Veiled Innocence (24 page)

I scrunched it up and unlocked the car, climbing inside. I looked out at the kids running around the track and angrily slammed the door shut.

There went my track year at school and my perfect run of being the star everyone expected. Principal Thomas had told me I could make it up and still compete if I worked extra hard, but at this point, all I wanted to do was give up.

Starting the car, I pulled out of the lot with every intention of driving home.

That, however, was not where I ended up.

* * *

Work just wasn’t in the cards today.

All night I’d lain in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to decide where exactly everything had gone wrong. When was the moment that I’d truly lost my direction and not been able to turn back? Managing in the process to let down the man closest to me.

All I kept coming back to was the moment I first saw her.

That
was when.

Dad had written,
I understand,
but somehow I doubted this was what he had in mind when he wrote it. He’d probably been thinking love on a grand scale, not on a scale that could potentially put his son behind bars.

Something needed to change.
I
needed to change.

So instead of going to school this morning, I’d gone somewhere else entirely.

I’d just gotten out of the shower after returning home when there was a loud knock on my front door. I pulled on a pair of jeans and slicked my hands through my wet hair. I really didn’t want to deal with people today.

I didn’t bother with the peephole before I opened the door.

Although I shouldn’t have been shocked to see her, I
was
surprised by how she looked as she stood scowling in front of me. Her hair was tangled all around her face, and her bottom lip was puffy and split open. She didn’t look anything like the girl who’d driven away from me yesterday afternoon.

White-knuckling the door, I tried to imagine telling her to leave. I tried to picture a time in my future where I wouldn’t think about her and wonder where she was, or how she was doing, or even worse, whom she loved. Instead, I stepped aside and Addison stormed into my house.

The tension in the air was palpable.

I’d gone to her last night with one goal in mind—to end this. We needed to stop the madness we’d gotten caught up in, but now as she stood in front of me, all I could think about was touching her one last time.

* * *

Driving home, I’d been determined to forget about Grayson, or
Mr. McKendrick
as I’d been thinking of him today.

Where the hell had he been?

Just calling in long enough to say—
sure
,
suspend her—
before disappearing was bullshit. It was the coward’s way out, and halfway home, I found myself making a U-turn.

I parked in my usual spot and made my way to his front door. I knocked three times and tried to keep my anger at bay, deciding that I would just end things and get out of there.

However, that decision flew out the window when the front door opened, and standing in front of me was a virtual stranger. Sometime between last night and this morning, Grayson had transformed.

Gone was the long hair I’d grown accustomed to, and in its place was a clean-cut version of my teacher. The stubble along his jaw was still familiar, and as he moved aside and I barged in past him, I couldn’t help but look him over a second time. The change was so unexpected it almost broke through my anger, but then his eyes dropped to my lip and I remembered my shitty morning. I steeled myself against any curiosity and instead, fired both guns.

“What the fuck was that this morning?”

“This morning?”

“Yes. You know? When I got suspended.”

Grayson closed the door and latched it before stepping closer to me. Without answering my first question, he inspected me and asked, “What happened to your face?”

“What happened to
me
?” I questioned, my voice climbing higher with each note. “What the hell happened to
you?
”

He said nothing as he made his way past me and walked through the house to the kitchen. I followed silently, since that was what he was going with, and waited. He opened a top cabinet and pulled out a bottle of alcohol.

Reminded of my father, I backed up a step. He turned and asked again in a tone that was not to be argued with, “What
happened
to your face?”

I touched my lip, grimaced and answered, “My father.”

“Your
father
did this? When? Last night?” He paused and placed the bottle on the counter. Walking over to me, he gently grazed my bottom lip with his thumb and said, “You need to report him, Addison. Or I will. What fucking irony.”

“What do you mean?”

“My father died yesterday. That’s why I wasn’t at work.”

His words were delivered with such a sense of detachment it was as if he were talking about a stranger. If it hadn’t been for the dramatic change in him, I would have thought he didn’t care.

That wasn’t the case though, and as I started to put it all together…his lack of presence this morning, the physical change in his appearance, and the alcohol sitting on the counter—I could tell that Grayson was wanting to escape.

“Do you want to—?”

“No,” he interrupted, and I knew exactly how he felt.

I’d never wanted to talk after Daniel had passed either.

“I’m sorry—”

“Stop talking,” he said, walking me back until I hit the kitchen counter.

“Okay.”

As the edge dug into my back, Grayson’s hands came down beside me, caging me in. Pushing forward, he leaned me back slightly until his body was pressed flush against mine.

“I came to end things with you last night, but you ran away.”

Even though I’d been planning the same, to hear the words from him hurt.

“Then
end
it,” I taunted, pushing my chin out. I’d be damned if I showed him he could hurt me worse than even my father’s blow.

Grayson lowered his head until his stubbled cheek rested against mine and his lips were at my ear.

“I...” he started and then stopped.

I slid my fingers into the short strands now covering his head.

“You?”

He scraped his teeth along a line from my jaw to my chin. Then he lifted his head and looked me right in the eye as he sucked my bottom lip between his.

The sharp bite of pain that came from the cut on my lip made me wince, until his tongue came out and soothed it in a gesture so incredibly intimate, I felt my entire body tremble. Then his anguished words met my ears.

“I
can’t
.”

Breathing became difficult as he brought a hand to my chest and placed it over my heart. He held my full attention as he began to lightly tap—
one, two, three. One two three.

“I need…”

I waited, wanting to hear it—
needing
to.

His other hand trailed a path around my waist, stopping at the top of my skirt. “I need to feel alive again.”

The word alive was so foreign to me, especially since the last few years I’d felt anything but. However, here with this man, I’d never felt more so as he continued to count my beating heart just like I had done his.

“I need everything.”

His eyes came back to rest on mine and as his fingers curled under my shirt, I replied, “Then take what you need.”
 

Chapter Twenty-Three

Present…

Doc watches me unrelentingly as I sit down in my chair and finally speak.

“I pursued him.”

It’s the first time I’ve ever said the words out loud, and I feel the weight of them.

Doc nods silently, his way of saying
continue
, and I try to find the best way to explain the unexplainable.

“The first time I saw him was the first time in years that I felt…peace.”

“I remember.”

“You do?”

Doc smiles at me, and although it’s small, I feel the warmth of it. It’s as if he’s truly proud of me for trusting him.

“Yes. You came to see me after the first week of school. Do you remember what you said?”

Racking my brain, I try to remember that session, but when I think back to my first week of school, all I see is
him
.

“No. I don’t remember.”

“That’s okay. You said it in passing, probably not even realizing the relevance.”

“You’re doing it again.”

“What’s that?”

“Being all doctor-like and cryptic.”

Laughing, Doc sits back. “Oh, so now I know where you got it.”

“Maybe a little,” I admit half-heartedly.

“Good to know.” Doc’s eyes narrow as he tells me, “You came into my office and you couldn’t sit still. You seemed distracted but not in a bad way. So I asked what was different that day, and you told me for the first time in two years—‘Nothing, I’m just happy
.
’”

Huh.
It was something so simple.

It seems unbelievable that’s what gave me away, when happy is the last thing I ever expect to feel again.

* * *

Past…

I pushed Addison’s shirt up to reveal the pink lace bra underneath and felt my knees threaten to give way.
Yeah
, fuck walking away. The best I could hope for was to step back for a moment and catch my breath.

Moving to the other side of the kitchen, I told her, “Stay right there.”

Disheveled. That was how she looked as she leaned back against the counter with her shirt bunched up over her breasts and her hair in disarray, and I wanted more.

“Take it off.”

“My shirt?”

Coming to a stop against the opposite counter, I picked up the scotch and unscrewed the lid.

“Yes, your shirt. Take it off.”

Without hesitation, Addison reached up and removed her shirt, dropping it on the tiled floor.

“The skirt too,” I ordered and lifted the bottle to my lips.

With her beguiling blue eyes following my every move, she unbuttoned the top of her skirt. She traced the tip of her tongue over the cut on her lip, and I knew she had to be remembering the way I’d sucked it because
fuck
, I was.

The warm burn of alcohol made its way down my throat as I continued to watch Addison remove her clothes, and when her skirt fell away from her hips, something slipped from the pocket and hit the floor.

We both looked down at the same time, and there between us was a shiny black pen. One just like my—

“Where did you get that?” I asked and moved to where the pen was lying on the ground. Bending down, I picked it up.

“You must have dropped it last night,” she said, “when you came to see me.”

I stood and ran my finger over the engraving.

He’d been right.
This,
what I felt right now, wasn’t good or evil. It was beyond that. I placed the pen on the counter and stepped in front of her.

“Come closer,” I invited with a crook of my finger.

Raising her chin, Addison took two steps with the intention of more until I halted her with my hand and shook my head.

“Turn around. Show me
everything
.”

Her lashes lowered as she inspected my body, and I felt that silent perusal as sure as a touch. She slowly turned, and my cock throbbed in response.

The creamy skin of her back came into view, and I wanted to stroke my fingers over it. I knew that eventually I would, but right now…right now, I was just going to look.

When her back was to me, I let my gaze wander down to the pink panties covering her ass. I couldn’t wait to feel that lace under my palms, but I wanted her to make me
feel
again, and what better way to do that than to take all the power.

Coming up behind her, I noticed she was about to look back at me so I made sure she knew exactly what was about to happen. I wrapped one arm around her naked waist and put my mouth to her ear.

“You’re going to do everything I tell you to,” I instructed. She let out a soft moan and my cock pulsed. “Nod if you understand.”

Quickly, Addison nodded.

“Good girl. When I let go, I want your bra to hit the floor, and then I want your hands on the counter.”

When I got no response, I felt a thrill skate up my spine. The high I was getting from ordering her around was making me feel alive. “Do you understand?”

Addison’s body trembled. She was getting off on the orders as much as I was from giving them.

That was more than fine. I could play that game.

Releasing her, I took a step back and brought the bottle up to my mouth, taking a swig as she made quick work of the bra. The straps slid down her arms, and when she removed the lacy material and dangled it by her leg, she looked over her shoulder and gave a seductive wink. Instantly, the temperature inside my kitchen hit fever pitch.

As nonchalantly as possible, I took another drink as her brow rose and she dropped the bra by her feet. Then calm as you please, she bent over and placed her hands on my counter.

Fuck, nothing had ever been so tempting in all my life.

Her hair was flowing in tousled waves and her tight ass was angled out toward me, encased in the sexiest, most feminine piece of lace I’d ever seen.

But this game, this
tease
was making my blood pump. It was making my cock pound, and it had made me
feel
. Which is exactly what I wanted.

“You look untouchable.”

She glanced back at me, and for the first time since we began, she spoke.

“I really hope that’s not true.”

* * *

Present…

“Have you dreamed of Daniel lately?”

The question is so far from what I’m expecting to hear that it stumps me for a second.