That first summer, I lied my way into a job at this nice little beachside restaurant. I'd been living on the streets for a few weeks but had learned how to keep myself clean in public restrooms. I spent most days in the public library so I'd have some place to go, and had researched how to get my GED online. At night I'd find a spot somewhere out of the traffic of the city to bed down. For some reason I felt freer on the streets than I had at home. I wasn't as afraid of being violated, but I knew I couldn't do it for too long before being found out. I got that job and studied for my GED and at the end of the summer had a nice little nest egg. I got my GED much earlier than I would have if I'd stayed in school the next two years, and just when things were starting to look up, my world came crashing down again. My boss cornered me in the storage room for a little cop a feel one evening while his wife was on the other side of the door restocking the shelves
I'd sensed something different in him, a slight change, like maybe he was more open to the possibilities of us. I was planning to work on that and enlist the help of the others if I had to. I got the impression that they would approve, and maybe with a little nudge... I wouldn't say he was ready for wedding bells like the others, but I had seen something more than interest in his eyes that time. I'd gone home with a warm feeling; things were finally looking up. My breath hitched at the memory of what followed and I reacted. "Easy baby, easy." Ty put the tray down and climbed on to the bed with me. I can't believe the way my body trembled. In my mind I knew I was safe, that nothing could reach me behind these walls, in his arms, but my body couldn't seem to grasp that. "Baby, I have to ask..." I knew what he was going to say before he gave the words free reign. I curved into myself as much as I could with his arms wrapped around me. It was the way he reacted that
I felt my womb contract at the thought of carrying his son, a son who would have the same look of mischief about his mouth even in sleep; a son who would be so fierce when it comes to the ones he loved. I hope that's what this all meant, I needed it to be. I climbed onto the bed and laid my head on the pillow next to his keeping my eyes on his face. It was the first time I'd been able to study him this closely. I know it's not PC to think like this, and he would most likely scoff at me for thinking it, but he was the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen I let my eyes travel down from his face. The tattoos begged to be touched, to be traced by my fingers or tongue. My heart raced at the thought and before I could get too carried away I drew my yes from the art that adorned his neck, chest, and arms. There was more evidence of what had gone on here. His hands were red and raw and there was a bruise starting high on his cheek. "Oh Tyler, I'm so sorry." I reached out and
I wanted to stop when I felt him tense and his body became like stone, but he was right, I needed to get it out. Now that I was saying the words out loud none of it made any sense. Carson had been after me for a while, asking me out on dates flirting, the usual. I never paid it more than the cursory notice because it was a regular occurrence; men were always hitting on me. This morning when I'd seen him at the diner even before opening I hadn't really thought much of it. I figured he was in a rush and needed his first cup of the day. I'd been about to tell him that it was gonna be a while before that could happen since I had to set up first, but before I could get the words out he'd started in. I didn't know until now that he was asking me about Ty and my relationship with him, how could I? There was no relationship. But now it all made sense, the reference to the mangy dog that I preferred over him. Asking me where I'd been the night before. How
For too long now we'd been going around in circles, barely fitting the pieces together. It looked like now we'd stumbled upon a big piece of the puzzle. "Not far and when we took a look with Quinn's new tech shit something pops that wasn't there before or that we couldn't see with the other. There's a faint outline in the earth that seems to lead from the boardwalk to somewhere on his land." "What the fuck are we really dealing with here?" I followed the outline with my eyes."Whatever it is we're gonna put it to bed brother. Now since you've got confirmation that he is involved with this shit, we have a decision to make. I know because he went after your woman you wanna put one in his head, I'm with you on that, but would it make more sense to get what we can out of him first?" "We'll have to wait on that Lo, our bird has flown the coop.""What?" I was out of my chair and across the room looking over Devon's shoulder. "What the fuck am I looking at?"
"Tyler wake up, Tyler can you hear me?" This wasn't like before but it was. It was as though he was trapped in a dream. I could see his eyes moving rapidly beneath his closed lids even as his body shook and flailed around on the bed. I threw my body over his when nothing else seemed to work, holding him as close as I could while whispering directly into his ear. "It's okay Tyler, you're safe now, come back to me, everything's okay, you're safe." He would settle a little and then start again, and still he didn't awaken. I could feel his body jerk and spasm intermittently as I ran my hands soothingly over his limbs, trying in vain to calm him. Was this about me, about what had been done to me? I couldn't be sure but I thought I heard him scream for his mama. That's the sound that had awakened me in fact. But now I wasn't sure. I'd never heard anything about his other family. In fact come to think of it, none of these guys ever seemed to talk about their lives befo
I knew it, knew after the fucked up day I'd had that I was gonna do this shit. I held her in my arms against my chest as the other girl who'd stolen my heart tried to push her away. I'm gonna have to get these two to come together looked like. "Zakira say uncle Ty." She rolled her eyes at me. I guess she was not pleased that I was sharing my affections. I kissed her little mouth and hugged her close with my other arm. The others were starting to relax and giving me the look. I know what that shit meant, it meant do you wanna talk about it? They knew the answer to that one too. I never wanted to talk about this shit I'd told them the story a long time ago, what I remembered and what had been written in the papers. But it wasn't something I liked revisiting too often. Why would I? It was the worse fucking time of my life. I figured I was gonna have to tell her though. Victoria-Lyn, since I'd decided to keep her, to blend our lives together, it was only fai
It was him. I remembered his face from the newspaper clippings. Only in these he was fucked up and he looked... was he dead? Later the commander told me what he'd done. How he'd looked up the case and called a few people to get the whole story and then he'd called in a few favors and had the scum taken care of. There was nothing I could say. I'd long been trying to figure out how to do the same thing myself. But for this man who I looked up to like a father to take that upon himself for me, it had solidified our relationship and brought us closer. I'd told the others what he'd done after his death, but Logan had seemed to know already, which didn't surprise me. His death had helped to ease some of what I was carrying around with me, but until now I didn't think anything could make what was left bearable. "He died in prison." That's all I told her before lowering my head and licking across her lips. My body shook for a whole different reason this time. It