Raging Hard: A Stepbrother SEAL Romance (With bonus novel Based!) (49 page)

It felt like coming home, when she said that about me. It felt better than breaking a world record. Better than anything else had.

“It felt like she reads too much,” I said, grinning.

The crew laughed, but Jess and Aubrie didn’t.

It wasn’t like I could say what I really wanted to say out loud. Not on camera, at least.

“In your words, why did you do it?”

“I saw a guy hurting a woman, so I hurt him. Is it really that complicated?”

“You risked a lot for her.”

I paused.
I’d risk everything for her,
I thought.

“That never occurred to me. It wasn’t like I took the time to make a pros and cons list in my head. I saw what needed to be done and I did it.”

“Okay. How about you tell me what happened from the beginning?”

I walked her through everything, starting from when I first arrived at the event. I talked about signing autographs and acting like I gave a fuck about the charity event. I talked about Misty, about how Aubrie left so abruptly. I talked about wanting to check up on her since she didn’t look like she was feeling well.

“That’s perceptive of you, considering you only saw her from across the room,” Jess cut in.

“I have great eyesight.”

She made a face. “Okay, so what happened next?”

I told her about hearing Brie yell and moving as fast as I could. I talked about smashing my cane into the guy’s leg, and again as he fell. I didn’t mention how fucking good it felt to hurt the piece of shit.

“Then we walked away. I talked to her while she cooled off, and that’s it.”

“That’s it,” Jess repeated. “Pretty simple.”

“Exactly.”

“Did you know Brent before that night?”

“Sure. He stuck his fucking camera in my face every day. You could say we were intimate.”

The crew laughed nervously.

“Did you sense anything like this from him?” she asked.

“Nope. Not at all. I liked him, before that night.”

“Okay. Last question. How did it make you feel, seeing Brent grabbing Aubrie?”

I laughed. “Seriously? What kind of question is that?”

“Just answer.”

“It made me feel fucking angry. What did you think I’d say? Made me fucking hard?”

“Thanks, Lincoln. That’s it.”

I sighed. “Really, we’re done?”

“We’re done.”

The crew started to break down the lighting, and Brie unclipped her mic. I did the same, looking at her.

“That was painless,” I said.

“Yeah. I guess so.” She didn’t look up at me.

“Thanks for doing it.”

“No problem. I’ll see you later.”

She quickly stood up and walked out of the room. I wanted to reach out and say something, but the crew’s presence stopped me. Even though the cameras weren’t running, I still wasn’t ready to reveal that much. I wasn’t ready to reveal how much I wanted her.

How much I was beginning to need her.

“Lincoln, a word?”

I looked over at Jess, who motioned for me to follow her. With a sigh, I stood up, grabbed my cane, and followed into the other room.

For a brief second, as I crossed over the threshold, I realized that for the first time in weeks my legs didn’t feel like they weren’t about to collapse. I tucked that away in the back of my mind. It was progress.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

“I have what you wanted.”

I stared. I didn’t expect it that fast. I only saw her the night before.

“Okay. Show me.”

She held up a thumb drive. “What you want is a video. It’s on here.”

“You need to give me a little more proof than that before I transfer a fuck ton of money over to you.”

She smirked. “Good. I was beginning to think you were an idiot.”

I grinned. “Appearances can be deceiving.”

She walked back into the other room and returned a second later with a laptop. She opened it up, typed in her password, and plugged in the drive. It contained a single video file. She double clicked it.

I watched as the movie expanded. She made it full screen and turned up the laptop’s brightness setting.

We crowded around the screen. There was no sound, and the image was shaky, but unmistakable. It was a short video shot outside a popular L.A. nightclub that I recognized. Parked maybe twenty yards away was Cliff’s car.

“What am I watching here?” I asked.

“Just look.”

Annoyed, I did as I was asked. After a few seconds, two people walked across the parking lot and stopped, leaning against Cliff’s car. It was dark, and the frame shook, and it was hard to tell who they were. They began to kiss, the guy’s hands roaming around the girl’s ass.

“Are you trying to sell me shitty porn?” I asked her.

She shushed me and nodded at the screen.

I saw the girl’s face first. As they broke apart, she stepped around the car and under a streetlight. She was young and pretty, and I recognized her from some action movie that was popular a year or two ago. I couldn’t remember her name, but she was definitely a minor celebrity.

Right behind her, the guy stepped into the light, and I nearly laughed out loud. It was totally unmistakable.

The man was Cliff.

I watched as he opened the passenger side door for her and then leaned in for a second. They were probably kissing more, but I couldn’t see. He moved back out, shut her door, and then got into the driver’s side. The car pulled away a minute later, and the video stopped.

I looked at Jess. “Where did you get this?”

“Paparazzi friend of mine sold it to me. He figured it wouldn’t get much play with any of the magazines, since Cliff isn’t exactly newsworthy and her fame has plummeted lately. But I figured it might come in handy one day.”

“Great fucking coincidence. When did you get this?”

“A few months ago.”

“And you’ve just been sitting on it?”

“I don’t exactly get a lot of reasons to blackmail my boss.”

I laughed out loud. She was absolutely fucking unbelievable. She already had proof that Cliff was cheating and apparently bought it just in case she ever needed it. She either could tell the future or she was the most paranoid person in the world.

Or maybe she just knew Cliff was a colossal piece of garbage.

“Fuck, Jess. He’s cheating on my mom.”

And that was when it really sunk in. The piece of shit was cheating on my mom. I always had my suspicions, always figured that was why he took long trips all over the place. But I didn’t have any proof of it, and besides, Jules seemed content with what was going on.

“Worth the money?” Jess asked.

“Hell yes it is.”

“Fine. Transfer it now and it’s yours.”

I pulled out my phone, opened my banking app, and set up the wire transfer. It took all of thirty seconds to make Jess slightly rich and me a lot poorer.

She nodded at the confirmation screen and handed me the drive. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

I laughed. “You’re such a devious bitch.”

“I guess. This job, the whole film industry, it’s not easy. It’s all about power and connections. Even making shitty documentaries. Doesn’t matter how pure your intentions are. If you can’t kiss ass and get producers to invest, you’re completely fucked.”

“I guess that’s how you got involved with Cliff.”

“Pretty much. But it looks like I can go make the films I actually want to make now without assholes like him.”

“So we’re done?”

She laughed. “Not yet, but we’re getting there. I’ll still finish your movie. Who knows, I might still get something out of all this.”

“Thanks, Jess. You’ve been a huge pain in my ass, but this really saves me.”

“Sure. Happy to help. I was sick of Cliff’s smug face anyway.”

I laughed and she smiled. It was the first time I had seen a genuine smile from her, and I had to admit that she actually looked pretty attractive. She suddenly seemed light and free and happy.

She nodded once, turned, and walked out.

I was still going to be seeing a lot more of her, but I was hoping something would change. Maybe Cliff was the reason she was constantly hounding me, constantly on edge. Maybe without him pressuring her all the time, we could actually get along.

I wasn’t going to be too optimistic.

As I walked away, shaking my head, I had to formulate a plan. My mother was going to be devastated. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I also didn’t want her to stay with a cheating piece of shit.

I had to talk to Aubrie, I realized. I had to get her opinion. She was the only person I knew that understood the situation.

But more than that, I wanted to be close to her. I had the crazy urge to smell her skin, to kiss her.

Abandoning everything, I walked off to find her.

I
slammed at the paddles, ignoring the sounds that lit up the machine’s screen. Whenever I watched Lincoln play, he made it seem so easy, like the whole thing was an extension of his body. He did that with the piano too, though ever since we started sleeping together he played that less and less.

It was a distraction from sleep, he had said. The playing calmed him when the dreams got too bad.

I shook my head. I didn’t need to think about him. I had already done more than enough for Lincoln. I didn’t need to remember the way he made my body feel and the way I felt like I was floating when we laughed and joked softly with each other.

The ball rebounded off the paddle, slammed into one of those bouncer thingies, and flew back at me, sailing directly between my flippers. I sighed and smacked the side of the machine, frustrated.

“You have to be gentle with it. Won’t respond to you otherwise.”

I whirled. Lincoln stood leaning against the pool table, grinning at me.

“When did you get in here?”

“Just a minute ago. You’re awful at that.”

“We can’t all spend every free hour playing old games.”

“Maybe not. But you’re like a statue there.”

“Like a statue? Come on, there’s no real strategy to this. You just hit the flippers.”

He laughed and walked over to me.

“I’ll show you.”

“We all know you’re good at it.”

“No, I’ll show
you
how to play. Here.”

He stood behind me and grabbed my hips, positioning me in front of the machine. For half a second, I wanted to push him away, but his hands felt good on my body. I let him gently move me into position, his hands shifting to cover my hands.

“Loosen up, Brie baby.”

“I am loose.”

He laughed and rotated his hips behind me, his dick against my ass.

“Looser. And relax your shoulders.”

“Okay. Fine.” I took a deep breath and tried to relax myself.

“That’s better. Now, hit the start button.”

I pressed it and the metal ball popped into the chamber. He guided my hand toward the metal pull-lever and helped me gently pull it back. We released together, and it smashed forward, propelling the ball into the machine.

“Okay, now keep an eye on it. Stay calm.”

I watched as the ball bounced around the upper portion, scoring points. It suddenly blasted back down toward the flippers.

“Get ready!” he whispered.

Together, we flicked our wrists, catching the ball and hitting it back into the play area.

“Too hard,” he said. “You need to control the motion. The ball is yours. Don’t let it dictate what happens.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Watch.”

The ball zoomed back down, sliding along the side of the case, coming toward the flipper. Just before it slipped in front of the paddle, he pushed the button and made a wall with the paddle. The ball hit the paddle, bounced, and stopped there.

“See? Control. Keep it loose and control the flow.”

I laughed. “Seems like two opposites. Stay loose and control.”

“They’re not. Not when you know what you’re doing.”

He released the paddle, letting the ball roll a bit, and then flicked his wrist, sending the ball flying into one of the high-scoring portions. We watched as it moved through the machine, numbers rolling along on the screen.

“Loose and controlled. When the flow comes, you flow with it, and you make it go where you want it to go.”

“How’d you learn all this?” I asked.

I felt him shrug against me. It sent tingles rushing down my spine.

“It’s like BASE jumping. You need to be calm, loose, with the flow. If you yank too hard, try too hard to control the wind or whatever, you’ll crash.”

“That’s very Zen of you.”

I could practically feel his grin. “Yeah, a little bit.”

With a sigh, I turned around and faced him. His lips were inches away from mine, and I leaned back slightly over the machine. I heard the ball fall between the paddles, ending the turn. He kept his arms to either side of me, pinning me there.

“Why are you here, Lincoln?”

He smiled. “Can’t I just spend some time with you?”

“I thought we decided that’s dangerous.”

“Yeah. But I like this danger. This danger makes me feel good.”

I looked away. I knew exactly what he was talking about. Being with him felt right, felt good. And the fact that it was a little forbidden made it all that much more exciting.

Except I didn’t want forbidden. I just wanted him.

“Maybe I can’t handle that.”

“You can handle it, Brie baby. We both know that.”

I looked back at his perfect, grinning face. I wanted to slap him and kiss him.

“Let me go.”

He shrugged and took a step back. I walked away, my heart hammering. I could barely control myself, and I needed to put some distance between the two of us. Otherwise, I was going to throw myself at him.

I leaned up against the pool table.

“Is that really why you’re here?”

He sighed. “You really want me to cut to the chase, huh?”

I didn’t. I wanted to spend all day flirting with him. I wanted him to tease me within an inch of losing myself. I wanted him to nudge me over the edge and then I wanted him to bring me slowly back.

“Yeah,” I said instead. “I guess so.”

“Okay. It’s like this.” He paused. “Your dad is cheating on my mom.”

I blinked, taken by surprise. “What?”