Seventeen Days (30 page)

“Are you sure? Not even if a semi passes us, they won’t be able to see?” 

“Promise babe.” 

She goes a step further than I ever dreamed possible and pushes her dress all the way up to her waist revealing her matching panties to me. She hooks her hands into the sides and pulls them down her legs, one side gets caught on her shoe, but it doesn’t stop her for more than a second. She quickly tosses them at me while tugging her dress down at the same time. 

Fuck. Me.

Now that was what I call a tease. And here I thought I was hard as stone a minute ago. 

“Morgan?” 

“Yes?” 

“Be ready ‘cause I’m going to fuck you hard as soon as we make it one step inside the office door. You'll be screaming so loud we may break the windows. I’ll be backing you up against those said windows you like so much and screwing you senseless. I planned on being on the boat at sunset, but now I’ll be inside of you instead. I want you to know it’ll be a hard fucking and not soft. My need for you is so bad I can’t fucking see straight, we’re lucky I can still drive this truck.” 

“If I didn’t want it hard, I wouldn’t have thrown my panties at you.” 

It’s all the reply I need. 

My little vixen wants it rough tonight. And I’m going to oblige her.

Two hours later we finally made it out on the gulf. We saw the sunset all right, exactly like Harrison promised while he was inside of me, making me scream. We set off our own fireworks. 

Knowing I had to talk to him tonight about a few things, I may have sidetracked him a bit by tossing my undies at him. After getting over my initial shyness about someone seeing me, I was turned on by the idea that someone may. 

“I’m going to miss the water when I’m back in the city.” I might have only been here for a few weeks but I’ve gotten used to being within a stone's throw from the ocean. No smog, either. Breathing in clean air is amazing. I’m sure my lungs will hate me for going back—they’ve enjoyed the clean air.  

“You could always stay. Go to school here in the winter. Take a semester off. Lots of people do that.” 

“Trust me, I’ve thought of it myself already.” Reaching across the table, I grab his hand. “But I can’t. There’s a few things I’d like to tell you, if you’d like to hear them. They’re not behind my reasons for leaving, but they’re part of who I am. My reasons for leaving have to do with having to find the answers for myself and have nothing to do with you, Harrison. Or my feelings for you.” 

Breathing in deep, I gulp in as much fresh air as I can. Shit, why did I think it was a good idea to open up to him more tonight? Why couldn’t I wait until I was back in New York and we were talking on the phone? I’m such a wuss. 

“Of course you can talk to me. I’ll always be here for you. No matter what. Forever if you’ll have me.” 

Forever?
 

Do I want to spend forever with him? Yeah, I think I do. 

“You know how I lost my virginity already. This is connected … in a way.” Using my free hand, I start twisting my hair around my fingers. Shit, I’m nervous. 

“You may have guessed a bit of it already. I’m not sure what all you overheard when Sienna was here. Nothing in my life was free. Ever.” Letting go of my hair, I grab my glass of wine and take a deep gulp. “Whenever I wanted anything or needed anything, food, clothing, whatever … I paid for it mostly in sex.” 

There. It’s out. 

Take a deep breath, Morgan. 

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

He isn’t saying anything and my hand he’s holding is turning purple he’s grasping it so hard.

I gasp while yanking my hand away. “Ouch. Harrison, you’re hurting me.” 

He pushes away from the table abruptly, and his chair falls over hitting the deck with a loud clatter. It’s the only sound besides my heavy breathing. He hasn’t acknowledged hurting my hand yet. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him face to face. He’s pissed. Does knowing this change the way he feels about me? The way he sees me? Does he see me as tainted now? Damaged goods? It’s the way I see myself, after all. 

You always seem to fuck things up, Morgan.
Anything good in my life, always goes to shit. 

“I’m going to fucking
kill
her
,” he shouts. He’s gripping the rail almost as hard as he was gripping my hand. His hands are turning white. “Did you fucking hear me
? I want to kill her.”
 

Well, shit. He’s not mad at me, he’s mad at her. My bitch of a mother. He needs to calm down before he does anything stupid. Like actually find her and kill her. Good thing we’re in the middle of the ocean. 

“Harrison, you can’t. You’ll go to jail and I … I need you. Please don’t ever do anything about this. I’m safe now and it’s all that matters. You have me now. I’m with you. Always.” Getting up, I reach him and pull him into my arms. He’s crying. “Baby, don’t cry for me. It’s over. I lived through it and it brought me to you. It was a living hell, but I’d do it all over again if it meant I got to have you in the end. You're my angel at the end of a long line of demons.”  

It may have taken me until right in this moment to realize it but Harrison is my angel. He’s been worth everything leading up to this exact moment.
He
is worth living for. Trust me, I’ve thought about ending it all before. But now, I know why I never could. He was waiting for me. 

Would I trade my life for another? No, not now. Not after knowing how wonderful life can be with a man who truly loves you. No questions asked. A man who wants nothing from you in return. Whose love is given freely without strings. My God, how I love this man. Why on Earth do I want to leave to find myself? Because, Morgan, you have to know if this is real, and the only way to know for certain is to leave for a while. 

Right?

I’m not sure how much time passes but I hold Harrison until his tears dry it’s only then I realize I had been crying, too. It’s like our tears drying together helped heal our hearts, together. 

“Baby, have you ever shared this with anyone else? Amanda or Celene, maybe?” he asks. 

Obviously, I haven’t. It’s not like I go around sharing my innermost secrets with the world. I’d never have shared such horrors with Celene or Amanda. It’s like deep down I knew they weren’t truly my friends. 

“N-No, I haven’t. You’re the only one who knows. Well, besides my horrible mother, obviously.” Taking in another deep breath, I continue on, “She’s the one who’s always arranged for everything. It didn’t matter how old the person was, she whored me out to them. Old or young, it didn’t matter. Even if I didn’t like it, I had to abide by her rules. Till I turned eighteen. Although I did grow a backbone and throw down the gauntlet a few months ago. Told her I’d only do appearances, no dates, no sex. Nothing but appearances from there on out. And it worked. She had lost control of me.”  

“We should tell Savannah or Julian. And see about taking some kind of legal action against Sienna. She should pay for what she’s done to you. Just because you don’t want to bring it to light, doesn’t mean she should get away with this. She’s gotten away with doing this to you for four years. Fuck, she’s abused you for your whole life.” 

Hell no. No fucking way. Hard pass. That would mean bringing my personal life into the spotlight. I’d be all over the media. The press would have a heyday with me. I’d be the laughing stock of not only New York but Paris, Milan, London. Anywhere where Sienna is a household name. They’d accuse me of trying to get money from her and ruin her name. 

“No. Absolutely, not. There’s no way I could do that, Harrison. Maybe someday I could tell them, but I could never take legal action against Sienna. It’s done now. I’m okay, I lived through it, it’s all that matters to me. Please understand.”
Please, drop it.

“For now, we can drop it. But understand this, in the future, I’ll bring it up again. There’s no way in hell I’m okay with her getting away with doing this to you. There’s no fucking way.” 

He kisses my forehead, places a hand on my cheek, and gazes into my eyes. “I love you, Morgan, and can’t bear to know what you went through.” Sighing, he places another quick kiss upon my lips. “But knowing how it brought us together, I can’t help but be a tiny bit thankful. Life is truly messed up, isn’t it? All this fucked up shit brought us together. It’s like our paths were destined to cross.” 

“You know I love you too. That isn’t going to change when I leave for a couple of months. In fact, I think it’ll only grow stronger. Absence making the hearts grow fonder and all that shit.” Trying to bring humor to a humorless situation. Hey, it’s a step up from making it more awkward. I’m a work in progress. 

“As long as you come back to me, it’s all that matters in the end,” he says as he pulls me back into his arms. Holding me tight, he kisses me, and I feel all the love he spoke of. Nothing else matters but this moment. 

“Morgan, you will always have a safe harbor in me. Always. For all eternity. If things change between us and we don’t end up being together know I will always,
always
be here for you. You’re safe with me. Your secrets are safe with me. And I know in time you’ll tell me everything. All the gory details, every single thing she made you do. You can also believe me when I say she will pay for this. I’ll see to that. Karma has nothing on a Montgomery man in love.” 

Here I thought what he said before was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Those words right there,
those
are the sweetest sincerest words I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. 

“Thank you, Harrison. For loving me enough. For never questioning that. We may have only known each other what’s truly only a handful of days, but to us it seems like a lifetime. Who are we to question destiny? If you’re my safe harbor, the same goes for you. I’m yours, too.” 

Somehow, I know this trip into the city is only going to be to gather my things to bring back with me to Alabama. After these few words tonight, I feel like I’d be running from my future not toward it if I went to Columbia for a few months. What’s a couple of months off from school, when I can spend it here surrounded by people who love me preparing for a school nearby? Truly following my heart instead of my head? Suddenly, I feel a bit lighter than I did barely five minutes ago. 

Sometimes you only have to listen to your heart, no matter how selfish it sounds. I’m going to do exactly that now. Always follow my heart. My heart is leading to me Harrison. 

“Harrison?” 

“Yes, babe?”

“When I come back from the city, will you take me to visit UoA’s campus? I’d like to take a look around and get a feel for it. And see exactly how far of a drive it is from here.” He said once it’s about a four-hour drive. I could handle that a couple times a month to visit. Maybe more. 

“Of course, we can do that. Let’s plan it on my next set of days off. We’ll stay Monday night and drive back the next day.” 

Sounds perfect.

Waking up the next morning to an empty bed has me in a panic until I hear the shower running. For one brief moment, I thought maybe Red had left for the airport without me. 

That. Would. Have. Sucked. Major. Balls.