Take Me Away (17 page)

"You can't be. You love me, remember?"

Tears burn my eyes when I hear she is dating him. Zara can't look at me. I know this is killing her too.

"Please," I beg her. "Don't do this. Give me another chance."

"I want to," she cries, "I want to so bad. I miss you and think about you, but I can't, Treston. You have to realize that I'm still broken." She clenches her chest and lets her tears fall. "Every day I wake up it's hard because I'm not waking up in your arms." I wince at her words.

"Then let me make this right."

"I'm done, Treston. I really am. There's nothing you can do or say to make me forgive you. It's too hard and you're not understanding where I'm coming from. Please, if you love me, then let me go."

"You're my everything. You're what I know. When we're together it feels like home and I'm happy. You fill my heart and make it easier."

"You did that for me too. I have to let you go and move on with my life. I have to focus on lacrosse. I have a game tomorrow, so please, can I leave?"

"Spend the night with me. Please."

I'm begging her and I don't care.

"No. You need to stop and let me go. I am over you. I won't miss you or think of you anymore."

CHAPTER 22

TRESTON

“ARE YOU FUCKING serious right now, Gavin?” I growl, staring him down.

“Come on man, it’s for a good cause,” he laughs, adjusting his polo and looking at himself in the mirror. “All the guys are doing it. Stop being a pussy and put on that million dollar smile.”

“Fuck you, man. This is bullshit.”

“Just let it ride,” the bastard laughs again.

I throw on a pink polo and stand in line, waiting to be called. The guys look excited while I’m here with a pissed off look on my face, waiting for this to be over and getting on with the night. Tonight's the boy toy auction to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House. I'm all for charity and giving back to the community. The nagging feeling I have isn't good. I've been paying attention to see who's bidding on who and Zara's been quiet. Too quiet.

The rules of the boy toy auction are that the winner is to make her boy toy do whatever she wants-non sexual of course. I'll be at the mercy of the winner for twenty-four hours. Now, this could go in my favor, or I could be in a bad position. I'm hoping for the former.

I’m the last one to be called and you’d think I’d be happy about this. Fuck. No.

“Ladies, get your money ready,” Coach Young announces, “I know you’ve been waiting for this moment for a while, but good things come to those who wait, huh?” There are cheers and girls calling out for me. “All right, you know the rules ladies. Behave and remember this is for charity. Now, let me hear you yell and scream for Treston
The King
Parker!” The girls go crazy as I shake my head and put on my million fucking dollar smile.

As soon as I step out into the light on stage, the bids start and already I’m at two hundred dollars. What. The. Fuck?

“Okay I hear two hundred. Do I hear three hundred?”

“Three hundred!”

“Three sixty!”

All right, so maybe Gavin’s right. I slowly lift up my shirt, giving the girls my classic nod, hearing them scream for more. I turn my head to Coach and he gives me the thumbs up. Pulling off my polo, I twist it around my head and let it go, watching the girls jump in the air, trying to catch my shirt.

“Five hundred.” The fuck?

Zara.

Her voice resonates and soon she comes up to the front of the stage.

“Five hundred. Do I hear five fifty?” Coach announces, but his voice seems far away. My eyes stay on Zara and her face remains stoic. I can’t tell what she’s up to, but I have a feeling it’s not good. Damn, I’m in fucking trouble.

Once the auction’s over, I head out to the hall and meet the winner of…Well, me.

Zara Borzilleri.

“Looks like I have you
all night
.” Her voice sends chills down my body. Damn girl.

I turn and flash an annoyed look. “Oh baby, I'm ready for you. I knew you'd come running back to me.”

“That's what you think,” she winks, curling her index finger and motioning for me to come closer. “Plus, I get to show you how much of a bitch I really am. Isn’t that what you called me? No wait, you called me a
cold hearted bitch
. Well babe, you're about to find out how cold hearted I can be.”

Fuck. Me. I didn’t necessarily mean to call her a bitch and I didn’t know she was around. It's been a week since we've talked. Can't say I'm surprised she remembers.

“Come on boy toy. We have a fun night planned,” she laughs, looping her am through mine.

She gets in the car and when I go to open the passenger door, it's still locked. "Can you open the door?"

The window partly slides down and clothes are being thrown at me. I hold up the black dress and stare at her through the window. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

“Get dressed,
King.”

My mouth drops open in shock. "You serious?"

"Sure am, sweetheart. Go change."

Looking around, I can't believe she's going to make me change outside in front of everyone. I'm not ashamed or embarrassed. She thinks she's going to make me crack. It won't work though. I'm willing to do anything to make her see I want her back.

Taking off my clothes, I put on the dress and this bitch is tight as fuck. I slide my clothes through the window and wait for her instructions.

"Start walking."

"With no shoes?"

"Oh! Silly me. I forgot." She hands me a pair of hooker heels. Fuck. I'm going to break something tonight. "Go on. Put them on."

"Fine," I smile at her. Two can play this game.

Putting on the shoes, she tells me to start walking toward the fields and I do. The guys see me and laugh. I ignore it and take it in stride. I'm not going to let her see that she's getting to me, even though in my head I'm murdering her.

When we get to the field, Zara pulls out a whistle and tells me to run sprints while wearing these damn heels. She blows the whistle in my face and I do as she says.

“Come on Parker! Get your ass moving.” I remind myself that I love this girl and murder is not the answer. “High knees, Parker,” she commands. Again, I do as she says. This is her idea of a fucking fun date? The fuck is this girl thinking?

I stop in the middle of the field about to throw up. We’ve been doing this for almost an hour and my damn feet hurt. Shit.

She comes over to me and blows the whistle. “Did I say stop?”

“Blow that damn whistle again Borzilleri. I dare you.” She does and immediately I take off the damn shoes and stand in front of her. “What the fuck is your problem?” Her eyes go wide.

“I paid five hundred dollars for this date and I can do whatever I want on it.”

“And it goes to charity. This is supposed to be a
date
. You know, something you should try.”

She huffs, looking away. “I don’t have time to date anymore. Men suck, sort of like the one I'm looking at now. What I take that back. I’m looking at a
boy.
Anyways, it's live and breathe lacrosse,” she mutters, grabbing her bag from the ground. “Come on, let’s go to dinner.”

"Well, you have time for Henry, don't you?"

"He's just there, Treston. Enough talking. I don't want to hear your voice." We walk down the hill to the car and we both get in.

I notice charms hanging from her rearview mirror. "Who got this for you?"

"Henry."

The car starts and she drives. I'm not sure where we're going, but I'm still in the dress."Can I change?" She shakes her head. "Fine. I like this dress anyways."

"Good. It looks awesome on you." I look over and see a smirk on her face. Placing my hand on her thigh, she tenses and glares at me. "Take your hand off."

"Nope. I'm your date tonight. Remember?" She doesn't respond. "So, where are you taking me anyways, my awesome date?” I try to hide the sarcasm in my voice.

When we pull into a restaurant, there aren't any cars in the parking lot. I look at her as she's getting out. I'm not sure what her game is and I'm not going to lie, I'm scared. Following her inside, there's Gavin and Katy in the booth waiting for us.

"What's up?"

Gavin slightly shakes his head and I have a feeling this isn't going to be good.

Zara has me sit down and the lights get dim. "So, I decided to do things a little differently tonight."

"Zara, you sure you want to do this?" Gavin asks, with urgency in his voice.

"I'm a cold hearted bitch. Remember?"

"Once you do this, you might not be able to take it back, babe."

"Fine with me." Zara tells them.

Soon, a few blondes line up and I recognize each of them. She's not fucking doing this.

"So these are
some
of the girls tainted and hurt by our awesome Treston over here." I plead with Zara not to do this. She ignores me. "Go on girls, tell him how he's made you feel."

The first blonde talks, "You made me feel stupid. I walked in when you were talking to your friends and heard you tell them I was only good for a quick blow. That hurt. I really liked you."

The second blonde talks, "I knew who you were when we met. I didn't think you'd be that cold. We were having fun at the club then you up and left. I didn't have a ride home and didn't have cash on me. My friends left and my phone died. I was stranded. You made me feel like shit, Treston."

Before the third girl talks, I get up and yell, "Stop. I am sorry I did that to you girls, but please just stop." I turn to Zara, "Are you happy?"

A flicker of something is in her eyes. Does she feel bad? Guilty? Because if she's feeling anything, this girl has the best poker face. "Yes."

I don't say anything else. Instead, I walk out the door and open the car door to get my clothes. I'm sick of this shit. If she wanted to hurt me tonight and make me feel like shit, well she did it.

I give Jackson a call, asking him to pick me up. I kick the stones with my shoe trying to figure out what I should do. I know she's trying to push me away and hurt me so I'll leave her alone. These games of hers aren't working.

I hear a door open and close, hoping it's her. When I turn around, I see Peony walking to me.

"Hey. Sorry about tonight. I didn't know what she was doing. I just knew I wanted to be near you." Her fingers trace a line from my lips down to my chest. For one night, I want to forget. Just one night. I've been miserable without her and tonight shows that I might not get her back anytime soon. If ever.

"You know the score."

She nods, "I do." Licking her lips, I take her hand and take her to the back of the restaurant. This will be quick and for a few minutes, I can forget about her. Peony pushes me against the wall and I let her do whatever she wants. I feel her lips on my neck and she creeps up to my lips.

"No kissing," I tell her. "You know this."

"Sorry," she whispers and slowly gets down on her knees.

"I guess some things never change." I turn my head to see Zara staring at me. I see the tears in her eyes and run to her, not giving a fuck about Peony.

Catching up to Zara, I stand in front of her with my hands in the air. I hope she stops and listens to me. I need her to listen. "I'm sorry." I quickly say. "I'm sorry, okay?" I place my head in her hands, breathing her in, hoping she'll give me back the broken part of me to make us whole again.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'll let you get back to her." I don't let her leave.

"No. I need you to stay, okay?" I snap at her. "You intentionally tried hurting me tonight and it worked, Zara. I've been fighting off the skanks since you've been gone, but tonight, tonight fucking gutted me. I thought since you bid on me, we would have a chance to talk." I push down the tears. "I want us to talk."

"I can't talk to you," she whispers, her voice low and scared. Her head is low. My finger sweep to her chin, lifting her head so she can look at me again. She pulls away from me and again we're having a standoff. "I regret..." she starts to say.

"What? What do you regret? Me? Us? What?"

Her lips quiver and it's breaking my heart not to pull her in my arms and promise the pain will go away. "I regret meeting you. I regret everything about you. But the one thing I regret the most? I regret giving you
everything
. I gave you
everything
of me. My heart, soul and body. I fucking regret you and you know what, I'm sure that whatever happened to Emily is
your
fault."

This is something I never expected to come out of her beautiful lips. The quiet stab to my heart spirals me out of control. I'm falling and there's no one to catch me.

I look at her and see the tears in her eyes. Both of our worlds are coming down fast and hard, but I'm not upset or mad.

I'm fucking destroyed.

I didn't think I could ever feel this type of pain. It rings through my ears and the agony of her words slice through my body, cutting every piece of me.

"You regret it all?" She winces when I repeat the words back to her. All I can do is stare at her. I'm afraid to hear more and even more afraid to talk to her.

"So this is it?" She doesn't move or say anything. "Okay." I walk past her and push back the tears. Before reaching into my pocket again to call Jackson, I turn around and face her. She's staring at me. Staying where I am because I can't be near her anymore, "I love you, Peaches. I want you to know that. I don't regret anything. You're the best thing that's happened to me and my heart will always want you."

I see her swaying side to side. She can't look at me and I'm still standing before her, hoping this is a mistake. "Why?" Her voice is small and scared.

"Because I can't breathe." My voice cracks, "I can't breathe without you. I'm lost in this world. My home is gone and I have nowhere else to go." I take a few deep breaths. "Why'd you do that to me? You're shoving my past in my face and I'm trying to be a better man. You said some fucked up shit, Zara."