Brazen and Breathless (Untouchable Book 6) Read online

  “You didn’t know…” she groaned and bit down on my ear lobe as she rolled her hips, and I dragged back, only to slam into her again. Fuck, I could do this all night. “That if you jerked off with blue candy that it would turn your dick and your balls blue?”

  “I was thirteen,” I hissed as I curled my own fingers against her ass and dragged her out a little so her shoulders rested on the wall. She braced one arm out as I spread my feet and tucked her legs a little tighter around my waist. “I’d been masturbating for all of about five minutes when I tried it. I didn’t know it would stain my skin.”

  Frankie laughed, and the shadows in her eyes eased. Dragging myself out to the tip, I grinned and thrust in again.

  “Fuck,” she cried, then bit her lower lip. God that was sexy. Her breasts bouncing as I began to rock into her, increasing the pace until we were both shaking, distracted me almost as much as her litany of curses. I needed her to come, desperately, because my balls were about to explode. I pressed a finger right up to her ass and her eyes rolled back in her head, and she squeezed me so tight, it was hard to pull out and push back in.

  The liquid rush poured through me, and I sealed my mouth to hers as she wrapped her arms around me, and we stood there under the steaming water, panting.

  “I thought there was something wrong, which is why I asked for your help,” I admitted softly. And she’d looked, then even done some research to see if blue balls and blue cock were an actual problem. It had taken me forever to own up to the candy, but she’d been so damn serious and worried. Then when I explained, she’d stared at me like I was an alien for about three seconds.

  But she hadn’t laughed at me for like three months.

  Right around the time the damn dye finally all vanished.

  Smurf balls.

  I never ate another damn Blue Bob again, thank you very much.

  “Coop,” she whispered.

  “Hmm?”

  “You can give me your Blue Bobs anytime.”

  Laughter cracked through me, and I slid my hand to her knee and squeezed. Her shriek of laughter filled the bathroom. And we made a fucking mess with the water.

  But I did end up pinning her to the wall again and making her scream a second time.

  Only after the shower and she was pulling on clean pajamas while I finished soaking up the mess and squeezing out the towels, did she ask, “Did Jake go after Reed?”

  I sighed.

  “Pretend you don’t know?” I suggested. “Jake’s going to do what Jake does. And that asshole deserved it.”

  Frankie considered me for a long moment, then said, “I hope he punched him in the balls for me.”

  I grinned. “Oh, I promise you…he did.”

  “Yay. Now…tacos.” And then she skipped up the hall, and I chuckled. Maybe kicking asses to keep them away from her was okay as long as she knew about it.

  Good. To. Know.

  I’d have to tell Jake.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I Do It For Her (And Us)

  Ian

  Archie’s text hit my phone and Jake’s after we reached the gym. I had Jake’s phone in my pocket as he stripped down to shorts and gloves. They were both going to be barefoot in the ring. Reed smirked at our arrival. The fool already sported one bruise from his earlier encounter with Jake. The fact that he didn’t see the danger he was in just made the lesson Jake was about to deliver that much more critical.

  And sweeter.

  There were about twenty-three guys at the gym. Most of us had keys, since we used it for training on and off season. As seniors, we’d be surrendering ours at the end of the year, but there were a handful of juniors amongst the guys who’d picked up Reed and made sure he was here. Rogan Reed was not a half-bad player.

  On Halloween, he’d been right there to back us up against Mitch and his boys. The team had pretty much split down the middle, with a little more than half falling on the asshole’s side of the line and earning their permanent suspension from the team.

  “Cameras are off,” Darrin told me as he checked the doors. Reed was already on the other side of the ring, waiting. The fact that Jake strapped on gloves sent a rumble through the crowd. There were enough guys here who’d gone to school with us since junior high who probably thought the gloves were a concession.

  What they didn’t realize is Jake wanted Reed to last a while so he could do maximum damage.

  I nodded. “What about Zeke?”

  Zeke was the old guy who took care of the gym, made sure it was stocked and cleaned up. Coach liked that we used this place rather than one of the higher end gyms in town, because it kept us focused as a team. The boxing ring was also there for settling disputes, usually with Coach acting as referee to keep us clean.

  “Offered to buy him dinner,” Darrin told me. “Sent him to Joffrey’s, so probably gives us a good couple of hours still.”

  Perfect.

  “Thanks, man,” I said, then tucked my phone away. There would be no phones out, no secret recordings, and no photos. The rules were basic and simple.

  Jake had an issue. Reed had been called out.

  Now they were in the ring, and that was where they would settle it.

  “No prob,” Darrin said with a wry grin. “Dude shouldn’t have fucking talked to her like that.”

  At least some of them got it. I patted him on the shoulder and headed over to the ring. Chris finished securing Jake’s gloves and glanced over at Reed. “He just wrapped his hands. You sure you don’t want him in gloves, too?”

  Jake grinned, a malicious kind of glee in his eyes. “Nope. Let him be comfortable. It’s not going to last that long for him, anyway.”

  And it definitely wouldn’t give him any kind of advantage.

  Chris leapt down as Reed made his way to the center and Jake stalked out of his corner. Unlike Jake, Reed hadn’t bothered to change. He was still in jeans. He had shed his shirt and his shoes. But the jeans would slow him down.

  “You’re serious about this?” Reed asked, as though he still couldn’t quite believe it. Or maybe he just wasn’t taking it seriously.

  Dumbass.

  Blandly, Jake met his stare. “You should have listened to her. You don’t talk to Frankie that way. We’ve made it clear for years, no one talks to her that way.”

  “Fuck, man, I’ve got no beef with her. She’s hot.”

  Wow. The stupid on him just didn’t seem to brush off.

  “Listen up,” Jake said. “What are the rules where Frankie Curtis is concerned?”

  “Hands off,” one of the guys called.

  “Eyes off,” another said.

  “Keep your fucking mouth shut,” Darrin drawled from a few feet away. “She’s protected. No one touches, looks, or bothers.”

  “What rule did you break, Reed?”

  “Fuck, man, I thought that was because she was frigid or something. She’s hot and she’s funny and she likes variety. Everyone is talking about…”

  Darrin groaned and shot me a look like, is this guy for real? I shook my head. If Jake didn’t just break his face open in the next thirty seconds, I’d be shocked.

  “Seriously,” Reed said, spreading his hands wide. “I get it. She’s your girl, and you get to decide who taps that and—”

  Yep, I almost wished I could video that just so Archie and Coop could see how fast Jake’s uppercut landed. Reed was on his ass, and blood poured from the cut to his mouth.

  “Good talk,” Jake said. “Now you’re listening. You don’t talk to Frankie. You don’t look at her. You don’t approach her like you think you have the fucking right to ask her shit that isn’t a thousand percent respectful. Hell, you take the long way to avoid her from now on. You’re not a bad guy, Reed, but you are stupid. Now get up. You broke the rules, now you pay the price.”

  Pushing to his feet, Reed glared at Jake. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”

  Jake cracked a smile at that. “Should have figured that part out a lot sooner.�
�

  “Man,” Darrin murmured from where he’d fallen in next to me. “Stupid never hurt me so much. Dude is not a bad guy…”

  Yeah, I didn’t disagree. Fuck, Jake didn’t disagree. Normally, Reed was all right. But he crossed a line he should have known better than to cross.

  The others had circled the ring. No referee, but that was what I was here for. I’d keep Jake from killing him. I wasn’t too worried about Reed. If he made it to five minutes, I’d be impressed. Even with Jake’s gloves on.

  Reed made it four and a half minutes before Jake dropped him. Again.

  Only instead of staying down, Reed lunged to his feet and charged at Jake. The savage grin on Jake’s face only grew as he dodged the next two wild hits and landed a one-two series of jabs to Reed’s kidneys. The gloves would spread out the force of the hit, the gloves cushioning against the force of bone hitting bone.

  But what Reed didn’t get was how much he’d be hurting the next day, and the day after that.

  Light as hell on his feet, Jake danced around him, and I sighed. When he cut into him again and his gaze met mine, I made a slicing motion with my hand. Time to end this. He lifted his chin and then stepped into Reed’s hit, and I winced. Reed got cocky, exactly what Jake wanted.

  “Fuck,” Darrin said with a laugh. “Nice knowing you, Reed.”

  Three swift punches later, Reed hit the mat and he didn’t get back up. Rolling his head from side to side, Jake swung a look around the room.

  “Anyone else need a reminder?”

  “No, man,” Chris said, holding up his hands. “We’re good. Reed just got brave, but we got it. Doesn’t matter what the rumors say, she’s still off limits and we’ll make sure everyone knows.”

  Which was the final point of this exercise.

  Reed still hadn’t gotten up, and I ducked into the ring as Jake stalked away. Flushed and sweaty, he was too wound up to be the one to deal with whatever Reed popped off with next. The guy had a mouth on him and apparently zero common sense filter.

  Crouching, I checked his pulse. Not dead. That was good. The guy let out a groan and squinted one eye open. “How fucking hard did he hit me?”

  “Hopefully, hard enough you learned your lesson,” I said as I stood and offered him a hand. He clasped it, and then I hauled him upright. Reed swayed a little on his feet. His jaw was swollen, and there were red marks on his cheeks, jaw, and around his eye that were already puffing. Blood trickled from his mouth.

  There were worse marks on his torso. If he iced that shit, he’d probably be fine, but it would still hurt.

  Good.

  With a wince, Reed glanced down at his hands and then over to where Jake was pulling off his gloves. “Look…can you tell him I get it?”

  “Do you though?” Because if Jake had to deliver this message again, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as a pleasant.

  “Yeah, I get it. In fact, probably better not to mention anything about her or whatever the deal is you guys have.”

  “How about you don’t try to scare any girl, much less her again?”

  “How the hell was I scaring her?” He frowned. “Chicks like to feel important, and I had been wanting to ask her out.”

  Closing the gap between us, I gripped his shoulder. The guys had already begun dispersing and heading out the doors. “You’re a hard guy to get alone,” I mentioned in a quiet voice, and Reed’s eyes widened. It took a second, but I caught the moment reality sunk in. It was just me and Jake left. “Think about how you feel right now…” I let him go. “Then remember she’s shorter than you are, and Mitch already attacked her, you idiot.”

  The other guy had the grace to wince.

  “But just in case I haven’t made the point…” I punched him in the nuts, and he dropped with a soundless wheeze. “That’s what it feels like when someone is made powerless.” Bending down, I murmured, “That’s also from a friend. I could give you a couple of more, but I’ll save them for if there’s a next time. Clear?”

  Still cupping his nuts, Reed bobbed his head. “Done…man. Fuck, I won’t even think her name again.”

  “Excellent. Glad we had this chat.” I dragged him back up to his feet and helped him to his corner. “Take a deep breath, then get dressed. We gotta lock up.”

  Turning away from him, I found Jake dragging his shirt over his head and smirking as he shook his head.

  “What?” I asked when I reached him. “You think you get to be the one to have all the fun?”

  He chuckled.

  It took Reed another ten minutes, but then he could walk out the door under his own power. Granted, he walked awkwardly and you could see the pain, but he was moving. Instead of leaving right away, Jake leaned against the SUV, head tilted back and eyes closed.

  I could wait him out…

  “Need to run?”

  He shook his head. “No, it helped. But he didn’t offer much of a fight back, you know?”

  “You pretty much played with him instead of just putting him down.”

  “He needed to learn a lesson,” Jake answered with a shrug. “Lesson delivered.”

  I nodded. “And you’re still wound tight.”

  “Because a part of me wishes I could drag Frankie’s mother into a ring like that and school her on how she treats our girl.”

  I grinned, it wasn’t funny and yet… “If only it were that easy.”

  “Yeah.” Finally, Jake turned and looked at me. “What’s eating you?”

  “Nothing,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’m actually…probably in the best place I’ve been in a while. I just wish I could make it easier for everyone else.”

  “You kept your head today. I seethed. Archie plotted. Coop’s…nursing a hangover and trying to sort out how do you react to finding out your dad is a bigger bag of dicks than you already thought.” He shook his head. “Frankie was…”

  “Amazing,” I summed it up. “She was definitely hurting, but you saw her in between, right? When they went to his office. There was fire in her eyes.”

  “Yeah, and I saw her after when she looked so damn tired.”

  “She’s going to be fine,” I promised him, and pulled my phone out to check the messages. There were three. Two from Archie and one from Coop. “And she knows where we are.”

  “Fuck,” Jake swore and tilted his head back.

  “Nah, it’s good.” I held out his phone so he could read the message himself.

  Archie’s messages were short and to the point. They were home, she and Coop were currently battling it out in Mario Kart. He was still in a mood, but he had a plan in place. That probably helped.

  “Hey, Jake…before we go back, we should talk about something.”

  He glanced up from the phone. “This isn’t another problem, right?”

  “Nope,” I told him easily. “But Coop had a point, and I want you aware before you walk in, since no one knows how to knock on a closed door.”

  With a snort, he shook his head. “It’s not about knocking, it’s Coop wanting to watch. You know he likes watching, right?”

  No. I mean, I guess I had known that but… “Huh.”

  Jake chuckled. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind watching when it’s her, but I’d much rather play. Coop likes both. Closed doors are a temptation to see, and yeah, unless you don’t want him wandering in and out, lock the door.”

  “Noted,” I said slowly, then let out a little snort of disbelief. Coop had been damn curious about all of it and a good sport, too. But maybe that was why. He wanted to watch. I still had a lot to learn, but it wouldn’t hurt to have backup…though I imagine it would suck for him if I told him all he could do was watch.

  Then again…

  “Whatever evil idea you just had,” Jake said with a laugh, “count me in. But now I’m fucking cold and our girl is at home and waiting for us, so let’s take this show on the road.”

  Once in the SUV, I told him about the ropes. The club. The training. And what I liked to d
o. Oddly, the more I talked about it, the easier it got.

  Jake took the news well.

  Better than well.

  He just grinned. “I’ve been reading her books,” he admitted. “And I’m down for whatever she needs.”

  “It’s not just about her,” I admitted slowly, then grimaced.

  “Nah, I get it. Don’t open a vein.” He waved me off. “But count me in for the classes. I want to know. We better tell Arch, too.”

  I laughed. “If we all knew something he didn’t, he’d kill us.”

  “Nah.” Jake laughed. “He’d pay someone to kill us.”

  “Justifiable.”

  “Yep.”

  After a beat though, Jake cut a look at me, and I’d seen the same look on Coop’s face when he brought it all up in the first place. “Ask.”

  “Just…how did you know? Don’t get me wrong, the books intrigue me and there’s…a lot of temptation there. But how did you know it was your thing?”

  “Same way I knew she was.”

  And the best part of all.

  Jake got that.

  Jake

  With Archie taking Frankie to her internship and picking her up, the meeting with her mother done, and Reed and any other idiots entertaining similarly stupid ideas where Frankie was concerned put in their place, Friday should have been a cake walk.

  And was, for the most part, until I got home to find Mom waiting for me. The girls were conspicuously absent, and Mom had texted me three times to make sure I was coming. As soon as I was inside, she frowned.

  “You’ve been fighting again.”

  “A fight,” I admitted. “Singular. No big deal. We just had some things to settle.”

  At her aggrieved sigh, I held up my hands.

  “Seriously, Mom. It’s all good.”

  “Jacob Elijah Benton, do not tell me it’s all good and just dismiss my concerns. How many times have you nearly been arrested? You have gotten off light, but sooner or later, they are not going to be so forgiving.”