by Celeste Raye
Trent was lost in the moment. He looked down at the beautiful woman that had bewitched him and knew that there was something more going on. He hadn’t known that he’d be her first. It hadn’t even occurred to him that it would have been possible.
Guilt drove him to move faster, finish off before he got too attached. He already was, too much, and Trent knew that he had done much worse than lie with his brother’s soon-to-be-wife: he’d deflowered her as well. It would have been enough to make him stop even though she felt so damn good.
The need grew until it flowed over him like it had Sienna. He could see that she was done. Her eyes were closed, and she was moaning as he pushed deep. Her tiny body, receiving all he had to offer, was the sight that pushed him over the edge and he finally blew up inside of her.
He laid like that for some time, wedged inside of her, before he was able to leave her and move back. Every part of him knew that he’d screwed up, but he didn’t want to think about that, not when she was looking as sexy as she did at the moment.
“Shit, we really shouldn’t have done that.”
Trent saw Sienna frown, and he tried to take it back. It certainly wasn’t something that he should have said. He knew better. Trent was a lot savvier than that, but not when it came to Sienna. With her, he had broken all of the rules and knew that it was going to cost him in the long run. He had made a huge mess of things, and there was nothing that he could do about it.
“Do you already regret me?”
He did, but from the way she said it, Trent knew not to agree.
“Of course not. I just…”
“It doesn’t matter now. It’s done. Come over here and hold me, please. I’m still a little cold.”
Trent knew that she had a look of lust in her eyes and he didn’t trust her words at all, but there really was nothing that he could do about it.
He moved towards Sienna and knelt down next to her. She was right; it was done. Why not spend the rest of the night enjoying himself?
Chapter Twelve
Sienna woke up early the next morning, and she wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. Even though she had known that things between her and Trent had gone the way they did, she was now so sure that she was never going back. He’d have to let her go. Or maybe even take her with him. One of those two things needed to happen.
Trent wasn’t up for a while, but she stared at him, willing him awake, hoping that he would do what was needed in the end. He would let her go, if nothing else. He had to.
When he finally did get up, Sienna was ready to burst. She felt like there was no time like the present to figure out what was going on between the two of them. She couldn’t hold it in anymore. She had to know.
“Trent, we need to talk.”
He made a face, and she didn’t smile. There was nothing funny about what she had on her mind. The rest of her life was going to be determined by the conversation. Sienna wanted to make sure that it was the right one.
“Okay, sure, Sienna. What do you want to talk about?”
“I want to talk about the future.”
“Okay…”
Sienna took a deep breath and tried, as she had for a while now, to figure out how to say it to him. She also needed to figure out what it was she was trying to say to begin with. Finally, it just came out all muddled, and she was left trying to figure out what had been said because of it.
“After everything that has happened between us, I need to know that you’re going to be on my side, Trent.”
“I can’t say that, Sienna. There is no way that I can agree to that. You know this.”
Her face fell. “I guess I do now. So even after everything that has happened between us, you have no problem kicking me to the curb and sending me back to marry your brother?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation, and she felt something stiff forming in her throat. “I can’t believe that you would say that.”
“Why do you think that anything has changed?”
“Because I thought that you felt what I felt, but apparently, I was wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter what I feel, Sienna. I know what has to be done and it would be better if you come to terms with this as well. There isn’t anything that we can do about it, so why get upset? We had a good time; we shared a great night together. Why can’t that be enough?”
Sienna was stunned into silence. She had known that there was something great between them, but Trent was acting like what happened was nothing. Her heart was breaking with every word that he uttered and she was trying her best to hold it all together. Suddenly her eyes were burning, and she could feel moisture wanting to collect.
She looked away so that he wouldn’t see the damage that his callous words were having on her. Then Sienna had to get up because there was no way that she could be that close to him when he was saying such things to her.
“I won’t go back. I swear it, Trent. You can’t make me go back.”
He smiled at her, and he tried to calm her down by putting his hand up. “You really have to understand that this isn’t something that I wanted to do. I didn’t want to come after you when they first told me about it, and I didn’t even know who you were. Now that we’ve shared a night together and I’ve gotten to know you, the last thing I want to do is take you to Darius. But I have to. And I will. You have to understand that it is nothing personal.”
She didn’t understand any of it. Why would he do that if he felt something? Sienna had fallen for him. She knew exactly what it was, even though she’d never experienced it before. She’d certainly read all of the books and the way it made her feel, the longing that it filled her with, Sienna was quite sure that those that wrote about it must have lived it. How else was she able to feel it inside of her soul?
Now she felt that way about Trent, but he was going to pass her off. Her heart was breaking, almost to the point that she couldn’t stand it. It hurt, bad, and she was left with a feeling that overwhelmed her so much that the actual air in the room started to get thicker. She was unable to breathe in the new thickness, and finally, she gave up and let the suffocating feeling take her over completely.
“I can’t do it, Trent. I won’t do it.”
She edged herself closer to the cave opening and looked down at the rocks below. In all actuality, it looked better for Sienna just to take the plunge. Then she would not have to worry about everything else. She would not have to worry about a man that she was supposed to marry, that she had never met before. There would be no more obligations.
There was also another part of her in the back of her head that said she had to go to extremes to get the results that she needed. He was never going to do what she wanted any other way. Sienna was just going to have to make him see that she wasn’t joking. She’d tried every other way to no avail.
She had asked nicely. They had connected, and she had fallen for him. That hadn’t worked. Now, it felt like drastic measures were the only solution.
“You need to get away from the edge, Sienna. It is a long way down.”
” Yeah, and it is raining, so you can't really fly, right?”
That got his attention, but it wasn't the attention that she wanted. She wanted him to care for her so she didn’t have to go to such an extreme, but that wasn’t the case. Sienna had to do it.
“What are you doing?”
“I told you that I am not doing this, Trent. I am not going back. There's no way that I can do it. So, if that is my only choice, then I choose the only alternative.”
He was starting to get to his feet, but she moved further back. Sienna could now feel the heel of her feet going off the edge, and it took everything in her not to pull back. She really did not like high places.
“You can't do this, Sienna. Nothing is worth this.”
“I beg to differ. This is my life you're talking about. I'm not going to just go with it. I won't do it.”
“Once you meet him, you will feel differently. He really
isn't that bad.”
“Are you really going to sit there and tell me that?”
Trent was still trying to wake up, and he wasn’t prepared for this sort of situation. He wanted Sienna to get away from the edge, and he was worried that he was going to say something stupid and push her off.
“Yes, I am going to tell you that. I think if you give it a chance, it will work out just fine. It has to, so you might as well make the best of the situation.”
“Make the best of the situation...”
There was nothing else to say as far as Sienna was concerned.
“If you don't let me go, then I'm going to jump.”
His eyes got a little brighter, and Sienna was starting to convince herself that maybe it would be better if she just jumped. Then she wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore. She wouldn’t have to feel this way. More than that, she wouldn't have to feel the pain of rejection. It was complete and stunningly painful.
“Come here, Sienna. Get off of the ledge and get back here. There is no need for this. There really isn’t.”
“You don’t even care.”
His voice got gruff as he told her that he did care.
“Then why are you acting this way?”
“Because I have to be this way, Sienna, but if you’re that dead set against this marriage, I’m sure that something can be worked out. It certainly isn’t worth taking your life or doing something to get yourself hurt. I know that we can figure this out.”
She liked what he was saying, but Sienna wondered if he was just saying it all to get her away from the edge. Once he was close enough to get his hands on her, she could lose it all. She couldn’t let that happen.
“Promise me, Trent.”
His eyes got darker for a moment, and he pulled her to him. “I promise, Sienna. I am on your side.”
Chapter Thirteen
“You lied to me, Trent. Everything you said was a lie. I can't believe that I believed you.”
Trent knew that Sienna was going to be upset when she realized that he was actually taking her back home. There was no way that he could pretend like anything else could happen. This is how it was supposed to be. This is what he was tasked with to do. He was supposed to bring her back, that's it. He had already deflowered her and certainly tainted her more thoroughly than he ever could have imagined. The thoughts of not even an hour before were still running through his mind.
“I told you that I was on your side, Sienna. And I am. This is what's best.”
Before Sienna could stop him, he had turned into his dragon form and was now carrying her in his talons because she refused to ride him.
It would have made everything easier, but Sienna was not the sort of woman that wanted to make anything easier. He had to agree with his older brother on some aspects of his sentiment. Sometimes it would be better if the women would just agree.
“I don't want to go back home. I would rather you drop me right now than to take me home. Please don't do this, Trent.”
Trent did his best to try and calm her down, but it was not going to happen. He didn't try that hard, because he knew Sienna wasn't going to go for it. The last thing she was worried about was making it easier on him. She felt betrayed. He knew when he made the promise that he was going to break it, so he could understand why she was so upset. He would have hated himself too.
“Let go of me! I just want to leave! Please!”
Every time she called to him, it just made him feel worse. He knew that what he was doing was wrong. She was never going to forgive him for it. He had chosen his family over the woman that he had fallen for.
As Trent quickly made the distance between their shelter for the last two days and her father's home, he realized that he had fallen for her. Trent had fallen for his brother's wife, or rather, his soon-to-be wife. Either way, it didn’t matter. She wasn't going to be his. She was never destined to be his and what had occurred between them could never be said out loud to anyone else again. It was shameful any way that it was considered.
Still, he did not want to admit what had to be done. He knew that he had to take her home and everything that happened between them was going to be forgotten. And he knew it had to be that way. His brother would not forgive him, and his father certainly wouldn't. It could never happen, so there was no point in pretending that it could. It was best for all involved.
Trent was still trying to convince himself of that as he dipped down to get them to the ground. It was the middle of the day, but where the house was situated, it wasn’t that hard to fly in without being seen.
Sienna was not asking to go away anymore. She had given up altogether and Trent was saddened by it. She had such a strong spirit, and he hated that he was the one to personally break it. He had taken a part of her that she could only give to one person, and instead of helping her, he was sending her to an unhappy life. He already knew that it was what was going to happen.
When they got to the ground, he switched back to his normal self. He wanted to say something to her, anything to make it somehow better, but there was nothing to be said. She was never going to forgive him and the hard look in her eyes told him that he might as well give up. As much as he wanted to believe that the shared moments together could be cherished, he knew better. It was instead going to be a regret that spanned a lifetime. And Trent lived a very long time.
“I'm sorry, Sienna. I really am.”
She waved him off, and she started to walk away like she was never going to look back. Trent wanted to talk to her before everybody realized she was back, but Sienna didn’t want any part of it. It would appear that Trent was never going to be able to say goodbye. They were never going to be able to have the final conversation. Something that they really needed to do before everyone else, and all of the other problems, were brought back into the mix. He felt like he at least owed that to her. Trent owed her the truth.
“Sienna, I need you to understand that this is not something I wanted to do. This is something that had to be done to.”
“Well, you have done your duty, Trent. I'm sure you are happy that everybody knows what a good little boy you are.”
She started to walk away and he stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You don't mean that.”
“You have no idea what I mean. Last night was magical, and I thought something had happened between us, but I was wrong. I just didn't realize how wrong I was. Now I know, so there is really nothing else to say.”
Her words cut through Trent, and he didn't even try to go after her. Instead of him being there to tell the story and let everybody know that she was safe, Sienna just walked in her house and closed the door behind her like nothing was different. She was acting like she hadn’t been gone for three days on the lam. Sienna was certainly acting like she was there alone.
Trent debated if he should go in behind her and decided that it was best if he didn't. There was no telling what she would do if she got upset and Trent thought it best not to push the situation. It was better if she just had time to cool down before he saw her again. Maybe in time, she would see that he had done what was right for everyone involved.
He stood in the same spot for a very long time. Trent had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He had done what he was sent to do, and that should have made him feel good, but it didn't. Nothing about the current situation made him feel good. All he wanted to do was take it all back. He shouldn't have brought her back.
For a moment, Trent thought that he could pull her out of there and they could get away. It was what she had been asking for the whole time, and he had ignored her. Maybe she was right. Maybe they were meant to be together, and this was all how it was supposed to happen.
The idea made him think twice about everything. What if he was ruining everything? She certainly thought that he was ruining her life, but was he ruining his own as well?
Trent felt tightness in his chest, and he knew that it was because of her. Everything seemed to go back to her.
&n
bsp; By the time he got his feet moving and went into the house, it was too late. She was surrounded by her family, and they were all worried about her. Her father saw him and smiled with a nod of his head. He had a big smile on his face, and Trent could not deal with the sight of it.
“At least everyone will know that you’re a good little boy.” Her words echoed in his ears.
He wanted to see Sienna, but when he finally saw her face, he wished he had never seen it. He wished that he was still standing outside of the house, debating life. Now he knew what he had done, and it was suffocating to know. She was miserable, and it was all his fault. He had made her a woman and then thrown her away. Trent knew for sure then that Sienna was never going to forgive him. She was lost to him.
Chapter Fourteen
Frank looked over at the man at the bar and shook his head. He walked over to Trent and asked him what was wrong. Trent had seen him coming, and he had seen the expression on Frank’s face. He knew that he was going to have to explain himself or he was never going to be left alone.
“Why such a long face, Trent? I saw you a few days ago and you were in a good mood. You looked like you were happy to be back at the club.”
“I am happy to be back, but things change, Frank.”
“Isn’t that the truth. It looks like you are worried about a woman. I can recognize that look from a mile away. I've had it on my face many times before. Who has you looking so distressed?”
Of course, Frank could see right through him. Trent wanted to tell someone what was going on, but he knew that the older man that ran the Dynasty Club was not the person he should choose. Frank was good with advice, but at the same time, he liked to spread gossip as well. What Trent had inside of him could not get out. Nobody could know what happened between him and Sienna.