More Than Enough (Enough #2) (22 page)

When he set
s me back down, I look around and see Carter on the beach with Brayden’s shorts hanging from her chair, and Brayden standing waist deep glaring at her. I point in Carter’s direction and said with a sigh, “Guess, she was more successful at snatching shorts than I was.” Keller just laughs at my frustrated expression and informs me, “She’s had a lot more experience with payback than you’ve had to.”

We started walking towards the
other couple, but Keller steers me more towards the shore. I look at him confused, and he says, “No way in hell, you’re getting close to my brother while he’s naked.” I laughed at his absurd possessiveness, and we reach the shore and walk towards Carter. Keller says to her in a cajoling tone, “Alright, Carter, don’t you think you should have pity on him now. “No, he has to promise me he’ll be my personal slave all week.” Keller just looks at her in amusement and says, “He’s already that, and you know it. Now go take him his shorts before I do.” “Fine,” she agrees reluctantly and runs down into the water to Bray who’s already opened his arms for her.

As we walk back inside, Keller looks at me and says
, “Red, I didn’t just say I love you back there because I was caught up in the moment. I meant it. I love all of you, and I don’t love easily or quickly. I meant I’ll love you for my entire life.” Hearing him say it again, just made my insides heat up, and I want to show him how much him loving me makes me want him. I pull him quickly through the house and up to his room and start taking his clothes off of him immediately.

He looks
thrown off kilter by my attack until I start shedding clothes too. As soon as we are both completely naked, I just start pulling him towards the bed. He says just before I push him down onto it, “If this is what you do every time I tell you I love you, Red, I think I’ll be doing it a lot.” I lean over him, and say throatily, “That’s alright with me.” And after that for the next few hours the outside world ceased to exist for him and me.

Chapter 17

Keller

The rest of the week with Athena in Hawaii was amazing. I couldn’t believe how addicted I was already to hearing her tell me she loved me. Seeing those words come out of her pretty plumb lips was my favorite sight, and I equally enjoyed how she responded to me telling her I loved her. As soon as we were in semi-privacy, she attacked me and enthusiastically showed me how happy she was when I said it.

My dad and Riviera weren’t bad to get along with throughout the week for us. We had dinner with them a few times
, one was Christmas day, but Carter and Brayden never joined us. Carter seemed to be struggling badly this trip with her mom, and normally that’d be all I thought about. But I know now that’s not my place, but Brayden’s. Both Athena and I were still concerned for her, and Brayden confided in me that she’d hardly eaten anything all week because of the comment Riviera had made to her about her weight. And I hurt for her about that and worried for her since she really couldn’t afford to lose any weight off her already tiny frame.

I could tell my brother was ready get her out of here, but Carter was stubbornly insisting on staying to the end. I think to not let her mother think she’d won, but the interaction and proximity to her moth
er was taking its toll on her. She still looked beautiful, but her normal glow and vitality was missing. She’d definitely lost weight, and there were shadows under her eyes from how little she’d slept. Athena made a comment every day about how we should make Carter go, but I didn’t know how without making her feel like a failure. And now we’re approaching the end of the trip, and I can sense Brayden’s relief that it’s almost over.

Except for how rough Carter’s had it, the trip for me has been a huge success. I’ve never felt closer to another person in my entire life, and I know that Athena is the woman that I want to spend the rest of my life with. She’s phenomenal at sex and looks like a model. She’s kind
and caring, and she’s respected herself enough not to sleep around. She also has a soothing presence and is so giving towards me. I love her don’t care where I go. I only know that I want her with me. She’s become an integral part of my happiness, and I now understand why Brayden and Carter kept pushing me to find someone. They’d wanted me to have what they share with each other, and now I have that I don’t know what I’d ever done without her.

She’s
been outside talking to Carter at the pool, and I already miss her. Just as I was going to head down to get her; she walks into our room looking gorgeous in a green string bikini. “Well, hello, there, beautiful. I was just coming to find you.” She tips her head to the side and studies me teasingly. “Oh, really, was it because you missed me? Because that was what your lovesick brother told Carter when he carted her back to his room.” I nod my head and have to admit. “Brayden and I must be more alike than I thought. I was coming to hunt you down and steal you away because you’d been away from me for too long.” She comes closer to me and says in a sultry voice, “Well, I definitely wouldn’t mind being stolen.” Anytime she’s within reach, I’ve got to touch her, so I pull her to me. I bring her legs around my waist and sit down with her facing me and just admire how pretty she looks with her long red hair flowing around her.

I kiss her plump lip
s until they’re red from all my attention. Then I start just running my lips slowly up and down her neck like I know she loves. Almost immediately, she starts giving me those little soft moans that I like to hear, and I start to pull her bikini down so I can taste her perfect tits. Just as I lean my head in, I hear the word, “Whore,” being screamed in the hallway in what sounds like a hysterical voice. The last thing I want to do right now is stop what I’m doing and head towards what sounds like a hysterical woman.

But the voice I heard was Riviera’s, and the only person she’d be calling n
ames didn’t deserve it. So I make eye contact with Athena, and she gives me a head nod and silently agrees that we need to go see what’s happening.

She jumps
off me in one graceful motion, and we head towards the door when she stops me and points to my dick that was rudely sticking out from my shorts. “You might want to make an adjustment on that before we head out there.” I shoot her a grateful look for the timely reminder and tuck myself in to where I could hide my erection.

We enter the hall after that and don’t see anybody. I look
towards the other stairway and spot Brayden with Carter in his arms. I look around for Riviera and see her at the bottom of the stairs screeching at them. “I can’t believe that you’re fucking in my house in the middle of the day. You’re nothing better than a whore. I bet you’ve just got Brayden fooled thinking he’s the only one. You probably gave it to Keller and all the other boys from high school too. That’s why they’re all so obsessed with you. You just gave yourself to anyone that looked in your direction. You’re just a slut who uses her body to manipulate men into doing whatever you want.”

I’d had enough of Rivera’s attack on Carter for this trip, and as Brayden comforted Carter, I decided to step in. “Wouldn’t that be you more than Carter, Riviera. You’ve used your body to manipulate my dad and keep him happy for years. You’ve kept him so happy that he turns a blind eye to all the abuse you heap on Carter. So I think that you’re actually th
e one that spreads her legs to manipulate, not her. We all know that anything Carter and Brayden do together is because of love. That’s apparent to anyone that’s known them for five fucking minutes.”

She turns her gaze on me, and it
’s steeped in hate now that I’ve gotten in the way of her attack and defended her victim. “Of course, you defend her, Keller. You’ve always loved her and wanted her for yourself, haven’t you? I bet you’ve fucked her too. That’s why you’ve been fixated on her for so long. You might be with Athena now, but you’re always going to love Carter, aren’t you?”

I can feel everyone around me tense up and freeze at her accusation, and Athena looks shell shocked that Riviera just spewed all that out loud. I just stare Riviera down and then say slowly, “I love Athena with everything I’ve got in me, and I’ve told her that. She’s my other half, and it’s like she
’s been made especially for me.” I meet Athena’s eyes that are filled with tears at my public declaration.

And then I turn my gaze to Carter and look her in the eyes and say,
“I still love Carter, though, but as my sister. And you’re missing out on even being able to see what a wonderful, amazing daughter you have because you’re eaten up with jealousy. You’re beautiful, but you’ve never been as beautiful as Carter. She’s got so much kindness in her that it just overflows for everybody to see, but you’re the opposite with all the evil that comes out of you. Nothing you say could ever hurt me, Athena. I despise you, and I’m not spending another minute more than I have to in this house with you.”

I look at my brother, and he nods in agreement to me. He turns to Riviera and says, “You already know how I feel about you, bitch. Dad, we’re done. I came to see if we could salvage anything as a family, but I’m never, no matter how much Carter begs me, going to put her in this situation again. Don’t even ask me to see you again.” He adds with a sneer, “If you can’t control you own wife from verbally abusing her own daughter, you’re too weak to know anyway.” He turns to Carter and says, “Come on, baby, I’m taking you home.”

I look to Athena and grab her hand as Brayden grabs Carter’s, and we head upstairs and quietly pack up our stuff. I call the car service to send a limo, and we head downstairs with Brayden and me carrying the big bags and the girls carrying the lighter ones.

Brayden says in relief, “The limo’s already outside, baby. We’ll be out of this hell hole in seconds.” As I hear how ready to go and relieved he is, I’m suddenly hi
t with a wave of guilt. Here I’ve been, having the time of my life with Athena when my brother and Carter have been suffering through Riviera’s abuse. I know how much he hurts when Carter hurts. It must’ve been way worse than just what I’d seen going on.

We were all walking
down the steps and along the lawn to the car when Riviera comes out of the house and heads right to Carter screaming, “You, bitch. You turn everyone against me. Your father, these boys, and now Sloan hates me cause his sons are leaving too. I wish you’d never been born.”

At that I turn around in shock. I can’t believe Riviera said that out loud. Carter is just staring at her mother with the most severe expression I’ve ever seen on her face. She gets right into her mother’s face and says, “Don’t worry. After this, I’ll never be in your life again, mother.” Carter starts to walk away from her when Riviera grabs her hair and says, “Don’t ever fucking talk to me like that.” Carter rears back and slaps her across the face. Before Brayden or I could reach her, Rivier
a swings her fist at Carter. Athena who was closer to them steps in between and knocks Riviera off balance, but Riviera manages to clip Athena in the jaw before she goes down.

Now I’m livid that my girlfriend got hurt in the melee that Riviera started. I tell Brayden as we reach them, “Just get the girls safe in the car.” He nods and scoops Carter up in his arms and grabs Athena’s hand firmly.

I look down at Riviera sitting on the ground holding her face and say, “I tried here, Riviera. I wanted Athena to meet my dad and get to know him, and I tried to get over my hatred of you enough to have a good week. But you’re never going to let any kind of peace in this family happen, and I’m done trying to make amends with my dad. We will not be back. My family now will consist of Brayden, Carter, and especially Athena. So have a nice life with my dad, and I hope he doesn’t leave you for a new model in another ten years.”

With that I walked away from our sorry excuse of parents and joined the only three people in the world that I loved. I got in the car not knowing what I’d find, but they were all laughing and talking together. I scooted beside Athena and tipped her head up to see if Riviera had inflicted any damage, and it just looked a little red with no swelling. I nuzzled her neck with my lips, and she giggled lightly.

“I thought the atmosphere in the car might be a little more somber than this after the scene we just left back there.” They all three laughed at once then, and Carter said, “We decided we could either be upset about it or move on from it. I chose to move on, and I gotta admit that slapping my mom felt really good. I’ve always struggled to stand up to her, and I felt like in my final moments around her that I wasn’t weak.” She hands out glasses of champagne that must have been in the limo and holds up hers and yells “To freedom from oppression and tyranny!” We all echo, “To freedom” and drink down the alcohol.