PRESTON (3 page)

“Ex-boyfriend.” He was quiet for a long time before adding, “How could I not? After what he did to her. He was 28, you know that? He was 28 years old, and she was fucking 15. He took advantage of a little girl.” He sounded disgusted as he picked up the bottle and took a long swig.

I tried to find something to say, but I couldn’t think of anything that might even sorta work.

He spoke softly. “I failed … I failed her.” His voice shook.

“No.” My fingers tangled into his, and he pulled me close to him.

“I failed,” he said again, his voice weak as he looked up at me. Tears welled up in the corner of his eyes.

“No, you couldn’t have known.”

“But I didn’t fight for her. I didn’t kill him until after he took her life.” He took a deep breath as a single tear ran down his cheek. My heart pounded in my chest, what the fuck was I supposed to do? I’d caused this, and there was nothing I could do but sit here and hold him. So I held him tighter as he let out a small sob.

“Fuck.” He pulled away from me and wiped his face. “This has got to be sexy, eh? A grown fucking man crying like a child.”

I put a finger to his lips. “This isn’t about sexy.” I kissed the top of his head. “This is about her. It’s okay to cry, you loved her, and you lost her at such a young age.” I kept him close to me as I held him.

For a long time we just stayed like that. Me half naked and holding him, him sitting on a chair as he cried into my stomach. I didn’t mind.

“I knew she was going through this … I knew he was stalking her,” He pulled me closer, and I held him tighter. “But I didn’t do anything about it. We kept her as safe as we could but we should have made her go to the cops about it, we should have put him in his place … If I’d just fought for her before they started dating, I could have stopped it all.” He pulled away and looked up at me. “I didn’t even tell her how I felt. I didn’t ask her out; sure I may call her my girlfriend but … the truth is, I don’t even deserve to call her that.” Another sob escaped him.
 

***
 

My eyes snapped open the next morning.

I hadn’t slept this well in years. I rolled over, stretched and turned to see the woman in my bed. She was naked, but I wasn’t. I scowled.
What happened last night?

Her eyes flickered open, and she gave me a smile as she pushed herself up. “Hey. How are you feeling?”

“Really well rested,” I said, yawning.

“It’s amazing what crying can do for you, eh?”

I felt my cheeks burn. “Crying?” Oh God, I’d cried? In front of her?

“You don’t remember it?”

“No,” I shook my head.

She smirked. “Do you remember starting the game?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you got my bra off, I asked why you went to jail and … that kinda started the crying.” She didn’t look like she was judging me, she just gave me a soft smile. “I’m hungry; do you have anything good to eat here?” She jumped to her feet and headed for the kitchen.

“Wait!” I called after her. What had I said to her? Did I tell her about our plans?

***

I put some toast in the toaster as I cracked my neck.

He came out of the bedroom behind me. “Wait, wait, wait. What did I say last night?”

“Nothing too crazy,” I said turning to him. “That you loved her, you should have fought for her, you should have tried to kill him before he killed her; all that stuff.”

I didn’t see the point in lying to him. But I still had my own questions that I wanted answered. I wasn’t sure if he would do it when he was sober or not though.

“Was that your first time crying since it happened?”

He was quiet at first, reflecting. “Yea … I um … I cried at her funeral, but that was the last time I did though.”

“That’s a long time to go without crying.”

“Well, I might do it more if it helps me sleep that well.” He gave me a soft smirk.

“Look, I’m sorry but I’ve got to ask … did he kill her himself?”

Did she kill herself because of him? Did he cause her death in some way? Did he actually kill her himself? If he did then how did he get away with it?

Priest looked away from me. “I guess after seeing me sobbing like that last night you at least deserve to have that answered.” I took a deep breath. I reached out and grabbed his hand, determined to show him that he wasn’t alone. To my surprise, he actually smiled a little. “When they broke up, he took it really bad. He … he started stalking her. It got to the point where we, my friends and I, had to go with her everywhere. Thankfully, she was living with one of our friends at the time, so that made it a little easier. One night she managed to get away from us.” He smiled softly. “She didn’t mind us always being with her, but she said she needed a little alone time every now and then. We couldn’t find her, but we think he did … later that night we found her down by the river. Her car had smashed into a tree. No one was really sure if it was an accident or if it was deliberate.” He squeezed my hand softly.

“I’m so sorry. I know it’s a lame thing to say, but I’m not sure what else I can say.”

“It’s how I got my scar.” He tried to brush it off, but his eyes gave him away.

I pulled him towards me holding him tight, and we stayed liked that for a few minutes, neither of us speaking.

“So … did we have sex last night?” He finally asked.

I laughed, pulling away from him. “No, I’m pretty sure you thought I wasn’t interested after seeing you cry.”

“And are you?”

“Of course. A man crying doesn’t scare me.” I grinned. “In fact, it’s a nice refresher then the assholes I’m used to. They all pretend they don’t have emotions. But they do, and I know it.” I smiled, kissing his chest and pulling away. “And about that sex thing … I’m hungry, and I’ve got to head for an interview for a job, but I it should be done by 3:00. I could stop by after that … if you want.”

Priest grinned. “I would absolutely love that.”

“And you’re going to be here this time?”

“I wouldn’t miss you for the world.” A look passed over his face that I wasn’t quite able to read.
 

***
 

I stared at the woman in my kitchen. She grinned widely as she devoured the toast in front of her.

I’d never had a woman stay more than the night in the past year but her … she just seemed to keep coming back, and I hadn’t even had sex with her.

Last night … she’d dealt with a side of me that no one had seen, not even Dom, Luke or Jacob, but somehow she was still interested. Somehow she still wanted to see me again. And I wasn’t going to fuck it up. I was going to make it an amazing night.

Chapter Four

I made it to his place just before 4:00. He was already there waiting for me. “Hey, don’t you work or something?”

“I took a sick day. It’s my first one in the year that I’ve been working for them, so they didn’t mind.” He shrugged. His short blond hair was wet and slicked back. And for the first time, I took a good long second to take him in. His clean jeans and a simple white shirt. Simple, I liked that.

Before I could say anything else, he pulled me into his arms. The hug was so tight I couldn’t breathe for a second, but I was okay with that. My arms wrapped around him and held him tightly as I took a deep breath of him. Soap. That was what I smelt more than anything.

“Did you have anything in mind for tonight or …?”

“More than anything, I’d like to finish what we started when we first met.”

His words sent a rush of heat to my cheeks. “Really?”

“You’d rather go to a movie or something?”

“Not really,” I confessed.

I let him take my hand and lead me towards the bedroom. My heart pounded in my chest, and the walk to the room seemed to take forever.

When Priest pushed the door to his bedroom open, and I saw the room, I gaped in surprise.

The blinds were pulled tight, but a dim light still poured through the windows and I could see that rose petals scattered the floor making a thin line up to the freshly made bed. There was a bottle of wine on the bed, as well as a box of chocolates.

I turned to him, my eyes wide. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t force myself to say anything. Priest grinned widely, pulling me into the room. “I hope it isn’t too much. I mean, I know it’s kinda cliché.”

I laughed softly. “Things are cliché for a reason.” I looked around the room. “It’s … kinda perfect, I hope you know that.”

I turned to see his cheeks turn pink. “Well … I um, I’m glad you like it.”

I grinned as I slipped out of my shirt and let it fall to the ground. “I love it, Priest.” I pulled him close to me, and my hands ran over his chest. “Why do your friends call you that?”

“My name is Preston.” His lips touched mine. “It was a name Jacob gave me when we started high school; I’m not really sure why, but it just caught on, and it’s been what they call me since then.” His lips touched mine again, softly. “You can call me Preston if you would rather.”

“What would you like me to call you?” I asked returning his kiss.

He pulled me closer to him, his arms wrapping around my body and holding me tight. I was sure I could feel his cock hardening already. A soft moan escaped me as he pushed himself closer to me and guided me down onto the bed. I stared up at him as his fingers touched the hem of his shirt.

M pulse raced as I watched him pull his shirt over his head. Oh God. That deep V where his pants rested on his hips, shredded abs, a muscular chest. My eyes didn’t know where to look.

I tried to take everything in all at once.

“I want you to call me whatever you want as long as you’re screaming my name.” He grinned, crawling onto the bed, straddling my hips and pulling me back into a deep kiss. My arms closed around his neck pulling him closer to me, and my teeth grazed his lower lip begging permission to go further. I felt his grin against my lips as his tongue slipped into my mouth.

A moan escaped me as heat pooled in the pit of my stomach. Oh God, I wanted him inside me so badly. My hips rose, pushing against his cock. I moaned as his teeth nipped my lower lip softly, and he pushed himself off me. His eyes locked on my body, burning with lust.

“Take your clothes off,” he ordered.

My voice caught in my throat. I tried to say something, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I just nodded. I pushed myself up, my eyes locked on him as I unbuttoned my jeans and pushed them to the ground. I slipped out of them, leaving my heels and my black thigh high stockings on. My red panties matched my bra. His grin widened as he reached out and touched me. A hand ran over the curves of my body, and a soft murmur escaped me as his finger slipped lower.

“Spread your legs.”

I did as I was told as he dropped down onto his knees in front of me, gasping as I stared down at him as he reached around me, grabbing my ass and pulling me close to him. I sighed, feeling his hot breath against my pussy. A moan escaped me as he pressed his tongue against my pussy, slipping past my panties and poking into me.

“Preston,” I gasped, my knees buckling as my fingers slipped into his hair and found a happy home there. I stared down at him as he glanced up at me, and then his lips pulled away from my pussy and made their way down my legs, placing soft kisses over every inch of my skin that they could reach. “No,” I begged.

It only made him grin more as he pushed himself up. “On the bed.” His lips touched mine. “I’m going to make this right. No, I’m going to make it perfect.”

My heart jumped into my throat. To see this side of him … this almost emotional side … it was something I’d never expected, but I wanted to see it more. I pulled him close to me, spreading my legs for him.

He reached above me, moving the wine and the chocolate out of the way and grabbing something I hadn’t seen. A condom.

Before he could take his pants off, I pulled him down onto me, rolled on top of him and kissed him.

The kiss went from passionate to a full on make out session in a matter of seconds. I nipped his lower lips softly, and his fingers tangled into my hair as he let out a deep breath.

I gasped in shock as I heard the front door burst open.

“Fuck,” Priest muttered as he rolled me off him. “Stay here.” It sounded more like an order than anything else as he leapt from the bed and stomped out of the room.

I listened but couldn’t hear anything for a couple minutes.

“She can wait,” an angry sounding voice snapped. I didn’t hear anything for a couple seconds then the voices started again. “We’re all getting together next weekend on Jacob’s farm. We’ll go over the details there … where we will be alone.”

What details were they going over? Why did they need to be alone?

“I just wish I could have saved her.” Priest sounded like he wanted to cry again. It took everything I had not to jump out of the bed and go to him.

“I know man, I know. It’s hard, but she’d be proud of you …. She never would have held any of it against you.”

My heart sank as I realized it was all about Becky. It was always going to be about her, wasn’t it?

I bit my lip as the corner of my eyes pricked with tears. I knew it was stupid. I shouldn’t be so upset about it. I hardly even knew him; he’d said yesterday that he loved her, and he always would. I wrapped myself in the blanket and held myself tight. A shiver escaped me.

“Stay safe and don’t get into any trouble—it’s been a long eleven years, but it will be worth it.”

“I know.” Priest spoke so softly I could hardly hear him. Then it hit me what he was about to do with his life.