Sweet Surrender (3 page)

Cody’s expression darkened once again, and Candi’s heart skipped a beat, or two, or three. “Justin. We’re up here.”

She listened to the rhythmic thump, thump, thump as Justin climbed the rungs of the ladder, her heartbeat echoing the pace and rhythm. And when she saw his head, and their gazes tangled, her breath caught in her throat.

Justin’s gaze flicked to her bare breasts then jumped back to her face again. He tossed a leg over the top rung, the other, and within seconds, he was standing over her. Once again, she saw something in his eyes, a raw, carnal hunger that seemed wild and dangerous.

“Justin,” she whispered, reaching for him. “I’m not afraid.”

“You don’t know anything. Why would you be afraid?”

“Cody told me--“

“He didn’t tell you anything.” Slowly, he lowered himself to his knees.

“You don’t know--“ She literally felt his gaze as it wandered over her form. Her nerves prickled. Heat buzzed through her body in pulses, from her center out to the tips of her fingers and toes.

“I do know.” He cupped her breast, his gaze locked on her nipple, his jaw clenched ever so slightly.

“Justin, why didn’t you ever touch me?”

“Because I knew if I did, it would never be enough.” He tipped his head, flicked his tongue over her nipple, and she arched her spine, pushing her breast closer.

Yes, at last. She had them both here, and ohmygod it was everything she’d ever imagined and more.

Cody moved up behind her, coaxing her to sit on his lap. Easing back, she reclined against his chest. His hands slid down her sides, over her hips. “I’ve been waiting too,” he whispered into her ear. “Waiting for you to be ready for me. For us.” His hands moved lower, to her knees. He pulled them back, toward him, forcing her to open her thighs wide, wider.

She’d thought she felt powerless before. But that was nothing...

Justin’s teeth grazed her nipple and she shook, hard. Her empty pussy pulsed, waves of wanting beating through her body. She reached for him, curled her fingers into fists, grasping his silken hair. He bit down harder, and a blaze of pain cut through her. She squeaked, body going stiff, hands pushing, forcing him back.

“I warned you,” Justin said. “You don’t know what you’ve done.”

Her nipple was still stinging, little quivers of lingering pleasure-pain zigging and zagging through her. Maybe he had been telling her the truth. Maybe they both had been, and perhaps she wasn’t ready to face the reality of what being with them would be like, versus her fantasy. “I thought I knew you.”

“You don’t.” He slipped his finger into his mouth, pulled it out, trailed it down the center of her stomach, leaving a path of tingling dampness in its wake. “You have no idea what we’re really like. We have dark needs.” His finger inched lower, and she couldn’t help rocking her hips, pushing her pussy closer to his touch.

“Dark...needs?” She could barely follow what he was saying. Her focus was wavering between his words and the myriad of mind blowing sensations pummeling her body. The heat of Cody’s body pressed against her back. The feel of his fingers, gripping her legs, holding them wide open. The scent of sex and man in the air. “I don’t understand,” she murmured.

“That’s obvious.” Justin shook his head. “I told you, I’m an asshole. I warned you.”

“I--“ The words cut off as he shoved three fingers into her tight pussy. Stretched to the point of pain, she cried out and tried to slam her legs together. She couldn’t. Tears burned her eyes. “Hurts,” she said, on the verge of crying. “Please, stop.”

“What was that? You want me to stop?”

“Y-yes,” she stuttered, second guessing herself. One part of her was wildly turned on by Justin and Cody, by their game of power and control, of pain and pleasure. Another was terrified.

He pistoned his fingers in and out again, and again, and again. “Don’t you want a big fat cock in this little cunt, Candi? Isn’t that what you’ve been telling us?

She wriggled, whimpered. She was full, so full.

He pressed another finger against her anus. “Ever since I saw you by the pond, I’ve wanted to fuck your ass.” He pushed harder and a hot burn radiated out from her tight hole.

“Justin, stop.”

“I don’t stop. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” Now, working both hands together, he fucked her ass and pussy together. It was excruciating. Her pussy burned. Her ass burned. He pulled his finger out of her anus, added a second and forced them in.

Again, she cried out, writhing. She swung her arms, but they were trapped, Cody’s thick arms crossing in front of them. She tried to kick, but Cody held her legs. “Stop it, dammit!” she shrieked.

Justin’s hands left her. But only so he could unzip his pants. He shoved them down, over his hips, spit on his hand and spread it over the ruddy head of his cock. “This is what you’ve been waiting for, right, Candi? You want my big cock in your pussy? Or did you want it in your ass?” He flicked a gaze at Cody, and Cody pulled her legs farther back.

She shook her head, a sob bubbling in her belly. “No, Not like this.”

Justin’s eyes were so dark, his face so tight. Candi felt like he wasn’t the same man she’d known. He was a complete stranger. A terrifying stranger. He rubbed his cock along her slit, gripped her hips.

The sob ripped up her throat and she choked it back down. “No, Justin. Please. This wasn’t--“

“It wasn’t what you thought it would be, was it?” Justin stood. His lips curled into that devilish smile she’d always admired so much. He jerked up his pants but left them unzipped. “Now, you’ll believe me, won’t you? When I say you don’t want to go there, I mean it.” Looming over her, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Cody.”

Cody released her legs, and she slid off his lap, falling onto her knees. She watched, frozen in place, confused and humiliated, as Cody grabbed his clothes and climbed down the ladder, out of view.

And then, once they were gone, she let the tears fall.

* * * * *

Justin willed his heart to stop racing. He had never felt so shitty. The image of Candi’s pain-filled eyes kept flashing through his mind. Over and over and over.

He hadn’t wanted to do that, dammit.

“You were right,” Cody murmured.

“I hate the way she looked at me.”

Cody gave him a nudge. “That was my fault. I wanted it to work so badly. I pushed you both.”

“No, you didn’t. I wanted her too. I just knew...she’s too innocent. Too sweet and delicate. She shouldn’t have to deal with us. With our needs.”

Cody sighed. “I still love her.”

“So do I. We’ll make it up to her. I know what to do.”

* * * * *

She didn’t move from that spot for a long time, until every last tear had been shed. Somehow things had gone horribly wrong, shockingly wrong. Had she been mistaken, to think that Cody and Justin were the sweet, sexy, funny guys she remembered?

Or were they intentionally trying to scare her off? And if so, why?

The more she thought about it, the more determined she was to find out what the hell was going on. Resolved, she put her clothes back on and went down to find them. Outside, the wind had picked up. It felt cool, after coming out of the oppressive heat of the barn, and it smelled damp, like an approaching storm. She found them in working behind the empty chicken coop.

She crossed her arms over her chest and concentrated on breathing in and out, in and out. Her hands were shaking a little. “What the hell was that, Justin?” She jerked her head toward the barn.

“Please, Candi.” Justin finished driving a nail through a board and fished another one out of his tool belt. “Let it rest. It’s better for everyone involved.”

“’Let it rest?’ Really?” She snorted. “You hurt me, and then when I asked you to stop, you got all ‘see, I told you so’ and stomped away. Who treats a woman like that?”

“But I did tell you--“

“Bullshit.” Her fury building, she stepped up to him, jerked her chin and glared at him. “If this is your idea of taking it easy on me, of ‘protecting’ me from yourself, you’ve failed. You’ve hurt me and you’ve pissed me off.”

“I’m sorry.” Justin’s jaw clenched.

She poked his chest. She would have rather pounded it. Clawed it. “Fine. You’re sorry. Now, what the hell was that all about?”

Justin’s dark-eyed gaze seemed to look through her. “I’m not going to talk about this with you.”

“Why?”

“Because there are some things you don’t need to know.”

“That’s bullshit.” She turned to Cody. He was watching silent, intense. Why wasn’t he speaking? “Cody? We’ve crossed a line here, I’ve crossed a line. I’ve opened myself up to you both. I told you how I feel. I...I...” Sucked his cock. Begged him to fuck her. Practically threw herself at them both.

The men gave each other a weighted look. Finally, Justin shook his head. “I’m sorry. But this is the way it has to be.”

His words were like a blade, jabbing her in the heart.

“Fine then.” Her heart pounding double time, she took two steps back before she smacked him. Using a shaking hand on the side of the coop, she turned away, throwing a glare over her shoulder. Both guys were standing there, looking sexy and rumpled and stubbornly silent. “I’m not prone to childish fits, nor am I the storm-from-the-room type, but this is important. I thought we were friends, if nothing else. But now I wonder if we’re even that. Friends should be able to talk about things. If you can’t even treat me with some modicum of respect, then we have no business being intimate on any level.”

Cody’s mouth opened slightly then snapped shut.

“Damn it.” She blinked, her eyes burning. “You bastards.” She grabbed a handful of scraggly straw from the ground and threw it at them.

Cody watched Candi stagger away, his heart in his throat. He’d kept silent because that was what they’d agreed to do. Brothers kept their promises to each other. It was the one rule they had never broken in their lives.

It was killing him, though, not having said anything.

There’d been so much pain in Candi’s eyes. She’d looked small and hurt, and his first instinct had been to gather her into his arms and hold her. Would he ever get that chance again?

Still watching Candi hurry away, he said, “We should’ve--“

“You know we can’t.”

“Do I?” He turned to face his brother. “Do I know we can’t?”

Justin was pulling his dusty white t-shirt over his head. He mopped the sheen off his face and tossed it on the ground. “Sure.”

“Maybe you do. But I don’t.”

“Don’t do this.” Lifting the hammer again, Justin drove a nail into a board with one well-placed blow. “You’ll hurt her. Confuse her more. We’ve done enough.”

Cody jerked his head toward the house. “Looks like we’ve already done that. Those weren’t fake tears. They were real.”

“There’s only one way she’ll understand. We’d have to tell her. Everything. And if we do that, there will be a lot more tears. No, we can’t tell her. We can’t let this go on any more.”

Cody’s guts twisted. It hurt like hell, and he had to curl his fingers into tight fists and grit his teeth to handle the pain. “We’ve lost her, then.”

“Better to lose her than to destroy her.” Justin closed the distance between them, set a hand on Cody’s shoulder. “Look, bro, I know you care about her. We both do. A hell of a lot. She’s a special woman.”

“I...love her.”

“Yeah. I can see that. But what were you expecting here? I told you it was wrong. You didn’t think this thing with her could work, did you?”

“I was hoping it might...she might help us.”

“Shit, Cody.”

“I know. That was stupid, huh? How could she help us without knowing the whole truth?” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “Sandi’s right. We are what we are. Twisted. Broken.” He kicked the coop’s cracked foundation. “Now, I doubt she’ll even trust us to be friends. Hell, she probably shouldn’t trust us.” He found himself sending his brother a glare. Quickly, his angry glower turned into a sad frown. “She’s the one woman I knew I would always love. If only I could find a way to change, to stop--”

“You can’t. You just can’t. If you love her as much as you say you do, you know you’ve got to let her hate you, if that’s what she needs.”

Overwhelming fury blazed through him. Justin was right. Damn it, he was right. Forcing Candi to try to bow to their needs wasn’t fair. They’d destroy her. “Fuck.” He wanted to pound something. No, he wanted to pound the face of the man who was responsible for this. Until now, he hadn’t realized how fucked up they were. They’d dealt with it this long, with no real consequences. They’d had their share of relationships. With some great women. Women who understood them, and were not only willing to serve their more demanding needs but were eager to do so.

But Candi was different. Like Justin had said, delicate. Perfect. He didn’t want to tarnish her. And that was exactly what they’d almost done.

Candi made a beeline for her room. Still trembling with fury, she yanked her suitcase out from under the bed and unzipped it. She had no idea where she was going. Absolutely none. But at the moment, she didn’t care. She couldn’t stay here. Not another minute. She’d find a hotel for the night and then go apartment hunting in the morning.

At least I have a job.

That was the only good thing to come out of this trip, it seemed. For those precious few minutes, she’d thought she was in for something wonderful, a once-in-a-lifetime love. The kind where she could open up without being afraid, where she could strip all her defenses and allow herself to be vulnerable. In all ways. And she’d thought Cody and Justin felt the same way.

How could she have been so wrong?

“I saw what I wanted to see,” she said aloud. “That’s how it always goes.” Her gaze lifted to the ceiling. The plaster was cracked. The paint was flaking off. But that wasn’t why she was looking up. “Dad, what the hell is wrong with me? Why do I keep falling for men who can’t love me?”

Of course, she got no answer from him or anyone else for that matter. Knowing she was wasting time, she went to the old dumpy dresser standing under the window, scooped all her underwear into her arms and hauled it to the open suitcase. In that batch went, and she headed back to the dresser for the next armload. Within an hour, she had all the drawers and the closet empty.

She ran into Sandy at the bottom of the stairs.

Her stepmom took one look at the suitcase and asked, “Are you leaving us already?”

“I’m just throwing this stuff in the car. I’m not abandoning you. I wouldn’t do that. But I can’t stay here anymore. There’s just...too many memories here for me.”

“I understand.” Sandy motioned toward the kitchen. “After you’ve put your things in your car, why don’t you come have some coffee?”

“Sounds great.” She lugged the heavy bag outside. She was sore. Strained muscles. Trying not to think about why her muscles were strained, she popped my trunk, and hefted it inside. That done, she went back inside for some much-needed caffeine.

She found Sandy standing at the counter, a mug in her hand. “Candi, I think it’s time we had a talk.”