Talon's Heart (8 page)

TALON

 "Kevin what's up, you seen him yet?" We met outside her old dorm room where the asshole would most likely be headed. Most people didn’t know where my condo was so they couldn’t have sent him there; I’m thinking this was probably the best bet. That was another thing I knew was burning the shit out of Mackenzie and the others who were holding out hope for a repeat. I’d never taken anyone home with me. I always went to their room. Even then with me not looking for permanence I always knew my place was off limits. I’m glad I’d kept things that way because true to female form that had been one of the first things my baby had asked when I invited her to spend the night. Had I ever had anyone else there? It felt good telling her no, that she was the first and the last. That the bed she slept in had never been used for anything but my sleep.

 "Nah, not yet, but he should be here soon, the last word was that he landed and got a rental and was headed this way."
I had the boys on the perimeter in case he slipped through somehow, a little overboard I guess but I meant he was not getting anywhere near her so I had to cover all the bases. I didn’t want to be gone too long because I knew she would be worried about me and I didn’t want that. I knew too that deep down she was relieved that I was the one facing him. She’d told me in one of our midnight talks that she never wanted to lay eyes on him again. Not only because of the betrayal, but also because of the things he’d said to her after. The way he’d tried to belittle her womanhood. There’s no way I could let her face him after that.


"How much do you wanna bet my girl is on the phone with yours fishing for information?"

"She won't get much, I didn't share with Steph, figured you might want to play this one close to the vest. Anyway, what do you plan on doing with this guy when he shows up?"

"After I get it through his head that seeing my girl ever again in his lifetime would be detrimental to his health, I'm thinking of kicking his ass for what he did to her; then again if he wasn't such an asshole I wouldn't have her. No that's not true we were destined to meet so that's out, whatever. If he goes away like a good little boy I might let him live, but if he pisses me off I'm going to hurt him."

 "Don't do anything stupid, I think coach already suspect something's up, the way the guys have been acting must've tipped him off. Why you had to get the whole team involved is beyond me, and you know they'll mess this guy up really bad if they get ahold of him, I'm not sure that was such a good idea."

"First of all I could care less what coach knows, he wants to bench me he can; as for the guys it's called loyalty, they know I would do the same for any one of them if some douche came sniffing around what's theirs."

 "Did you ever stop to think that you might be overreacting just a tad bit?"

"No, and I'll tell you why, after what the fuck he did to her he had to know she was gutted, she ran away from that shit. The fact that he's coming all this way tells me that he still thinks he can control her or some shit. That he's just gonna show up and she'll tow the line which from what she's told me was pretty much how things were before. Now I'm all for being a man's man and going after your shit, but the difference is he’s no man he’s an asshole. I could never do what he did it’s just weak. Her family and his gave him a false sense of himself, so he thinks he's a big shot. She doesn't get to deal with him when he shows up, he doesn't get the chance to intimidate her, if he ever even looks at her again I'll blind the fuck."

 

"Dude you are so gone." Kevin started laughing his ass off but it wasn't funny, it was the truth. I was gone, and I didn't give a shit. She was mine; mine to love, to protect and to shield. I had already spoken to her parents so I know they're not the ones who sent him here, in fact they were rather surprised to hear he was coming. Her dad seemed to have the same idea I had, keep him away from her. I gave him my promise and I meant to keep it.

My girl is not as strong as she thinks she is yet, she still has moments when that shit creeps up on her. She tries to hide it from me but I know her inside and out. She’s not all the way over what they did to her back on that farm but she will be, I’ll see to it. It was hard to remember that all that shit went down not too long ago, for some reason it felt like we'd known each other way longer than we had. Things had progressed so fast between us that some days it was hard to remember what I did before her. That’s because nothing else had ever mattered as much.

 I couldn’t imagine not being with her, not having her there. I’d never given her a chance to tell me no, to deny me. When I thought of it like that I thought maybe I should pull back, take it easy, and then I would say fuck that shit and carry on as I was. I wasn’t the only one who’d felt the pull that day on that football field. I’ve seen the same longing in her eyes that I know has been reflected in mine. It is what it is, it doesn't matter how long we knew each other, all that mattered was that she was mine for keeps, we belonged to each other, anyone who tried to come between that was fucked.

Chapter 11

TALON




My phone beeped with a text from my boy Tyler Cunning. I read it and my body went cold.

"Fuck."

"What?" Kevin ran to keep up with me as I'd read the message and started moving.

"That fuck's going to our place."

"What, how?"

 

"Those bitches told him I'm sure, I can't think about that shit right now." I was too busy calling Skylar's cell. She answered on the second ring. "Baby, don't answer the door." My heart was knocking the shit out of my chest as I raced to get to her. Why had I been so sure that he wouldn’t find where we lived? It was true that not many knew where my condo was, it’s not like I broadcasted the shit. But in hindsight I should’ve known that somewhere along the line one or more of the females I’d tangled with would become curious. I’ll have to think about my slip in judgment later, right now all I could think of was getting to her before he did.

 "Talon what's going on?" She sounded freaked, no doubt from the panic in my voice.

"Just don't answer the door babe, I think Stark's on his way there, I'm coming to you right now." My feet weren’t moving fast enough.

"Talon you sound like you've been running a marathon, would you calm down Robert's harmless."

"Don't tell me that shit babe, you moved across the fucking country to get away from that asshole, so don't tell me he's harmless. Look just please do what I say, I'm almost there okay sweetheart."

"Okay, but honey...I moved across the country to meet my destiny, remember that okay." Her voice went all soft and dreamy cutting through the haze that had been forming in my mind.

 

Shit, I stopped in my tracks, she was going to make me soft if she kept talking like that and I needed to be tough right now. Is there anything more perfect than your woman telling you that you’re the answer? I closed my eyes as I let the sweet rush through me; it wasn’t often that she overcame her shyness enough to say these things to me. Though hearing it right now while I’m in killer mode might not be the best timing. Fuck that, that shit went straight to the heart of me, that's why she’s mine, only she could make me feel what I’m feeling right now, only she ever will. I don't know why I'd found her at this point in time, or what life held in store for us, but I was absolutely sure that we would face it together. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

"Babe, seriously, that was…wow, I don't even know what to say."

“You don’t have to say anything. I love you.”

“Fuck baby.” I started moving again my heart beating in a whole new way this time. She was going to turn me into a sap. “I love you more baby.” Why do women do this shit to us men? How am I supposed to rip a motherfucker’s head off if she puts dreams of romance and happily ever after in my damn head at a time like this?

"So you'll come home and forget all this nonsense?" Aha that should do the trick.

 "Not a chance, one thing has nothing to do with the other. The man is basically calling me out, showing up on my turf, coming after what's mine, nah, I gotta deal with this shit once and for all."

"Coming after what's yours, what am I a piece of meat?" There was no real heat in her voice so I knew she wasn't really mad. My baby has her soft side and her sweet side, then there's this other side, I call it the pain in the ass side. That's when she doesn't listen for shit, digs her heels in and set up for mutiny. Yeah I learned all this about her in just a few weeks.

 Like I know that the sweet, quirky, free spirited Skylar is the real Skylar and the cautious almost weary Skylar is what emerged after what this fucker had done to her. And that thinking put me back into the right frame of mind completely, which was a good thing because I was turning the corner when I saw the rental pull up.
"I love you babe gotta go." I sped up, hanging up on her after sending her a kiss.

 

Good, my posse had done their jobs, he hadn't beaten me here. One of the hangers on must've alerted the guys to this new development. All along I thought he was going to try the dorms first. This move, him coming to our place, convinced me that he was getting help from someone here, how else would he know where we lived? I'll deal with those two idiots later right now I had to deal with this cheating asshole. The guy had to be a real heel to cheat on someone like Skylar, fucking weak. His lost, my absolute gain.

 

He got out of the car and was headed to our condo, I sped up my step and was in time to body check him on the walkway. "What the fuck?" He puffed up like he was a badass, yeah okay dipshit.

"Private property douche, get going."

"I'm here to visit my girl so whoever you are, you need to step."

I looked him up and down, stocky, darkish, not bad looking for a douche who was about to die if he didn't get the fuck out of my face.

 "You don't have a girl here, this is my place, you need to get the fuck out of here now." If I’d caught him at the dorms it would be a different story, I would’ve handed him his ass. But this was too fucking close for comfort
the instinct to keep him as far away from her as possible kicked in and all I wanted was for him to be gone
I’ll have to kick his ass another time. I felt Kevin come up to my side followed by the sound of car doors opening and closing, fuck the whole team was here it looked like.

 "You must be Avery, what happened, you can't face me on your own, you needed your whole crew to face me?" I heard grumblings from the boys but no one stepped forward, they knew the deal, this was my kill.
"Well? I thought you were a hotshot football player, why do you need back up or are you another pansy ass wannabe?" He tried what I guess he would call a smirk at me but it was like watching a kid playing dress up.

 I folded my arms and looked down my nose at him, that's the oldest trick in the book, trying to get me to throw the first punch by being insulting. My boys stood around me not saying a word, they didn't need to one look at my defensive line was enough to put fear in the heart of better men than this piece a shit.


"Like I said, there's nothing here for you so keep it moving." I stepped that much closer to him to let him know I meant business. Either he had an ego the size of Everest or his bravado really made him feel like he was something. Surrounded by what amounted to a mountain of muscle he refused to back down. I might’ve found that shit amusing if I didn’t know what a coward he was. Only a coward would fuck one cousin while engaged to the other and then try to blame her for it.

 

"Actually I understand that my fiancée is here..." Okay if he kept calling her that I just might lose my shit. "You don't have a fiancée asshole remember?" I couldn't say anything else since I didn't want Skylar's business all over campus. Not that she had anything to be ashamed of, but I knew she still felt humiliated by the whole experience and didn't need to add to that. My phone rang, the display said 'babydoll' calling.
"What's up babe, I can't talk right now, you good?" I kept my eyes on him as I spoke.

 "Uh, Talon, I can see you from the window."

"Get away from there."

"What, why, what's wrong with you?"

I fought not to look up to the second floor window where I knew she must be standing. I didn't even want him seeing her. Don't ask me why, but I didn't want there to be any kind of interaction between them, not even a look exchanged.

 "Talon just come on upstairs and forget this nonsense, you're beginning to scare me now; and why's your whole team down there, are you nuts? I'm calling your mother."

"You tried that already babe, now just calm down and go watch TV."

"Go watch...I'm coming down there."

"Uhm, babe, I'm thinking that's not such a good idea. We've been through this already, he even speaks to you I'm dropping him, plain and simple."

"Geez Talon, what are you, two minutes out the cave?"

"Whatever, are we done? cause I gotta get this piece a shit off my lawn."

"Don't do anything stupid."

 "I promise, love you bye." I never took my eyes off of him the whole time I was on the phone so I didn't miss the look of angry frustration that morphed into rage. Good motherfucker, now you know I'm not playing. I waited for his next move but totally wasn't expecting what he did next.

 "Skylar get down here now." Are you fucking shitting me, was this asshole for real? He was looking up towards my place searching the windows for her while screaming for her to come down. 
"Dude, you need to quit that shit, I really don't appreciate you calling my woman like that. Now I'm asking you nicely for the last time, walk away."

 "Your girl? she could never be your girl, we are engaged...”

“She’s mine now, you had your chance and lost now back the fuck off.”

“She'll always be mine and there’s nothing you can do about it. Or did she forget to tell you our families have an agreement? We were destined for each other from birth."
The smirk grew wider and I tasted blood in my throat. I heard the rushing of water in my ears, my limbs grew heavy and my sight dimmed a little, things got...kinda dark.