Needing You (26 page)

“Penny for your thoughts?” I say to him. He smiles up at me and pulls me down onto his lap. I love when he wraps me up and holds me.  I melt against his body and snuggle into him.

“There’s a lot I want to talk to you about, but how about for tonight we just relax and fall asleep together. We can discuss it all tomorrow, okay?” he says looking hopeful at me.

“Sounds good to me!” I yawn as Tuck picks me up and walks me back to the bedroom and we fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next morning’s here and it’s early, but I can’t sleep anymore. It shows it’s almost 8 a.m., and Tuck is still fast asleep beside me.  I decide not to wake him and head into the living room with my e-reader.  I’m not hungry yet, plus I will wait for Tuck anyway so we can at least eat together.

Instead, I sit on the couch and start reading a novel I’ve been dying to read.  It’s one of those romance love triangle stories, usually I hate love triangles, but this one’s good.  Both the men are beyond amazing, so it’s tough to pick sides. Ultimately I do choose a side only to realize there’s going to be another book which isn’t out yet…I hate that. By the time I am done reading, I see Tuck standing in the halfway leaning against the wall just watching me.

“Hey, how long have you been standing there?” I ask smiling as his sexy face.

“Not long but, it’s nice watching you so intrigued with whatever you’re reading,” he says with a smile.

“Are you hungry? I can make us something to eat,” I ask as I stand up and head into the kitchen.

“We can go out for breakfast if you want or if you rather we can stay in, your choice,” he says stumbling over his words. 

“We can stay in; I’ll make some eggs with toast.  I’d make bacon but I forgot to pick some up,” I say looking apologetically.

“That sounds good to me! Need any help?” Tuck asks as he walks over to me.

“No I think I got it, thanks though.”

“Alright then I’m going to hop into the shower.” He gives me a kiss on my forehead and then makes his way back the hall to the bathroom. 

After breakfast Tuck tells me he wants to talk to me about some things that happened yesterday, when he wasn’t around. I’m thankful I won’t have to drag that information out of him, but he looks nervous, so this in turn makes me nervous.

“Harp, I’m not even sure where to begin…I want to kill your father for what he’s put you and your sister through.  You should never have to endure anything like that and for that I am truly sorry that happened to you. I should have killed him when he was here,” he says and I can see the hurt and anger in his eyes, his hands are in fists looking ready to punch something.

“I don’t want you to kill anyone, then you would get into trouble and I don’t want anything to happen to you because of me,” I say sadly looking at him.

Tuck takes my hands and looks at me with those deep brown eyes, where I swear he has access to see right into my freaking soul. “I care a lot about you and I want to protect you.  Your family should have protected you, instead they…they did the unimaginable.  I won’t let anything like that ever happen to you, I promise you that.”

“Tuck, it wasn’t your fault, heck we didn’t even know each other. I know you wouldn’t let anything happen to me, I do trust you, you know,” I say with a smile trying to lighten the situation a little bit. 

“I went looking for your dad yesterday morning,” he says then releasing a breath I didn’t realize he was holding. “I couldn’t let him get away with what he did to you so I went to make him feel the pain that he’s caused.”

“Tuck…..what did you do?” I ask him nervously looking him in the eyes.

The look on Tuck’s face doesn’t tell me much but finally I hear words…”I didn’t get to do anything.  They’d already left on a flight back. I’m not going to lie, I was tempted to fly out and still beat the shit out of him but I couldn’t leave you like that. I couldn’t get a hold of you because you don’t have a damn phone so I had no option but to stay here,” he says looking remorseful with his face looking towards the floor.

“I’m glad you didn’t go after him, honestly, he’s not worth it. I just want to forget it all and move forward with my life.  That is why I moved halfway across the freaking country, I want to start over Tuck,” I say with a small smile trying to get his attention to look at me.

“I understand that, I do but there’s something else I need to tell you,” he says a little more nervously now still not looking at me.

“What is it?  Tell me.” I say now pulling his chin toward me so he has no choice but to look me in the face and explain what he’s talking about.

“I told Park what was going on. Before when shit went bad for me, he’s the guy I went to and he didn’t let me down. I knew he wouldn’t because it involved you and I needed his help.” Tuck says nervously. 

“What did you do?” I ask him scared for his answer.

“Listen, Park knows people, lots of people, especially now that his band’s getting known across the country. He put in a few calls and well, when your dad got off the plane he was arrested immediately and taken into custody,” Tuck informs me. What the hell do I do with that information? My dad arrested for what he did to me and my sister. While I’m thankful I’m nervous too, what does this mean for me now?

“I don’t even know what to say. What happens now?” I ask cautiously

“You need to testify against your father. Plus you still have your sister’s journal so the prosecution will need to see that as well.  The statute of limitations hasn’t run out for your sister so based on what Park’s lawyer is telling us, your dad could go away for a long time,” he says looking hopeful at me while holding my hands. “Also, Harp….your mom was arrested too for child endangerment. She knew what happened and did nothing. The lawyer said it may be harder to prove she knew without any physical evidence, but at least your father can pay for what he’s done.”  I can tell he’s happy, but he also looks nervous.

“So I need to go to court back in Virginia and face my parents and try to throw them in prison? Tuck, I….I’m not sure I can do this,” I say and I feel a few tears start to slowly slip out of my eyes.

“Babe, look at me, you’re not going to do this alone. I’ll be there with you, holding your hand and helping you every step of the way.  Park said he’d be there too.  You’re not alone, not anymore.” Tuck says looking into my teary eyes, he takes his thumbs and slowly wipes away the few tears that escaped.

“Thank you, but can I, can I just think about it please? I want them to go away, I never thought about sending my father to prison.  That’s a lot to take in right now.” I try to tell him.

“I get it, and yes please think about it.  You need to realize that your father could do this to some other girl now that you’re gone.  Who knows if he has done it to others, maybe people will speak out if he has?  You’re so strong, I know you can do this,” he tells me with a hopeful look in his eyes. Too bad for me I don’t feel strong.

Sending my father to prison, I honestly never thought of it.  Based on what Allie tried to do by telling people and never amounting to anything have me scared shitless. I can’t sit in court and try to make him pay for him to get off and be back on the streets. He would surely come after me to make me pay. Then what? I can’t let Tuck get sucked into this mess, this mess that’s my life. He deserves better than this.

As much as I want justice for me, I want it for Allie more. She deserves to be on this Earth every day and because of this monster, she’s not here living her life and planning her future. No instead, she’s buried six feet below.

“I’ll think about it, I promise,” I say with a shaky voice.

“Good, that’s all I ask baby girl.” Tuck pulls me into his lap and envelopes me into his chest holding me tightly. After a while something still bothers me and I know now is probably not the best time to approach it but I decide to anyway.

Looking up at Tuck, “hey can I ask you something?”

“Sure babe what is it?” he asks sweetly.

“Can you tell me what happened between you and Parker?” I feel him stiffen beneath me. I’m sure that’s not what he thought I would ask, but I need to know.  They’re no longer friends but when he needed help he went to Parker and Parker helped, that has to mean something right?

“Please don’t look at me differently. I messed up with Park and I know that but I don’t want you to look at me differently. This guy that you see, this is who I am.  I’m not proud of what happened between Park and I but I take full responsibility of my actions no matter how dumb they were,” he starts to tell me looking away from me with sadness written all over his face.

“Tuck,” I say as I make him look me in the eyes, “nothing you can say will change how I feel about you. Heck if I went by what half the people in this school said about you then we wouldn’t be anything. You have to trust me Tuck,” I say giving him one of my best smiles.

“I do trust you,” he says before kissing me chastely on the lips.

“It was a little after all the shit that went down with my family.  I was staying with Park. I wouldn’t go home because I couldn’t look my father in the face and because of the accusations that my mother said to me. So I stayed with Park and got drunk daily. It helped numb the pain.  I hung out with Park and his girlfriend Jenna.  She was cool at times. She never gave me any grief about staying with Park or being drunk.  She knew some of the reasons why but not all the facts, Park didn’t tell her because in reality it wasn’t his story or business to tell.”

“There were a few times when Park wouldn’t be in the room where Jenna would make a pass at me. At first I thought she was kidding so I shrugged it off, not thinking much of it, but as time went on she kept pushing the issue.  She started wearing more revealing clothes when she would come over to hang out and she started to get touchy.  I told her to knock it off, that she was with Park and that what she was doing was disrespectful.” Tuck takes a deep breath, obviously not happy with the situation that had happened.  I say nothing and look at him for him to continue.

“After a few months things started to get a little weird. She started staying after Park would leave to go to work. I’d tell her to leave but she’d say no, wanting to keep me company.  I ignored her most of the time. Just drank and did…well nothing really.  Unfortunately there was a bad night where I just had a huge blow-up with my mom and dad and things got out of control. I wanted to break something anything. I wanted someone to hurt the way I was hurting.”

“When I went back to Park’s place he was leaving for work and Jenna was there. I didn’t think to do anything with her, but she decided to stay to keep me company again.  This time she pursued me and I didn’t say no. Unfortunately for me Park forgot something for work and when he got back he walked in, right in the fucking middle of me fucking his girlfriend.  He beat the shit out of me; I knew I deserved it so I didn’t even try to fight back,” he says with sadness and watery eyes.

“Oh God, that’s horrible.  I’m sorry your friendship with Park suffered because of a horrible decision.” I try to lighten the mood a bit, “You know you did save him the hassle of staying with her when she wasn’t good enough for him,” I say with a small smile.

“Unfortunately, I knew Park was thinking of proposing to her.  He was that serious with Jenna that he wanted to marry her. That’s why it pretty much ended our relationship.  His family hates me, he hates me, and well I can’t blame anyone but myself,” he says as he looks down towards the floor again.

“Why would his family hate you? If she was so willing to cheat who’s to say she didn’t cheat on him with someone else?”

“Park’s family loved Jenna; she’s like a daughter to them. Her and Park grew up together and were inseparable, then you throw me in the mix and poof, it’s all gone. His friendship with his best friend who also happened to be his longtime girlfriend, whom he planned to spend his life with kinda fucks things up for him and his family don’t ya think?” Tuck says sadly.

“I’m sorry but that was a few years ago, maybe you guys can move past it,” I say sounding hopeful.

“As much as I would love to get my best friend back, it’s not gonna happen. I’ve accepted it and you need to do the same.”

“But Tuck maybe….”

“Babe, please just drop it.  Why do you think he tried to warn you to stay away from me?  I got screwed over by a girl and told myself I’d never let it happen again, so instead I use girl after girl for my own benefit. I get what I want and send them on their way. Park knows you are different which is why he wants you to stay as far away from me as possible. Can’t say I blame him, but Harp, you have to know I would never intentionally hurt you.  You are different, so different from any other girls. With you I see more, I see a future together for us,” he says piercing me with those dark sexy brown eyes

“I see a lot for us to.” I need him to know I’m serious even though he told me he screwed his best friends’ girlfriend that I’m not going anywhere.  That was the old Tuck; this is the new Tuck, the one I know and love.  So I do what any good girl would do, I kiss the hell out of him.

We spend the rest of the afternoon making out and watching mindless television until we pass out.

Chapter 26

The next few weeks fly by and thank goodness summer break is almost here. I’m still going to take a few summer courses, but I will still have time to enjoy summer break.

Tuck and I haven’t spoken much about the case against my parents, well really my father. He only brings it up when Park calls or when the lawyer calls. I know I need to make a decision and soon, but I still don’t know what to do.  A huge part of me is afraid that I go through with testifying only for my father to get off free somehow. The other part of me wants to do this because it would not only be for me, but for Allie too. Since she’s not here to do this for herself, I need to somehow find the strength to do this for the both of us.  I just hope I can find it in time.

Tuck’s amazing.  Not like he wasn’t before but he seems extra attentive.  The sad part is he hasn’t made a move in the bedroom department. I know partly because he’s worried, but it’s different with him and he needs to know and understand that.  I’m not ready to try sex, but I’m warming up to the idea.