Hendrix: Caldwell Brothers (The Caldwell Brothers Book 1)

She starts to shake as her hands fist my jacket, and she pulls me closer.

“Jesus, Livi,” I whisper as I look down to see tears are falling down her cheek. I can’t help pulling her against my chest. “It’s okay, girl.”

After a few moments, she stops shaking, and then I feel her start to pull away. I don’t want that to happen. It feels good to hold her, to be near her, but I let her go anyway.

She wipes her eyes and sniffs then bends down and looks for something.

“What did you lose?”

“My keys.” Her voice quivers.

“Okay, let’s find them.” I bend down to help her and notice the sewer grate near where she was looking. I pull my keys out, and using my keychain flashlight, turning the light down the drain. “Uh, Livi?”

“Yeah?”

“I think we may have a problem.”

She steps over and looks down. “Awe, pickles.”

“Your spare key is back under your fender. I can call a friend and get those ones tomorrow. No big deal.”

“My apartment keys are on it.”

“You have a super who lives in your building?”

She shakes her head as her lip quivers. “And I don’t have my spare, either.”

“You do. It’s under—”

“I took it out this morning.”

“Why would you of all people do that?” I laugh, trying to ease her worry, because apparently, now I want do that for her, too.

“I thought someone was following me last night.” She scowls as she rubs her ass. “It’s not at all funny.”

“Okay, tell me why you would think that.”

She looks up into my eyes. Her mouth starts to open, but she quickly snaps it shut and shakes her head.

“What do you mean, no? If you have a problem, then I need to know about it.”

She tilts her head and again looks at me. She is about ready to say something when her brows knit, and her jaw clamps shut again.

Now I get pissed.

“Not something to fuck around with. If you have someone who is fucking with you, I can take care of it.”

“It’s my problem.” She starts to shake again, and her teeth chatter. “I am a grown adult, and I—”

“Okay, well, get your grown ass in my ride, and you can stay with me tonight.”

“I can’t stay with you.” Her teeth are now chattering so loud I not only hear it, but see it.

“Then where you gonna go, Liv?”

As she shrugs, her eyes begin to glass over, but she is trying her damndest to look pissed. “Fine, but … but—”

“Let’s go.” I grab her hand and drag her behind me. She’s cold, scared, and defiant as hell, but she will damn well listen to me.

She tugs on my hand, so I hold tighter as I pick up my pace. “You walk with me, or I carry you.”

I hear her gasp, but it doesn’t stop me.

She doesn’t say a damn thing the whole time we drive to my place. Not a word when we pull in the garage, and I kill the engine. There’s still nothing as she gets out of the car and is greeted by Floyd.

We get upstairs where she takes off her black boots, and I kick off mine. She bends down and straightens them on the mat by the door, making me look down at them. Mine are twice the size of hers. They look odd sitting there like they belong together.

I grab my phone and shoot a text to my boy at the cop shop to tell him to make sure her car doesn’t get towed and then ask him to check in to getting the keys out of the sewer drain.

As soon as I put down the phone, Livi clears her throat.

“If that’s your girlfriend Sadi—”

“My what?” I nearly choke.

“The girl kissing on you, the one who seems to have a problem with me, the one—”

“Why do you rub your ass all the time?” She is doing it again now, and I am amped up on being pissed off, so I let it fly out.

“What?”

I fist my hands at my sides. “Livi, you frustrate the hell out of me, even before I knew it was you I fucked that night. You rub your ass, you snort, you’re quirky as fuck, and you—”

“Sorry to be such a burden.” There she goes, rubbing that thing again.

“Never once did I say you are a burden. Never once, Liv. That’s not fucking fair. That bitch is one of many.” When she tries to cut me off, I take two steps before covering her sassy little mouth with my hand. “I don’t bring work home. I don’t fuck people who work for me.” I take my hand away.

“But her,” Livi spits out.

“A long time ago, she was a distraction. I never hired her. She kind of came with the place. I can guarantee you she hasn’t come by me after I took over. She’s a damn good bartender, though. She’s just a thorn in my side. You want her gone, say the word.”

She touches her lips and looks down.

“I have no clue what the hell your deal is, but I’d really like to think the chick who seems to be occupying my mind right now isn’t fucking crazy.”

“I’m occupying your mind?” she whispers.

“Olivia, two weeks’ worth of you has left me little time for much else. There’s something about you—and none of it has a damn thing to do with that closet romp—that makes me feel…” I pause and turn my back to her.

“Feel what?” she asks in an almost panicked voice.

I shake my head. “Just feel. You know where my room is. Go on and get some sleep. I sent a message to a buddy, so your car won’t be towed, and the keys will be here in the morning.”

“Hendrix, wait.”

I stop and turn around. “What is it?” I sigh from exhaustion.

“What’s your dog’s name?”

I look at Floyd who is sitting on Livi’s damn foot. “Floyd. Now answer a question for me.”

She nods and swallows.

“Who spooked you tonight? Was it Sadi, ‘cause if so, she’s gone.”

She swallows hard before shrugging. “Someone from my past.”

I know it is a hard question for her to answer, but she did. That is certainly a start with a woman who doesn’t want to give away much.

“Did he hurt you?”

She closes her eyes and nods. A few tears fall, and I am fucking putty.

I walk back to her and take her hand in mine. “You scared?”

She opens her eyes, and I see the fear there as she nods.

“I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you, Livi.”

And I won’t, either. Since Livi marched in here to the beat of her own drum, she’s made my heart beat to the same damn rhythm. There is something about her crazy ass that makes me feel life can be more than existing.

“I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I am not—”

“Livi, another question. I’m not trying to put the moves on you or anything, but the ass rubbing, is there a genie or some shit you’re hoping is gonna pop out of that thing?”

She laughs, snorts, and then shakes her head. “Classy and fabulous.” She rubs her ass again.

“Not gonna argue, but sometimes I think crazy, as well.”

She smiles softly and looks down. “My panties make me feel stronger.”

I close my eyes tight and say a little prayer that there is an explanation behind this shit.

“The sayings empower me.”

I open my eyes and look at her for a few seconds as it all dawns on me. “Consent is required, but it wasn’t given at one point.”

Very slowly, she nods only once.

“Whoever he was, he better never come near you again, or I will fucking kill him.” I grab her hand and pull her up the stairs behind me.

Once in my room, I find her some sweats and a T-shirt.

“Go change in the bathroom.”

I am giving her privacy when all I want is to hold her to make her feel safe.

I change into some pajama pants and crawl into my bed. When she walks out, she looks at me and stops.

“Come on; you’ve had a rough day. Nothing’s going to happen in here, except me showing you that you have nothing to worry about. All of us are not the same.”

She crawls into bed with no further hesitation, and she even curls up against me. I shove my arm under her shoulders to pull her tighter.

“Night, Livi.”

“Night, Hendrix.”

She falls asleep in minutes, but I can’t. I watch her lashes lay across her powder white, smooth skin. She has a dimple I have seen on several occasions, normally when she is dealing with our customers. Her hair is dark, a little lighter than mine, and the waves hit just below her shoulders. She has high cheek bones and threatening curves. Threatening because crazy, broken, crying, laughing, pressed against me, or across a damn room, my sanity and inability to stay below half chub is threatened.

Her scent is one I know I won’t be able to forget. Her taste is top shelf, reminding me of Galliano: sweet, vanilla, citrusy, and woodsy. Nothing like, well, the shit I have tasted before.

I don’t play like I know what normal is. Thinking of wanting it with her is like a three day hangover. I have never thought of anyone as often. I have never had a burning desire to be a protector, a provider, and a partner until crazy, snorting, squeaks came into my life behind a mask.

However, she’s an addiction I can’t afford.

I slide out from under her, sporting a hard-on that isn’t going away. I need a shower now more than I did when I got her back here.

I shed my clothes and hop in. I squirt some Axe in my hand then grab ahold of my dick, stroking it slow, just like I want to enter her sweet, little pussy. But, fuck if I don’t want to eat it first. This will have to do, though.

Needing release, I grab a hold of my nuts and give them a tug as I stroke faster and faster.

“Fuck, Livi,” I groan as I pump faster. I squeeze harder, imagining that tight, little twat strangling me, and close my eyes, picturing her hot fucking curves. I need to come. I know it won’t be the same, but fuck, I need it.

My balls tighten up and the knowing warmth spreads through me. I have no reason to fight it, no reason to hold back, so I don’t. I rub my thumb over my head, and that is all it takes.

I shoot off not one, not two, but three times as I lean against the shower wall.