Charity's Passion (37 page)

I took my turn on the Justin-coaster, screamed and cried for several beautiful hours, and then got pissed as hell when it wasn't anything more the morning after. It wasn't long, though, before I realized Justin hadn't bullshitted me, I had done that all to myself, and we became friends.

That's when both of us meet Charity Powers.

She came in worn down and defeated, and somehow still the prettiest thing in the Grill that night. Justin already had his eyes on her, but he looked different, scared I think, and he was trying to leave her alone. That wasn't happening, not that night. Some piece-of-shit attacked her, choking and dragging her down the back hall from the bathroom.

That's how Justin and Charity fell in love. He saved her life; she came back looking for him and became the best friend I've ever had. I'd like to say I helped them get together, but the truth is they had an unstoppable destiny with or without me. They were in love the moment they meet.

Just like me with Garrett. I feel it, I know it, even though we haven't allowed ourselves to fall into it. But love is taking over now.

Charity was new to the city and looking for work so Justin made a call and got her a job, but it turned out to be at
his own
company, the billion dollar company that he started and runs himself. We had no clue, I certainly didn't, and as much as I love Justin's friendship I began to wonder if there is much more to him and his company.

At that same time I had just started dating a guy named Sam Parker and I was just thrilled about it. He was handsome, smart, and wealthy. Sam was something I thought might last, and while I was giving him my everything, every inch of my heart, he was hiding from me. He was there, taking me on amazing dates, making me feel special, but he was still hiding himself, the parts I really wish I had known about. After a wonderful New Year's Eve together, he damn near killed me with his bare hands in the morning. I never understood why, but I did eventually learn that it doesn't matter why, not with men like him. Asking why is searching for a reason, and there's never a reason for anyone to do that to another person. I didn't do anything wrong, that sick fuck got it wrong.

From an event like that, you can damn well expect there will be marks left; some physical, like my broken bones and the ear I'm nearly deaf in now, but some of the worst damage was deeper than that. Sam hurt my confidence, broke my trust, and killed my spirit.

It's not easy for me now. Thank God for Garrett's patience, and for friends like Charity and Justin, who were there taking care of me.

I never saw a bill from the hospital and I know that was their doing. I lost my job and my apartment while I was recovering, and Charity and Justin gave me a new place to live and job with his company.

I adore them, and would never do anything against them, but I'm certain there is so much more that I'm not being told. Charity has denied any involvement, but Sam Parker has never been seen again since he laid his hands on me. Things like that don't just happen; maybe for a few days, or weeks, but I'm talking
months
.

He's dead, I'm sure if it.

They love me enough to have been a part of it, and I love them enough to be grateful about it.

But Sam isn't the only person to have crossed them that has never been seen again.

So that's how I ended up with my non-waitressing job, and it's even how I ended up in love again even after silently promising myself that I would never let another man into my heart.

Ever.

But I wasn't the only damaged soul in our small, mismatched group. There were still Justin's ghosts to be dealt with, that wounded soul aura he's been carrying around with him for far too long.

Charity was secretly helping Justin through some serious issues from his childhood which were the root the cause for all of his womanizing and loneliness, the wall of defense around his heart. Getting him through that was the only way they could ever be together.

His mother left when Justin was small, just disappeared, and his father was distraught beyond words at losing her. He killed himself and left his child to find him dead. It's no wonder he never trusted a single woman before his soul mate came for him.

Charity found Justin's mother. I never knew what exactly had happened in the past, Charity only said that it was bad, but she brought Justin and his mother back together after years of sadness and hate. She brought him closure and healing. She brought him his mother.

And Charity brought him a brother. No one was more shocked than Justin to find out, after all those years, that he has a younger half-brother, Garrett Sumpter—my Garrett.

The world is a crazy merry-go-round, but every path leads you someplace; everything that happens in your life can bring you someplace good, or bad, and each of us has to decide which it will be. Without Justin, there is no Charity; without Charity, I don't survive Sam; without Sam, I don't change my life; without my new life, I don't meet Garrett.

He came back to New York with Justin so that he could get to know his brother. At the time, I was still pretty fucked up about Sam, so on Garrett's first visit to the office, I never came out to meet him. I was feeling overwhelmed at the job and at life in general and hiding myself away felt like what I need to do for myself. Charity asked me to join her and the brothers at the Grill for drinks after work, but I declined under a million reasons.

It wasn't long after they left that I understood that I was making crap excuses and letting life pass me by. That was never me before; I let Sam do that to me. I was on top of my job, whether I felt like it or not, and there was no good reason to be at the office, no real reason not to go to the Grill. I decided to be strong and go, if not for anything else, then at least to hold up a metaphorical middle finger at Sam.

Fuck you Sam—I hope they hurt you.

Through the crowd I saw Justin and Charity, and I made my way to their table easily, years of waitress practice dealing with crowds. My eyes were fixed on Charity, expecting nothing at all, until they introduced me to Justin's brother.

Good freaking God!

No shit, my heart stopped and my lungs ceased. I tried to hide what was happening, but for a few moments there wasn't another soul in the world to hide it from; there was me and this gorgeous man and destiny riding in on a clap of thunder.

Before I could speak, I knew he would never hurt me, that he would love me and keep me safe, because he was my path.

I fell in love, and I don't recall anything we said to each other. The words dripped from his lips, but all I could hear was the voice in my head telling me how absolutely perfect looking he is.

Since then, we've been moving very slow. We feel the weight of our attraction pulling us toward each other, but we have been able to resist.

Until now.

We are a huge force rolling down the mountain of our past, gaining speed as the obstacles clear. That's a very poetic way to say that I want him with every inch of me, some inches more than others. I need to taste his mouth and feel his strong hands on my skin. And, damn it, pretty soon I have to feel him on top of me and in me or I'm going to explode. It's a stronger urge than I've ever felt; it's well past sexual lust. Having him is a primal need, as if my life depends on it, and maybe to some degree it does. We're denying destiny at this point.

Today our conversation developed into a deep and honest opening of our hearts to each other. I know that by now either Charity or Justin has told him about Sam, but I needed him to hear it from me and understand what it was like from my point of view.

Garrett listened, really listened to every word. I was not trying to get him angry, but it happened anyway as I described the little bit I could remember before and after the hospital. His fury at my pain warmed me in ways I can't explain. This is the man that will always be there for me; this is the man that will protect me at all costs.

I love him with a fierce certainty.

After I had laid my heart out on the table before him, Garrett took his out and placed it beside mine. For the first time, I know everything that happened to him and his brother, how they grew up without each other and the horrible truth Garrett has to live with every day of his life.

I still can't believe it. Somehow I love him even more, but by the way he told me about it, I could tell that he was terrified for me to know the truth and how I might react. I made sure he knew it didn't affect my feelings for him in any negative way.

But, Christ, I don't know how he found the strength to deal with this.

Nicolette, their mother, was raped when Justin was really young. That was the beginning of the end. To deal with it, she self-medicated herself into an addiction and eventually left before she ruined the lives of her son and her husband with her drug problem. One time she did try to come home but it didn't last and Justin never understood why because his father killed himself before finding out and that was the end of it.

Nicolette had never known about her husband's suicide and that her child was essentially orphaned and alone. She would have come back for her child if she had known; I know her, I have no doubt.

It was Charity that discovered the horrible misfortune of events and unknown facts that ripped this family into shreds.

Garrett was the key to all of it; he was the reason Nicolette left that second time—she couldn't leave him. She tried, but she couldn't do it, and bringing him back with her was never an option.

The boys share the same mother, but their fathers are two very different men, in every fucking way possible. Justin's father was the man she married, her one true love that couldn't live without her.

Garrett's father was the man that had raped her.

My heart is shattered for him. It's a fact he can never escape.

Having him tell me this, something Charity and Justin had never mentioned at all, tells me everything I need to know about how Garrett feels about me.

We moved closer together today, right up to the edge.

Tonight things are going to be very different for us. The merry-go-round keeps on spinning. In a few hours I'll be with everyone at the Grill; Garrett, his mother, and if course Charity and Justin. They're the guests of honor.

For me, this all started with Justin, and tonight he's going to ask Charity to marry him.

She's going to say yes, after she gets over her shock, and I'm going to cry happy tears for them. They're beautiful together, and pretty soon they will say the same thing about Garrett and me.

I'll need to get ready soon; I want to look good enough to knock Garrett's pants off when he sees me. Tonight I'm going to taste his mouth and feel his hands on me, I'm
so
ready for that.

First I have to kill some curiosity.

If they could all hide this thing about Garrett from me so easily then I need to open up my eyes.

There's more going on.

I know they had something to do with Sam's disappearance. And I know there's much more to Panther, and even to what Garrett does that he's on the company's payroll despite him having nothing to do with our operations.

Like I said, Sam was not the only one to vanish and never be heard from again after crossing Justin.

Steve Knowles.

No one has heard a thing from him in damn near a year, not since he came into the Grill and tried to take Charity, his ex-girlfriend and the woman he planned to marry whether she wanted to or not.

He was a scary fuck, I was there when he came, and I have no doubt that he's the same piece-of-shit that tried to take her the first night Justin and I met her.

Steve got what he deserved, just like Sam, I'm sure. But it really makes me wonder—

What the hell else is Panther involved in, and how deep inside is the man I've fallen for?