Giving It to the Bad Boy (21 page)

little sister.” Alex turned toward her. “That’s better.” He chucked her under the chin, and her watery smile grew. “You have that light back in your eyes.”

The tears came fast and strong, but this time she didn’t brush them away. She didn’t bother

telling Alex that Reese was the one keeping his distance. None of that mattered. She loved him, and

he loved her, and Kiera was sick of them being apart. She would make him see reason, make him

realize that they were good and right together. Things had gone downhill so fast, and she shouldn’t

have told him she needed time and thus pushed him away. He was doing what she wanted, and she

hadn’t told him how she felt before he was gone. Her time just got away from her, and with each

passing day she knew the mistake she had made. Kiera should have just talked to him, worked through

these problems, and been with the guy she loved. It was time for everything to level out once again.

“I may not like it, but I can’t stand to see you like this. The guy loves you, and it is clear you

love him. You should get what makes you happy, Kiera, what puts that smile on your face.” He held

her face in his hands and leaned forward to press a light kiss in the center of her forehead. “But if he ever makes you cry again I will break his arms and legs.” Kiera laughed and wrapped her arms

around his shoulders.

“Thank you, Alex.”

“For what, Goober?”

“For being the best big brother a girl could ask for.” She pulled back and smiled genuinely for

the first time since everything changed. “And also for letting me use your truck.” He chuckled and

reached into his pockets to give her his keys. Kiera didn’t waste another minute as she slipped on her shoes and raced out of the house. She needed to find Reese.

Kiera didn’t know where to start in her search for Reese. It was a Saturday afternoon and knew

he worked at the tattoo parlor on occasion, so that was where she went first. There were a ton of cars parked outside the small, rundown looking place, but she knew that it was a well-known and

respected tattoo shop. She didn’t see Reese’s Trans-Am, but thought it might be parked in the back

where she couldn’t see it. After parking her car and making her way to the front doors, she realized she felt lightheaded from her nerves. Why was she so nervous? Could it be the fact Reese could turn

her away, that maybe all this thinking had made him realize they really wouldn’t work out? What if he realized that the distance had been for the best?

Kiera shook her head, not wanting to go there. She’d worry about if and when the time came.

A bell jingled when she pulled the door open. Classic rock music played loudly, and the

buzzing sound of needle blended with the music. “I’ll be with yah in just a few. Take a seat, hun.” An older man with a long white beard and tattoos covering his arms and even neck called out as he

hunched over a middle-aged woman’s back. From the distance Kiera could make out the image of a

Koi fish on her shoulder blade. She sat down on the black, ratty leather couch and grabbed a

magazine. The cover showed a heavily tattooed woman in nothing but a few strips of fabric. After ten minutes of Kiera flipping through the pages the older man with the white bead stopped in front of her.

“What can I do for yah?” Kiera stood and set the magazine to the table beside her. Was this

Max, the owner and the only person Reese had ever looked up to?

“Um.” She looked around in hopes that Reese would magically appear from the backroom so

this would be so much easier. “I’m actually looking for someone. Thought he might be here.” He

didn’t say anything, just lifted an incredibly bushy eyebrow and waited for her to continue. “Is Reese Trenton working today?” A flash of surprise washed over the man’s face, and she wondered if it was

because someone in general was looking for him. That thought made her feel incredibly sad.

“Reese?’ He slowly said his name, and Kiera nodded.

“He, uh, he told me he worked here, but not his schedule or anything.” Kiera had tried calling

him when she first got in the truck, but since he didn’t answer she had no way of knowing where the

hell he was. She nervously twisted her hands together in front of her.

“Yeah, he works here, just not today.” He didn’t move from right in front of her, just continued

to watch her with dark, knowing eyes. She got the strange feeling that this man knew her, despite the fact she had never met him. Had Reese talked about her to him?

“Oh. Okay, thanks.” She turned to leave, but he called out to her. She stopped and faced him.

“I just want you to know Reese is a good man.” Kiera nodded, because yes, she knew this, but

was a bit confused as to why he was telling her. “He wouldn’t talk to me about what was bothering

him, but I knew it was because of you.”

Kiera turned fully around and knitted her brows at his words. “I don’t understand what you

mean.”

“Kiera right?” At her nod he continued. “I have known Reese for a very long time, and when he

told me about this girl, you, that meant everything to him, I knew you were something special. He has always kept to himself, never thought he was good enough, and got into more trouble then I liked.

He’s a good boy, though, and I love him like my own. He keeps things to himself, thinking that talking about his problems will burden others around him. So when I brought you up I could tell by the way

he tensed and refused to talk about it that things with you two weren’t right.” Max took a deep breath and walked over to the front desk. He stood behind it for a moment, clearly contemplating what to say next. “I shouldn’t be saying this to you, because it ain’t my business, but I have a piece of advice for you, since he clearly won’t listen to me. Never take something that makes your heart race or your gut clench for granted. There are not too many things in life worth fighting for, but when you care about someone, it’s only then that you walk to the ends of the world to make it work.” His words hung in the air, and emotion struck Kiera fast and hard.

“Thank you for that.”

He gave her a tight nod. “But I can’t help you ‘cause I don’t know where he is. All he told me

was he had been doing a lot of thinking.”

“Thank you again.” Kiera stepped out of the shop and just stood there. It didn’t take her long to

realize where he probably was. She got back in the truck and started heading for Mr. Kline’s

property, but she made a few turns and ended up driving slowly by Reese’s house, or what she

assumed to be his house. Her mother’s words about the Trenton’s home, and the fact Reese said he

lived on the wrong side of the tracks, had her hoping she was going in the right direction. The house, if it could be called that, looked like it was on its last leg. The paint was chipped and even bare in some places, and the roof was in desperate need of being repaired. The yard was bare of grass,

although there were a few brown patches sporadically placed. Reese’s car wasn’t out front, but she

did see an older man who was just as big as Reese stumble out of the house. He all but dragged a frail looking woman by the hand behind him. She knew, without a doubt, that those were his parents. The

man held a bottle of liquor in one hand, and the woman was giggling uncontrollably. It was clear they were drunk, high, or both. Anger filled her, and she played with the idea of going up to the man and kicking him in the balls, and shaking the woman until she saw reason. She knew, deep in her gut, that they were Reese’s parents. Instead of stopping and giving them a piece of her mind, she pressed her

foot on the gas and tightened her hands on the steering wheel.

She pulled into the small strip of dirt off the side of the road and got out of the truck. The walk

back to the pond seemed like it took forever, and her heart was beating a mile a minute. She wasn’t

worried about Kline finding out she was trespassing, because her thoughts were solely focused on

Reese. Kiera just hoped he was at the barn, because if he wasn’t the only other place she could think of looking was at Marcus’s. She finally reached the barn and stepped over the various piece of debris that littered the ground. Remembrance from her last time here filled her mind and made her move

quicker. Everything was so still and silent that she feared she had been wrong and Reese wasn’t here, but she rounded the corner and stepped into that little room Reese had confided to her in, and touched her so intimately. There he was, lying on the ground with his eyes closed and his ear buds in. For a moment all she did was stare at him. It seemed like so long since she had seen him last. He was big

and strong with his legs stretched out before him and crossed at the ankle, and his hands clasped

behind his head. The urge to go to him, wrap her arms around his middle and hold him close was so

strong that she started to do just that, but even with his eyes closed and his hearing blocked by the loud, angry music coming from his iPod, Reese sensed her. He snapped his eyes open and turned his

head so he was looking at her. For long seconds she didn’t move, didn’t even breathe. Slowly he

pushed himself up and turned off his iPod. His throat worked as he swallowed, and she could hear the force of it from where she stood. Now that she was so close to him she didn’t know what to say.

“What are you doing here?” He swallowed again.

“Reese, I—” The words stayed clogged in her throat, and she took a steadying breath. “I’m

sorry, but please don’t shut me out anymore. I know you think this is what I want, and I know I made you feel that way. I was stupid for thinking I needed time to think about things and work through

whatever it was that bothered me. This time away from you has been so hard for me, and I know that

it isn’t what was right. God, Reese, I love you so much.” She hoped he could see that her words

meant so much more. They held all of her emotion, all of her feelings, and most of all, all of her love for Reese Trenton. He stood slowly, and Kiera found herself taking a step back, worried that he

would tell her to leave. He hadn’t responded, and the weight of her words hung in the air between

them.

“What?” He swallowed again, and the closer he came the more she saw how raw his emotions

were. Tiny droplets of perspiration that hadn’t been there earlier beaded on his forehead. Looking

around the barren room, with the broken slats and busted roof, all Kiera could remember was the

secrets he had shared about himself, and the sense that their bond had somehow knitted even tighter.

“I love you, Reese, and I should have told you that before you left.” He took another slow,

almost hesitant step closer. “Alex told me what you said that day you came to my house, how you

cared about me.” Her palms were sweaty, and she rubbed them on her jeans. “Say something,

please.” He looked down at the ground, and fear and foreboding slammed into her. This was it, the

end of what she had with him. It had been a short, but fast and incredible and a relationship that

would she would compare all others to. Not able to look at him as she revealed her emotions, Kiera

stared at the ground. “I love you, Reese, and that scares the hell out of me.” She lifted her head to look at him, and a gasp left her when she realized he stood right in front of her. She drew his scent into her lungs and waited with bated breath to hear what his response would be.

For several seconds all he did was stare at her. Then his hand lifted, and he cupped her cheek.

She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.

“Look at me.” His words were low. “I thought giving you space and time to think was the right

thing to do. I know I don’t deserve you, but I’m a selfish bastard and hung on. It wasn’t until more time passed and I really thought about the two of us together that I found it was good those pictures had come out. You could see me for the person I am—”

She cut him off. “You are deserving of so much more than you give yourself credit for, and for

the way I treated you and acted after those pictures came out. Those pictures aren’t true, and the guy in those pictures isn’t who you are. I know that, Reese. My emotions were strong at first, and I didn’t know how to accept what I was seeing, but the love I have for you didn’t let me keep onto those

horrible feelings that you and I would not work out. I was scared to death of being ruined by you,

because that is exactly what would happen. It wasn’t stupid to let you walk away, but I was so scared of everything.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I hate that your life has been the way it is, but I want to experience so many happy things with

you. I want to create memories that bring a smile to your face and push away all the negative ones

away.” She was pressed into the hardness of his chest seconds later. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about everything, and how I acted. I hate that I let Andrea get between us like this, but I shouldn’t have let it happen.”

“You’re wrong, Kiera.” She stared into his eyes, about to argue his statement when he started

talking again. “I don’t deserve you. I love you, Kiera Sheppard, so fucking much. I can’t breathe

without thinking of you, can’t eat or sleep. This time away from you, even if I thought it was what was best, has been hell. I’ve been walking around in this fog, hoping it would pass but knowing in my

heart it wouldn’t.” He pulled back and looked down at her, his tears a steady fall down his cheeks,

the same as hers. “I know all of this is crazy, that we are young and have years ahead of us.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again the blue of his irises was so vibrant

they seemed unreal. “I have never been surer of anything than I am that you are mine, and the fact you want me as much as I want you humbles me, and makes me see hope for my fucked-up life. I will