Ruining You (32 page)

Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I turn to
see Kane pointing to the door. Following his finger, I see Molly, Reed, and Cal
entering. It’s still hard to see him in his wheelchair, but he’s right, it
doesn’t change who he is. Now that I have a chance to look around, I see tons
of people that I used to go to high school with. Everyone is talking to Cal as
they all make their way to the bar. I’m sure they are talking about the
upcoming graduation, just another thing he took from me.

Molly leaves Reed and Cal talking to
some guys and heads towards me. She looks magnificent with her red hair and
short black mini dress. Leaning down to hug me, she says, “Hey guys. Sorry we
are late.”

Jill returns with our drinks, and we all
talk amongst ourselves. The beat has my body bouncing, and Molly laughs when
she sees me.  

“C’mon girl,” she says, grabbing my hand
and pulling me up. “Let’s go get our groove on.”

Raising our joined hands over our heads,
she leads me to the dance floor. As soon as we start dancing, Will.i.Am &
Britney Spears’s
new track “Scream and Shout” plays, and Molly and I
automatically look at each other and scream, “It’s Britney BITCH!!” Laughing, I
let the music carry me away to dance with my best friend. We sing the songs to
each other, not caring how we look, acting like fools, and having the time of
our lives.

Several songs later, a slow sexy number
begins, and before I can turn, I sense his presence behind me before I feel
him. Spinning around, I land in his arms and look up to see his face inches
from mine. He takes my lips and my breath, stealing my thoughts and giving me
all of him in return. Moving to the music, letting it direct our bodies and
tongues, we dance. I don’t care about anyone around me; if this is what he
wants, he can have it all.

He grips my hips, moving me with him.
Breaking his lips from mine, he brings them to whisper in my ear, “You are
happy.”

I nod my head at him, looking into his
eyes.

“You want to live this life,” he states,
not questioning.

“Yes.”

Closing his eyes, he crushes me to him
and takes my lips again to kiss me profoundly. With a breath, he says, “You
love me?”

“Yes, Kane.”

Abruptly, he stops to stare at me, “One
hour and we need to go. Deal?”

“Works for me.”

He lets me go. “Go have fun with your
friends.” He turns to walk towards the pool tables. I see Cole is standing
there playing, and when he sees me, he nods his head smiling.

Redirecting my attention to the dance
floor, I see Molly and Reed dancing together and Cal chatting up some girl in
the corner. It may not be how things should have turned out, but at least we
are here. Letting Molly finish out her dance with Reed, I decide to take a
quick bathroom break.

Once I finish and walk out, I run into a
thick broad chest. “Sorry,” I say smiling, until I see the malicious look on
his face. I remember him from high school; I think his name is Grey, or maybe
Greg?

“You stupid lying whore. I was hoping I
would run into you. You need to stop spreading your lies about Coach Branch. Do
you know how many lives you have ruined? Coach was going to help me get a
college scholarship this year, but you fucked that up. Not to mention what you
did to JT and Cal. You….” he stops when he sees someone behind me.

Every word he speaks cuts at me, but no
longer will I stand for someone taking up for that rapist.

“That’s enough, Grey,” Cal calls from
behind me.

Looking right at him, I say, “Listen,
I’m sorry about your scholarship, but if you’re good enough and have the
grades, then that shouldn’t be a problem to work that out for yourself;
however, don’t ever,” I say, waving my finger in his face, “talk to me about
that rapist again. Because that is exactly what he is.”

“Maybe you need to keep your legs
closed,” the idiot replies.

“Maybe your highly thought of ‘coach’
needs to keep his dick out of sixteen year old girls.”

“That’s enough.” Kane’s voice is low and
lethal.

Idiot looks from me to Kane and shrugs
before walking away. He was a big guy, but Kane looks like he holds his own.
Smart idiot.

“You okay, Jay?”

Actually, I am. He can think what he
wants, but the truth is, I couldn’t control what happened to me or what
happened with JT and Cal.  So yeah, I can live with me right now.

Smiling, I look up to show him the truth
in my eyes. “I’m okay.”

Grabbing me and pulling me to him, he
kisses me, only stopping to say, “Girl, you are driving me crazy with how much
you’ve changed. How much I needed you to change.”

As we turn to head back, I look down at
Cal, and he is smiling also.

“Proud of you, Jay” he says.

I touch his arm and nod. Returning to
the where Molly and Reed are sitting, we all hang out for another hour. Molly
and I dance several times while the guys play some pool. Finally, I see Kane
motion his head towards the door. I say goodbye to my friends, and jog over to
meet him.

 In the car, we say nothing, but we
never lose contact with one another. Parking in the garage, he grabs my bags
while getting out, and I follow him into the house and straight to his bedroom.
Throwing the bags in the corner, he turns, reaches for my shirt, and divests me
of it. His hands lower to the button of my jeans as his fingers deftly unfasten
it and slide my pants slowly down my legs, pulling my boots off with them.
Standing in only my panties and bra, he looks at me, slowly walking around to
my backside.  Placing his finger against the top of my neck, he leisurely
slides it downwards, stopping only when it touches the clasp to my bra, which
he skillfully undoes.

Continuing with his exploration, his
finger heads straight down to the top of my panties. Chills trail his movement,
and my body tingles with every second of it. Hooking his finger in the elastic,
he continues to trace his finger downwards, pulling my panties with it. Once
I’m completely naked, he walks back to stand in front of me and takes in my
body from top to bottom. I can sense that he wants me to stay still, so I
remain motionless, fighting back the temptation to remove his clothes.

I’m rewarded when he slowly pulls his
shirt up; his eyes locked with mine. One of his hand drifts over his rock hard
abdomen reaching the top of his jeans, which he quickly undoes. His jeans,
underwear, and shoes come off in one fell swoop. It’s so sexy to realize he is
undressing for me and only me. My eyes take in every inch of him, and I mean
every inch. My thoughts start to race on what I want to kiss or lick first.
Decisions, decisions.

My thoughts run rampant just as he
brings his hand up to cup my face. Gazing into my eyes, he leans down, “I love
you, Jay.”

My heart jumps. His words heal more that
anyone could ever know. This strong, kind, loving man, can see past the broken
pieces and straight into the heart that continues to beat.

Showering my face with kisses, he
continues, “I love you. I love every part of you.”

He presses me to walk backwards, and
feeling the edge of the bed beneath me, he pushes me down. Using my feet I push
to center myself on the bed. Crawling over me, he kisses every inch starting at
my neck and going down. Every so often, he pauses to tell me how he feels
again, and my body quivers in reaction. I can tell he loves the response, but
it is killing me. He is killing me. Throwing my head back at the exquisite
pleasure his mouth delivers during its exploration, I thrash about, unable to
contain the raging desire within me.   

Taking things into my hands, literally,
I lean up and tug him towards me. My hands skim all over him, trying to commit
it all to memory and wanting his image burned behind my eyelids for every time
I close my eyes.

Hearing his voice in my ear, I shudder
all the way to my toes, “I love you so much.” The sound of ripping foil only
increases the intensity. He knows I’m on the pill, but he respects me enough to
know that I need the double assurance. His consideration makes me love him even
more, more than I thought was even possible.

“Kane, God, I love you. I love you!” I
cry, screaming in want of him, wanting more.

Moving over me in one swift movement, he
enters, sliding all the way home. We move slow and cautious at first, peering
into each other’s souls. However, we’ve never done anything slow and steady for
long, so why start now? He rocks harder and faster, enticing moans from me and
bringing me to completion. He follows, kissing me and loving me. We hold tight
to one another, listening as we breathe.

“I’ve loved you for a while, but I
wanted to make sure that you could love yourself first. I needed to know that
Jay, because otherwise, we never stood a chance. And I want you, love you, and
now you’re mine. Forever,” he states, staring into my eyes. 

Understanding what he is saying, I lean
in to kiss him. There are no words left; he has robbed me of them all.

The clock blinks 6 A.M. beside the bed,
and my tired eyes drift to Kane who is sleeping next to me. His arm is securely
wrapped around my middle, not letting me go, even in sleep. Kane’s invasion of
me from last night should have me sleeping as soundly as him, but today is the
day, and my thoughts are already racing.

It’s been seven months since JT died,
but today marks his first birthday after his death. I think of Mr. and Mrs.
Higgins and the all-consuming loss they must be feeling. I have felt it before,
too. Kip’s heated eyes flash in my mind, and I can’t be mad at him for that.
Suddenly, I know what I want to do, but I need to do it early to avoid running
into any of the family, and I need to do it alone. There’s no use in having
another episode like what happened last time.

Reaching over, I try to wake Kane by
shaking him and calling his name.

His eyes blink open, and once he sees
it’s me, he smiles and says, “Morning baby,” before pulling me closer to
snuggle.

“Kane,” I say trying to pull back out of
his embrace. “Wake up. I need to borrow your car.” That gets his attention
because his eyes snap open.

“What?” he asks sleepily.

“Today is JT’s birthday, and I want to
go to the cemetery.”

“Okay, we’ll go later. Let’s sleep just
a little longer.”

“No, Kane. I want to go by myself, and I
need to go now… before his family goes.”

I see the moment when he finally understands
what I’m saying because he sits up and rubs his face.

“Jay, just let me get dressed, and I’ll
go with you. I’m still worried about Branch.”

“Listen, we know that he is under
twenty-four hour surveillance, and I haven’t had any problems when I’ve gone
out. I’m okay. Really. I need to do this alone.”

Shaking his head, he replies, “No,
absolutely not. I’ll just go with you. There is no need to take that chance.”

“Kane, please look at me.” He raises his
eyes to mine. “I need to do this alone. We both understand that, even after I
testify, he could be set free. I can’t live my life afraid forever. At least
now, we know where he is.”