Cruel Temptation
Page 18
My love for her was a weakness in that moment, or I would have protected her better.
“She is going to be fine, Jaxon,” Grayson stated and sat down in the chair across me. “That girl is a firecracker. She isn’t going to let a fall hurt her.”
“You didn’t see this fall,” I said, thinking about the moment Quinn knew she might die. It was going to give me nightmares. I pressed my palms against my eyes and leaned my elbows against my thighs. “You didn’t see it.” I felt like I couldn’t say the words enough. I couldn’t hammer home how terrible or scary it was. They had to be there.
Grayson patted me on the shoulder, and we all got comfortable as we waited.
Yes! I’ll marry you.
The words saved me from misery, but misery loved my company too much to let me save her.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Quinn
I didn’t do it.
You must believe me! Quinn! I didn’t do it.
I woke up with a gasp, my nightmare fleeting into the back of my mind. I couldn’t remember it now. The memory. It was right there. The voice. The one pleading out to me that he didn’t do it. I knew that voice.
Where was I?
What happened?
I winced when I moved my neck. Ow. I tilted my head back and saw a machine. It beeped, and a rush of oxygen flowed through my nose, I saw the plastic tube and my brows pinched together as my fingers lifted the tube up. Gently, I laid it back down. Then, I noticed the gown I wore. It was scratchy, light green, and extremely uncomfortable. I was cold too. The blanket was too thin, and the TV was on, but the sound was off. The blinds were drawn, but I could tell it was dark out from how black the room was.
There was a faint light coming from the corner from a cheap lamp with a yellow bulb. A man sat in a chair asleep. I couldn’t see his face, but his jaw was sharp. I groaned when I tried to sit up, and my left hand felt heavy. There was a cast on it, and my leg was elevated in another white cast.
I coughed, and when I reached for the pitcher of water, my casted hand hit the pink container, and it spilled everywhere.
“Quinn!” the man in the corner said my name and bolted to a standing position. He rushed over, and his boots slid against the floor through the water. He came to the side of the bed and flipped on the light, illuminating his face.
Wow. He was handsome. He had these chocolate eyes and inky black hair, tattoos running up and down his arms. Red scratches marred his cheek, and he looked tired, like a man who survived a thousand deaths.
Heck, or lives. Living could be just as exhausting.
“Quinn, baby, you’re awake.” His thumb rubbed over my cheek that was bandaged, but the warmth from his body seeped into the gauze and warmed my skin.
My heart rate monitor sped up from the proximity of this man. My heart told me I was connected to him. I had to be with how I was reacting. My body knew him.
“I’m going to get the doctor. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait,” I said, stopping him mid-step. I wanted to get another look at his face. He had to be the most handsome man on the face of the earth.
Crap, here I was lusting after another guy when I was engaged to Brian. “Who are you?” I played with the blanket, wringing it together with my fingers as I waited for his answer.
The hope in his face fell, and he ran back to the side of my bed and held my face with his rough palms. His eyes darted between mine, and I swear those black orbs shined with tears, but why? “You don’t know who I am?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I don’t. Are we friends? It’s nice of you to wait to make sure I’m okay.”
“I’m your fiancé, baby. My name is Jaxon Steel. We are more than friends.”
Jaxon. That name sounded familiar.
“Are you friends with Brian? Where is he?”
“You remember him?” His voice deepened as sharp as a razor blade; I nearly felt it gliding over my skin, threatening to cut me.
“He is my fiancé. Is this a joke? Did he send you in here to play a prank on me?” I clenched my jaw in annoyance. “I hate pranks.”
“No, baby,” his words cracked. “Him and I are enemies. I’m going to go get the doctor. I’ll be back,” he kissed my forehead, and my eyes shut at the feel of his lips. They felt familiar; even the motion and placement against my forehead sparked something inside me. His lips were warm and cozy, like home. I settled, the annoyance gone, replaced with a feeling of love.
His lips were gone in the next second, and I watched as the shadow of his large body left the room. When he stopped in the hallway to talk to a nurse, I saw him in a better light. He was tall, broad, and muscular. He said I was his fiancé. How could that be? Why couldn’t I remember anything?
A few tears fell, and the scuff of feet coming inside the room had me looking from the ceiling to the two men. The doctor was young as he checked my chart, his lips pursed as he read, and the man that called himself Jaxon moved around the bed and took my left hand. That was when my eyes landed on the huge fucking rock on my finger.
Holy hell! That diamond had to be bigger than five carats.
Brian didn’t even give me a ring, so Jaxon had to be speaking the truth.
What happened between me and Brian? Did I leave him for Jaxon? I’d admit, I didn’t blame myself if I did because this Jaxon guy was gorgeous.
“Your fiancé tells me that you are having some memory problems, Ms. Taylor. Can you tell me where you were born, please?” he shined a light in my right eye, then left.
“San Francisco, California,” I said as I have said a hundred times.
“What is your birthday?”
“January 15th,” I replied.
“And what’s the last thing you remember?”
“I…” My bottom lip trembled as my mind went blank. “I don’t know. What’s wrong with me? I don’t know. Why don’t I know?” I was becoming hysterical. I couldn’t breathe. The monitor started to speed up to match my pulse, but I couldn’t calm down. “I can’t… I don’t know! Why don’t I know?” I cried. “I want to know who my fiancé is. What happened to me?” I sobbed, and Jaxon came over and wrapped me in his arms, holding me against his chest as I cried.
Oh, he felt good. Safe and powerful. I found sanctuary in him while a storm rained strife inside me.
“It’s okay, Quinn. I got you. I always have you, baby. You’re safe with me. I love you.” He ran his fingers through my air as I laid my cheek against his chest, and the baritone as he spoke vibrated inside his breastbone. It was soothing and calmed me instantly.
“It’s okay, Ms. Taylor. Amnesia is common with head injuries. You smacked it pretty hard when you took that fall.”
“Fall? What fall? What happened?” I asked.
Jaxon leaned away and held up my hand that had the ring on it. “I proposed. We were walking down the mountain when you fell into a rock quarry.”
“Ouch,” I said, wincing when I thought about how painful that could have been. I was glad I couldn’t remember it, but I wasn’t glad I couldn’t remember the proposal. “I’m sorry. I bet the proposal was beautiful.”
He chuckled, but it was weak and a bit sad. “It was perfect.”
“Why can’t I remember you?” I asked Jaxon, tears ruining my vision as I stared at him. “I feel, how I feel for you, here,” I laid my hand over my heart.
“Your memory will come back as you heal, Ms. Taylor. A few days maybe a few weeks at max. Your brain showed no significant trauma. You had a nasty concussion, which is what I think is giving you the amnesia, but just in case, we will run all the tests before discharging you. You’ll stay here for a few more days, okay?” The doctor flipped the chart closed and hung it on the base of the bed. “I’ll be back in a little while to take you to get another brain scan.”
“Thanks, Doctor,” Jaxon sighed, the biggest damn sigh known to existence.
“What happened to Brian? What happened to you? Why do I have a feeling we have a lot of history?”
That made sense. What I felt for him was more than what I felt for Brian. “What happened? How did I end up with Brian?” I asked, interlacing our hands.
“You don’t have to,” he started to pull away from my grip, but I tightened my hand to stop him from going anywhere.
“I want to. I trust my instincts, and they are telling me you aren’t lying to me. Stay, please.” His thumb brushed over the top of my hand, and I couldn’t stop comparing the differences. His palms were so much wider, his fingers longer, and calloused. There was no softness. His hands told stories, and I bet they were the kind that would keep me up at night with the horrors they would tell.
He dragged a chair closer to the bed and sat down, keeping his hand locked with mine. “I don’t know if I should. You might run from me, and not being with you again will absolutely kill me.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, but trying to convey the truth was harder when I didn’t have the security of memory backing me.
“Do you remember Tracy?” His eyes filled with so much sadness, a weighted blanked of sorrow cast through the room.
I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry.”
“Wow, this fucking sucks. I don’t know if I have the heart to tell you and risk the disappointment and fear. I don’t know if I can. I should wait until your memory comes back.”
“It can’t be that bad,” I said through a smile.
He let go of my hand and stood, walked to the end of my bed, and gripped the rail. He hung his head and then snapped his head up, narrowing his eyes to slits. “You’re right. It’s worse than that. Something you blamed me for. Something that made you turn against me. Brian was a part of it. For an entire ten years, you wanted nothing to do with me, Quinn.”
Nothing was ringing a bell. I knew what I felt for Jaxon was the only thing that was familiar.
“I was accused of killing Tracy, my sister, my best friend. Brian dated her and got her pregnant. I served ten years for third-degree murder.”
The monitor skipped a beat when my heart jumped. I knew he didn’t kill Tracy but hearing the word ‘murder’ always set me on edge.
“I didn’t do it, Quinn. You will remember in time, and I know it’s scary, but I loved Tracy. I hate Brian because he killed her. I know he did. He killed her.”
“Have you killed before?” I asked, afraid to know the answer, but the danger held in his hands could be felt, and one of those horror stories that they held had to be murder.
“Yes,” he answered quickly. “I won’t get into who or why right now. You need to rest, but I didn’t kill my sister.”
“I believe you,” I said, scared to speak the truth, but the love I had for Jaxon was all I could feel right now. I needed to believe in that, in what my soul was telling me, even if I feared the damage he could cause. Again, I knew he wouldn’t bring harm to me, even without memories reassuring me, I knew. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember you.”
“You remember how you feel for me, and honestly, that is more than enough given the situation.”
Neither of us asked the question we were really wondering— what if I never remembered?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jaxon
Three days later, the doctor allowed me to take Quinn home. She still didn’t remember anything, and every day that went by, the more nervous I got that she wouldn’t.
“You live here?” she gasped when she saw the Cliff House.
“We live here,” I corrected her, pressing the code to the garage, so the massive metal door opened.
“Holy shit,” she said like she always did.
“The holiest.” I parked the car in the garage, and the light above us came on, so we weren’t fumbling our way in the dark.
“What did you say?” she asked.
“The holiest,” I repeated, wondering if she was having a memory. I waited, hoped, and gripped the wheel tight.
“Sounds familiar,” she said.
“It’s because I’ve said it before, baby.” It was a good thing. At least, things were familiar for her. I had to have faith, just like I had before, that she’d come back to me. If she didn’t, I’d love her through it and create new memories, but the memories we have built were what brought us here. I really didn’t want her to forget us.
What about the last ten years of me being in prison? It would be all for nothing, and I’d find myself in another prison, just an emotional one.
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped with disappointment.
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s a good thing that it sounds like you’ve heard it before.” My fingers slid under her chin and raised her head up, forcing her to look at me with those sad fucking eyes that were piercing me right through the chest.
I wanted to lean in and kiss her, but since she had no idea of who I was, not really, I had no idea if my kiss was welcome. I decided to pull back to give her space instead when really all I wanted to do was reassure myself of what her lips felt like.
I hoped like hell this didn’t go on long. I needed her back. I only had half of her right now. I missed the entirety of her.
It was hit after hit with us. We always had something to overcome, and to be honest, I was getting sick of it. I wanted to live in peace for fucks sake.
I got out of the car and made sure I didn’t slam the door with the frustration I felt. I ran my hand along the hood of the car as I walked in front of it and opened her door, helped her out, and lifted her in my arms.
Something I loved to do, something she wasn’t used to anymore, and maybe I should have asked if she wanted me to.
No, fuck that. I was going to hold my damn woman. If I couldn’t kiss her, I was holding her.
“Oh, wow. You’re strong,” she chuckled and squeezed my bicep since it was flexed as we walked inside. “It’s sexy.”
Alright, it felt good that she was looking at me like it was the first time. I hated that it felt like we were starting over, but I loved that she found me attractive. I lifted a brow at her and licked my lips. “You think I’m sexy?”
“You know you’re sexy. A guy like you doesn’t not know,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Maybe but hearing it from the woman that matters makes all the difference.”
Her cheeks turned a seductive shade of red, and she hid her face against my shoulder as we walked through the door. Now that was new. She had never hidden from me before. “You smell so good,” she moaned in appreciation as she sniffed my chest.
I almost tripped over the step entering the house when I heard the sound.
“You seem perfect so far. Good looking, you smell good— I love a man that smells good— and I bet you’re smart too. There has to be a catch.”
Yeah, I was a criminal, but I would lead in with that later.
“Why do you think I wear cologne? I just as hell don’t wear it for me, baby.” I hopped onto the elevator and pressed the button to the main floor. The silence wasn’t awkward, but it was full of sexual tension. I never thought someone’s memory loss would make me feel like a teenager who had no idea what he was doing, but here I was, debating with myself on what to do or say. I didn’t want to make the wrong move.
Moves were critical right now, and I had to make the right ones.
“What was prison like?”
That was the one question she had never asked me. I thought it was because talking about it would make her feel bad for not believing in me, but since she didn’t have that memory, her filter was completely off.
“Lonely,” I said as I thought about it. “Hard. It’s an eye for an eye in there, only an eye for a life. If you fuck with someone, you’re likely to die. It was about survival.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m glad you made it
out alive.”
“I ran that prison, baby. I was the go-to man. Just like I am now. The guys, which you will meet in a few minutes, are all criminals, but we are all innocent.” I was getting close to telling her that we were a group that planned heists and that we were on the road to vengeance now. I didn’t want to tell her that I had her ex-fiancé chained against the wall of the basement or that I ruined her wedding.
Or that I threatened to keep her for ten years for the years taken from me.
Yeah, we would work up to that.
I stepped off the elevator and entered the kitchen. Ingrid was there, baking cookies while Louis sipped coffee and read the newspaper.
“Mr. Steele. Ms. Taylor. Glad to have you back,” he said, laying the paper down on the counter to look at us over his bifocals.
I called and told them about her memory loss. So they made sure to keep their lips sealed about certain aspects of our life.
“Rabbit, I’m glad your back. I made you your favorite. Chocolate chip,” Ingrid held out a plate of freshly baked cookies.
“I like oatmeal raisin,” she said. “How do I know that?”
“Some things are just engraved in us,” I said.
“I know you like oatmeal raisin. Chocolate chip is my favorite, Rabbit. I knew you’d turn them down. More for me.” Ingrid shoved a cookie in her mouth, and with a debonair glide to her steps, she walked down the hallway and snapped her fingers. “Louis, come.”
“Boss calls,” he said, folding up the paper and trailing behind Ingrid like a lovestruck fool.
“Interesting people,” Quinn said. “And I also don’t think I like that she calls me Rabbit.”
“You don’t,” I said on a short laugh. “Come on; I’ll introduce you to the guys.” I carried her to the game room where the doors were shut. “Use your good foot to knock, would you, baby?”
“My pleasure,” she said, biting her lip as she stared at my chest. She didn’t look away from me as she lifted her foot and banged on the door.
My cock took notice of her attention, and I wanted to lay her down and fuck her like it was the first time, which it would be to her, and that had my blood boiling with the pleasure I could bring her. Shit, she didn’t even know I was her first sexual experience. And right now, she was acting like a vixen with how she was checking me out.