The Fate of Us (The Broken Lyrics Duet Book 2)

by Tori Fox

  She turns to me. “Thank you for bringing back the peace this place once had.”

  I lean in and press a kiss to her curls before she starts playing a song. My hand drifts up and down her spine as her raspy voice caresses the wind. The song is a beautiful love song that I’ve never heard before. I can only guess it’s an original.

  I listen to her play for almost an hour as the sun finally sets behind the trees. She sets her guitar down and faces me.

  I press my lips to hers and pull her up. I grab my phone out of my pocket and turn on some music as I lead us into a slow dance on the porch.

  Her hands wrap around my neck, playing with the hairs at my nape as we sway back and forth. The salty breeze of the ocean floating between us.

  I get lost in her eyes. I can see why this place was so important to her. Can see what it does to her. There is a calmness and serenity to her. I bring my lips to hers, I can’t help it. My feelings are strong and overpowering and I want nothing more than to love her.

  She pulls away from me, searching my eyes. “Noah, I—I, you make this all seem right. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”

  “I would have found you no matter how long it took, Anna May.”

  Her hand sweeps down my cheek, brushing over my lips before trailing down to my heart. “I love you.”

  My heart aches at those words at the same time a fire erupts inside of me. I can’t hold myself back this time as I attack her lips with need and hunger. I pull her legs around me and set her on the porch railing as I kiss down her neck, between her breasts, and back up.

  I want to say the words to her. To tell her I feel the same way, but my heart is fighting it, telling me this can’t be real.

  I drop to my knees in front of her, hoping I can show her how I feel until I can find the words.

  She groans as I pull her panties to the side, swiping my tongue through her wet heat. I grip her hips to keep her from falling off the railing of the porch as I devour her. I slide a finger inside, curling it until I hit that spot that makes her moan.

  “Fuck, Noah.”

  I grin into her pussy as she moans exactly when I knew she would. I suck her clit into my mouth as I insert another finger inside of her, working her to the edge before slowing back down.

  Her legs wrap around my back, urging me closer. “I need you, Noah,” she groans as she throws her head back.

  I suck her clit into my mouth one more time, bringing her right back to the edge before I pull away from her completely.

  “Why did you stop?”

  I grin at her before throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her into the house. I stomp down the hall into her room and throw her on the bed. I climb over her, undoing the tie on her dress, exposing her body and the sexy as sin forest green lace lingerie she has on.

  “Fuck,” I moan, rubbing my hand over my mouth.

  She wiggles the dress off herself before scooting up the bed and spreading her legs wider.

  “You like?” she rasps.

  I pounce on her. This woman is so fucking sexy and she doesn’t even realize it. But in the bedroom, all her reservations disappear. She becomes my wildflower.

  Her hands go to the button of my pants while I slide mine under her ass pulling her closer to me. When she gets my dick out, I pull her all the way on to my lap. I can feel the warmth of her pussy through the lace of her panties. I lift my legs so I can shove my jeans down past my knees. She unbuttons my shirt, licking her way up my torso. She rips my shirt off just as I pull her panties to the side, driving hard into her heat.

  Her legs straddle my thighs as she rides me hard. She braces herself on my shoulders, her nails digging into my back with every thrust.

  My hands dive into her thick curls, bringing her lips to mine. One hand slides down to her hip, helping her pick up the speed of our movements.

  “Noah, oh my god, Noah.”

  I know she’s close. I shift my hips to hit her right where I know it will bring her over the edge.

  I look into her eyes just before we both come and I see everything in them.

  I see the ghosts of my past disappearing.

  I see the woman I love.

  I see my future.

  “Anna,” I shout as we both find our release.

  Her lips are on mine and I fall backward, her body lying on me. I manage to kick off my jeans that were still around the bottom of my legs.

  I roll us to the side so we are lying face to face. I brush a wild curl off her face and cup her cheek. “I love you, Anna May Cooper.”

  She smiles as she presses a kiss into my hand. “I love you too.”

  I never thought I would find someone like her. Someone that made me forget all the shit that happened in the past. All the shit that made me want to never feel like this again. But letting myself go, letting myself love her, it feels like the best thing in the world.

  I slowly remove the lingerie she has on. Giving her body every ounce of attention it deserves before I make love to her over and over again.

  8

  Anna

  “If you keep biting on that lip, I won’t have anything to kiss later,” Noah says to me as we drive to my parents’ house.

  We just dropped Jed’s car off at his house and now I am in the car with Noah for the fifteen-minute drive over. I was glad he wasn’t in the car with me from South Carolina because I bit off every one of my nails and bit the inside of my cheek so hard it started bleeding.

  I know I am going to have to tell my family the truth. The rumor’s out. Everyone knows that Becca had a kid with Kyle. But I need to let them know everything. They deserve it.

  I tried to convince Noah to let us stay one more day in the cottage but he said we needed to spend a day in Hartswell. I knew he was right but I loved the time we had together at the cottage. The day after we went to dinner we spent between the sheets. We watched the sun rise and set and spent some time outside, but most of the day was spent in the arms of each other.

  It felt good to give in to my feelings. To let myself finally tell him I loved him. And instead of being scared when it happened, waiting for him to pull away from me, he didn’t. He showed me what those words meant to him. And when he told me them in return, my heart nearly burst.

  This feels like love.

  Not what I thought was love with Kyle.

  This is a feeling I never felt before and it had me high as a kite yesterday.

  But today I am scared as shit. I don’t know how my family is going to react. Especially when they find out how much of a dick he was and how much I put up with.

  I still wonder why I didn’t break up with him sooner. Why I didn’t let myself think about how his behavior changed.

  Every mile we get closer to my parents’, the panic starts to set in a bit more. All the thoughts I let disappear when I was with Noah at the cottage come flooding back. My breathing gets heavier as I try to find a way to calm down. My thoughts turning to Noah, wondering if this is all a dream. If I’ll wake up and he will be gone.

  I don’t even notice the car pull over to the side of the road until Noah is gripping my cheeks. “Baby, it’s going to be okay.”

  I start to sniffle. “I need to tell them everything, Noah. How are they going to react when they find out what I put up with? What I hid from them for years?”

  Noah brushes a tear from my cheek. “They won’t think any less of you. You did nothing wrong. They already know the worst parts of it all. They are just going to want to make sure you are okay.”

  I nod as I try to find my breath.

  “You are strong and resilient. It’s going to be okay.”

  I take a deep breath as I find a bit of peace with Noah’s touch. But then Becca’s face floats through my mind. “What about Becca?”

  “You don’t need to talk to her today if you don’t want to.”

  “What if she finds out I am back at my parents’?”

  “I won’t let her through the door.”
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  I smile at him as I slowly calm down.

  “Mayberry, you got this.”

  He squeezes my hand as we sit on the side of the road for ten minutes. When I feel calm enough, we pull back on the road and head to my parents’.

  Noah opens my door for me, leaning his built frame over me in the car. “You want a few more minutes?”

  I shake my head just as I see my sister walk out the front door of the house. “I can do this.”

  “I know you can,” Noah whispers as he presses a kiss to my forehead.

  He helps me out of the SUV as my sister approaches. She flings her arms around me the second she is next to me saying she is sorry over and over again.

  I look at Noah but he looks away. Jess must have known. She must have known and never told me.

  I pull away from her, accusation in my eyes. “You knew, didn’t you?”

  “I’m so sorry, Anna May. I should have told you. But I couldn’t find the strength or courage. I didn’t want to break your heart. I didn’t—”

  I hold my hand up in front of her. “How long?”

  She looks at the ground, avoiding eye contact.

  “Godammit Jess, just tell me.”

  “When he was about a year old.”

  I scream so loud I know the neighbors are looking out their window. Noah runs up to me and wraps his arms around me from behind. “You knew all this time. You knew and you didn’t tell me?”

  Jess starts sobbing. “I didn’t want to destroy you. God, Anna, you were already so broken after losing him. I didn’t know you even knew he had an affair. Maybe if you had told someone that, told me that, I would have told you about Becca’s kid. But—”

  “Don’t you dare blame me for keeping that a secret. You should have told me. Becca was my friend. You knew I still talked to her. You knew—”

  “I tried to tell you.”

  “No you didn’t. You were a selfish bitch and kept it to yourself. When you knew that was one thing I should have fucking known.”

  “I fucked up, Anna May. I know. I’ve been kicking myself all week for not telling you sooner. Not giving you any kind of warning.”

  “You’re right, you should have told me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too,” I say as I pull out of Noah’s arms and head into the house, leaving my sister outside.

  “Anna May,” my mom says, wrapping her arms around me as soon as I step through the front door.

  “I’m sorry for running away, Mom.”

  “Honey, you don’t need to apologize for anything.”

  I hate to ask the question but I need to know the answer. “Did you know, Mom? Did you know like Jess did?”

  She grips my shoulders. “No, honey, I had no idea.”

  I bite my lip, holding back tears as I feel Noah place a hand on the small of my back.

  “Come on. Let’s go sit down and talk. Your father is making some snacks. Do you want something to drink?”

  “Vodka.”

  “Okay honey,” she says, not caring about my need for booze.

  We walk into the kitchen and take a seat at the large dining table where Connor is already sitting. My dad sets a plate of shrimp cocktail down before wrapping me in a hug.

  “Anna May, we were worried sick.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m just happy you have a man who would go to the ends of the earth to look for you.”

  It warms my heart to hear my parents approve of Noah. Our dinner we had here was one thing, but to get their approval after a bit of turmoil is even better.

  “Where were you?” Mom asks as she sets a vodka soda in front of me. “Noah wouldn’t tell us.”

  I give a glance of appreciation to Noah before taking a sip of my vodka. I guess now is as good of a time as any to tell them about Aunt Sheila’s cottage. I take one more large sip of my drink. “I went to Aunt Sheila’s cottage on Old Island.”

  “What?” my dad questions at the same time my mom says, “But I thought that place was sold by the executor of her estate.”

  I shake my head. “That’s what I told the lawyer to tell you. She left it to me in her will.”

  “Why wouldn’t she have said anything? Why didn’t you tell us?” my dad asks.

  Noah grabs my hand under the table. “You were so upset with her when I told you I wanted to go to school for music. You all stopped talking. I felt like I ruined your relationship with her. We were the only family she had and I ruined it. I didn’t want to make things worse. So when she passed and I found out she left me her cottage, I kept it a secret.” I take a sip of my drink as I continue. “It was a special place to me. And I wanted it to stay that way. I went to see her a lot when I was in college. I’m sorry I never told you guys. But she encouraged me to follow my dreams. She taught me so many things, not just about music but about life. I wanted it to be my secret. It was my sanctuary. At least it was until Kyle died.”

  “We understand,” my mom says as she looks at my dad.

  He nods in agreement. “You know we are proud of you and all you have accomplished. We never meant to hurt you like that when you were younger.”

  “I know. And I got over it quickly. Besides, I still went to college for music. You couldn’t stop me.”

  My dad laughs. “We definitely couldn’t.”

  I look at both my parents as I hear Jess sit down in the living room. I know she needs to hear all this even if I am pissed at her. “Jess, you can come in here. You deserve to hear this too.”

  She slowly gets up and takes a seat next to Connor.

  “I ran into Jed when I ran away from the engagement party. He gave me his car when he saw how desperate I was. I didn’t really understand, but he gave me a letter. And when I read that letter, I understood more than I could have ever thought.”

  I explain to them the real Kyle, the one he kept hidden from us all. The man I fell in love with wasn’t the man everyone knew and loved. I told them about the night Kyle died, the fight we had when he told me he had an affair. I told them I never knew about Becca and how it wasn’t until the day of Jess’ engagement party that I found out the truth about everything.

  My parents cry as I tell them everything I have kept hidden for years. They tell me they wish they had known. Wish I had told them so they would have understood better about why I stayed away.

  My mother is not too happy with Becca. Pissed that Becca would treat my mother like a saint. Acting like everything was the same as it was when we were kids. She felt betrayed and that is not a feeling my mother takes lightly.

  An hour later I am finally able to get some time alone with Jess, thanks to Noah distracting my parents. We sit outside on the front porch, watching the kids across the street play in their front yard.

  “I need—”

  “I’m sorry—”

  We both say at the same time.

  “Go first,” she says to me.

  “I shouldn’t have said those things to you. You aren’t a bitch. I just—it hurt knowing that you knew and didn’t tell me. God, so many things would be different if I had known.”

  “I never meant to hurt you, Anna May,” Jess says as she grabs my arm. “I thought I was helping by not letting you know what Becca did. In hindsight, it was wrong and I should have told you.”

  I sigh as I look over at her, taking a sip of my drink. “I just wish I didn’t lose all this time with you. With Mom and Dad. And I’m not blaming you for that. It’s my own fault. I shouldn’t have been the selfish one. I should have come home. I should have told you all sooner.”

  “You were hurting. None of us blame you for that.”

  “It’s been seven years, Jess. Seven years I’ve lost out on.” Tears stream down my cheeks as I talk. “God, I don’t know why I was so stupid. Why I let this all go on for so long. I should not be blaming you for my mistakes, Jess.”

  My sister wraps me in a hug, crying with me. “But we have each other now. We have our time back.”<
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  I cry into my sister’s shoulder; happy she is optimistic. I’ve missed her over the last seven years. Our few strained phone conversations were not enough to make me feel like we had a relationship. But now that I am putting everything behind me, I know that I can finally have that relationship with my sister I used to have.

  I pull back from her and wipe my tears. “I’m sorry I ruined your engagement party.”

  She laughs. “Please. You did not ruin it. You know I never would have wanted such a stifling party but I had to do it for Connor’s parents.”

  “Well I am sure I made a great impression on them.”

  “Who cares?” she says, throwing her hands in the air. “I don’t. Plus, now Connor and I can have the party we wanted to have. At a bar. With our friends.”

  “I hope I’m invited,” I tease.

  “Only if you promise more drama will happen!”

  I roll my eyes at her as I punch her in the arm. “Oh I will find a way, brat.”

  Jess laughs until her face turns solemn. “There is something else I need to tell you.”

  My smile fades as I see her serious expression.

  “Becca told me something the other night. She came over here trying to… I don’t even know what. Cause more problems, I guess.”

  I try to calm the anger in my veins, but the fury is red hot. “Whatever Becca said can’t be true.”

  “I hope it’s not. I really do. Because I don’t think we’ll be okay if it is.”

  A million thoughts fly through my head about what the hell Becca could have said that could be any worse than what she already did.

  “Remember that night I got assaulted?”

  I nod, not liking where this is going. Jess was wrecked after that, who wouldn’t be. It took her almost a year to get back to herself. And it hurt so bad that I wasn’t there for her when it happened. That I wasn’t there to stop it.

  “Becca said it was Kyle.”

  I knock my glass over that is sitting next to me, the rage inside of me burning like a supernova. I brush the ice off the steps and into the yard. “What the fuck, Jess?”

  “I’m sorry. I had no idea. I didn’t—”