Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) by Kat Mizera Read Free Book Online

political aspirations. They
had a history of Shay always getting all the girls—you know how good-looking he
was, the life of the party, and really, so insanely hot. Although I didn’t hear
this from Shay myself, Liv said he told Mark that Clay asked him to let him
have me. That one time, if he would let him have the girl, he would never, ever
ask for anything again. And so Shay, who was one of the best human beings ever,
agreed. Unfortunately, we were already half in love with each other, but I remember
how during sophomore year he suddenly made it clear he was not interested. He
fucked everything that moved—but never me. Clay, of course, started hanging
around and Shay kept nudging me in his direction.
    “Back then, Clay was
still trying to win me over, so he was really sweet and seemed serious, ready
to be in a relationship. Unlike Shay, who was a wild child. Shay and I were
always best friends, but I started going out with Clay and then it was like
everything spiraled out of control. He asked me to marry him and I realized
that I didn’t love him—I loved Shay. The night of the bachelor party—remember,
we had ours on the same night—Shay said there was no way in hell he was going
to hang out with a bunch of guys and he came with us girls. In retrospect, I
think Clay wanted something to happen between us because he was all for it.”
    “ And?! ” Tessa
was glaring at her, unable to believe she’d never told them about any of this.
    “You know we all went
out drinking. We got shit-faced, and at some point in the evening, when I told
you guys I had to get some sleep, Shay took me outside the bar and kissed me. I
mean, he kissed me like there was no tomorrow.” She paused sadly. “I guess
there wasn’t for us. I think he wanted me to say it first, to admit I
loved him, because he’d made a promise to his brother. But I wanted him to love
me enough to fight for me—I thought I was just another notch in his bed post.
And that was the night that I had my first, and only, orgasms during sex—until
last night.”
    “You never had an
orgasm with Clay?” Kate blinked at her. “Ever?”
    Erin shook her head.
“He was selfish. He didn’t like oral sex—well, he didn’t like doing it to me;
he didn’t mind if I did it to him. Shay did everything with me that night. Then
he left while I was sleeping. He left a little note on my pillow.” She reached
for her purse and dug out her wallet. From the small compartment behind her
credit cards, she pulled out a little piece of scrap paper. There were only
three symbols on it: S (heart) E.
    “Why didn’t you tell
us?” Kate demanded. “We knew you loved him—at least I knew! I would’ve helped
you run away from Clay!”
    “I didn’t know what to
do—I kept thinking Shay would come storming in there and declare his love for
me or something, instead of just standing there next to his brother. So I just
got married. And the next day he deployed.” Erin felt tears slide down her
cheeks. Kate gently took the baby from her while they group-hugged on the bed.
Finally, Erin blew her nose and leaned back. The past never seemed to let go.
    “So you never got to
tell him.” Kate looked sad.
    “Actually, I did.” Erin
smiled faintly. “Just before he died—before we both died. Liv saw how bad he
was, and she whispered, ‘Tell him!’ So I did. And he said he loved me too, that
he was sorry he let me go. Then everything went black. The last thing I
remember is thinking that his heart was beating so slowly…”
    They cried together, the
three of them, thinking of Shay and Erin, who never found their way, and then
of Shay, who’d tried so hard to be a good brother, even when it meant
sacrificing the woman he loved.
    The three had been
friends since freshman year of college, living in the same dorm and eventually
taking most of the same classes. Tessa was petite and blond, a cheerleader but
more like the mother hen of the group. Kate was the life of the party,