“Those are fightin’ words, babe. You don’t mess with the Vols.”
“Is that right?” she asked, laughing. “Seems like Alabama messes with the Vols a lot. Haven’t they beat them for like the last ten or fifteen years?”
“You really wanna go there, babe? Do ya really?”
That only made her laugh even harder. When I glanced over at Hawk and Rafe, I found them both smirking at Aubrey’s little show. I could’ve just let her carry on but didn’t see the fun in that, so I stood up and immediately reached for her. Aubrey was totally caught off guard as I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder. I started storming towards the front door, and she shouted, “Wait! What are you doing?”
When I didn’t answer, she started pounding her fists on my back. “I didn’t mean what I said about your precious Vols... They’re amazing… They’ll probably win the National Championship this year!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, I reached up and gave her ass a firm whack. Stunned by my actions, Aubrey shouted, “Jared! What’s with you always smacking me on the ass?”
“Best stop talking, Bree. There’s more where that came from,” I warned with a snicker. She continued to thrash about, trying to get out of my grasp as we made our way out to the parking lot. Once I’d reached the SUV, I opened the door and lowered her as she unfolded herself into the seat. Aubrey sat there staring at me with an astonished look on her face as if she was wondering what I’d do next. “We’ll finish this conversation at your place.”
I was about to close the door when she reached for me and smiled. “Hey... Can we take a time out for two seconds?”
“Time out for what?”
“They didn’t recognize me. None of them. It was like it never happened, and I’m just me.”
“You are just you, Bree. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay.” She giggled. “Timeout’s over.”
“Mm-hmm.”
I closed the door, then walked over and got in next to her. Neither of us spoke as I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road, but the silence didn’t last long. We’d only driven a couple of miles when Aubrey whispered, "You know I was just messing around earlier. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“You didn’t hurt my feelings, babe.”
“I gotta say, I didn’t realize the Vols meant soooo much to you, but now that I do, I won’t trash talk them.” A smirk crossed her face. “At least not when you’re around.”
“Oh, you really wanna keep this up?”
“Maybe.”
“You know there’ll be consequences.”
She eased over closer to me and placed her hand on my thigh. “Oh? I like the sound of that.”
“Is that right?”
With my eyes focused on the road ahead, I lowered my hand to her knee and slowly trailed along her inner thigh. As I got closer to the hem of her skirt, Aubrey’s knees fell open, and her breath quickened as the tips of my fingers grazed the lining of her panties. She shifted her hips forward and rested her head on my shoulder, closing her eyes as I continued to caress and tease her slowly. Damn, she had me all tangled up, and it took plenty of restraint not to stop the truck and take her right then and there.
When I finally pulled up to her apartment, her breath was ragged with need. I quickly parked, then we both rushed up to her apartment. As soon as we got the door open, I reached for Aubrey, kissing her as we made our way into the kitchen. Her fingers dove into my hair as she hungrily attached herself to me.
I lifted her up onto the kitchen counter and slid my hand under her skirt, reaching for her panties. With one sudden tug, I ripped them from her hips, and her eyebrows immediately furrowed with disapproval. “Sorry, babe, but these have to go. I’ll make it up to you.”
And I did.
All fucking night long.
Aubrey
The past few weeks with Jared had been better than I could’ve ever imagined. Things were just so easy with him. I didn’t have to try to be anything else but myself with him, and I loved that about him. I had to give it to the man. He’d gone above and beyond to show me just how good things could be with him. He’d added my marketing degree to my latest, and hopefully final, fake identity, and for the first time in months, I felt a real connection to my Aubrey name. It no longer felt strange to hear someone call me by the alias; it was as if we’d merged, forming a person that was more me than I ever thought possible, and I owed it all to Jared—the man who’d saved my life and stolen my heart at the same time.