Friends and Lovers Read online

  Finally, he broke the kiss. “Fuck,” he said roughly as he searched my face for a moment. Suddenly, he spun me around and pressed his cock to my ass.

  I gasped. My nipples hardened beneath the thin material of my top.

  Evan ran a hand down his face and groaned. “The fuck are you doing, man? Let her go.”

  I wanted to tell Evan that that was the worst idea in the world and to shut up, but I couldn’t form words.

  “You’re happy to see her, right?” Justin asked Evan. He spoke the words close enough to my ear to make my pulse race even more.

  My eyes slid shut as he settled me onto his lap. His erection was in full effect now.

  “Then show her,” he said.

  I snapped opened my eyes to look at Evan.

  He took deep breaths, but they seemed uneven. “This is a really bad idea. No, forget that—it’s a shit idea. Why play around some more when she’s already made it clear she doesn’t want either one of us? She wants her precious Nathan.”

  “Dude, shut up.” Justin tightened his grip on my waist. “Show her you’re happy to see her.”

  Evan and I stared at one another for several long seconds. He finally ventured one step toward me and stopped.

  I couldn’t reason anymore, couldn’t think of just how right he’d been: This was a shit idea. Instead of hopping off of Justin’s lap and making a run for the door, I did something crazy. I opened my arms to Evan. In that moment, I saw the tenuous thread that had held him back break.

  “Jesus,” he said under his breath right before bending down to kiss me.

  Once again I parted my lips readily, accepting his tongue and reveling in the feel of it.

  His hand found my breast and he began kneading the flesh, making my nipple harden even more. Never one to be left out, Justin’s hand sought my other breast. He licked and sucked on my neck while Evan continued having his way with my mouth. My pussy was soaking wet now. At any moment I would surely feel moisture making its way down my thighs.

  My head fell back against Justin’s shoulder and Evan’s lips didn’t fail to follow my move. He kept kissing me. I was damn near dizzy with desire. I didn’t care where we were; I wanted these two now. “Oh God,” I panted as Evan’s mouth moved to my neck.

  Justin grabbed my face and turned it toward him. Before I could utter a word, his tongue was touching mine.

  I’d just unbuttoned Evan’s jeans when Nina’s voice dissipated my sex-crazed fog.

  “Damn,” she said.

  My eyes popped open. I saw her standing beside us, wearing a huge grin. Reluctantly, I pulled my mouth away from Justin’s while Evan stopped kissing my neck.

  “I leave y’all alone, thinking you’d talk things out and… Wow.” She winked at me. “Way to go, girl.”

  Evan stepped back and turned toward the bar as he buttoned his pants.

  Yeah, and he needed to stay turned away too or Nina would get an eyeful of that wonderful erection of his. Thinking fast, he returned to his spot behind the bar.

  “Uh…” Damn it, I couldn’t think as fast as Evan. “We were just…”

  Nina lifted a brow and smiled as she waited for me to finish.

  Justin chuckled beneath me and I rolled my eyes. “We were just saying hello.”

  “They didn’t say hi to me like that.”

  “Shut up,” I grumbled as I gingerly removed myself from Justin’s lap. I continued to stand in front of him until he also got the bright idea to walk behind the bar too. “Let’s go,” I said breathlessly, not wanting to look back. This was so embarrassing. And awkward. After all my declarations of being a new, stronger Stacy, one minute with those two had melted me into a puddle. Speaking of puddles…

  “On second thought,” I said, glancing back. “I’m going to run to the ladies’ room too. That line across the street is no joke.” Line, my ass. I needed to do some clean up; I was uncomfortably wet. So much so that I was sure it was visible through my snug, beige skirt. Evan and Justin had ruined my cute panties—those bastards. And I’d just bought them.

  I rushed to the restroom, hoping they’d attribute my speed to a call of nature, not shame. Not dirty, filthy shame. Six months of what I thought was progress down the drain. Gone like a puff of smoke as soon as I’d come face to face—and then tongue to tongue—with them again. I braced my palms against the sink as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Flushed face, lips slightly swollen from their merciless kisses, lipstick smeared. Yeah, I looked like a woman who had just gotten some. Only, I hadn’t. Thanks, Nina!

  My mind raced as I tried to figure out some way to repair the damage I’d just caused. Well, the damage I allowed the two of them to cause. Eventually, my breathing slowed and my pulse settled to a more normal rate. I could fix this. I would fix it. That’s all there was to it. I’d look them in their incredible eyes and say, “Good seeing y’all again,” and hit the bricks. What I wouldn’t do is get sucked back in to that… whatever it was we’d had. That’s what I wouldn’t do.

  A small laugh escaped my lips. Shit. I didn’t even believe myself.

  I headed for a stall and closed the door. I leaned against it while I reminded myself of why being with them again would never work, why I had ended it in the first place.

  I wanted a relationship; they wanted sex. Even if they did want a relationship, which man would I choose? There was no way they’d both want something serious with me.

  And if they did?

  What kind of life could we have together? I’d always thought I wanted marriage, a family of my own. How the hell would we ever make that work? The simple answer was, unfortunately, the one I hated: We wouldn’t. I’d figured that out half a year ago. Why did it seem so impossible now? I took a deep breath and prepared to extricate them from my life once again.

  But that was always easier said than done.

  Three

  Justin made sure his body language gave nothing away. No one needed to know just how hard he was reeling from seeing Stacy again, or that he was reeling at all. Though, damn it, he was fairly certain Evan knew. He couldn’t hide anything from that asshole. Not that his best friend would have to be a mind reader to know Justin’s thoughts right now. They’d spent many a night discussing the very brat who’d just sauntered back into their lives out of nowhere.

  Justin knew he’d been a little mean with the whole “we don’t know you” thing earlier, but damn it, she’d gone and fucked his entire world up. How, he didn’t know. There they’d been, sharing some laughs and some really great sex—next thing he knew, he was falling in love. The icing on that fucked-up cake had been her casually announcing that she would be seeing both him and his friend. The way she’d said it had almost made him laugh.

  She mentioned it as if it were no big deal, as if Justin wouldn’t care who she was seeing at all. And of course, he’d let her go right on believing that, just like he’d let her believe he’d been seeing other women the whole time too.

  He casually rested his elbows on the bar as he turned to Nina. “Where y’all headed tonight?”

  “Over there.” She turned from the doorway where she’d been looking out across the street. “If we can manage to get in, that is.” She sighed and made her way back to the bar.

  “Have a seat. There’s not much else here right now, but we do have booze,” Evan said.

  “Then you have the most important thing, buddy. Hook me up.”

  Evan started cracking his horrible jokes as he fixed her drink. Really, they were terrible. Stacy had always laughed, though, even as she told him to stop with the bad comedy. Justin almost smiled at the memory, but he caught himself in time.

  “So,” Evan said, “a guy walks into a bar, right?”

  Nina nodded as she waited for the punch line.

  “Ouch.”

  Nina giggled right as Justin rolled his eyes. Stacy made her way back into the room and all of his focus went immediately to her.

  “Jack and Coke?” she asked Nina with a smile a
s she walked over to them.

  He couldn’t help but notice that she kept those amazing brown eyes of hers off him. That would have pissed him off a bit, if not for the fact that she was keeping them off Evan too.

  “Rum and Coke,” Nina said, toasting her with her glass.

  “Want something?” Evan asked, his voice low.

  She split her gaze between him and Justin then. Justin silently eyed her from behind the bar, barely resisting the urge to rip that tight-ass skirt and fancy top off her. She cleared her throat as she returned her attention to Evan. “Thanks, but we should be going.”

  Nina groaned. “That line over there hasn’t moved. I just checked before I sat down.” She leaned over to pat the barstool next to her. “Come on—sit. Besides, if we stay a bit longer, Evan can tell you some jokes.”

  “Way to persuade her,” Justin said dryly as he took a swig of beer. Smiling, Evan punched him in the arm.

  “His jokes are funny,” Stacy said.

  “Thank you,” Evan said, slapping the bar top.

  “Bad,” she continued. “Really bad, but funny.”

  Evan looked at Nina. “She laughs at ’em,” he said, hitching his thumb at Stacy.

  Stacy smiled and Justin’s heart skipped a fucking beat. “I do. I admit it.” She stared at the liquor collection behind the bar, still not wanting to look at him, at them.

  Shit.

  Justin tore his gaze from her. Maybe he’d gone a little overboard with the attitude earlier, but he was angry. He had every right to be. It had been so easy for her to leave; it couldn’t be clearer that neither he nor Evan meant a damn to her. Evan had been right. Kissing her, tasting her, feeling her again had been a huge mistake. Now, every single inch of him craved her with an intensity he’d never before felt.

  “So what are you two up to tonight?” Stacy asked lightly. It was obvious she wanted to be anywhere but here.

  “Just getting my place together.”

  Stacy’s eyes met Evan’s. She gave him a huge smile. “Your place?”

  “Well,” he said slowly, “our place.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  Evan gestured to Justin. “Meet my partner.”

  “I’m not your partner.”

  “My co-owner.”

  “I’m not that either.” Justin took another swig of beer.

  “Someone decides to be humble for the first time in his life.” Evan scoffed. “Anyway, my loan came through, but I needed a bit more for this place.”

  “The location is fab,” Nina said.

  “Exactly,” Evan said. “Which made the price just short of ridiculous. I knew I had to have it though. It was as close to perfect as I was going to get.”

  “I remember you saying that,” Stacy said wistfully.

  “You remembered this place?” Evan asked.

  “Of course.” She ducked her head. “Well, not right away.”

  He gave her a warm smile. “I needed a bit more cash to make it happen. That’s where Justin comes in. I guess you could say he’s my silent partner.” He glanced Justin’s way. “Very silent.”

  Justin sighed as he looked around the space. “This is your baby. I just got sick of hearing you whine about it.”

  “It’s great that you helped him out,” Stacy said softly.

  Justin’s gaze met hers and locked in. “I guess we just like sharing certain things.”

  Everyone fell silent as they stared one another down.

  Finally, Nina broke the silence. “Ah, well,” she said brightly, “sharing is… uh… good.”

  Stacy’s face was now impassive, her tone, cool. “But sometimes sharing can get messy.” She slid off the barstool. “You wouldn’t want anything getting in the way of your friendship.” She looked at Nina. “Let’s go.”

  Evan cursed under his breath.

  Fuck. Justin felt a headache coming on. He’d just pissed her off yet again.

  “Bye, guys,” Nina said.

  Evan held up a hand in parting while Justin swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched them walk away. He opened his mouth to apologize for being an asshole, but before he could speak, Stacy turned.

  She gave them a tight smile. “You two take care.” And with that, she was gone.

  Fuck.

  * * *

  Evan turned to Justin. “Dude, what the hell is wrong with you? Did you have to be a complete asshole to her?” He knew Justin’s remark about them sharing certain things had been meant in jest, maybe even as a lame attempt at flirtation, but Evan also knew how Stacy had taken it: as an insult. In her mind, Justin had just equated being with her to a business deal.

  He whirled around to face Evan. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Have you forgotten how she just took off, left us behind without a fucking thought? Because it seems like it, with you fawning all over her as if nothing ever happened.”

  Evan laughed in disbelief. “I’m sorry—was it my idea to make out with her?”

  Justin turned away and leaned against the bar. “No, that was all me.” He glanced at Evan. “You didn’t need a whole lot of convincing though, did you?”

  Hell no, he hadn’t. Seeing her standing there like a vision straight out of a wet dream had been almost more than he could bear. Having her open her arms to him after Justin had demanded he kiss her had snapped the fine thread that had held Evan back. He’d known it was a mistake, but he couldn’t resist the chance at having that sweet mouth of hers one last time.

  Months of trying to put her and what they shared—what he thought they’d shared—behind him, wasted. Not that he’d done a great job of that anyway. After all, one of his and Justin’s main hobbies was sitting around, drinking, and talking about her, and where they’d all gone wrong.

  It was a fact he needed to face: Evan was in love with her. He’d always figured he’d lost his opportunity to tell her. Stacy hadn’t offered up any details about her departure. As far as he and Justin knew, she’d been leaving Oklahoma forever. Last thing he’d expected was to see her again, especially here, standing in the doorway of his bar. Damn, she was even more beautiful than he’d remembered.

  After he’d gotten his breath back, his mind raced with different ways he could handle this. He didn’t want to scare her off by shouting any declarations of love right then. After all, Justin was right. This was the same woman who’d left without a second thought.

  Evan had to admit that that wasn’t the only thing that kept him quiet. He had yet to disclose his feelings to his best friend. Oh, Justin probably wouldn’t care that Evan was in love with Stacy, other than giving him shit for daring to fall in the first place. Justin could be a territorial son of a bitch, though. It was clear he still thought of Stacy as “his woman” even now, kissing her like he’d had the right.

  The bastard would just have to back off. He may have wanted to fuck Stacy—hell, Evan couldn’t blame him—but Evan wanted way more than that. He needed to convince her to consider giving him a chance. To hell with Nathan, or whatever the hell his name was. Her ex aside, Evan’s main obstacle was standing right next to him.

  Stacy wouldn’t even stick around long enough for Evan to make progress if Justin was always there to screw shit up. He took a deep breath and turned to his friend.

  “Listen,” Evan said, “I’m gonna need you to back off Stacy, all right? You’re pissed; I get it. Shit, I am too, but hurting her feelings isn’t going to change anything.”

  “When exactly am I going to be nice to her?” Justin narrowed his eyes as he stared at him. “Will we ever see her again?” His voice was low, even. That damn possessive streak was showing itself already.

  Evan forged ahead, knowing there was no easy way to spill this kind of information. He should have been upfront from the start, maybe this all could have been avoided. “I plan on it.”

  Justin’s gaze never wavered. His tone hardened. “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why? Because I want to.”

  Justin chuckled
and shook his head. “Well, I’m sure she’ll be open to the idea of fucking you again, if that’s what you’re worried about. That has nothing to do with whether I’m nice to her or not.”

  “I want more than that,” Evan said simply.

  Justin frowned.

  “More than sleeping with her.”

  The cold tone was back. “Such as?”

  Evan averted his gaze. “I want to be with her, okay?” He lowered his voice. “I—I’m in love with her.” There. Justin could make fun of him all he wanted, but at least it was out there.

  Justin remained quiet as the seconds ticked by. Evan finally looked at him again.

  He was staring down at his beer.

  All right. Silence was the last thing he’d expected. “What? This is the part where you give me a hard time about being sappy enough to fall in love.”

  “You’re in love with her?” he asked quietly. “Actually, in love?” He still hadn’t looked at Evan.

  “Yeah.”

  “And you want me to back off so you can live out a little happily-ever-after with her?”

  Evan sighed. “Yeah, basically.”

  “Then that’s a problem.”

  Evan tilted his head. “Why’s that?”

  Justin finally met his eyes then. “Because you’re not the only one who’s in love with her.” A little smirk touched his lips. “And I’ll be damned if I just let you—or anyone else—have her.”

  Evan laughed. “Shut up, man. I’m serious.”

  Justin’s smirk evaporated. “I am too.”

  Well, shit. Okay, this was the last thing Evan had expected. Leave it to Justin to make this whole situation even more complicated, like it wasn’t that already. Evan knew his irritation was creeping into his voice, but at this point, he just didn’t care. “So just what in the hell are we supposed to do? Flip a coin? Draw a name out of a fucking hat? A goddamned duel at dusk?”

  Justin merely toasted him with his beer bottle. “May the best man win.”

  Son of a bitch.