Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

My neck was already hurting from staring at the dark, clear sky, but I refused to give Weston a little look.

He knew exactly what he was doing and ruined it with Tyler. It was a shitty move to kick him out. It was just typical Weston.

If something didn’t suit him or didn’t go how he wanted, he did everything to satisfy himself.

No matter what the others thought.

I understood what Tyler was trying to get. I had eyes in my head and my experiences with boys, and he made it clear with his sayings and looks, but I would rather sit with him than Weston.

He distracted me from what had happened yesterday in the ice arena, which was good to concentrate on something else.

I rate Weston as getting a trophy or medal for taking my thoughts. In no universe would I expose myself and admit what he was doing to me, and only while he was around me.

I didn’t know why my body reacted to him like this and was so confused.

My gaze was fixed on the full moon as I thought about it until suddenly, I heard movements next to me that sounded like someone getting into the hot tub to it.

Weston climbed the stairs into the hot tub and sat across from me, only wearing plaid boxers.

The hot water bubbled against his torso. My eyes were glued to his chest. I didn’t like how my body reacted to this, yet I stayed sitting here because this feeling in my stomach felt so forbiddingly nice.

‘What are you doing?’

‘If you don’t leave the hot tub, I won’t either.’

Could it be said that I was inside the hot tub? After all, I sat on the pool’s edge, dangling my legs in the hot water.

The hot tub was square and had seatings, but I didn’t want to sit in front of Tyler in my underwear. He didn’t understand why I wouldn’t get in all the way. Tyler didn’t believe anything I said, no matter what lies I threw around.

Eventually, he let the questions go and stopped me from entering the water.

Even though he offered that I could sit on his lap.

No, thanks.

Maybe I didn’t like him that much. Maybe I just said that because I subconsciously wanted to provoke Weston because I saw how he kept looking over Tyler and me.

The only thing that could be heard was the bubbling sounds of the hot tub. Somehow this sound, this bubbling water, had something calming.

‘Do you want my opinion on something?’

‘No, thank you. I have my own opinion and am not interested in your thoughts.’

‘I’m sure you’re strong enough to put yourself in the water,’ he said calmly and thoughtfully.

What was this all about?

I didn’t feel like bringing up this subject. I had opened up to him yesterday and made myself vulnerable, but not to crank up the topic again. The reason why I didn’t sit in the water was not because of my fear of deep water.

‘It’s not because of that,’ I replied.

‘Then what is it because of?’

‘I just didn’t want to sit here in front of Tyler in my underwear,’ I said ashamedly, giving him exactly what he wanted to hear, evident from his face.

‘I could have told you he was an asshole from the beginning.’

‘You’re not my babysitter. I don’t have to run to you to get a Weston basic check from you when I’m talking to a guy.’

‘I don’t think he would have fingered you as good as I did anyway.’

Holy shit.

Of all the topics he could bring up, he chose that. I never wanted to talk about it and tried to let it fade into oblivion.

‘Okay, that’s enough.’ I pulled my legs out of the water, and just as I was about to get up, he held me by my arm.

For sure, I’m not going to give myself this conversation. I didn’t know how much I had fallen for him in that storage room, and   I certainly wouldn’t admit that I was still thinking about his touch.

‘Stay here,’ Weston said, scowling at me.

‘Why should I? I don’t feel like sitting here talking about what happened in the storage room,’ I scolded but didn’t break free from his grip.

‘Same goes for the guy at the coffee shop.’

‘Landon?’

He nodded.

Did he say that Landon and Tyler would never finger me as well as he did? What does this guy think about in his free time?

It all clicked.

‘You’re jealous,’ I said because I’d never been more sure of anything than I was right now.

Judging by his bodily reaction, it only confirmed my statement even more. Weston let go of my hand and sat back down on the spot where he had been sitting until just now.

‘Keep telling yourself that, Hazel Bug.’ Weston put his head back and looked up at the sky.

Now I could not leave the hot tub right away.

‘I’m right,’ I protested, sitting completely in the water this time.

The hot, bubbling water tingled on my skin, and I felt my t-shirt soaking up the water. My hair was wet down to my shoulders.

Weston looked up at me. His gaze was deep and addictive as I looked into his eyes, which suddenly seemed so dark because of the light.

‘I thought you didn’t want to do this conversation to yourself,’ he repeated my words.

‘I changed my mind,’ I shrugged, and I saw Weston’s eyes slide from my face down to my breasts.

The t-shirt was already see-through, and my blue lace bra was showing through.

‘Why did you confide all this to me yesterday?’

‘I had a feeling you understood me. I don’t know.’

‘You trust me?’ he asked cautiously.

‘I kind of do,’ I admitted.

Indeed I did.

Weston made me feel comfortable for some inexplicable reason, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself yet. He propped himself up from his seat and cautiously approached me in the hot tub. My breathing quickened as he got closer, sending little sparking signals between my legs.

He was going to ruin me, and I would let him.

‘Water doesn’t always have to be your enemy, Luna.’ Weston stayed seated in front of me in the hot tub.

‘That’s easy to say when you’re not afraid of anything.’

I wanted to look strong in front of him, and the only solution was not to look at him before I lost myself in his eyes.

‘Don’t you remember what I said to you yesterday?’

His gaze was still on me when I looked back up at him.

‘You can just live with that?’

‘I have to. It’s not like I have any other choice.’

‘Doesn’t it break you inside?’ I asked cautiously, and at that moment, eye contact broke between Weston and me.

‘It does, and I hope one day it will stop. Maybe by my father, maybe by someone else.’

‘What if it doesn’t?’

Suddenly I felt like I was asking too many questions, but I was interested in how he handled it.

‘It will. You must allow yourself not to be afraid of the deep water, Luna.’

Allow it.

That was a powerful word.

I swore to myself that I would overcome my fear of deep water to prove something to myself, but I wasn’t even sure If I still wanted it. After all, it took me six months to get halfway inside a pool without panicking.

‘Set a goal you want to achieve only if you don’t give fear a chance.’

Something immediately came to mind. ‘I want to be on the college swim team.’

The swim team was one of the reasons I wanted to go to Eastburgh Sports University. The college has always been my dream. I could study here to get closer to my dream as a sportscaster and continue to pursue swimming.

‘When was the car accident?’

‘The accident was almost a year ago. In exactly two weeks.’

‘The fifteenth of November,’ he thought momentarily before giving the date.

‘Mhm, my birthday.’

He looked up at me jerkily, but he didn’t say anything. Weston had this talent for knowing exactly when to say something, and when not to, and when he did, he always found the right words. I appreciated that about him because that was one of those moments.

On this day, I wanted to meet my friends after training at a bar in our town, but instead, to celebrate my birthday, I had to talk with police officers and doctors. My gift was a broken rib, a laceration on my head, a concussion, and water in my lungs.

From then on, I hated my father as much as I hated my birthday, and I swore it would stay that way forever.

He took away what I loved most then.

Weston approached me and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. The water suddenly felt hot as I felt his hand on my thigh. I felt his hand slide from my thigh to the hem of my thong.

His fingers roamed along the hem, and I sighed at his touch.

‘Don’t start anything you can’t finish,’ I breathed softly as his fingers continued to graze my skin.

My skin caught sparks, so much did my skin tingle. Goosebumps broke out on my skin, despite being so hot from his touch. The eye contact grew stronger by the second, and I was sure we both saw the same thing in each other’s eyes.

‘Don’t mess with me, or I’ll have to punish you for what you said with that pretty mouth of yours.’

The tingling sensation on my skin was getting stronger, and I could feel my hard nipples pressing against my bra and my heartbeat all over my body. Even between my legs, I felt the tingling and throbbing.

At that moment, I realized I had fallen so hard for Weston Sinclair without any control.

I lifted my head and turned my attention to Weston. The tips of our noses were only millimeters apart.

My chest and his were heaving at the same rapid beat.

It almost felt like I was running a marathon.

‘Then punish me, Wes. Do whatever you want,’ I breathed against his lips.

The next moment, his lips finally collided with mine, and there was no thought but him in my head. Every doubt and negative thought was gone and replaced with him and the warm feeling he spread on my skin.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and felt his hands on my hips.

He pulled me closer to him. His grip around my waist was firm but comfortable, and I felt a fire ignite in my bones.

Our lips moved perfectly together, and I didn’t want to be elsewhere.

I longed for him so much and tried getting closer to him while we were kissing. I noticed how he took steps backward without breaking the kiss between us.

I felt the seat wall from the hot tub where he had sat on my legs.

He broke the kiss between us and loosened his grip on my hips a little.

My pulse was racing. Had I done something wrong? Didn’t he like the kiss?

Weston sat down on the bench in the hot tub. ‘Stop thinking so much. I want you to sit on me,’ he murmured in a raspy voice, running his wet hands through his dark brown hair.

Fuck.

He leaned back and rested his outstretched arms on the edge of the hot tub. My body moved closer to him, and I propped my knees on the bench to the left and right of his legs.

I didn’t let myself down on his lap yet.

My hands found the hem of my white, wet t-shirt, which I pulled over my head and dropped to the floor behind Weston. With that, I exposed my light blue lace bra, which had a pink bow in the center of the cups, and matching panties to him.

His deep, hungry gaze slid over my body and made me sigh.

‘Now, sit on me and feel what you’re doing to me, Luna.’

His hands slid over my thighs to my ass, where they found their place.

I did as he said and settled down.

Immediately I felt his hard dick against my pussy.

My chest heaved, and there was no prospect of my breathing ever calming down again.

Weston’s grip on my torso tightened, and his lips were on the skin between my breasts.

He began to leave a line of kisses on my skin from my breasts to my neck behind my ear.

I couldn’t help but moan with my mouth closed and let my head fall into my neck.

‘I want to feel how wet you are,’ he spoke between the kisses as he moved from my ear, over my neck, back between my breasts.

His hand slid between my legs, into my panties, and as his fingers slid through my wet fold, I twitched at his touch.

‘So wet for me.’

My bra strap slipped off my shoulder, and I felt Weston straighten it.

‘I want to enjoy this underwear on you for a moment longer.’

Briefly, I looked up at the still clear starry sky and dug my nails into his back at the feeling of his lips on my skin.

I was sure if Weston kept this up, I’d see stars even with my eyes closed.