Missing Hart (17 page)

“Baby, not alone. I want you to come, too.”

Again she shook her head, popping off of my shaft with a moan as she began shuttling her fist up and down while she licked the tip. I felt my balls tighten up and knew that I wasn’t going to last, and when she sucked the tip into her mouth and tongued my opening I erupted into her mouth with a loud shout, watching in awe as she kept her mouth where it was so that she could swallow my release.

She made her way back up my body while I panted and wheezed like an old man who had just run a mile.

“Holy God Kitten… where did that come from?”

Giggling softly, she kissed my chest.

“I love you so much I just wanted to take you inside of me every way that I could today. I guess I missed you!”

“I missed you too Kitten, so much.”

Sitting up, she beamed down at me.

“Thank you so much for today baby. I hate to love and run, but I need to get home. Walk me to the car?”

This was the part of our daily routine that I hated, especially now since we’d been apart for an entire week. Instead of begging her to stay, I got up from the bed with her and threw on a pair of sweats while I watched her redress.

Too quickly I was standing with her beside her car, kissing her softly before telling her that I would see her the following night.

Although I hated to see her go, I was smiling like a lovesick fool when I got back into the house and started locking up for the night. Just knowing that she would be back the following day eased my spirit.

After making and devouring a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I went back into my room and went to get into bed. My face broke out into a huge smile when I saw that she had left a love letter for me, and I read it five times before texting her and telling her that she’d made me the happiest guy in the world.

After texting for a few minutes, we said goodnight. The sheets smelled of us and that made me happy. As I did every night that she wasn’t in the bed with me, I grabbed “her” pillow and curled up with it, breathing in the soft and delicate scent that was all her. Comforted and happy, I fell asleep with a smile on my face, anxious to greet the following day.

The big project we were working on was at a super exclusive private school up in the canyons, and this was the first day that students were back on campus after spring break. This part of the job was a rush because the landscape needed to be in place and thriving by the time graduation came in a few months.

Work had been a cakewalk last week when they had all been on vacation, but it was more difficult to work around the constant ringing of class bells and the ebb and flow of students walking near the garden space. Most of the kids were respectful but a few of the more obnoxious boys had come running through the area on some kind of a dare, knocking over a large portion of potted flowers that had already been laid out in a grid.

The highlight of having the students back at school was having four of the kids from the agriculture club out working with us for a few hours. They were bright kids, eager to learn and very into the theme of the garden. It was nice to see kids as wealthy as the ones that were in the garden helping us actually enjoying spending time doing work. I felt like a jerk for having assumed that manual labor wouldn’t be something that a teen that came from a family that could afford to send them to this school would be interested in.

One of Rick’s clients was part of the graduating class, so I knew that the cost of the tuition was almost forty thousand dollars a year. Add in another twenty thousand to that and I could have paid for my entire college degree. It seemed like a waste to spend so much money on high school, but I guess that’s just how rich people live. The parking lot was full of Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches and Jaguars, and I couldn’t believe parents were actually crazy enough to give their children cars that cost more than I earned in a year.

For all of that, I was really excited to be implementing the plans that I’d made up. While I’m not sure that high school should cost forty thousand dollars a year, I am sure that it buys a school property that is second to none. Rick had done all of the pre-project measuring for me, so when I set foot onto the campus last week I have to admit that I was blown away.

I couldn’t wait to bring Dominique out to show her the finished product. The garden led into an open-air pavilion where all of the graduations were held, and this landscaping made it all the more inviting. This was our last day of planting, although we would be back for the next four afternoons after classes let out to do the mulching and set the garden benches.

When I heard the sound of her laugh, I shook my head and silently called myself a giant idiot. All I had to do was think of her and immediately everything around me looked or sounded like her. I knew it was wishful thinking and looking at my watch I saw that the day wouldn’t draw to a close for three more hours.

One of the agriculture club kids, Tony, was busy planting a row of annuals under my supervision when I heard the laugh again. This time I didn’t ignore it, and turning around I saw a group of girls sitting in the outdoor eating area that was across the way from the garden area. The view was blocked with the shrubs and trees we had planted, so I leaned out to look for the source of the sound.

When I saw her sitting at one of the tables, I really thought I was imagining things. But then I realized that not only was she wearing the school uniform, she had the bangle bracelet I’d given her on her wrist. My jaw dropped as my mind started spinning like a hamster’s wheel, absolutely stunned when I realized that it had to be her since she was sitting next to a girl that was almost identical to her in every way.

Turning back to the kid I got his attention. “Hey, Tony, come here for a second.”

Standing and brushing off his knees, he came and stood at my side.

“What’s up Mr. Cooper?”

Pointing toward the girls I lied, “I think those girls might be my neighbors but I really can’t see that far. Are those the Morgan twins?”

Looking at where I was pointing, he shook his head and laughed. “No, those are the Hart twins, Dominique and Delilah. Their aunt is the reason you guys are planting this garden. She’s the President of the PTO and she donated the money for this to the school as thanks since it’s the twins’ senior year.”

Giving another chuckle, Tony pivoted and went back to work, all as I stood there and tried not to vomit. I was sleeping with a teenager who could be underage. I thought that she had turned twenty on her last birthday but clearly that wasn’t the case. For all I knew, she had turned seventeen. She’d also lied to me about her family, because there had never been any mention of the fact that they were obviously very well off.

Turning away from the rest of the crew, I pulled my phone from its holster with shaking hands, quickly typing a text that I sent to Dominique.

Me: Where do you go to college?

I watched as she picked her phone up off the table in front of her to read the message, and I saw that she looked upset.

Dominique: I’m in class baby, can’t talk. I love you.

I was so sick to my stomach that I couldn’t even respond. The lies came to her so easily that it shook me to my core. She had said that she was in class but I could clearly see her sitting at a table-in her high school no less-eating lunch with her friends.

Looking around frantically, I searched for Rick. Finally finding him on the ground working with the annuals on the other side of the garden I ran to him and told him that I was feeling really sick and needed to leave.

He took one look at me and apparently decided that I really did look ill, because he told me to go and not worry about it.

I ran to my truck like there was a fire behind me. I managed to make it four blocks before I had to pull over to vomit, the cramping in my stomach no match for the breaking of my heart.

What I knew now was that everyone lied and no one could be trusted. Marissa with her assurances that she wasn’t going to hurt herself had been a lie. After that I put my faith in Dominique, never questioning the picture of a college student that was presented to me. All of it had been nothing but a damn lie. She probably laughed her ass off with her friends about the older guy she was dating. I’d bet I was the laughingstock of that rich kid school.

My breath knocked out of me like I’d been punched in the gut when I thought back to the night before and realized that we’d had sex without a condom. If I’d gotten her pregnant, my life was over. Her well-to-do family wasn’t going to put up with a twenty-five year old landscaper defiling their beautiful princess, and if she turned out to be underage, I’d probably be charged with statutory rape.

My text message alert sounded, and after dry heaving a few more times I felt solid enough to check my messages. Looking at the screen I felt nothing but rage when I saw that the message was from her.

Dominique: I love you and I can’t wait to see you this afternoon.

Reading those words sickened me now that I knew the truth about what she had done. Everything she said was nothing but one giant lie.

She didn’t love me.

You didn’t lie the way that she did to the people that you loved.

Was she sitting in class with her friends, showing them our texts? Was she showing off by bragging about the older idiot that she had bagged?

I felt myself turning to stone inside at that moment as I shut every emotion inside of me other than anger down completely.

I was nothing but a sappy fucking chump. Something about me apparently screamed, “lie to me,” and I got what I fucking deserved for being such a stupid asshole.

Those days were done. I wasn’t going to be that guy anymore. Being nice gave people an open invitation to shit all over you.

Loving Dominique Hart was the biggest mistake of my life and once I was rid of her, I would never make the mistake of trusting or loving anyone again, ever.

I’d sent four separate texts to him telling him that I loved him and hadn’t gotten any response at all. Dillon always answered me. He texted me every single morning without fail to tell me how much he loved me, and we always kept in touch during the day. Now he wasn’t texting me back and I was scared to death.

I had changed into running shorts and a tee shirt before leaving school, unwilling to waste time going home to change like I normally tried to do. My hands shook on the wheel as I drove, praying the entire way that nothing had happened to him. I could survive a lot of things, but I couldn’t lose him.

I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief when I turned onto his street and spotted his truck in the driveway. Maybe he had left his phone at a job site or maybe he was sick. Either way, his truck being there meant he was home and safe.

After parking my car in the driveway, I ran across the lawn into the house. Now that I knew that he was safe, I needed to touch him. I burst through the door calling his name, but skidded to a halt when I saw him standing in the doorway that led from the kitchen into the living room. His arms were crossed over his chest and he looked very, very angry.

My stomach plummeted and all I could say was, “Baby?”

He shook his head and gave me a look of pure disgust, and I knew in that moment that the text he’d sent me earlier asking what college I went to hadn’t been just a random question. Somehow, he had found out. That was the only thing that would make him mad at me, but I knew that once I explained it to him, he would forgive me.

“I think if anyone should be calling someone in this room baby,” he spat out, “it should be me. How about you tell me how old you really are, little girl? I think that I deserve to know if I should be preparing myself to go to jail for statutory rape.”

Feeling all of the blood drain from my head, I reached a hand behind me to hold onto the doorframe so that I wouldn’t fall down. Did he really believe that I would have gotten him into a situation where he could go to jail?

“I’m eighteen,” I choked out on a sob, “and I would never have done anything to hurt you like that.”

“So that’s it, then? You just lied to me about your age and the fact that you aren’t in college?”

I assumed he was asking me if I had lied about loving him, and I shook my head in the affirmative. “Yes, those were the two things I lied about.”

I didn’t think it was possible for him to look more disgusted with me, but somehow he managed it.

“Jesus, even now you can’t stop yourself from lying more. You let me think that your family was working class, just like me. Judging by the school you go to and the cost per year, I’m guessing that you’ve got a hell of a lot more money than any family in the construction business that I’ve ever heard of. Not even the most high up construction worker that I know could afford that school for not one but two kids.”

Shaking my head I sobbed, “I didn’t lie about that. They do work in construction. I just didn’t elaborate on the size of the company. The only reason I didn’t tell you about that was because I wanted to wait until I graduated high school to tell you everything there was to know about me.”

“You. Wanted. To. Wait.”

Each word was like a punch in the gut. I opened my mouth to respond, but he wasn’t having it.

“I’m nothing but a fucking joke to you! I bet you had a good time telling your little high school friends about the idiot gardener you were toying with.”

“NO! I never told anyone about you. No one knows about us!”

Once again I had said the wrong thing and now he looked even angrier.

“Ah, so I was your dirty little secret. Nothing like coming down from on high and getting your kicks with the common folk! Tell me, when did you decide that it would be a good idea to lie to me, and my family, about every aspect of your life?”

I was barely hanging on, each word from his mouth like a lash on my soul.

“It wasn’t my idea,” I whispered, “I never told you that I was in college, Marissa did. She was afraid that if you knew that I was still in high school, you wouldn’t approve of our friendship. I swear to God, I was going to tell you as soon as I graduated. I never wanted to lie to you baby.”