting with him in order to try to give them as much pleasure as she could. She ran her hands up his shirt and trailed them over his back, running them up and down the curve of his back. When she thought she'd never reach her climax before they got called out of the closet- which she knew would be soon- she tightened and shuddered with her orgasm. He came with her and locked lips with her, twining tongues, to suffocate their cries of satisfaction. He felt her nails pierce the flesh of his ass, and chuckled lightly into the dark.
"Time's up," Adrian reported, "Hurry up and get decent."
They hurriedly pulled on their clothes, commenting on their brief experience.
"God, that was amazing, Tom!" she whispered.
"Yeah, it was. I definitely want a repeat performance," he told her, grinning so that his white teeth glinted in the dark.
It was her favorite, cheeky grin- the one that tugged at her heartstrings. She smiled back at him, and he leaned in to give her a brief French kiss, wanting to taste her one more time before she had to return to the group- and her boyfriend. He hoped to hell that she wouldn't forget the time they'd spent in this closet, just as much as he hoped that she'd remember him and the things he could do for her body. He wanted her to be with him. He knew she loved Cadence, but he still had this tiny little hope that after tonight, she might drop Cadence for him.
She had other ideas though, she sucked hard on his tongue, trying to keep him with her and keep him from pulling back from their kiss. She wanted him to remember her, and she wanted him to want her. She wished deep down that he would come to her and ask her if she'd rather have him than Cadence. She felt guilty for things that she'd done with Tom, but at the same time, they'd felt so right- like she was meant to be with Tom. She loved Cadence, but she was starting to develop feelings for Tom too- and they went beyond want. She longed for him to hold her close and kiss her and tell her that he loved her. She wanted to be the one he thought about at night when he was all alone. This thought made her smile, and he looked at her curiously.
"What's on your mind, Harp?" he asked her.
"To be honest, you," she replied.
"Oh really?" he asked, "What about me?"
"This," she said, reaching down to grab the crotch of his jeans, "and how it feels inside me. I love to feel your hands running over me- and IN me. I love the feeling of your mouth on my skin and the taste of your tongue. And I don't think tonight will be enough for me. I know I'm going to hell for it, but GOD, Tom, I just can't get enough of you. I want more- SO much more."
He grabbed her ass and gave her a tight squeeze.
"I'm all yours for the taking, babe," he told her, "And I would LOVE to rock your world again. You've got an amazing body, you know that? And you sure as hell know how to use it. I've been dying to get you in a closet for a long time now, and now that I finally have, it'll never be enough. Fifteen minutes just doesn't do you justice, sweetheart, and it doesn't give us enough time to get to know each other too well."
"I agree with you there," she said, "All right, Adrian. We're decent."
Adrian let them out of the closet, and they headed down the hallway to the meet the others. Upon returning to the group, she noticed several things. Grace's lips and nose were flushed from having kissed Ty, and Ty's hair was a pretty mussed. Valerie had a look that just screamed satisfaction even though she still held Quinn's hand, and Davy kept looking over and smiling at her. Jeremy had Samantha sitting on his lap now, and her fingers were twined with his. Bethany was holding Jensen's hand, but Deacon kept glancing over at her anyway.
Harper took her place by Cadence, but felt the guilt creep up and slowly consume her. Before long, she couldn't take it anymore. She got up and went out to the kitchen. She grabbed her quart sized carton of Moose Tracks ice cream and a spoon out of the drawer. She sat down at the table and started in on the ice cream.
"I know," she said, looking down into the carton, "You're an innocent bystander. But I really need some good food right now. I need a Band-Aid for a semi-broken heart."
"Sounds like you could use some company then," she heard a voice from behind her say.
"I knew you'd show up," she commented, "I was just waiting to see how long it would take you."
"So what's this about a semi-broken heart?" Cadence asked, plopping down into the chair next to her.
"Well, I've got a guilty conscience," she confessed.
"About what, babe?" he asked her.
"About what took place in her closet," Tom said, walking into the kitchen, "It's probably my fault."
Tom sat down across from Cadence, in the other chair that was next to Harper's and looked down at his arms, which he had crossed on top of the table at the moment.
"It's not all your fault," Harper reassured Tom in a defensive tone, "It takes two you know."
"SO what happened in your closet?" Cadence asked her quietly, truly afraid to hear what the answer was.
"A lot of things," she replied, looking down at her empty spoon.
"Like what?" Cadence said, "I'm your boyfriend. Don't I deserve to know?"
"Of course you do!" she replied quickly, "I just don't think you'd want to. I'll tell you if you really want to know, but you'll never look at me the same, Cade."
She was crying silently by now, and Tom reached under the table to take her empty hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.
"It'll be okay," he told her.
"Just tell me Harper," Cadence said.
"Are you sure you want to-," she started.
"Damn it, Harper!" Cadence cried, "Tell me!"
Tom jumped up and stood next to her, draping an arm around her shoulders.
"Watch it buddy!" he growled, looking Cadence directly in the eyes.
"Cade," she said, head lowered to look at the toes of her docks and tears dripping down her cheeks, "Lots of things happened, but one of them was big. We had sex, Cade- Tom and I."
"Harper…" he said, unable to say anything more.
He just stared at her, open-mouthed. He couldn't believe she'd do that! She had always been faithful to all the other guys she'd dated. Hell, they'd dated for three years, and she'd never even shown signs of flirting with another guy- well, except for her friends, but, even then, her flirting was simply to tease. Now, she'd gone and slept with one of the guys that they'd always hung out with.
"I can't believe you…" he tried again, but got no further.
"I know," she replied, still looking down at her feet, her shoulders shaking as she cried.
Tom's arm tightened around her, and he looked down at her with concern etched into his face.
"Hey, Harp," he said quietly, "you okay?"
She shook her head.
"Harper, I can't deal with this," Cadence told her, "I need some space."
He pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed for the kitchen door. She quickly followed him out of the kitchen and to the front door. Tom tried to chase after her, but she was out the door, in her car, and pulling down the drive before he could catch up to her. She followed behind Cadence, desperate for him to pull over so they could talk things through. She saw him make his way to the red light and prayed that he would pull over at the next turn. Then, the unthinkable happened. He must not have been paying attention, because he breezed right through the red light, and a black Pontiac crashed into the side of his car. She heard the screech of metal on metal and screamed at the top of her lungs, putting the car into park and running to the driver's side of Cadence's sleek Audi. She looked in at him and saw the blood pouring from a deep gouge in his forehead. She begged and pleaded with him to stay with her and repeatedly told him that she loved him, while she called an ambulance for him. She waited with him long enough for the ambulance to get there and sped behind it all the way to the hospital. She ran down the hallway behind him as they pushed him on a stretcher down the hallway towards the emergency room. She watched through the door as they started working on him. But soon, it became apparent that they couldn't do anything for him- he'd lost too much blood already. She heard the machine that measured his heartbeats buzz and knew that it was too late. He was dead, and she would never see him again.
(I really would love to hear the opinions of you readers. I want to continue my three stories- if you haven't read my other works they're under The Hunters and The Secrets of Virginia but I only have one chapter done in each of them too. I really hope you guys like this stuff. Please send me review or any comments that you may have. I really want to know what you think of my stories and I could really use your opinions. Let me know what you like and what you don't like and I'll try to see if I can work on it. I really enjoy writing these and I sincerely hope you all enjoy them too! I look VERY forward to hearing from all of you!)