Wanting More (16 page)

Like a freaking maniac, Ty went running out the front door. “Ty wait! Where are you goin’?”

“Drive me to the airport, Conner. If I leave in the next hour, I can beat her there.”

“She’s not goin’ to want to talk to you.”

“I don’t care. She needs to know the truth, even if she doesn’t want me anymore, she needs to know that I never wanted it to happen. I would never have done that to her or to our family. She’s all I want, she’s all I’ll ever want.”

“I get it Ty, but right now, she’s a mess. Hell, she couldn’t even tell me what she was plannin’. Just give her a few days. She’ll miss you and want to talk. Come on Ty, she was willing to trust Tucker again, she’ll forgive you. I will help you.”

He continued shaking his head and pacing around. “I can’t just stand here waiting. I have to see her. I have to be close to her. I need to see my wife.”

“Fine, I’ll take you. When things get worse, don’t say I didn’t tell you so. I know my sister and she needs time.”

“She needs to know that those pictures were not my doing. I threw up when that bitch tried to kiss me. Do you really think I’d let her put her fucking pussy in my face? You’re a fucking guy, and I know that you wouldn’t do that shit to someone you hated. I’ve done that to two people in my life and you know both of them. That is the picture that broke your sister’s heart. She needs to know it ain’t real.”

I threw my hands in the air. Arguing with him was a lost cause. He was completely irrational.

“I need to call Van.”

I turned around wondering if I’d heard him right. “You really think you want to talk to her about this? Isn’t Heather the one who Van caught you with? You really think she’ll believe you?”

Ty’s hands came down on my dashboard. “God Damnit! I don’t know what to fucking do. I messed up so bad. This isn’t just about losing my wife, I’m losing my whole family. Heather knew this would happen. She did this shit on purpose to ruin my life.”

I pulled over and put the car in park. “Just hear me out. I know the shit is crazy right now, but neither one of you are goin’ to do any good to each other by hashing this out tonight. Let her get to Kentucky and calm down. Call Colt and Van if you need to, but just wait this out, Ty. I got a plan that might just save your marriage. I need you to calm down and trust me. Can you do that?”

Ty climbed out of the truck to clear his head. I wasn’t about to tell him that I was already trying to get the truth out of that fucking bitch. I felt bad for not having found out the truth before this catastrophe happened and my sister had to be destroyed in the process.

Ty climbed back in the truck. “Just turn around. I don’t know what you have planned, but I will give you the night to figure it out. Even if I went to Kentucky, there’s nothing I could say to convince her to come back to me. I know she’s done. You can say she will forgive me, but she’ll never be able to trust me or look past it. I need to face the music. She’s gone. My family is broken because I’m the biggest fucking idiot on the planet.” He beat on the dash again.

Once I got showered, I handed Ty a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He needed to just drink himself drunk and pass out. I knew where I needed to go, but there was something that I had to do first.

I dialed my sister’s number and got no answer. I wasn’t surprised. She hated talking when she was mad. Without even thinking about the time of day it was or even if she’d still be there, I drove to the salon.

The lights were out, but her car was still in the parking lot. I knocked on the door and heard her approaching. She looked shocked to see me and looked around outside, before letting me in. We stood there in the dim lit salon. “What are you doing here? You could have called me.”

I started pacing. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinkin’. Look, that bitch showed up at my house today with pictures of her and Ty naked in a bed. I just left my brother-in-law a cryin’ wreck at home and I can’t get in touch with my sister. I know she’s goin’ to Kentucky, but I have a terrible feelin’ about this.”

“So, now that there’s pictures, doesn’t that mean he really did it?”

I shook my head. “That’s just it. They look posed. His eyes are closed and he isn’t touching her in any of them. Plus, someone else had to take the damn pictures. I’m telling ya, he’s bein’ set up.”

“How are you going to find out about these pictures. It’s not like you can ask her.”

I grabbed her and pulled her chin up. “Kiss me.”

She reached up and touched her soft lips to mine. “You’re scaring me.”

“Sit down for a minute.” She gave me a funny look but led me by hand to where she sat down.

Once she was seated, I crouched down in front of her and rubbed my hands over her thighs. I smiled and let out an air filled laugh. “Would you just tell me what is going on? Conner, please. You are being strange.”

“Do you remember when we first met?”

“How could I forget? You were the biggest douche I’d ever met.” She pulled my hat off of my head and stuck it on hers while she giggled. “You thought you were king shit.”

I kept smiling, thinking back on it. “I still am.”

“Whatever! Would you just tell me what’s wrong.”

“I wouldn’t change the way I acted that day, if I had to do it again. There was somethin’ about you, even back then. You were a little firecracker, not takin’ any shit from me. It made me want you more.”

She bit down on her lip and played with my hair. “You need a haircut.”

“Yeah, my personal stylist refuses to cut my hair naked, so we are at a catch twenty two in that department.” She leaned down and kissed my forehead. I grabbed her hands and played with them while I thought about what to say. “I have to do somethin’ and you’re not goin’ to like it very much, but I can’t go through with it until I know I’m not goin’ to lose you.” I held my hand up over her mouth. “Just wait a minute, darlin’. I know you say I don’t have you, but the way I see it, you’ve been mine for a while now. Like it or not, that’s just the way it is.”

“Conner, you know my situation. Just tell me what you’re thinking about doing. Nothing can ruin our friendship.”

“This ain’t about a friendship, Amy.” I stood up and walked around the room.

“Fine! You’re not just my friend, Conner. You’re right, you’ve always been more to me, but it doesn’t change our situation.”

“But sleeping with Heather would, right?”

I turned around to look at her shocked face. “Why would you ask me that? You said you weren’t going to do it. Did you lie to me?”

I grabbed her arms and got closer to her. “No! I didn’t lie to you, but everything has changed now. She’s sabotaged my sister’s happiness.”

She threw her arms in the air. “Why does it have to be sex? Why Conner? It just seems like an excuse to sleep with her.”

I approached her from behind and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back into my chest. “Maybe it won’t come to that, but I was tryin’ to do the right thing and tell you the truth, because when this is all said and done, no matter how it turns out, I want to be with you.”

“I can’t deal with this. Do what you have to do, Conner. I can’t stop you and I don’t even have the right to.”

“You do though. Hell, I wish you would just fight me about it. Get mad, but fucking say how you feel.”

Her hands formed into fists and she pushed me away from her. “I hate my life! I hate that I have to live in that house with that disgusting excuse for a man. I hate that I can’t find a way out no matter how bad I want to. I hate that you touch her and let her do things to you. Most of all I hate how I feel about you, Conner. Do you hear me? I hate feeling this way because of you. Please just go do what you have to do.”

I took her into my arms and held her tightly against my body. “The only thing I have to do right now, is be with you. You can fight me all you want, but you and I are aren’t leavin’ this place until you calm down.”

Tears poured out of her eyes and I felt like I couldn’t get away from over emotional people. I knew I was going to hurt her, but in the long run, even if she never forgave me, I wanted her to know I was honest to her. I owed her that much. “I’ll be fine. I always am.”

“Yeah, I get that, but you also always find your way back to me. I just need you to promise me that I’m still goin’ to be your go-to guy.”

She finally stopped fighting and let me hug her. “Well, it’s not like anyone else wants the job.”

“Maybe because they know I will fuckin’ kill them.”

She patted me on the shoulder. “You have to go. Rick comes home tonight and if you’re going to be indisposed, I have to put on a happy face and have his dinner ready.”

“There’s just one more thing I came here to tell you, Amy.”

“What? Put poison in his dinner?”

I leaned down and kissed her, holding her lips to mine, knowing this could be the last time I got to do it. “I love you, Amy.”

Chapter 20

Amy

Speechless! That's what I was.

Conner stood right in front of me with the most serious face I had ever seen him have. This beautiful man had just said something to me that changed everything. He'd been waiting patiently for me to make a decision and this was his last Hail Mary.

"Did you hear me, darlin'? I just told you that I loved you and you're just standin' there like you didn't hear me."

I wanted to break into a crying fit. There was nothing that I wanted more than to be able to tell Conner how I really felt about him. I was so flabbergasted and overcome with pure happiness. "I heard you. I just wasn't expecting you to say something like that."

Conner reached his arm around me and used his other to brush his fingers over my lips. "I can be a selfish man, Blaze. I’ve always taken what I wanted and didn't think about who I hurt to get it. I've done everything different with you though. I've been patient and I've sure as hell been understanding with your situation. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to sit at a damn table with that son of a bitch that put his hands on you. You don't know how hard it was for me to not knock his ass out."

"I would have been happy if you had. He means nothing to me."

He brushed our noses, letting his lips barely touch mine. "Are you sayin' that because maybe you're in love with someone else?"

His kiss was slow and steady. As it intensified, I felt his hands reaching up the back of my shirt. My emotions were all over the place. I pulled away from Conner just enough to catch my breath. "I..."

His phone started ringing and he grabbed it out of his pocket. "Hold that thought, darlin'."

Conner played with my hair as he answered the phone, but in the short time it took him to say 'hello', his hand dropped and his face turned bone white.

He put the phone down and looked at me with a terrifying look on his face. "I have to go."

He didn't explain who was on the other line, or why he left in such a hurry. I knew something was wrong for him to bolt out the door the way he did. I grabbed my own phone and started dialing numbers, trying to make sure Miranda was alright, but it kept going to voicemail. I'd never seen Conner look like that before, so I ran out into the parking lot, but he was already pulling away. I went back inside and walked over to sit down until I could get someone to answer their phone. After calling Conner and Miranda's number with no answer, I heard the salon door opening. I got up and started running toward it. "Conner, my God, what is..."

Rick stood there with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "How long you been fucking him, you little slut?"

I backed a few steps away from him. "What are you talking about?" It wasn't like I could tell the truth about it.

He pointed toward the door. "You want me to believe that when you've been here in the dark with him for the last forty minutes?"

I shook my head. "No, he came to talk about Heather, I swear. I was closing up when he pulled in and I just sat and talked to him."

He walked toward me, frightening me more with each step. I backed up until I hit a station and prepared myself for what was coming. "You expect me to believe such a bullshit story? Give me your damn phone."

He held out his hand and to prevent things from getting physical, I reached in my pocket and handed him my phone. I watched him looking through my messages and flipping through it. He held it up so I could see it dialing and put it on speaker phone. It rang four times before I heard what I feared.

"Hey, you got Conner. You know what to do next."

Without hitting the end button, Rick took my phone and broke it in half. "How much you want to bet me that number shows up all over our phone bill?"

I don't know why, but I was more upset with him breaking my phone than the fear of him putting his hands on me. "We're friends, that's all, I swear."

The back of his hand hit my cheek and sent me falling to the hard floor. I caught myself with my hands and felt the sting through both of my wrists. "Stop lying, cunt! How long have you been fucking him?"

So many things were running through my mind, but most of all Conner's words repeated. He loved me. I clenched my fists and sat up, rubbing my face. "Why do you even care? You've been cheating on me for years. Hell, you'd think you'd be happy if someone else wanted me so you could move one of your little road conquests right in."

Another slap hit me, but this time I blocked it with my hands. The force sent me down, but there was no harm done to my face. He grabbed me by my hair and pulled me to stand up in front of him. The pain felt like each follicle was being ripped out of my scalp. "You think I am going to let you just walk away and be with someone else? I ain't being laughed at in my own damn town, you hear me?" He put his hand around my neck to prevent me from looking away from him. "Now, you're going to go home and make me dinner and when your little boyfriend tries to call you, he ain't going to get an answer. In fact, if I even catch you talking to him again, I'll fucking kill you...and that's a promise."

I couldn't hold back the tears. "Just kill me now and get it over with. You've already taken everything that I loved and ruined it. I hate you so much!"