The Hearts We Break (The Alphaletes Book 3), page 20
I lean forward and press my lips against his before his words are barely out. He doesn’t hesitate, slipping his fingers into my hair as he deepens the kiss and pulls me closer. We only pull apart when a not-so-subtle cough comes from our left.
Leaning back, Slater gives me a wink as he wears a satisfied smile while our legs are being wrapped up. They quickly go over after care before Slater is paying for our sessions, leaving an extra heavy tip in exchange for them keeping whatever they heard of our conversations to themselves. Not sure how solid that actually will be but they seemed like nice guys so hopefully they will respect our privacy and not blast it all over social media. I’ve never had to really worry about that before, but with the drama that will no doubt circulate once Slater’s divorce goes public, I probably should watch what I say in public.
“Alright, Bubbles. Where to now?” Slater asks as he slings his arm around my shoulder and guides us to the car.
“Home,” I smile up at him, causing his face to stretch into a grin in return as he nods his head and opens my door.
Slater
It’s one of my least favorite days of the year.
Beth Hayes’ death day.
I’ll never forget the day she passed. It’s been fifteen years, but it feels like yesterday.
I wake up to a blood curdling scream coming from the house next door. My heart plummets at the sound and I’m out of my bed, running through the house before I can even see which way is up or down. My feet eat up the distance between me and the Hayes’ family home before I push through the front door.
My pulse is thundering as a wave of nausea instantly hits me. I know what’s happened the moment my foot crosses the threshold of their home. Aaron is sitting on the couch, his head in his hands as his shoulders shake softly. Glancing to my left, I see Ezra standing in the hallway, holding a sobbing Scarlett. My eyes lastly flick to Ross who is sitting on the floor outside his bedroom weeping into his arms. One of the strongest men I have ever met seems to be reduced to a sobbing mess, and in my gut, I know why and it breaks my goddamn heart.
Scarlett seems to see me first, as always. I watch as she practically shoves Ezra away before leaping into my arms. I catch her instantly, that comforting cocoa butter scent filling my senses as she clings to me for dear life, as if I was the only thing grounding her in this moment.
“Sh-he’s gone,” she sobs into my neck as her body begins to shake.
My chest aches at her words as my throat begins to burn. My arms tighten around her as I feel a tear of my own begin sliding down my face. Beth is gone. Fuck she’s gone gone.
She has been like a second mom to me for years now. She’s the kindest woman you could ever meet and funny as hell too. Her passing is going to do more than fuck us up. She’s going to leave behind a Beth sized hole in all of our hearts forever.
She passed away in her sleep, and I’m grateful that she wasn’t in pain any longer. Her cancer was extremely aggressive, and it took her faster than we expected, but with the way she deteriorated so quickly, I’m not sure she would have lasted much longer regardless.
When my mom got sick, it was nothing compared to watching Beth fade. My mom had to have surgery to remove her tumor, and she did a few rounds of chemo, but thankfully, her battle was a lot more cut and dry than Beth’s. I think the hardest part for everyone, though, was how she slowly withdrew into herself. She knew she didn’t have long, and she wanted everyone to be able to be okay without her, so she shut down, closed herself off in a strange form of protection. For herself or everyone around her, I still don’t quite know.
I wrap my arm around Scar a little tighter as we make our way through the grass hill, stopping in front of the familiar grave. My mom throws out a large blanket as my father sets down the two large picnic baskets she packed. Ever since that first year without Beth, this has been a tradition of ours. We all come and have dinner with Beth, catch up on what we’ve been up to, and just spend the afternoon together. It feels even more appropriate that today happens to be a Wednesday.
“Hello, my sweet friend,” my mom says with fondness as she places a single rose at her grave.
My dad wraps his arms around her as they sit, before Ezra and Aaron do the same, saying hello to their mom before Scar and I do.
“Hi, Momma,” she says with a slight catch to her voice. “I miss you.”
“Me too,” I say as we set down our flowers before sitting down on the blanket.
The last to say hello is Ross, who sets his rose down before taking a seat next to her headstone.
“Hey, baby. It’s been too long and don’t get started on me with the beard. I know I have to shave,” he says as he rubs his longer than normal beard.
We all chuckle at that as my mom opens the picnic basket and begins dishing out the plethora of food. We easily fall into easy conversation, talking about how the season is going, what has been up with Aaron and Ezra, and how our parents’ companies have been going.
I’m not sure if everyone notices, but Ross isn’t really present, he never is. Instead, he spends more time staring at the headstone than the people around him. He did a good job of burying his grief for the kids, but I know it was hard on him. The fact that he was the first to find her, to wake up next to the love of your life and realize that she was already gone…fuck, I couldn’t imagine. I squeeze Scar a little tighter, thankful that I finally pulled my head out of my ass and went after her. We already lost too much time together, I won’t waste another minute going forward, and I’ll never take a second with her for granted.
We hung out with our families for a little while longer before everyone went their separate ways. Scar was quieter than normal, which was understandable, all things considering, so I made a quick call in order before I wordlessly drove us to our destination.
“What are we doing here?” she asks as we pull up to our destination.
“Just picking something up. I’ll be right back,” I say as I slide out of the driver’s seat and run inside.
It doesn’t take long for the restaurant to bring me my to-go bag before I quickly pay and am walking back out to the car. I carefully set the bag into the backseat before firing up the car and pulling out of the parking lot.
I feel Scar’s eyes on me waiting expectantly for an explanation before she finally speaks.
“Where are we going? Your house is back that way.”
“Our house,” I correct as I reach out to rest my hand onto her thigh.
“Uh, since when have I moved in?” she laughs lightly.
I turn to her with a raised brow. “Since you haven’t slept in your own bed in eleven weeks. Let’s be honest, your apartment is basically a glorified walk-in closet at this point, which is pointless since the whole damn thing could fit into my gym downstairs.”
She narrows her eyes at me but doesn’t deny it. It seems so obvious that she’d move in with me, I mean, wouldn’t she want to? Her silence has an unusual sense of nervousness setting in, though.
“Do you want to?” I ask softly.
“Want to what?”
“Move in. Officially. Ditch your lease.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to put a strain on our relationship by moving too fast and-”
“Baby, we’ve been living together our entire relationship. Let’s just call it what it is. We spend damn near every second together, and I still can’t get enough of you. There is no strain, at least not on my end, but I know you and I know that your independence is important to you so let’s not make it a big thing. The offer is there, whenever you’re ready. In my opinion, the house is already half yours.”
She is silent for several seconds before we pull up to a red light, and she leans over, pressing a kiss to my lips before looking up at me from underneath her eyelashes.
“Okay.”
“Yeah?” I smile.
She bites her lower lip and nods, causing me to grin a little wider as the light turns green.
“Seriously, where are we going, though? And what’s in the bag? Your mom brought enough food to feed an army. There is no way either of us could eat right now.”
“You’ll see,” I say as I take another turn.
Only a few more minutes go by before understanding hits her, and when I pull into the parking lot, I’m more than pleased to only see two other cars. Then again it’s not all that surprising when it’s seven o’clock on a Wednesday night.
“Why are we at Gasworks Park?” Scar asks as I open her door for her before grabbing the take-out bag from the back.
I reach down and grab her hand, intertwining our fingers as we find that last bit of sunny spot on the hill overlooking the Puget Sound as the sun begins to set.
“Because this has always been your favorite place to just think, and you look like you’ve been doing a lot of thinking today.”
She smiles at me softly as I sit down, pulling her down to sit between my legs before leaning her back against my chest. We stare out at the Sound in silence for several seconds before she speaks.
“I just miss my mom. Today never gets any easier. I was glad for the time I spent with her, but I’m greedy and I wish I would have gotten more. Any amount of time, just five more minutes. You never know when you say goodbye for the last time to someone. Never know when you say goodnight, if you’ll never get to again, you know?”
I press a kiss to the side of her head as I nod.
“Only today is promised. We can’t live in fear of that, though. We just have to live for the here and now. Like Mama Beth used to say-”
“Smell the roses, eat the cake, and dance in the rain,” Scar smiles as she fills in her mom’s words. Her mom was always spouting off something profound, I swear. She was an amazing woman in a lot of ways. I see a lot of her in Scar, makes me appreciate her all that much more.
“Well, we smelled the flowers today, it ain’t raining, and it isn’t cake, but it’s close enough,” I say as I grab the bag from behind me and set it in her lap.
She opens it, peeking inside before letting out a chuckle and leaning her head against my shoulder.
“Only you would go to a five-star restaurant for a to-go order of flan.”
I smirk as I tighten my hold around her waist.
“It’s your favorite, but I get a bite,” I barter.
Scar opens the container and grabs the plastic fork before giving me a shady side eye.
“Yeah, right. Stay back, buddy. These portions are tiny.”
She takes her first bite before I loosen my hold and begin tickling her ribs.
“Oh, yeah? That’s not nice. You gotta share,” I say as she begins hysterically laughing.
My fingers dance across her stomach, knowing exactly where will send her into a laughing fit when she shouts, “Ow, ow! Stop!”
I immediately drop my hands before looking at her with concern.
“Sorry, baby. Did I hurt you?”
She shakes her head before she laughs lightly. “Yeah, you and your bony fingers. It’s a miracle you don’t pop the football when you catch it with those things,” she says as she takes another bite of her flan.
I scoff. “Bony? You weren’t complaining about my ‘bony’ fingers this morning when they were inside your-”
She spins around and slaps a hand over my mouth before casting a look at the only other people at the park.
I chuckle as I watch them stand up and make their way to their car. Slowly, I reach up and peel her hand away from me before I raise an eyebrow.
“They’re leaving, no one for you to be embarrassed in front of now. And since they are the last cars in the parking lot, looks like I have you all to myself,” I say with a devilish smirk.
“You’re insatiable,” she laughs. “Do you know that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to not be sore?”
“We can sleep in separate rooms if that’s what you need because if memory serves you woke me up this morning riding my cock soooo…”
Her cheeks flame as she smacks my arm and rolls her eyes.
“It’s not my fault your gigantic cock feels good.”
“Mmm, I like hearing that,” I smirk as I nip at her earlobe. “Tell me more about this gigantic cock of mine.”
“Like how I love to suck on it?” she says boldly, her eyes flicking down to my lips as she lowers her tone. “How much I love the feel of you filling me until I can’t take much more and then taking it just a little further? Do you want to hear me tell you about how I woke up this morning, wet between my thighs, and knew the only thing that would fix it is sliding down on you?”
I let out a growl that comes low in my chest before I spin her around until she’s facing me, claiming her lips before she even has a second to hesitate. Her tongue brushes against mine as I deepen it, tangling my hand into the back of her hair as I hold her closer. Her thighs slide onto either side of my legs as she slowly starts grinding her pussy against me. I feel my cock hardening in my jeans with each pass until I’m rock fucking solid.
Scar must feel it too because she drops a hand down, rubbing against my hard on before moving for my belt. Where the hell my blushing shy girlfriend went, I have no idea. She has gained so much confidence since we’ve been together, in the bedroom specifically. I’m so glad that she is able to be completely herself around me. There is nothing sexier than a woman confident in her own skin, and Scar was already the sexiest woman on earth, so it just makes me the luckiest bastard alive.
Her hands effortlessly undo my belt and jeans before pulling my cock out. I can’t help but watch her with equal parts surprise and excitement.
“Is Scarlett Hayes really about to just take my cock out and fuck me in the middle of Gasworks Park?”
“If Slater Santos will let me,” she smirks as she rolls up her sundress and slides her panties to the side before lining up against me.
“Oh, baby, you already know you can have anything you want. All you have to do is ask,” I say as I cup her ass with both hands.
She smiles at me as she slowly lowers herself down onto me, causing both of us to groan until we are flush. Her cocky confidence has faded for a moment as a touch of vulnerability passes across her face.
“I love you, Slater.”
I smile as I lift a hand to cup her face, brushing her hair out of her face as I look into her eyes.
“I love you, Bubbles.”
Her eyes twinkle at that, causing my heart to squeeze just at the sight.
“Swear?” she breathes out.
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” I say as she rises up on me before sinking back down.
Fuck. I’ll never get enough of her. It’s not possible.
Scar begins riding my cock, using me to take every ounce of pleasure she possibly can. I hold onto her hips, helping set her pace as she rubs against me. The sun has set and though there wasn’t anyone here when she climbed on top of me, who’s to say how long we have before someone else shows up.
“We gotta be quick, baby. Someone could show up at any moment, see you riding my cock like the dirty girl you are,” I whisper against her neck, causing her to let out a breathy moan.
I press a kiss against the sensitive spot behind her ear as I chuckle.
“I know you like to put on a show but I’m the only one that gets to watch you fall apart, Bubbles. Your orgasms are mine, all mine.”
“All yours,” she gasps. “Only yours.”
“Good girl,” I say as I reach down to slide my hand beneath her dress, brushing my thumb against her swollen clit causing a shudder to run through her body.
“Again,” she pants.
“Ask nicely,” I grit through clenched teeth as she comes down farther this time, causing a wave of pleasure to run up my spine and my balls to tighten.
“Please, Slate. Please. Make me cum,” she begs as her eyes squeeze close, her head thrown back in pleasure.
“Eyes,” I command.
They fly open, landing on me instantly, and it’s my undoing. I quickly rub against her as my balls draw up, and my cock empties itself inside her. Looks like it’s Scar’s undoing too because she falls apart right after me, gasping and clenching down on me as she rides out her orgasm.
When we both come down from our highs, she slowly scoots off me before laying down on her back, her chest heaving with ragged breaths. I lean over to kiss her, keeping my lips against hers as my hand wanders down to her wet thighs. Pulling away, I look down to see my cum running down her leg. Something inside me doesn’t like that, and I find myself gathering up the leaking cum, pushing it back inside her where it belongs. Where it’s always belonged.
I’ve always assumed I’d have kids one day, but it was the farthest thing from Nikki’s mind, so I never pushed the issue. Thank god we didn’t because I couldn’t imagine Nikki being a very good mother, and our separation would have been way more complicated with kids involved.
Scar though, I know she’d be an amazing mom. She’s always wanted kids, and I’ve always believed any kids would be lucky to have her. She’d be just like her mom was, I know it. The idea of having kids with Scarlett, watching my baby grow in her belly, holding a tiny human that is half her, half me. It’s a thought that has my cock stiffening and my heart swelling.
Would she think I was totally batshit crazy if I asked her to go off her birth control? I know we’ve only been together for a few months, but let’s be real, we’ve loved each other for decades. She’d probably say I’m moving too fast, normally I’d agree but everything feels different with her.
My dad even joked today about when I was going to pop the question. I laughed it off, reminding him that I literally just got my divorce finalized, but I’d be lying if he didn’t spark an ember that was already flaring in my head. After the way shit with Nikki went, you’d think marriage would be the most unappealing idea in the world, but the idea of Scar wearing a ring that I gave her, telling the world she is all mine in every way possible? Fuck. Can’t say I hate the idea of that.
