The One Girl (13 page)

Chapter 15

Finally, I was going home. After a week in this place, I was absolutely losing my shit.

I wanted to be home with Talie. I wanted to see my horses and be out on my land.

And I definitely wanted to make love to my fiance. I’d only gotten two chances since I officially put the ring on her finger and that was way too few times for the amount of days it had been.

While I wasn’t sure how Talie would react, I also had plans for later today. I knew that if she didn’t want to go with me, I would completely understand and respect it.

But it was something I just felt like I had to do, so as she came walking into my room with a smile on her face, I contemplated what the best way to tell her would be. Unrealistically, I hoped I’d be able to talk to her about it without taking the pretty smile off of her face.

I got myself psyched up to talk to her by reminding myself that I wasn’t a woman so I needed to cut it out with the pansy bullshit.

And then Kayla came walking in right behind her. Great. This mission officially just got a whole lot harder.

It looked like the best way to go would be to just get it out of the way.

“Talie, I gotta talk to you about somethin’, Babe.”

I shot Kayla a stern look in the hopes that she would read my meaning.

And that meaning was to keep her mouth shut.

Talie sat down on the edge of the bed, gave me a serious look, and then, making her voice deeper than normal, muttered, “Listenin’ Babe.”

Jesus, she was mocking me.

“Talie, this is serious, and I don’t want to upset you.”

Talie nodded, her playfulness already a fleeting memory, but the peanut gallery was never silent.

“Just spit it out. Holy moly, you’re taking longer than a woman to get to the point.”

Kayla was annoying, but she also had a point. I was usually much more direct.

“I want to go to Drew’s funeral.”

Talie was silent, but by the fucking painful look marring her usually beautiful features, it looked like I might have just torn her heart out.

Meanwhile, Kayla filled the silence.

“Shit, Hotman. I maybe should have let you work up to that one like you were.”

Talie stood up from my bed and turned away from me, and my heart felt like it was cracking into a thousand jagged pieces.

God, I really hated hurting her.

“Babe. It’s not what you think.” That was the first thing that came to mind when I was trying to figure out a way to comfort her, but I realized I had no clue what she was thinking. “Or actually, I don’t know what you’re thinkin’.”

I still got no verbal reaction from her, but she at least turned back toward me to look me in the eyes as I spoke.

“The whole town is gonna end up boycottin’ this funeral. That’s just their way. And I get it. Shit, do I get it. But Drew’s dead. He ain’t even really gonna be there, just his body in a box. This funeral is more for his parents who are good people, and absolute scum of the earth asshole or not, Drew was their son. He was young, and they’re buryin’ him today.”

Bobby’s parents lived out of town, or I would have been going to his funeral too. Crazy.

Her eyes looked moist and she bit her bottom lip as I continued, “I completely understand if you don’t wanna go. I would never ask you to after everything he did to you. I just feel like I need to be there.”

Talie started to shake her head, but I didn’t know what that meant.

“Babe?”

“I’m going too.”

My face must have registered some pretty transparent qualities of shock, but I seriously had not been expecting that to come out of her mouth. The combination of what I knew her feelings must be for him and the look on her face, gave no indication that that’s what she was going to come out and say.

“You are absolutely right. I haven’t met them, but they sound like really nice people and they definitely don’t deserve to be alone for something that’s going to be so difficult for them.”

Kayla and I both watched her closely as she closed her eyes, pulled in a deep gulp of air and finished with some thoughts that made her willingness make even more sense.

“Plus, I think maybe Jenny would want us to go. They have some really awful history, but she loved him once. And she may not have been mentally stable when she was rambling everything to us, but it’s obvious she still feels something or mourns the loss of the person he used to be. So, I’m going.”

My Talie. Always thinking about someone else above herself.

I reached out and grabbed her hand just as Kayla murmured, “Well if you’re going, I’m going. And I’m sure Jace and Ruthie will want to go too. I’ll go call them.”

As Kayla jumped up and walked out of the room, I rubbed the back of Talie’s hand with my thumb. She was looking down at the bed, so with my other hand I reached out and used my forefinger to lift her chin.

“You don’t have to do this Talie.”

She shook her head slightly and sucked both of her lips inside of her mouth before whispering, “Yes, I do. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think it’ll be a really good thing. It’s a hard decision, and I know it won’t be easy to be there at all. But I also think, in the long run, it might do me good. That it might serve as closure. A way for me to finally let everything go about him. To finally not feel what I felt, knowing he was still out there, and to move on- to my life with you.”

Grabbing her hips and pulling her close to me, I looked in her eyes, moved my hands to her face, and ran my thumbs right underneath both sets of her bottom lashes. I could still see her bruises a little even though they were a faded greenish-yellow and she had tried to cover them up with makeup. The thought of how she got those burned me up every time I saw them, but I worked hard to completely suppress it. When she knew I was noticing them, it made her feel bad. For some crazy reason.

“I want that for you. I’ve been wantin’ to see your pretty blue eyes free of the cloudiness for a long time now, and I hope that goin’ to this this afternoon will give you the closure you need to make that happen.”

Actually, I wanted that for her desperately.

I made sure the next words I whispered were both heartfelt and full of meaning.

“I love you.”

Leaning forward, I was all ready to kiss her, but instead she closed the gap between us and took control, pressing her lips to mine. Her lips were soft and plush and moved over mine with a gentleness that brought goosebumps to my skin.

My tongue snaked out and glided over the seam of her lips, not to ask for entrance, but to savor the taste. She wasn’t big on lipgloss, so her lips just tasted like her. And they were fucking delicious.

My hands moved down to her hips and fingered the skin at the hem of her shirt before skimming up her sides gently, as to be mindful of her healing ribs. When I got to the top of her ribs my thumbs skimmed the underside of her breasts and a breathy, almost anguished sounding, moan escaped her lips.

I groaned a gravely, rough breath into her mouth in response as I twirled the end of my tongue slowly around hers. I was dying. God, I missed being inside of her.

Right in line with my thoughts, I was hard as a rock and so fucking ready to take her right here. However, being that we were in the hospital and I was a patient, pulling back would have been the smart move.

But I just couldn’t, and if her actions and the erotic moans coming out of her mouth were any indication, it seemed like she couldn’t either.

Moving my hands further up, I palmed her breasts and swiped her nipples with my thumbs.

Completely forgetting where we were, she kept her lips attached to mine but maneuvered her body skillfully so that she could straddle my lap.

I was still hooked up to the heart monitor and could hear a faint whisper of it beeping wildly in the background. I was so involved that even my hearing was tunneled to be specifically attuned to only Talie. Her heartbeat, her breathing, her moans.

And I guess that’s why we didn’t notice the nurse come running in the room.

“Um, excuse me!” Based on the volume and exasperated tone of her voice, I would guess she had tried to get our attention several times before we actually heard her.

Talie seemed embarrassed and went to pull back immediately, but my horniness well outweighed any inkling of chagrin that I may have felt. Thus, my hands shot to the back of her head and held it in place until I could get in a few more touches of our tongues before I pulled back.

When I finally did give into having consideration for the nurse, it didn’t go far. My hands grabbed her hips and kept her anchored there, straddling me. It was probably for the best anyway because she was covering the substantial evidence of my arousal by sitting on my lap.

The nurse was shocked by my boldness and shook her head as she spoke. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing that you’re going home today, but Dr. Williams said you still need to limit physical activity.”

We all knew what she meant by limiting physical activity, but there was a fat chance in hell that I wasn’t going to sink myself inside of my woman tonight. She could be on top. That would lessen my exertion and be easier on her ribs. Furthermore, she was hot as hell when she rode me.

Perfect. Decision made.

I shot Talie a look that said I was going to be inside of her tonight, period. But my words told a different story, a story that was complete bullshit, and were directed at the nurse. “No problem.”

Talie rolled her eyes, and the nurse huffed before turning and leaving the room muttering, “I’ll be back with your discharge papers.”

When the nurse was definitely out of earshot, Talie turned back to me and whispered, “You’re bad, Tucker Cody.”

“Not bad, Babe. I’m fucking horny. And you’re fucking hot. You do the math.”

She smirked at me. “I’m pretty good at math. And when I do the calculations I come up with One Annoyed Nurse as the answer.”

“Damn straight.”

********

Walking up to the gravesite, I could feel Talie’s fingernails digging into my bicep.

We were moving slowly, thanks to our combined injuries, and the hospital had taken a good deal of time to get my discharge papers straightened out and taken care of.

I’m pretty sure it was the disgruntled nurse’s personal revenge.

It was worth it.

Anyway, thanks to our many delays, we had just gotten our shit together, and it was only in enough time to come to the gravesite, meaning we missed the other services.

Considering the circumstances, it may have been better this way anyway. Seeing Drew lowered into the ground was closure if I’d ever seen it, and we could pay our respects to the Locks without having to sit around and pretend like we cared about the bastard headed six feet under.

As the Locks came into view, Talie’s grip got even tighter. I hadn’t thought that would be possible, but it would seem now that she intended to leave a permanent imprint of her fingernails in my arm.

I wanted to ask her if she was okay, but she would fucking hate it. So I held my tongue.

Kayla had taken off with Ruthie and Jace to do God knows what and told us they would meet us here.

Since the only people I could see were Drew’s parents, it was clear we had beat them here.

When we got to the gravesite, Talie and I walked around to the opposite side, and I took over from there.

After leaning down and placing a soft kiss on Adrianna Lock’s cheek, I murmured, “We’re sorry for your loss, Adrianna.” Turning my head and giving a nod, I added, “Gary.”

Talie reached right out with her hand, placed it on Adrianna’s arm and whispered, “I’m so sorry that you have to go through this.”

Adrianna’s eyes glistened but she straightened her shoulders and announced almost proudly, “Sweetheart, you have not one thing to apologize for. The strength of character you’ve shown by being here just makes me even sorrier for the actions my son perpetrated against you.” Flicking her eyes to meet mine, she whispered, “And to your sweet Jenny.”

“How is Jenny, Tucker?” Gary asked.

Ruthie had tried to find out right when I asked her, that first day in the hospital, but it was so early into her admittance that they didn’t have many answers. Yesterday we had finally gotten somewhat of a positive progress report.

“She’s doin’ ok. Better, anyway. They said it looked like she had some brain damage from over a year ago that had gone untreated, and that, combined with the post traumatic stress she was experiencin’ from not only Drew but everything that came after that, caused her to have a psychotic break.”

I could tell that the news that their son had had such negative effects on people’s lives, drawn out in detail anyway, was a tough reality to swallow. However, they both trained their faces and handled it with so much class that I knew coming here had been, without a doubt, the right decision for us and them.

“She’s still responsible for her actions to some extent, but she’ll be able to be in that facility instead of prison, so that’s a plus.”

The thought of Jenny being in an institution for years had really punched Talie in the gut. But I explained that while it was hard for me to accept too, it was not only best for her, it was way better than prison would be.

“We’re gonna go see her sometime in the next couple’a days, and I’m sure we’ll know more then.”

Just as I was finishing my last statement, Adrianna’s arm shot out and her hand grasped and twisted the sleeve of her husband’s jacket.

I couldn’t imagine what had affected her so much, but I could tell whatever it was, was over my shoulder. So I turned my upper body, gently, to try to get a look.

Walking up the hill were Ruthie, Jace, and Kayla. And beyond them, Jezzy, Steve, John, Toni, Rhonda, Annabelle and family, Tommy, Jimmy, and pretty much everyone else in town.

Kayla had a smirk on her face, and as I took it in, I knew this is what she had been up to. Organizing and rallying the townspeople to stand behind the Locks no matter the actions of their son.

Talie, apparently, was feeling much the same thing that I was. “I’m thinking I like my sister a whole lot right about now. She just made all of her annoying behavior worth it.”