call a taxi or walk the five miles home.
“The night that Marybeth became desperate enough to settle for you,” Trevor said, making the decision for him.
A five-mile walk home it was then.
“Oh, come on!” Jason called after him. “Don’t be that way!”
Not bothering to look up from his phone as he headed towards the sidewalk, he raised a hand and gave his cousins the finger, which of course amused them.
“Look,” Trevor said, chuckling as he caught up with him, “we have a bet going with our wives, who are even at this moment questioning Marybeth and bugging the shit out of her until she tells them.”
“What’s the bet?” he asked, damn near groaning as he put his phone away and came to a stop so that he could face his cousins, because he knew that Zoe and Haley would have the truth out of Marybeth in a matter of minutes if they played their cards right, which basically meant that Haley sat there looking sad and hurt and Zoe used guilt and the fact that she was carrying their children for them to get what they wanted.
“Losers have to watch the kids while the winners get a weekend in New York to catch a game,” Trevor explained before adding, “and if you help us win this bet, you can come with us, all expenses paid.”
A free trip to watch the Yankees?
No Bradford in his right mind would be able to pass that up, which is why he rubbed his hands roughly down his face as he said, “Okay, this is what happened…”
Part III
Darrin’s Side of the Story…
The night that it all began all those years ago…
“I’m hungry,” Darrin grumbled as he tossed the remote on the couch cushion next to him so that he could rub his hands down his face with the hopes that the small movement would somehow give him the energy to stay awake.
“Me, too,” Marybeth said next to him as she laid down on her side and laid her legs across his, using him to get more comfortable as she released a small yawn and curled up, “I’ll take Chinese food. Thanks.”
“Why are you telling me?” he asked absently as he sat back and placed his hand on her knee, using any excuse to touch her, which in his book made him fucking pathetic, but what else was he supposed to do when the woman that he loved only saw him as the pain in the ass brother that she never really wanted.
It made him feel really fucking special, he thought dryly as he gave in to the need to gently caress her knee with his thumb.
God, he was fucking pathetic.
“Because you’re going to order the food and go pick it up. Thanks,” she said around another yawn as she reached down and picked up the pillow that she’d used last night when she’d crashed on his couch and made herself more comfortable.
“Yeah, I’m really not,” he said, deciding to use their exhaustion as an excuse to hold her.
He laid down on his side behind her, loving the fact that she shifted forward to make room for him, and curled his body around hers, promising his needy cock a cold shower if it misbehaved and gave him away.
“You really are,” she said she placed her arm over his rested over her side and began absently tracing shapes on his arm.
“I’m really not.”
“Would you like to place a bet on this?” she asked with a sleepy little sigh as she settled back against him, putting his ability to control his cock to the test.
“Sure.”
“Loser buys dinner?”
“Sure,” he said as he struggled to stay awake.
When she didn’t answer, he stopped fighting and let his eyes close as he told himself that this was enough. He wished he could believe that, but he didn’t. It would never be enough until she was his, but every day, about a thousand times a day, he told himself this lie, hoping that it would help him get through one more day.
But in the back of his mind, he knew that it would never be enough.
He wasn’t sure that he could keep bullshitting himself for much longer. God, he loved her, he thought as he tried to ignore the ache in his chest and gave in to the need to press a kiss against the back of her neck. When she settled back against him so that there was no space between them, he nearly groaned.
“Goodnight,” he whispered, closing his eyes as he promised himself that one day things would change.
Part IV
An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle
“Do not push back. Do not push back. Do not push back. Do not push back,” Marybeth told herself as her fingers dug into the couch cushion beneath her while she struggled to ignore the incredibly large, hard erection that brushed against her bottom anytime Darrin shifted.
Which was a lot.
God, he felt so good, too damn good.
No, this was wrong. It could never happen, because he was her best friend and deserved better than to be stuck with a woman that couldn’t give him…give him….umm…oh, God, that felt good, she thought, biting back a moan of pleasure as that freakishly large erection pushing against Darrin’s zipper brushed up against her bottom again.
She should get up and return to her own apartment, she told herself, but for some reason she didn’t move. Maybe she was a masochist? she wondered as Darrin shifted in his sleep again, making her gasp as she reminded herself how wrong this was.
He was her best friend.
He wanted a family.
He deserved to be a father.
He deserved-
To cup her boob and pull her flush against him. He groaned in his sleep softly as he shifted, rubbing that erection that she was desperately trying to pretend was a flashlight against her bottom caressed her, making her nipples harden and making it even more difficult for her to do the right thing. She needed to get up and get out of here before they did something that they were going to regret.
Okay, so she might not regret it immediately, especially since she’d fantasized about him making love to her for as long as she could remember. He’d been her first crush, the first man that she’d ever fallen in love with and most likely would be the only man that she ever loved.
She just couldn’t do this to him, to make him think that they had a future when she knew that she couldn’t give him the kind of future that he deserved. She had to do the right thing. She was going to get up, walk back to her apartment and take a very long and very cold shower and if that didn’t work, she was going to head into work early and lose herself in her work.
That was the best plan.